Humor… enjoy your business and your customers will too - April 2004
Turk speaks of value of hiring disabled
By Amy Jo Brown of the East Oregonian
PENDLETON- "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful," advised Roger Turk, a Portland resident and businessman in Pendleton Tuesday night, speaking to a group of more than 50 local employers.
Turk, owner of a travel agency and a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, suffers from muscular dystrophy, a disease that results in the gradual loss of muscular functions. It first affected him when he was 17-years-old, standing on first base in a baseball game, about to steal second.
"All of sudden, I couldn't run," he said.
The disease worsened over the next nine years before he was finally diagnosed. Yet he said he was still able to accomplish a number of his dreams and be a success in business.
Turk's speech was sponsored by the Community Action Program of East Central Oregon, a community organization located in Pendleton that helps find work for senior citizens, the disabled and housing for low-income Umatilla county residents.
In the last year and a half, the organization has received a number of grants to help people with disabilities find jobs, said Dawn Salsbery, its director. More than 40 county residents have been helped so far, and Tuesday night's event was meant to be further outreach to the local business community.
A panel of speakers from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Wal-Mart Distribution Center and the Wildhorse Resort and Casino all talked about hiring people with disabilities and the positive effects it has had on their bottom line.
Turk offered inspiration - and plenty of humor.
"Years of fighting my disease and my inner critic turned me into a pessimist," he said. "Then I learned that there was nothing wrong with being a pessimist. It's not illegal. It's not immoral. And what would the world look like if everyone was an optimist?"
Lon Sitto, the minister of music for the Grace Baptist Church in Hermiston, said he thought Turk's speech was very good. Sitto, who is blind, started a job at the state Department of Human Services last week. He said he is learning the programs right now, but hopes to become a front desk receptionist.
"I just think it's wonderful that people are realizing more and more that people with disabilities can make an impact and further their businesses," he said.
Rob Johnson, site director for Sykes in Milton-Freewater, said he, too, enjoyed the evening. His business is already open to the idea of employing people with disabilities, he said. "In our case it's a natural fit," he said. "People with limited abilities can do the job." Johnson said he expects to hire another 50 or so employees in the next month or two.
The following excerpt is part of an article published by the Oregon Restaurant Association ("Main Ingredient," April 2004) to promote the 2004 Northwest Foodservice Show at which Roger was a featured speaker.
Humor… enjoy your business and your customers will too
Fun… it is one of the words that best describe the experience of touching, smelling, hearing, tasting and seeing the endless offerings of the Northwest Foodservice Show. It also clearly defines the feeling that food and beverage service customers are seeking when they visit your restaurant. So, once you’ve placed your orders, updating your business with the products and services essential to your success, don’t forget to implement them with tasteful dose of humor.
"In a business where you have direct contact with your customers," said The Punchline owner Roger Turk, “humor is particularly important. Restaurant leaders–owners and managers—are directly responsible for that… if the staff has a bad attitude the dining experience will be awful.”
Turk became convinced of the power of humor in the workplace as a lieutenant colonel in the military and then as the 25-year owner of a travel agency in King City, Oregon. “Applying humor to my own management skills helped me to procure accomplishment in my careers,” mused Turk. “In retrospect I began to wonder why so many other successful professionals are really funny people on the golf course, but when they’re at work or giving a speech they can be pretty dry and boring… why is that?”
Through his speaking business The Punchline, Turk has been traveling the Northwest instilling the value of humor in business. He will give a seminar on the topic at the Foodservice Show that includes “… ‘Eight Ways to Give Humor a Try.’ It has to do with tips on how to make people laugh with information on style, surprise, storytelling and more,” said Turk. “Humor is an attitude, a flair, a sense of enjoyment and looking at yourself and the world around you in a fun way.”
This article written by Jennifer Pick and is reprinted here with permission.