BusyBeeNews - February/March 2020

february/march 2021

by: cassie murray

when you you can’t find the sunshine,

be the sunshine!

WELLNESS TIPS

BANANAS! A banana has approximately 30% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 helps the brain produce serotonin, which is considered a mood stabilizer. Serotonin impacts your motor skills and emotions. It is also the chemical that helps you sleep and digest food. Eating a banana can help relieve depression and anxiety by stimulating the serotonin levels in your body.

by: cassie murray

CURRENT JOB OPENINGS: Account Manager – Little Rock Factory Service Team – Central Texas (Austin or San Antonio) Warehouse Associates – Carrollton Inside Sales Associates - Pump Team – Carrollton

Tales from the

ROAD

by Pat Armstrong

family vacation

Well friends, what can I say??? This has been a stressful time for our agency. Between the events of 2020, and the network take down of 2021, it’s easy to get frustrated, think negative thoughts, and have really quick fuses. (ask me how I know – hahaha) It kind of reminds me of family vacations. In fact, I think they made a pretty successful comedy movie a bout a stressful family vacation…

I can’t remember the name, but you may have seen it?!

So, I had been travelling for like eight weeks straight, just home Friday and Saturday nights, and I was beat. But, we had scheduled a family vacation to visit family in El Paso. A driving trip to El Paso no less. My grandparents had a really nice Ford Econoline van that was outfitted with four captains chairs and a bed in the back, with storage underneath. Really great for road trips! So, instead of driving Yolanda’s beater Dodge minivan, we decided to ask to barrow the van.

“Of course you can Honey!” was my grandmother’s reply.

“Should be good to go,” she continued.

They hadn’t been on a trip in the van for some time, but they assured me that all was good, and that we would have a wonderful time…and we did have a great time, on the way there.

We made it there with no issues, spent a week going and doing, but on the day before we planned to come back, we were up in the mountains of New Mexico, and the van started acting a little wonky, but then straightened up. We packed up and left early the next morning headed back to Dallas.

An hour past the check point on I-10, the van loses power. I had first gear, high RPM’s, and no torque. If you know what’s an hour past the check point eastbound on I-10, you know that it’s a McDonald’s, a piece of crap motel, and an auto shop. Kind of convenient one might think. We had limped into the Twilight Zone! I pull into the shop and three greasy mechanics were standing around chewing the fat and looked at me like I was dinner.

Turns out, I was.

“You need to have your transmission rebuilt! We don’t do that, but we work with a shop back in town (he spits into the dirt) and we can have it towed and fixed and brought back to you,” said the owner.

My heart sank, but what were my options right? We had no choice but to do it. I took the family across the street to the “Mot-O-Lodge,” got a room for the night, and sat and waited.

Bonus for us, the previous guests smoked a carton of cigarettes, all in one night I think, with the door closed…

Long story long, we get the van back ($3,000 dollars lighter). All was good in the world, and we made it to Midland, where we were lucky enough to get bad diesel and totally clogged our fuel filter.

Here I am, I have a van full of people and crap, and I have the motor cowling off, the hood up, trying to change this fuel filter (in the cold rain, at an auto parts store, with borrowed tools). I had never done this job before, so there was a pretty steep learning curve. After three hours, it ran…like crap!

I pulled into the Ford dealership, threw the keys to the first mechanic I saw, walked down the road to get yet another room for the night, and called my brother to come get the family!

Luckily, he came and picked up the family for me. I still owe him for that (and knowing Armstrong luck, it’ll be a doozie)!

Sometimes life seems like you just can’t win, like the nightmare won’t ever be over, and you actually think of uttering the words, “What else could go wrong?” – Don’t ever say those words, because you’ll probably find out!!!

Patience is a virtue and jail time is real!!!

Cheers to all. I’m glad to be in the same boat as the rest of you wonderful people.

- Pat

by: Elaine Self by: Pat Armstrong

january’s “guess who” was brittany lutrell!

click to check out hmc’s social media channels!

WHAT THE HIVE CAN TEACH BUSINESSES ABOUT

LEADERSHIP, EFFICIENCY,

& GROWTH Keep Your Balance - Lesson 13 tTHE WISDOM OF BEES by: Michael O’Malley, Ph.D.

Reliable and steady organizational activity depends on the smart merger of diverse talents and ideas.

The activity of a colony appears chaotic to a casual observer. Yet amid this apparent confusion, there is an underlying order. Bees are able to keep the temperature of the hive relatively constant at about ninety-three degrees Fahrenheit. They don’t all flap their wings at the same time. If they did, the temperature would alternate between hot and cold.

This example illustrates that the real value of diversity is its tendency to promote organizational stability. Organizations that lack diversity suffer from a concentration of similar strengths and points of view, tilting prevailing thought perilously in one direction. It may be that the company hired too many like-minded people. Or it may be that the company hired well but failed to employ the assorted strengths of their workforce effectively.

More Pollen Reliable and steady organizational activity depends on the merging of diverse talents and ideas. Diversity allows organizations to avoid mindless collective action and the harmful convergence of opinion. In the hive, a subset of bees-not all or none-will act as conditions dictate in the order to create a proper balance. Variability among individual bees is precisely what keeps the colony from doing too little or too much.

by adam merritt On site at the new Reby Cary Youth Library in Fort Worth. The contractor installed the fully assembled vault containing this backflow preventer, but the backflow preventer wouldn’t pass testing. FST to the rescue! Hal, Jim, and Adam each took their turn climbing down into the vault to disassemble, clean, inspect, and reassemble the valve and bypass assembly. Hal snapped this candid shot of Jim dutifully replying to emails even when he’s “ankle deep.”

What was causing the valve to fail testing? Plastic shavings were stuck in the check and had to be repeatedly flushed before the valve would fully seat.

This air relief valve keeps dumping water! We’ve already cleaned it out (Narrator, “they hadn’t”), and it still keeps dumping! (Narrator, “because it was full of rocks.”) Here Adam and Jim are roadside at the Teasly Lane Pipeline assisting the Upper Trinity Regional Water District in their diagnosis of misbehaving DeZurik air relief valve. When those candy cane shaped pipes that come out of concrete pads on the roadside are leaking, it could be a situation just like this. As potable water is pumped to our homes, and the underground pipes change elevation, there has to be a way to allow air into the system to prevent a vacuum from destroying the pipes. Think about what happens when a chunk of fruit gets stuck at the bottom of a straw in a milkshake. There also has to be a way to release that air so the air pockets don’t prevent the water from flowing under pressure. The air release valve and air vacuum valve on this job had become so full of debris that the internal float valve was stuck in the open position. With some help from Jim and Adam, the contractor was able to get the pipeline back up and running as designed.

Look at Hal beaming like a proud new Poppa!

He’s showing off a plunger that took two men nearly an hour to remove and even longer to rebuild and reinstall. The medical facility in the Austin, TX area was complaining that a new water softener was pouring too much water into the floor drain. When calls to Watts Pure Water tech support, and all the standard trouble shooting steps failed to solve the issue, the Factory Support Team was called into action.

Water softener systems are comprised of a brine tank full of salt, a mineral tank full of resin, a control valve, and all the piping necessary to move water back and forth between the tanks, to the drains, or out to the building.

The plunger that Hal is showing off is located within the control valve and is the mechanism by which the flow of water is directed. In this case, rubber O-rings on the plunger had deteriorated and couldn’t control direction of the flow. We documented the repair process, so that if this ever comes up again, we’ll be ready with the answer with a how-to video and step by step instructions.

How many pallet locations does the Dallas warehouse currently hold?

Manager’s Update Hal Haas Factory Support Team Manager

As the “rookie” manager with HMC, I drew the short straw, and was assigned the task of providing this month’s managers’ article. That said, I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce the Factory Support Team to everyone and try to explain how we see our role in Hugh M. Cunningham Companies.

OUR STAFF I have 30 years of experience, with HMC, in various roles. I started in the warehouse as contract labor back in 1991 (because David was nice enough to let me work while I was looking for another full-time job). After three to four months of not finding another position, David asked me if I enjoyed working at HMC, and offered me a full-time job…and the “rest is history” as they say. I have worked in the warehouse, inside sales, called on engineers and architects, and up until recently, held the title of Director of Training.

Jim Fouts has almost as much time at HMC as I do. He started in the warehouse and when the company added Factory Service Group, to work on AO Smith FVIR heaters, Jim volunteered to help out. Jim has a very select set of skills that allow him to collect and analyze information, problem-solve, and make decisions on product issues to resolve them for our customers.

Buck Kott is our FST rep in the Houston Metro market. HMC was lucky enough to hire Buck to work in the warehouse originally. He had practical field experience with plumbing products (through working for his family-owned plumbing company). When he heard about our Factory Support Team, he thought he would like to try working in that department. He has been very supportive of our sales efforts in the Houston market by assisting with troubleshooting and resolving field product issues.

Adam Merritt is the most recent addition to the FST team. Adam is mechanically minded, so he fits in well. Adam was once a Cadillac car salesperson. The skill set he acquired doing that job makes him adept at training and presenting features, advantages, and benefits of the products our manufacturers produce.

We are currently looking for an FST team member for the Central Texas market. If you, or someone you know are interested, please feel free to discuss the opportunity with me.

OUR ROLE David Cunningham taught me a long time ago that if a customer has a problem, and you can solve it for them, you create a relationship with that customer rather than just selling them something. How we choose to help our customers resolve problems defines their experience with our company and furthers our relationship with them. Relationships are what matters in this business. FST is all about resolving problems and furthering HMC’s relationship with our customers.

FST stands for Factory Support Team, but I think it should be Factory Support and Training.

When we are in the field working with a contractor or wholesaler, we are training them on how to figure out the actual cause of a product issue, and then how to correct it. Then, they can take care of similar matters in the future. We are also trying to dedicate more of our time to training for our customers. With the current pandemic this has been difficult, but we are adapting and learning to use ZOOM and/or Microsoft Teams to conduct video trainings for our customers. We are also trying to create short videos that can be posted on social media or the HMC website. These services are something not a lot of other Manufacturer’s Reps provide their customers. What FST provides is a “value added” service to our customers.

We would like to ask for your help. Some of our associates have the misconception that if there is a product issue in the field that it automatically should be forwarded to FST. It is true that FST may ultimately need to respond to the request for assistance, but we need every associate to help collect initial information so that we can determine the appropriate associate or team to best meet the customer’s needs. Basic information includes the following: job name, job location, jobsite contact name, jobsite contact number, manufacturers model number/serial number, a good description of the issue they are having, and we really like to get photos and videos of the installation and the problem (everybody carries a cellphone now, so this should be simple). The more information we get up front, the better we are prepared to help on the initial interaction with our customer.

Jim, Buck, Adam, and I are the FST Team, and if you ever need our assistance feel free to send an email to fst@hughcunningham.com and we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.

How smart is your right foot?

This is hysterical. You have to try this.

It is absolutely true.

I guess there are some things that the brain cannot handle.

1. While sitting in a chair, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number “6” in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.

I told you so! And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it! You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you’ve not already done so.

8 Important Facts to Remember as You Grow Older:

Death is the number one killer in the world.

Life is sexually transmitted.

Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day.

Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays attention to criticism.

In the 60’s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

Don’t worry about old age: it doesn’t last that long.

March is Women’s History Month Honoring the women who persevered, broke down barriers, and shattered glass ceilings to create a better America.

Every year March is designated Women’s History Month by Presidential Proclamation. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions in American history.

Did You Know? Women’s History Month started as Women’s History Week Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978. The organizers selected the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day. The movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.

In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups and historians—led by the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women's History Alliance)—successfully lobbied for national recognition. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th, 1980 as National Women’s History Week.

Click here to download our 2021 Women's History Month Resource Toolkit, filled with links to biographies, events, and programming to celebrate this important month.

Subsequent Presidents continued to proclaim a National Women’s History Week in March until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, each president has issued an annual proclamation designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”

The National Women’s History Alliance selects and publishes the yearly theme. The theme for Women's History Month in 2021 captures the spirit of these challenging times. Since many of the women's suffrage centennial celebrations originally scheduled for 2020 were curtailed, the National Women's History Alliance is extending the annual theme for 2021 to "Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced.”

Taken from www.womenshistory.org