Tough times!

The AC business (any business for that matter) is facing tough times:

(1) Inflation.   55 Rupees to Dollar.
(2) Increase in Petrol price: Price of everything will go up. Since technicians work involves
going to customers places costs will increase.
(3) Price disparity: Prices of machines vary from dealer to dealer, retailer to retailer, retailer to dealer
and so on.
(4) Non-availability of skilled man-power. High attrition.
(5) Massive power cuts: Leads to loss in productive work. Technician goes to customer's place
only to find that there is no power to test the unit.

There could be some fall outs.

New Post - - Post-dinner humour

We are spending our weekend here in Austin.

A few days back , after dinner, we were talking about this and that and narrating a few jokes.

I narrated a joke told by my neighbour in Madhurima, Dr. Mohan.

He once said that in the Royapettah hospital, the doctors used to narrate jokes while they were operating.

They got so used to hearing the same jokes and therefore they numbered the jokes and from then on
someone would just say: Joke No.4.   And everyone would laugh aloud, remembering the joke.

Well you see this is a joke arising out of a real life situation and I thought that it was unique!

But similar situations arise around the globe, it seems. There is a large collection of books in my niece's place
in Austin and I picked up Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor. (I was always under the impression that Asimov
only wrote Science fiction).

As I am reading, came across this:

A newcomer to a certain summer resort was surprised to find a group of men gathered on the lawn one
evening shouting numbers at each other.
"Sixteen," one would yell, and all would laugh.
"One hundred and thirty-five," another would say, and all would laugh.
"Twenty-seven," a third would say, nearly choking with glee, and all would laugh.
"Two hundred and three," shouted someone, and this time every-one fell off his chair howling. The laughter
continued till some turned blue in the face and had to be pounded to keep them from suffocating.
Numbers continued to be called thereafter, and laughter, now more subdued, also continued.
Finally the newcomer spoke to one of the men on the fringes and said, "Pardon me, but tell me what's going on."
"Well," said the other, "this group meets every year at this resort, and night after night we swap stories.
Naturally, we all know the stories, so we gave them numbers and save time by calling the numbers."
The newcomer nodded. "I see. But tell me this, When someone shouted, "Two hundred and three," everyone laughed particularly loudly. Why was that?"
His informant chuckled. "Oh well, you see, that one we had never heard before".

World Geography

I was going through the McDougal Littell World Geography book.

It is a very interesting textbook and I love reading through the book. You may refer
www.classzone.com.

Here is some interesting comparison between US and India:

Area:
India: 1,195,063 sq. miles
US: 3,787,319 sq. miles

Population:
India: 1,002,142,000 ( year 2000 estimate)
US: 281,422,000

Doctors per 100,000 population (1992-1999)
India: 48
US: 251

We talk of population explosion, healthcare and housing, etc.

Just looking at the above figures we understand a lot!

Franchisee model of business

My friend Mohan became a dealer for Voltas air-conditioners way back in 1979. His was the fourth dealership awarded in Chennai and at that time the company thought that three was more than enough. He had to convince them a lot to get the dealership. His financial strength, business and technical acumen, willingness to
abide by the Tata ethics and culture; A whole lot of things were considered.

Today the picture is quite different. The company operates on a franchisee model and they only thing spoken
of is volume business. Sell, sell and sell. This the mantra today. Since the margins are very low my friend is
losing interest in the business.

Yet another friend of mine, Muthukumar, joined his father in the business of tyre selling. They were
selling MRF tyres and they were the first authorised shop selling only MRF tyres. They had their shop
in G.P. Road - the automobile spares hub of chennai city.

I have visited MRF tyres factory in the early 70's when they had only two large sheds in Tiruvottiyur.
By phenomenal growth the company achieved a turnover of 5,000 crores in 2007 and this went up
to 10,000 crores by 2011.

But there was a tremendous amount of pressure from the company to my friend asking them to
invest a huge lot of money and make theirs a very big show. The margins being very low, my friend
and his family opted out of the business.

Why? The companies want their franchisees to be adventurous.

Companies want their franchisees to sell more and more as they earn less and less.

I am reminded of something my father told me years back: A genius is one who knows more and
more of less and less - until he knows everything about nothing.

No comments from my side.

Humour - are we moving away from it?

I was always under the impression that Americans have a good sense of humour and enjoy it.

But of late I am beginning to doubt it.

Two days back I went to Walmart in North Carolina and the person in the gate was a
very humourous person. He was a jolly good person and was welcoming everyone in
a rather loud voice and enjoying himself. Actually his behaviour should put everyone in
a good mood, it did to me. But hardly anyone cared. Or exchanged a few pleasantaries
with him.

Today I took the Southwest Airlines flight from NC to Austin, Texas. The guy who
checked the boarding passes in Nashville was extremely humorous. I laughed loudly.
But no one seemed to care. When he continued in the same strain, a few smiled.

As we were getting down in Austin, one of the crew members said over the PA system:
Hope you had a nice journey. And do come back. Because if you don't we are the ones
that will miss you the most!

Sense of humour - where are you bound?

Adakkam (Self-control)

Those of you who have read and who keep reading the Thirukkural  know Adakkam.

Adakkam in tamil means self-control.

My friend Muthukumar came and settled with his family in Madhurima apartment complex which
was built by demolishing our old house and a few adjoining houses of our relatives.

He endeared himself to one and all and we used to call him MK, Muthu or Kumar.
Another friend of ours Selladurai always used to refer to him as "Muthu engal sotthu"
(Muthu is our wealth).

He liked to pluck a few flowers here and there without spoiling the plants (meaning not
plucking all the flowers) everyday in the morning to offer to Mother.

Something he liked very much was whistling. But he was not whistling with gay abandon.

I asked him: "Why".  He replied that someone may mistake him.

What I said:

Not a problem. We like to listen to your whistling. You may please whistle loud. (Only keep
looking at the plants and the compound wall and not towards the residences!!!!!!)

He was very fond of going to music concerts and I had the pleasure of accompanying him many
a time as long as I was in Madhurima.

A place for everything and.....

A place for everything and everything in its place.

This is one of the most important things that should be adhered to in the business atmosphere.

Unfortunately it is not being taught or followed in most places nowadays. Some of the staff
members want to make themselves important and keep the papers in all sorts of odd places.
If the particular staff member absents himself/herself it poses a serious problem.

I had been to a government office sometime back. I told them that I had occasion to
deal with them two/three years earlier. The concerned officer got up and pulled the file
containing papers pertaining to the transaction within minutes. This is part of the legacy
left behind by the Britishers.

Last month in Virginia I went with my daughter to renew the lease agreement. We gave
the signed lease agreement and the assistant said: "Let me go and bring your file". She was
back within a minute!

Wish all of us could be like that!