Trap 2 (Men's Toilets)

Hey there,

I was in the men’s toilets of the Redfern Building, The Co-operative Group Manchester.

Trap 2 to be precise.

I have this weird memory for details like that - trust me that’s both a blessing and one heck of a curse when you get to my age.

It was 2003 and as a junior buyer I was probably pondering when ‘home time’ was or considering my fantasy football options*

_{*There were no smart phones in those days and Friends Reunited really was a big thing. My Space may have been about to launch too. So…in short I’m not sure how I was assessing my fantasy football options but you get the picture.}

And then I heard Steve at the urinals, much respected Senior Non-food buyer, utter the words that tainted my view of old school buyers like him forever…

_{By the way…today’s Wednesday rant series is proudly sponsored by the brilliant folk at Ironclad.}

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“I could push for a bigger Terms deal this year with Unilever, but that will just make it harder for me to get a terms improvement next year with them”. Steve said.

Steve was dead to me from that moment on.

Little did he know that while I’d been weighing up the merits of Juan Pablo Angel or James Beattie as my 2nd striker for my fantasy football team

I’d overheard his public urinal proclamation and had taken a very dim view

Why?

Because I don’t believe in sandbagging.

I don’t believe in massaging the deal to help pave the way for an easier next year.

To be clear, I don’t entirely blame Steve.

I’m quite sure that the pressure of working in the Co-op where delivering YOY terms uplifts were deemed more important than delivering cost savings back then, had conditioned him into this way of thinking.

But in every deal you get, you should strive for the best possible value, in the year, every year.

Jobs depend on it.

Don’t be like Steve,

And don’t spend too much time in office cubicles like I did back then.

Tom

P.S. I went for James Beattie and it was the right choice.

When you're ready, here are 2 more ways I can help that don’t involve toilet discussions:​ 👇🏽