Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

He called me from thousands of miles away to share his pest management story. “My neighbor Mary had a squirrel living in her attic,” he said, “and since our local pest company doesn’t do animal control, I offered her a helping hand. When I got to her house, I checked the eaves, and quickly saw… Read more »

I always feel good when I see a flying squirrel. On a lucky evening, I glance at the handrail on my back deck and see one of the nocturnal critters sitting there, happily munching on sunflower seeds. On a really good evening, I see a pair eating seeds like two teens sharing a chocolate malted… Read more »

By the age of twelve, I felt I had mastered most of life’s important lessons and I mostly stopped listening to adults giving out warnings. Luckily, I was smart enough to make a few exceptions. I remember the day on our grandparent’s Illinois farm when my brother and I told Grandpa we were headed back… Read more »

Last week, I debated whether a business owner should ever scold an obnoxious customer. I wrote that, even though I know a few small business owners who allow themselves the luxury, to me there is something unholy about a business owner blasting a customer. But, we’re all human and anyone can have a bad day…. Read more »

“I don’t like you. I don’t want your money. I hope you never call me again.” I imagine that most small business owners have wanted to speak those words—or a more vulgar variation thereof—to one of their customers. The question I’d like to debate today is: Should a small business owner tell off a customer?… Read more »

For many years, I hated the schedule book in our office. For me, it represented being chained to an “1800s way of running a business,” as I used to complain to my secretaries. I encouraged them to toss that tattered book and switch to an internet calendar to log our technicians’ daily schedules. But my… Read more »

Well, Home Defenders customers, after a slick salesman made his pitch to me and my secretaries yesterday, you folks were almost reduced to nothing more than pie chart statistics. But, we quickly realized that human customers are better than statistical ones, so we put an end to the whole affair. It all began with a… Read more »

I was standing in the doorway of a long time Home Defenders customer, taking flak: “Mike, your workers should have seen those mouse droppings on our bed!” Mr. Jones bellowed. “My wife took one look and threatened to head home to Long Beach and never come back.” I apologized to Mr. Jones, drawing on decades of experience… Read more »

“Will this onslaught never end?” I thought. “This is surely Mother Nature’s most amazing animal.” After squeezing through a little plywood door made for munchkins, then worming around heating ducts, I found myself deep inside a crawl space last week, checking mouse traps. I had been coming to this cabin for weeks and I was… Read more »

“… if you’re gonna do something, man, F-ing do it!” One guy said to the other. “Oh, yeah?” came the response. “F-ing bring it on, man!” That’s a snippet from an F-bomb filled shouting match I saw in a grocery store in Ventura a few weeks ago. Is it just me, or has the world… Read more »