WE ALL PAY FOR FREE

At work I get a lot of newsletters and industry related forum stuff.  Many times there are opinion pieces by business owners and consultants. 

This week there was one about long term customers versus new customers.  I occasionally wonder if I am the only consumer who is offended by the  deals "new customers" can get that are so much better than what I can get as a long term customer, so this article caught my eye.

What if loyal, long-term customers requested their bills to be reduced by the amount being charged to offset the “free” offers made to new customers? How quickly things might change.

Free offers frequently start small. But innocent, complimentary offers often accelerate into awarding outrageous commissions, “finder’s fees,” travel junkets, fishing trips or outright kick-backs to people who refer work to us.

Okay - not exactly where I was expecting this discussion to go - what happened to the customer?  Why are we back to talking about the woes of the business owner?  It goes on:

A freebie mentality doesn’t involve only introductory offers to potential customers. It involves the people who work for our company, too. Are “free” health benefits and other “perks” really free? What about the automatic pay increases expected year after year. Who pays for that?


Business owners aren’t exempt from this freebie mentality, either. How often is the company check book used as a piggy bank for the owner’s personal purchases (some of which can be pretty grand) that bring no value to either the company or its customers?

Too often, these “perks” are viewed as entitlements of business ownership, rationalized by all the hard work and financial risk the owner takes in building his business. Somehow the concept of “someone always pays” gets overlooked.

I’m always intrigued when someone comments about a business owner’s ability to “write off” legitimate business trips, charitable donations or other business purchases. The underlying message is that these things are free.

Okay - so the customer has sort of been left out of this conversation in a direct way, but I understand that the writer is speaking to the "big picture."

As an employee of 3 different small companies in the past 10 years, I can testify that there is not simply one mindset driving the way business is conducted. With regard to employees and expenses, this is my experience.

I worked for a billionaire who didn't pay employees much above minimum wage, who didn't give annual raises (employees went for 4-5 years with no raise when I was there), who only paid the minimum 25% of the employee's health care premium and who gave a $50.00 Target gift card at Christmas.  They offered 3 paid sick days, we could earn paid time off and there was a bump if you worked a holiday. He did not mingle his personal expenses with the business.  However, he gave comps to friends and family, and used the services at no expense to himself for very long periods of time, making those services unavailable for paying customers.

I worked for a woman who was the sole support of her family (her husband was the "stay at home").  I got raises at least once a year, she paid the entire employee premium, we had paid holidays and vacation plus she paid for the week we were closed at the end of the year. She also gave year end bonuses which were tied to the profit of the company - very generous. I wasn't privy to all the bookkeeping but it did not appear that she ran any of her personal expenses through the company.

Now I am working for an owner who likes to think of himself as generous.  He pays slightly above average and I did get a promised raise during my first year. We get no paid time off - no sick days, no paid holidays, no holiday pay, no paid vacation.  He does pay 75% of the employee health premium. Every so often he will hand out a $100.00 bill. 

He likes to complain about how he can't afford to do this and that but as time has gone on I see and hear a lot which says otherwise.  He runs most of his personal expenses through the business.  He writes off his personal travel, for example, trips to Hawaii, Mexico and Las Vegas by "visiting a local businessman while he is there".  He writes off his clothes as "uniforms." All his and his wife's car expenses, entertainment, even their home utilities are paid by the business.

Does that make it "free" to him?  No.  It is his business and what remains as profit at the end of the year before or after expenses is his. However, if covering personal expenses makes it impossible to cover the needs of the business or offering a few days of sick pay, then it goes beyond being all about his paycheck.

We all pay for the business decisions being made.  As President Obama said in his State of the Union Address - if we raise the minimum wage then those workers will have more money to spend on goods and services. Bringing manufacturing back from overseas may cost a company more, but it will, in turn, benefit the whole of the economy.  Each decision has ripples - for good or for bad.

Employees who work without the basics of compensation and care become resentful employees;  probably not as effective and loyal as those who feel valued by their employer.  Customers who feel second best to the "potential" customer are likely to take their business elsewhere or just stop using that kind of service. 

As a customer and an employee - I feel the pinch on both sides.  I know that nothing is free.  My employer has the right to decide what is important to him when offering employee compensation.  I have to decide if my loyalty is being rewarded by the businesses I patronize and by my employer's business I put so much time and energy into.

WHAT KAISER WON'T TELL

You know that saying about Social Security  being the third rail of politics?  Well, the untouchable rail for Kaiser - my HMO provider - is asking how much their services cost!  I can get all kinds of advice on choosing a plan and comparing plans until I ask what the actual costs of the services and prescriptions is,  then they want to transfer me to numbers that don't work and departments that don't exist.

In the past I have always had plans with no deductible.  Now I am considering  plans with a $1000. to $2700. deductible.  I would think asking how much actual care one gets for that much money would be an obvious question.  I am not asking for a  guarantee of costs - just a ballpark.  I'll need a mammogram, let's say 2 office visits per person and a few prescriptions between all of us on the plan. 

I've been on the phone and internet most of the morning trying to dig up this information.  Then I enlisted the benefits advisor for our company.  It took her a while and she seemed very surprised at how hard it was to find someone to give this information, too, but someone was found who was willing to spill the beans.

So now I am crunching the numbers and hoping that, even with the big increases in the premiums for 2012, that I can reduce the cost of my benefits and take home a bit more money each month.  I admit it just kills me to be concerned with out-of-pocket costs on top of paying over $1200.00 a month.

Anybody made the change to a high deductible plan and have advice to share?

PEOPLE BEHAVING BADLY - SERVICE DOGS EDITION

An interesting thing happened in the hotel this week.  A couple checked in and then wheeled in a little dog in a stroller.  When told that we do not accept pets, they claimed that the dog is a "service dog" and not a pet.  I asked if they had informed us that they would be bringing a dog when they made the reservation and I was told in loud and self righteous terms that in America they do not have to tell us anything and we can't turn them away.  He was a very large, very aggressive guy.  I suspect  his demeanor and his "this is America" rant get them into pretty much wherever they want to go.

My first reaction was to hop on the internet and learn about the rules around service dogs, then I googled around about abuses of the law.  (This sort of this is something I love to dig into.)  I am aware that there are service dogs for more disabilities than blindness.  What I did not know is that the term service animal has become overworked to the point that people who are psychologically attached to their pets can find a doctor to say that the animal is necessary for their mental health and POOF!  the pet is a service animal.

The Americans with Disabilities Act states that a service dog must be trained to perform a task or service that the disabled individual cannot.  However, (1)  there is no requirement in the law with regard to the training of the animals and (2) there is no requirement that the owner of the animal have papers or any other identification that the animal is actually a trained service animal. A business may inquire about 2 things:  Are you disabled?  Is that a service dog?  Yes to both and that is the end of it.  No more questions allowed, no proof required.

It is also illegal to ask what a person's disability is.  So in this case, a woman who appeared to have no physical issues was wheeling a little dog around in a stroller, the dog did not appear to be performing any service for her.  It just looked like an old dog, curled up and sleeping.  They went in the bar, the breakfast area and apparently out to dinner in a local restaurant with the dog.

As a hotel which does not allow pets, this will require a deep cleaning of the room costing time and therefore money.  But if a guest checks into that room and has allergies triggered, it would be a big problem for us.  We cannot charge the "disabled" guest extra for the special cleaning  (per the ADA) we can only charge extra for any damages to the room. (We charge extra for cleaning a room in which someone has smoked due to the extra cleaning required as we advertise as smoke free.)  So for those who question the reason a business might not welcome an animal,  that is one of the issues.

Another is that many guests are not comfortable having a dog in the dining room while they are eating, so we are left to explain the dog as a service animal not a pet.  Why is that an issue?  I think because the dog is not visibly performing in a service capacity.  The owners have not attired the dog in a vest or with an identifying collar or tag.

In fact, some other postings I read by owners of what appear to be to be non-traditional service dogs were quite strident about the fact that they need not identify their dogs as service dogs or themselves as disabled persons.  They felt that they owed no one any explanation for the presence of their dogs in stores, restaurants, theaters, hotels and other places where animals are not normally allowed.   I don't understand this attitude.  Being disabled is not equal to being somehow privileged and  above being responsive to inquiries on behalf of businesses which must protect themselves and their customers.

Toni Eames of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP) says that comfort dogs, sometimes referred to as helping dogs, are not trained. “Comforting you and licking your face is not a trained task. Grounding a person is not a trained task,” she says. According to IAADP:

While a dog’s companionship may offer emotional support, comfort or a sense of security, this in and of itself does NOT qualify as a “trained task” under the ADA, thus it does not give a disabled person the legal right to take that dog out in public as a legitimate service dog. Setting up a realistic training plan to transform a suitable dog into an obedient, task trained service dog is the only way to legally qualify a dog to become a service dog whose disabled handler is legally permitted to take the dog into restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, medical offices and other places of public accommodation.

No one wants to have their beloved pet put in the cargo hold of a plane, but the many owners who claim their show dog or lap dog is a service dog in order to have it ride in the cabin is illegal and unethical. An industry has also sprung up selling vests, harnesses and collars indicating a dog is a service animal. No proof is required to buy these items. They also provide certification papers for a fee - again, no proof necessary.

The flexibility designed to help the disabled also allows the law to be easily abused. These people are undermining legitimate service dogs.

"Each time an employee has an encounter with a fake service dog (and yes, they know when you're lying), this brings us tangibly closer to the implementation of laws, regulations, and policies that make it harder for me to live my life without being treated as a second-class citizen."

TALES FROM THE FRONT DESK

Not the actual hotel where I am employed!

Wow.  That was a busy few weeks for me.  As I had hoped, working the 3-11 hours does allow me to work with my sister on the home staging business.  It does make for some long days, though. 

Things at the hotel have been busier.  We had a group buy out the entire hotel for a few days.  They had some cocktail parties in the lobby bar and I had to play bouncer a time or two when people wandered into the hotel despite the big signs on the door saying it was closed for a private party.  One guy was an ass about it - surprisingly he is a local realtor who I recognized from his picture in all his ads...you would  think having that kind of exposure would make you behave better in public!

Then there was the woman who took one of our Easter decorations up to her room with her.  We though she might just leave it there (she was intoxicated when she came in) but she packed it up and took it with her!  She may notice the extra charge added to her room bill...

The lobby bar seems to be a popular spot for meet ups which could me nothing else but  Match.com arrangements.  The sad thing is how frequently they come in and then want to try to serve themselves from the sideboard we keep with coffee, tea and snacks for our hotel guests.  When told they will be charged for it - they usually just ask for water or have nothing.  How sad that you would arrange to meet someone but we unwilling to buy a drink to  sit over.  (We have decided that there must be some post out there that incorrectly says we offer free beverages in our lobby and these folks come in expecting it.) 

Then there is the regular who occasionally comes in with a much younger woman who spends the night with him.  She is notorious with the staff for her sticky fingers.  She has taken so much stuff (some of which has been charged to his bill) including coming into the continental breakfast repeatedly and emptying the pastries, fruit and even smoked salmon plates.  The manager finally told her that she had to stop or she would have to talk to her gentleman friend about banning her from the hotel.

The most fun for me are the wedding couples arriving in all their finery to check into their honeymoon room.  All but one couple have been amazingly young.  Sometimes they come in and change into street clothes and head out again, more frequently they arrive hungry and we order pizza for them!  All that planning for the perfect wedding meal but no time to eat it! 

No stories tonight, though.  A quiet Easter evening - and then a couple of days off. 

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.) News from the job search - more and more employers are looking for bilingual employees, some days it seems like ALL the jobs are asking for it! Mostly for Spanish speakers (not surprising being in CA) but also Chinese. So get your kids serious about those language classes!

2.) Ally received her first paycheck. Tom helped her open a bank account with ATM card access and a savings account. We advised her to automatically deposit some of each paycheck into savings, and she did.

But she was just so excited to have that money! She went out to eat, she went to many movies, she shopped and shopped and finally bought the cowboy boots she has been dreaming of. She is now so broke that she is scrounging change and asking for paid chores (which she'll gladly do tomorrow for the money today.) So far she has left the money in the savings account alone, but it is another week until she gets paid...

3.) Update on my complaint to Ikea - I have had two responses. One from the corporate office and one from the store manager offering to send me a gift card. I was thinking about suggesting she could offer me a job, but I am not sure I want a 3 hour commute for a retail job...wonder if they offer benefits?

4.) We are having a BBQ at my sister's house on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day and my mom's birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday. So we have 3 dads and 2 birthdays all together - now that is efficient!

5.) Last but not at all least. A few years ago when I first started checking out the internet to see what the hell a blog was, I found Mrs. G at Derfwad Manor. I don't know why I was so lucky to have found this wonderful, funny woman out of all the zillions of blogs out there, but I was just that lucky. I immediately had a girl crush and checked frequently for new posts and was excited when the Women's Colony was started and aspired to someday be a good enough writer to be published there.

And now it is over. She has closed it down. I am crushed. I will miss the Colony and especially Mrs. G because most of the other contributors I can read on their own blogs - but Mrs. G ...well, she is one of a kind and I can only hope she will grace the internet again because I will miss her so much.

CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

Having worked in customer service, I have a pretty good idea of how to make an effective customer complant. Lately I have been in a couple of situations where it is obvious that the main issue is the lack of available employees at large companies. That is an issue that isn't easily resolved by a well stated and directed complaint.

I have been looking for a new patio umbrella. My issue is that I need a smaller one than the 9 foot ones usually sold. I have been online and on the phone for days and finally thought I had found a solution in my price range at Ikea. It is a 40 minute drive, so i double checked that they had them in stock before I left. Ikea is a huge store. I wandered through the entire store looking for an employee who might tell me where the umbrellas might be (they don't have a designated outdoor/patio department). I never saw a single employee. HUGE STORE. I was there for an hour.

Fianlly in the warehouse section I found 3 employees all huddled around a computer station doing precisely nothing but standing there. I inquired about the umbrellas, they said they were sold out. I told them I checked that morning and was told they were in stock. They said the computer says they have them but they, in fact, don't have any.

So I asked about the fact that there were not any employees in the other departments of the store - had I just missed them? Nope. They were pretty much it except for the ones at the cash registers and the restaurants.

So what can we, as consumers, do when we feel that the companies we frequent are shortchanging us by not having enough employees available to serve us? Not to mention that the tools that are meant to save us from useless treks for unavailable merchandise are mismanaged?

Go to the Corporate website and write a complaint. Give specifics and be as businesslike as possible. Businesses tend to ignore the ranters. I know we did. Explain how the incident or business practice impacts you and why you plan to take your business elsewhere, assuming you do!

Go online and use Yelp and other social networking sites. I got a refund from a company that had refused to issue me a refund when I made a complaint on a site called Complaints.com.

So that is what I did and now I will just let it go - deep breath - and I have paid twice as much for an umbrella from another source and I will pick it up on Monday.