It seems that business are in decline here, as well as in the government. Customer service is horrible, glaring mistakes are made. Employees do not show initiative, creative thinking, critical thinking, resourcefulness, being imaginative, great work ethic, glowing customer service and willingness to deal with difficult requests, There are exceptions, but I am running into too many instances of sloppy work, poor results and a flat unwillingness to provide service.
I am a facilities technician in the Twin Cities, providing help to managers solving vendor issues with their buildings and doing repairs, including sourcing plumbing parts for repairs.
Here are some examples where I have been disappointed. Keep in mind that all the companies, which shall remain unnamed, have sterling reputations in the Twin Cities based on past performances. The decline is startling and recent. A newer generation of secretaries, dispatchers and customer service representatives have failed to provide me with good service that three years ago was routine. I see it as a moral decline. I see it as a result of new workers being more groupist and pleasure seeking, less individualistic, much less industrious and self-denying. They give up and give in too easily, without grit, will and determination to solve hard problems. It could also be that they are not quite as lackadaisical, robottish and lazy as I project upon them--that they can be energetic, go the extra mile and hustle if the customer is groupist like they are, or rich or connected. I am none of these things and am a roving technician and a lone wolf and they sense this, and reduce service out of resentment, hostility or antagonism. Still the decline is also systemic, impersonal and wide spread.
Our mechanical company has low voltage electricians, union technicians, good guys and has for a generation. I called the dispatcher two weeks ago for service, and she gave me the name and mobile of a rival company, Yale Mechanical, three times in a row. I called this project manager and we do no business with them, and he said they have never had techs that worked on smoke sensors and fire safety systems. I went with another company.
This morning I got a text from one of our managers using a high voltage electrician from our mechanical company and it went well. At another clinic a different manager lost all power to her nurse call system, and I went over there to trouble shoot. I gave her the name of the same mechanical company and she texted me after I left and said that their dispatcher dismissed her, explaining that no electricians work there. This manager hired a rival company that are coming out Monday.
When at this clinic, with all devices failed, I wanted to see the electrical panels to make sure that the high voltage feeding the low-voltage nurse call system was not deenergized. The landlord's tech was only reachable through an electronic work order system used by our secretary four floors up. I went up there and raised Cain, and they put in the work order, but they feared my reputation, so they got a tech there in 20 minutes. He and I found no high power off, so it was to be turned over to the low voltage contractor, some dead short, bad relay, failed device, etc.
I asked Joe (all names used are false names) if he would give me his cell number, so that I could just call him to get the power closet opened quick to expedite service. He said no, he is not going to be called after hours without overtime. I asked for a key to the closet, and he said no again. I asked if he can always be there in 20 minutes and he would not answer. He left. This week I got called at home by managers, at night, twice over emergencies, etc., and I walked them through tough situations. I am an hourly employee but still help people after hours.
I have a clinic with old Chicago faucets that corrosive building water is wearing through the spouts of four faucets. That is $1200 to $1500 for four new faucets. I can get and install gooseneck spouts for $250 and get another 5 to 10 years out of those faucets. I had 5 trips to visit and many phone calls to a prminent plumbing jobber in Minneapolis. They finally found the right part number, but could not get around to or figure out how to order the spouts. They see me come in and flee back into the warehouse. T
There is an old and less prominent plumbing supply house in Burnsville staffed (on the parts order line anyway) by women that are effective and efficient. They know little about plumbing but if you can get them the part number, they will get the product and get it deliverd within a few business days, and that is how I got the spouts.
I have another procedure center in Coon Rapids with motion sensor Optima Sloan faucets with solenoid valves triggered by the infrared photoeye. With my smart phone I took a picture of the model number model number, etc. I went to St. Paul and spent 2 or 3 trips trying to get the owner's son, Bill, to get the thing for me. He never returned calls, promised, and I never got the valve. I never got the part number. I looked at the picture I took, and this afternoon, at 3pm, I called Optima and talked to Zack, and he gave me the right part number in under 5 minutes. I then called Kully Supply in Burnsville and the young lady had it ordered and ready for shipping in another 5 minutes.
Now I go online and get the part number, and then go through a place in Burnsville. Why could not plumbing parts jobbers not do the same thing? They only do easy jobs, or want only to hand you parts off the shelf already in stock, or want to sell you brand new units.
The higher level paid technicians and workers at parts counters and as secretaries and dispatchers at these mechanical companies still function pretty well. The entry level or poorer paying jobs seem to be occupied increasingly by a generation of lazy, disillusioned workers that do not want to provide good service and work hard because the job does not warrant that kind of commitment.
My father-in-law's auto parts store employees out in North Dakota thirty years ago, were not compensated that great, but they worked hard and smart because that is what Nodaks do. Again, this to me is symptomatic of a society in decline. Workers should be motivated to do their best, no matter how low-paying, humble, unrewarding or dead-end a job is.
One does that job until education is finished, one is promoted, or finds a better job--at least that is how it used to be, or at least more so.
If this is how it is in corporate America, how does work get done in government or in the southern states?
