Donations

As I have blogged about before I belong to a local charity organization, the Kiwanis Club. I have been a member for about twelve years, even president twice. It is very rewarding to see the results of some of the work that we do. We are often approached by other different charity groups for help with their work. Before we decide to donate to these groups we always do research to see just where our money is going.

As a club we run about a eleven to twelve percent administration cost for the building and other necessities associated with the organization. We take no salaries at all, not even our officers. We do this because we want to. Other organizations are not as honorable. I recently found out the American Red Cross is one of those organizations. The president and CEO of the Red Cross takes a 951,000 dollar salary. This is non-profit? The president of the United Way accepted a salary of 675,000 to run their charity organization. Another example is Unicef. The CEO of Unicef took a salary of 1.9 million dollars and a Rolls Royce for their work in this charity organization. This results in less than five cents of every dollar donated goes to the charity that people are giving to. This is terrible. As a fellow non-profit we refuse to help organizations that just pad their own pockets instead of helping their community.

Before you donate be sure to look into their record. It is all available as public record. Organizations that are truly non-profit include the Salvation Army. Their commander received only 13,000 for running this two billion dollar organization. Your local VFW, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans are also part of the honorable charity groups. In fact the commanders of these three groups take absolutely zero salaries to run these non-profits.

Choose your non-profits wisely and don’t just give your money to these groups that are just helping themselves. A true non-profit should make enough to cover their legitimate expenses and the rest goes back to the community. The community is the group that we are all trying to help. It makes me an Angry Nice Guy to think that people would take advantage of the public’s desire to help others.

　

　

　
                         
 
　

　

　

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Choose wisely, it will go farther.

Health Insurance, Or The Lack Of

Ok, I’m going to complain about the lack of health insurance some more, only because it affects me so much. My current employer that bought the business almost three years ago did not deem it was important for his 50+ year old family man to retain the health insurance instated by the previous owner. I hurt my back in March, which would have been avoided it I could have gone to a doctor and had my pain analyzed. Out of work for a month, on workman’s comp, went back for a month on four hour days, now I am on six hour days. Wonderful. All covered by WC which I am grateful for. I have had carpel tunnel in my left hand for over a year. I wear a brace at night and it alleviates the problem so I suck it up and keep on. Now I am getting it in my other hand. That means another brace. If I had the insurance I could go get the operation in a day and be set for the rest of my life, but no. My wife is experiencing problems with her leg now and needs to have her knee worked on, but no. She is also getting an allergic reaction to something around our property but we cannot figure it out.

All of these things and more could be taken care of with a simple health plan. Luckily we have a Healthy Kids plan for out children so they are taken care of. At what point does my health seem important to this idiot? When it affects his business I suppose.

Our best friend passed away basically because he did not have health insurance. I never thought I would have to worry about succumbing to the same fate.

　


                                                                         

　

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This Big House

I have blogged before on my Brief Gift blog about having a house built. It is a great feeling to have a house built the way that you want it. But do not go overboard. Remember that a house is only there to hold all of your stuff. Big house means lots of stuff and more to take care of. If you happen to have the means to hire people to take care of your stuff and your house, more power to you. But regular people like me do not. We have a nice house but I wonder if it is more than what we need. We spend more time trying to find things and get rid of stuff than we need to. I would rather be out camping or going to some place to sightsee than working on the house all of the time. Small and Spartan is the way to go. Not much clutter and not much to have to maintain. We have not been camping in years, mainly because we have too many things to do to maintain the house. We bought new because we thought that it would be easier or less to maintain, we were wrong. At least we went with vinyl on everything so all we have to do is wash instead of painting all of the time. The big house is nice, lots of room but that is only room for stuff. The more stuff you own the more that it owns you. I am not so vain that I need people to drive by and go Oooo and Ahhh over how nice the house is. Soon our children will be on their own and we can downsize, maybe near the water or the beach. A small house with a postage stamp size yard where we can relax and enjoy it.

We will see.





　
　

　

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Long Live the American Work Ethic

Some people these days have no consideration for the business that they work for. I work with just such people. How many times can you remind someone to cleanup after themselves? Isn’t that a part of normal everyday survival? I work in a business that depends on the equipment that we use. It is cleaning equipment like vacuums and shampooers. Three time in as many months I have come into the equipment room and found the shampoo machine still plugged in and up to full temperature. Not only is it a waste of electricity but what happens if it shorts out and starts a fire? Two weeks ago one of the two vacuum motors in this very unit did just that. Luckily we were there to shut it down. I am sure the breaker would have tripped but that seems like too much trust placed in man made items to leave it to chance. I have told the workers twice to turn off and unplug the machinery. Even the technician that works on and sells these machines says that that is a good idea. These workers do not even pick up after themselves. I have complained about that too. The owner does not seem to care, he is out taking care of his many other enterprises and does not pay attention to this little business. Countless time I have come into work and doing my job requires twice as much time because first I have to cleanup after the other people, than I have to find things that I need because they can never put them away. When I have complained directly to the owner the worker just walks off the job with complete impunity because he knows the owner will just take him back. I have been working at this location longer that some of these guys have been in the country. They have no pride in their work or their surroundings at the job. I speak to them and try to get them to do things right but I have to wear kid gloves because they will just walk off the job and leave me dry. It is a terrible way to be treated when you are just trying to do a good job in a place that you have been for years. I don’t know what has happened to the good old American work ethic but it is sure dwindling away.

　

　

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Psycho Lady

I feel so bad for people that have an ailment that does not allow them to mentally function well in society. I also do not see why these same people should not try to maintain this ailment the way they are supposed to. That may sound apathetic but it is a situation that I was very familiar with.

We used to have a neighbor that had a mental disorder. She appeared wonderfully nice and we befriended her after she moved into our neighborhood, right next to our house. Things went great for about three months, she seemed to be easily upset but we did not think anything of it. You take people with a grain of salt and accept who they are. She was easy to upset so we tried not to. This was not possible. She started ranting about neighbors doing work in their yards and kids playing in the cul-de-sac. She would even get upset if I talked to one of these kids. Soon she started calling the police. She called the police when someone used a snow blower early in the morning so he could get to work. She called the police a total of 13 times on me over a two year period. I finally went to our police department to ask them if I was getting a record due to this psycho lady. He knew immediately who I was referring to and told me not to worry. They only show up at her house because they have to. After that they just disregard the call. I found out that she has called the police on the residents of all twelve houses on our street, even our local pastor. She was also banned from the supermarket up the street and from Girl Scout meetings. This woman was known all over the town for losing it for no reason. Come to find out she was supposed to be taking medication daily for her illness but sometimes she just chose not to. She then took it out on everyone that lived on our street or anyone she came in contact with. Very sad.

She has since moved to another state and divorced her husband. Unfortunately it seems that her daughter has the same ailment. It was told to me that when her daughter was asked about her dad she said that he was dead. We saw him not too long ago.

I have met other people with this same problem and they take their medication daily. They are perfectly normal and I work with them in our local community service organization. It can be done and you don’t have to cause chaos in the lives of the people around you.

　

　

I don't need medixcation! I don't! I don't! I don't!

　

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She's Baaaaack!

She is still our there! This psycho lady that ran me off of the road last year is still at it. Last year I was riding my bicycle to work and was about to pass a Dunkin Donuts. As I approached the turn a lady in a white car came up along side of me. She looked at me. I was going straight and she was turning right into the entrance of the shop. She just turned! She forced me off of the road and onto the sidewalk! I could not believe it. When I saw that she was going to the drive through, I followed and drove up along side of her. I let her know loudly that she just ran me off the road. I surprised her so much that she dropped the phone she was texting with. She said that she thought I had plenty of room. I told her that thinking was not her strong suit. A favorite line from the Lost In Space movie. She was completely nonplussed and was more intent on the coffee she was waiting for. I finally told her to put down the phone and drive like an adult.

A year later I am driving in the same area but going in the other direction. I was in my company truck, an F-350 that is quite high. It gives me a great vantage point to see what is going on. As I waited for my light to change I noticed that the light to turn left was green. The car to my left was just sitting there and not moving. I looked up and the light was still green. Turning to see what was going on I realized that I had seen this car before but I could not place it. I could not place it that is until I noticed that this person was texting that was why she did not notice that the light was green. I then realized that this is the same idiot that ran me off of the road. She was still doing it except this time there was no one to run off of the road. She sat there texting at the wheel and did not look up until the light had turned yellow, at which point she stomped on the gas and ran through the red light. I seriously believe that she is going to keep texting and driving until she kills someone. Angry Nice Guy would really like to get in her face again but I would probably be the one that gets arrested. Maybe when something terrible happens she will learn.

that's me on the bicyhcle, top right!

　

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I Swear

Is it just me or is it annoying to be around somebody that has a constant torrent of expletives coming from their mouth? I don’t mean that occasional slip or the perfunctory swear when we are really upset. I mean the person that uses profanity for every single adjective and adverb that is in a sentence. Even some nouns personal pronouns. I have let some slip once in a while. Sometimes you can’t help it but when you encounter somebody that does it so much it is hard to understand the conversation isn’t that a little much? Are these words used because of this persons limited vocabulary and intellect? I am not a snob but it just seems annoying when every modifier a person uses starts with the letter f and rhymes with truck. Especially around children, there is no excuse for that. If you don’t have anything intelligent or constructive to say then be quiet. I believe I have said that before in another blog. I could elaborate on this but that probably would not be constructive. A Nice Guy would stop here.

　

　

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Call Me 2

On my last blog I talked about communication, or the lack thereof. It was concerning our quest to refinance our house. I wrote briefly that we started this whole thing in December of last year. After much attention to our case they had decided that a radical adjustment was not feasible because we would not be able to afford the payment. Radical adjustment only means that they change your interest rate to help you out, sometimes for a fee. I don’t understand, we have been making this payment for 13 years and they will not lower the rate because we can not afford the new lower payment. Where does this logic come from? Well, like I stated in the last post, we tried twice to submit forms for the Making Home Affordable plan but we did not have the proper documents. Instead of calling us and letting us know they just sat on it until we called them. When we questioned this they said that it was not their job to call and let us know. Nice. My wife called them again yesterday, after my blog, and again they said that the information that we submitted for the third time was inadequate. And again they did not deem it was important to call. They did, however, let us know that our name had been removed from the system because it has been over thirty days since we submitted the forms. It would not have been that long if they had called us right away and let us know what we needed. It seems that our cell phone number, our land line and our emails are only used to contact us if we are approved. I will admit that I do not know all of the ins and outs of banking but this does not seem like the way to run any kind of business. Now we have to start all over again. We started today by going to the bank that holds our mortgage and speaking to the manager. When we told them of the practices of this department she was appalled. I can assure you we are even more appalled. She gave our name to one of the district managers and he should soon be contacting us. We have the opportunity to save a great deal of money, cut our payments and shorten the length of our mortgage. This bank that we go to has an ad that states “sometimes all people need is people, a good bank understands that.” They do not seem to understand their own ad. A Nice Guy understands it.

　

　

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Call Me

Communication is a lost art. I think I have touched on this before but it is worth another visit. We have great means of communication available to us but using them is another matter. In this age of electronic wizardry it should be no problem keeping in touch with those that we need to. It should be no problem.

So many people just let their phones go directly to voice mail. I make a call to a fellow worker that is urgent and get no response, only voice mail. I do not know if the message gets through so I have to work around the chance that it did not and this can create problems, especially when dealing with work matters. Some time back my company vehicle broke down and I urgently needed a ride. When I tried to reach these fellow workers, again, voice mail. So I called someone else. After ten minutes or so three people showed up and now they are upset because two of them did not have to be there. Answering the phone would probably have alleviated that problem.

If you say that you are going to call back, then call back. It is more annoying to not hear from someone that promised to call then it is to get information that you might not want to hear. Call back.

Apathy is the other communication problem. We are trying to secure a refinance for our mortgage. We have been trying for about seven months. The communication at the bank is terrible. You talk to one person and get one story than their supervisor calls a week later and tells you that the information that you received is not correct. This starts the whole ball rolling again. After two months of “negotiating” we realized that we were probably not going to get a straight answer from these people right away. We started the application for the government Making Home Affordable Plan, a good idea if you can get the ball rolling. We submitted the massive amount of information required and waited, and waited. Three weeks of waiting went by and we called them. They tell us that one of the forms is not acceptable and that we would have to resubmit this one form. They knew this for three weeks and did not call us. We submitted this form again. Two weeks this time and we called again. They still did not like the form that we sent them but did not call us. They have our cell phone numbers, land line number and our emails but they will not contact us on their own. Are these people idiots? They find out there is a problem and just sit on it until you call them yourselves. Apathy, pure apathy. Enough to make a Nice Guy Angry.

　

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Give Me a Lift

The fact that I am limited now with the load that I can carry does not bother me until I attempt certain tasks. I have worked hard all of my life and this is the consequence of doing it without health insurance. It is not pleasant but that is just the way it is. What I find annoying is that when I go to the supermarket with my wife she gets stuck carrying the twenty pound bag of cat litter and I have to carry the toilet paper. I look like a jerk. I am a Nice Guy and have always helped my wife like I should and it makes me feel like a jerk. She understands and it does not bother her. I cannot even carry an eighteen pack of beer in the house, but I can carry it one at a time. When I water my compost I have to bring only half a bucket. At least at work I can use a hand truck to still do things on my own but that does not always work at home. I used to run up and lift my wife surprising her, now I am the one that is surprised. At least I can still mow my lawn because it is all flat. Canoeing is out because it weighs about eighty pounds so I had to sell that. What a bummer. I have always been a do it myself kind of guy so this is not setting well. I still have one wall left to finish in the basement but I don’t see myself lifting a piece of gypsum anytime soon. We have cats, one is seventeen pounds, I will not give up lifting my freeloaders.

All in all my life has not changed a whole lot but there are just times when it is very annoying, I guess I will get used to it. Like they say, whatever does not kill you only makes you stronger. Well, I am still alive so I guess I will just keep up the exercises and see if I can prove the doctors wrong. Maybe I will be able to lift the cat litter as well as the cat. We shall see.

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Key Clubs Rock!!!

A good day today. Going to a Spring Fling to help out the Key Club. They are putting on this dance event for the senior citizens in our town. They do this every year and it is a big hit. This year we are having it at our Kiwanis Hall. The kids work hard, put up decorations, bake and bring food and set up music for the evening. It is a good time for them. They are doing this in conjunction with the school’s National Honor Society, another good group. With both groups there should be enough people to set things up and get ready for the senior citizens. They usually have this in the school but there is just too much going on to do that this year. It is one of the favorite events that the club runs. It is nice to see the high school students do this for the seniors in this area. I am going to help set up and get things going, not that they need my help. I think that they have been doing this for about ten years if not more. It has been in the planning for about two months now so they should be all set to go. They do this on top of their regular schedule and all of the other activities that they have, including getting ready for graduation. This is a busy time of year for them and I have to commend them on taking this on every year. I do not know what the theme is this year but I am sure it will be eye catching.

Working within your community is an awesome way to show that you care and to develop leadership skills. I am so proud to be a part of our Key Clubs and the work that they do. It is one of the benefits of being a Nice Guy.

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Shhh

How often have you heard someone engage their mouth before they put their brain in gear? It is not a pretty sight. Too often there are people that cannot come up with a reasonable or intelligent argument and they just resort to being hurtful or digging up something forgotten from years back in someone’s distant past. Think before you speak or, if you don’t have something constructive or helpful to say then don’t say anything. This should be advice for people in the public spotlight as well as us common folk. Maybe it is because of the fast paced society that we live in but time should be taken before some people speak. Think about what you say and who you are going to say it to.

We even do the same thing when it comes to our email. I have been guilty of that in the past. It is better to click “save as draft” until you can think about it and then maybe change the text or just delete it. A lot of pent up anger can be delivered and released when you hit that send button. It is so much easier to do because you are not face to face with the person.

I think that everybody deserves a little time before we say something that we might feel bad about later on. Once it is said it cannot be taken back. You can apologize but it has already been said and the impression has been made. While you are saying it, it might feel like a justifiable point that you are making but is it being made in the correct matter or just out of spite? Small minded people defend their actions by just using spite and hurtful feelings and then they have nothing to support their actions except for more spite and pain.

I have been accused at times for letting someone walk all over me, there are times when being quiet and taking the abuse is more prudent than elevating the situation. Being a Nice Guy I have learned that from experience. If someone is aggravated to the point of no longer making sense, what can you say to change this persons attack? Nothing. You could put forward the most logical retort only to be confronted by more vitriol. It is not worth it. Not everyone on this planet is equipped to be on a debating team and will therefore not be able to see a situation logically from both sides. Therefore, they do not engage their brains before they put their mouth in gear, and they never will.

Television Content

How come there is so many bad things on the news? I am not trivializing the bad things that happen but by producing these stories in such abundance, doesn’t that tend to trivialize it all on its own? There are almost as many death counts in the first fifteen minutes of news than there is in the first fifteen minutes on an action movie. Are they in competition?

I have never been there but I have heard that in other countries they actually run some good news stories. Mrs. Smith had her cat rescued from an old oak tree, the Smith school ran a successful bake sale today. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear more of these stories rather than the attention grabbing homicides that we hear about now? I guess attention grabbing is the key here and that is why we see so many. It is important to keep us informed, don’t get me wrong. We do need to know about dangerous situations that develop in our communities, but do they have to be repeated over and over? It is so nice to see the stories about the A+ students in our towns. Let’s see more of these.

The Amber Alerts are a fantastic way to let people know about children in dangerous situations and people that we have to look out for. I think that these should take precedent over the repetitive murder stories.

One other thing that is annoying about our news stories is the use of the word alleged. When somebody is standing there with a smoking gun, shells all around his feet, wounded and dead people surrounding him and he is saying that “I did it and I’ll do it again” why is this alleged? That is like saying the sun will allegedly set this evening. This person did it and seems quite content with the fact that he did it lets give him the credit he deserves. Leave the term alleged for the times when we do not know what has happened.

Affordability and Accountability

Making Home Affordable, this is the government plan that is available to people so that they can reduce the rate that they are paying and therefore reduce the payment amount. The only problem is the amount of hoops that you have to jump through to accomplish this. We applied for this over a month ago. Two weeks after applying we called to see what the progress was and we were told that some of the information that we sent was not enough to complete the application. They knew this and did not call us to let us know. Once we found out what we needed we made our copies and sent the requested information to them. We now sat back and relaxed, hoping that we would qualify for a new lower rate for our mortgage. My wife and I are Nice Guys, we should qualify, we have never been late and actually pay a little extra towards the principal every month. Today, my wife gave them another call and they very blandly told her that the extra information that we sent was also inadequate. Again, they did not let us know. They have both of our phone numbers, my wife’s cell phone and my email. Even with all of this they cannot bring themselves to call us and let us know what we need.

When we applied for this modification we were told by some people at the bank that it takes up to six months to hear from these people. I did not think that the delay was due to their lackadaisical attitude and ineptness. When they find a mistake or a form that is not up to their standards they just set it aside and move on. They do not have the decency to let people know. Don’t they realize that people are depending on this to help get themselves out of debt? I understand that they are performing a service that is above and beyond what they have to do but does this mean that they don’t have to care? It does not take that much to pick up a phone and call someone to tell them that form number WTF101 is needed to complete this task. Please remit to expedite you application. Instead they just sit on their hands and our application and wait until we call to ask about our progress. They then pull out our form and tell us it is incomplete. How are we to know this if they do not tell us?

Please, President Obama and his people put together a good plan to help people. Don’t screw it up by being a typical government bureaucracy.

Active Kids, Good Hearts

I was at one of our Key Clubs today. It was a great meeting, just the officers but a great meeting nonetheless. Both of our Key Clubs do good things for the community but one has really coalesced into a smooth running and productive club. At the district convention at the end of the year they brought home three awards. A nice way to end the year. This club is already working on their calendar for next year and wants to work with the other club. This would be great because maybe some of the good habits will be adopted by the other.

The club that is excelling has a little more in its favor. It is a smaller school with fewer activities to interfere with Key Club meetings. The other club comes from a huge school where the are many other clubs with mandatory meetings, so the Key Club loses out. All of the different Honor Societies have mandatory meetings.

They are both great clubs and it is an honor to work with them. It is good to see kids involved in the community and helping others. They make and send Holiday cards to the troops overseas. They hold many different fundraisers to support their causes and to donate to charity. Both clubs took a big trip to Boston to see the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute so they could see first hand where some of their money goes to, and see some of the young patients in their care. We hold bike rodeos for area children where we provide helmets at no charge and the Key Clubs always help with that.

Being at the smaller school was especially exciting seeing all that they have planned for next year. They already have most of their calendar done. They are in contact with the District Lt. Governor to see what district projects there are that they can participate in. And to start the new year they are going to have a bonding meeting at an apple orchard or the area ball field where they will stay for about two hours, do some work and then have a picnic.

I am going to bring some of their ideas to the larger club, with their blessing of course, to see if they can get some momentum going. The larger club has expressed an interest in joining forces but it has never happened, too much going on. I am looking forward to the coming year for our Key Clubs. Two remarkable groups of kids that are working for a common good. I am sure that they will work out kinks that multiple clubs cause. It is a new year and all new officers taking the reins and I know that nothing but good will come in the new school year. Nice Guys all.

Food, Food and more Food

There are so many ways that we have to be Nice Guys. We can be nice to each other, to the planet and to the other species that coexist with us. I do my best to practice all of these. As a family we compost, we have three composters going all of the time. We have five feral cats that we feed and try to take care of as well donating to the animal shelter. We volunteer around the community to help others. That is why it really frosts me when I find out that as a country we throw out 3000 pounds of food every minute of the day. Not rotten disgusting food but food that could well be saved and served.

This comes from ignorance and the fear of being sued. Can you imagine that the fear of being sued keeps us from helping people that need food? The amount of food that we throw out is staggering and there is no need of it. In 1996 President Clinton passed the Good Samaritan Act that "protects donors from civil and criminal liability should the product donated be in good faith later cause harm to the needy recipient." There is more to it than just that but this major part of his bill should be enough to make businesses stop and think before they toss.

Huge amounts of produce is thrown out because it has a spot or two. Sometimes it is thrown out just to make room for incoming stock. This could all be washed and checked and given to food pantries. Fruit that has bruises can be cooked, made into apple sauce or cobbler. Lettuce can be picked over, remove the outer leaves and you have plenty of good fibrous nutrition. When these products are thrown into our landfills it produces methane and ruins our atmosphere. Meats, fish and poultry have dates that are marked ahead so that they will not be sold close to the due date. This means that it is good for five or six days after the due date. Not only does this ruin the atmosphere as well but these are animals that have died for nothing. How can businesses in all good conscience allow this to happen. Some stores have a rack to sell due date items at a reduced cost, this is good but does not happen in many supermarkets. Citizens in some areas of the country have taken it upon themselves work with the store owners and rescue this food, bringing it to local food pantries to be given to the needy. This should be something that we should not even have to think about. Doing this is good in so many ways.

During big New England storms when we lose power, some of the stores empty all of the coolers and throw out everything. Why not open the doors and give it to people? Last year when we lost power I had to go to one of these stores. They were running on emergency lighting. They were offering coffee to people and the registers were running on a limited basis. It was nice that they did this for people but when I asked them what happened to the perishables, she looked kind of disgusted and told me that it was all thrown out. Very sad.

As a society were are smarter than this. We could help so many and our planet as well if we just became an intelligent Nice Guy society and fed our needy. Somehow, we must do this.

Put It Back

I don’t know about you but when I am through using something, I try to be a Nice Guy and put it away so someone else can find it. I’m just wired that way. It is so annoying to be on the job and co-workers finish with tools or products and just drop them down where they happen to be finished with them. Then they wonder why they can’t find something when they need it. Even more aggravating is the fact that now I can’t find it. When I can’t find something the usual thought is that we are running low and I need to order more of whatever somebody misplaced. Now we have an excess, or, I figure that it is just misplaced and I do not order it, that is when we will run out. Put things back, it is not that hard.

Same thing with in the home. When we can’t find something in the house it probably was not put away. Just like at work, finishinh the job is basically what the answer is. When the dishes are done, put them away, don’t stack them up for someone else to do it. Laundry can be just as aggravating. Take another ten steps to the closet and put things away.

As a landscaper I used to see it there too. People would try to do the job by themselves and leave 13 piles of leaves, or sticks and branches or piles of dead grass all over the lawn. It gets wet and kills the grass and makes more work for the lawn maintenance guy. Pile landscaping is what we used to call it.

Piles everywhere. Piles of towels at work or towels hanging on every conceivable object, piles of pots, pans and dishes waiting for someone to finish the job, and clusters of clean laundry hanging from doorknobs and drawer handles. It is too much. Be a Nice Guy and put things away, don’t leave them for someone else to care for when they have finished their work. And with regards to the pile landscaping, you are just killing your grass. We show up two months after your work of art and by then it is too late. Bag it, burn it or haul it away but don’t leave it there as a monument to the incomplete job. I am not perfect. I still have a panel in the garage that has not been put up since I started working on it five years ago. I keep looking at it but it is the last piece and does not want to be reasonable. I know I will have to improvise to get it up there but right now I am going to leave it rather than get frustrated and break it. That is different. Right?

Driving, a National Pastime

We should all try to be Nice Guys on the road. Wave someone through, let them go. Are we in that much of a hurry that three seconds will make a difference? I am a firm believer in letting people have the right of way and not tailgating. Tailgating! That has become such an epidemic I believe that someone put a sticker on my truck that says get closer. I can be driving at five miles over the limit and still some moron has to be right up my bumper, with their phone against their head. When I approach someone that has been waiting to enter traffic, and there are no cars close behind me, I will let them in. It just might stop a case of road rage. On the other hand, when we leave the street where we live, which empties onto a busy road, if you are not a little aggressive, you will sit there until all the traffic is gone. Not only is the line of traffic endless, but they are all tailgating so it is nothing but a solid line of steel across the street. Pay attention to what is going on. If there is a car trying to enter traffic in front of you, and there is a mile behind you, be a Nice Guy and let them go! It won’t slow you down and it might stop another case of road rage. Unless you want to be on the evening news.

And with regards to the news I do feel sorry for those in traffic for hours. I see those highways that have been turned into parking lots and I do not know how you do it. It would be hard to remain a Nice Guy in that situation. I have never commuted more that seven miles and that was too much. But if you have to, turn up the music, have a good breakfast and don’t look at the guy next to you. He might not be a Nice Guy.

Here in New England there is one other great action that can be taken by a Nice Guy. Clean the snow off of your roof. Have you ever been behind someone that has not when it has let go? Instant blindness. I believe that they might even be making it a law. There are so many things that we can do to improve our quality of driving. All we have to do is use our head. Before you cut off four lanes of traffic to get to a missed exit, just think that one of the people that you cut off could be texting, and do you want to miss up their important message? It must be very important or why would they be doing it while driving?

Okay, time for me to lighten up on the Angry but remember you can use the middle finger for changing the stations, too.

At The Top

If I were to own a business, I think that it would be important to do everything that I could to make improvements and keep it running at peak performance. Of course that’s me, a Nice Guy. I do not posses the greed gene. I do not think that the greed gene is necessary to run a successful business. When a business owner possesses the greed gene it seems feasible to them to spread themselves thin and put the original on the back burner. I have seen this trough personal observations. I have seen an owner go all out for the first year, then go onto other things while all but ignoring the previous money maker. He has gone on to build condos, buy other properties and expand the first business into cooperate locations that crank out substandard work. Meanwhile, the original location is left to its own devices and flounders on its own. It is not that the people in charge are incapable, they just feel like they are no longer important enough to warrant the attention of the owner who is out making great deals to enrich his empire.

Am I the only one that feels this way? It does not mean that everyone needs a babysitter to hold their hand through the daily rigors of work, it just would be nice to be appreciated and supported through it all. It might be just a business but there are people involved and it is nice for them to see the owner cares.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I owned a lawn maintenance company and always took care of my workers. Even to the point of denying myself pay for a short time. Very short! An owner should give a damn not just use the excuse that he is a businessman and not deal with the human element. If it wasn’t for the human element there would be no business.

It has been touted in these past months that by increasing the worth of the company is the only way to increase the production and help the employees. This makes sense but how often is it done. Some can trickle down to the workers but it is usually caught in the sieve that is held by the owners. Look in the rearview mirror at where you started, there are probably people there that would like to see your personal attention to what is going on in your own company.

If you enjoy this blog watch out for a new one coming soon. I am working on a special blog entitled This Brief Gift. Thank you!

Good Boss

My last boss was a Nice Guy. I enjoyed working for him. I did not even have to ask for bonuses, they just showed up in my paycheck. In fact, after receiving the first one I thought it was a mistake. As it happens when I scored a large account for the business he automatically gave me a ten percent cut of the sales. Pretty cool. He also gave me important benefits, which I lost when the business changed hands. He owned the business for three years and had planned on keeping it, and me for a while longer. Unfortunately, being a Nice Guy, he met the same fate as most of us Nice Guys do. One of the main parts of the business was a large warehouse that not only stored merchandise for sales but manufactured custom parts for other businesses. He sold parts all over the east coast. I worked at the warehouse off and on to make more cash and to give him a hand. Working on the welding robots was cool. It paid well and was something different to do. I enjoyed it.

Some of the people that worked there were family. I met some of them and they seemed like decent enough people. Some were in the warehouse but most were in the office and in charge of running things. They were quite and seemed to have a great handle on running things for my boss, who was busy at other locations. He entrusted his uncles to take care of his business. This was in the end his undoing. It seems that two of his uncles were ordering supplies and selling them on their own and keeping the profits. I guess when you control the books and the inventory you can get away with this, for a while. There were many customers going in and out of the warehouse so any activity was just taken for granted. I do not know how long this went on but after a while there were items that should have been in the warehouse but were not. This came to my bosses attention but it was too late. The damage had been done and he lost over a million dollars. He ended up having to sell the warehouse and some of his locations, including the one that I worked at. Many other Nice Guys that I knew in the warehouse also lost their job.

The last that I heard he was still engaged in a huge legal battle. Making the matters worse the items that were stolen, or sold without compensation, were transported over state lines. I guess this brings in a whole list of different charges, which could go on forever. I miss the former owner. He was not only a Nice Guy but a great guy. I hope things work out for him. I do occasionally contact him to say “hi.” Maybe some day I can work for him again. Nice Guys should stick together.

Customer Service

Customer service. That is almost a contradiction in terms these days. From the grocery store where they wing the products by so fast that you can’t see what is going on, to the support lines where you have to dial one for English. Customer service is a dying art.

I know someone that was at a pizza place over the weekend. It was a very windy day and they went in to buy a couple of slices to go. After his purchase he took his pizza slices to go in a box. On his way out of the door the wind grabbed the door form his hands. In an effort to save the door the wind grabbed his slices instead and flung them like Frisbees. The door was saved but the slices were all over the parking lot with the empty box. The vendor merely shrugged his shoulders and grunted returning to work. Granted, it was not the fault or the concern of the shop manager but that was an opportunity to turn a negative situation into a positive. He could have offered to replace the slices and been a hero. Instead this person went without and as a consequence will not go back to that shop. And as we all know, bad news travels faster than good and this event will probably cost the shop a couple of customers.

I am a manager in a local carwash and detail shop. If somebody misses the last coin alert or just ran out of change I will always give them a minute or two to rinse the vehicle off. It is not worth sending the customer away with soap all over it. It looks terrible and might ruin the paint if it is really hot outside. By helping the customer in this way they will always come back and you have made a customer for life. We need more Nice Guy rules in customer service. Answer the phone, don’t just let it go to voice mail. From the other point of view, if someone gives you good service let them know. I was in a restaurant with my family after a long drive over the weekend and we received incredible service. The people were friendly and went out of their way. We were far from home and it was not like we were regular customers, we had never been there before. When we were leaving I told them that it was one of the friendliest restaurants that I have been to. When someone or a business does something right they deserve to know. It has always been the rule that people will give a bad review before they give a good one. I don’t believe in that, of course because I am a Nice Guy. If I don’t have anything good or constructive to say then I will just shut the hell up.

Customer service should not be a thing of the past or the passion of Nice Guys, it should be a part of any good business. If there is to be an option when you call for service it should be to press 1 to be treated decently, press 2 to be treated like a slug.

Good Times

It is almost one of the times of year when Nice Guys get to do what they do best, be Nice. The end of the school year means scholarships. And our organization hands our scholarships to deserving students. I usually do not mention businesses or organizations, but ours is a non-profit so I do not see why I cannot. I belong to our local Kiwanis club. I am two times past president and I am also the Kiwanis Advisor to two area High Schools. It is very rewarding to work with these students. The run their own clubs, set their own agenda, elect their own officers and decide what charity raising events they want to participate in or what group of people need their help. My job is only to advise them, to act as a go between for their clubs and ours. Our club raises about thirty thousand dollars a year and we give nine thousand out in scholarships. I am the one that reports on the clubs activities and hands out the awards once the scholarship committee has decided who they go to. Working with the kids all year is great. When they get enthused about a project there is no stopping them.

There have been low points when they have a hard time rallying the club or other organizations take precedence. Many other clubs have mandatory meetings and the Key Clubs lose out at these times. The Key Club is the high school equivalent of the Kiwanis club. At these time it takes a little prodding but they always come around. Ti is exciting to see their functions in the local paper and the community get behind them. They help us at our Pumpkinfest in the fall, at bike rodeos, fishing derbys and many other activities that we run. They have run many of their own like a coffee house where kids perform and applaud in the style of the Beatniks in the 60”s, dances for the elderly, walks for cancer and raising money for Unicef. It is a good organization the gives them a sense of community and responsibility, and helps them learn what volunteering is all about.

We award five scholarships to those who have worked hardest and have given the most of themselves to the organization. I have the very desirable job of calling up each member to receive their scholarship. The look of appreciation that we receive and the thank you letters after is the reason that we do this. We have made a difference in their lives and they will continue the good work later on. Hopefully, they will even join our club when they go into society and start lives of their own. This will keep the good work going on and create more Nice Guys. It is good to be a Nice Guy when you can help others, it is good to help other when they are the people that are around you, and in the end aren’t all people around us?

Poorman's Compensation

Workman’s Compensation. It should be called Poorman’s Compensation. First of all you have to wait, and wait to see a doctor so that he can give his diagnosis of what has happened. Then there are the forms. Then you have to send copies of whatever pay you are still getting, if any. Then if you boss gives you a weeks pay when he doesn’t really have to, it throws their whole precious schedule off. I was injured six weeks ago and have received two checks from the Poorman’s Comp people. At least that is what they are making me and my family, poor. Two weeks in a row and I have received nothing. The idiot in charge of my case takes Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off so there is no way of getting in touch with him. Then when I do have time to try and reach him he is always in meetings.

It is bad enough that I only receive sixty percent of what I was making full time, at least give me something. It was hard enough making ends meet before this. Now I have to wait, and wait, and wait for sixty percent if I am lucky.

Of course I am sure that the Poorman’s Comp idiot is deeply troubled by our situation. I am sure that he is losing sleep over the plight that we are in.

I am on twenty hour weeks of light work and my doctor has just told me that it is not healing fast and it will be another month of light labor. If I can at least get a Poorman’s Comp check I would feel a bit better about this situation and maybe pay a bill or too.

OK. I am whining. If I am living and breathing I should shut the hell up, so I will.

For today.

Obsolescence

You don’t have to be a Nice Guy to be annoyed by planned obsolescence. It almost seems to be a trademark of a successful American business. We see it in appliances, automobiles, outdoor equipment, power tools, the list can go on and on.

I think that it is even more annoying when coupled with a developer that increases their profits by using substandard materials that are designed with planned obsolescence in mind. We bought a house thirteen years ago. A beautiful house that we had built to our designs. We could not afford many upgrades, we choose to upgrade the carpet pad because this makes the cheaper carpet last longer. It did. I installed all of our boxes for the ceiling fans and all of the extra phone and cable boxes before the sheetrock was up. This saved us a lot. Most of the materials in the house was guaranteed for ten years, which was when things started going wrong. Our roof needed repair and after researching we found out that the brand that they used is involved in a class action lawsuit. Great, we will wait years for that.

I like performing maintenance on things that we own, it makes them last longer. When I tried to drain the water heater that was installed I found out that they bought the cheap model with no drain, with no drain the sediments build up and ruin the heater. So, I guess we will be replacing that soon, just like our neighbors. Our windows, well, we can see through them, that is a good thing. If they are not locked the top will not stay up, they make horrid noises when we use them, and the company that made them does not exist anymore. I bet the builder got a real good deal on those. The bathroom fan/vent was vented into the attic. I am glad we found that out before we got mold. I am not a fat guy by any means and the utility closets are so narrow, (cheaper doors) that I cannot fit in sideways to retrieve what I want to. When the house was being painted the painter actually broke the door by accident because he got stuck and panicked. Some of the light fixtures that were used on and in our house we found at an area chain hardware store for around two dollars. They did not even put back steps leading out of our sliding glass door. We found out this was illegal when we took a picture of our house for insurance and they saw it. Of course, being a Nice Guy I just made a set of stairs.

They made a beautiful house but not to last. Meanwhile, he makes so much on these houses he does not even need to use the bank anymore for financing. He built a 130 house development and did this out of his own pocket. It does not bother me that he has done so well. He is a good person and I know him, have done work for him, but I wish he could have put more into his houses.

This episode taught me the difference between a builder and a developer. A builder might cost you more buy in the long run, there will be less planned obsolescence to deal with.

Some Day

Being injured and on Workman’s Compensation sucks. Being on WC because the boss did not want to get health insurance sucks even more. When he bought the business, I was asked if not having insurance “was a problem” and I said that I was 50 and yes it was a problem. The owner before him had it. He ignored me. A year ago I started to complain that I was becoming overwhelmed and we either needed another person or lighten the load. He ignored me. Now I find out from the doctor that if I had gone to get checked out it would not have gone this far and I would not be in continuous pain and wearing a spinal brace. I have tried to be a Nice Guy through this whole thing but it is getting hard. We were living paycheck to paycheck before and now I am getting 60 percent less than before. I maintain the business and keep it running while he stops by to collect the money which takes about two hours a week. This business was a novelty to him. When he bought it he said that it was so that his boys would have something to do when they got older. They were toddlers when he bought it!

Jobs are hard to find right now, even for Nice Guys. It does not help when you have physical limitations put on you for the job you have done for over two decades. It is a little hard to train for another job at my age when people look at you and see someone who they think might retire in a couple of years. Because of the damage to my back I have a hard time to even sit for long. If I had only been a dick and demanded that I get health insurance I would not be in this situation. There must be a dick training course for Nice Guys, I need to find it.

I went on a small trip with the wife this past weekend, just to get away. I ended up driving for almost five hours which is not biggie. This was the first that I learned about the limitations that I have for sitting. I wore the brace while I was driving but it only seemed a little sore. The next day was agony. No matter what I did my back was all stiff and sore. After going to the therapist today, she explained that this could be as bad as overdoing it at work. Great, I can’t even sit in a car without pain. And this month, we have to take trips with our children to colleges to check them out. One is a seven hour one way drive. If we had a van maybe I could lie in the back for the trip.

Some day, Nice Guys will be able to speak up not get into the crap that I have found myself in. They say that the meek will inherit the earth, aren’t Nice Guys meek?

Blogette

Short blog today. Just dropped our children off to go on a trip to a neighboring country. My wife and I are ‘running away’ for the weekend. I was a Nice Guy and resisted the urge to embarrass them by taking pictures in front of the bus, although it is a parental privilege. They have a camera and will get us plenty.

Cats

Our first house was way out in the sticks. Our back yard was 1600 acres of swamp, the only neighbors on that side were moose. Each house on the street had about two acres so there was plenty of room between the houses. It was a quiet neighborhood and we were at the end of a cul-de-sac. It was a good house to raise children in and animals as well.

We had one two cats when we moved there. One had come from our apartment and the other was from a friend that moved and could not have animals. Our neighbor did not believe in getting their pets neutered so guess where they ended up. Under out stairs having kittens. Well, we like cats so being Nice Guys we took the kittens in and had them fixed. We approached out neighbors and explained the situation to them and after a week their cat was gone. They said that they knew of some friends that had a farm and she was in good care. We took this as truth and went about our lives. A couple of weeks later we went on one our trips to the local Humane Society. We did this often to bring in supplies, blankets and to see the animals. While we were there we recognized a long hair calico cat. It was our neighbors. We were shocked that such a good natured cat should be discarded like this. So we did what Nice Guys do, we brought her home. We had to pay for half the cost of getting her fixed but now she was with her kittens. So at this point we had five cats. We love cats, remember. We also had a dachshund who was fond of terrorizing the cats but being short of stature did not fare well at this, he soon learned. After a while word must have got out that we had cats at this out of the way home because they started just showing up. People would drop off cats and drive away. At one point we had seventeen cats, most of which stayed outside, were not totally crazy. We did not want the population to get out of hand so we made a deal with the local Humane Society and they helped us pay for the cost of getting the cats fixed. It was quite a task to catch all of them to do this. I ended up at the doctors once, nothing major.

Not only did people drop off cats but baby squirrels and birds as well. What are we supposed to do with these? We are Nice Guys, not veterinarians. We found places that would take them and brought them in to be brought back to health and released. Luckily our population stopped at seventeen, in fact, because of the Fisher Cats it declined. It was a hassle but we felt we had to do what we did. If we had not there would have been thousands of cats in ten years. A friend of mine that hunts offered to take care of the excess felines but I could not do such a thing. Our children used to watch as seventeen cats milled around the sliding door waiting for food. It was really quite entertaining.

We have three cats now. Three lazy, freeloading hoodlums that we would not do without. Two tabbies and one black cat.

When a Nice Guy finished a day with the usual rabble it is nice to come home to an animal. Cats or dogs they are always happy to see you and they will listen to anything.

Movie Time

Have you ever been a Nice Guy and loaned somebody something? Did you get it back? I have done that in the past but I have learned. There are probably two people on this planet that I would loan something to. Very good friends. I have had people ask to use tools and instead of loaning them, I have brought then over a done the work myself, just to be sure they come back.

I am a huge movie buff. I love to share movies with people so that we can talk about them. I don’t think that will happen again unless it is one of those two people. I loaned a movie to a friend and co-worker about a year ago and have not seen it since. It was an old movie with a great cast. True Romance was the movie. First of all it took them about three months to watch it. For me, that would be torture to have a movie in my possession that long and not watch it. They finally watched it and enjoyed it. I asked numerous times if they were going to watch it again, as a hint. They did not, they also did not return it. I can sometimes understand a tool not being returned. You put it in the garage or the shed and you forget about it until the owner reminds you. But a movie is in you living space. You watch other movies and they are usually kept in the same area. What is up with that? After asking a couple of times, nicely, like a Nice Guy, they left because business slowed down. I even called their house and gave them the old “if you happen to be in the area” hint, to no avail. I like my movies, I like to watch them numerous times to see different things I might have missed. Now I have to buy another True Romance. Because this person is either an idiot or does not care I need to re-establish my ability to see Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Bronson Pinchot, Chris Penn and a very short appearance by Samuel Jackson. How can someone be so uncaring as to keep me from watching these great actors perform together? We worked together quite amicably for a year and then they pull this. When they said they had never seen this movie I was horrified, and, being the Nice Guy that I am let them borrow the DVD.

Well, it has been over six months since I last saw my copy of True Romance, I do believe it is gone. It is time to venture out to our local shop that sells used videos and find a nice copy. I usually watch my favorite movies twice a year. It is amazing what you can see after repeated watching’s. My favorite is when I see an homage to another movie that an actor has played in. Most of the time it is a thinly veiled homage. This Nice Guy will not loan this one out. I will be Greedy Nice Guy and keep it to myself. You can borrow a screwdriver, but don’t touch my movies.

Automobiles

Let me start by amending my last blog. I would hold the door for anyone immediately behind me no matter who it was.

There, that’s settled.

Automobiles. Is that not one of the easiest ways for the proverbial Nice Guy to be taken advantage of. Luckily, I do know a little about them so I don’t get caught too bad. When I find someone trying to catch me that is the last time I will go there. We did get caught one time. We had a beautiful 77 T-Bird that we kept in mint condition. Every inch sparkled and looked like new. We even bought an identical model and color to use a spare parts. Took it all apart and set them aside. Used some, sold the rest. But anyway, we had some trouble with the transmission. Did not shift right and it was getting worse. Did not notice any oil on the ground. I checked everything I could think of and did not find anything. Well, transmissions are kind of mysterious as compared to a motor. If the expert says that it needs a $700 overhaul you usually believe them. We sunk some other money into it earlier and were afraid that this was not going to end. Best to cut our losses and sell the car while it ran nice and looked good. We did all right. We ended up making money on it after driving it for four years. Can’t complain. A month later the gentleman that bought the car stopped by. He was really happy. When we sold him the car we told him about the slight slip in the transmission. It seems that he had it serviced and found out it was a two dollar gasket. Good for him but I was bummed. We would probably kept that car for a long time but I guess the transmission shop either misdiagnosed the problem, or they were looking for a quick way to make some money. I give them the benefit of he doubt, being a Nice Guy, but I never went back there.

Nice Guys (and Gals) with cars can be easy targets if you know nothing about cars. Went to another shop for a tune up on our CRX. They wanted to charge us $180. Did it myself for fifty, a real thorough one, too.

Nice Guys are also the one that usually gets hit by someone with no car insurance. Who does that? If you don’t have any I think you would drive a little safer. No, it doesn’t work that way either. The Nice Guy is left with a pencil and a nearly blank piece of paper with information that will not add up to anything. We will bang it out so it doesn’t look too bad then go to see a friend that can fix it better. Then we will barter with the Nice Guy that is fixing it and keep the entire Nice Guy community happy and busy. Meanwhile, the jerk hits another car, probably owned buy a Nice Guy.

A technician visited our shop a couple or months ago. Nice Guy. He stayed while his wife backed the car out to go to a convenience store and t-boned a cement abutment. Crushed the door. He informed me sadly that it was a rental and his was still in the shop from the last accident. This could not have happened to a Nicer Guy. At least he wasn’t hit by some joker with no financial responsibility. I am going to drive home now, very carefully.

Thats What a Nice Guy Does

As a Nice Guy, how should we bring up our kids? Should we burden them with the same crap that we are constantly dealt or should we enlighten them. I tried to chose a happy medium. They know that I am a Nice Guy. They can tell by how I deal with situations and people. They can tell by how I deal with them. They have even seen me dip into the dark side. I regret that, but it happens. We can only take so much.

I am a peaceful person and have only raised my hand to someone once. That was way before kids and they deserved it. Broke the bastards nose.

Our kids learn what they live and ours learn patience, chivalry, kindness and not to be taken advantage of. Be a Nice Guy and let the other driver go, it might stop a case of road rage and besides, If I don’t will we get there any faster? They have even witnessed me let someone know that their drivers side brake light is out when I don’t know the person. I do regret when they see how I have been treated at my job. They have seen me work my butt off and get walked out on. How do I explain that? They have seen both of their parents sacrifice so that they get what they need. Not what they want, but what they need, there is a difference. They have joined charity organizations in school and are becoming Nice Guys on their own. I am proud of them. If they can see both sides of the human animal and choose the side that can benefit society, we have done the right thing.

In the end I think they can achieve a better balance than maybe I ever did. They have seen the pitfalls of the original Nice Guy so now they have the knowledge to create their own hybrid, one that can survive and thrive in this world. I hope so. I don’t want to see them stuck working with Golden Boys while wearing a back brace for the rest of their lives.

But, as long as I am living and breathing I can’t complain. I had a friend that was also a Nice Guy, would do anything for you. He was so selfless that he died of cancer at forty seven. So busy working that by the time he found our, he sold everything he owned just for a diagnosis that it was too late. Another Nice Guy bites that dust.

I just went to a free health screening last week. You see my new employer didn’t want to keep the health insurance that my other boss had. I mentioned that in am earlier blog. Remember the “that’s not a problem is it?” blog. Anyway I passed with flying colors so it looks like I can be a Nice Guy for a while longer. I will continue to hold the door for ladies because it is the thing to do. I will bring my neighbor’s mail to him when I get it by mistake because it is the thing to do. You see, I am a Nice Guy, just a bit Angry sometimes.

The New Hire

Ever be a Nice Guy and hire someone that you think will be a great asset to the company and find that he will stab you in the back, or walk out, repeatedly? It’s very annoying.

We were getting very busy at the shop and needed help. After a couple of duds I finally met someone that seemed like he would work as hard as I do. I approached the owner when he applied and it was my desire that he hire this guy. It went very well for a while. Things picked up and he was able to handle the load. I was so pleased I actually started bringing in food to cook on the grill. Nothing like a great lunch to enhance the day. I learned things from him and visa versa. I sharpened my skills with things he brought to the job and he did as well.

The thing he could not handle was to be criticized. Products are valuable and at one point he was wasting that. When I brought this to his attention he walked out on me, twice. With a big smile and leaving me in the weeds. I did not raise my voice, I simply mentioned that he shouldn’t waste and he walked out. The owner said that it was his pride. I hurt it. Now I am in the weeds and he is mending his pride.

His expertise was quantity, mine is quality. This appears to be my downfall because the owner took him back like he was the perennial golden boy. I took great pride in the fact that I had over 800 customers that would come to only me and that I have been working for them for over 20 years. The golden boy cranks out five times what I do, if not more, but leaves my usual customers unhappy.

He has a major commonality with the owner, the Greed Gene. Just like in the movie Wall Street. I have never had the Greed Gene, I was cursed with the Nice Guy gene. The two of them have gone off to start an empire of quick cut rate service. I am left here with my loyal customers and a bad back.

Next time you decide to be a Nice Guy and give someone a break, think twice. They might give themselves a break. The only drawback is that being a Nice Guy, we always see the good in people and never expect to be backhanded. There is no way of telling. I guess if you become a realist and expect the worst, you won’t be disappointed. Any thing better than the worst is a bonus.

We could probably avert this if we were to deliver the first backhand, but that is not in our nature. Someday they will get theirs…yeah right. I don’t think it works that way. People like them will keep on delivering a substandard product, make lots of money a step on any Nice Guy that gets in their way.

But, there is hope, isn’t there?

Not All Bad

Ok, being a Nice Guy does not mean an entire world of doom and gloom. It also means that you probably do a lot for others and your community. I do a lot with a local non-profit community group. I help with area high schools and do lots of service projects. There is no better service project than the family centered projects during the Holiday season. We get information from our schools local guidance department and nurses. From these people we find out who is in need but is too proud to seek help. When children show up for school in the winter with only spring coats on, it is usually a good sign. Two years ago we learned about a family who was not only going through hard times because of job loss, but they had lost the mother on top of all of this. Still, the dad choose to remain silent and plod along as best as he could. When the school nurse saw the children severely underdressed, she question the children discreetly and found out what the situation was. They were not going to have a Christmas this year. Working with our clubs high school branch, we found out some pertinent information about the family such as sizes, likes and dislikes and the ages of the kids in the family. We set out to do Christmas shopping. Once this was done the gifts were wrapped by the high schoolers and Boy Scouts and they were delivered, again discreetly, to the family. We did this quietly so the father could bring the gifts into the household in what ever manner he choose.

As a club, we were happy with helping this family as we do for so many other in our community. We went about our business and it wasn’t until about a month later when we received a thank you letter. Everyone in the club was almost moved to tears. The father wrote and thanked us for giving his family Christmas again. Times were had and they had no money. They were no family members nearby that could help and he had prepared his children for season without gifts this year, not to mention without a mother. We did not only bring toys but we brought necessary clothing. We brought the family happiness and a degree of dignity to their holiday season.

As a Nice Guy, I enjoy these moments. It for outweighs those moments of being taken advantage of. The world could use a few more Nice Guys to help as we do. In fact I am getting ready to write my speech that I will need to hand out our clubs scholarships. We give out almost ten thousand dollars a year in scholarships to students that I work with.

Yes, being a Nice Guy can have its perks. This is what I have to remember when you get the occasional backhand from those who think they are superior…they aren’t.

The Workplace

It’s me, the Angry Nice Guy again. Is it me or does it seem like the workplace is one of the favorite places where people take advantage of the Nice Guy? I mentioned it previously in my first ANG blog. In fact I am going back to that job tomorrow with a back brace. My wife works for a place for 25 years and gets a pension and a 401k, I get a back brace. I am not bitter I just made the wrong job choice. But, back to the workplace and another Nice Guy debacle. 23 years ago, had my own little landscaping company with about 30 customers. One of my customers was a rich guy with a 3.5 million dollar estate. I worked for this guy for three years. Wrote up a contract and did everything from fall and spring cleanup to cleaning his woods of winter debris. I even redid all of his mulch beds, got rid of the aluminum edging and installed the large king size plastic edging. I would spend weeks there with three employees that were my friends. The third year we were doing about the same thing. This time we had to rent a chipper for two days to get rid of all of the fallen debris over the winter. After the contracted work was completed he indicated that he had some mulch beds that he wanted to get rid of and create more lawn. Well this was not too difficult and we were already on the job site so we continued and stayed there for another three weeks. We brought in loam and brought in sod. Everything went fine and the job looked good. We had to do some extra work because it was summer and we lost some of the sod. I finally packed up at the end of the job and was waiting for my check, I got one but it was way short of what I was owed. Short by the amount that was not in the contract by some strange reason. As rich as this guy was he stiffed me out of $13,000. I owed my workers money and now it had to come out of my own pocket. I tried to sue for the money but he showed up with seven attorneys and said he was going to file a countersuit. My lawyer was a good friend and he said that the judges at this time were siding more with the home owners than the contractors and the in this case we were outmanned. Discretion was the better part of valor was how he put it. So, I continued to work other jobs alone so that I could pay back the money I owed to my friends because after all, I am such a Nice Guy. They said that I didn’t have to, they are Nice Guys too. In all I was out $13k but I still had my friends. The unfortunate part was I was in the process of buying a house at the time and it made things very difficult. My only solace was that I grabbed some nice seedlings under some of his mature shrubs and got some nice plants out of the deal.

I did see him some years later and time has not treated him well. He was an advisor for a large bank which went under and it looks like it took him with it.

Beware of the work place, it seems to put targets on the back of the Nice Guy, even if you own the business.

If there are any other workplace please share them in a comment. I will read them while enjoying a cold beverage and it will become a bonding experience.

Nice guys finish last. Boy if that isn’t true. There must be some of you out there that know what I am talking about. How many times have we heard that? You know, always trying to do the right thing, proving that chivalry is not dead. But where does it get us? Last!

Thirty years ago I was going to a school for baking. Being young and energetic, I always rode my bicycle to class. It was only about fifteen miles, piece of cake. I enjoyed the class and got a nice workout. Little did I know that it turned out I was allergic to the mites that live in flour so that career was out. But anyways, half way through the course I was peddling through the main street of the town where the class was held. As I approached a large intersection a four ton dump pulled alongside of me. It was a huge old truck with the turn signal on top of the front fender instead of being integrated into the body. As we careened down the street side by side I saw that turn signal illuminate. Immediately after this illumination I realized that I could not see the driver, therefore he could not see me. I looked ahead and realized I was at the turn. At the moment of this realization the front tire started to turn in my direction. Crap! At the last second I dove off and onto the sidewalk, leaving my precious 1978 Fuji Grand Tourer to its own devices. The truck turned, the rear of the Fuji was crumpled and I was a mess of road rash. Nothing broken or permanently damaged, but I was a mess. I climbed off of the sidewalk and was surround by attorneys handing me cards. I turned from the and saw the driver get out of the truck. We was an elderly man and was visibly shaking. I was sore but I knew I was fine so went over to the driver and tried to console him. I assured him that I was fine. I was worried that he was going to have a heart attack. The police arrived and whisked me off to the hospital with my Fuji in the trunk. I was washed up and bandaged, did not take long. I assured the police that there was no need to press charges because neither of us could see the other. They told me the driver was ok. I got my Fuji back and with some prodding and bending was able to continue my ride to baking school. A very rough ride. The way home that night was one of the longest rides I ever had. A couple of days later I received a phone call from the insurance company of the company that the old driver worked for. They wanted to know what I wanted. I told them that “I wanted my bike repaired”. They did not believe me at first but after a lengthy discussion I convinced them that it was not solely their driver’s fault. It was mine as well but I would like my bike fixed. They sent me a check for a new bike. I was happy because I used the extra cash to not only fix my bike but give it some upgrades.

This is the way I have always approached life. Why ruin the old guys life for a wad of cash. Be a nice guy something good will eventually come of it. Right? Still waiting!

As nice guys, how many times have we heard that? It is almost a curse. When you are hired by a new owner one of the first things the former owner says is what a “nice guy” you are. Is this a code word for screwable?

As nice guys how many times have we helped others, or been there to listen when others were to selfish to lend an ear. A young lady that I worked with once took me aside and asked me how to spell this stupid little second grade word, can’t remember what it was. She said she came to me because she knew that I would not make fun of her and tell the other workers. She was right, I never did.

I want to set up this nice guy blog and see how many others out there feel like I do. I have plenty of time to do this right now because my boss kind of decided not to keep the heath care that that I had with the former owner. “Is that a problem?” was his reply. Yeah, I am over 50 I said. That didn’t sink in because now I am out of work with an injury that could have been prevented with regular care. So, I guess it was a problem.

So tell me, anyone else out there a nice guy that has been screwed because of this weakness, or flaw in our personality? If so, leave a comment and come back to see more posts, I have plenty.