You Have To Laugh, Even When It’s Not Funny

I recently visited a friend of mine in Los Angeles, a small business owner. He once drove a truck in the moving industry as a contractor, moving household goods from coast to coast. Over the last twenty years he has done well for himself; bought a warehouse, has over a million dollars worth of equipment and employs fifty-two people. Here’s the rub. He’s a staunch Republican and believes the Republican Party helped get him where he is today. What’s that have to do with anything? Let me tell you.

After a fine breakfast at a local café, one he goes to every morning, he headed into work. He was crestfallen, heavy with burden. You see, he’s resigned himself to the fact a Democrat won the election and understands why his state and federal taxes are going up, but his problem is this. He had made numerous cuts in all areas of his business, including cutting his own personal salary, and the burden was still too heavy. To compensate for the additional taxes and increased state fees, just current increases, he would have to raise his prices at least ten percent. Something he could not do with the dismal state of the economy. This meant he was going to have to do something he had never done before and didn’t know how to go about it. He was going to have to lay off some employees.

He confided in me how horrible he felt and told me these people had been with him since he started. They had been with him for years and he didn’t know what they would do with the way things were in California right now. He was lost and didn’t know how he could possibly choose which would stay and which would have to go. I gave him a little advise, something I had read, and this is what he did.

On the way in the building that morning, walking through the parking lot, he found ten Obama bumper stickers on ten employees’ cars, deciding those were the ones who would have to go. It was befitting, I couldn’t think of  better advise. After all, they voted for change, I guess they have it now. It seems to be a new movement around the country.