En route to meeting a client at the San Mateo County Law Library for DSBE's Legal Services division, I stopped off at the K-Mart at 1155 Veteran's Boulevard to make a purchase and visit Joe at rePLANET's facilty on the property.

 

It was good to see Joe after all these months and to update him on CRV recycling in East Palo Alto.  As well, it was good to see KMart's parent corporation, Sears, and Kaiser Permanente had implemented a suggestion I had made to them as DSBE's VP & General Manager of ... it should have been Real Estate Services division, but that did not exist then.  I think I spoke as VP & GM of Advertising and Sales Consulting division when I wrote, or maybe as President & CEO of DSBE.

 

It doesn't matter which title I used, the signature and soul's one.  The structure's ambitiously created for future hiring and to outlive me as "information architecture in a business organization" if you'd like.  Right now, all the titles reduce to me, whom DSBE cannot afford to hire.  It fact, it chisels me whenever it can -- and I encourage it like a proud parent nurturing its child's fighting spirit.

 

The suggestion to Sears Holding Corporation was essentially for Kaiser to pay for the fact their employees kept using KMart's parking lot without paying a cent -- a parking lot Sears owns.

 

It had been interfering with rePLANET's business, and was something Joe and I would speak of, so I decided to write letters about it.  Otherwise, what was the point of talking?  It was to reinforce our good relationship, and to formulate an effective attack of the problem.

 

Evidently, they were considered, and followed through on: a corner of KMart's parking lot is now fenced off as Kaiser's with notices other cars will be towed.

 

It made good business sense for Sears to get into the parking lot business as they were underutilizing the vast tract of land they own surrounding their KMart store on Veterans Boulevard in Redwood City.  Kaiser, on the other hand, had overbuilt just across the street without allowing for a sufficient number of parking spaces in its garages.

 

No one from either Kaiser nor Sears nor KMart thanked me for my obviously valuable suggestion.  That's human avarice for you, which is why I insist DSBE be as thankful as it is aggressive . But it was heartwarming to see my good advice on the corporation's behalf followed, even if it went uncredited.  For it suggests clients may one day actually pay for DSBE's advice, and it will be well-regarded.

 

Within my lifetime preferrably.