Yummy Sandwich: Revisited

Due to a sudden rise in Google searches for “Yummy Sandwich” leading to my journal over the weekend, and a couple of sad attempts at revisionist spin in my comments section, let’s recap for the newcomers.

1) On May 20, 2004, I wrote about Yummy Sandwich’s Powerpoint presentation and it’s questionable use of “illegal immigrants” to promote their product. They had recently been brought in by the company I work for and a co-worker pointed me to the offending slide in the presentation.

2) On June 4, 2004, in a P.S. to an entry about the xenophobic Vernon Robinson, I noted that Yummy Sandwich had been given the boot by my company, officially because “[they] could not follow a consistent schedule when delivering their products.”

3) In the comments to the above entry, I later noted that Yummy Sandwich had quietly ammended their Powerpoint presentation and removed the offending reference to “illegal immigrants.” Case closed, as far as I was concerned.

4) Today, out of the blue, I get two comments to the May 20th entry defending Yummy Sandwich, claiming there was no such reference to “illegal immigrants” in their presentation and accusing me of “stirring a pot of nonsense” and “picking on small, growing companies.” Of course, today is June 27th, 23 days after I noted they’d removed it.

Dear Yummy Sandwich:

While I appreciate the traffic to my journal – be sure to check out www.kucinich.us if you’re really interested in creating an environment supportive of small businesses – I’d suggest there’s a better way to go about dealing with your ill-advised Powerpoint presentation. Coming clean and apologizing would, of course, be the most sensible route.

You might also want to update slide #2 in your presentation, the table of contents, as it still reflects the original order of your version before you removed slides #8-9, “Who is Yummy Sandwich,” which included the name of the marketing person I assume came up with the thing. You might consider “deleting” her altogether. The deleted slides have also shifted your menu out of place, by the way.

Generally speaking, I’d reconsider your overall approach to your business, as keeping people at their desks may be a great sell for the CEOs looking to “increase productivity,” but it’s those same employees that will make or break your business and many of them don’t take kindly to being taken for suckers, much less being told getting some fresh air during lunch is a waste of company time.

As I’m a big believer in small, growing companies, I wish you the best of luck in your efforts to establish yourselves. By most accounts, your sandwiches were in fact, yummy, but your marketing leaves a bad taste that can’t be overcome.

Sincerely,

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Bronx, NY

PS: Interestingly, variations on George Clooney’s tattoos in From Dusk til Dawn are the most popular search leading to this journal over the past month or so. Go figure!

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.

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