Auction and More

It has been a long January and the truth be told I have not felt like blogging …. Sorry…. But I am back with lots to tell.

First let me tell you the first and most important thing will have to wait till anther time … and again sorry… but now for the fun parts.  Auction time is coming!

 

In the last auction, we had two of the units get bought back less than 24 hours before the auction.  It seems like most of the units that I have seen saved at the last minute end back on the auction block.  Why this is I can only surmise, one if it takes you to the last second to raise the money to save the unit once, you will probably not be able to do it twice.  Once in Pasadena, we had the same unit go to auction 3 times before it finally sold. What a waste of money.  There is another type of personality that thinks that if they only pay for the storage when it is going up to auction, then they have saved the three months of rent.  I have had customers try to explain this theory to but I just don’t get it.  I don’t think Dave Ramsey would understand it either.

My auction is the 19^th and where I hate the prep work for an auction, auction day is always fun.

Another big change is I have merchandise to sell.  This is cool on several reasons. First is the long range foot traffic that will build as we get to be known for moving and packing supplies.  Another reason is the instant impact that people will have when they come into an office and it looks like a real store.

The Game of Life

Here is a lesson for all who may read this.  In the “Game of Life” that is the Parker Brothers game, the idea of the game is to make more money than anyone else and beat your opponents to the finish.  That is a board game people.   Get the clue that life is not a game.   The one with the most toys does not win.

Pardon for the rant but I seem to be in a power struggle at work and I did not start it.   I have a fellow employee in the company that feels like he is not needed in his current position and is trying to gain some form of control in the storage branch of the corporation.   Now the old me wants to say “I didn’t start this fight but I will sure end it”.  Now here is where my internal struggle hits.  My gut still wants to fight fire with a small thermal nuclear device, but I spent last fall at an adult leadership course put on by the Boy Scouts of America.  This course is called Wood Badge and is one of the most compelling classes I have ever taken.  I will not go into great detail on the overall course, but I want to tell you about one lesson. 

“The Game of Life”

Here are the rules of a simple game.  You have two paddles on red and one green. On the count of three each team lifts a paddle in the air.  That is all the rules you are given and the game starts.   After the first round the scoring board is brought out and the scores are counted.  For example the scoring board for a game with two teams would look like this.   Two red paddles are raised both teams lose 100 points.  If a red paddle and a green paddle are raised then the red paddle wins 500 points and the green paddle loses 500 points. If the two green paddles are raised then each team gets 50 points.   Now the motto of this game is “Win All You Can”.  How do you see this game going?  When I played it we had eight teams with a very complicated scoring board, but the concept stayed the same.  At first we were just throwing up paddles at a whim and going into the negatives fast.  Then a group of instructors ran across the room holding up one word signs which read Win All You Can. As soon as they passed they ran backwards so the message read Can You All Win.  Slowly two tactics emerged one group started only holding up the red paddle while the other seven groups were holding up green.  The seven groups started trying to get the eight group to join in but they were winning and they kept holding up red by the end of the game seven teams where dip in the negative and one team had thousands of points. Who won?  …. No one won.  In life there is no score board and no playing pieces and if you can’t figure out that there is always a win-win scenario, then you will be the one to bring down everyone.  I don’t want to be the one to destroy everything just to prove I am right. 

When I started this blog tonight I had all intentions of explaining my strategies of how I was going to win this battle.  Then I would probably spend some time justifying my decision.  Now here I am at the end of this post and I realize it’s time to lift the paddle.  Well Bob what’s it going to be red or green.   This will be a long weekend figuring out my next move.   I hope you will think before your next move and try to find the win-win scenario.

P.S. If I blow this game for any soon to be Wood Badgers, please forgive me.   Not only did this game hit me hard then, but again tonight.  It is a lesson we all need.

 Make good choices.  in the end it is just between you and God.

Let the games begin

The letters about the inventory for auction went out yesterday and I got my first head ach today.   Today went by kind of hectic but not out of the ordinary.   Till 5:45 this afternoon when one of my auction tenants stops by.  Now I haven’t received a payment from her (that didn’t bounce) since she moved in.  Yet today she shows up and wants to pay now.  Hey I like that kind of enthusiasm, just tell me where it has been for the past three months. 

Now let me tell you that the computer happens to be turned off at the moment she comes in ( another long story for another rime).  So we must wait for the complete boot up to happen. Then she has some disputes on the total amount.

Side bar here - the reason we got the new program is because the old program would like to add charges at random. 

Yes I know there is a problem and yes I know how to fix it.  The problem is the info I need is in her file and the calculations are going to need to be done by hand.  Then once the proper price has been set I will need to figure out how to make the new computer to accept the discounted price.  Did I mention it is 5:45 heading to my 6 o’clock closing and this will make me work past 6 which I do not get paid for.

By the way did I mention that this process is taking to long for her and I am putting her out?  You see she has places to be.  This is the kind of attitude that really bothers me.  She has put off taking care of this bill till the last moment making me wait three months to get paid, yet waiting fifteen minutes so I can charge her the proper amount is cramping her style.

Simple answer… I cut her a hand receipt … refilled my coffee and fixed the problem.  She was out of my office at 6 and I took the next 10 minutes and patched the paperwork.  She will never understand how rude not paying your bills can be, but that’s ok I had hot coffee and a quite office.  Unfortunately this is what will great me in the morning.

I need to do some filling to find my desk.  

The first is down, five more to go

Now that's diffrent

I started working in storage 20 years ago, and spent the first 18 years in Southern California. So what is in Oklahoma that is sooooo different form So. Cal? Ice!

I know tornados seemed like the best bet, but the real answer is ice. California can get its rare tornado and it’s straight winds can be just as impressive as out here on the plains, but Ice now that is something that you don’t get in the land of Hollywood. The year we moved to Oklahoma we experienced some record hot months and some of the hardest winters. Trying to explain to your wife and kids that this is not the way winter is normally in Oklahoma for two years in a row is a challenge. I did tell them that we would be experiencing fore seasons. I did not tell them that it would happen all in one week.