IT’S FIGGY TIME AGAIN

Finally! Finally we are having enough warm days in a row for my fig tree to ripen. I did a little preseason pruning with hopes of improving the yield and quality this year. The jury is still out on that one, but . . . the few figs that I have been able to glean are sweet, soft and succulent. There is another reason why I like fig season. I get another chance to visit my ex-wife. As I have written before, we had our disagreements but those always seemed to melt away when the figs finally ripened. Our personal favorite use for them was in Burnt Fig Ice Cream. Homemade. Yeah baby! This year I look forward to bringing her a large bagful of them, hugging her just a little longer than I would a dear friend, and lingering our goodbye way past the uncomfortable stage.  I like my ex-wife. Helluva woman. Just can’t live with her.

I wanted to write today in response to Anne Cardwell’s statement that she was leaving because Vallejo possesses a vocal minority which she feels is demoralizing staff. But unfortunately I have no story to share with you here. My public service albeit brief, was magnificently informative. Sitting on the Planning Commission offered me the opportunity to literally Hear people. That was my job, at each Public Hearing.  The concept of packaging a development project completely with no opportunity for adjustment or change well . . . never set well with me. That was the way of our previous City Manager. He changed the rules so that neither citizen nor commissioner’s voice would have any real opportunity to change the outcome.

Now granted, when I was a young waiter and cook, many of us often mused that our jobs would be so much easier without any customers. Almost all of us can relate to those uncomfortable feelings we get hearing the many pieces of unsolicited advice we receive right in the middle of a project. My initial reaction is to get my hackles up. “This is my project!” my inner voice says . . . sometimes my outer voice too.  I am opening a new coffee shop, did I tell you already? In Berkeley, on Telegraph at Ashby, across from the Whole Foods and around the corner from Alta Bates Hospital. I am very excited. I have been planning this for years. I honestly believe that I have taken almost every variable into consideration.  What I am really looking forward to is the challenge of proving myself. Here is a better one for you. Do you know what I am really looking forward to? I am looking forward to unsolicited advice. Yup, those pesky suggestions wrapped in the politest of terms, “May I offer an observation?” To which I look forward to responding, “Wow, I see your point. Let me think how I might be able to include that.”

Scott Page, Professor of Complexity, Social Science, and Management at the University of Michigan, and author of Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies tells us that, and I paraphrase, “The more input you receive, the better solution you will have . . . always.” It was not until I was passionately interrupted many times by a very bright woman that I began to realize that she was not intending on being rude. Not at all. What I realized is that she was just passionate about the topic that we were discussing. What I initially felt was lack of caring on her part was actually a compliment when I realized that my thoughts were inspiring hers. Her thoughts then inspired me and our conversation blossomed.

Look, public service is hard, just ask anyone in retail. And there will always be trolls. Why?

“Because it is much easier, as well as far more enjoyable, to identify and label the mistakes of others than to recognize our own.  . . . but we can benefit from the informed opinion of others.” Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner, author of Thinking Fast and Slow.

For those of us who choose to share our opinions freely, it is incumbent on us to be informed and more importantly, to remember that others can mistake our passionate love of sharing for rude behavior.

As for City staff, I know that you work very hard and are just trying to do the job that Council has asked of you.  But you made the decision to work retail . . . Retail Politics. Complaints come with the territory and hopefully you too will be able get to a place where you can say, “Wow, I see your point. Let me think how I might be able to include that.” Why? Because we need you.

Until Next Time,

Tommy Judt

p.s. Love me some figgy season.