Customer Service

 

 

 

"The customer may not have always been right, but the customer always felt like the customer..."

I have said for many a year now, if they need a definition for "customer service" in the dictionary, all they need do is put in a picture of the old Hi 10 Service Center crew. Oh yes, my family and I know them well - quite well. Our first house was in Coon Rapids, located very close to the station. Trips over there were frequent for gasoline and maintenance. It really was like a home away from home.

Over the years I traveled quite a bit for my job. I worked on the other side of town and my wife taught in a district north of where we lived. Like many of us, our cars were our lifelines. We needed good, reliable transportation. At that time, the station we went to was known as Hi 10 Union 76. We went there so often that trust and personal relationships developed. We knew each and everyone of the guys, and they knew us.

What always impressed me the most about the crew at Hi 10 was not only their professionalism, but also the care. They truly cared about their customers. To them, many were not only customers, but also friends.

I can't even begin to recount the number of times Mel, Scott or Roger rescued my wife and kids when I was out of town. They were a life line. My wife felt as comfortable with the guys at the station as she would with her own family. It was a kindness I never have forgotten.

One time about 30 years ago, my wife was having a wedding shower for her sister. It was in January, and the weather was bitter cold. The groom's mother drove down from ND to attend the event. By the time she arrived at the house, her gas tank was bone dry, it was on fumes. As luck would have it, the shower ended and temperature was well below zero. Plus it was getting dark. The car from ND with no gas would not start. I quickly drove over to Hi 10. Due to the weather, they were very busy and Roger was just finishing up for the day. When I explained the situation, Roger dropped everything and came over to the house and performed a minor miracle to get that car up and running. Many stations would have just said "Good luck - see you on Monday." Not Hi 10, not Roger - that was not the way they rolled.

This upcoming week an era will come to an end. Roger, who has been there for 45 years, doing everything from the routine to the impossible, is going to retire. Scott is having a huge reunion and retirement party for Roger. I suspect the place will be packed, as it is hard to run into anyone from this part of town who does not know, Mel, Scott or Roger.

So to Roger, I say thank you and may you have a great retirement. You have earned it. From the jungles of Viet Nam to providing service to thousands in the northern suburbs, Roger did it all. It does not matter that over the years Union 76 Hi 10 may have changed brands, or the even the name of the station - most know it to be a huge part of the history of Coon Rapids. It taught many of us the true value of service, trust and reliability. My wife and I will never forget the service we received, and neither will my children.

 

A 21st Birthday Story

 

 

"They say it's your birthday, happy birthday too you..."

 

It is hard to believe it is that time of year again. Another birthday. Another notch on the belt (so to speak). I am reminded of a birthday many years ago in a place far, far away. It was my 21st birthday, the place was Okinawa, and the year was 1970.

 

Not to date myself, but back in the day, (as our Vice President would say) it was a big "bleeping" deal to turn 21. It was a rite of passage. It was the age you could legally vote, drink, become an adult. It was the time you would say goodbye to childhood, and child like activities. The big exciting world of adulthood was now there for the taking.

 

Before I continue, let me give an editorial on turning 21. I never understood the magic of the number. I always thought one should be considered an adult at 20. Why? When you turn 20, you are no longer a teenager. You have entered into the early adulthood age of the twenties. 21 just seemed like an arbitrary one year extension to that number.

 

Back to the story. As luck would have it, my birthday fell right in the middle of a watch string. Not only a watch string, but I had a day watch from 8am to 4pm and then I had to go back to work before midnight. As most "watch standers" know, the dumbest thing you could do between watches was go out and have a few drinks . It made for a very painful and long mid watch.

 

My birthday present from my folks was a call home (collect) and talk to them for 3 minutes. Back in 1970, communication back to the mainland was tough, spotty and expensive. So this would be the first time I talked to my folks in almost a year. I took a cab to Kadena, made the call, had a lousy connection (it is what it is in those days), and after three minutes, the call ended. I went back to the base and tried to get some shuteye before my second watch started.

 

When I think back to the dozens and dozens of birthdays I have been blessed to have since then, I remember some more than others. Even though my 21st birthday was not how I imagined it would be, it still is one of my more memorable. Those three minutes on that phone call with a lousy connection meant the world to me. I would not have traded it. And how did I feel the day after when I was legally an adult? Pretty much like the day before. However, I was one day older, and one day wiser.   

 

 

The Rest of Us...

 

 

"Our Constitution offers us equal opportunity, not a guarantee of equal outcome..."

Yesterday our Agitator in Chief was out doing what he does best. Telling the masses they are being screwed by "The Man". Oh, the unfairness of living in America these days! Well Mr. President - not to be the bearer of bad news, but since you are the President - you are "The Man".

Not that long after I got married, someone in my new family (who was close to my age), was not working nor going to school. As I was working three part time jobs and going to school full time, I did not understand how he could do nothing. One day I asked him what he wanted to do with his life. His response - "I just want to lay under a tree by a stream and write poetry." Not wanting to start a ruckus in my new family, I took the high road with my next question - "How will you get money to live on?" His response - "From the rest of us."

Now at that time I thought his answer was goofy - it made no sense to me. It was counter intuitive to how most my age were living their lives. However as time has gone on, having "the rest of us" pay the freight is catching on. The question of why should I work if I don't want to has been answered in spades by 91,500,000 people being out of the workforce - a record high. 

The Washington whispers these days are getting louder. This Administration is tired and frustrated that some Americans have money and others don't. This needs to be fixed. The fact most people with money worked hard for it, took risks, means nothing. The bottom line is fairness. "The rest of us" want some too. The income tax is not working fast enough - maybe the long awaited "wealth tax" could speed things up. You know - tell these "one percent types" that we are going to assess how much they are worth and take 10 to 20 percent (or more) of it. We can then spread the wealth "fairly" to the "rest of us".

The way the President describes the America he has morphed us into reminds me of reading books back in high school about class struggles between the bourgeois and the proletariat. You know - those terms used in Marxist philosophy to describe the unfairness in society. Marxism was supposed to have fixed all that unfairness. Instead it turned into one of the great killing machines of all time.

So Mr. President, if you truly care about "the rest of us", keep your mitts off the engine that drives this great country. We don't need any more Great Society initiatives - we are still trying the pay for the last ones which did not work. If you must use French words to describe our economy, try using Laissez-faire instead of bourgeois and proletariat. It works much better for the "all of us".










 

The Truth Teller

 

 

"The nice thing about life in the Matrix is the truth does not really matter..."

Yesterday my wife and I had a rare experience. We were invited to hear a highly credentialed financial speaker address what is really going on in our economy. It was not for the feint of heart. In fact, at times it was downright scary. Unlike what you hear from the Main Stream Media (MSM) as well as from the Administration, there was no lipstick on the pig. No, this was the unvarnished truth and the speaker had the facts to back it up.

My wife and I drove to the location, had a nice visit with some friends, enjoyed a catered lunch, and then, as in the Matrix, took a "red pill" to hear the truth. The guest speaker came armed with charts, graphs and data. He did not beat around the bush. It seems much of the queasiness many of us have been having with the Fed's abusive program of Quantitative Easing has been justified. With the Feds keeping interest rates at zero and nowhere else to go, the party is almost over. And at the end of every wild party comes the hangover, and this one is going to be a whopper.

Now I will not go into detail of what his charts showed. There was nothing proprietary on them. Heck, some of them came directly from the government's own website. What I will say is this - just like Glenn Beck often tells his audience, do your own homework. If you look at the data which is out there and truly analyse it, you will come up with a much different scenario than what the "lap dog press" and the Administration are telling you.

I have said this before - the commodity which is in the shortest supply in our country these days are truth tellers. For example, we all know the ACA website still has more problems on the backend than one could imagine. In addition, yesterday it was disclosed someone forgot to write the part of the program which would transfer cash. This is a HUGE issue. No worries however - just watch the vile MSNBC and you will see a world full of sunshine and lollypops. No truth, just spin.

Back to our economy. I will say this much about what is coming. What was thought to be sacred in investments, will not be. What was thought to be save in banks, will not be. What was thought to be a nest egg, might end up being nothing but broken shells and broken promises. Want to see the first shot? Look at what happened in Detroit yesterday with the bankruptcy judge. That could be the first of a long line of very painful moves.

So today, when you look at your 401k, 403b, IRA, pension, or whatever, remember this - what you are seeing might only be an illusion. Then, you might ask, where is a safe harbor to put your money with this global super storm headed our way? Good question. I suspect there might be some, but not many. It might be the time to "smoke them' if you got them." In other words, while you money still has some worth, might be a good time to do something fun and interesting with it.

The Big Fix

 

 

"Physician, heal thyself!"

 

The fix is coming. It is long overdue, and it is going to hurt - quite a bit. George Will talked about it this past Sunday. Others have also mentioned it. I will give you a hint - it has nothing to do with the dysfunctional web portal which has been in the news of late. No, this fix is needed, or the entire ACA will come crashing down, and soon.

 

First, the web portal. Did it make the deadline of November 30th with all ills being fixed? Nope. However, according to impartial web experts, the front end is better. Still some delay issues still exist, but it is better. The back end which syncs up to the insurance companies still has some major issues. However, they are out of sight, out of mind. John Q. Public does not see those, so who cares? Because web portal development and maintenance is not a "black box" science, I believe all the final issues will soon be dealt with, and this thing will work as designed.

 

However (and this is a big however), the devil remains in the details for the ACA. Simply put, it was designed to fail. The Administration  was dumb like a fox when they delayed the employer mandate for a year. They knew that is when the real train wreck was coming. With a projected 80 million workers losing their employer provided health coverage, there will be droves and droves of workers with no insurance flooding to the exchanges. And here is where the rubber meets the road.

 

Because the Administration had also raised the eligibility rate to qualify for Medicaid, many of the millions coming to the exchanges will be put on the Medicaid roles. As it is, the reimbursement rates to doctors is much less for Medicaid patients than other patients. Many doctors are simply refusing to take any more Medicaid patients as they can't afford them. Less doctors and more patients equals a mess, and a hot one at that.

 

In will step Dr. Obama. He will tell the country this is wrong to not have people seen by doctors simply because they are on a government program. Since the doctors are going to be "stingy" with their rates, it will be up to the government to "fix it". Since even in an Obama Administration, you can't force someone to work, the government will do the next best thing. The President will propose another "Doc Fix", and this one is going to be a whopper.

 

A "Doc Fix" has been used before, only on a smaller scale. It will amount to Congress authorizing a bunch of cash to supplement the amount that doctors can be reimbursed after  seeing a Medicaid patient. Where does that money come from? Jack Lew's printing press of course. More and more money inflating our currency and adding to our HUGE debt.

 

Those on the lower end of the information dial, who thought this health care law was going to give us more for less while lowering the debt, will soon be in for a splash of cold water in the face. Most everything bad that was predicted by the "shrill voices" on the right is coming to fruition. Instead of getting more for less, we will all get less for more.

 

Those that thought our President was Santa Clause will soon find out he might be the Grinch instead. Merry Christmas from the White House.

The Happiest Season!

 

 

"At Christmastime, we seemed to be concerned about everything holiday - that is, except for the real reason of Christmas..."

As we enter the Yuletide season, everyone is either in a shopping frenzy or still indigested from this year's very late Thanksgiving. It is going to be tough, but many are committed to getting the outside lights up, decorating the inside of the house, shopping, baking, more shopping and ...Whew! It is chaos, but we seem to love getting into it every year.

So in this time of consumerism and busyness, I guess that once again I will be "Mr. Dark Cloud". For the purpose of this posting, I will address only the secular nature of what we have done to Christmas. In the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving morphing into December, we seem to have forgotten some of our huge, festering sores that have not been dealt with.

• China - What the what? Is this any way for our favorite banker to behave? A territory dispute in the furthest reaches of the Western Pacific? We have taken this threat so seriously, we have told our airliners to vector away from the disputed area. This one is worth watching.
• Debt - Through the magic of Jack Lew, our Debt Clock was stuck on five minutes to midnight for weeks and weeks. Then all of a sudden, it came back to life! It is now over $17.2T and growing. The debt ceiling and the expiration of the CR will again be reached shortly after the new year. Unfunded liabilities are over $100T and growing. Where are we on this most critical item? Nobody seems to know. Worse than that, few seem to care.
• Snowden - Rumors have been circulating that our modern day Benedict Arnold has a "Armageddon" disclosure ready to be released. I don't know how he could do more damage than what has already been done. It is too bad our relationship with the Russians is so tepid. It would have been nice to have SOMEONE with credibility ask the Russians to pressure Mr. Snowden to behave.
• Scandal Palooza - To paraphrase a famous Star Wars line, "Move along. These are not the droids you are looking for." I guess closure has become a dirty word these days. Heck, we still can't get straight answers on Fast and Furious, and most of us KNOW who was responsible for that mess. The American people are the stake holders, the customers, the ones paying the bills. Lets see some action on all the open items before we get into 2014.

Again, I am sorry I had to break into our holiday hustle and bustle with an update on the sorry state of our nation. In the world of reality, old business is always discussed and dispensed with prior to entertaining new business discussions or initiatives. However, in the world of community organizing, I guess that is not the case.

The Legacy of Dying Broke

 

 

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

Matthew 19:24 (NIV)

 

 

One of my failed attempts at humor is my response to the question, "What do you want done with your money after you are gone?" My response is, "What ever I have not spent, I want thrown in the casket with me - who says you can't take it with you?" In reality, that answer could not be further from the truth. You see, I really want to die broke.

 

Why would I say something like that? After working a good portion of my life, trying to build up a proper nest egg, why in the world would I want to die broke? I believe the answer is quite simple. And it is as old as time. We come into this world with nothing and we go out with nothing. It is what we do with our treasures between those two points that really matters.

 

This Thanksgiving for the first time, we sent $50 to a mission which serves the poor downtown. $50? Big deal. My wife and I can easily spend that much (and more) with a modest dinner out for us. But $50 for this mission was a big deal. It paid for the food to feed over 25 people. So rather than take that $50 and spend it on a night out for something we could have had at home, instead we gave it so people who were truly hungry could have a hot meal.

 

The reason I bring that story up is it gave me pause to think. What else could we do without that would impact people's lives who have little or nothing? The answer is quite a bit. I like to think of it as strategic benevolence. I say strategic as there are many, many charities out there who would really like your donations. Some of very good, some okay, and some should be run out of business as they are nothing but a sham. However, with the internet, there are many ways to vet charities to ensure they are what they say they are. Again, there are many charities which are as pure as the driven snow.

 

Like many of us, as I have aged I have thought more and more about legacy. How do I want to be remembered by my family? I believe it is not the material gifts I might leave behind - rather, I believe for my children my legacy will be the lessons from my heart. My heart is far from pure, so I am on a daily quest to align my heart more with what my faith has taught me. It is not an easy task.

 

I also want my legacy to be simply this - if I can ameliorate the suffering of one person for one day, I will feel good. However, if I have the resources to stop hunger, thirst, or disease for many days for many people, I need to do that. That is a calling I feel more and more every day.

 

One thing I learned in my mid-forties is this - all money is eventually meant to be spent. If you invest it, or save it, at some point the money will be used to buy goods or services. That is the purpose of money. It was never intended to hoard. It is a tool. A tool that can be used for good or evil. It is a tool that can change lives. It is a tool that I want to use more wisely each and every day. And when I draw my last breath, I will be able to die happy if I know the resources I have been so richly blessed with will continue to be used as a tool for good and honorable purposes.