March 2010

Tail Winds...by Dan Young, President

Our recent AWG senior manage-ment meeting was held in Leth-bridge, Alberta with a tour of the Kawneer plant. Besides heavy discussion on the economy etc there were some minor changes to our policies such as temp accounts and company clothing (which you will be hearing about shortly). Next it’s on to regional meetings

in Prince George (March 26th and 27th) and Grande Prairie (April 16th and 17th). I’m going to try to make it to each of them. Hopefully you’re all work-ing hard to clean up your year end and inventory. We are starting a radio campaign in March for All-West Glass that will run until the end of May and focus on autoglass. I know you are working hard on your goals for 2010 right? Business is going to be tough for the coming year so please work hard on distinguishing yourselves by paying close attention to cus-tomer service! We are busy trying hard to land more commercial projects to see us through the year.

Al Fox (Ex Speedy Manager from Williams Lake) will be starting as an Assistant Manager in Prince George n two weeks. Len McCroary will be taking over as Manager.

Happy St Paddy’s! Enjoy the nice spring weather.

Clear VisionsBehind the Glass

GlasszoneGlass Chat

Cutting EdgeShatter Chatter

The GlazetteThe LookoutGlass Buzz

What’s Crackin’

Whatchamacallit Contest Top Ten

We’re down to the last few days of voting. Make sure you go to our employee site and vote online. One vote per person per location. Deadline for voting is March 5th, 2010. If there are duplicate entries, the winner will be the FIRST person who sent the entry in. Only votes sent by the link on the internal site will count. The prize? $250.00 cash!

AWG Window & Doors customer e-mail

Sorry I missed you guys in the after-noon. I just wanted to thank you for an-other job well done. The laundry room window is great, the family room win-dows are nice and tight, the bathroom door closes and BOTH closet doors are in. We appreciate your work and it was a pleasure to have you back.

AWG Quesnel customer e-mail:

I just returned from having some rock chips repaired at your All-West Glass shop in Quesnel, BC.

I would like to thank Barry and Car-rie for their hospitality and attention in customer service. I thought there were only 2 chips to fi x, but as it turns out there were several more that Barry repaired as a bonus.

I had noticed your core values posted in the offi ce and am pleased that your staff certainly demonstrate these val-ues. Thank you!

Did you know that there is a free 411 service for business listings that can be used from any phone includ-ing cell phones? They even connect you to the number you are enquiring about.

1-800-GOOG-411

Last month we looked at negative interactions between individuals and how this can lead to violence in the workplace.This month we will look at some ways to manage those interactions so that they don’t escalate into more than a minor, though uncomfortable, incident.

Tips for helping someone solve a problem they are having:• Try to put yourself in the person’s shoes and see the problem from their perspective.• Ask for the other person’s recommendations.• Clarify your understanding by repeating back to the person what you feel they are asking of you.• Accept criticism in a positive way. If a complaint is true, say things like “you’re probably right” or “it was my fault”. If the criticism seems unwarranted, as for clarifi cation.• Be honest, professional and respectful.• Break a problem into smaller pieces and offer step-by-step solu-tions so that the person is not overwhelmed by the issue.• Be reassuring and point out choices.

DO NOT• Take sides or agree with distortions• Reject the person’s demands or position from the start.• Attempt to bargain with a threatening individual. If necessary, end the interaction.• Make promises you can’t keep.

How to safely and effectively end a negative interaction before it escalates:• Interrupt the conversation fi rmly but politely.• Tell the person that you:

o Do not like the tone of the conversation.o Will not accept abusive treatment.o Will end the conversation if necessary.

• Tell the person that you will ask him or her to leave (the building, your offi ce, etc.) or that you will leave.• If the behaviour continues, ask the person to leave, or leave your-self. Don’t return if you believe the person may be a physical threat.• Tell other staff and have them leave the immediate area as well. If necessary, call police.• File an incident report.

Karen Murray, Health and Safety Offi cer

(With information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety)

FeedbackKeepA Lid OnIt

MILESTONES20 YEARSMark Vandenbrink, All-West Glass Houston

10 YEARSCory Deguire, All-West Glass Edmonton

5 YEARSAllan Kuchera, All-West Glass Edmonton

Jennifer Tokaryk 2 IGD CoquitlamMarian Canning 3 AWG Dawson CreekLaura Stanton 5 IndustriesLee Brodland 5 AWG Fort NelsonMary Hawes 5 Lakes District AirPaul Hurlburt 6 AWG Prince RupertJames Nadjiwan 6 IGD CambridgeLeonard Johnson 6 IGD EdmontonDave Hoff 8 AWG Prince GeorgeScott Mugford 9 AWG DistributionDwayne Clayton 10 AWG Prince GeorgeBrenden Entz 12 IGD Fort St JohnRichard Norton 13 AWG IndustriesClinton Campbell 14 IGD EdmontonJeff Marshall 15 AWG QuesnelBarry Mclennan 15 AWG QuesnelCandice Waddell 16 AWG Dawson CreekTimothy Weatherbee 16 AWG Grande PrairieDoug Paterson 18 AWG KitimatJohn Reardon 21 IGD CoquitlamCrystal Klein-Gebbinck 24 AWG Grande PrairieDarryl Coles 25 AWG SmithersAndrew Stark 26 AWG WhitehorseEric Serpa 26 AWG Dawson CreekMichael Johnson 26 AWG Fort St JohnDaryan Turney 27 AWG Fort NelsonTerry Dickerson 28 AWG TerraceCrystal Beddome 28 IGD Prince George

Richard Norton, AWG Northern Industries

Photo right: Keith Peters (left) from AWG Northern Distribution accepts his 10-year employment anniversary award from Manager, John McCartney.

PHOTO ABOVE: Seeing double - AWG Prince Rupert Manager, Paul Hurlburt is the proud Papa of twins! Jessica 5 lbs 4oz and brother Kaden 5 lbs 12 oz were born March 1 @ 11:30 and 11:45. Congratulations!

Congratulations to AWG Kitimat who have been nominated for the

Kitimat Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards.

Good Luck!

IGD TorontoOur goal for 2010 is as always to increase sale volume, increase customer base and of course make it to 2011

AWG Northern DistributionTo implement a new order entry system (GlassTrax) and have it running smoothly by summer time.

AWG Fort NelsonTo improve quality, organization, punctuality and sales

AWG Prince GeorgeIncrease profi tablity, better commu-nication with customers.

AWG Burns LakeTo give the best possible service and price to our existing customers to keep them coming back as well as following up with all customers

What is your goal for 2010? Put them in your minutes or e-mail refl ections@all-westglass.com

2010 GOALS

Photos Above: Thompson creek mine haul trucks and shovels.Dave Farr, AWG Vanderhoof

2010 Ford Flex windshield removal and replacement instructions are posted online at the employee site under Tech Tips - Automotive

TECH TIP

SPARKLE

Daniel Wohlgemuth, Glazier, All-West Northern Glass Grande Prairie

What was your fi rst job ever? Farmhand

If you could trade jobs with anyone else in the world, who would you trade jobs with? Why? Anyone who is rich, retired and under 45

What is/was your favorite subject in school? Physics

What do you like to do for fun? Snowboard, build computers

What is the craziest gift you ever received from someone? Don’t ask, don’t tell

If you could invite 5 famous people to your party and every single one of them would come, which 5 people would you have come to your party? Einstein, Telsa, Edison, Tim Horton, all geniuses in their time

What cartoon character best describes you? The professor from Futurerama

If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? England

If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass on to your children, what would it be? (God help us all) I would pass on my sense of humor

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? Flying...with my own two arms

What is your favourite movie of all time and one that you can watch over and over again and quote lines from it? Monty Python and the Holy Grail

If you were a contestant on Fear Factor, what would be the worst/scariest thing for you to do? Eat pickled eggs

Whats the worst/most embarassing CD/Album you’ve ever owned? Nickleback

What would you do with a million dollars? Go to school (just to say I did)

Which one song describes your life the best? Psycho (Puddle of Mudd)

One day when I was quite young, my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. Someone had given me a little ‘tea set’ as a gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of ‘tea’, which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, be-cause it was ‘just the cutest thing!’

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up. Then she says, (as only a mother would know)...

“Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach water is the toilet”?

A couple of hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breath-ing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency ser-vices. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?”

The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?“

A doctor says to his patient, “I have bad news and worse news”.

“Oh dear, what’s the bad news?” asks the patient.

The doctor replies, “You only have 24 hours to live.”

“That’s terrible”, said the patient. “How can the news possibly be worse?”

The doctor replies, “I’ve been trying to contact you since yesterday.”

Reflections is a monthly newsletter for employees

and friends of AWG Northern Industries. We welcome and encourage

your articles, photos, cartoons etc. However, we reserve the right to edit all submissions for space and

content.

Contact: Tonya GillardAWG Northern IndustriesPhone: 250-877-7619Fax: 250-877-7606

E-mail: reflections@

all-westglass.com

The Brainbuster contest is open to all employees. Every month we have a new Brain-buster for you to solve. Send your answer to refl ections@all-westglass.com OR Fax: 250-877-7606 or pop in your snail mail bags. The winner will be a blind draw from all the correct entries and will recieve $25.00 for their store staff fund.

ANSWER TO LAST MONTH’S PUZZLE

QUALITY CORNER

There seem to be lots of questions coming in about HST in BC. We’ll be sure to get everything straightened out for you asap. Winter clothing order is on its way and spring order is closing on Friday. All-West Glass - we have some new automotive brochures for you to post next to the Customer Care brochures. You can bring these along to trade shows to promote our automotive services and keep a few in the store. If you need more, just send an e-mail to An-gela at Administration. The quality committee has decided that our next big challenge is to explore new ways of communicating with our customers so that’s why we are looking at social media such as Face-book, YouTube and Twitter etc. We wanted to get a feel for how many of you use these sites so the quality question should not be perceived negatively...ie. We are not looking to judge you if you have a Facebook page, we just want to know how many of you are aware of and using these sites. Many companies are adding online media to their marketing roster as many people are taking their eyes (and wallets) online. Yet another reminder for those of you having trade shows in the spring; get your promo and business card orders in now. IGD I’m currently working on a few projects for you including pricing some new promo items and clothing items. Glad to see some of you guys on the IGD side are using the forums on the employee site. Next month we’ll have NAOSH week information, Glazier safety awards and also WCB and Accident Free award money time is coming soon.

For those of you going on spring break vacations this year; enjoy!

Tonya Gillard, Marketing/Quality Administrator

What is more powerful than God, the poor have, the rich need, and if you eat it you die? Nothing. This is because there is noth-ing more powerful than God, the poor have nothing, the rich need nothing, and if you eat nothing you will die.

An 18-wheeler is crossing a 4 kilometer bridge that can only support 10,000 kilo-grams and that’s exactly how much the rig weighs. Halfway across the bridge a 30 gram sparrow lands on the cab, do you think the bridge will collapse or not?It will not collapse, since the bridge is 4 kilometers long, the halfway point would be 2 kilometers. The 18-wheeler would have used much more than 30g of fuel to drive 2 kilometers.

What occurs once in every two minutes, twice in every moment, yet never in a thou-sand years? The letter M.

Four cars come to a four way stop, all com-ing from a different direction. They can’t de-cide who got there fi rst, so they all go forward at the same time. They do not crash into each other, but all four cars go. How is this possible? They all made right-hand turns!

What kind of fl owers grow on your face? Tulips!

What number comes next in this series: 9, 16, 25, 36?

If it takes 5 minutes to dry a t-shirt on a clothes wire, how long would it take to dry 5 t-shirts?

Angela’s father has four daughters: Lala, Lele, and Lulu ... can you guess the forth name?

Four men sat down to play, they played all night, they played for cash and not for fun, they all won money and no one of them lost, how come?

The winner of last month’s puzzle is All-West Glass Chetwynd!