Bullies

The news is full of bully stories lately as if it were something new. There were bullies in school when I was young and we learned to deal with them. Face to face, bullies stand the chance of retribution. I remember one big, mean kid picked on smaller individuals, so two teamed up to whip him. He was a model citizen after that.

Some truck drivers are bullies. These "knights of the road" will push you right out of the passing lane if you don't move over for them. I followed one into a rest area one time after such an encounter. A puny little 160 pound, bent-over, hemorrhoid-ridden, twerp got out of that big truck. Instead of acting like a bully and putting his hemorrhoids back where they belong, I just told him what I thought of him.

Cyber bullies are a new phenomenon. Instead of a big truck, they sit anonymously behind a computer keyboard knowing their targets can't get at them. They're conspicuous in the social media and on industry bulletin boards. Yellow bellied cowards would be a better choice of words to describe these creeps instead of bullies.

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The value of the dollar

We hear the term "QE 1," "QE 2," and there are hints that we may see "QE 3." But few know what those terms mean. It's the Federal Reserve's way of increasing the money supply. It means "Quantitative Easing." Which really means they're shrinking our dollar. Every time the Fed prints money it reduces the value of the money you have now.

Insiders in the markets, currency exchanges and the banking industry in general get richer. Unfortunately, this really hurts lower and middle income people who do not take part in the markets. Devaluing the dollar makes the spread between the "haves" and "have nots" even greater and creates even more welfare recipients.

The Federal Reserve stopped reporting the M3 (total dollars in circulation) money supply figure so they could print money without having to report how much they were printing. The Fed is not a government agency. It is a private corporation, not open to audit and has never released information about its inner workings.

Printing money causes inflation. Conspiracy buffs believe this is all part of a master plan to bring Americans' living standard down and third world country's up. The sad truth is that they're probably right!

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Words have meaning

The word "Quality" is consistently and errantly used to mean that someone or something is good. Quality doesn't mean good. Quality needs an adjective to describe the degree, such as 'high' quality, 'low' quality or 'no' quality. Quality time could be a bad time and a quality pitch in baseball might not be hard enough to break a pane of glass if it were poor quality.

Broadcasters and the media in general have trampled on the old truism that words have meaning. Parsing and spinning words by politicians to fit their own narrow agenda have made it impossible to interpret what a word really means. Example: "That depends on what the meaning of is, is!" And it's gotten worse since that display of failed principles.

When you use the word quality in connection with your service, always use an adjective to describe the level of quality. Words like best, highest, top or (you fill in your choice of word to describe your business) make it meaningful.

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Less carpet woes? 7/22/11

Less carpet woes? 7/22/11

Carpet is not used as often in kitchens, bathrooms and entry ways as it was a few years ago. But even with limited usage, there's almost as much, if not more, carpet in the homes we service today. The reason is that the average house is much larger than when we started in the cleaning business in 1962.

Carpet is used in areas that don't soil rapidly, so we don't get as much repeat business as we did in the good old days. To deal with this challenge we've gone back to our roots in the cleaning business, the maintenance of stone, tile and wood floors. New finishes are excellent and the equipment today is so much better and easier to use.

Oriental carpets and area rug sales are booming so offering a pick-up and delivery service makes sense and can be very rewarding. Furniture cleaning and fabric protector sales also help augment reduced carpet cleaning revenues. Special classes at Bane-Clene Institute teach techniques and recommended products for hard floor care. Schedule one soon.

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Thomas Jefferson said this in 1802

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Does this frightening prediction remind you of anything that is happening right now? Banks got the bulk of the bailout billions that were generously awarded by banker cronies in government. How cozy! Banks used the money to buy other banks. The big got much bigger and now they spend millions to sponsor ball parks and advertise on television how much they help small businesses. Am I the only one who notices this conspiracy?

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Fake BBB endorsement

Website Connection, a company in Arizona, is using BBB directories for sales leads for web based advertisements. In Colorado, Website Connection is doing business as Colorado Springs Business Directory. They may also be using Indiana Business Directory, Hoosier Business Directory or Indianapolis Business Directory.

In Colorado, the sales representative for the business implies a close relationship or even an endorsement by the BBB in a sales pitch. The Better Business Bureau serving Central Indiana is not selling advertisements nor endorsing a third party to sell ads. If approached, please call your local BBB to report the incident.

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An e mail from Pennsylvania:

Dear Mr. Bane,

Thank you for the thought-provoking articles about the CFR. I have spent several hours googling the subject and it is mind-boggling. I have also read "Shadows of Power" as you suggested and saw that the originators of CFR were all big bankers and politicians of the era. The book really explained the antics of the Federal Reserve Bank. I just wanted to thank you for helping me understand what is happening to our country.

Thanks again.

Sandra

You're welcome Sandra. I read this book in 1988 and didn't believe it. I read it again in 2006 and began to believe it. Then the big bank melt-down, the selective bail-outs and resulting inflation caused by the costly "QE" programs have made a believer of me.

The Federal Reserve is not a branch of government. It's a private organization run by the elite of the "old money" banking world. They have the power to print money and their books are not open to the public. That's like a license to steal.

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Good advice from north of the border

The Mounties always get their man! At least that's the old cliché about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But instead of riding the culprit down on horseback, the RCMP are using public notices to warn residents of a possible carpet cleaning scam.

People making door to door calls to give estimates for carpet cleaning have caused the RCMP to issue this warning. "Do not be tricked by individuals walking up to your door. The phone number they are using does not come back to a local company and there is some indication they are working out of a motel."

The RCMP warning says, "Do research from the Yellow Pages, the Better Business Bureau or speak to friends or neighbors. It could cost you a lot more in the long run, and you have no way to contact them if the work is not up to standard." That's good advice!

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Network of Excellence stats!

There were 631,660* accesses to the Bane-Clene web site in June for information about cleaning. Customers ordered supplies, visited our Catalog, Information pages, MSDS, Spot removal guides, Troubleshooting charts, the Cleaning Digest and Clene Times® publications and visited my BLOG. And thanks to all who sent e-mails to me about what I write.

Carpet mills, retailers, insurance adjusters, plumbers, banks and realty firms used it, too. But most visitors were CONSUMERS. We know because when they can't find a local cleaner in our referral directory, they call our toll free number. Nearly all of these phone inquiries are referred to a Bane-Clene operator who is not listed on our directory.

Dramatic increases every year demonstrate the growth of internet usage. You may link to the Bane-Clene web site for a one time fee of only $99. There are NO maintenance or renewal fees. This is the advertising bargain of the century!

*Total accesses to this web site in 2010 - 7,662,953; 2005 6,803,494; 2003 3,735,610; 2001 417,621; 1999 71,645 ; 1997 7,914; 1995 823.

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e-mail question:

Mr. Bane, I try real hard to please my customers but I still get about one complaint for every one hundred jobs that I do. How does this compare to the rest of the industry and how can I improve on it? No complaints have been of a serious nature but they are annoying me that I can't do better work.

No matter how conscientious you are, occasionally a problem will arise. Your complaint ratio is a little high, but I looked up your record and you've only been in the business a little over a year. Thinking of improving is a good sign, and as you gain experience you will. One complaint in every two hundred service calls is a pretty good batting average.

Most customers don't expect things to always be perfect. But if there's a problem they want to feel they were treated fairly. Listen to the complaint and act promptly. Make every effort to correct it or compensate them and learn from it. When the customer feels you've treated them fairly they're likely to become a repeat customer and refer others to you.

Be sure to ask for complaints. Too often we have a tendency to believe that "No news is good news!" Send a postage paid report card to residential customers and call your commercial accounts to be sure they are satisfied after every service call. Some people won't complain, they just take their business elsewhere next time.

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Gas prices

If you think the price of gasoline is high, take a look at these countries: Norway $6.82, Hong Kong $6.25, Belgium $6.16, UK $5.96, Italy $5.80, Canada $5.36, Japan $5.25, and Brazil $4.42. No wonder they drive those funny little cars.

Now look at the price of gasoline in these oil producing nations: Mexico $2.22, Argentina $2.09, Saudi Arabia $0.09, Kuwait $0.08 and Venezuela $0.12. If only the U.S. was an oil producing nation.... But wait! We Are! Sort of! Remember, "Drill baby drill?"

And it's going to get worse. The greenhouse gas regulations, formerly known as Cap & Trade, have been placed under the supervision of the EPA rather than congress. All energy sources, including electricity, will increase dramatically, boosting the cost of everything.

I got excited when the big Citgo sign at Fenway was dark during a Red Sox game recently. My exhilaration was short lived because the sign is being renovated. I had hoped an American patriot had put it out for good. Venezuela's dictator, Hugo Chavez, hates America and everything we stand for and yet we buy his oil. Go figure!

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Celebrate the 4th

If you own a flag be sure to fly it proudly today which celebrates the independence of our country. If you don't own a flag, you should. Let your neighbors know that you're proud to be an American and that you appreciate living in these United States of America.

With all of the disrespect being shown by foreign countries and even by some people who actually live in this great land, it's sometimes difficult to remember that we are the greatest and most powerful nation on planet earth. We should start acting like it.

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"Go to Hell"

That's what Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's energy and petroleum minister, told America recently. He was responding to the latest sanctions imposed over their attempts to develop nuclear weapons to rain terror on our country. Besides promising reprisals, that's his way of thanking us for all we do for the people of Venezuela.

Thousands of poverty-stricken Venezuelan kids play baseball year-round in a climate that is conducive to the sport, so they're pretty good. Hundreds are brought to the US where they take the place of American kids, who given the same chance would be as good if not better. And these rich Venezuelans send millions of dollars back home every year.

But, here's the kicker. Every year we buy 365 million barrels of oil from Venezuela where gasoline is only 12 cents a gallon. How about deporting every one of those rich Venezuelan athletes and stop buying Venezuelan oil? Are we stupid or what?

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