Good news or bad news? You decide
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, February 27, 2006
Many people think you've got to have thick skin to work in the media. After 30 years in the business, my view is that you develop an enduring layer of epidermis over time as a byproduct of reporting news. If someone is mentioned in a negative story, they usually are unhappy with the story and the people reporting it. If they are part of a positive story, they love you.
And now for the real headline: The media doesn't make up the stories (good or bad). It simply reports them. And develops a collective thick skin.
Here's a quick look at some recent industry-related stories in the general press, where furniture sometimes is scrutinized in a less-than-flattering light.
Consumer Reports reportted that one in five dressers it tested failed the American Society for Testing and Materials tip-over standards. The report correctly noted that in an average year, nine kids, typically under 5 years old, die when household furniture tips over on them, and that another 8,000 to 10,000 people, primarily children, are hurt the same way.
Another negative story that got press concerned the Better Business Bureau and its list of Top 10 complaints. I guess the good news is that furniture stores weren't at the very top of the list. The not-so-good news, however, was that with 14,553 consumer complaints, furniture stores garnered the No. 3 spot.
Now, just to prove there's good news in furnitureland, did you read the story picked up by the Associated Press about Joshua Vannoy, a high school honors student who had to take an exam sitting on the floor because he wore a Denver Broncos jersey?
Seems like Joshua, an over-the-top Broncos and John Elway fan, came to school two days before the Steelers played the Broncos wearing his Broncos jersey emblazoned with Elway's No. 7. His teacher (a Steelers fan?) didn't like it.
Word somehow reached Bassett, and they immediately sent Joshua a recliner that is part of the company's Elway collection. Bassett said Elway heard the story and decided, "No Broncos fan should have to sit on the floor."
So, what's the moral to this story? There's news, good and bad. You decide which category you end up in.
