April 2014 Faces of Freedom 1 | Page 2

Letter from the Editor In This Issue: Letter from the Editor 1 Epic April Fools’ 1 Bowtie Bandits 2 WOW 2 Life is Good 3 Professional Growth 4 Eric April Fools’ April 1, 1998 Burger King published a full advertisement in USA Today announcing a new item to their menu: “Left-Handed Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper. However, the lefthanded whopper had “all condiments rotated 180 degrees, thereby redistributing the weight of the sandwich so that the bulk of the condiments will skew to the left, thereby reducing the amount of lettuce and other toppings from spilling out the right side of the burger.” Jim Watkins, Senior Vice President for Marketing at Burger King, was quoted saying that the new sandwich was the “ultimate ’HAVE IT YOUR WAY’ for our lefthanded customers.” The following day, Burger King issues a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. What creative ways can you think of to celebrate April 1st with your customers and coworkers what would be fun, safe, and memorable? Diamond is the April birthstone. It is a well known fact that it is also the most expensive gem. Why is that? Because it is very valuable. Value is so important in our industry. Your customer’s decision is based on whether they see value in your product. It is also based on whether they see value in your service as well. Keep that in mind. Each time you serve a customer, internal or external, hold yourself to the diamond standard. WOW your customer with the most valuable product and service. When you achieve the diamond standard, your customer will come back for more. After all, diamonds are forever. 1