Dollond and Aitchison - Congratulations, You've Got the Job!

Dollond and Aitchison - Congratulations, You've Got the Job!

*special thanks to jay strange for this gem

Sometime back in the 1970s, if you were hired to be a receptionist at Dollond and Aitchison, a UK (United Kingdom) chain specializing in eye glasses and eye tests, you were given this record to listen to as your orientation to working for this company. A male narrator is your guide throughout this record which may or may not be interesting since you were most likely a young female if you had the job of receptionist back then. This narrator explains how customer service is done in the company and a little bit about the company's background. Several work situations are played out depicting examples of what not to do and how to correctly handle the situation.

I was told by jay that companies in the UK often made orientation records although most of them were 7 inches and very few 12-inch records were produced by companies. This is one of those 12-inch records. These records were made apparently before everybody could afford the technology to produce orientation videos which is the norm now.

The founding of Dollond and Aitchison dates all the way back to 1750(!) as a company founded by Peter Dollond as Dollond & Co. In 1927, Dollond & Co. merged with Aitchison & Co. which was founded by James Aitchison in 1889. In 2009, Boots Opticians merged with Dollond and Aitchison which Boots bought a controlling share in D&A. D&A/Boots are one of the four big companies that have around a 70% share in the eyeglasses and contact lenses market in the UK.

If it's cool to have vinyl now at least according to the hipsters, it would be cool if some enterprise produced an orientation to working on vinyl. That would send a message that the company is cool meaning the cool kids want to work there and/or buy its products and services. If I owned a company, that's what I would do. Forget the orientation video on DVD and VHS. Since I have been wearing glasses since childhood, of course, I would choose to own an optical company. (Now you can tell how this record resonates with me.) I know something about the glasses market and I am a customer of optical stores so I know the mindset of the customer base. Anyway, I think I need all the help I can get attracting the cool kids (to increase market share) since I am uncool and unhip. I bet this record once stodgy years ago is now cool.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Congratulations, You've Got the Job! {13:44}

Side 2

1. Congratulations, You've Got the Job! continued {13:13}

The Sanborn Singers - Sing Out for Free Enterprise

The Sanborn Singers - Sing Out for Free Enterprise

special thanks to KL from NYC for this LP; there's a few more coming from him

Most of the songs on this album are renditions of popular standards and folk tunes. A couple of the songs, "Recruit-Train-Motivate" and "What is Amway" are originals written by Jan Sanborn, one of the leaders of The Sanborn Singers. The songs are about Amway, whom Jan and her husband Fred work with as distributors or Independent Business Owners (IBOs) as they are referred to today. This LP was made primarily for Amway distributors in 1969 (the tenth anniversary of Amway) and thanks to the power of the Internet and the generous owner of this LP, a lot of you lucky visitors get to hear this album.

The liner notes give the background of Jan and Fred Sanborn and their work as professional musicians and Amway distributors:

Fred Sanborn and his all-Amway-Distributor Sanborn Singers are well-known to Amway Conventioneers. They sent the Convention sessions off to a brisk and enthusiastic start in '66 and '68 . . . and again for the Tenth Anniversary celebration.

Diamond Direct Distributors Fred and Jan Sanborn were active and successful professional musicians when they first heard about Amway. They were so intrigued that they invited "that Amway man" to their home and signed up that very evening.

KL has a recommendation on what to do with guests who just won't leave and some more info about this LP: "Recruit-Train-Motivate" is a march, which might be particularly good if you have guests that won't leave: just play it, jump into the living room with a carrot-stick microphone and start lip syncing (they'll either leave or want to buy soap from you). The fact that this is LP #993 means that there are more of these somehwere, which is frightening.

When I received a rip of this LP, I decided to do some research on the multi-level marketing company as I didn't know much about it or how its business operations work. I went to the company's website first. Then naturally like everyone else, I turned to that authoritative source of information, Wikipedia, as I was curious to see what had been written about the company. There is a lot of interesting stuff about the company. Rich DeVos along with the other founder of Amway and their network of IBOs sure are a scary bunch.

Here is another web page depicting the low down on the company.

These "rousing favorites" may inspire you to want to sell some soap or other beauty and home care products and make it to Diamond (or join a cult which is the same I suppose as I already said) so be cautious when listening.

Credits:
Arrangements and piano accompaniment - Jan Sanborn
Conducted by Fred Sanborn
Guitar accompaniment - Gordon Ross
The Sanborn Singers - Joan Birk, Kitty and Jerry Chappell, Jim and Marsha Agnor, Bob and Lois Stonelake, Ken Ross, Paul Wegeman, Bob and Ruth Wollter, Jan and Fred Sanborn, Edie Ross, Lois and Irv Edgerton, Roger and Ruth Krause


Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. The Sound of Music {0:46}

2. Medley: Everything's Coming Up Roses/Once in a Lifetime {2:37}

3. Recruit-Train-Motivate {2:50}

4. You're Gonna Hear From Me {2:26}

5. Blue Hawaii {2:49}

6. Folk Medley {6:06}

Side 2

1. What is Amway? {2:05}

2. Faraway Places {2:53}

3. Southern Medley {3:57}

4. Yankee Doodle {1:32}

5. People {2:45}

6. Patriotic Medley {2:58}