the search for unfinished finished…

I spent more than an hour on Google and the phone last weekend looking for an unfinished cabinet to use as a shoe cabinet and counter right by the entry door. The drive to three locations which were spread 14 miles apart led to nothing but a 5 hour tour of Oklahoma City. Not a cabinet worth messing with at any price.

Yesterday, in less time than I spent looking last weekend I designed and built a nice little cabinet for about $80 in materials including leftover floor tile from the house for the counter top. Plenty of room for boots on the bottom, high-tops and desert boots in the middle and flip flops, sandals and clogs on the top shelf. To complete – grout, linseed oil on the shelves for the aging pine against bright white trim. I wanted the carcass in before I installed the hardie on the kitchen/entry floor for the tile.

Mars out.

I’m not a marketing expert, but…

 

Trek 1220 with a Bontrager saddle from Al's - see blog entry

I know one or two things about customer service. If you have a customer with an item (a saddle) at the cash register and the clerk asks “Can I have your name and  address?” and I, the customer, say “No, we’re not doing that” this is where the clerk should say “Okay, great! We respect that. Will that be cash or debit card? 

Well, at Bike One (a bicycle shop in Norman, OK with three competing bike shops within 5 minutes of each other) the clerk says “It’s for your warranty”  I’m thinking to myself “Hey, buckeroo, I’ll have the cash receipt, it’ll be paid for, the item is described on your receipt and it has a date of purchase. How about that!” Instead I say “I’m not giving you that information. I’m paying cash and I’m about to walk out of here.” (The other associate looks on like he’s seen this before) The clerk ARGUES mumbling something about “policy”.  I put the saddle on the counter and when I reach the door I turn and say “Bad policy, I’m going to Al’s” he whimpers “Go to Al’s”. Did he say that? Yes, he did. I’m in his shop and he told me to go somewhere else. 

WOW! I couldn’t believe it. Does this goofball read the paper? Places are going out of business, even in Oklahoma. Do the owners of the store have any mojo, are they asleep or out of the country? Why in the world would you let someone this irresponsible and immature be in a position of responsibility? Is he an owner? If so the place is going down, one customer at a time.

Okay, let’s look at this a different way. Why get the buyer’s info? For a mailing list. Why do you need a mailing list? To practice the 70’s mentality of marketing, wasting money on printing and postage or, maybe, if you think you are ready for marketing 2.0 then harvest an email list. 

Bike One, I’m typing this s l o w l y so you get it – I am already IN the store with my MONEY OUT ready to PAY. How about having a policy where you use your brain and take the customer’s money.

That is the hardest thing for a business owner to get – a paying customer. Be nice and I’ll come back. That dumb*ss didn’t listen. Okie dokie, you win. 

I immediately went to Al’s Bicycles and on to Buchanan Bikes and spent money at each place. The service at Buchanan Bikes  and Al’s Bicycles  is helpful, easy-going and professional in the way you would expect from a bike shop. They are both getting my bike money. I could spend all of my bike money at Nashbar or other websites – but I don’t, I choose not to, I choose to support local business in ways I can. 

I’m tuning up both of my bikes – my $15 Giant Rincon (garage sale) has about $120 of parts bought in the past 7 years for riding around town – it needs a new rear shifter and I’m in the market for some rear panniers which can hold groceries. I am going to rename it at some point to “Frankenbike”. My vintage  TREK 1220 (okay, 10-11 years old is not exactly vintage but it is old for a road bike ridden 4+ days/wk) has about 6,000 miles on it from that time when I strove to maintain that single digit body fat number (now I’m trying to get it back into double digits, ha!) needed a saddle, will need a chain and rear cassette soon. Also, probably a computer to mindlessly track the fact I am only going 14 mph against a 35 mph headwind on old 77 outside of Lexington.

 I am never going back to Bike One and recommend you don’t bother, either.

 Mars out.

Did I mention…

it’s funny working with some of my tools which haven’t been touched for the better part of 4 years?

Well, when the work began on the oak floor a few days ago (3/16 oak laminate on ply 9/16 thickness) I grabbed a nail gun to toe nail the planks. It was a few minutes into the project I remembered this is the gun that jams. I quickly figured out this happens only if I have nails in it and it is hooked up to the air compressor. So I grabbed the Hitachi.

This oak sku was discontinued by Home Depot and I first noticed it a few weeks ago when the price dropped to $1.87 from $3.64 per foot. It was in a cubby hole and nobody was buying even though the price was less than crappy vinyl planks. From my days working in the orange box I knew they would drop the price again. When the price was cut to $0.99 per foot I bought all remaining stock at 5 stores around the area. This will be enough material for the entire 1 bed 1 bath house and one living room in the duplex.

Mars out.

It’s hard to believe…

how great it feels to be out of a job. I mean no disrespect to those who did not plan or have no means nor skills to carry them through a job loss. It simply means I’m much closer to starting my next project. 

The day began with a strong wind and me looking forward to Noon. I gave my two week notice two weeks ago to the Construction V.P. and the Norman Spur toll gate of I-44 had my name on it. Thursday is also the day the Sr. Project Manager and PM come to the site to meet with the client and observe the progress and resolve any issues. Apparently, in an office with only six people remaining from massive downsizing nobody had mentioned to the Sr. PM my last day was today. He came to the jobsite with the intention of laying me off. I had to chuckle. All is well. My guess is he knew I quit but the layoff was a back-up ruse for some other purpose. The point is moot – I’m not looking for a free ride (unemployment benefits) and more work is lined up. Mars is no longer a dull boy and I  wish them success. 

I’ll finish installing the oak floor in the living room of the duplex tomorrow and jump back to the house and finish tiling a shower. The strong winds took a few shingles from the house so that’s the task for Saturday. 

Mars out.