October 29, 2025 • 32 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time time time, luck and load. The Michael
Berry Show is on the air. Good morning, Michaelberry, you,
Good morning, Michael Baby, Good morning, Michael, Good morning, Michael,
(00:26):
Good morning, Sir. Good morning, Michael, Zay Sailor.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning, Elsina, Good morning, Michael, Hello, Hello are you there?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good morning, Michael Beary.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
How you learned that?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I read it tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Mone Good morning, Texas.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
Listen to this.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Good morning Texas in your car. Good morning, Texas is
onesday and we're happy here to.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Talk about everything.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
We're not wearing pant.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Good morning, tex Good morning, tex Good bring texcess, good morning,
wake up. It's a side that steak.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Condamn my tire. Good morning. I spoke to a friend
of mine this morning. He was talking about a friend
of ours used to work for Discount Tire, and he said, oh,
that reminds me of a story. There's a discount tire
(01:40):
out in Tombo, and as you know, I'm if I
can help it. I'm always going to go with the
local folks rather than a national firm. But he said,
there's there's not anybody where we are. They're out in Tomball.
He said, I called my wife, had to ask her
(02:01):
a question, and in the middle of talking, she said, okay,
thank you, and he said where are you and she said,
a discount tire. There was a there was a light on.
Uh my tires were low. And my buddy did not
know this. But if you pull in there, they have
(02:22):
a they have a little bay you drive in and
they have a person who would just come out and
put air in your tire for free. And we were
talking about that as a as a business model. Now,
presumably that person doesn't just sit around like Goober or Cooter.
Was it Cooter? It was Goober and four year time.
(02:43):
See that's that breakoff in the in the ages, that
little time in between. Don't nod your head. You don't know,
you have no idea what I'm talking about. Wasn't it
Cooter's garage? Wasn't it Cooter's garage? That was Dukes of Hazzard? Yeah,
I'm going back to uh uh Andy Griffith. Wasn't Goober?
Didn't Goober work?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Maybe not anyway, I need to go back and look,
but my brain I hadn't thought about that ahead of time.
So anyway, but presumably that person does other things in
addition to that. And then when you drive over Little Cord,
it goes ning dang, And I got to tell you,
is there a happier noise than the ding dang when
you would drive into the gas station? That man, that
(03:29):
just make you happy? Speaking of making you happy, how
good did you feel? Holy? I went in to wake
up Crockett this morning. Krock young people today. I don't
know about your kids, but young people today. Both my
boys do this. They wear a hoodie sweatshirt every day,
(03:49):
and all their buddies do as well. And dead heat
of summer, they're wearing a hoodie. So I walked in
and wake him up. I said, Crockett, this is exciting
new It's so one day of the year you can
reasonably be wearing a hoodie and I won't think to myself,
why is he wearing a hoodie? So it turns out
(04:12):
he put a full on jacket on. He was excited
about the cold weather. I walked in this morning. I said, Chat,
how good does that feel? He says, the coldest day
in two hundred two hundred days since it has hit
this temperature. I don't know what it is right now,
but it felt good. When I came out this morning,
(04:32):
sh talked to a buddy mine who was a cop.
He said, I haven't ticketed them. I didn't ticket them,
but I had two drivers that I saw do something
I hadn't seen in a while. Both of them real frisky,
just pulling out front of him. And he said, I
think they're just a little chippy. They got a little
little spark this morning, a little chill in the air there,
(04:54):
feeling frisky, feeling all right. So my buddy was real
proud of himself. I'm not going to tell you his names,
right hunt, but my Boddy's proud of himself. And he
called he said, you know, I called up there, and
I told him, and so I asked my wife. I said, well,
what's the guy's name? You know? She said he was
so nice to her. What's the guy's name? She said,
(05:16):
I don't know his name. He said, what he looked like,
the heavyset guy with a beard, white black hissed man. White. Okay,
white guy, heavy set with a beard. Yeah, okay. So
he calls up to the discount tire. He says, you
got a white guy, heavy set with a beard putting
(05:38):
air in people's tires for free. And you know, the
guy's thinking dang man, he's about to get arrested. He said, yeah,
he said, can you can you let him know that
was my wife he just took care of and I
want him to know I appreciate it. And the guy said, well, yeah,
we'd be glad today. Tell him I really do appreciate it.
(05:58):
That's my wife. Okay. So it hangs up now in
my friend, let's just say for the say of the
story of my friend's name is Ray. He says, see,
you got to do that. Sometimes you got to do that,
you know, and let people know that a good deed
like that is noticed by other people as well. I said, uh, yeah,
that's what you let him know. You know what else,
you let him know that's my wife. Okay. So next
(06:22):
time that woman comes through there, don't you be getting flirty.
Don't you get the idea of looking at the license
plate and seeing where she lives just because she smiled
and said thank you? And you know, men, ladies don't
know this, but men, if a woman smiles at us,
we figure she wants us. And I know there are
(06:43):
womanhood I hate so stupid. Where does he get I? Oh, oh,
Tom at work doesn't think that if he don't he's gay.
I'm telling you, you don't know how we're wired. You
do not know. If you smile to us, If you
smile at us and make eye contact and there's a twinkle,
doesn't mean we're gonna harash you or ask for your
(07:03):
phone number or anything else. But in our minds, you
want us, and that's just it. It's very animalistic. We
are convinced at that moment she wants me, she wants me.
We puff our chest out a little bit. When she
drives off, you'll slap our buddy on and til you
see that she wants me. She don't want you, dude,
(07:24):
You're five hundred pounds bald and you smell bad. Maybe
that's her thing. Maybe maybe she got thankful that she
wants me. That is absolute truth. So that was my
buddy calling up there under the guy. See, he wanted
credit for me for you know, see what a nice
guy I am. I called up there and I thanked
him for being nice to my wife. I said, you
(07:47):
did do all of those things, but you planted. And
this is what Trump gets that nobody else in politics gets.
At the end of the day, every man is part dog,
part little boy, and the dog. Part of us says,
do not be sniffing around my woman. You can be
nice to her, that's fine. Rather you be nice to
(08:07):
her than rude, that's fine. But just understand there is
a man on the other end and she's on the
phone with him, and that's what you're really doing. You
could tell on the phone he kind of hung us.
He goes, yeah, he's probably right, flavor monk, and I met.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Michael Berry. I'm a chocolat.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
We have tracked down, said fellow Mark Mann. According to
ray Hunt, as long as he behaves so him, he's
in He's in good shape. We have tracked him down
at the discount tire in Tomball. His name is well,
I won't give his last name. His full name is John.
His last name starts with a J, but he goes
(08:56):
by JJ. Welcome to the program, sir, to be here. So,
as I was telling you, during the break, my buddy
called because he was very impressed that y'all, y'all put
air in people's vehicles if they pull up at no charge.
The guy comes out and does that, and that's you.
And then he called because you were very nice to
(09:17):
his wife. Do you remember do you remember that message
being passed to you. H Does that happen a lot?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Ad? It happens quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So, honestly, what is the routine? Are you just sitting
there waiting on the truck to come in and then
you go out? Are you doing something else? And then
when it goes ding ding you go out there and
put the air.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
So we usually just have a guy stationed out there,
and it was my lucky day to be out there
and just you know, helping people out.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
When you're stationed out there, are you doing anything when
cars aren't coming in or are they just steady coming in?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah? Usually I'll help out the guys in the back
if they've got other stuff that they can't exactly handle
because they're a little loaded down. I'll usually end up
helping out, taking stuff, move and stuff, pulling stuff, you know,
all the in betweens.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Are you a big fellow? What's your height? Weight?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
About six four three oh five?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Oh my wow, that's that's a big fella. Yeah, okay,
all right, six four to three oh five. He ramone.
He could play he could play old guard on eighty
percent of the offensive lines in college football today. D
one the top ten programs. Did you play ball.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
JJ No, I wish I would have never really got
around to it. Mouse I ever played with little pickup
games of basketball.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Uh? Kind of all over the place? Conroe, Tomball, Huntsville,
came back to Tomball.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Where'd you graduate high school?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Uh? Tomball over there off of clin Oak And then
what did you do? Pretty much as soon as I
got out of Clin Oak, I was just, you know,
looking for a job eighteen, didn't really have anything to
go off of, and talked with manager of another discount
tire down there in Spring. He's actually friends with my grandfather,
and he hired me up about two weeks later.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I've actually heard they're a good company to work with.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean the benefits, the people that
you get to work with, the kind of lifestyle that
they end up trying to push forward. It's definitely more
friendly than at least most other places that I've noticed.
Our whole thing is pretty much customer first. The heck
I used to have a manager say, listen, we got
a Chick fil Aid down the road. I want to
(11:28):
put their customer service to shame. And I kind of
took that to heart.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Wow, I like you already. Do you go by JJ
or John?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I mainly go by JJ.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Do you have a nickname?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Pretty much? Just JJ? Either that or fellas around here
end up calling me sasquatch.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Do you have a big beard?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I got a beard. I'm covered in hair. I'm essentially
the closest thing you'll get to a wolverine, or not wolverine,
but a werewolves.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Is it all beard or is there some up top too?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Oh no, I still got everything up top. I'm essentially rocking.
What's the best way I could put it? A politically
correct mullet?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Oh wow, Okay, I like that? Okay, all right? And
do you have to keep your shirt tucked in? Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, absolutely okay?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
And did they issue the uniform or do you have
to buy that yourself?
Speaker 5 (12:22):
No?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
They give us a very very generous credit to get
uniforms throughout the year. And I go through so dig
go many. I usually have to bulk order at the
beginning of the year.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And is it like a Sioux Mills or one of
the corporate centus or somebody? Who do you get the
uniform from?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
If I remember correctly, I think it's sentence. But it's
been so long since i've actually ordered anything.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
How long have you been with discount Tarr?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
As of August sixteenth, this year made nine years?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Oh wow? And do you get a step up every year,
little bum?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It depends on how you end up doing that year.
And it's been a bit.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Slow, has it? Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Here?
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And there is it slow? Right now?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
No cold weather came through and everybody and their grandmama
is getting a little a little scared because everybody's lights.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Is turned on because the pressure goes down. Yes, sir,
So when they come in, do you go ahead and
fill it up? Or do you tell them no, no, no,
it's this is just a this is just a temperature thing.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So our whole thing, at least through the air check
station and heck evan servicing is we're going to diagnose
the issue first through air checks. We're just gonna check
the air pressure, check out the tires, and from that
point onwards, if we notice anything wrong, then we'll go
ahead and let y'all know, like, hey, here's what's here's
what I found. What do you want to go ahead
(13:51):
and do?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
What percentage of the time are you Are you able
to upsell them on? You know, you got to nail
in your tire or your tire is threadbare or whatever else.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Well that's that happens once in a blue moon. But
we don't try and do any kind of upselling. We
we basically try and tailor everything to the person themselves.
So if it's a situation where they're not doing a
whole lot of drive, we're not going to tell them, oh, hey,
you've got to go with like the best or the
best or anything. We're gonna say, okay, hey, you're doing
three four miles a day, one direction or both directions.
(14:23):
You're you know, you don't have to go with like
this two hundred dollars time. You can go with you know,
lower end stuff. You're not really gonna be using it
all that much, never out in the bad weather.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
What percentage of the people who come through for the
free air are women?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Probably ten to fifteen percent.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Oh, it's mostly men.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You get a lot of those, a lot of men
coming through, and then rest are mainly women. Just you know,
trying to get everything situated taken care of. But honestly,
to me, it's one and the same. Everybody's here for
the same purpose. They have an issue and stuft us
to fix it.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What percentage would you say or retirees older for.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We got a decent chunk, probably fifteen to twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Do you have a standard greeting when they roll down
the wind, like how do or anything like that?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Normally I try and keep it casual. They want us
to usually say hi, thank you for coming into Discount Tire,
but it feels a little impersonal to me, so I'll
usually say howdy, how you're doing, how's your day? Make
it feel nice?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
What percentage of people are rude?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
One?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Even with lines like this, usually everybody's like, oh no,
I understand.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Do you can get the traumatic tools?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Just uh not out there?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Not that I know they should let you because I
like the sound of those JJ. You're awesome, Discount Tire
in Tomball. Everybody's gonna be stopping in on you today.
You're wonderful. Keep up the good job. Usually what you
(16:14):
first think is right and anything after that when you
start questioning, you get all turned around. I can't So
I got about ten emails real fast, and I read them,
and now I'm gonna let me see if I could
I can sort this out. Terry writes Zar. It was
(16:37):
Gomer and his cousin Goober and they worked for Wally
at his service station slash garage. I've also gone a
Discount Tired to get Aaron my tires, and it's a
really nice thing that they do, and I appreciate it
so much. You got that Ramon, I was getting it confused,
(17:01):
John writes, No, h in John, just Jon. I don't
understand that. Now, I understand that's the shortened form of Jonathan, right,
he said. Zorai work for Discount Tire Company for over
thirteen years, started just after high school. I learned a
lot from my time there. Their main focus was customer service.
(17:23):
You can buy tires anywhere, if you treat them right,
there'll be a customer for life. I remember when we
charged seven dollars and fifty cents for tire repairs, and
they said that all repairs would be done at no
additional cost, even if they weren't purchased from us. I
thought it was absolutely the worst idea. The number of
(17:43):
customers gained from that simple act more than made up
for the cost of a repair. I left them in
two thousand and one to make more money. But I
compare everyone's customer service to what I learned there. Still
to this day. You know, you can have good customer
service without having a loss leader. But if you have
(18:06):
good customer service and a loss leader, the right kind
of customers will appreciate that. The bad kind of customers
will abuse it, and the customer doesn't give a damn,
won't pay attention to it. But if you like that
kind of service, then you reward that. I've had people.
(18:30):
I've heard people say, you know, I go down at
the cafe.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I know.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I make sure that anytime we have an event, we
have it at let's say, Federal American Grow because every
time I've needed anything for the dog program, they Matt
Brice hosts this program every year and he donates to it.
We donated last year, we've donate this year. It's a
great cause. The departments don't pay for the dogs that
(18:58):
they use for all the the special purposes cadaver and drugs.
And I've had people say I chose to have our
event at Federal American Grill because I wanted to reward
them for the fact that they donate to our costs.
I'd like to think that people go to Mattress Mac
(19:18):
and buy their furniture there rather than even think about
anywhere else, because when they needed help for this or that,
it was always Mac. I get emails every day, Hey
can you ask Mac to help us with fill in
the blank? And I think there's a lot of businesses
out there, why not ask any of them? It almost is, well,
(19:42):
we know Mac will give okay, So you're almost rewarding
businesses make them say no. You're rewarding businesses that don't
give back, and you're almost punishing businesses that do give
back because they're It comes the point where you have
to say no. Had a guy from Baytown tell me
(20:03):
one time. He said, I'm doing this project and it's
for veterans, and Max said he couldn't give I said, yeah, well,
you know he makes himself out to be And I thought, really,
so give to ninety nine things and the hundredth one
is going to Sobu. But that's how it works, isn't it.
That's absolutely how it works. I've seen it. People will
(20:26):
email you all day long and you're you're steady trying
to get out of the studio, trying to go meet somebody,
but you spend ten more minutes making a call, connecting
someone here, doing this, getting this donated, writing a check
to this. But the one person you don't help, Oh yeah, mister,
I help everybody. Well you didn't help me. Wow wow,
that's uh. And that's when you realize that a lot
(20:49):
of people are just son of a bitches and you
can't help them. There's nothing you can do, and you
shouldn't meet yourself up trying because they're bad people. They're
selfish people there. And by the way, that's not to
say that that person would have helped anybody either. I
don't know how we got off on that ramon. But
(21:11):
back to the point. Customer service is a culture. I'm
always amazed at how many people run a business, especially
a retail business, but at any kind of business and
they have bad customer service and you bring it to
the attention of the owner and their answer is always, oh,
(21:32):
Rashanda was rude. I'm gonna fire her. Well wait a minute,
what are you going to replace her with somebody else
who may or may not be rude? And here is
the rub. Here is where the problem lies. It's a
lack of understanding on how to build an organization and
(21:52):
how to build good customer service. Most people who run
retail businesses do not understand that whether that person smiles
or not, whether they are helpful, whether they have a
positive greeting, whether they have been empowered, encouraged, required to
(22:14):
go the extra mile for the customer is not an accident.
It's a culture. You create that culture, and that culture
begins to enforce itself through peer pressure. Because if you're
the only one out performing the norm and everybody else
is lazy, you're the outlier. You won't last at that business.
(22:36):
You'll go somewhere where you're appreciate it. If you go
into a business where one person is helpful, more often
than not, they're all helpful. I've been touring these ACE hardwarees.
Every ACE hardware is individually owned, and so the model
is it's kind of like Chick fil A. You've got
you've got an owner there on site. Well, it's no longer,
(22:59):
it's no longer a viable in almost every case to
be Bob's hardware, gardening, birding supplies, barbecue pit you just
can't do it. And then Tom's but as being part
of the ACE collective, you can buy in bulk, but
then you bring the customer service that you and your family.
That's when most of them, the entire family works there.
So you go in there and you notice. So I'll
(23:20):
do these spot checks like a mystery shopper. I should
have been a mystery shopper moment. And I'll go in
without tell them I'm coming. They don't know me, and
so some of the people working there, they don't know
me from Adam. And I'll go walking in that greet you.
How can we help you, I'll ask a question, and
you notice. It's a culture. It's not accidental. Most people
(23:42):
are not naturally prone to be overly friendly and helpful
and solicitous, especially because they just got out with them
with their girlfriend who's threatening to break up or accusing
them of something or telling them they're lazy or just
spent their money. So there has to be this attitude
that when you walk into and put our ace hardware
(24:02):
penny on, you still call it a penny. Remember the penny.
Remember when you play kickball and the element the red
pennies over here and the blue pennies over here. I
want you to call me very quickly. We won't stay
at this very long. For the name of a place
and a person. If that person is there that has
phenomenal customer service. I mean you walk in there. It's
(24:22):
always amazing. See one thousands.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Michael Berry frings your bias.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Hear what that old boy was? Long customer service and
short on math, about ten percent of the customers are women,
mostly men, few men. They really only have only about
eighteen percent customers. I don't know. I don't know what
the eighty two percent is. But what mattered is his
(24:55):
customer service was so good. Customer service is a culture.
A lot of people think you just pay more money
and you get better customer service. Not true. Many people
do not understand the expectations of them at work. You
can tell when you walk into a place and the
(25:15):
people who work there, they basically just been told, carry
three pens with you at all times, and here's the menu,
and ring it up and go get the food and
bring it out, cash out the check at the end
of the night, cash out your pouch and that's it. That's
the extent of their training. Granted, I hadn't waited tables
(25:35):
at fifty different restaurants, but I have for a few
and I'll tell you, Papasito's something else. The papist family
or trainers, it's three weeks working there, three hard weeks
of every day before you get on the floor to
be a waiter, and you start as a host. You
stand there and you first take people to their seats,
(25:56):
and you've got tests along the way. You've got tests
are as tough as any you know, university course. I'm
not even kidding. You've got to know the ingredients of
various dishes that you're that you're serving, what's on them,
what the sides are, what's what's the combination, what that comprises.
You've got to learn all their rules. You've got to
(26:16):
learn ticket times, You've got to learn how to call
things into the kitchen, what the rules of of you
know everything that is a part of their system. It's
a symphony. It's a beautiful thing. The Papist family runs
a great organization and it's it's no secret why they
are so successful. And that's why when Russell Lebara brought
(26:38):
on his first partner, it was Joel who had been
at at Papas organization for at that point, I think
probably twenty years. That's that's what you do. Tilman's a
systems guy. Good companies, whether it's restaurants or anything else,
have systems. They have cultures. And we want you to
(26:58):
tell us about them care And what's the one that
impressed you?
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Bearings Hardware on West Timer. Oh absolutely, yeah, Native you
sonian go to Bearings every Saturday morning, even though now
I've moved out to sink A Ramps and Katie. But
every time I walk in the door, it doesn't matter
if it's China Crystal.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Hardware, that delicious coffee, Oh.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
Yeah, yes, coffee, you name it. Everybody is just happy
and welcoming and they know their products to you, Michael,
and I just really appreciate Bearings Hardware, and I appreciate
your your station, and not your station, but your program.
(27:44):
I've been listening to you, to you most of my life,
and I met I was able to meet you. I
used to work for Judge David Hinder and you had
and Mandina had called to have him perform. I'm a
ceremony for Michael. Yes, I just really have a lot
(28:04):
of respect for you and your family.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Aren't you sweet? What are you doing now?
Speaker 5 (28:09):
I am a insurance claim suggestor.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh I bet you're a reasonable and fair and even
when you have to give them bad news, you're kind
about it. Come on in here, let's me and you hug.
You're just adorable.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I like you're a big girl, because big girls are
better to hug. Skinny girls are. That's nice and all,
but if there's some meat on the bone, that's a
good hug.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
It's a medium.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
It's a medium, So you're a medium level hug. Well,
you're very sweet to say, you know. When I was
a baby lawyer, my first few clients that I worked on.
It's funny how fate would have it, but one of
the first clients I worked on was Handy Hardware. I
worked for a guy named Donald Brotsky. He was a
managing partner of Jenkins and Gilchris big law firm. They
don't exist anymore. And one of his clients that trusted
(28:56):
and loved and respected him as their council conciliary name
it was Handy Hardware. And Handy Hardware had about twenty
locations under different brands, and two of them were Bearings Hardware.
And there was the one I lived in West University
at the time. There was the one on Biscinet and
then there was the one on West Timer next to
(29:18):
Stogy Cigars. And they're still there to this day. And
I will tell you you're right, they've got that model
where you've got you've got older employees who've been there
for a long time. And the thing about older employees,
you know, it's funny. People don't want to hire older people.
There is a I've heard this and I believe it
(29:38):
to be true. But if you look at the employees there,
and this is true of the Ace Hardware's this is true.
There used to be a Southland Hardware. I don't know
if it's still there. Done on Lower West Timer. You
go in there, those older folks, guess what they're not doing.
They're not spending their shift setting up where they're going
out to drink tonight. They're not trying to screw each other.
(29:58):
They're not trying to figure out a better paying job.
Those people get up, they get ready on time, they
show up early, they get there and drink coffee, they
clock in early, or they start working and then clock
in at the time they put in their shift. They're
no bs, no bull And when they're done, they might
(30:19):
stay around and tidy up a little bit because their
job is it's a more important part of their life.
When you get people on the front end of the
of their professional life trying to make money, they might
just be taking a job to pay the bills, but
they're looking everywhere else and they're not focused on that.
You get an older person, they'll take pride in their
work and it's a much better employee. Trey. Hey, Ramon,
(30:44):
do you notice it turns orange in white? Is that
orange bean? Take that one next, because it's been holding
the longest. Oh, that's fascinating. We got a new phone system.
I'm still figuring it out. Tray, you're up, Bud, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
He is their first time caller, longtime listener, young listener.
I was going to shout out to the one in
Old Katie off a pin Oak the Ace Hardware, and
you asked about someone too, about mister Bobby in there.
I'm a my grandfather and I have farming ranch here
and Katie and we still go in there for all
of our farming ranch needs. Even though the home that
(31:17):
new home depot just opened up, But we still like
to go to the Ace Hardware because we always get
great customer service there. Everybody's always trying to help you
and they all know it's there too, so it's it's
it's a good deal.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You know. It's an interesting thing, you say, uh, Trey,
because when people tell you you can't get good customer
service anymore, and you ask them where they shop. They
shop at home deep or lows. So you go somewhere
to save a few pennies where they don't care about
customer service. And you complain that they don't care about
(31:51):
customer service, but you won't spend a few extra pennies
to go to a nice hardware where you're going to
get much better customer service. And the thing is, look,
if you were homeless and couldn't afford it, that's fine,
but good's not cheap, and chief's not good, and that's
almost always the case. And if people rewarded places that
gave that kind of customer service, they'd get more of it.
(32:13):
You would make for a better business model, wouldn't it.
Seven one three nine one thousand. Ian. I hope you're
listening to this because I'd like to see you step
up of your game. I'll tell you what Jim was
in last two weeks. I got so many compliments I
wish he was his panic. That's about all you got
going for you run seven one three nine nine nine
(32:34):
one thousand. I want to hear about a place that
has great customer service. If you know the guy's name.
You know, there's gonna be people driving into the Tomball
Discount tire right now looking for that big old six four,
three hundred and five pound wooly birder Sasquatch. They'll go,
that's you, isn't it. That's me. How'd you know I
was talking about you? Because you're the fourteenth person today.
(32:55):
You want some free air, ma'am,
It's that time time time, luck and load. The Michael
Berry Show is on the air. Good morning, Michaelberry, you,
Good morning, Michael Baby, Good morning, Michael, Good morning, Michael,
(00:26):
Good morning, Sir. Good morning, Michael, Zay Sailor.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning, Elsina, Good morning, Michael, Hello, Hello are you there?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good morning, Michael Beary.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
How you learned that?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I read it tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Mone Good morning, Texas.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
Listen to this.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Good morning Texas in your car. Good morning, Texas is
onesday and we're happy here to.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Talk about everything.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
We're not wearing pant.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Good morning, tex Good morning, tex Good bring texcess, good morning,
wake up. It's a side that steak.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Condamn my tire. Good morning. I spoke to a friend
of mine this morning. He was talking about a friend
of ours used to work for Discount Tire, and he said, oh,
that reminds me of a story. There's a discount tire
(01:40):
out in Tombo, and as you know, I'm if I
can help it. I'm always going to go with the
local folks rather than a national firm. But he said,
there's there's not anybody where we are. They're out in Tomball.
He said, I called my wife, had to ask her
(02:01):
a question, and in the middle of talking, she said, okay,
thank you, and he said where are you and she said,
a discount tire. There was a there was a light on.
Uh my tires were low. And my buddy did not
know this. But if you pull in there, they have
(02:22):
a they have a little bay you drive in and
they have a person who would just come out and
put air in your tire for free. And we were
talking about that as a as a business model. Now,
presumably that person doesn't just sit around like Goober or Cooter.
Was it Cooter? It was Goober and four year time.
(02:43):
See that's that breakoff in the in the ages, that
little time in between. Don't nod your head. You don't know,
you have no idea what I'm talking about. Wasn't it
Cooter's garage? Wasn't it Cooter's garage? That was Dukes of Hazzard? Yeah,
I'm going back to uh uh Andy Griffith. Wasn't Goober?
Didn't Goober work?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Maybe not anyway, I need to go back and look,
but my brain I hadn't thought about that ahead of time.
So anyway, but presumably that person does other things in
addition to that. And then when you drive over Little Cord,
it goes ning dang, And I got to tell you,
is there a happier noise than the ding dang when
you would drive into the gas station? That man, that
(03:29):
just make you happy? Speaking of making you happy, how
good did you feel? Holy? I went in to wake
up Crockett this morning. Krock young people today. I don't
know about your kids, but young people today. Both my
boys do this. They wear a hoodie sweatshirt every day,
(03:49):
and all their buddies do as well. And dead heat
of summer, they're wearing a hoodie. So I walked in
and wake him up. I said, Crockett, this is exciting
new It's so one day of the year you can
reasonably be wearing a hoodie and I won't think to myself,
why is he wearing a hoodie? So it turns out
(04:12):
he put a full on jacket on. He was excited
about the cold weather. I walked in this morning. I said, Chat,
how good does that feel? He says, the coldest day
in two hundred two hundred days since it has hit
this temperature. I don't know what it is right now,
but it felt good. When I came out this morning,
(04:32):
sh talked to a buddy mine who was a cop.
He said, I haven't ticketed them. I didn't ticket them,
but I had two drivers that I saw do something
I hadn't seen in a while. Both of them real frisky,
just pulling out front of him. And he said, I
think they're just a little chippy. They got a little
little spark this morning, a little chill in the air there,
(04:54):
feeling frisky, feeling all right. So my buddy was real
proud of himself. I'm not going to tell you his names,
right hunt, but my Boddy's proud of himself. And he
called he said, you know, I called up there, and
I told him, and so I asked my wife. I said, well,
what's the guy's name? You know? She said he was
so nice to her. What's the guy's name? She said,
(05:16):
I don't know his name. He said, what he looked like,
the heavyset guy with a beard, white black hissed man. White. Okay,
white guy, heavy set with a beard. Yeah, okay. So
he calls up to the discount tire. He says, you
got a white guy, heavy set with a beard putting
(05:38):
air in people's tires for free. And you know, the
guy's thinking dang man, he's about to get arrested. He said, yeah,
he said, can you can you let him know that
was my wife he just took care of and I
want him to know I appreciate it. And the guy said, well, yeah,
we'd be glad today. Tell him I really do appreciate it.
(05:58):
That's my wife. Okay. So it hangs up now in
my friend, let's just say for the say of the
story of my friend's name is Ray. He says, see,
you got to do that. Sometimes you got to do that,
you know, and let people know that a good deed
like that is noticed by other people as well. I said, uh, yeah,
that's what you let him know. You know what else,
you let him know that's my wife. Okay. So next
(06:22):
time that woman comes through there, don't you be getting flirty.
Don't you get the idea of looking at the license
plate and seeing where she lives just because she smiled
and said thank you? And you know, men, ladies don't
know this, but men, if a woman smiles at us,
we figure she wants us. And I know there are
(06:43):
womanhood I hate so stupid. Where does he get I? Oh, oh,
Tom at work doesn't think that if he don't he's gay.
I'm telling you, you don't know how we're wired. You
do not know. If you smile to us, If you
smile at us and make eye contact and there's a twinkle,
doesn't mean we're gonna harash you or ask for your
(07:03):
phone number or anything else. But in our minds, you
want us, and that's just it. It's very animalistic. We
are convinced at that moment she wants me, she wants me.
We puff our chest out a little bit. When she
drives off, you'll slap our buddy on and til you
see that she wants me. She don't want you, dude,
(07:24):
You're five hundred pounds bald and you smell bad. Maybe
that's her thing. Maybe maybe she got thankful that she
wants me. That is absolute truth. So that was my
buddy calling up there under the guy. See, he wanted
credit for me for you know, see what a nice
guy I am. I called up there and I thanked
him for being nice to my wife. I said, you
(07:47):
did do all of those things, but you planted. And
this is what Trump gets that nobody else in politics gets.
At the end of the day, every man is part dog,
part little boy, and the dog. Part of us says,
do not be sniffing around my woman. You can be
nice to her, that's fine. Rather you be nice to
(08:07):
her than rude, that's fine. But just understand there is
a man on the other end and she's on the
phone with him, and that's what you're really doing. You
could tell on the phone he kind of hung us.
He goes, yeah, he's probably right, flavor monk, and I met.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Michael Berry. I'm a chocolat.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
We have tracked down, said fellow Mark Mann. According to
ray Hunt, as long as he behaves so him, he's
in He's in good shape. We have tracked him down
at the discount tire in Tomball. His name is well,
I won't give his last name. His full name is John.
His last name starts with a J, but he goes
(08:56):
by JJ. Welcome to the program, sir, to be here. So,
as I was telling you, during the break, my buddy
called because he was very impressed that y'all, y'all put
air in people's vehicles if they pull up at no charge.
The guy comes out and does that, and that's you.
And then he called because you were very nice to
(09:17):
his wife. Do you remember do you remember that message
being passed to you. H Does that happen a lot?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Ad? It happens quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
So, honestly, what is the routine? Are you just sitting
there waiting on the truck to come in and then
you go out? Are you doing something else? And then
when it goes ding ding you go out there and
put the air.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
So we usually just have a guy stationed out there,
and it was my lucky day to be out there
and just you know, helping people out.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
When you're stationed out there, are you doing anything when
cars aren't coming in or are they just steady coming in?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah? Usually I'll help out the guys in the back
if they've got other stuff that they can't exactly handle
because they're a little loaded down. I'll usually end up
helping out, taking stuff, move and stuff, pulling stuff, you know,
all the in betweens.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Are you a big fellow? What's your height? Weight?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
About six four three oh five?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Oh my wow, that's that's a big fella. Yeah, okay,
all right, six four to three oh five. He ramone.
He could play he could play old guard on eighty
percent of the offensive lines in college football today. D
one the top ten programs. Did you play ball.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
JJ No, I wish I would have never really got
around to it. Mouse I ever played with little pickup
games of basketball.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Uh? Kind of all over the place? Conroe, Tomball, Huntsville,
came back to Tomball.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Where'd you graduate high school?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Uh? Tomball over there off of clin Oak And then
what did you do? Pretty much as soon as I
got out of Clin Oak, I was just, you know,
looking for a job eighteen, didn't really have anything to
go off of, and talked with manager of another discount
tire down there in Spring. He's actually friends with my grandfather,
and he hired me up about two weeks later.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I've actually heard they're a good company to work with.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean the benefits, the people that
you get to work with, the kind of lifestyle that
they end up trying to push forward. It's definitely more
friendly than at least most other places that I've noticed.
Our whole thing is pretty much customer first. The heck
I used to have a manager say, listen, we got
a Chick fil Aid down the road. I want to
(11:28):
put their customer service to shame. And I kind of
took that to heart.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Wow, I like you already. Do you go by JJ
or John?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I mainly go by JJ.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Do you have a nickname?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Pretty much? Just JJ? Either that or fellas around here
end up calling me sasquatch.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Do you have a big beard?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I got a beard. I'm covered in hair. I'm essentially
the closest thing you'll get to a wolverine, or not wolverine,
but a werewolves.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Is it all beard or is there some up top too?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Oh no, I still got everything up top. I'm essentially rocking.
What's the best way I could put it? A politically
correct mullet?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Oh wow, Okay, I like that? Okay, all right? And
do you have to keep your shirt tucked in? Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, absolutely okay?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
And did they issue the uniform or do you have
to buy that yourself?
Speaker 5 (12:22):
No?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
They give us a very very generous credit to get
uniforms throughout the year. And I go through so dig
go many. I usually have to bulk order at the
beginning of the year.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And is it like a Sioux Mills or one of
the corporate centus or somebody? Who do you get the
uniform from?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
If I remember correctly, I think it's sentence. But it's
been so long since i've actually ordered anything.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
How long have you been with discount Tarr?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
As of August sixteenth, this year made nine years?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Oh wow? And do you get a step up every year,
little bum?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It depends on how you end up doing that year.
And it's been a bit.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Slow, has it? Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Here?
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And there is it slow? Right now?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
No cold weather came through and everybody and their grandmama
is getting a little a little scared because everybody's lights.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Is turned on because the pressure goes down. Yes, sir,
So when they come in, do you go ahead and
fill it up? Or do you tell them no, no, no,
it's this is just a this is just a temperature thing.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So our whole thing, at least through the air check
station and heck evan servicing is we're going to diagnose
the issue first through air checks. We're just gonna check
the air pressure, check out the tires, and from that
point onwards, if we notice anything wrong, then we'll go
ahead and let y'all know, like, hey, here's what's here's
what I found. What do you want to go ahead
(13:51):
and do?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
What percentage of the time are you Are you able
to upsell them on? You know, you got to nail
in your tire or your tire is threadbare or whatever else.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Well that's that happens once in a blue moon. But
we don't try and do any kind of upselling. We
we basically try and tailor everything to the person themselves.
So if it's a situation where they're not doing a
whole lot of drive, we're not going to tell them, oh, hey,
you've got to go with like the best or the
best or anything. We're gonna say, okay, hey, you're doing
three four miles a day, one direction or both directions.
(14:23):
You're you know, you don't have to go with like
this two hundred dollars time. You can go with you know,
lower end stuff. You're not really gonna be using it
all that much, never out in the bad weather.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
What percentage of the people who come through for the
free air are women?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Probably ten to fifteen percent.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Oh, it's mostly men.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You get a lot of those, a lot of men
coming through, and then rest are mainly women. Just you know,
trying to get everything situated taken care of. But honestly,
to me, it's one and the same. Everybody's here for
the same purpose. They have an issue and stuft us
to fix it.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What percentage would you say or retirees older for.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We got a decent chunk, probably fifteen to twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Do you have a standard greeting when they roll down
the wind, like how do or anything like that?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Normally I try and keep it casual. They want us
to usually say hi, thank you for coming into Discount Tire,
but it feels a little impersonal to me, so I'll
usually say howdy, how you're doing, how's your day? Make
it feel nice?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
What percentage of people are rude?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
One?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Even with lines like this, usually everybody's like, oh no,
I understand.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Do you can get the traumatic tools?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Just uh not out there?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Not that I know they should let you because I
like the sound of those JJ. You're awesome, Discount Tire
in Tomball. Everybody's gonna be stopping in on you today.
You're wonderful. Keep up the good job. Usually what you
(16:14):
first think is right and anything after that when you
start questioning, you get all turned around. I can't So
I got about ten emails real fast, and I read them,
and now I'm gonna let me see if I could
I can sort this out. Terry writes Zar. It was
(16:37):
Gomer and his cousin Goober and they worked for Wally
at his service station slash garage. I've also gone a
Discount Tired to get Aaron my tires, and it's a
really nice thing that they do, and I appreciate it
so much. You got that Ramon, I was getting it confused,
(17:01):
John writes, No, h in John, just Jon. I don't
understand that. Now, I understand that's the shortened form of Jonathan, right,
he said. Zorai work for Discount Tire Company for over
thirteen years, started just after high school. I learned a
lot from my time there. Their main focus was customer service.
(17:23):
You can buy tires anywhere, if you treat them right,
there'll be a customer for life. I remember when we
charged seven dollars and fifty cents for tire repairs, and
they said that all repairs would be done at no
additional cost, even if they weren't purchased from us. I
thought it was absolutely the worst idea. The number of
(17:43):
customers gained from that simple act more than made up
for the cost of a repair. I left them in
two thousand and one to make more money. But I
compare everyone's customer service to what I learned there. Still
to this day. You know, you can have good customer
service without having a loss leader. But if you have
(18:06):
good customer service and a loss leader, the right kind
of customers will appreciate that. The bad kind of customers
will abuse it, and the customer doesn't give a damn,
won't pay attention to it. But if you like that
kind of service, then you reward that. I've had people.
(18:30):
I've heard people say, you know, I go down at
the cafe.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I know.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I make sure that anytime we have an event, we
have it at let's say, Federal American Grow because every
time I've needed anything for the dog program, they Matt
Brice hosts this program every year and he donates to it.
We donated last year, we've donate this year. It's a
great cause. The departments don't pay for the dogs that
(18:58):
they use for all the the special purposes cadaver and drugs.
And I've had people say I chose to have our
event at Federal American Grill because I wanted to reward
them for the fact that they donate to our costs.
I'd like to think that people go to Mattress Mac
(19:18):
and buy their furniture there rather than even think about
anywhere else, because when they needed help for this or that,
it was always Mac. I get emails every day, Hey
can you ask Mac to help us with fill in
the blank? And I think there's a lot of businesses
out there, why not ask any of them? It almost is, well,
(19:42):
we know Mac will give okay, So you're almost rewarding
businesses make them say no. You're rewarding businesses that don't
give back, and you're almost punishing businesses that do give
back because they're It comes the point where you have
to say no. Had a guy from Baytown tell me
(20:03):
one time. He said, I'm doing this project and it's
for veterans, and Max said he couldn't give I said, yeah, well,
you know he makes himself out to be And I thought, really,
so give to ninety nine things and the hundredth one
is going to Sobu. But that's how it works, isn't it.
That's absolutely how it works. I've seen it. People will
(20:26):
email you all day long and you're you're steady trying
to get out of the studio, trying to go meet somebody,
but you spend ten more minutes making a call, connecting
someone here, doing this, getting this donated, writing a check
to this. But the one person you don't help, Oh yeah, mister,
I help everybody. Well you didn't help me. Wow wow,
that's uh. And that's when you realize that a lot
(20:49):
of people are just son of a bitches and you
can't help them. There's nothing you can do, and you
shouldn't meet yourself up trying because they're bad people. They're
selfish people there. And by the way, that's not to
say that that person would have helped anybody either. I
don't know how we got off on that ramon. But
(21:11):
back to the point. Customer service is a culture. I'm
always amazed at how many people run a business, especially
a retail business, but at any kind of business and
they have bad customer service and you bring it to
the attention of the owner and their answer is always, oh,
(21:32):
Rashanda was rude. I'm gonna fire her. Well wait a minute,
what are you going to replace her with somebody else
who may or may not be rude? And here is
the rub. Here is where the problem lies. It's a
lack of understanding on how to build an organization and
(21:52):
how to build good customer service. Most people who run
retail businesses do not understand that whether that person smiles
or not, whether they are helpful, whether they have a
positive greeting, whether they have been empowered, encouraged, required to
(22:14):
go the extra mile for the customer is not an accident.
It's a culture. You create that culture, and that culture
begins to enforce itself through peer pressure. Because if you're
the only one out performing the norm and everybody else
is lazy, you're the outlier. You won't last at that business.
(22:36):
You'll go somewhere where you're appreciate it. If you go
into a business where one person is helpful, more often
than not, they're all helpful. I've been touring these ACE hardwarees.
Every ACE hardware is individually owned, and so the model
is it's kind of like Chick fil A. You've got
you've got an owner there on site. Well, it's no longer,
(22:59):
it's no longer a viable in almost every case to
be Bob's hardware, gardening, birding supplies, barbecue pit you just
can't do it. And then Tom's but as being part
of the ACE collective, you can buy in bulk, but
then you bring the customer service that you and your family.
That's when most of them, the entire family works there.
So you go in there and you notice. So I'll
(23:20):
do these spot checks like a mystery shopper. I should
have been a mystery shopper moment. And I'll go in
without tell them I'm coming. They don't know me, and
so some of the people working there, they don't know
me from Adam. And I'll go walking in that greet you.
How can we help you, I'll ask a question, and
you notice. It's a culture. It's not accidental. Most people
(23:42):
are not naturally prone to be overly friendly and helpful
and solicitous, especially because they just got out with them
with their girlfriend who's threatening to break up or accusing
them of something or telling them they're lazy or just
spent their money. So there has to be this attitude
that when you walk into and put our ace hardware
(24:02):
penny on, you still call it a penny. Remember the penny.
Remember when you play kickball and the element the red
pennies over here and the blue pennies over here. I
want you to call me very quickly. We won't stay
at this very long. For the name of a place
and a person. If that person is there that has
phenomenal customer service. I mean you walk in there. It's
(24:22):
always amazing. See one thousands.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Michael Berry frings your bias.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Hear what that old boy was? Long customer service and
short on math, about ten percent of the customers are women,
mostly men, few men. They really only have only about
eighteen percent customers. I don't know. I don't know what
the eighty two percent is. But what mattered is his
(24:55):
customer service was so good. Customer service is a culture.
A lot of people think you just pay more money
and you get better customer service. Not true. Many people
do not understand the expectations of them at work. You
can tell when you walk into a place and the
(25:15):
people who work there, they basically just been told, carry
three pens with you at all times, and here's the menu,
and ring it up and go get the food and
bring it out, cash out the check at the end
of the night, cash out your pouch and that's it. That's
the extent of their training. Granted, I hadn't waited tables
(25:35):
at fifty different restaurants, but I have for a few
and I'll tell you, Papasito's something else. The papist family
or trainers, it's three weeks working there, three hard weeks
of every day before you get on the floor to
be a waiter, and you start as a host. You
stand there and you first take people to their seats,
(25:56):
and you've got tests along the way. You've got tests
are as tough as any you know, university course. I'm
not even kidding. You've got to know the ingredients of
various dishes that you're that you're serving, what's on them,
what the sides are, what's what's the combination, what that comprises.
You've got to learn all their rules. You've got to
(26:16):
learn ticket times, You've got to learn how to call
things into the kitchen, what the rules of of you
know everything that is a part of their system. It's
a symphony. It's a beautiful thing. The Papist family runs
a great organization and it's it's no secret why they
are so successful. And that's why when Russell Lebara brought
(26:38):
on his first partner, it was Joel who had been
at at Papas organization for at that point, I think
probably twenty years. That's that's what you do. Tilman's a
systems guy. Good companies, whether it's restaurants or anything else,
have systems. They have cultures. And we want you to
(26:58):
tell us about them care And what's the one that
impressed you?
Speaker 5 (27:02):
Bearings Hardware on West Timer. Oh absolutely, yeah, Native you
sonian go to Bearings every Saturday morning, even though now
I've moved out to sink A Ramps and Katie. But
every time I walk in the door, it doesn't matter
if it's China Crystal.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Hardware, that delicious coffee, Oh.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
Yeah, yes, coffee, you name it. Everybody is just happy
and welcoming and they know their products to you, Michael,
and I just really appreciate Bearings Hardware, and I appreciate
your your station, and not your station, but your program.
(27:44):
I've been listening to you, to you most of my life,
and I met I was able to meet you. I
used to work for Judge David Hinder and you had
and Mandina had called to have him perform. I'm a
ceremony for Michael. Yes, I just really have a lot
(28:04):
of respect for you and your family.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Aren't you sweet? What are you doing now?
Speaker 5 (28:09):
I am a insurance claim suggestor.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh I bet you're a reasonable and fair and even
when you have to give them bad news, you're kind
about it. Come on in here, let's me and you hug.
You're just adorable.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I like you're a big girl, because big girls are
better to hug. Skinny girls are. That's nice and all,
but if there's some meat on the bone, that's a
good hug.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
It's a medium.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
It's a medium, So you're a medium level hug. Well,
you're very sweet to say, you know. When I was
a baby lawyer, my first few clients that I worked on.
It's funny how fate would have it, but one of
the first clients I worked on was Handy Hardware. I
worked for a guy named Donald Brotsky. He was a
managing partner of Jenkins and Gilchris big law firm. They
don't exist anymore. And one of his clients that trusted
(28:56):
and loved and respected him as their council conciliary name
it was Handy Hardware. And Handy Hardware had about twenty
locations under different brands, and two of them were Bearings Hardware.
And there was the one I lived in West University
at the time. There was the one on Biscinet and
then there was the one on West Timer next to
(29:18):
Stogy Cigars. And they're still there to this day. And
I will tell you you're right, they've got that model
where you've got you've got older employees who've been there
for a long time. And the thing about older employees,
you know, it's funny. People don't want to hire older people.
There is a I've heard this and I believe it
(29:38):
to be true. But if you look at the employees there,
and this is true of the Ace Hardware's this is true.
There used to be a Southland Hardware. I don't know
if it's still there. Done on Lower West Timer. You
go in there, those older folks, guess what they're not doing.
They're not spending their shift setting up where they're going
out to drink tonight. They're not trying to screw each other.
(29:58):
They're not trying to figure out a better paying job.
Those people get up, they get ready on time, they
show up early, they get there and drink coffee, they
clock in early, or they start working and then clock
in at the time they put in their shift. They're
no bs, no bull And when they're done, they might
(30:19):
stay around and tidy up a little bit because their
job is it's a more important part of their life.
When you get people on the front end of the
of their professional life trying to make money, they might
just be taking a job to pay the bills, but
they're looking everywhere else and they're not focused on that.
You get an older person, they'll take pride in their
work and it's a much better employee. Trey. Hey, Ramon,
(30:44):
do you notice it turns orange in white? Is that
orange bean? Take that one next, because it's been holding
the longest. Oh, that's fascinating. We got a new phone system.
I'm still figuring it out. Tray, you're up, Bud, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
He is their first time caller, longtime listener, young listener.
I was going to shout out to the one in
Old Katie off a pin Oak the Ace Hardware, and
you asked about someone too, about mister Bobby in there.
I'm a my grandfather and I have farming ranch here
and Katie and we still go in there for all
of our farming ranch needs. Even though the home that
(31:17):
new home depot just opened up, But we still like
to go to the Ace Hardware because we always get
great customer service there. Everybody's always trying to help you
and they all know it's there too, so it's it's
it's a good deal.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You know. It's an interesting thing, you say, uh, Trey,
because when people tell you you can't get good customer
service anymore, and you ask them where they shop. They
shop at home deep or lows. So you go somewhere
to save a few pennies where they don't care about
customer service. And you complain that they don't care about
(31:51):
customer service, but you won't spend a few extra pennies
to go to a nice hardware where you're going to
get much better customer service. And the thing is, look,
if you were homeless and couldn't afford it, that's fine,
but good's not cheap, and chief's not good, and that's
almost always the case. And if people rewarded places that
gave that kind of customer service, they'd get more of it.
(32:13):
You would make for a better business model, wouldn't it.
Seven one three nine one thousand. Ian. I hope you're
listening to this because I'd like to see you step
up of your game. I'll tell you what Jim was
in last two weeks. I got so many compliments I
wish he was his panic. That's about all you got
going for you run seven one three nine nine nine
(32:34):
one thousand. I want to hear about a place that
has great customer service. If you know the guy's name.
You know, there's gonna be people driving into the Tomball
Discount tire right now looking for that big old six four,
three hundred and five pound wooly birder Sasquatch. They'll go,
that's you, isn't it. That's me. How'd you know I
was talking about you? Because you're the fourteenth person today.
(32:55):
You want some free air, ma'am,
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