MANAGEMENT FADS

When it comes to management, businesses are too often seduced by the latest gimmick and gizmo. For example, I have been recently reading about the latest corporate fads for management, such as: voting for the boss; reinventing the budget committee; setting up Wikis for the customer; predictive analytics; global team building; knowledge transfer; and the list goes on and on. Now, I will admit there are a couple of good ideas scattered throughout this Mumbo Jumbo, but I tend to believe we go overboard on the absurd and overlook the obvious. For some reason, people find the allure of smoke and mirrors more irresistible than common sense.

Perhaps the biggest thing overlooked is that management is a people oriented function, not a technical or administrative function; it's about people. Management is about getting people to do what you want them to do, when you want them to do it, and how you want it done. Face it, we get things done through people, not through machines which are nothing more than mechanical leverage in our work effort. Like it or not, business is about people. Management, therefore, should be less concerned with the latest gadget or slight of hand, and more with mastering people skills.

When companies become consumed by fads, I think they tend to overlook the fundamentals of management; for example:

• Interpersonal communications/relations skills - speaking, writing, persuasion, negotiating, interviewing, diplomacy, etc.
  

• Instituting discipline and organization, (as opposed to free-spirited mavericks that are stubbornly independent).
  

• If you want teamwork, you should first learn about coaching and leadership.
  

• How to control the corporate culture, including decorum, protocol, ethics, as well as the effect of physical surroundings. This includes professional courtesy extended to workers, customers, vendors, and prospective clients.
  

• Establishing and managing priorities and deadlines. This includes how to become less reactive and more proactive in planning processes.
  

• Promoting pride in workmanship (craftsmanship); this includes properly equipping and training workers thereby creating a sense of belonging and ownership of the work product.
  

• How to fairly and equitably evaluate, compensate and discipline worker performance.
  

• How to empower people by delegating responsibility, motivating them, and holding them accountable for their actions. In other words, teach the workers to assume more responsibility and supervise themselves.
  

It is these skills that move mountains, not the latest wrinkle from Microsoft, cell phones, or some other harebrained scheme. Management is really not that complicated, it's actually quite simple and goes back to the moral values we were all taught as kids, but, unfortunately, the human being for some reason tries to make things more complicated than they need to be. Basic management may lack flash and sizzle, it may not be couched in esoteric concepts and terminology, but you know what? It works.

No Virginia, there is no panacea.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

PENNY WISE, POUND FOOLISH

This is a very old expression which suggests someone is thrifty with small things, but spends extravagantly on big-ticket items, which, on the surface, appears to be incompatible approaches for managing finances. Yet, this is a philosophy commonly found in a lot of Fortune 500 companies. For example, a manager may have just paid a hundred thousand dollars for his department to take a training program, yet sharply criticizes one of his students who put a cup of coffee on his expense account.

Let me give you another example, perhaps something you've run across yourself. Some time ago we had a large corporate account who had no problem paying a sizable sum of money for our product line. As part of the contract, each corporate division paid a modest fee for an annual maintenance contract. Dutifully, we would issue invoices prior to the anniversary date with terms of "Net Due in 30 days" (meaning the anniversary date). Interestingly, we noticed all of the invoices were being paid past their due date, 15 days later to be exact. In other words, they took the "Net 30" and tried to turn it into "Net 45." We were told by an insider that this was a common tactic used by the company to make interest off the money being held for a few days longer. When we objected to the bills not being paid on time, the company tried to throw their weight around and asked if we would like to lose their sizable business. A lot of companies would back down in this situation, but we tried a different tactic; instead of issuing the bills 30 days prior to the anniversary date, we sent them 60 days prior to the date, yet sill marked "Net 30 Days." As expected, the company paid the bills within 45 days, thinking they had once again outfoxed us. In reality, we received the money 15 days earlier than normal, and nobody was the wiser.

All of this could have been avoided had they simply paid their bills on time as they were supposed to, but being a huge conglomerate they thought they could bully their way past the little guy. They never figured the little guy would be able to interpret their "penny wise, pound foolish" tactic and find a suitable solution.

With a mindset like "penny wise, pound foolish," it's no small wonder we're stuck in a recession.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

PUSSYFOOTING

Every now and then the English language produces an interesting word filled with imagery. One of my favorites is "pussyfooting" as it describes how someone or something behaves cautiously or timidly like a cat before making a commitment to action. It's also a great way of describing American diplomacy in the 21st century, representing politicians who are afraid of committing themselves to a course of action.

The poster child for this expression was former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom who pussyfooted around Hitler in 1938 and declared "Peace for our time" which turned into an embarrassing joke. Had Hitler been properly challenged early on, World War II may have been averted.

The world is a lot more dangerous than it was in 1938, particularly when you consider the weapons now available. We are not at a loss for antagonists either. There is, of course, the "Axis of Evil" including North Korea, Cuba and Iran, most of which are headed by tinhorn dictators, and let us not forget our old buddies the Taliban and Somalian pirates. I am simply at a loss as to why we accept the shenanigans of the comedy team of Kim Jong-il, Fidel Castro, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The only thing these clods understand is strength, and all of them can be handled easily if we wanted to, but that's a big "if."

North Korea is perhaps the most dangerous of the lot as they like to rattle sabers. They are also the easiest to take out, simply by full economic sanctions coupled with surgical strikes to take out any nuclear program they are working on. If a military and economic buildup could bring down the Soviet Union, it should also bring down the nut jobs in the North, or doesn't anybody remember Ronald Reagan? The same is true for Iran and Cuba.

The Taliban is a little more difficult to handle as they are elusive and hide up in the hills of Afghanistan with their tails between their legs. Bin Laden is probably hiding up there as well. Digging them out shouldn't really be that difficult. If they do not want to change their ways or surrender, just sprinkle a layer of Napalm on the hills, add salt and pepper and serve at room temperature. Why should we be restrained with an enemy who is hell-bent on our destruction?

For some reason people think the Somalian Pirate attacks are difficult to prevent. Maybe so, but has anyone heard of escorted convoys or secured maritime lanes, or did this go out with the 1940's?

Aside from military intervention, which nobody really wants, the secret is economic sanctions, but I mean "real" sanctions, not the half-assed measures currently in place. For example, other countries typically try to fill in where America drops out. If America declares a trade embargo against a country, like Cuba, any other country trading with them should be penalized in our country accordingly. As much as I love our neighbors to the north, under this scenario Canada would be penalized for trading with Cuba.

Currently, our government is looking to loosen Cuban economic sanctions, not to tighten them. In exchange for allowing more US dollars and tourism to flow into the country, Castro promises nothing in return. I somehow fail to see the logic in this. There is a big difference between appealing to someone's intellect in the hopes they will do the right thing, versus negotiating from a position of strength. "Speak softly and carry a big stick," was Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy which he described as, "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis."

Our problem is not so much a matter of a specific enemy, as it is on how we tend to pussyfoot around diplomatically in the fear our adversaries might react negatively and do something foolish. I tend to believe such an approach is interpreted as a sign of weakness and only emboldens our enemies. If we can show we are serious about maintaining our interests, that we can demonstrate strong determination and resolve, then they will think twice before crossing us.

Let's put it in simpler terms; when you were a kid in school, which teacher did you take more seriously, the one who simply scolded you or the teacher who put you in detention or paddled you? A little "Big stick" diplomacy can go a long way.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

PRIVACY

When I first went to Japan, I found it fascinating how so many people could get along in a small amount of space. For example, if you take the subway in Tokyo during rush hour, you better not be claustrophobic, as people are jammed in with you any way they can. Fortunately, I'm tall enough where I can keep my head above the fray and get some fresh air, but down below are Japanese pushed into my navel (and just about everywhere else). Remarkably, as close as the quarters are on the subway, the Japanese try to respect the privacy of the people surrounding them. I've always admired the Japanese for this; quite simply, there is great respect for the concern of others. Because of the small amount of available space, I guess they really have no alternative.

Contrast this attitude though to the United States where we have a heck of a lot more space, but we still have areas where people live in close quarters, such as apartment buildings and condominium complexes. I recently had a reader complain to me about a neighbor in her apartment building who was causing a lot of trouble for the residents there, whereby he would be loud, knock on doors in the middle of the night to wake people up, and generally be an all-around nuisance. They tried to talk to him, but he disregarded their complaints and continues on his war path. My reader asked me what she should do about the situation.

First, you have to recognize you are dealing with someone who is either immature or socially dysfunctional, and such people can be dangerous as they have no concern for anyone else but themselves, the absolute antithesis of the Japanese culture. Second, find out the rules pertaining to your apartment complex as written and attached to the lease or contract, perhaps some governing documents. If such rules and regulations do not exist, look up local government ordinances. Next, register a written complaint with the proper authorities; in fact, get as many people as possible to sign the complaint with you which adds more credibility to your argument. Although you may want to take your complaint to your landlord, in all likelihood, he will not care. From his perspective, an obnoxious tenant that pays his rent on time is better than a quiet, empty apartment for lease. In other words, you will have to register your complaint with law enforcement officials.

When your complaint is officially registered and the person is notified, he will either be forced to conform or may become more belligerent. Now is the time to keep a journal of any other incidents that may arise, including pictures or audio if pertinent. Hopefully, the situation will go away, but it may also erupt on a grander scale, whereby you end up in court or be forced to move yourself.

Such a situation is unimaginable in Japan. The neighbors would talk to the person who, in turn, would become embarrassed and comply in order to maintain harmony and not to lose face. However, in the "home of the free," such a talk would only make the problem worse, not better.

There are of course other alternatives, such as a baseball bat persuader, or hire Nunzio "Three fingers" to have a little "chat" with the problem child, but it is probably best to try legal alternatives first. Then again, you could move to Japan, if you don't mind being squashed into a subway car.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

RENTAL PROPERTIES

In these troubled economic times we're always looking for a way to make a little extra cash. To this end, many people like to purchase buildings, condos or apartments and then rent them out. This type of investment is appealing for several reasons:

• It represents an asset you can possibly sell at a future date, hopefully for a profit.
  
• It's also a handy tax write-off, particularly the interest on a mortgage.
  
• And it is a seemingly steady cash flow that can hopefully pay off the investment over time.
  

From a purely economic viewpoint, renting sounds like a great idea that can possibly give you a better return on investment than what a lot of the financial institutions are offering. If we lived in a perfect world, everything would be rosy and you would have a cash machine chugging away night and day, but unfortunately such is not the case. In reality, there are a lot of headaches associated with rental property. The first thing you have to realize is that the rental property does not run itself. You need people to market it, maintain it, and to live in it. This translates into real estate agents, homeowner associations, maintenance vendors, and renters. In other words, your troubles are only beginning.

Homeowner or condo associations typically watch your every move and are eager to cite you for the slightest violation of the rules. They are also not bashful when it comes to presenting you with bills for dues or some other innocuous improvement to the common areas of the property (which, of course, you were never consulted on).

Building repairs are an ongoing problem as something will inevitably go wrong at the worst possible time, such as when you are miles away on vacation somewhere. Air conditioners, refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, etc. all have an uncanny knack for breaking down, even if you have a maintenance contract with someone. Then there is the problem of repairing the roof or parking lot every few years, representing a tidy outlay of money.

Perhaps the biggest problem is the renter though, the tenant who leases the property. Typically, the relationship between landlord and tenant is either very good or very bad, rarely is it in-between. The person who pays his/her rent on time, is not a deadbeat, and takes reasonable care of the property is becoming few and far between. Most assume no responsibility for the property, live like slobs, and expect the landlord to be on-call 24/7 even for a problem the tenant created. True, there are also slum lords who neglect their responsibilities, but renters can be equally irresponsible as well. Then there is the problem of evicting a deadbeat tenant which involves a long and nasty legal process. Hopefully, the tenant will not seriously damage the property or remove appliances during the eviction process.

With all of this in mind, I am seeing more and more people shy away from investing in rental properties. In a way, I guess a rental property is a lot like a boat whereby the best two days are when you buy it and when you sell it. When you compare the headaches associated with being a landlord to other types of investments, maybe that low interest Certificate of Deposit doesn't look too bad after all.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

SOCIETY PAGES

The society pages in the newspapers and magazines are one of my favorite sections, and I actually think they're funnier than the comic strips. I particularly like it when they report on a big ball or some innocuous charity gala of some kind. There is normally a lot of pictures taken at such events where you see people trying to act and pose like movie stars, but actually look a lot worse for wear. I don't know why people find it important to have their names and faces in the society pages, probably to feed some starving egos, but this nonsense has been going on for a long time now.

In the photos, I've noticed the women generally look better than the men, but that's not too hard to do in this age of the grunge look. The women are well coiffed the best they can, but underneath the umpteen layers of makeup are still some pretty nasty looking three-baggers. It's really scary when you consider this is the best they are ever going to look. It gives me the willies imagining what they look like first thing in the morning. Ugh!!

Then there are the simple announcements in the paper telling us such things as, "Josephine just returned home from a trip to the south of Timbuktu." I don't know what all of the hubbub is about, after all, only the rich and famous go to northern Timbuktu, the rest are considered riffraff from the other side of the tracks.

Wedding anniversary announcements are nice and represent significant milestones in our lives, but there ought to be a law that only silver, golden, or diamond anniversaries be reported, not paper, wood, tin, or any other such nonsense.

Wedding announcements are good for trumpeting news about nuptials, but there should only be a basic line item describing the event, kind of like birth announcements. I'm really not interested in who the caterer was or who attended an event I wasn't invited to. Actually, I would be more interested in the juicy details of a good divorce, but we tend to sweep such news under the carpet. However, I can visualize something like, "Smith-Jones Divorced on grounds of mental cruelty and sexual incompatibility. Neighbors claimed she didn't like his friends and he couldn't stand her parents. He was a dropout from salon school and she received a dishonorable discharge from the Marines. Their four children will be placed in Foster homes until the parents return from the Betty Ford Clinic."

At least with a divorce, we would really have something to talk about.

Bottom-line, who are we trying to impress by the society pages? Surely, we are not being so childish as to try and make others jealous are we? Actually, I believe the society pages were created only to feed our vanity and try to jockey for position in society. Just remember, no matter how good you think you've got it, there is undoubtedly someone out there who can do you one better. As for me, I couldn't care less.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

OBI-WAN

Recently I've been getting a lot of compliments on my style of management. People seem to think I am able to move mountains with ease; that I make it look effortless. Jokingly they have started to refer to me as "Obi-Wan" to recognize my expertise. While I appreciate the accolades and mystique, I really don't understand what the hubbub is all about. I think people are confusing brilliance with experience. I just see myself as an ordinary Joe who has been around the block a couple of times and has learned a thing or two along the way.

I'm often asked what my secret is. And here it is: nothing; Nothing but hard work and a little common sense. I stopped looking for panaceas and magic wands years ago when I realized they didn't exist. Instead, I've learned to appreciate the need for a little organization, structure, discipline, and persistence in seeing something through to completion.

The same is true with our "PRIDE" Methodologies for IRM (Information Resource Management). There is nothing magical about them. We simply took some common sense concepts derived from the fields of engineering and manufacturing and applied them to the development and control of information resources. In fact, we went to great lengths to explain our concepts and define our terminology so that anyone can use them. When I give lectures on IRM and systems, one of my recurring messages is that such work is actually quite simple, that people tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. In my 30+ years in this business, I can't begin to tell you how much technical gobbledygook I've seen, as well as "voodoo" techniques for design. I have always found the best solutions tend to be those that are simple. I am at a loss as to why we try to complicate our lives. Maybe it's to sell books and seminars and make ourselves look smarter than we are. When I hear such nonsense being spouted, I tend to keep my hand on my wallet.

With me, I like to believe what you see is what you get. I don't like to put on airs, plus I despise personal politics. It's one thing to practice common courtesy in the workplace, quite another to be a suckup or tyrant. If I believe in you, if you're honest and demonstrate to me you know what you are doing, I'll follow you through Hell. If not, you're on your own pal.

If I truly have a secret, I guess it would be that I have the ability...

• To distinguish facade from substance.
• To learn from my mistakes, as well as others.
  
• To try and stay a step ahead of everyone else.
  
• To be as resourceful as possible, yet know my limitations.
  
• To master the methodologies, techniques and tools in my line of work (or at least try to).
  
• To believe in the human spirit, but beware of ulterior motives.
  
• And to just try and do the best job I can as I see my work as an extension of my personal life.
  

Plus throw in a little common sense which, I believe, goes a long way in this day and age. I can assure you, it's not brilliance, it's just hard work. So I guess my message is, let's stop trying to con each other and get on with the job. Or as the folks at Nike like to say, "Just Do It!"

But I've got to admit I enjoyed that "Obi-Wan" crack.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Download Tim's eBook (PDF), "The Bryce is Right! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture" (free DOWNLOAD).

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

WHY DO WE TRUST POLITICIANS?

I was looking over some political polls recently and noticed the approval ratings of Congress are dismally low, 13-37% depending on the poll you read. Offhand, this would indicate we do not believe they are doing the job we elected them to do, and a violation of our trust. But America is not alone in this regards; in the reports I read, politicians around the world are generally not trusted. In one report I read, used car salesmen were judged to have better integrity than politicians, and they may very well be on to something here.

We may like to grumble about politicians but I tend to believe we trust them a lot more than we think. After all, how were they elected to office to begin with and why do we keep reelecting them term after term? Is it because there are no other qualified candidates to do the job? Is the pay and benefits bad? I don't think so. Actually, I think the public's outrage is gone and, knowing this, our government officials feel free to do whatever they want.

We elect government officials to uphold the interests of their constituents and for the common good. Hopefully, the politicians will have the same interests and moral values as the people they represent, but somewhere along the way the politicians inevitably get their priorities mixed up and forget what they were elected to do. After a politician has promised the voter the world on a platter, he is basically free to make decisions and vote as he sees fit, regardless of pertinent opinion polls. In fact, politicians are probably more interested in what the lobbyists have to say than their own constituents. This means accountability is really what is at the core of the issue here.

It has been my experience that voters tend to gloss over the politician's record while in office. As an employer, I tend to keep track of employee punctuality, absenteeism, and decisions and mistakes made. Conversely, voters should be made aware of their elected official's actions in office, such as attendance at meetings, and voting record. Since we periodically prepare evaluation reports for employees, what's wrong with producing a similar report for our officials on a routine basis, such as annually? After all, who works for who here? Aside from implanting electrodes in the politician's head, I know of no other way to rebuild trust than to routinely review the official's work. If it works in business, why not in government?

Perhaps the biggest fear we have as voters is political corruption, and the temptation to become such can be irresistible to even the best of us. Far too many politicians have become exceedingly rich and powerful due to kickbacks in support of lobbyists. Interestingly, I cannot seem to find this in the job description for any government official.

Years ago, Milton Eisenhower pointed out the President of the United States has the power to call for a Continental Congress whereby our governing rules can be reexamined and amended accordingly. Such a Congress has not been held for over 200 years. Think about it, this would be a golden opportunity to revise our electoral process, rethink the role of lobbyists, and determine performance evaluations for our officials, among other things. Regrettably, there is nobody on the horizon with the political fortitude to do this. Only the American people can put forth the necessary political pressure to call for such a Congress, but unfortunately, the public isn't that strong or sophisticated, consequently, the politicians will continue on their merry way and the taxpayers will continue to distrust their officials.

Next time you find yourself upset about politicians violating the public trust, ask yourself how outraged you are and what you are willing to do about it.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

I was recently shopping for a new cable service. I find it is necessary to change cable operators every so often in order to keep the vendors competitive and to lower costs. In my area, I am fortunate to have three major vendors offering comparable service at competitive rates. In my case, I was looking for a bundled package offering basic cable service, ISP connectivity, and telephone support for the continental United States. I find the premium cable channels to be a waste of money as nobody in my household watched them when I had them years ago. Currently, I'm paying $129/month which I personally consider rather inflated. Nonetheless, I decided to check out the competition via the Internet and found all three vendors had, what I considered, horrible web pages describing their services. I therefore decided to contact them by telephone.

First, I called my current cable operator to see if they could offer me a better rate. Unfortunately, they had an elaborate Voice Mail system for customers to traverse. I patiently listened to several menus and options, none of which answered my questions properly and failed to connect me to a human being. In a way, it reminded me of an old episode of TV's "Married, with Children" whereby the lead character, Al Bundy, was trying to check on the status of a part he had ordered for his Dodge Dart; after dutifully following the company's Voice Mail menus for a few hours, Al was told, "And if you pressed 2, you must be Al Bundy, and No Al, we still do not have your part in stock."

Voice Mail may be an efficient way to record messages, but it's also an effective way to frustrate customers and drive them away.

Next, I tried to telephone my operator's chief competitor. The telephone system was much better and I was able to talk to a human being right away, except his name was "Bob" and he possessed a heavy Indian accent which I had trouble understanding, and I suspect vice versa. "Bob" thought he understood my problem and proudly said he had the perfect package for me at just $145/month. "So, should I go ahead and place the order for you?" Bob asked.

I said, "No, Bob, I don't think you are comprehending the situation here; I don't want to pay MORE for my cable service, I want to pay LESS!"

"So, should I place the order?"

Good-bye, "Bob." Click, bzzzzzz...

Finally, I came to the third vendor who promptly answered the phone when I called and had no problem letting me speak to a human being who spoke my language and knew the area. Actually, the representative was quite articulate and knew his subject well. The price for his service was $11 cheaper than my current service, which might not sound like a lot, but adds up after awhile.

So, guess which vendor I selected?

I guess what bothers me though is the general disregard for the customer. Even when you penetrate Voice Mail jail, or talk to someone intelligible in India, there is a general lack of empathy for the problems and concerns of the customer. For example, I have a Sales Manager friend who markets industrial supplies to local manufacturing companies. One of the things he tries to teach his young salesmen and customer service personnel is to listen carefully to the customer, and don't let them down from a service perspective. The assumption is that a happy customer will not only continue to buy from you, but will recommend you to others. But for some reason, this simple lesson is lost on his young staff, and, consequently, my friend has to keep a close watch on customer service.

Even when you threaten to cancel your account with a company, customer service representatives appear unfazed... "Okay, should we go ahead and close it now?" (Not, "Oh I'm sorry, what do we have to do to keep your business?")

I guess it bothers me that customers are taken for granted. As for me, I'll support anyone who offers the best customer service. If not, I'll pick up my marbles and go elsewhere. And I think we need more people to do likewise.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.