This Pert Truism Failed

My older daughter got in the car.  She was crying.  The haircut hadn’t gone well, to her reckoning.  I could honestly say: “I think you look great” which, of course, was utterly irrelevant.  “It’s sooo short!”  And again I could credibly point out that this wasn’t the case.  Her hair was still falling six inches or more beyond her shoulders  but she had no interest in hearing this and she cried. 

I asked a few more clarifying questions about whether or not she’d provided them with clear instructions.  “I told them to just layer it!”  My questions, pointless, I stated that sometimes people lose legs.  They don’t grow back.  This would all be fine.  And this pert truism failed to make any impact, either.  She cried.  We got home and she went upstairs to cry it out.

My wife was convinced this could have been avoided if I’d picked her up on time, but I was pretty clear that this was, like my earlier commentary,  irrelevant.  She and I discussed this when, after a trip to the local bank, we drove on ahead on to get some wine and groceries for dinner.  My wife wanted to go to Adams Fair Acre Farms.  I don’t usually think of business school cases as something to read for fun, but Adam’s would be an interesting one to peruse.  How did Adams survive and thrive all these years?

My grandmother used to shop at Adams.  It was the best market with farm produce and gardening necessities in the community.  Out of town on Route 44 it required a drive but only ten minutes or so.  Walking around inside they were certainly going strong.  Would a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s one day arrive in this community and crush poor Adams?  For now they remained the best choice in town, with no obvious competition and despite online shopping and the death of retail, Adams seemed to be blossoming.  We got some lettuce and avocados and the paper plates we’d been tasked to secure and checked out of Adam's.

Friday 7/27/18