By Adam Turteltaub
adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org
There’s a part of me that feels bad for toaster ovens. They were once the stars of convenience cooking, able to not just toast, but replace much larger ovens, so long as you knew their limitations.
When my mother brought our first one home, it was a mini miracle and a reheating wonder. Foods that no one would go to the trouble of reheating, soon were snatched from the fridge, to live again on our plates, perfect as an afterschool snack.
Soon, though, the microwave stole the wow factor away, with its blistering speed and fan that roared like a miniature jet turbine. It had a mystique as well: it was too expensive for college students and many others, making it something to aspire to.
When my roommate brought one to our dorm room my senior year in college, we were the envy of our peers.
Then the price for microwaves started coming down, everyone bought one, and the toaster oven tended to fall into a supporting role. While it was far better at toasting, and reheating some things – French fries notably – it no longer had the same panache.
Today, the sales of the toaster oven are dwarfed by the microwave, but the toaster oven labors on, serving quietly but efficiently as a supporting actor, no longer a star.
We can learn from the toaster oven. Just because something is sexy and new and all the rage, doesn’t mean that older technology no longer has a purpose. Online training now rules the roost, but there are some times when face to face still is necessary.
Helplines, both via phone and the web, grab the limelight, but knowing how to respond when someone walks into your office with an issue is still mightily important.
In short, some of the old skills and techniques, like toaster ovens, are still of great value.
So embrace the new, but don’t needlessly discard the old. And I’ll take my toast golden brown, please.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t Cry for Toaster Ovens” quote=”Don’t Cry for Toaster Ovens” theme=”style3″]
Toaster ovens give feedback (i.e., “golden brown”) that microwaves simply can’t provide (i.e., bubbling on the outside, frozen on the inside). That personal touch is how we really find out what people understand. One’s a broad brush, which is fantastic. The other digs a little deeper. Oops, mixed metaphors. (Maybe that’s because we often have our microwave and toaster oven going at the same time at our house… Just sayin’s all…)
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