Last week, Ralph Nader made an appearance at The Bookstore to promote his new book: Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us, in which Warren Buffet organizes the sixteen other wealthiest people in the world to put their assorted riches into saving the planet. During his talk, he described it as a sort of “anti-Ayn Rand.”

I was assigned to “work” the event — what this usually means is standing on the perimeter of the seating (which, for the event, was standing room only), and when the speaking is over, helping the line of people waiting for their books to be signed move quickly. I got to do other “fun” stuff, too: like getting Mr. Nader & his assistant coffees when they arrived, and then walking them out after everything.

The night was pretty hectic — our elevator is out of commission, and an older woman almost fell down the stairs. Our regional marketing manager caught her, and after the event, one of our service managers took a whole bunch of people back to the main level via the building’s service elevator. Another woman, who apparently missed our repeated pre-event announcements to buy the book before hand was furious that we didn’t have a register downstairs.

(Funny story: we do, in fact, have a register downstairs, but it’s almost never got a till in it, and very few people actually know it’s there. As the line died down, I rang a few people up there.)

Going back to the event, though, there’s one thing Nader said that really stuck with me. A member of the audience made a comment about the laziness and apathy of civil servants, and Nader held up his hand and (obviously, I’m paraphrasing): “As a consumer advocate, I’ve worked with a lot of civil servants, and I can tell you that most of them are very knowledgeable and passionate about their jobs, when provided with leadership. But the situation is that most of their management are just so awful that they lose all faith, and they’re just showing up putting in their time until they retire.”

I think that resonates beyond just government jobs — I think it’s true of any job. When you’ve got inane, stupid management, the rank-and-file stop giving a hoot and just start being a warm body in the office or the bookstore or wherever. Clue in, management. Empower your employees.

Introducing our barista to Mr. Nader after the event, I called him “Ralph”, and he later thanked me by name, and I realized: hey, I’m on a first name basis with Ralph Nader.

Anyway, so here we are:

I don’t know why I’m not smiling. I thought I was, but it was a very long night. I’m not surprised he wasn’t, he seemed pretty tuckered out. And, yes, I did buy a copy of his book. He signed and personalized it:

To Jeff XXXXXX – Imagine! – Ralph Nader