Last Commented Business Blogs (303)

I was in multi-tasking mode today. Lots of interruptions. More than any normal Monday.
Working hard to close a deal, I sent revised drawings and prices to a client Friday so she and her husband can review. The call came early with 4 important requests... something that would take an hour or so got started several times, but I had to resolve a few emergency complaint requests. I got back on it around 7pm and worked a few more complaints until 7:50pm when my wife summoned me to head home. Here it is 10:50pm and I'm taking a few minutes to digest dinner, do a blog and get back to work to finish what I planned to do this morning.
I'm getting good at resolving complaints but not good at getting any of my work done.

A bad one I want to keep distance on is an order that took 2 weeks to process and the factory acknowledged 8 weeks to complete. Their acknowledgement isn't accurate as they are running 2 weeks behind, so that makes a total of (counts on fingers and toes) 12 weeks when the salesman told the customer 8 weeks.
They (the clients) are 'freaking out' as they sold their previous unit and won't have a working kitchen or bath when they move into the new place. The client is angry and doesn't want to talk to the salesman... he want's a 'higher-up' to call (clears throat) and that would be me, but since I know nothing about the order I'm expecting the factory to make some changes and complete the order on the acknowledgement date.

I thought by going home the complaint desk would be closed. My boss texted me to complain about something else that needs to be resolved tonight.

That said... The complaint desk is now open!

I'm shopping for a condo and called the realtor from one of the listings I'm interested in. She apologized as the property was sold and neglected to notify the website to remove the ad.
File this under unprofessional laziness.

Some realtors have other listings and bait people with really good ones that just happen to have been sold... but if you are interested, they have others that are somewhat more expensive than the one that hooked you in.
File this under deceptive sales tactics.

I'm coming up on the anniversary to a promotion I received 2 years ago that I really didn't want.

The plan was that I would leave sales and create an order processing department where none existed. For years, salesmen for the company would each turn their orders directly to our vendors with no verification by our company. It would be my responsibility to oversee these orders for missing details and to verify the prices and engineering standards were correct. Service was overwhelmed by the mistakes on orders and delays for installations due to incomplete drawings. Eliminating problems up-front is the only solution to survival. We didn't need more servicemen, we needed less service problems.

Before that job assignment took place, a salesman from another division announced retirement and my manager was promoted to his position. In doing so, he hired a replacement and spent three months training the guy... although the new guy was a people person with retail cabinet experience, his engineering and computer skills were sorely lacking. This forced a burden that was holding me from the transition to the processing manager position. There were other circumstances I wasn't privy to, but the new guy got bounced out and the next day I was told his position was eliminated... I was being promoted to fill the gap with the title of sales manager.

Strangely, all my coworkers congratulated me for the new position and started treating me as though I was the general manager, service manager, HR manager... and all important answer-man. It was weeks of denying I was anything above a single rung on the ladder, I became the traffic cop telling people who in the company 'did what' which was really surprising as though there had been a shift in geometry. We actually have people assigned to those positions for questions I was being asked!

We are really understaffed and my analogy to the situation is a busy restaurant Maitre d' running back to the kitchen to prepare meals as there is only one chef and no available kitchen help. I'm not liking it. I hired (or assisted in the hire of) 3 people but training them is time consuming. Sometimes it's easier to fix their mistakes than sending the work back for them to correct it.

The position is a 'dumping ground' to fix anything that didn't get done correctly for all departments. Staying focused and goal oriented takes a back seat to a few emergencies per hour keeping me from my actual duties.

You can quote me on this:
"Don't always trust the advice of someone who has a vested interested in the decisions you make."
Typically, it's someone trying to sell you something. Eons ago, I recall an episode with an insurance salesman who made a commission for a policy that wasn't right for me.

One of the worst things about computers & cellphones are updates. There is absolutely too much lost time waiting for updates... especially with Windows 10 and their forced updates.
I have a laptop I often carry with me on sales presentations. I turned it on at a meeting once and it went into an update. My presentation was over (without the use of the laptop) and it was still doing updates. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE in business.

Between home, home office and remote office, I'm running several desktop computers on Windows 7. I was able to buy a few refurbished computers that I keep in storage. In the event one of my main computers fails, I have some W7 computers for backup.

I do have a few running Windows 10 and know at some point I'll have to abandon the older ones when support of W7 is no longer available.


Last year, I retired my 4 year old Samsung cellphone. I had a replacement warrantee plan and whenever one malfunctioned they would send out a refurbished model. The screen lifted on one I liked and the replacement was in worse condition. They couldn't get it to boot... it was DOA and I had to wait another week for the replacement of the replacement. They told me parts were no longer available for that model and the service center must have been cannibalizing other phones to make replacements.
That was the reason for buying their newest model. I've lost count of the number of times it forced updates. Thankfully, I'm able to stall a few updates... email app for example. There aren't significant changes that would justify updating it.

I'm running Firefox and heeded the notification my browser was outdated. I did an update and 10 minutes later I received another similar notification. This went on a few times and the last update has changed Yahoo's opening screen... yeah, those bastards have added code that allows a drop down banner I'm unable to block.

When it comes to 'getting the update' I'm not interested.

I heard an advertisement on the radio last week that said the newest way to get around delays and TSA inspections is to join their flight club and charter your own private jet.

South Florida has many private airports, some within 20 miles of each other.

I thought private jets were only for Rock Stars and ultra wealthy businessmen. Obviously, times have changed. Pull up at the gate of an airport, show some ID for clearance, drive to the plane and unload from the trunk of your vehicle directly to airplane waiting to whisk you to your destination.

Just like you see in the movies... no waiting. Just go. On your arrival, no waiting. Just get in your taxi that's waiting and off you go.

Flush when you are done. If you see skid marks, flush again.
A local morning radio talk show had people call in tell the most annoying things about their coworkers. They OVERWHELMINGLY said their coworkers neglected to flush the toilet when they were done with their business.

Before heading to the office, I checked my corporate email yesterday morning and received a message from a client who was asking about receptacle outlets on a kitchen island.

(side note: I'm in the kitchen business)

Yes, they are required by local code. Although most customers don't want holes cut in their cabinetry, it's not my choice. If the electrician needs cutouts made, we do it as a service. Point where you want the holes cut and we make it. The liability is on the electrician and not the cabinet guy.

The husband wanted them on the back side where they are obscured by chairs. That's bending the rules... will it pass inspection? I don't know. Ask the electrician.

What I do know is, the message titled 'quick question' involved several back-and-forth emails and three phone calls. I'm not done... now I have to revise the drawing that we all reviewed last week.

More than an hour yesterday was spent dealing with my client's 'quick question'.

Finally! I've procrastinated on opening a US dollar bank account in Canada as I had two US accounts, one business, one personal. As those two accounts served me well, I didn't see the point in opening another account in Canada that would charge me fees. The two US accounts didn't charge any fees at all.

I'd opened the US business account back in 2004 with no problems. Never any overdrafts or issues with it. I used that account to purchase my US supplies and it's been a very handy account. Paypal and Amazon deposited funds into my account and they were declared on my Cdn income.

Well, new bank laws and my US bank supposedly informed me via letter, which I have never received, that I required a US business license to have a US business account or they would close my account. Nice that I never got that letter. I'd been to the bank twice to get this straightened out, and at no time did they tell me that they were closing my account on the 16th of July.

So I drive two hours to where the closest bank is on Monday to sort everything out, and they've already closed my account and a cheque for the funds will be in the mail. What?! Why can't I have the funds right now and close the damn thing out. Nope, bureaucratic bs, they'll mail the damn cheque on the 24th.

I asked who they were mailing the check to, the business or me personally? They didn't know, and I said, well, if you mail it to the business, how am I supposed to cash it with no bank account? With a lot of folderol, they finally agreed to cash it when I receive it, which means ANOTHER two hour drive to their bank. I've never seen or heard of such poor service in my entire life. Not once did they tell me that I needed to get my money out by the 16th in either of my visits and that they were closing my account regardless.

So I checked into getting a US business license, despite the fact that I don't actually do business in Washington. All my business is conducted online, including purchasing the postage. The license for the city I'm closest to is actually no fee, except they have different categories which could be up to $800/year, and it also means I'd have to file both US and Can taxes, which means more $$ out for accounting. Nuts to that.

Google also owes me $$ and refuses to pay me unless I have a US bank account in Canada. They would not deposit into my US account. I've been avoiding that due to the costs of opening and maintaining that kind of account, and haven't been paying any banking fees. So now, it's going to cost me for them to deposit money into my business US account, and for every transaction I do.

In reading their criteria, though, I'm thinking I'd be able to open a US personal a/c in Canada and they could deposit into that, as I don't see where it says it has to be a business account. I may just close the business one then, and open a personal a/c which would be a lot less fees.

Gawd I hate dealing with banks, or any financial institutions. Legalized loan sharks. Talk about a money grab for a business license. I already pay over $400/year to cross the border commercially to throw my parcels in the mail, so any further fees just aren't worth it.

Obviously, they don't want my business which is fine with me. Once I have the cheque for my closed account (bastids! - do they care that I need the funds to purchase supplies right now?) I'll be closing out the other personal a/c and opening one at a bank closer to the border.

And here I was being honest about my business and ensuring everything was kept separately. Ha! "No good deed goes unpunished."

Workers complaining because McDonald’s would not raise their wages might want to start looking for other jobs sooner rather than later: CEO Steve Easterbrook has announced that by 2020, every McDonald's in the U.S. will be stocked with self-order kiosks.

1,000 stores will get the new kiosks every quarter for the next two years; they already exist in around 3,500 of the roughly 14,000 domestic outlets. Half of the McDonald’s in the United States will feature the kiosks by the end of this year; the locations in Australia, Canada, and the U.K. are running ahead of the American stores.