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| photo by wikipedia.com |
My friend at Paychex Inc. sent me this beautiful yet very informative infographic on Improving Workforce Productivity accessed 11/25/2014. (Having trouble viewing infographic? Follow this direct link via Paychex, Inc.
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Improve Workforce Productivity an Infographic from Paychex
My friend at Paychex Inc. sent me this beautiful yet very informative infographic on Improving Workforce Productivity accessed 11/25/2014. (Having trouble viewing infographic? Follow this direct link via Paychex, Inc.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Tried, Tested, and True
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| English: the administration building designed by George W. Maher for the J. R. Watkins Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The Early History of Watkins
Last Updated on Saturday, 29 November 2008 11:50 Written by John Wednesday, 20 August 2008 10:11
The Birth of Watkins
Watkins Incorporated was founded in 1868 by Joseph R. Watkins in Plainview, Minnesota. Mr. Watkins started Watkins with a single product, Dr. Ward's Red Liniment, using a formula he purchased directly from Dr. Ward, the inventor of the liniment product.J.R. Watkins was an entrepreneur that went on to build a fortune selling liniment and numerous products he created later. He was not a doctor, but instead an entrepreneur and believer in the power of herbs to treat and cure many common ailments of the day.
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| J.R. Watkins (Photo credit: AngryJulieMonday) |
One only has to study why J.R. Watkins moved his thriving liniment business from Plainview, Minnesota to Winona, Minnesota to realize why he was so successful early on. In the 1870’s, Winona had 20,000 residents, a big city for those days, and was home of a huge lumbering business, being based on the Mississippi River. Winona also had 5 railroads that when through the city. Most of the workers in Winona worked at the lumber mills or worked as lumberjacks.
Talk about “Liniment Heaven!” Can you imagine how many men went home every night with muscle aches and pains? And J.R. knew his product would work. He also knew that it took a few days for the liniment to kick in and produce wonderful, powerful results. J.R. believed in his liniment’s powers and abilities so much that he placed a trial mark line on every bottle, and told every new customer that every drop liniment from the top of the bottle down to the trial mark line was basically free, because if they didn’t go below the trial mark he would give them a 100% refund of their money if they were not satisfied with the product after giving it a try. For J.R. knew that before the customer would get to the trial mark, their aches and pains would have gone away. Now how’s that for marketing innovation?
Watkins Grew Rapidly in the Early 1900's
At its peak in the door-to-door sales era, Watkins had 135 counter stores in the U.S. and Canada, along with manufacturing and distribution centers outside North America in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. With his widespread success, Mr. Watkins became an icon in his time. He traveled the globe in search of the purest and finest sources of herbs, pepper, cinnamon and other spices for his product line, just as the company still does today. For example, Watkins vanilla comes vanilla beans grown in Madagascar, the same as it has been for over 100 years.
Watkins, the company, grew rapidly in the early 1900’s and by the 1930’s was the largest direct sales company in the entire world. In fact, during the Great Depression years of the 1930’s Watkins actually grew in size, adding infrastructure, new regional facilities and most importantly, adding new jobs. In fact, as a result of its success during the depression, the public labeled Watkins a “depression proof company.“
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| J.R. Watkins (Photo credit: AngryJulieMonday) |
Birth of the "Watkins Man"
Watkins was founded on the “door-to-door” direct sales model. J.R. Watkins started delivering liniment door-to-door by wagon. The door-to-door model worked successfully for almost 90 years. With the exception of the World War years, most housewives could be found at home, not at work. Thus, there was usually always someone at home to call on during the daytime hours. This was long before the arrival of personal computers, so online sales were out of the question. America did not outsource its labor-intensive jobs to foreign countries. Manual labor could be found everywhere you went, particularly in rural areas. Thus, the door-to-door, farm-to-farm, plant-to-plant sales model was an ideal way to market Watkins products.Mr. Watkins company was not only the first international direct sales company in the world, but for many years it was the largest direct sales company in the world. His direct sales force grew to become an American institution. “Watkins men” became part of Americana, transcending from selling Watkins products from wagons in the 1800’s to selling Watkins products from paneled trucks, vans and station wagons in the 1900’s.
I can recall when growing up in rural Louisiana our Watkins man having a large black leather products case with the Watkins label in gold letters on the outside of his case. The case opened up like a large tackle box with multiple shelves. Looking into that case each month was like gazing under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.
The “Watkins man” brought more than products to his customer base. In the early days he was one of the few forms of communication in rural America, relied upon for bringing the latest news about national and world events, the going price for wheat or corn on the commodity exchange, the latest storms to hit the area, etc. It was a different world -- one that would eventually change and have a dramatic impact on the company and its future.
The Death of J.R. Watkins
Mr. Watkins died in 1911 while vacationing with his family in Jamaica. He and his first wife Mary Ellen, who had preceded him in death in 1904, had two sons that died at very young ages, and one daughter, Grace, who was born in 1877. Grace was approximately 34 at the time of J.R. Watkins death and his only living child. Grace immediately became the largest shareholder in Watkins. Control of the company passed on to his nephew, Paul Watkins, and his son-in-law, Ernest Leroy (E.L.) King Sr., who married Grace in 1904. Paul Watkins was a graduate of Harvard, very bright and articulate, and became President of Watkins after J.R. Watkins death.Watkins Naturals
http://www.watkinsnaturals.com
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
The man trying to stick it to me again
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| Image via CrunchBase |
Yes!!!
The Man thought he could get me AGAIN!!!!!!
Editorial Bad Business
Shelly Michalk
Well, right after my posting on Direct TV, a rep from Comcast emailed me to tell me that I should come over to them. That they are such a better company and that they would NEVER treat me that way. So, I did. I went to Comcast and ordered a bundle deal that included a home phone, internet, wireless, and cable with 2 DVR's and 1 digital box. They said, "No Problem". So, I arranged for them to come out on Sunday, Dec 19th, 2009. So, the guy came out but there was a problem. He came out with phone hookup and 1 digital box and that was it. He explained to me that only 60% of their work orders were correct and that mix ups like this happen all the time.
STRIKE 1!!!
So, I proceed to get a rep on the phone who apologized profusely and PROMISED to have someone at my house the following morning to correct the order. So, I stayed home from work to get this business taken care of. Well, you can imagine my surprise when 2PM arrived and I hadn't received so much as a phone call from Comcast. I went ahead, took a deep breath and dialed the 1800 # as calmly as possible. I explained to the rep what had taken place the day before and as she looked up my account she informed me that the order WAS complete and that no other items had been ordered.
STRIKE 2!!!
After I thought my head would explode, I of course yelled loudly and demanded she get a supervisor. After that idiot got on the phone, he assured me several times that a different installer would be out the following morning to complete the order. ( Now we are going on day 3, Tuesday the 21st).
Well, the next morning, the installer showed up. Did he have the complete order? HELL NO!!!! He only brought with him another digital box. No HD DVR. No reg DVR, and NO INTERNET OR WIRELESS. I walked straight to the fridge and downed a beer so fast that I don't believe I even tasted it. So after telling him to get a supervisor on the phone, I walked to my room and screamed repeatedly into a poor pillow that I was also punching.
YUP, You Guessed It - STRIKE 3!!!
When the uneducated and pathetic supervisor got on the phone, I proceeded to ask him, "Why does your sorry GD company insist on lying to their customers?" This idiot responded by saying, "What kind of person are you to be using God's name in vain?" After the initial shock of his question, I whispered a "Please forgive me Lord" and asked him, "Who in the hell he thought he was to be questioning my morality when all I've gotten from anyone in the 3 days of Comcast service was lies."
So by now, I'm ready to put their equipment on the sidewalk and tell them to come get this crap when I got a call saying, another installer is on his way with the rest of the order. FINALLY, I thought and I waited as patiently as I could.
Now mind you, I had already wasted 3 days of work and countless hours on the phone with this sorry ass company when the 3rd guy showed up. Yes, he had the correct equipment and yes he was very nice, but did he know how to install everything? HELL NO!!!!!!!
STRIKE 4!!!!
After 2 hours, he left. The DVR's worked, the internet worked, but he could not get the wireless to work. I was fed up! I told him to leave and I got on the phone with tech support to help me set up the wireless. I dialed the 1800 # to NetTech and directed to a call center out of India. Can I get a F-ing break? I have nothing against anyone in India but I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND anything he said. I was tired, frustrated, and sick to death of dealing with this CRAP. So, I did what any other tired, angry, frustrated, hormonal, menopausal, bi-polar woman would do......... I hung up the phone and threw it across the room. I hunkered down in front of the computer and attempted to fix it myself. After 4 hours and alot of cussing, I finally got it installed. I finally had a complete order.
On the 5th day, I got a bill via email for, get this, $418.00 I thought to myself, "Shelly, give up. Just roll over and get the screwing that they had been trying to give me. No dinner, no movie, not even a good night kiss. Just a real good screwing." I decided not to deal with it anymore for a couple of days.
STRIKE 5!!!
A week later, I decided to post my complaints on Comcast.com's comments. I described in detail all the crap they had put me through and how disgusted I was with everyone from the woman who took the order to all the idiot's I had to speak with in order to get 1 fricken order completed.
A few days later, a man with Comcast named Timothy emailed me to express what I thought was pure regret and concern for all the troubles I have had with the service and he issued a $150.00 credit. I thanked him but told him that until some of these issues were fixed, he would probably continue to have the same trouble with other new customers. he replied by saying in short that he undeerstood but since I was only a residential customer and not a big business account, he could care less.
Ain't that a B-tch?
So, to the lady who responded to my post and encouraged me to go to Comcast...... Bite me
To all the idiot reps...... Bite me
and to Mr. Timothy and Comcast in general...................... Kiss My Ass!!!!!!
The Man thought he could get me AGAIN!!!!!!
Editorial Bad Business
Shelly Michalk
Well, right after my posting on Direct TV, a rep from Comcast emailed me to tell me that I should come over to them. That they are such a better company and that they would NEVER treat me that way. So, I did. I went to Comcast and ordered a bundle deal that included a home phone, internet, wireless, and cable with 2 DVR's and 1 digital box. They said, "No Problem". So, I arranged for them to come out on Sunday, Dec 19th, 2009. So, the guy came out but there was a problem. He came out with phone hookup and 1 digital box and that was it. He explained to me that only 60% of their work orders were correct and that mix ups like this happen all the time.
STRIKE 1!!!
So, I proceed to get a rep on the phone who apologized profusely and PROMISED to have someone at my house the following morning to correct the order. So, I stayed home from work to get this business taken care of. Well, you can imagine my surprise when 2PM arrived and I hadn't received so much as a phone call from Comcast. I went ahead, took a deep breath and dialed the 1800 # as calmly as possible. I explained to the rep what had taken place the day before and as she looked up my account she informed me that the order WAS complete and that no other items had been ordered.
STRIKE 2!!!
After I thought my head would explode, I of course yelled loudly and demanded she get a supervisor. After that idiot got on the phone, he assured me several times that a different installer would be out the following morning to complete the order. ( Now we are going on day 3, Tuesday the 21st).
Well, the next morning, the installer showed up. Did he have the complete order? HELL NO!!!! He only brought with him another digital box. No HD DVR. No reg DVR, and NO INTERNET OR WIRELESS. I walked straight to the fridge and downed a beer so fast that I don't believe I even tasted it. So after telling him to get a supervisor on the phone, I walked to my room and screamed repeatedly into a poor pillow that I was also punching.
YUP, You Guessed It - STRIKE 3!!!
When the uneducated and pathetic supervisor got on the phone, I proceeded to ask him, "Why does your sorry GD company insist on lying to their customers?" This idiot responded by saying, "What kind of person are you to be using God's name in vain?" After the initial shock of his question, I whispered a "Please forgive me Lord" and asked him, "Who in the hell he thought he was to be questioning my morality when all I've gotten from anyone in the 3 days of Comcast service was lies."
So by now, I'm ready to put their equipment on the sidewalk and tell them to come get this crap when I got a call saying, another installer is on his way with the rest of the order. FINALLY, I thought and I waited as patiently as I could.
Now mind you, I had already wasted 3 days of work and countless hours on the phone with this sorry ass company when the 3rd guy showed up. Yes, he had the correct equipment and yes he was very nice, but did he know how to install everything? HELL NO!!!!!!!
STRIKE 4!!!!
After 2 hours, he left. The DVR's worked, the internet worked, but he could not get the wireless to work. I was fed up! I told him to leave and I got on the phone with tech support to help me set up the wireless. I dialed the 1800 # to NetTech and directed to a call center out of India. Can I get a F-ing break? I have nothing against anyone in India but I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND anything he said. I was tired, frustrated, and sick to death of dealing with this CRAP. So, I did what any other tired, angry, frustrated, hormonal, menopausal, bi-polar woman would do......... I hung up the phone and threw it across the room. I hunkered down in front of the computer and attempted to fix it myself. After 4 hours and alot of cussing, I finally got it installed. I finally had a complete order.
On the 5th day, I got a bill via email for, get this, $418.00 I thought to myself, "Shelly, give up. Just roll over and get the screwing that they had been trying to give me. No dinner, no movie, not even a good night kiss. Just a real good screwing." I decided not to deal with it anymore for a couple of days.
STRIKE 5!!!
A week later, I decided to post my complaints on Comcast.com's comments. I described in detail all the crap they had put me through and how disgusted I was with everyone from the woman who took the order to all the idiot's I had to speak with in order to get 1 fricken order completed.
A few days later, a man with Comcast named Timothy emailed me to express what I thought was pure regret and concern for all the troubles I have had with the service and he issued a $150.00 credit. I thanked him but told him that until some of these issues were fixed, he would probably continue to have the same trouble with other new customers. he replied by saying in short that he undeerstood but since I was only a residential customer and not a big business account, he could care less.
Ain't that a B-tch?
So, to the lady who responded to my post and encouraged me to go to Comcast...... Bite me
To all the idiot reps...... Bite me
and to Mr. Timothy and Comcast in general...................... Kiss My Ass!!!!!!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Walmart: At What Price Does a Good Deal Cost?
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| (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Today, I have a beef with WALMART
Yeah, we all enjoy a good deal on a product and service. We love to shop and find discounts, deals, and an overall savings in this rough economy, right? But at what cost? Walmart is one of the, if not the largest retailer in the WORLD. 5 of the Walton clan are on the 500 richest people of the world list, so then can some one PLEASE explain to me why they have to cheat their employees out of their HARD EARNED money?
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| Walmart Clock (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
In 2006, a California judge finds Walmart guilty of not giving their employees a lunch break. $172 MILLION dollars worth of lunches. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/22/business/main1159752.shtml
How in the hell does this happen?
In the headline above, (see link) a Nevada judge approved a seetlement for Walmart to pay 85 MILLION back to their employees for being forced to work off the clock.
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| English: Inside the Walmart (still branded as Wal-Mart) at West Plains, Missouri. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I, myself, no longer shop at WalMart because, well, anybody who will steal from their own employees, will most definately steal from a customer. I now enjoy the awesome deals I get from K-Mart / Target / and local-community stores in my area. It's a personal choice, yes, but it's my way of giving back to my community and my local merchants and I'm not giving WalMart a chance to steal a dollar from me.
My heart and prayers go out to the employees of WalMart and hopefully one day they will learn how to treat the little people.
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