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Test your emotional intelligence free on line

Last week at Kiwanis we had a speaker that discussed this topic. As it happens it is part of my ad for a sales person. This EQ has become more important as a gauge as to how we interact with each other.

www.ihhp.com/free-eq-quiz/ highlight and right click to quickly access the test

some interesting and fun facts

Did you know that the origin of the phrase having a “skeleton in the closet” originated in Medieval England during King Henry VIII reign when being Catholic could end up with your losing your head on the chopping block? People would hide Catholic priests in their “closets”, or, bathroom or lavatory, since the English call their bathrooms “closets”. Then, in the 19th Century, doctors in England hid corpses in their “closets” (body snatching was a popular crime)to use in teaching their students about anatomy.

TOO funny to pass up –
this comes courtesy of The Saturday Evening Post by way of a reader in Wisconsin:

Two boys are in the hospital lying on gurneys next to each other. ” What are you in for?”, asks one. “To have my tonsils removed”, the second replied. “Oh, that’s an easy operation. I had it done when I was four, and when you wake up, the nurses give you all the Jello and ice cream you want.”
The other boy is relieved, and says to the first, “Why are you here?” “A circumcision”, he replies. “Whoa”, says the other boy. ” I had that done when I was born, and I couldn’t walk for a year!”

AND, courtesy of The Saturday Evening Post, from a reader in Union, NJ:

A doctor, lawyer, a priest, and a little boy are on a small, private plane when suddenly the engine stopped. The pilot grabbed a parachute, told the others they had better jump, then bailed out. But, there were only three parachutes remaining. The physician grabbed one and said, ” I save lives. I must live.”
The lawyer took the second parachute, and on exiting the plane said, ” Lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.”
The priest looked at the little boy and said, ” My son, I have lived a long life, and yours is still ahead of you. Take the last parachute, and go in peace.”
“Don’t worry Father”, , said the little boy replied. ” The smartest man in the world just took off with my backpack.”

DID YOU KNOW, that the reason we use the word “mammoth” as a synonym for “huge”, is that Thomas Jefferson first compared something very large to a mammoth’s bones that had just been discovered.

Are you paying too much for workers comp. insurance?

Necessary and critical to any business with employees, worker’s compensation premiums often present significant recovery possibilities. We review your policy for overcharges, often going back ten years. Our team of experts will insure that what you paid was what you should have paid.

There is no out of pocket expenses. We are only compensated when you receive a refund check, credit or reduced premium. No recovery=no fee.

Many times, our work produces a refund and saves you money on future premiums. Any future savings you keep 100% of that benefit

Water leak refunds from utility in N.J.

 Utility Auditing 

      A Case Study for a Water Leak Refund

To:    JCMUA   the Water Authority for Jersey City New Jersey

From: Paul Reed Steberger

Subject: Our Client and their Water leaks at their Jersey City Mall

Date 1-23-2009

 

Here is a timeline and information regarding the issues involving the water leaks. Please be aware that the mall owner, to deal with this in a timely manner, contacted United Water, and the JCMUA regarding these leaks in August 2005. We appreciate your time on this matter.

After contacting JCMUA and United Water, we set out on our own to find the problem that was causing the excess consumption. We found the first leak in Dec. 2006 by the liquor store, meter # 1542251, and repaired it. Consumption dropped to an average of 865ccf from 1440ccf per month. We thought the problem was solved. However, we were wrong because the meter at the pit by the liquor store, meter # 1542251, was under registering. This was replaced by JCMUA with meter # 67348434 in 01-07. When the meter was replaced the new meter, reading showed 1440 at that meter pit, which was much too high based on our readings on the secondary meters at the stores in the mall.

The bill for the new meter was prorated in the amount of $19,661.88, which unknown to us, included the additional leaks ultimately found by Wendy’s. This extremely high bill alerted us to the fact that we had more leaks. This bill should have been in $2500.00 per month which is where it is today.

After receiving the high bill, we searched again for more leaks. One was found in 11-2007 and a second was found in 4-2008. Both were repaired. These leaks produced higher consumption ranging from 1100ccf in Feb-March 06, 2100ccf in April-May 06, and 1880ccf in Oct-Nov 07. After the leaks were repaired, consumption decreased i.e. for the 11-08 billing period, the recorded total mall consumption was 620ccf for the 11-2008 billing period and 560.9ccf for the 10-08 billing period. We anticipate the new average to be in the 620ccf to 700ccf range.

We have paid over $100,000.00, for water/sewer charges due to these leaks, and   the last credit we received of almost $9,000.00 was for water used by the fire dept. without our knowledge, not for a leak adjustment.

You asked me once what a judge might say, and I think he would rule that in view of the effort, the false readings on the faulty meter, and the $20,000.00 plus spent to repair the leaks, there should be a refund for the excess water used during the leak period.

I would add that since there is no stated policy in the JCMUA tariff regarding refunds, it would seem fair to issue at least a credit for sewer services not used.

 

This case was resolved with a $25, 00.00 refund to the client, and a $4,000.00 monthly savings.

Tired of paying for Cisco’s call managers high fees or being forced to upgrade… read on


This is a Cisco Call Manager Solution that moved a premise based Call manger to the cloud. It is one of many Call Manger Solutions offered by Applied Consulting Group’s partners. We help you select which Cisco, or other Cloud based solution is best for you.  acginfo.biz   877 208 0021   prs@auaus.net

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THE CHALLENGE

Abt Assoc. had been using NWN for premise-based Cisco Call Manager services. With very limited IT resources the company lacked the expertise to pull together its disparate communications tools. It was also using different collaboration tools – Cisco Jabber, Microsoft Lync and Google apps – that did not integrate with each other.

 

SOLUTION

West moved the voice services to VoiceMaxx CE and into the cloud. We also supplied ControlMaxx for their 20 contact center workers. Since the company was using Cisco already, the interfaces for VoiceMaxx CE were nearly identical to those of the Call Manager. InterCall also provided Abt with 3000 WebEx licenses. In order to federate their disparate messaging and presence platforms, West implemented NextPlane, which allowed their US locations using Cisco Jabber to integrate with their Australian location, which was locked into Microsoft Lync.