EXCUSES

Down here in Florida we have a lot of problems with trucks breaking down, particularly those used for delivery or maintenance. It seems every time you make an appointment with a driver to drop something off or a workman who is scheduled to perform a task for you, they can never seem to be there on time and blame the truck for breaking down. Does this happen elsewhere in the country or is it something unique to Florida?

By my estimates, all of our roads should be littered with truck parts strewn everywhere. No wonder Detroit needs a bailout since it appears they no longer know how to make a workable truck anymore, nor do the Japanese, Koreans, or Germans. I would love to be in the truck repair business as they must be making a mint.

"No Tim, you don't get it; there is nothing wrong with the trucks, they're just using this as an excuse."

Really? Gee, why can't they just call and reschedule? That would be more respectful of the customer who wouldn't waste time waiting on an air head who is probably going to do a ding-dong job for you anyway.

Maybe it's just me, but I tend to have more respect for a person who admits a mistake as opposed to fabricating an excuse. After all, who does he think he is fooling? Me? Hardly. In our culture we tend to look at the admission of a mistake as a sign of weakness. I don't. To me, it's an admission that a person knows his/her limitations and is asking for help. I would rather know this as soon as possible as opposed to waiting for a calamity to strike and suffering the consequences thereof. It is a Bryce's Law that, "The longer you delay admitting a mistake, the more expensive it will be to correct."

Think about this, which is worse - the mistake or the excuse? It's the excuse, right? After all, it's only masking a mistake and means you are wasting precious time trying to uncover it. What's so terribly wrong with admitting, "I screwed up" (I would use something stronger, but you get the idea). This is like saying, "I'm human." I learned a long time ago that nobody is perfect, least of all myself; and, as humans, we all make mistakes in our walk through life. It is inevitable. It bothers me though that we tend to cover it up as opposed to admitting we have a problem. Consider this, the last guy who was perfect, they hung on a cross.

So, you have a choice, if you're going to be late for that appointment or have a problem fulfilling an obligation, don't fabricate an excuse; let me know ahead of time so I can plan accordingly. Either that or fix the damn truck!

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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:

http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

PLEDGES, OATHS, VOWS & CODES

I have been watching the History Channel a lot lately. I find as I get older there is little on the "prime time" channels that interest me. Instead, I find myself drawn to documentaries, biographies, and history, as well as classic movies (you know, the films they made before computers and had real scripts). Recently, the History Channel has been running a series on modern day gangs, both in and out of the prison system, and I have found it to be very interesting. These are gangs who have gone way beyond the Sharks and the Jets; bloodthirsty groups who stop at nothing to dominate a territory and extort money any way they can.

During the documentary, several current and former gang members are interviewed. Interestingly, one of the main reasons they join a gang is to establish a sense of family, a desire to belong to something in order to feel wanted and accepted, which is something they were not getting at home, regardless if they have parents or not. They are willing to pay dearly for this too, and voluntarily take a binding oath and suffer through a harsh initiation ritual, all for the sense of belonging. Such blood oaths and initiations leaves a lasting impression on the individual who dares not leave the gang, partially in fear of the consequences, but more as they desperately want the sense of family.

During our lifetime, we make a lot of pledges, and take certain oaths and vows. For example,

• "To love, honor and obey, until death do us part."
  
  
• "To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law."
  
  
• "I pledge allegiance to the flag..."
  
  
• "I will play fair, and strive to win, but win or lose, I will always do my best."
  
  
• "I, (name), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic...; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
  

As an aside, I find it interesting that all such oaths related to serving in American government or military end with, "So help me God."

These pledges are all nice and sound impressive, but I find few people take them seriously anymore and reject them when it suits them. In other words, there is no real commitment to stand behind our words. Consider, for example, "The Journalist's Creed" or the "Hippocratic Oath" as administered to physicians. If you read them carefully, you have to wonder how many people truly adhere to them.

Mechanisms such as pledges, oaths and vows are intended to define our code of conduct. This, of course, refers to our honor and ability to keep our word, something people use as a measurement of trust. I find it interesting that criminals have a higher regard for such things as opposed to John Q. Public. Maybe its because the criminal code has stiff penalties which will undoubtedly be executed if violated, and the person knows it. In our society though, there is no real penalty for violating our obligations, least of all shame or embarrassment. In other words, taking an oath or vow has become a joke in our society, and as long as it remains a shallow inconsequential ceremony, it will always be regarded as nothing more than a triviality to be implemented only when it is convenient to do so.

It's no small wonder why today we have a deterioration of ethics, both in our homes and in the work place. It is one thing to enact legislation, quite another to enforce it. You can make all the pledges, oaths, vows, and codes you want, but if there is no real consequence for violating them, there is little point in administering them. The criminal class understands this. John Q. Public does not.

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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:

http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

FENDER BENDERS

Suffering a fender bender can be a very irritating experience, particularly if it is to a new car. I'm not talking about a major collision, but some sort of ding, scrape or scratch most of us have suffered through. Years ago, my father would go bananas if the slightest thing went wrong with his car. I guess it's because he belonged to a generation who worked hard for their money and cherished the possessions they paid for through hard work. A lot of people who survived the Great Depression felt this way. If my mom was involved with a fender bender, she wouldn't hear the end of it for days. Today though, I believe most people have more of a cavalier attitude about such scrapes and don't appear to get very upset.

I tend to get upset if somebody hits me, but not to the degree my father did. I guess it's because I tend to drive defensively and avoid getting into situations where an accident is unavoidable. If I find myself stuck in traffic with too many Bozos, I look for ways to escape and find another way around it. So, for somebody to strike my car, I can't help but believe they are anything less than an idiot. If I happen to strike someone, which hasn't happened in a long time, I get upset with myself as I should have been paying closer attention to what was going on around me. Regardless of who caused it, a fender bender is a disheartening experience from the get-go.

I don't know which is worse though, the accident or having it corrected. After exchanging pertinent information with the other driver, and assuming it wasn't necessary to summon law enforcement officials, the real headaches begin. I have found my insurance company to be pretty good in terms of promptly paying claims and protecting my interests, but I can't say that about other carriers who tend to run you through a lot of red tape to get your car repaired back to its original condition. Getting a car fixed in a body shop can be quite expensive, and its rather unsettling when the insurance company low balls the estimate, meaning you will have to pay for the repair out of your own pocket (even if you were not at fault).

I guess the insurance companies have a right to be concerned as there are a lot of auto body shops who hear the dinner bell any time they learn an insurance company is picking up the tab. In these hard economic times, where automobile sales are down, the dealers have learned to make their money on repairs. Small scratches suddenly cost hundreds of dollars to correct, and repairing dings and dents have skyrocketed into the thousands of dollars. In other words, the body shops are charging exorbitant rates.

I also have to question how the automotive manufacturers are designing cars today. As a small example, a lot of the cars don't have the bumpers we were familiar with not long ago. Such bumpers could absorb and withstand a minor hit, but today bumpers are more recessed making it easier to hit the car and cause peripheral damage, such as to a light, a fender, or the trunk. Sure, we want our cars to be strong, but we also want something that will withstand minor fender benders, and won't cost an arm and a leg to repair.

If we lived in a perfect world, automobile manufacturers would build cars that would be more impervious to fender benders and cost less to repair, body shops would charge fair rates thereby causing our insurance rates to drop and, in turn, we could then afford to buy better cars. Sadly, we live in an imperfect world.

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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

THE LIABILITY OF SUPERVISING CHILDREN

There's some trouble brewing in Virginia, something that will inevitably spill over to other states if we're not careful. In the case of Kellerman v. McDonough, et al, a 14 year old North Carolina girl was accidentally killed in an automobile accident while visiting a friend in Virginia. This resulted in a wrongful death lawsuit against the mother of the friend who, according to the plaintiff, was responsible for supervising the child while in her custody. Although a lower court dismissed the case, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the decision. In a nutshell, it means adults are liable for any injury incurred by a child placed in their custody for supervision, even if the injury is committed by a third party (as was the case of the 14 year old). For details on the case, click HERE.

Consider what this means from a social aspect. As kids we used to visit our friends' homes all the time, play, cause whatever mischief we could, and, Yes, sometimes fall down and hurt ourselves. Now, with this decision, parents will be less inclined to let neighbor children visit their homes in fear of a lawsuit. This means children will spend more time "locked up" at home and have fewer opportunities to socialize with other people. Further, this could conceivably lead to the end of the "good neighbor policy" whereby we will see more frivolous lawsuits enacted pitting neighbor against neighbor. However, this will not stop simply at next-door neighbors, but will also involve baby-sitters, teachers, coaches, crossing guards, bus drivers, shopkeepers, you name it; anyone who may come in contact with a youngster. What's next? Obviously a mountain of waivers allowing adults to come in contact with a child.

All of this because of a single tragic accident. I do not know the specifics of the case, particularly the dynamics between the cast of characters prior to the accident, but it sounds to me like the parents are partially to blame for allowing their daughter to be placed in harm's way. And now we will all have to feel the effects of their decision.

Another lawsuit, which is somewhat similar in nature, comes from Staten Island, New York where a mother finally settled a lawsuit with the New Springville Little League for $125,000. It seems a few years ago her son injured his knee while trying to stretch a single into a double under the instruction of the coach. The mother argued that the Little League and coaches were negligent in teaching her son how to properly slide (the defendants countered otherwise). For more information on this case, click HERE.

Here again is another instance where the rest of the world will feel the effect of a seemingly inane lawsuit. As in the first lawsuit, this will undoubtedly result in more waivers to be signed by children and parents in order for them to participate in any kind of organized activity, such as sports, picnics, playgrounds, tag, hide-and-go-seek, and tiddlywinks.

My God, will this madness ever end? Can't we invent a single waiver that can be universally applicable? Something like...

"The undersigned hereby agrees to hold harmless anyone I willfully come in contact with, that I won't act like a dumb ass, and that I alone will be responsible for my own actions. Further, if any accident befalls me, I will not make use of any ambulance chaser to try to squeeze blood from a turnip."

What a horrendous price to pay for the lack of common sense. The insurance companies are going to love 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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

THE HEALTH CARE BILL - HOW I WOULD HAVE DONE IT

Like most Americans, I have been watching the wrangling over the Health Care bill carefully. Something that has bothered me from the beginning is how it was developed which, frankly, sounded like it was cooked up in some back room in typical lawyer fashion. I may not have the answer for solving the problem, but I most certainly would have gone about addressing it differently than the politicians did. Here's what I would have done:

1. Develop a Project Scope - I would have carefully specified the problem to be addressed and identified all of the parties involved. including what parts of the government are affected as well as the populace. In other words, who is directly involved, indirectly involved, and not involved at all. I would also clearly identify the existing system(s) to either be modified or replaced.

2. Study the current system(s) - this would involve interviewing a wide spectrum of people involved with the existing health care systems, such as insurance carriers, hospitals and clinics, physicians and health care workers, malpractice attorneys, etc. Basically, anyone associated with the Project Scope. From this, a "Current Systems Analysis" is produced specifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current mode of operation. This includes what works well, what is deficient, and what is truly broken. Also, consideration would be given to cheating and abuses of the system, not just that it occurs, but why it occurs.

3. Specify Requirements - detailing what is needed from a mandatory, strategic, and tactical perspective. This would include the requirements of the American public, the government, health care providers, etc.

4. Review - "The problem well stated is half-solved." Before we try to solve the problem, let's make sure we have the Project Scope, Current Systems Analysis, and Requirements properly and carefully defined. If this is wrong, any solution devised to satisfy it will be wrong.

5. Develop System Approach - to satisfy the requirements, consideration is given to proposed alternatives, including modifying and/or correcting deficiencies in existing systems, devising whole new systems, or both. This would include the sub-systems and infrastructure needed to support them. Because of the enormity and complexity of Health Care, it would be wise to develop multiple solutions in order to propose alternatives with a recommended solution suggested.

6. Prepare System Evaluation - for each approach offered, a cost estimate is prepared (not just development costs, but implementation and on-going support costs as well), along with how it is to be financed, including a cost/benefit analysis (consisting of such things as break even points and return on investment). From this, we can put a price tag on each proposed solution and consider which one we can afford.

7. Review - all of the material thus far is assembled into an organized report with an executive summary highlighting the major points. This would then be presented to lawmakers in Congress for their review and deliberations. The outcome from this would be to accept it as is, ask that it be revised, or discontinued completely.


What I've just described is called a "Feasibility Study" as used in corporate America on a daily basis. No, it's not cheap and can take some time to produce, but business people long ago accepted the fact that you must "look before you leap" into a major project. Yes, it would be tough to prepare, but I know nothing of substance that has ever been done without some sound research and planning, but as far as I can see, this has not been done by anyone, least of all Congress or the President.

Some politicians would argue that we don't have time for a proper Feasibility Study. Interestingly, I hear this same argument from programmers in the Information Systems world who also don't believe in the necessity of upfront planning and prefer hacking away at program code instead, leaving an ugly disjointed mess that never gets finished. The fact remains though, no amount of elegant programming or technology will solve a problem if it is improperly specified or understood to begin with. I contend we haven't got time NOT to do this vital upfront work.

If our Congress went through the motions of building a true Feasibility Study, it would promote cooperation through effective communications, thereby eliminating partisan sniping; it would produce a proper solution for the right set of problems, and; it would go a long way to improving the trust in the government by the American people, simply by assuring them that the "T's" were crossed and the "I's" were dotted (that it has been thoroughly thought through).

I guess what concerns me, as well as a lot of Americans, is not so much what is being presented to us as much as the process by which it was developed which, to my way of thinking, was in a vacuum. If Americans don't trust it, they will not embrace it and may even revolt against it.

Remember, it's Ready, Aim, Fire; any other sequence is counterproductive. Then again, our attorney/politicians don't know anything about management.

Such is my Pet Peeve of the week.

Keep the faith!

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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

OUR CHANGING TASTES

I've got a friend who owns a family style restaurant offering basic comfort food. It's not cheap, nor is it expensive either; just a family-run restaurant that offers basic home cooking. I'm sure you know such a restaurant in your neighborhood.

Periodically, I help my friend update his menu. In the course of doing this I've asked him why he no longer offers certain items on his menu; things like lamb shanks, beef stroganoff, beef tips on noodles, Chicken a la King, Salisbury Steak, stuffed peppers, Sausage and peppers, pot roast, casseroles and the like. These were items I remember well from my youth but are disappearing from menus across the country. The only rationale my friend could offer was that people's tastes were changing, and such items were more identified with the older generation than the new. The younger people seem to relate more to burgers, chicken and pizza; items that are more associated with fast food franchises as opposed to anything else. Consequently, the idea of a home cooked meal is becoming more of a nebulous concept to them.

Bread is another commodity that has been changing as well. Instead of white, rye, and whole wheat, people now want shibata, muffala, and panini. I remember a time when sourdough was considered the epitome of exotic bread, now it is generally regarded as nothing special. The new breads are nice, but somehow the idea of a PB&J on panini doesn't sound right.

Our cuts of beef and chicken haven't really changed, but fish has. At one time, your only choices were cod, haddock, swordfish, flounder, and maybe some tuna (in a can). Now we ask for tilapia, grouper, mahi-mahi, ahi tuna, and orange roughy. As an aside, years ago grouper was considered a "garbage fish" that fisherman routinely discarded, but somehow we developed a taste for it.

Soft drinks have also changed as well. Whereas we used to live on colas, lemon/lime drinks, root beer, ginger ale, ice tea, fruit juices, and Kool-Aid, now we have power/sports drinks in a variety of colors and tastes to hydrate us, and others loaded with caffeine and sugar to shock our system. Orange juice was orange juice. Period. Now we have varieties with pulp, without pulp, with added vitamins, lower acid, and of course the blends with other fruit juices. Ice tea is no different; now we have a wide variety of flavors to suit different tastes. Coffee has also changed in this regards, instead of a basic black cup of coffee in the morning, we now have all kinds of ingredients to make it look like a hot fudge sundae or some other dessert.

Speaking of desserts, cakes and pies are still around, but are a little harder to find. Then of course there are items like tapioca pudding, rice pudding, and other flavored puddings, most of which the kids turn their noses up over. Ice cream is still a favorite, but we've come a long way since basic vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. The competition in the ice cream world is fierce and consequently many new varieties have been introduced with strange names (and higher prices). I have to admit though, I am a sucker for Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip or their Pumpkin Pie which comes out around October.

For breakfast there was oatmeal, farina, Maypo, Cream of Weat, Malt-O-Meal, Pancakes, Waffles, and, of course, bacon and eggs. These have all been replaced by such things as Pop Tarts, Granola Bars, breakfast drinks, and other instant snacks. Heck, basic cereals are even struggling as people are rushing out the door in the morning.

I'm not suggesting our tastes are any better or worse today than yesteryear; I'm just noting the change. However, I wonder how much of this push to multiple varieties and instant meals is a result of our changing tastes as opposed to creating a higher profit margin for the vendors; I suspect the latter. More than anything, I believe our tastes change because of vendor competition and the need to make a buck. No matter how you slice it though, there is nothing better than "mom's home cooking." The only problem though is that a lot of people today think baking and cooking are two towns in China.

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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

WAS THE ECONOMIC PANIC MANUFACTURED?

Here's one for the conspiracists out there; please pause from your studies of UFO's, Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, Elvis, the JFK assassination and the Illuminati for a moment. I think we've got something MORE interesting for you, namely the cause of the current recession. I won't deny it doesn't exist, but some things just don't add up for me; for example:

• National credit scores are not as bad as we think. If so many people have defaulted on loans, you would think our credit score would be much lower than it is. It isn't. As a matter of fact, the United States has a solid "B" rating.
  

• All things considered, the stock market seems pretty resilient and is bouncing back faster than expected.
  

• Inflation has been arrested and we are now experiencing deflation for the first time in several years, thereby lowering prices.
  

• Worker productivity has soared this year and is now the highest in six years.
  

Originally, this recession was touted as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930's (which lasted four to ten years depending on who you talk to). Economists though are telling us we are now emerging from the recession in the fourth quarter, which means it lasted less than two years, which makes me wonder if it was more of a "correction" than a "recession."

Admittedly, unemployment has risen, the real estate market is still recovering slowly, and we have infused cash into struggling companies, but my question is primarily concerned with HOW this recession was started. I'm sure the real estate bubble and risky loans helped trigger the recession, but I suspect it was blown out of proportion for political purposes. The fact that it occurred during a presidential election year is too much of a coincidence for me.

A recession during an election year is not without precedence. For example, let's not forget the 1992 recession which cost George H.W. Bush his second term as president. Keep in mind, his popularity during the first Iraqi war was very high, but in spite of his success, simple economics did him in. Unfortunately, Americans seem to have a short memory in this regards.

Let's assume for a moment that I am correct, that the recession was manufactured to appear bigger than it actually was; what does it mean? If I was forced out of a job or saw my company disintegrate in front of my eyes, I would be vexed. Or if it forced me to lose my house, retirement portfolio, to declare bankruptcy, or if it ultimately caused the death of a loved one, I would be more than just a little upset, I would be mad as hell. It is one thing to panic due to natural events, quite another to induce a stampede for personal gain. If this is true, you have to wonder who is calling the shots. If it turned out to be a group of politicians, the media, or both, I think they should be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law or beyond, such as a good horsewhipping. Think about it, such a vicious plot would make Bernie Madoff's shenanigans seem like child's play.

So, come on all you conspiracists out there, let's get with the program. We have a hot topic right here in front of us. Wouldn't it be interesting if we could really catch someone with their hands in the cookie jar? It would be fun, but not without risk, as such power would inevitably be greater than anything we've seen before.

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 Tim's columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Tune into Tim's new podcast, "The Voice of Palm Harbor," at:http://www.phmainstreet.com/voiceph.htm

Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.