Episode Transcript
Don Mock 0:19
Episode 78. We’re back, Rob.
Rob Broadfoot 0:21
We’re back.
Don Mock 0:22
I can’t help but notice you’re drinking a very small bottle of water. Why is that packaging so teeny? It’s mini water?
Rob Broadfoot 0:29
It’s 12 fluid ounces.
Don Mock 0:30
That’s 12 ounces?
Rob Broadfoot 0:31
It’s 12 ounces.
Don Mock 0:32
Wow, I guess because it’s transparent, it doesn’t look like a solid 12.
Rob Broadfoot 0:36
Yeah, well, we needed to pick up some water for the office for a meeting that we were having. And this was all they had left.
Don Mock 0:43
Baby water bottles.
Rob Broadfoot 0:44
The Target run, I think, is how we got that.
Don Mock 0:46
That’s funny. All right, Episode 78. Here’s what I thought we’d talk about today – which could be an interesting peek into our backstory – is jobs we had as youth. Childhood jobs growing up, and then what kind of impact they had on us? Did they scare us off of certain industries? Did we learn anything from our youthful employment? That kind of interesting… what did we do when we were not doing this?
Rob Broadfoot 1:12
Yeah, I think as a blanket statement, you learn from every work environment. You do – good, bad, or whatever.
Don Mock 1:19
Absolutely.
Rob Broadfoot 1:20
I think you absolutely learn. I’ll kick things off.
Don Mock 1:23
Yeah, hit me.
Rob Broadfoot 1:24
In my first real job – and I’ll give you an easy, easy hint: Time to make the donuts.
Don Mock 1:32
I know what that means. You want me to name?
Rob Broadfoot 1:34
Dunkin Donuts.
Don Mock 1:35
Yeah, Dunkin Donuts.
Rob Broadfoot 1:36
My very first job was in high school. I guess this would have been summer after ninth grade.
Don Mock 1:42
I was wondering how old you were.
Rob Broadfoot 1:44
After ninth grade.
Don Mock 1:44
That’s a rough job to have that young.
Rob Broadfoot 1:47
Oh, dude, it was summer. and I mean, I had to be there at like 5:30 in the morning.
Don Mock 1:50
I was gonna say like, what time did you have to wake up and get in there?
Rob Broadfoot 1:53
Way too early. And the only reason that I was working there was because my older sister had worked there.
Don Mock 2:00
Really?
Rob Broadfoot 2:01
Yeah.
Don Mock 2:01
Interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 2:02
And was like, well just come work here, too. It’s fun and you and I can work together- we’re pals. You and I can work together and just do that. And I was like, Okay.
Don Mock 2:09
Then one weekend, she quit and you were left on your own.
Rob Broadfoot 2:11
Then I’m left making donuts by myself at 5:30 in the morning.
Don Mock 2:14
Now what happened? She didn’t do that to you? Did she?
Rob Broadfoot 2:15
No. No. No. No. No. But it was, for a whole summer, it was “time to work the doughnuts.” I remember my managers name: Sally. And funny enough, I ran into her, probably 10 years ago, randomly, at a gas station.
Don Mock 2:32
Wow.
Rob Broadfoot 2:32
I know. Which was crazy. I immediately recognized her, and she immediately recognized me.
Don Mock 2:36
Really?
Rob Broadfoot 2:36
It was like, Oh my gosh, how are you? It was crazy.
Don Mock 2:39
Then did you remember her name when you recognized her?
Rob Broadfoot 2:41
Absolutely.
Don Mock 2:41
Okay. Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 2:42
I can picture her. Because she was great. She was kind of a ballbuster, but in the best kind of way. I think you kind of have to be in that sort of environment.
Don Mock 2:51
Yes, I agree with that.
Rob Broadfoot 2:52
But I think that, if we’re thinking about just top line lessons, number one, work is hard. You got to get up early and do things you don’t want to do and go in to make money.
Don Mock 3:04
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 3:05
But I mean, I remember the feeling of getting your first paycheck. I was like, Wow, I’m doing grownup things. I’m work –
Don Mock 3:12
What do I do with this magical check? What are all these taxes that they’ve taken out?
Rob Broadfoot 3:16
Yeah. Why are they taking half my money? But I think that was a great lesson and then also –
Don Mock 3:23
Now hold on, quick timeout. Did you have a bank account prior to working there?
Rob Broadfoot 3:26
Uh, I…
Don Mock 3:27
Because again, now our kids have Greenlight cards. I mean, credit and all that. It’s so ubiquitous now, from when kids are born, but back then –
Rob Broadfoot 3:33
I’m assuming that was the time that I then went and opened one up. My parents took me to open up the checking account. But the other lesson, I think, too, probably more importantly, was I remember over the course of the summer, you would get your regulars that came in every morning. It was up, Dan’s here. And we know Dan likes his black coffee and two strawberry-filled donuts or whatever it was.
Don Mock 3:33
It’s kind of cool.
Rob Broadfoot 3:33
I think, looking back, I started to learn about customer service.
Don Mock 3:47
Yes. That’s what I wrote down.
Rob Broadfoot 3:57
And the idea that like, Oh, if Dan walks in, and I know he’s got this, and I’m proactive and say, “Oh, morning, Dan, Here’s your coffee.” My tip jar is going up and up and up and up and up. So a direct correlation, I think between – what seems obvious – but customer service, and taking the time to get to know people and do a good job. And making them believe that you are happy at work.
Don Mock 4:27
Yes.
Rob Broadfoot 4:27
Whether you happen to be having a good day or a bad day.
Don Mock 4:30
Well, there’s that old expression, fake it till you make it.
Rob Broadfoot 4:32
Absolutely.
Don Mock 4:33
There is something about you’re up early. You don’t want to do this. You don’t want… like Ugh, work. But there is something psychological of manifestating- manifestating?
Rob Broadfoot 4:42
Manifestating.
Don Mock 4:42
It’s not a word.
Rob Broadfoot 4:43
It is now.
Don Mock 4:47
Manifestating… if you convince yourself that you’re going to have a bad day, or that it’s a terrible day, you will have a bad day.
Rob Broadfoot 4:52
Absolutely.
Don Mock 4:53
Right. So the opposite can be true as well of like, Hey, if I’m just going to be happy at work, it’s going to be a better, more pleasurable experience for everybody. I guess.
Rob Broadfoot 5:03
There’s a lesson in patience there, too, when you had people that would be just super cranky and awful to you. You just kind of have to stand there and –
Don Mock 5:10
Take it.
Rob Broadfoot 5:10
- Not throw the coffee in their face. You know?
Don Mock 5:13
Yeah, that would not be good. That’s a surefire way to get fired.
Rob Broadfoot 5:16
What was your first job?
Don Mock 5:17
My first job. I was 13 years old, so barely able to work.
Rob Broadfoot 5:21
Child labor.
Don Mock 5:21
Child labor. I worked at a Togos, which later ended up being franchised out. The sandwich shop.
Rob Broadfoot 5:27
I remember that.
Don Mock 5:28
There was a brief little… I want to say they were close to Baskin Robbins and things and whatever that Restaurant Group was. So I worked at a Togo’s – only on the weekend.
Rob Broadfoot 5:38
In San Francisco?
Don Mock 5:38
Yeah. Only on the weekends.
Rob Broadfoot 5:39
I didn’t know. I know they had them here. I guess they were national.
Don Mock 5:41
Yeah. Well, I don’t know if they started out there. I just remember being here 20 years later, and going, “Oh, my God, there’s a Togo’s.” But like the logos all different. I mean, this was a dark, dank, deli, kind of… it wasn’t a well-lit sort of place. It was cool. It had pinball machines. I mean, it was a funky weird little restaurant. I would open and close on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. I remember working there Super Bowl Sunday, watching the Super Bowl while I’m making sandwiches for people. It was like, “Oh, I’ve got the mop.” Like I am low man. Like, Oh, dude, you’ve got to go mop the bathroom. It’s like, oh, dear Lord, like-
Rob Broadfoot 6:19
I don’t want to do that.
Don Mock 6:19
This is not good. But the only thing I wrote down on my list here, you know, copia show prep was customer service. I mean, that is 100% what you learn is dealing with the public, you know, “Hi, what can I make you for – ?” I mean, pimple-faced, young kid trying to do something and learn. I’m telling you, man, nothing gets people more bent out of shape than their food. I mean, I think it’s just people get aggro, about food.
Rob Broadfoot 6:46
Tell me about it. I was at Publix today, and it got a little testy.
Don Mock 6:48
Did it really?
Rob Broadfoot 6:49
At the sandwich counter.
Uh-Oh.
Go ahead.
Don Mock 6:52
So you learn, Okay, let me just chuck that sandwich and make a new one. You know, people just… so you learn. It’s interesting, you learn customer service, and you learn how to deal with unhappy people, maybe more so than happy people. Because they’re problematic, and you have to duck and dive and defend and figure it out. But you also learn how to read people, if that makes any sense.
Rob Broadfoot 7:17
Oh, Yeah.
Don Mock 7:18
So there is definitely something to… even today, when we’re meeting with new people or something like that. Just sort of understanding the lay of the land, understanding what this meeting is going to entail, how to have conversation with strangers. And – I don’t want to say, sell yourself – but there’s a certain amount of how to react when people are behaving a certain manner. So yeah, my first thing was there, Togo’s. Then I worked at the deli, so I stayed in food. I worked for Telli Deli, stocking the soda machine. Oh, I need to pound a capicola. I needed the… same deal. But much nicer. It was a better place.
Rob Broadfoot 7:21
A little more upscale.
Don Mock 7:59
A better fit. Yeah. I also got paid under the table, which was fantastic.
Rob Broadfoot 8:02
Oh, that’s nice.
Don Mock 8:03
Yeah, all cash under the table, which was amazing. That was the place that had regulars. There were definitely regulars, like “Oh, what’s the soup of the day? What’s the this? That type of thing. I echo your sentiment there. So what was your second gig?
Rob Broadfoot 8:19
I, too, stayed in food. I worked at Freshens Yogurt for a spell. Then I would come home from college during holidays, like Christmas season. I was at glazer at Honey Baked Ham.
Don Mock 8:33
Oooh.
Rob Broadfoot 8:34
Man, that’s a –
Don Mock 8:34
I bet that was that’s awesome first day.
Rob Broadfoot 8:36
It’s a brutal gig.
Don Mock 8:37
And then it goes downhill from there.
Rob Broadfoot 8:39
And let me tell you something.
Don Mock 8:40
Why is it brutal? Just because you come home smelling like ham? Or what?
Rob Broadfoot 8:43
Well, I love Honey Baked Ham. Shout out to Honey Baked Ham.
Don Mock 8:46
Delicious.
Rob Broadfoot 8:47
I will eat an entire spiral ham on like a day.
Don Mock 8:49
Yeah, pricey too, by the way. But delicious.
Rob Broadfoot 8:51
Well, you get what you pay for.
Don Mock 8:52
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 8:54
But it was an assembly line in the back. The ham would come in. They’d pass it down the line and then finally get, put stuff on, and then finally get to the glazer. So I had like a little blowtorch. and you got (fire torch sound).
Don Mock 9:05
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 9:06
Then yeah, you got scraps. You’re picking off a little here and there, and nibbling a little bit. But then you get home and you can’t get the smell of ham off of you. And I love the smell of ham. But not as a body spray.
Don Mock 9:19
How’d my winter girlfriend like the smell of ham?
Rob Broadfoot 9:22
Yeah. And it was just long.
Don Mock 9:24
Long hours.
Rob Broadfoot 9:24
I mean, it was so redundant. You’re literally doing one – it was like working on an assembly line. You’re doing one task all day long with a blow torch.
Don Mock 9:32
So you would literally glaze hams, like eight hours?
Rob Broadfoot 9:35
Yeah. I mean, maybe there were six hour shifts or so at the time. But yeah. I mean, that was it.
Don Mock 9:39
Wow.
Rob Broadfoot 9:40
Because I mean, think about it. It’s holiday rush at Honey Baked Ham.
Don Mock 9:43
Yeah, those things are flying.
Rob Broadfoot 9:44
They can’t crank them out fast enough.
Don Mock 9:46
How long does it take to glaze a ham? I know you’re gonna say it depends on the size of the ham, but your average small ham.
Rob Broadfoot 9:51
No, I mean it’s a –
Don Mock 9:52
Five minutes?
Rob Broadfoot 9:53
Not even.
Don Mock 9:54
Not even.
Rob Broadfoot 9:54
A minute or two.
Don Mock 9:55
Okay, a minute or two.
Rob Broadfoot 9:56
I’m gonna I mean, I was good. I had a-
Don Mock 9:58
You had a system. Did you go top down or bottom up?
Rob Broadfoot 10:02
That’s the only part you could get creative in the job. Cause you could kind of address it in different ways. You put a little Z, a little Zarrow in there every now and again.
Don Mock 10:08
Yeah. That’s what I was wondering.
Rob Broadfoot 10:11
You mark your ham.
Don Mock 10:14
That’s funny. That’s really funny.
Rob Broadfoot 10:16
But, yeah, I did that. I did a series of jobs, too. Summer jobs where I was a camp counselor. Specifically I was a camp counselor at a camp.
Don Mock 10:25
I don’t think I knew this. That’s interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 10:27
Oh, yeah. Camp Chattahoochee.
Don Mock 10:29
Okay, Camp Chattahoochee.
Rob Broadfoot 10:30
Out on the river there. I always love that, because I loved working with kids. I think that was a nice lesson in, again, dealing with people. I always enjoyed babysitting. I always enjoyed hanging out with kids. And that was fun, because it was all outdoor activities.
Don Mock 10:47
Sure. Now, how old were you when you were doing this? Were you in high school? Or were you coming back in college?
Rob Broadfoot 10:51
I would have been in high school.
Don Mock 10:53
You’re later in your high school career? Potentially.
Rob Broadfoot 10:56
I would have been in 10th grade, I think.
Don Mock 10:58
Okay, so sophomore in High School. I was wrong. Yeah. And how old are these kids at the camp? Are they a range?
Rob Broadfoot 11:02
I think they’re a range. I mean, 10, 12. But it was like everything from like, Okay, now we’re going to archery. We gotta go over to archery.
Don Mock 11:10
That’s super cool.
Rob Broadfoot 11:11
We’re gonna shoot the BB guns. Oooh, now we’re going horseback riding.
Don Mock 11:15
That’s my least favorite. I’m not a horse person at all.
Rob Broadfoot 11:17
No.
Don Mock 11:18
We talked about that in the office not that long ago, didn’t we? How did that come up? Something about horses. None of us really love the horses.
Rob Broadfoot 11:24
But I always loved that because it was outside. It was fun. And the kids were super excited to be there.
Don Mock 11:29
Yeah. Camp is cool.
Rob Broadfoot 11:30
There’s a just nice leadership sort of experience.
Don Mock 11:33
Now you were a camp counselor, multiple camp counselors? I assume?
Rob Broadfoot 11:38
What do you mean?
Don Mock 11:39
Like there’s you there. But then there’s other you’s there. And then you all report up the chain of command to whoever’s the director.
Rob Broadfoot 11:45
If I recall correctly, it was like each group – because I did it with a friend of mine, a high school pal of mine. She and I had our group. So it was like, Oh, you have 10 campers. She and I would march them around all day. But then yeah, I mean, there’s a whole system of people. But that was a fun job. I enjoyed that.
Don Mock 12:04
That’s cool.
Rob Broadfoot 12:04
I enjoyed that.
Landscaping was always – by landscaping, I mean mowing lawns. I did that all the time.
Don Mock 12:11
I hated mowing lawns.
Really?
I still hate mowing lawns. I never did it for money. I mean, my parents made me. I had an old push mower. I didn’t have an electric. I had the blades that you have to push.
Yeah. You mentioned that before.
Miserable, miserable. So yeah, I’m not a landscaping kind of guy.
Rob Broadfoot 12:26
I would mow neighborhood lawns.
Okay, for money?
I had a collection that – Oh, yeah. I’ll not doing it for free.
Don Mock 12:31
I mean, well, yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 12:33
Now my parents didn’t pay me to do our lawn.
Don Mock 12:35
Of course not.
Rob Broadfoot 12:36
That was my rent.
Don Mock 12:36
Yeah, that’s a chore.
Rob Broadfoot 12:37
That was my rent.
Don Mock 12:38
Did you have a lot of chores growing up?
Rob Broadfoot 12:41
I did have a lot of chores. It was my responsibility to do –
Don Mock 12:45
Garbage? Were you a garbage guy?
Rob Broadfoot 12:46
Let’s call it all the yard work and where I grew up –
Don Mock 12:49
All the yardwork? Geez.
Rob Broadfoot 12:50
Yeah, most of it. Where I grew up, my house was on a crazy, crazy hill.
Don Mock 12:55
Oh, no.
Rob Broadfoot 12:55
So mowing my lawn was a beating.
Don Mock 12:58
Oh, dude.
Rob Broadfoot 12:58
But I had to blow off the driveway, blow off the back. Trim the ivy up by the wall. All the things.
Don Mock 13:04
What about washing cars? I had to wash cars. That was my thing. I think my wife had to wash cars, too.
Rob Broadfoot 13:10
I didn’t. I’m sure I did for a little extra cash. But I didn’t, that wasn’t a mandatory thing. I mean, I had to empty the wastebasket, every Thursday night or whatever it was.
Don Mock 13:19
Yeah, type of thing.
Rob Broadfoot 13:20
That type of thing. But it was mostly outdoor work.
Don Mock 13:23
Okay. Yeah. Interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 13:25
For the most part, I think.
Don Mock 13:26
Any other job? I mean, the only other job I had is – and I’ve told this story before on the podcast – was the print facility. I was working for the printer. So I worked at Togo’s for probably too long. Then I jumped over to Fratellli Deli, which was great. Worked there for two or three years, had some friends come over and work. I mean, that was always a great job. Then I ended up, I think I was 15 or 16, is when I started working at the print shop. The copy shop. I did copies and things.
Rob Broadfoot 13:49
Making copies.
Don Mock 13:50
Yeah, exactly. Making copies. They had two locations. I’d split between the two and whatnot. That’s what got me into graphic design in general. Just sort of, “Who are those guys back there that are not out here in the hot, sweaty printshop printing things? Who are those guys in the nice air -conditioned room working on computers? They look nice.” So that was, again, a lot of dealing with the public. A lot of that stuff. And then a lot of –
Rob Broadfoot 14:20
Well, that was probably – not to interrupt – but that probably… I suppose that was your first foray into design from a professional standpoint.
Don Mock 14:27
Totally, totally. Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 14:28
Getting to see everything that came to the shop. Print it and do all this stuff.
Don Mock 14:31
Yeah. There were some interesting things I saw from beginning to end. Meaning people would show – and again, there was no Internet, there was none of that. So people would show up with a need, I need a poster or I need this album cover or I need this thing, but have no design at all. That’s when the production guys would be like, Oh, I get to design something. That was cool. Then it would make it all the way down through printing. Then I was like, Okay, wait a minute. There’s something here. Something magical is happening here, which is pretty cool. I mean, really, it was a heavy customer service for me and heavy dealing with the public and and how to talk to strangers and not be scared and all that kind of stuff. Then it was really quickly shifting into printing and how the whole production aspect of what we do now is. But then, “Oh, I like the more front end side of life, than I like the back end.”
Rob Broadfoot 15:25
I just thought of one fun anecdote that I’d kind of forgotten about. Maybe this is where the entrepreneurial thing started for me. So I grew up, for all you locals here in Atlanta, right on Chastain Park, on Lake Forest Lane, which is right off Lake Forest Drive. In the middle of the golf course, there is a pond. So me and my buddy Grant Tatum – shout out.
Don Mock 15:53
Shout out Grant.
Rob Broadfoot 15:54
Lived up the street from me. We would go over to the golf course, get in said pond.
Don Mock 16:00
No way.
Rob Broadfoot 16:01
And fish out the golf balls.
Don Mock 16:02
That’s what I was gonna say, Did you fish out all the golf balls?
Rob Broadfoot 16:04
Fish out all the golf balls. Then we would sell – I mean, I think at the time, I remember it was like, five for a buck. There were so many down there.
Don Mock 16:09
Are we doing goggles? We’re goggling and getting under the water or no, we’re just reaching down. And how deep is it?
Rob Broadfoot 16:14
Yeah, but it was shallow. We did, but it was shallow. I mean, no one has scuba equipment. This was before people actually made a lot of money doing that.
Don Mock 16:21
Yeah. Now it’s like a thing.
Rob Broadfoot 16:22
Now it’s like a thing. But no, we would just… the deal was, it was shallow enough, if you went around the edge, that you can kind of feel them with your feet. Then you just –
Don Mock 16:30
Reach down and grab them.
Rob Broadfoot 16:31
Reach down and grab them like that.
Don Mock 16:32
Makes sense.
Rob Broadfoot 16:33
We would get a ton of them. Then all the golfers would buy them. Because here’s these two kids selling used balls.
Don Mock 16:41
Yeah, that’s awesome.
Rob Broadfoot 16:42
We got kicked off all the time.
Don Mock 16:43
Really?
Rob Broadfoot 16:43
Oh, Yeah.
Don Mock 16:44
It’d be like, Ah, those rascals are back again.
Rob Broadfoot 16:46
But we would keep coming back. So that was fun.
Don Mock 16:50
I love that.
Rob Broadfoot 16:51
Yeah. and then I think I saw somewhere later in life. There was some ad. I think it was a printout I saw in Sports Illustrated, and it featured a guy who had turned that into a full-fledged business. I sued him.
Don Mock 17:06
No, you didn’t.
Rob Broadfoot 17:07
No, I didn’t.
Don Mock 17:07
It’s the titlist or whatever the fancy balls are, for half off. Because it’s already –
Rob Broadfoot 17:14
Oh yeah, way less than half off.
Don Mock 17:16
Yeah. Any other interesting, weird little jobs you had as a kid growing up? My story’s boring. I didn’t really have too many.
Rob Broadfoot 17:23
No, I mean, that was really it. It wasn’t… I wouldn’t even call that… that was a side hustle.
Don Mock 17:27
Yeah. That wasn’t a job.
Rob Broadfoot 17:29
That’s what the kids call a side hustle.
Don Mock 17:30
All right. Cool. Well, I think that’ll do it for today. How about that? Where can everybody find us, Mr. Roberto?
Rob Broadfoot 17:37
You can find us on online at mocktheagency.com, of course, and then all the socials, where all the kids are hanging out these days.
Don Mock 17:45
Oh, yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 17:46
And you can find us there of course @mocktheagency.
Don Mock 17:49
Cool. All right. Thanks, everybody.
Rob Broadfoot 17:50
All right. Bye.
Don Mock 17:51
Chat with you next time.
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