Business Follies...

Okay, as some of you may know, the business has been having a tough go of it for some time, now.  That doesn't keep people from trying to strongarm and threaten us.  Earlier this year, we had a customer who called us about a complaint for a job we did in 2009. 

Now, I offerred her a complete refund (two and a half years after the job was done), but she refused and said she was going to hire an attorney, complain to her insurance company, etc.

If she did speak to an attorney, the attorney probably told her... oh... that a full refund is pretty much as good as you can ever do in any matter like this.  So, after a couple more months, she called to say she now wanted the refund that she had previously rejected.

If the business were still kicking butt, I'd probably have just paid it, but frankly, this customer was such a pain in the rear, and was so unbelievably rude and unreasonable, I just wasn't in the mood.  Told her that while reviewing her contract in anticipation of dealing with her attorney, that I discovered she was outside her warranty period and that we weren't going to do anything about a claim about a defect of workmanship that is brought to us over 2 years after the work was done.

(This really is true.  In 8 years of business, we've never really had a situation like this.  Certainly never over work we did 2 years prior.  So, I had to be reminded of the warranty terms in our standard T&Cs.)

You hate to be this way.  On the one hand, a businessperson needs to do all they can to keep customers happy.  However, if this woman was already trashing us to her insurance company, she already removed any incentive we could ever have to give her what she wanted despite the fact that we were completely in the right.

The other reality is that a businessperson can't let every idiot with a bogus gripe take a pile of money out of the business.  I heard a saying a long time ago, that I truly do believe:  if you can't look a grown adult in the eye and tell them "no, you're wrong", then you can't possibly run a small business.

So, today, I get forwarded this e-mail by an employee:


We have a new employee working at our agency and her name is (customer).
(Customer) lives in (city) and when I was reviewing her home insurance policy
with her we got in a discussion regarding sewer back up. She explained
her experience with (my company) when she had a loss 2 years ago ( I
believe??). Her company,xxxx, paid out the max on the policy of
$10,000 and there was a problem with the contractors that fixed her tile
floor. The contractor had to come back a few times to fix the problem and
it would continue to occur.

According to (customer), she spoke with someone at your company and they told
her they would send her the $600 and she could hire someone else to finish
the work. When they looked up her records the person stated the job was
done so long ago that they were not responsible any longer. None of this
sounds right to me and I thought I would start with you to see if you
could research and see if there is more to the story that what I am being
told.

(some other guy) of (some other company) was in our office that same day and
stated to me that he believes in doing the work until it is finished
right. I would assume your company would do the same? Please do what you
can to let us know if you can still be of help to (customer). Thanks for
your time.

(insurance agent)

The best compliment our agency can receive is a referral.

Ask me for a LIFE INSURANCE quote today!

To which I responded:

Greetings, (agent).

I hope this e-mail finds you well.

(employee) forwarded me your e-mail. Here are the details as best I remember them. I'm at home at the moment, so I'm working from memory, here. 


The work we did for (customer) was late 2009. She had a water damage in her basement.


We dried the basement, but unfortunately, when we went to replace the press-and-stick tiles, they would not adhere due to abnormal moisture in her floor.


We left dehumidifiers and fans in her basement for about a week longer, without charge, but still could not get the floor dry enough that it could take the tile.


This was during the Winter, and we decided that our best course of action was to wait until warmer months when the basement floor might be drier. (The ground would thaw and any potential frozen water in her foundation drain that might be keeping water under her basement floor could then flow.) 


We tried again, approximately six months later. After again drying her basement for several days (free of charge), we applied industrial adhesive and the tiles finally stuck.


(customer) called us more than two years after her tiles were put in place. There are reasons for time limits on warranties. In this case, we simply have no way of knowing what happened during the two years in-between, including the possibility that her basement may have flooded again. We simply don't know.


We had one of our employees examine the basement, and it still continued to exhibit a higher than normal degree of wetness (two and a half years after the water damage she called us for). We informed Ms. (customer) that her basement was abnormally wet, despite the presence of what appears to be a bee-dry or other similar system.


The wet condition is still present to this day. At that time (approximately March of this year), I offerred (customer) a refund of the amount we had charged. She rejected that offer and said that if we did not return and fix her basement, that she was going to contact an attorney and complain to her insurance company about us. 


In preparation for litigation, we reviewed the terms of her contract with us, and yes, she was outside her warranty period. Not just by a matter of a few months, but she waited almost 2 years after she claims she saw a problem to inform us of it. The terms of her contract require her to inform us within 60 days of completion of work. 


Given that she was so utterly unreasonable with us when we attempted to resolve this matter in her favor earlier, we simply were in no mood to be overly generous with her once she exhausted her other options and then came back to try and accept the offer she had previously rejected.


I would like to thank you for contacting us, though, as it has reminded me of a task that I've been ignoring. I still have my personal homeowner's policy with your agency, despite the fact that I can't remember the last time you referred a claim to us. I'm sure you have your reasons, and I'm sure they're valid. However, I am sure, as a businessperson, you can understand that our first loyalties must be to support those businesses that support us. 


Please cancel my homeowner's policy effective June 30, 2012.

(Signed Me)

Car Repair Follies

I used to work on my cars quite a bit.  Not as a hobby, but as a necessity.  Simple calculus, here.  If you have little money and a broken car, your options are to fix it yourself or buy nice shoes because you'll be walking everywhere.

This has, historically, led to episodes like me breaking down and crying while laying flat on my back in the parking lot of some business where my car broke down because I just stripped out a bolt on my fuel pump. 

Pretty much ever since I graduated from college the first time, I haven't had to do this much.  Trust me, I don't miss it.  I did enjoy working on my motorcycle.  They're simpler machines and almost all the mechanical components are exposed and easy to get to.  However, I've never wanted to, for instance, get a '67 Camaro and restore it in my garage.  Not my idea of fun.

Well, one of the brakes on my SUV started making that telltale squealing sound that indicates that it is worn out and needs to be replaced.  I ignored it for as long as I could.  When my SUV started sounding exactly like a cement mixer everywhere I went, I tried to ignore it even further.

Yesterday, though, on a trip to the bank, the brake started catching with a klunking noise.  When I stopped to see if I could see a problem, it was actually smoking.

Yeah, couldn't ignore this one any longer.  So, I took it to the local strip-mall tire store where I usually get my tires. 

They confirmed, yes, it was brakes.  Yes, I needed them.  Got an estimate and it was about $360.  Figure with tax, I was looking at 4 bills.  I told them I only wanted the one side done, but they insisted that they couldn't do that.  They had to do both front brakes.

So, I told them I couldn't afford it.  They hemmed and hawed and said they could do just the one side for $260.  They said they needed to replace both sides of pads, but would leave one of the rotors the same.  I was almost going to do it, but asked them to put it back together and I'd try to take care of it myself.

Went next door to the auto parts store, asked them how they rated the difficulty of the task, and the counter person said it was pretty much the easiest mechanical thing you can do on your car.  Okay.  What will I need?  They assembled a bunch of parts and off I went.  Total parts cost was maybe $75.

Got home, took the wheel off and one of the lug nuts' cover started slipping.  In case this hasn't happened to you, it goes like this.  A lot of OEM lug nuts aren't solid lug nuts.  They're a lug nut with a shiny metal cover on the outside to make them look sorta upscale.  Why they do this, I have no idea, since the hub cap cover covers the nuts.  When the guys at the tire store hit my lug nuts with an impact wrench, they wrenched the cover loose on one of them.

I tried everything:  other sockets that were slightly larger, etc.  All that happened was that I succeeded in getting a socket stuck on the lug nut.  Ended up just taking a chisel and chipping off the part exposed from the socket, and that freed the socket and the cover from the lug nut.  The lug nut was then easily removed with a metric socket.  I had to take a hammer and screwdriver and knock out the shiny cover from the socket.  Okay, the wheel is finally off. 

Keep in mind that changing brakes, for an experienced mechanic, is probably a job that should take 20 minutes per side.  I was already about an hour into this and all I had was my truck jacked up and one tire off.

I got the calipers off.  Removed the old rotor and brake pads.  Couldn't get the calipers to compress.  I didn't have a brake caliper tool.  I needed a ride to the auto parts store, but couldn't get anybody on the phone.  So I rode my bike.  Not a bad ride, but even a little 8 mile jaunt is a test when you're as old and fat as I am.

Got the brake tool kit from the store.  They actually have loaner tools there if you leave a deposit.  Compressed the calipers, and tried like the dickens to get the new brake pads in there while still using the old no-rattle springs.  Tried forever and it just wasn't going to happen. So, I just put the new pads in there without them.  The truck is going back in a few months.  It'll be fine.

Finally got the new rotor installed, new brake pads, reinstalled the caliper without incident.  Put the wheel back on, tightened the lug nuts, and voila.  My SUV no longer sounds like a cement mixer.  Oh, and yeah, it actually brakes like it is supposed to.  I guess I gotta throw that in there.

It was nice when I had money and could just pay people to do that sort of stuff for me.  However, all in all, I probably saved $300.  Even though it took 4 hours to do a job that should have taken half an hour, that's still a pretty decent hourly rate.  If I actually had my garage set up for this sort of thing, it'd be a lot easier, too.  I was doing it on the ground in my driveway.

Today, I'm stiff and sore from working with my back in odd positions.  Still, there is something extremely satisfying about working on your own stuff.  Like I said, motorcycles are really fun to work on. 

These days cars are so much better than they used to be that they don't need to be fixed all that often.  Some of the routine maintenance things like oil changes are so cheap that it doesn't pay to do them yourself.  However, brakes are something that need to be done every so many miles, and you can really save a bundle doing them yourself. 

My next car will probably be a Prius, though, and I doubt those have simple braking systems since they capture energy while braking.  Who knows.

In the mean time, I no longer have to worry about embarassing my son while my SUV makes cement mixer sounds everywhere it goes.

So much going on, so little to say...

I haven't written much lately.  It's not that things are quiet.  Things are about as eventful as they've ever been in my life.  It's just that I'm not sure what to say, or how much to say about my life.

Things are changing, though.  This time next year, I don't think much will be the same at all.  I may be starting a new job here in a few weeks.  If not, I'll be going back to Law School full-time in the Fall.

I think I have a roadmap for how I'd be able to get through 2L year of law school, but after that, things get hazy.  The job I may be starting is with the federal government.  Government job-security.  Government benefits.  Government pension.

In fact, this job was high on my list of potential jobs to apply to at graduation from law school, anyway.  It's just that due to a bizarre convergence of events, I may be able to start it this Summer instead of at graduation.

It would be three hours away, which will put a crimp on things with my son for sure.  I'll still maintain a household in Sylvania, even if it's just an apartment.  It'll be a crazy drive, and I am not entirely sure how all the details will work out.  I'd be home every single weekend.  That's not in question.  The only real issue is whether I could be home during the week at all, or how many days.  I really won't know that until I get settled in to the new job and am doing my thing there.

This means, of course, that my biz is winding down.  Not sure the exact shape and form of how I'll transition away from it, but one way or another, my days in it are numbered.  It was a good run.  It was a biggo chunk of my life.  However, I'm ready for something new.  I just don't envision myself being in this business when I'm 55.  So, it's not a question of if I want to move on.  It's just a question of when and how.

If something didn't work out and I didn't take the job, I'm actually really happy at the prospect of going back to school full-time in the Fall.  It's just that I don't know what I'd do to afford to go during my 3L year.  I'd also be graduating dead-broke.  In this market, I'd almost certainly have to hang out a shingle.  It's hard to start a business, even a pure service business, when you have zero capital. 

Right now, pretty much everything in my life is up in the air.  I think that's why I haven't posted much.  There should be a lot of things being resolved, one way or another, in the next few months. When that happens, I'll have real news.  Until then, I'm just trying to keep my head above water.

Where Did the Time Go?

A great friend of mine from college, Scott, just sent me some old letters he's kept.  I mailed some of these twenty years ago.  Funny how times change.

Back then, I had just left Texas to live in Ohio with my grandmother after grandpa had passed.  My life, honestly, still hadn't really begun.  The 90s were a blur to me.  I was in school for most of them and advancing rapidly in my career throughout.

Then, the 21st century rolled around and I was married and raising a great little boy.  Now, in the blink of an eye, I look back and try to put myself where I was twenty years ago.

At this point, I should have some profound life-lessons to share with others.  Some valuable insights that would save future generations from a few pitfalls along the way.

The reality is, the longer I live, the more I'm sure I don't know anything.  If you had asked me twenty years ago, I would have had advice for every person on the planet.  Now, I'm not sure I have advice for anybody on anything. 

Strangely, I really haven't made much progress in the last twenty years.  I'm pretty much right back where I was two decades ago.  The biggest difference is this insanely fabulous little boy who brings me joy every single day.  Other than that?

Well... let's see:

1991:  I was broke
2012:  I am broke

1991:  I was trying to figure out how I was going to get my degree
2012:  I am trying to figure out how I will get my degree

1991:  I was trying to start a career
2012:  I am trying to start a career

1991:  I had just lost one of the grandparents who raised me
2012:  I just lost the other

Now, I know that most people my age wish they were in their twenties again... I guess I can be thankful for the fact that I basically still am.

When I look back at myself at in my twenties, all I can think is how much opportunity was ahead.  The only limitations on me were the ones I put on myself.  I'll be testing the idea that this is still true for me, now.

As for what it was like?  For those in their twenties wondering what they'll be thinking in their 40s?  I guess I'd just say this:  life just sorta happens.  You move towards goals when you can.  You survive when you have to.  The opportunities never end.  You won't have reached your goals in your 40s.  At least, you won't if you're lucky.  People hate the struggle, but people need the struggle.  It's part of what defines us as human beings.  As cliched as it sounds, it really isn't any particular destination.  It's the journey.

My Queen in Calico

When I was very little, my grandmother used to sing to me.  I thought she had a beautiful voice.  One of the songs she used to sing was "School Days".  I really didn't understand the lyrics.  The song was old, even when she first heard it.  It was written in 1907 and she wasn't born for another 11 years. 

Now that she's gone, I am trying to call up all my memories of her.  The songs are some of the very first. 

At one point in time, I was nearly finished with my degree at a small school in Texas.  However, in April, I got news that my grandfather had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  I asked my professors if they could give me my exams early, and they kindly obliged.

I drove to Ohio and my grandfather passed away shortly afterwards.  I had about one semester to go at the Texas school.

For reasons I still don't understand to this day, I decided to transfer schools to Kent State, where I would have to finish more than 40 credit hours to complete my degree.  So, instead of having one semester, I had a year and a half to go.

I lived with my grandmother until I finished school.  As the years would pass, I'd revisit that decision frequently.  It seemed so silly:  to delay graduation by a year to stay in Ohio.  At the time, I told myself that I wanted to stay with my grandmother because I wanted to help her transition to living alone, after grandpa's passing.

Now, I think I really just wanted to be with my grandma.  Probably nothing more or less to the story than that.  I lived with her for two years.  Now that she's gone, I wouldn't trade those two years for anything.

She still got around pretty well back then.  She was only in her mid 70s.  We would go to breakfast on Sunday mornings.  She would keep me involved in all the family's doings.  I became closer to my Aunt Marianne's family.  It was a very, very nice time.

I moved quite a bit during my career, eventually settling in Toledo, where I live now.  However, each step along the way, I visited her regularly: at least monthly, and sometimes even more frequently.  My son got used to the trip since we made it frequently.  I think the reason my grandmother and son were so close is that they saw so much of each other.  She probably saw more of him than of any other of her great-grandkids. 

I have a lot of photos of grandma with Logan from the time he was a baby until relatively recently.  They were like two kindred spirits.  Logan appears to have inherited her gene for kindness. 

Grandma never really asked anything of anybody.  She just liked having people around.  She transitioned well to an empty home, especially considering she had lived the first seven decades of her life in crowded Catholic family homes. 

When I played Little League Baseball, I was the team's worst player.  My coach must have told my Grandma that I needed some batting practice at home.  It was Grandma who threw me batting practice in the back yard.  She was actually an accomplished softball player in her day, playing on organized teams.  She later said that she remembers playing baseball with the neighborhood kids all hours of the day until the sun went down.  When the family went through her old photos, they found one of her old team photos where she is sitting down, fielder's glove perched on one knee.

Whenever there were parent-teacher conferences at school, she would go.  On more than one occassion, the next school day, teachers took a moment to tell me I was very lucky.  They could see it even in the brief interaction they had with her.

It wasn't until grandma's passing that I realized how much my visits to Tallmadge meant to me.  It was such a regular feature of my life.  I always thought of it in terms of what it meant to Grandma, but really, I think it meant just as much to me.


My High School English teacher, Martha Alfonso, once said that "home is where they will always take you in."  For me, Grandma's house was that.  Whether I was 3 or 25, I always had a home with Grandma.  Even when times had changed and I started a family of my own, I knew that I could always swing by on short notice.  There was always a bed for me, there.  There was always a welcoming smile.


Now, I have a sense of loss in so many ways.  For almost the entirety of my life, Grandma's house was either where I lived, or the place I would always come back to.  When I was in the Army or away to school in Texas, whenever I could return to Tallmadge, I did.


Places, in and of themselves, mean little to me.  If I had to pick a favorite place in the world on its location, alone, I couldn't name one.  It's the people associated with them that gives them context.  I can easily name dozens and dozens of people I wish I were spending time with right now. 


Now that grandma is gone, going back to Tallmadge could never mean the same.  A regular ritual of my life is gone.  An era has passed.






School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days
Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate
"I love you, so"
When we were a couple of kids

-School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)