This Blog Has Gone To The Dogs

It was seventeen degrees below zero here last night, and I was just sitting around with our dog, Mollie, when she told me these stories.  I thought my readers would like them.

A dog wearing a glazier's tool belt walks into a busy diner, sits down at the counter, and orders the blue plate special.

"Oh my gosh," says the waitress.  "You can talk!"

"Your ears work well, says the dog."

"But you are a dog," she replies.

"Nothing wrong with your eyes either, the dog says.

"Well, what brings your in here?" she asks, seeming to get used to the idea of a talking dog.

"I'm installing glass at the building across the street and will be here for a couple of days," he says. "I'll probably see you at lunch time."

A couple of days later, the circus comes to town.  The ringmaster comes to the diner and the waitress tells him about the talking dog.  "You should get him for your circus," she says.  "People would pay a lot of money to see a talking dog.  I'll ask him for you."

When the dog comes in for lunch, she says,  "I was talking to the circus ringmaster this morning.  He's interested in hiring you.  You could make a lot of money there."

"At the circus?" the dog asks, looking perplexed.  "What do they want a glazier for?"



Mollie told me this next one is even better.  Of course, I believed her.

A glazier took his dog to the vet.  The vet examined the dog, took his temperature, felt his abdomen, and looked in in his mouth.  When he was done, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he said, "Your dog has kidney failure and only has a couple of days to live."

The man was devastated and asked for a second opinion.

"Well, all right,", said the vet.  He picked up the phone muttering something the man couldn't hear.

A few minutes later, a cat came walking into the room and looked over the dog over.  She turned to the vet and said, "Kidney failure."

"You musty be joking, said the glazier, becoming irate.  "I'm not taking a cat's opinion.  Get someone else."

"Very well," said the vet, picking up the phone again.  Once again, he muttered a few words and hung up.  

A few minutes later, a Labroador walked in.  He examined the dog brifely, then said, "Kidney failure."

"My thoughts exactly," said the vet.

"This is absurd,"  said the glazier, "I'm leaving."

"That will be three hundred dollars," said the vet.

You've got to be kidding," said the glazier.  "Three hundred dollars for that?"

"It wasn't just my services," said the vet.  "You also had the cat scan and the Lab report."

Well, here's hoping that a few readers email me some important questions about their business that I can answer in next week's blog. 

The Toughest Business Conversation You Will Ever Have

I tend to write some fun and silly blogs.  This is not one of them.  I have thought about this blog for a couple of days and it is vitally important for all glass shops, indeed, all companies.

Last weekend we witnessed a horrible tragedy in Tucson.  People killed for no other reason than being in the wrong place.  People injured, lives changed forever and a renewed discussion in our country on violence, guns and mental health.

I have my own opinion on guns and will not share that as this is not a political blog.  Violence in the workplace and the mental health of your employees is relevant.

The alleged assassin certainly had a history of mental health issues.  His Community College records clearly attest to this.  His friends, interviewed on TV news all concurred.  Yet he did not search out nor did he get motivated towards helping himself.

Do you have a Jared Loughner working at your firm?  Is he (or she) working in another department down the hall from you?  Have you often joked that you didn't want to be in the building the day that management finally fired him?

Ownership and  management have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace, not only for protection from getting cut from glass, but also a workplace that is free from attacks of violence.  We have all heard the stories about a terminated employee coming back to extract vengeance.  This can (and does) happen anywhere.  There is no magic bubble around your company that will protect you and your loved ones.  Not only do you have the responsibility to provide the safety, but as owners and managers, you may be more likely to be victims.

If there is a person in your company who you feel is a potential danger to them self or to your company what can you do?  And more importantly, what should you do?

You can fire them and hope they get a job somewhere else.  You will even give them a long severance and a good reference and hope they become someone else's problem.  (I did this once and today I still wonder what has happened...after last weekend this came back to mind and I now know that it was wrong.)

You can ignore the person and the problem and hope he/she leaves on their own, with maybe a small push out of the door.  I have done this too, but never felt bad about it as I just would think, "Well, they weren't a good employee and I gave them 'career' counseling' to get a better job".  I never thought of these people as dangerous.

There was one occasion in my career that is relevant.  We had one employee that was just off the wall.  I was actually afraid to fire the person for fear of retribution.  I felt he was unstable mentally and would cause harm.  (How he got hired is another story for another day...).  I talked with our insurance carrier and got a full understanding of the mental health rider in our company's health insurance plan.  It covered 30 days of inpatient care and (I think) 60 out patient visits.  Our  company was in New York which had a fairly strong law on companies giving mental health as part of their insurance.  At the time, many states allowed insurance to completely waive mental health care, and most companies did indeed waive it.  Today, all insurance covers mental health equally with that of physical health.

I met with the employee in a casual setting (although I had a another employee waiting outside the door in case of trouble) and explained what I perceived to be the problems with his employment at our firm.  I told him he was good employee, but his interpersonal skills were really weak.  We got around to how to improve them, and I brought up that maybe he should seek counseling  on some of the issues that effected his life.  He got upset, to say the least.  But after continued conversation he calmed down.  I explained I was not calling him sick or unbalanced, but that I felt he needed a professional's help, just as if he had a broken arm.

To make a long story short, after a couple more meetings with him in my office, he said he would think about it.  I never brought the topic up again as over the next six months his work attitude improved.  A couple of years later, he came to me and thanked me.

What about the employee in your shop today.  Learn about your insurance.  Talk with your best business friend and get advice on presenting this to your employee.  Practice with another person who takes on the role of the employee.  Call your personal physician and get a recommendation to a psychologist or psychiatrist for you to make an appointment with.  At that meeting, explain the situation and get their advice on  how to handle the situation.  This is probably the most important step for you to take.

Your goal is to 'invite' the employee to learn more about the help that is available to him/her under your medical plan.  You will probably get push back. Explain to your employee that you think it is in her/his best interests to explore the options, that it would help you to better plan the company's future relations with the employee.  Give the employee some time to think.  Don't force the issue with your first meeting.  Give the employee the phone number of the mental health hot line from your health insurance company.  Most insurance companies have this option.

Don't recommend an individual doctor or medical professional for the employee to see.  Let her/him speak with their own doctor.  If they don't have one, get the numbers of many local psychologists from apa.org, the American Psychological Association.  Follow the links on the home page and you will get the results for your area.

There is a lot more to this topic which we will save for another day, but we must close with one thought.  If the employee storms out of your office, refuses to try to improve and your still feel uncomfortable with them in your workplace, then it is time to close the relationship.  When you do fire the person, have a trusted person in the office with you, and an extra employee outside the door.  Don't give the employee a notice that you will meet in three days.  Just do it.  Escort the employee from the premises.  Advise the rest of your employees that a change has been made.  If you feel that this employee may cause trouble, discuss options with your local police department or guard service.

I hope to hear from anyone who has had similar circumstances and what you may have done, or wish that you had done.

I Lost A Hero Last Month

Bob Feller passed away on Dec. 15, 2010.  He was a Baseball Hall Of Fame member remembered as one of the all-time best pitchers of the 40's and 50's.  So, why was he my hero, and what does that have to do with a blog in the glass industry?

First things first.  He was my hero because I grew up in Cleveland in the 1950's.  He was the star pitcher of my Cleveland Indians.  All I heard was Bob Feller on the news or in the papers. A quick history...signed when he was 17 years old, for one dollar and an autographed ball...first player to ever strike out his age (struck out 17 batters when he was 17 years old)...3 no hitters...8 times an all star...first player under 21 to get 20 wins...and much more.

Wait a minute...did Bieber make a mistake when he wrote that Feller signed for ONE DOLLAR?  Nope, now don't you wish for those good old days?  But, that is not the reason why Bob Feller was my hero.  My Dad worshipped Bob Feller because of how he felt about America, and for the fact that he consistently threw over 100 mph.

You see, the most successful pitcher in baseball joined the Army on December 8, 1941.  The day after Pearl Harbor was attacked.  Bob served until 1945 without questioning if his career would be stalled or even stopped.He felt that this was his responsibility, along with millions of men across America, and many other baseball players.  My Dad had also served in WWII, and when he began to teach me baseball, he told me stories about Bob Feller.

I have a couple of Bob Feller autographs and while they are very important to me, they are not worth much in the baseball marketplace, because Bob would sign for everyone, everywhere he went.  He didn't ask for money like some of the big boys do today.  By daughter Jess and her friend, Bobby, were at a Washington National game in May of 09, ran into Bob Feller where he was signing autographs for free.  Jessie had him autograph her ticket stub, which has been on my desk ever since.

OK, enough already.  Bob was my baseball hero until he retired, and then Rocky Colavito came along.  More on him another time.  But what does this have to do with a glass blog?

You run a glass shop or glass related business.  You, too, should have heroes who will motivate you to run your business the best you can.  Whether it is Rudy Giuliani on leadership, or Steve Jobs on innovation, or Bill Gates on being the first in line with software, you should have a hero.  Study the newspapers and see which business names keep popping up.  Do a search on various business leaders and see whom you would like to have running your company.  Look at management books and see if your hero has a book sharing their thoughts.  Having a hero, especially a business hero will help you and your company.


PS.  As a young business man, I admired Lee Iaccoca, for his outspokenness and leadership.  Later on I admired David Packard, as he developed Hewlett Packard, and now I admire Bill Gates, both for his business acumen and his philanthropy.

Romeo and Juliet and the Glass Industry

William Shakespeare wrote this famous play around 1600.  So 411 years later it still has legs.  What will happen to names in our industry?

Let's look at some glass names:

There are 34, 982 people in the US with the last name 'Glass', according to whitepages.com; most of whom live in California, Florida or Texas.  Could one of them own a business called Glass's Glass Shop?  There are five towns in US called 'Glass'.  They are in Florida, North Caroline, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. 

Could we have Glass's Glass Shop in Glass, Texas?

There are some famous Americans, who probably don't own glass shops, but do have glass in their name:

• Ira Glass, who has created a wonderful Radio Show called This American Life.
• Ned Glass, a character actor who appeared in West Side Story, Charade and 50 other films.
• Phillip Glass, a creator of many operas in the modern day.
• Ron Glass, who played a detective on the TV show Barney Miller.
• Stephanie Glasson, who was the July, 2004, Playmate of the Month.  Does that make it OK to put her picture up in your glass shop, in Glass, Ohio?

What does your name say about you?  When someone looks up your name in the yellow pages or Google, does it tell the possible customer what you do?  I know you can't have more than one legal name, but you can have multiple listings in phone books and search engines, with a "DBA" name. (Doing Business As).  You can have ten names in search engines, and just answer the phone with "Glass Shop, may we help you?" Most people look at a name in the yellow pages and make a quick decision...is this the company for me to take care of the problem I have right now?

If your name has roots in another language, and has more than four syllables, or silent letters, people will be hesitant to call.  This has been proven.  It is a great honor to have your name in the title of a business, and you shouldn't change your own name for business reasons, but you can create a business name that will deliver more customers to you. 

A decade ago the glass manufacturers in the US were AFG, LOF, PPG, Guardian, Cardinal and Ford.  Three of the these don't have the same name now.  It is OK to change or improve on a name!  When you think about geographically expanding your business, think about your name.  If you expand with a new type of business, say adding windows and doors, think about your name.  Some basic thoughts on naming are:

• The shorter the better.  Does the name roll off your tongue easily?  Is it pronounceable by people who may not be strong English speakers?
• Don't be cute.  No puns, no hidden meanings.  Those names should only be on the corner bar and restaurant.
• Plan for unintended consequences.  Does your proposed name mean something in another language?  Use Google translate to check this.  Does your name use parts of another name, (like Cadillac Glass), and you will have legal problems at some point.
• Do a web search on your intended name, and all the variations of your name that you can imagine.  
• Think about the future.  Will your name still sound great in five years as your business grows or changes?  
• The most important point---your name should tell your story.  You shouldn't need a tag line after your name to tell potential customers what your business is.
• When your register your name with your state, take with your attorney about getting a trademark from the Federal Government.  This will cost about $2500, but can protect you as your grow across state lines. 

Remember, just when you think your name is unique and few people pronounce it right, (as in Bieber), some cute singer from Canada will make you famous.