Fostering Innovation

38Professionalism Isn't Just Wearing a Suit

Although she deprived me of kindergarten, my mother went out of her way to teach me please and thank you. She made me write thank-you notes and say hello and good-bye to my friend's parents when I visited their homes. But one thing I missed out on growing up was eating in restaurants. As Italians, we believed eating “out” meant inferior food at a higher cost. What's the point in that?

This lack of restaurant experience led to two embarrassing moments for me: the first incident occurred at senior prom, and the second while I was working at Jo-Ann Stores. My prom dinner with a date and two other couples was going okay until there was a problem with the check. Being a cool customer, I called the waitress over and said, “There's a problem with this check. We were charged for gratuity, and none of us ordered the gratuity.” Trying not to laugh, she explained that gratuity means tip, and the restaurant always added that in for parties of six or more. It was a new vocabulary word for me. In my defense, we never had gratuity at home. Isn't that French?

If that's not embarrassing enough, my next opportunity to make a fool of myself came when I was the director of applications for Jo-Ann Stores in 1998. We were at dinner with a large group, and I was seated next to Betty Rosskamm. Mrs. Rosskamm is Jo-Ann royalty. She's the daughter of the co-founders and the mother of then-CEO Alan Rosskamm. She also worked at the company. It was a prix fixe ...