How Far Will We Go?

It's amazing how rapidly standards change in today's world.

What was the greatest evil yesterday is the greatest good today; while the good that is eternal is now politically incorrect.

How did it start? Where does it end?

Unfortunately, the changes that brought us to this current point in history have been moving us forward, working to make ours a more understanding, a more patient, a more loving society seem to be disappearing. For the last few decades, it seems like we've been moving backward toward chaos and carnage, not forward toward order and honorable peace.

Our society, our economy, our nation exhibits all the destructive character traits that are the hallmarks of every great society in its decline:

• Arrogance
• Pride
• Fear
• Greed
• Self indulgence
• Anger

I recognize that the seeds of these sins lie within the breast of each and every man, woman and child who ever did, does now, or ever will live on this plane of existence.

I also believe, however, that each man, woman and child can choose to set aside this nature and work to be better than his "natural destiny"; to move above and beyond his or her own petty pleasures and desires. We can aspire and strive to know God and love our fellow man. Humans, with God's help, can put others ahead of themselves. They can choose to do the right thing over the easy thing. We can choose sacrifice for the good of others over satisfying their own desires.

Fifty years ago, this was type of character that society held up as the ideal. Then, our ideals were people of substance; selfless men and women who sacrificed for the good of the world, the good of the nation, the good of their neighbors and family. The future they looked for, the future they strived for, was a future that would last well beyond their own lifetime. They felt a responsibility to care for future generations. To set, to strive to meet, to teach their children standards that were sometimes difficult to achieve, but that, by the mere striving toward, brought “Good” into the world.

Today, our ideal men and women (dare we call the “idols”?) are arrogant, the self-centered, greedy, violent and outrageous. for too many, short term gain rules over long-term good; Cash truly is king; and an individual is only as valuable as what they can take from them right now. “Getting mine” seems to be the greatest good.

We kill the defenseless and defend the contemptible. "Personal Choice" and “Quality of life” have become just another way of saying: “You're only valuable if I say you're valuable!”

And before my confessor writes a scathing indictment of my behavior; please understand that I'm not pointing the “I'm better than you” finger, here, either. I'm as guilty as anyone here. Maybe more so. I was raised better. I was taught Right from Wrong. I know better and yet I continue to choose “Wrong”. I've contributed my share to the decline of family values, the lowering of standards; the general malaise that is our society today.

So this call to remember the good we strived for; this call to change; this call to action is directed, first and foremost, at me. And I guess that's the point of my posting this here. I'm going start by changing the way I think, act and live. And maybe, just maybe, that will help repair the damage I've done to the fabric of our world.

By now, those of you who've waded through the rest of this post are probably wondering what this all has to do with business. Well, I'm a firm believer that without a solid moral / ethical foundation no human enterprise will last for long...especially a business.

We'll talk more later.

How Not To Care For Contract Employees

The way some companies treat their contractors amazes me.

A friend of mine was recently terminated from a company with whom she'd been working as a contract employee for almost ten years.

No warning. No text message. No e-mail. No “thank you very much for your services”. They simply locked her out of the system.

She only discovered that she'd been terminated when she tried to log in to her on-line account and received a message that her account was unavailable. When she called the help desk to report the problem, she was informed that she had been terminated for “falsifying company records”.

Seems the issue had "...been reviewed by QA and their decision is final." As the help desk employee put it, she "...can protest, but once QA approves it, no on is ever reinstated."

There are two problems with this scenario: first, she didn't do anything. She's never falsified a document in her life.

Second, she's been given no information about the documents she is accused of falsifying and she has been given no opportunity to defend herself. The help desk has refused to forward her to anyone in the company who could tell her about the charges...and the company's website has virtually no other contact information except the help desk number.

So now she's out. No notice; no warning; and no way to defend her reputation.

She doesn't know if she's going to be paid for the work she's done in the last few weeks. She's lost a ten-year business reference. She doesn't know how she's going to replace the income this work was bringing in. And as for the customers with whom she's built solid working relationships...who knows what they'll be told?

And understand that she was not a "trouble employee"; she has been an exemplary contractor. During the nearly 10 years she's been working for the company, she's had an exemplary performance record. She's been commended by a number of customers she's worked with and the company has regularly called on her to fix problems other contractors have caused – the last time being as recent as last month.

She has, in fact, done so well for them that she's often paid a premium to do quick turn-around jobs and other customer critical jobs.

Of course I'm sure her higher pay rate doesn't anything to do with this!

Needless to say, my friend is quite upset. And also, needless to say, I'm helping her draft a letter asking for review and demanding the libelous statements be removed from their files. I suspect we'll be making veiled references to lawyers, contacting customers and taking other appropriate action to restore her good name.

This practice has grown more and more common as the pool of available labor has increased...and, I suspect, it will only become more commonplace as the economy worsens.

Makes you wonder what the hell is wrong with some companies.

The Importance Of Being Honest

Our water system quit working again today.

My wife and I live in a rural area and get our water from a well. For the last few weeks, an electrical problem of some sort has been tripping the breaker or keeping the pressure switch that kicks the well pump on and off from working.

I have reached the limit of my knowledge of how to fix this problem...which means I have to call someone to troubleshoot and repair the system.

That used to be an easy thing. We simply called the company we bought the system from and they came out to fix it. When we bought the system in 1997, we paid almost 33% more for a lifetime parts warranty that was supposed to cover full repair or replacement of any and all parts on the system. All we paid was the labor.

The company recently changed ownership and the new owner has decided to stop honoring the warranty we purchased. According to the company's receptionist, (I have been unable to get the owner to speak with me), the owner believes that the warranty my wife and I (and other customers) paid for is simply a “company policy” that he can change it any time it suits his needs. She explained that the company is not “contractually obligated” to live up to any of its warranties.

Unfortunately, I didn't find this out until October 2009 when I received a bill for some maintenance work that included the cost of parts. The parts were more than 66% of the total bill.

When I called the company to remind them that our system was covered by a lifetime parts warranty, I was informed of the new owner's position on warranty commitments. It was further explained to me that the company had a new, more aggressive policy for “dealing with customers in my situation” - they now send disputed bills to a collection agency and let them “...deal with customers like...” me.

I paid the bill because it was only a few hundred dollars and was simply not worth the time, money and aggravation that would have been involved in taking the company to court to enforcing the warranty.

I suspect that's what the company was counting on; that most customers in my situation would simply pay their bill and go away. Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that this is what has happened. My wife learned from the local handyman's wife (isn't the “wife network” wonderful?) that over the last year or so her husband has picked up a number of this company's former customers who were angered over the company's new warranty policies.

This small company has lost a number of customers because of their unilateral decision to renege on their contract. Even worse, by failing to be up-front and proactive in notifying customers affected by the change, they have angered some of their customers to the point where those customers now actively work to keep people from purchasing from the company.
What does this mean for your small business? I think there a few lessons here.

1.If you must change policies that affect your customers; be honest about it. Don't hide the changes. Give your customers some advance warning and give them the courtesy of explaining the rational behind the decision. Give your customers a chance to be magnanimous about things...offer them something of value in exchange for their agreeing to let you off the hook. Most customers will understand a company's need to change an obligation that is creating an undue financial or performance burden on them.

2.When doing a cost/benefit analysis, consider non-monetary impacts of the decision. Look at the possible negative publicity and negative impacts to the company's good name and reputation. This company not only lost a number of customers who'd been with them for years (we'd been working with them for 12+ years); they actually angered at least one of these long term customers enough so that I now actively warn others not to buy from the company.

3.Check with a lawyer to make sure you understand all the legal implications of your decision. Even though my wife and I chose not to go to court to enforce our rights, the company does, in fact, have a legal responsibility to live up to their lifetime parts warranty...and having to fight a customer in court can impact both

Oh yeah....when I paid our bill, I added a note to tell the company that we would never call them again and that I would make an effort to tell others about their new policies. So, because I try to be a man of my word, let me just say that if you ever live in the Central Florida area and need a water purification system installed (or need any plumbing done, for that matter) don't bother calling Frey Water Systems, Inc...they don't live up to their commitments.

(*Apologies to Oscar Wilde for stealing the title!)