“Almost Free” is the self-styled nickname of a 22 year-old roving, Mexican, street vendor. His nickname is part of his patter while trying to interest tourists in stopping to look at his wares. His engaging smile, his reasonable command of English, and the arm load of necklaces makes Manuel, his real name, a welcome sight among the out door restaurants in Ixtapa.

We couldn’t help liking Almost Free, and so we bought some book mark souvenirs that he deftly braided for us. While his fingers were a blur creating the initialed bookmarks, we learned that Manuel only had an 8th grade education. That much education is free in Mexico, but more education costs money, money his parents did not have. He was wise to the ways of the restaurants. He knew they did not want him keeping us at their tables if we were finished, they had other customers waiting, so he moved us to the park benches while he finished his just in time manufacturing of souvenirs. We saw him a number of other times and he was always cheerful and remembered us. We teased him that we are “Almost Broke” so he didn’t push us to buy anything else.

My sense is that Manuel has both the basic intelligence and the motivation to get more out of school or additional training. He made me think of what a gift American kids have in free public school and many post graduate opportunities to learn as well. Next time I hear an American teenager say school is boring, I’ll think about Almost Free.

He also got me thinking about the opportunities we provide for our employees. Do we sometimes hear from our employees that “training is boring”? What can we do to help them appreciate the on-the-job learning opportunities many of our companies offer? From field training, on-line learning, to company sponsored seminars, to company paid tuition reimbursement programs, there are many opportunities to learn.
 
Next time I see employees complaining about another company learning opportunity, I might tell the story of Almost Free and perhaps we will all be more appreciative of our company sponsored learning opportunities. ~ Ric Hinkie, Consultant