For Thursday, July 6, 2000                                           Drummer Column, Gibbs, 736 words

 

 

 

Krispy Kreme gets around

 (part II)

 

     Allow me, please, to continue my story from last week…

     So there I was in Charlotte, North Carolina, walking through the lobby of the Omni Hotel with three dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts (minus 6) and wearing a Krispy Kreme hat looking for members of our Benicia educational contingency that had flown to Charlotte last week for a convention on databasing schools. I was getting long, goop-eyed stares from the other conventioneers and conventionettes from around the country who were reclining in the lobby after a heavy day of lectures.

     I found one lone Benician, Mike Becker, still in a meeting, and gave him his first Krispy Kreme doughnut. I didn't stay to watch his expression as he was seated at a table with about ten other people whom I did not offer doughnuts to for they had cost me nearly $60 once I factored in the cost of the cab ride and hat. I intended to go to my room and eat myself into a sugar and yeast-induced coma.

     On my way back to the elevator, I passed by a table of four people who were the presenters of the conference. "Oh, Krispy Kreme!" someone said, as they saw my three doughnut boxes held proudly up by my right ear. "I've heard about them."

     As these fine people had been so generous as to reward us with this lovely trip to Charlotte, and all this free software, and had given me the opportunity to taste my first Krispy Kreme doughnut, I stopped and offered them all a taste. The lobby airwaves filled with the ethereal sighs of um and ah and yum, yum, yum as the Krispy Kreme doughnuts melted on their grateful tongues. Oh, they thanked me profusely, and I ran to my room before they could beg for more.

     Now, as it turns out, Derek, the master of ceremonies, was not at the table at the time. His employees later told him about the Krispy Kreme doughnuts from Heaven that he had missed because he was off doing his job somewhere. He was jealous. He, too, had been bitten by the Krispy Kreme mystique, but had never had the opportunity to bite into a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

     So, the next morning, with about 120 people in the conference room, and Derek on the stage, microphone clipped to his lapel, ready to begin the second phase of our training, one of his assistants called from the back of the room, "Derek, since you've been so good today, we're going to make sure you get some doughnuts."

     Derek called out through his microphone, "Make sure they are Krispy Kreme doughnuts."

     Like a chain reaction, people at every table began exclaiming and murmuring, "Krispy Kreme? Krispy Kreme! Oh, Krispy Kreme. I too want Krispy Kreme doughnuts."

     At our first break, as I sat in the lobby resting with my fellow Benicia representatives -- Joanne Haukland, Rhea Zaks, Mary Delaney Dunn, Mike Becker, and Bob Palous -- the young lady assistant came up to us with a clipboard. She said, "I'm taking orders for Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Would you like some?"

     We gladly ordered a dozen and she moved on to the next group, taking requests from everyone. Then some fine person rolled off in a cab and returned with about a dozen dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts and passed them around. All the conventioneers that day were turned onto Krispy Kreme and later returned to their homes to spread the word, some traveling as far away as Alaska.

     What started as a personal passion of mine to sample my first KK doughnut, after owning stock in the company for two months and purchasing an entire wardrobe of KK promotional clothing, had turned into a convention-wide Doughnut Happening.

     On the last day of the convention, as we were sitting in front of the Omni waiting for our airporter bus to arrive, out the door came Derek, the man behind the plan, the man responsible for inviting us all to Charlotte and training 15 school districts on the use of QSP, Quality School Portfolio software. He was on his way to Chicago for another training session. He was toting all his crucial possessions -- his luggage, his laptop computer, his QSP handbooks, the ladybug umbrella he had bought for his niece, and a fresh box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

     Together, we all make the world a better place to live.