Workplace Training and Safety: Lessons from James Comey and Lake Milk

If one of our WOTP students caused a workplace accident, what would their “employer” say or do? Would the student be rebuked, or maybe even lose the work placement? How would you respond, as a teacher, job coach, principal or technician? Would the focus be on the student’s poor judgment, the potential safety issues, or the inconvenience to the employer?

Over the summer, I read James Comey’s book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership (Flatiron Books, 2018). Of course, you’ll recognize James Comey as the guy who was, very publicly and unceremoniously, fired as the Director of the FBI by Donald Trump. Comey’s book is fascinating, with “behind the scenes” insights into Washington politics and anecdotes about his working relationships with the last three U.S. Presidents. The book describes many examples of strong leadership during difficult and high-stakes circumstances.

After school job at the supermarket

For me, however, one of the most interesting anecdotes in the book doesn’t involve politics or newsworthy names. Instead, I was struck by a compelling story that Mr. Comey shares about his after-school job at a local supermarket when was 16 years old. His responsibilities had recently been upgraded from stocking shelves in the paper products section to stocking the dairy case:

“This was the big leagues. I pulled open the huge door to the dairy cooler in the far rear of the building to retrieve gallons of milk. They stood in tall stacks, four gallons to a plastic crate. . . . I grabbed a hand truck and began loading it with crates. Overconfident rookie that I was, I made it a big stack of six crates – holding twenty-four gallons of milk. My mother would have called it a “lazy man’s load”. I tilted the two-wheeled hand truck back, noting the impressive weight, and made my way out of the cooler, pushing my right shoulder into the back of the hand truck, left hand on top of the stack. I banged through the swinging back-room doors and rolled along the dairy display cases. The weight was making me go faster and faster, so I took quick steps to keep the stack from falling back on me. At the milk display case, I stopped abruptly and pushed the hand truck hard upright, heedless of the basic laws of physics. The universe and the milk, of course, were not heedless.

When I stopped short and heaved the hand truck upright, the crates kept going, momentum conserved, and fell like a towering tree in the very direction I had been pushing them before I stopped short. The tree of plastic crates hit the floor, hard. Instantly, the tops of those paper gallons burst open in unison, dumping more milk in one place than I had ever seen before. A twenty-four-gallon lake of milk began spreading along the dairy case and down the cereal, canned goods, and international foods aisles. It was a catastrophe beyond words.”

Handling workplace accidents

Whoops. Any guesses as to what happened next, when the store manager walked around the corner and saw that impressive lake of milk? If one of our WOTP students caused a similar accident, what would their “employer” say or do? Would the student be rebuked, or maybe even lose the work placement? How would you respond, as a teacher, job coach, principal or technician? Would the focus be on the student’s poor judgment, the potential safety issues, or the inconvenience to the employer?

Compassionate leadership

Here’s how Mr. Comey’s supervisor, Harry, responded:

 “I was minutes into mopping when Harry appeared. He stood on the far side of Lake Milk, hands on hips, careful not to get any on his wing tips. After an eternity of admiring the lake, he asked, ‘Have you learned something?’

            ‘Yes, sir,’ I replied.

            ‘Good,’ he answered. ‘Clean it all up.’ And he walked away. 

I was too young to see it clearly, but, at sixteen, I was getting a look at great leadership. I knew I wanted to be more like Harry than the kids who tormented me on the playground. And maybe Harry was open enough to see that about me. Maybe he even instinctively knew what school was like for me, that I was a kid just trying to fit in somewhere and be something.”

Prevention through safety and workplace training

Safety training and thorough work placement preparation and supervision will (hopefully!), prevent most Lake Milk-type accidents during the upcoming WOTP year. Students should always be properly trained before taking on any new task at their work placements. Even so, we all know that impulsive young people, who are trying to prove themselves and figure out where they “fit in” at school and at work, can easily create their own sticky situations.

It’s important to demonstrate compassionate leadership and patient guidance.”

When “Lake Milk”-type incidents occur, it’s important that our responses demonstrate Harry’s compassionate leadership, as we patiently guide our students in repairing the damage and learning that the basic laws of physics always apply.

Marsha, Michilynn, and I all wish you a very successful and SAFE year!

Contributed by
Ingrid Hove Gust
WOTP Project Development Officer