Steamatic of Sacramento Healthy Home Blog

Re: Quit hammering state's small businesses by Roger Niello

Niello, a small businessman, past customer and a Republican assemblyman, presents a telling editorial in the Sacramento Bee today, Saturday, October 3, 2009.  He writes about the conclusions of a Sacramento State study, headed by Sanjay Varshney, dean of the College of Business Administration, regarding the over-regulation of California businesses.  The conclusion of the study $492.99 billion in lost economic output due to over regulation in California.  That's five times the general fund budget and a third of the state's gross product.  The impetus driving the over-regulation: "Crack down on corporate greed".

Some other pertinent facts in the article:

1. 99.2 % of employer businesses are small businesses.  Small business is defines as independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field of operation and has annual receipts not in excess of $500,000.00 and has fewer than 500 employees.
2. It is small business that is bearing the regulatory brunt of the "Big Business" crusade.
3. Even more regulations are headed small businesses way, like the recently enacted AB 32 carbon tax regulations.
4. The intent of the regulations center on protecting consumers, workers and the environment: In efforts to protect labor, California is loosing 3.8 million jobs a year; Labor laws severely restrict the flexibility of the work week for all classifications of workers, not just the field workers and other labor groups they seek to protect.
5. The Americans with Disability Act laws, well intended but too often used as the basis of law suits to cripple or terminate small businesses.
6. Big business have the resources to adapt and stay one step ahead of the regulators.  Small business do not and limit expansion, limit salaries, limit benefits to cope with the regulations.

Niello's recommendations for change:

• Support proposed legislation like Senate bill 356 that "would simply ask small business how proposed regulations would affect them".
• Provide a "sunset clause" in any new regulations that would allow the consideration of a cost-benefit balance of a particular protection.
• Set up a commission to oversee regulatory authorities.
• Remove the "bounty hunting" aspect from regulatory authorities by redirecting fines to the general fund and not to the agency in charge of levying the fines.

Niello's conclusion: "What's good for Small Business is good for California" so the legislative and regulatory authorities should start acting with this in mind.

My hat's off to Roger Niello but for the sake of brevity, I will provide my own views about this subject in another post.

Charles E. Cassani

Who's Calling & What Do You Want?

What happens when you call a company and you receive a recorded message or voice mail routing message?  I am always disappointed with the "unavailable" human whom I would like to speak with about the nature of my call.  Sometimes (actually most times), I am equally disappointed with a disinterested or rude human who answers the phone and behaves like you are bothering them with your inquiry.  Frankly, this is the fault of the business owner and indicates their lack of understanding of how important each and every call is.  Steamatic of Sacramento has always provided a "live" phone response for our customer's inquiries.  We are currently creating a Frequently Asked Question sections for our web site, www.steamaticofsacramento.com.  Normally, the inquiry begins with the cost of the service; it's an easy beginning point and quickly qualifies the discussion for the calling party.  If we answered this cost question straight up, I doubt that many callers would stay on the line.  Why?  Frankly, quoting a cost for any service is the least useful information available to qualify a purchase.  Those companies that quote flat fees without the normal qualifiers (size, how much furniture to move for access and other essential data to determine the labor time, equipment and expertise needed to accomplish the job) are selling a "foot in the door" approach that may change dramatically when they show up.  In fairness to both sides, the consumer and the provider, an exchange of real information is the ideal setup.

What I prefer are the details of what I am buying and the attitude of the provider of that information.  This brings me to my point and a challenge to all readers.  Call any large yellow page ad in the carpet cleaning section (easiest to find and lot's to choose from) then call S.O.S. at (916) 386-8191, or toll free at (800) 564-1846.  Ask the responder about what services we provide or any other question of interest.  If you do not get the response you desire and are not impressed with the information and attitude of the responder compared to any other call made, I will personally send you a Steamatic Spotting Kit (a $25.00 retail value) for your time and effort.  There's a catch to this offer: you must be prepared to discuss your findings with me personally so we can do a better job the next time!

Charles E. Cassani, President

Steamatic of Sacramento, Inc.

Ears To The Rescue

OK, we are now at the last of the human senses that are essential in analyzing unhealthy living conditions: The Ears.  How is that you ask?  Simple.  It has been my experience that the occupants of the living space consistently have revealing observations and information about their living environment.  All I have to do is listen, or ask leading questions and listen.  Again, it is easy to acclimate to one's environment, many times to the point of not recognizing some rather obvious data.  However, let a stranger enter your space and they may observe (see, smell, hear or even sense) something obvious to them but obscure to you.  If you are open to or ask their opinion, you may receive some good data.  Pregnant friends are best since their senses are extremely keen due to the protective, on-guard nature of the female species in gestation.  Then again . . . never mind.

In summation, visual, olfactory and auditory information provides an abundance of data to work with in the determining the health of your habitat.

Charles

A Keen Sense of Smell . . .

The olfactory sense is a basic survival instinct: detecting a change in odor is a precursor that something in our immediate environment has changed.  If you enter a confined space and are aware of a different odor, your sense of smell is alerting you that there may be danger associated with this location.  This sensory perception is especially helpful in determining environmental conditions that may be unhealthy: Odorants in natural gas and liquid propane; off-gassing (Volatile Organic Compounds) from biological sources; smoke (hydrocarbons, particulate) from fire to name a few.

Ø      The musty odors associated with fungal amplification are readily identifiable to the nose. 

Ø      The “sour” odor (“dirty socks”) associated with bacteria may not be as recognizable but is common in many older buildings. 

Ø      Decay, or putrefaction, is a foul odor that causes an immediate response from most observers.

Conclusion: Your nose is a serious measuring device that can identify environmental issues if you are aware of what these odors represent.  However, there are some pitfalls:

1.   Odors are time sensitive.  Constant exposure “anesthetizes” the olfactory sense to most odors.  Odors are most distinguishable upon the initial introduction of the odor.  Sometimes it helps to exit and enter an area to identify a different but subtle odor.

2.   The stronger the odor, the more progressive the process is that produces the odor.

3.   Odors can be “memorized” and associated with different events.  An individual who has experienced a house fire can associate those odors with that event and often “smell” the odor that may not be perceptible to others.

4.   Science can not prove or disprove that an odor exist without human perception and consensus.

The Eyes Have It

The vast majority of what is wrong or right about living environments is visible.  There are logical points of observation: Any source of water in the built environment is a point of potential failure and water damage.  Plumbing connections (domestic water sources), exterior to interior penetrations (rain or ground water) and odd ducks such as water beds (thankfully passé), large aquariums, etc., are suspect.  If you would like to “see” what it looks like, go to your shower, tub, sinks and commodes that are used regularly; there’s a better than average chance you will find evidence of water leakage.

It looks like this: discoloration and distortion of surfaces.  It begins as “barely” visible and if left unattended, becomes an eye sore.  Why?  Because the appearance of the affected surfaces changes over a period of time and we do not notice the change or it is not important until it becomes a point of failure.  Example: I noticed discoloration of the grout around my bathroom commode.  A non-penetrating hygrometer (non-destructive moisture sensing meter) indicated that the discoloration was moisture.  I pulled the commode, changed the wax ring and the discoloration “evaporated”.  I use this instrument weekly but it did not occur to me to use it at home until I noticed the discoloration.  I will post some photos and more on the sensory discovery process soon.

(Robert - welcome along for the read; thanks for your interest.)

Time to Share . . .

For the past 40 years I have been obsessed with cleaning.  I was college educated, working as a Social Worker for Sacramento County, in graduate school and unhappy.  Cleaning made me happy, always.  Opportunities presented themselves and I became an independent businessman, first as Magic Carpet Cleaners (1969) and then as Steamatic Carpet Cleaners of Sacramento, Inc. in 1974.

The common theme in the thousands of cleaning jobs that I have worked or managed since then has evolved from changing dirty to clean, contaminated to decontaminated, unhealthy to healthy.

It is time to share my experiences and knowledge with anyone who is interested in these processes.  You can get a feel for Steamatic of Sacramento, Inc. and me personally by visiting our web site www.steamaticofsacramento.com. 

Below are the core values of SOS (click to enlarge).  Time to share knowledge and resources with others.   

Charles E. Cassani, CR