Treat People with Respect

I worked for an amazing manager during my time at Dal-Tile in Texas. Wayne treated people with respect, cared for them personally, and was true to his word.

We were working in an extremely difficult situation. Our responsibility was to ensure our manufacturing and mining sites were compliant and safe in all of their activities. Historically, they were minimally compliant. We had an environmental, safety, and health department that was difficult to work with, to say the least. They made our work challenging and we had to establish trust with our manufacturing and mining facilities.

One of our responsibilities was to manage our mining resources and deal with issues as they arose. We mined clay and talc in various properties all over the country. One such property was located in Mississippi and was adjacent to a property owned by an elderly lady named Miss Anna Belle. We needed to negotiate a right of way with her, so that our equipment could go through her property to get to the mining site.

My boss was told there was no way that Miss Anna Belle was going to let us have the rights to drive on her property. Many had tried, but there was a “Hatfield vs. McCoys” vibe going on in the area. This meant she viewed any outsider as the enemy and didn’t get along with her neighbors. Those neighbors were willing to let us establish a right of way, but at a much more significant cost than what would be reasonable.

So, Wayne decided to try his hand at getting to know Miss Anna Belle. He took a trip to the site and decided to spend time with her and understand the situation from her perspective. His approach worked and it wasn’t long before she signed the contract for the right of way. From time to time, he would visit her to make sure she was doing well and that our equipment stayed on the correct part of the property.

We joked with Wayne that Miss Anna Belle was his girlfriend and that his southern charm was what won the contract with her. He seemed to genuinely care about her. I was about to find out just how much.

Wayne took me with him on a trip to a number of our mining sites around Mississippi. One day, he said he wanted to stop in and see Miss Anna Belle. I couldn’t wait to meet his “girlfriend.” We knocked on the door, and after about two minutes, a lady, probably in her 80’s met us at the door. When she saw Wayne, her eyes lit up. He was glad to see her too. She wasn’t in the best of health and looked quite frail.

Wayne introduced me, and Miss Anna Belle offered to get us some lemonade. How could we say no? Wayne asked her about her son, a long-haul truck driver, and knew a lot about her family and her situation. She shared many stories and told me how much she appreciated Wayne and that he always kept his word. Everyone used her right of way as agreed and she had no complaints. When we got up to leave, she gave Wayne a hug and thanked him for being such a gentleman.

I learned a lot working for Wayne. He taught me to treat people with respect and never go back on your word. When you genuinely care for people, good things happen.