Michael's Thoughts

What has happened to Adulthood?  Let me explain what I am talking about.  I am talking about adults being and acting like adults.  We see if every day on TV. 

Wishing you and the ones you love a Very Merry Christmas.

Ron Paul may be flying high in the Iowa polls, but his newsletters from the early 1990s continue to haunt him. On Wednesday, the Republican presidential candidate stormed out of an interview with CNN when chief political analyst Gloria Borger pressed him on claims that he made disparaging comments about blacks and Jews, among other incendiary remarks found in the letters.

It seems that we have been here before…. Oh yes, we have, the all to familiar stalemate in Washington. And once again it is the American people who are caught in the middle.

A MT Blog http://miketruitts.blogspot.com  So it has come out that Texas Governor Rick Perry is Double Dipping.  While he is not breaking any law, in Texas, does he have a moral obligation to lead the way in changing the Texas law that allows this Double Dipping.

Jay-Z joins the ranks of the “Super Rich” who say that they are willing to pay more taxes.  Jay-Z now joins the likes of, Mark Cuban, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg and Ted Turner, as well as actors Mark Ruffalo and Edie Falco, who all say that they are willing to pay more in taxes as long as it goes to the right things.

A Michael W Truitt blog http://miketruitts.blogspot.com Here we go yet again!!!! The Republican Congress has proposed a bill that is sure to get veto, it may not even get pass the Senate, and really has not chance of becoming law.  The sad fact is that we the American people are caught in the middle once again.

A Michael W Truitt blog http://miketruitts.blogspot.com Have we lost the real meaning of Christmas?  As we all scurry about shopping for gifts (me too), trying to figure out what to buy Aunt Sue, and Cousin Joe or the young man next door.  People tend to get stressed at this time of year. Not to mention going into debt to buy that perfect gift, you know the one you really couldn’t afford to begin with. Keeping up with the Jones’ has always been attractive, the “My Gift is better than yours” attitude. But what is the real meaning of Christmas?

Over the last couple of weeks we have been bombarded with news of missing children. Most of them white children and the national media have picked up on their stories, but here is a case of a young black girl who has been missing for almost three 3) days and the media has not really said a word about it.  The national media has a record of not reporting on black issues, as if those issues are not important.  Doesn’t the life of a little black girl (or boy) deserve the same attention aren’t their lives just as valuable? What kind of message is the media sending? As usual we have to turn to the black media to get stories that are close to us….  Where the Nancy Graces’ and all the politicians who make are comments and plead with America when a white child goes missing? http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/35146

The thought of a constitution amendment to balance the federal budget has been talked about for years.  But do we really need it?  I am 100% sure that in this next election season we will hear about this issue.

So many people will benefit from what has been termed as “Obama care”, while this bill has never been touted as the bill that will end all of our worries about healthcare, and it has a long way to go, the Universal Healthcare bill does have things in it that will affect everyone.

Well, Well What a difference a week can make.  Herman Cain has decided to suspend his campaign, after talking to his wife and because of the numerous sexual allegations. How he and other politician are treated makes me really wonder, why anyone would want to be in politics?  At what point did we become a nation that is so interested in another

A Kentucky church that voted to ban interracial couples has now overturned that vote. The Appalachian church voted Sunday to welcome all believers "regardless of race, color or creed." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1205/All-white-Kentucky-church-reverses-ban-on-interracial-couples Orginal Post 12/02/2011--------------------------- I could hardly believe my eyes when I read that a church in Kentucky apparently ban an interracial couple from attending and participating in church service.

Something Historic happened on Tuesday November, 1 that went sort of unnoticed.  A group of parents and taxpayers sued the Los Angeles Unified School District to make the district follow the law, by evaluating teacher based on how much their students have learned.  The judge in the case said that since this case was a long time in coming that he would allow the district some time to prepare its response.

You know we all do things that give glimpse of who we are, for example the guy who is mean or thoughtless to the waiter who serves his food, or female who constantly cuts her man down.  The father who drinks and then comes home and beats his wife, or the person who is always stirring up mess at work.  These are example of people who are showing us who they are, unfortunately it normally takes us a long time to hone in on these examples, we most time make excuses for their behavior. Past + Present behavior is a good indicator of what future behavior will be and while present behavior is not always 100% accurate it is at least 80% right.

So I am reading a book by Richard E. Simmons III called “The True Measure of a Man:  How Perceptions of Success, Achievement & Recognition Fail Men in Difficult Times.

A JT Words Posted by Michael W Truitt in Customer Service There are words that are productive – words that care – and words that are simply unproductive and should not be used – words that don’t care. Unproductive word should be avoided in customer interactions because they tend to produce undesired results, especially in a situation where the customer is already upset.  In fact, by utilizing the wrong words, you may actually be creating a larger customer service problem with your customer. By minimizing these words, however, you vastly encourage more positive interactions.

Merriam-Webster defines “Thanksgiving” as “the act of giving, a prayer expressing gratitude” or “public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. Thanksgiving is a day we celebrate once a year, but should be celebrated every day.  Once a year we cook up a Turkey or Ham with all the sides, invite the family over and give thanks for all our good fortunes, but was that the meaning of Thanksgiving? Many people think of Thanksgiving as a wonderful time to celebrate getting out of school for a long weekend, eating a great dinner, or maybe they think it is the start of the Christmas Holiday Season. But the first Thanksgiving can be trace back to 1600’s when Governor William Bradford Proclaimed: "All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and   render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings ." This is the origin of our annual Thanksgiving Day celebration. On

Measuring your customer service allows you to manage it.  Without measuring, you won't have any way of knowing which goals are being met, which are falling short, and which areas you truly excel. There are some extremely effective techniques you can use to measure the customer service provided by your company: Mystery Shoppers   - Hire a mystery shopping company to pose as customers that visit or contact your business and/ or browse your website.  These shoppers see your business as your customers sees it. It is as if your customers were providing you with a report card on your business. This feedback will tell you what is working and what is not working from your customer point of view.  Mystery shopping will also uncover the areas where you need the most improvement, and help you identify the skills your staff needs to exceed customer's expectations, and where you need to do more training. Survey your customers by dir

Super-Committee Now that the super-committee and Congress failed to act on further deficit reductions, automatic across –the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion in both defense and non-defense program will happen. The failure of our government officials in Washington to act underscores the attitude of Washington.  It seems that most of the politiaican are more interested in party goal rather than the good of the country.  So now let’s take a look at what cut are coming: These cuts will start in 2013 and may be effect until 2021 -          -  There will be caps on any new Congress-approved spending on defense programs, will be reduced from 10                                             percent in 2013 to 8.5 percent in 2021, saving about $454 billion. -          -  Caps on Congress-approved spending on non-defense programs will be reduced from 7.5 percent in 2013 to 5.5 percent in 2021 saving about $294 billion.        While it looks like the bulk of the cuts will happen in

A Jefferson Truitt Blog These days the business world is all about change and expectations; it’s about new thinking, faster speed, and building new skills.  For this reason every team member, regardless of their field, but especially those in customer service, needs to be cross-trained.  This will help them take full responsibility for all elements of their performance, which become expected with each new day. This being said, it is also true that teams have jobs, individuals do not.  There is a collective goal for the team or organization and it is up to everyone to contribute to the achievement of that goal.  Therefore, getting something accomplished is everybody’s job. That means the negative, counterproductive attitude of “It’s not my job” simply isn’t suited to today’s work environment.  It has no place within an exceptional customer service team! It’s very important to encourage every team member to think of themselves as part of a team which has a desired outcome. 

Homeless in America So I was at McDonalds this morning and a guy came up to me and asked me for “help”, and it got me to thinking how do we end homelessness in America?   You see I have seen this same guy before, it was about a year ago and even then he asked me “help” and out of the kindness of my heart I did help him.   I brought him Lunch, and gave him a couple an extra dollars, now I am thinking did I help him or did I handicap him. This time when he asked for help I was less likely to help out.   You see I don’t mind helping when I see the person trying to help themselves, but this guy seems to be in the same place that he was in last year.   He had no home, no food and it did not seem that he was trying to move forward. So how do we end homelessness when some (not all) the homeless don’t seem to want to move forward. I think the first thing we must do is challenge them to want to get ahead, and then give them a helpi

Here We Go Again Our elected congressmen and Senators are at it again. The sticking point  - that old familiar budget.  It seems that the folks in Washington just can’t balance the country’s checkbook, something you and I would have to do on a monthly basis.  If you watched any of the Sunday Morning News programs what you saw was a bunch of bickering. Democrats blamed the Republican for their unwillingness to walk away from a no-new-taxes pact they signed earlier this year.  I believe that the American public has come to realize that the only way to balance the budget is through a combination of spending cuts and increased revenue.  Any business person or homemaker will tell you that, so why is it that congress just can’t seem to get onboard. Republicans seem more interested in sticking to the pledge that was made earlier this year but instead they want to make major changes to entitlement program such as Medicare and Social Security.  Now while I agree that changes in both

So there is a fight going on in Washington DC.  Not the budget fight, we have all heard and hopefully know about that (to be discussed later).  The fight I am a talking about is over school lunches. Earlier this year the Agriculture Department Proposed new lunch standards, these standards include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, and putting new restrictions on the amount of sodium and boosting the use of whole grains.  In a direct fight with the Obama administration congress released a final version of it spending bill that would essentially reverse the new standards.  Of course our 9 year olds would be on the side of congress, as this bill would allow pizzas and French fries to remain on the menu. The bill would block or delay all of the standards for healthlier school lunch.  The most ridiculous thing this bill will do is to allow tomato paste on pizza to be counted as a vegetable. USDA wants only to count half-cup of tomato paste or more as vegetable, and a serv

·          So I decided the other day that I would make a dish that has been haunting me for some time now, Chicken Cacciatore.  It came out pretty good so I then decided I would share my results. ·          Olive Oil ·          2 packages of bon-in chicken thighs (8 total thighs) ·          Kosher salt ·          Pepper to taste ·          Crushed red pepper ·          1 large onion (sliced) ·          4  garlic cloves , smashed and finely chopped ·          1 red pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice ·          1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice ·          1 package of white button mushrooms cleaned and sliced ·          1 6oz can of tomato paste ·          2 (28-ounce) cans  Italian plum tomatoes , passed through the  food mill  or pureed ·          1 thyme bundle ·          2 bay leaves ·            Directions Coat a large, wide pot with olive oil and put over high heat. Season the chicken with salt. To taste, and brown in

Don’t we (the public) have a right to know, how the Officials at Penn State investigated the sexual abuse that took place.  We have a right to know what they did, when they did it and what action if any were taken. The public’s right to know how the university dealt with the allegations has been restricted, and while the university followed the provision in the state law, there seems that there should have been a higher moral compass to follow.  It is true that the state law needs to be changed, this is the provision that allows Penn State to close the records on this matter, but the public has a right to know.  State lawmakers should revoke that exemption. The right to know does in fact belong to the public. Adults should protect children and not abuse them

INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR MID-LEVEL MANAGERS (Division Directors, Staff Directors, Branch Chiefs) 1. What factors, events, forces, reforms, changes in laws and regulations, have occurred in the past year or so, or are occurring, that might affect the work environment in your bureau/RO? (Please describe the nature of each factor: What IS the factor, when did it occur, and what has each entailed?) How about reorganization? . . . When was reorganization/streamlining begun in your work unit?_________ - What changes have occurred in your work unit as part of reorganization/ streamlining? - What is the nature/type of these changes? How about the Strategic Plan? . . . Tell me about its implementation in your division/office. 2. Do any other changes come to mind which have affected the work environment in your work unit? 3. Have you had high performance leadership training ?_ ______ When?_______ Followup training ?_ _______ When?_______________ If YES, plea

INTERVIEWS AND PRESENTATIONS Blackburn, Thomas D., Ph.D. 1995. Interview by author, 19 January, Lebanon, Illinois. Broglie, William F. 1995. Formal and informal interview series by author, Baltimore, Maryland. Bureau Quality Council (BQC) Chairs meeting minutes. 1995. Baltimore, Maryland. August 23. Childress, Lisa, HCFA Quality Support Team. 1994. Interview by author, 8 December, Baltimore. Cho, Kwansik , Ph.D. 1995. Interview by author, 12 February, Seoul, Korea. Collins, Colonel and Sergeant Teal., U.S. Air Force/Material Command, Electronics Systems Center (1994 Quality Improvement Prototype Award Winner). 1994. Interview by author, 23 September. Cometa , Lindsay. 1993. Formal and informal interview series by author, Baltimore, Maryland. Cometa , Lindsay. 1994. Formal and informal discussions with author, Baltimore, Maryland. Crowley, Stephanie. 1995. Formal and informal discussions with author, Baltimore, Maryland. Davis, Lori. 1995. Informal discussions with author, Boston, MA.

INTERVIEWS AND PRESENTATIONS Blackburn, Thomas D., Ph.D. 1995. Interview by author, 19 January, Lebanon, Illinois. Broglie, William F. 1995. Formal and informal interview series by author, Baltimore, Maryland. Bureau Quality Council (BQC) Chairs meeting minutes. 1995. Baltimore, Maryland. August 23. Childress, Lisa, HCFA Quality Support Team. 1994. Interview by author, 8 December, Baltimore. Cho, Kwansik , Ph.D. 1995. Interview by author, 12 February, Seoul, Korea. Collins, Colonel and Sergeant Teal., U.S. Air Force/Material Command, Electronics Systems Center (1994 Quality Improvement Prototype Award Winner). 1994. Interview by author, 23 September. Cometa , Lindsay. 1993. Formal and informal interview series by author, Baltimore, Maryland. Cometa , Lindsay. 1994. Formal and informal discussions with author, Baltimore, Maryland. Crowley, Stephanie. 1995. Formal and informal discussions with author, Baltimore, Maryland. Davis, Lori. 1995. Informal discussions with author, Boston, MA.

INTERVIEW GUIDE: BUREAU DIRECTORS/REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS   The purpose of the interview is to obtain a profile of the bureau from the Bureau Director's/Regional Administrator's perspective. I also need to know about exogenous factors that affect HCFA's work environment.   1. What factors, events, forces, reforms, changes in laws and regulations, etc. have occurred in the past year or so, or are occurring, that might affect the work environment in your bureau? (Please describe the nature of each factor: What IS the factor, when did it occur, and what has each entailed?) How about reorganization? . . . When was reorganization/streamlining begun in your bureau/RO?______ - What changes have occurred in _________ [bureau/RO] as part of reorganization/ streamlining? - What is the nature/type of these changes? How about the Strategic Plan? . . . Tell me about its implementation in your bureau/RO .   2. Do any other changes come to mind which have affected the work environm

Tomorrow John Boehner and the House Republicans will make the dumbest vote ever in the history of the Congress.  Tomorrow they will vote to repeal the Health Care Law that was passed in March.  I am really not sure who wants to go back to arbitrary rate increases, being dropped from their insurance because of pre-existing condition, and life time limits on health care cost.  BUT I SURE WOULD LIKE TO MEET THOSE PEOPLE.   Not only is repealing the the bill the WRONG thing to do, it will cost the US tax payers some $230 Billion over the next 10 years.  Besides 43% of Americans want the bill to be changed so that it does more to regulate the health care/insurance industry, And only 26% want it repealed all together.  While this bill may not be the ended all to Universal Health care it is a very good start and does not need to be repealed but improved upon. John Boehner, STOP PLAYING POLITICAL GAME WITH PEOPLE LIVES, and do the right thing!!!