The Truth About Teal

I helped chaperone Delia’s class trip to a very special campus,Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. (www.guidedogs.com) The kids, and lots of the adults too, were thrilled to see dozens of darling puppies. Though exceedingly soft, these are no ordinary dogs. Each is in training to become a lifelong assistance dog for a blind person. When they are ready, they are matched with the future owner, who stays at the school for hands-on learning. There’s no cost to the person receiving the dog, and the only requirement is that the recipient be able to take good care of the dog. We toured the dorm, a very pleasant place with vases of fragrant flowers and, we were told, excellent food. The designer in me wondered why the common areas were decorated in a 1980’s teal, so the never-shy Maddie decided to ask. Well, turns out that when a person is losing vision, teal is the last color they are able to see. Wow! I’ll always remember that. I learned some other things too. The dogs we saw were retrievers and golden or black labs, and a few German Shepards. Why no brown labs? They are goofy and untrainable! I can’t wait to tell our friends who just got a brown lab puppy. Good luck with that, James and Katherine! And, importantly, we learned to always ask permission before petting a guide dog. Even though they look like pets, they are on the job. I’ll definitely come back with Andrew when he’s old enough to visit.

Speaking of teal, or what I call “conflagrant turquoise,” I got a country club client to make a big change and by doing so, made many groundskeepers and restaurant staff very happy. It started with another golf event. (This one without a driving incident, thank you very much!) As I am easily distracted, my focus was impeded by spots of day-glo teal on the fairway, near the ponds, in the woods – everywhere! It was annoying, and I’m sure it was the reason for my poor score. Later, over lunch, more of the teal targets darted around the dining room. I couldn’t take it! I decided to gauge employee discontent by commenting to several of the staff on “how easy they were to see.” I learned that they hated the shirts as much as I did. The next day, I called and set up a meeting with the General Manager. It helped that I had just golfed there and had wonderful things to say about the course and the well-crafted Bloody Marys. I had samples, and I had the well being of his employees (in mind). The teal story came as no surprise. The company he had contracted with had wanted to move that color (which it had stocked since the “80’s?!) OUT, so the club got a deal they couldn’t refuse. I shared the Red House philosophy, and the G.M. agreed that a sophisticated elegance was the look the country club wanted to encourage. You should have seen the glee on the workers faces when I delivered the shirts – Double Mercerized Polos (RH04 – Men’s; and RH05 - Women’s.) The groundskeepers, kitchen and bar employees now wear universally flattering shades: Shell for the women, and Sand for the men. I gave the manager a follow-up call a few days later, and he said they were very happy with their Red House shirts, though a few members complained that it’s harder to identify the staff. Well, I can’t please everyone, but I did please many!