1. Customers are left waiting by employees who appear too busy with their own activities to stop and focus on customers.

2. Service givers treat customers as numbers, failing to smile and convey a truly warm and sincere welcome.

3. Customers are ignored during service transactions while employees carry on personal conversations with co-workers.

4. Rarely are in-person or phone transactions concluded with an expression of sincere appreciation.

5. Rules, policies and procedures are set up to benefit the business, not the customer. Businesses lack a "customer-friendly" mentality.

6. A real tragedy is people from top management to frontline staff who are not properly trained and do not have answers.

7. Most businesses claim to welcome customer complaints, but, in reality, make it very difficult, if not impossible, to resolve problems.

8. Huge customer service signs and virtually no people behind the counter are common across America.

9. Management simply hires warm bodies instead of caring, customer-oriented employees who want to deliver outstanding service.

10. Exceptional employees are underpaid and shown little or no appreciation for delivering "above and beyond" service.

Any employer who pays federal income tax is eligible to take advantage of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program. The program was developed by the federal government as an incentive for employers to hire individuals who have trouble gaining experience in the job market.

There are seven eligible applicant groups including: AFDC recipients, veterans, ex-felons, youth, vocational rehabilitation clients, summer youth employees and food stamp recipients. The maximum credit of 35 percent of the first $6,000 or the first $3,000 for summer youth, can mean a substantial tax savings for the employer. The employer must call the local Department of Workforce Development office before the applicant begins work, and the IRS form 8850 must be completed.

For additional information (in the Wabash area), contact the Career Resources office in Kokomo at 1-800-875-0571 or the office of the Department of Workforce Development at (317) 232-7747.

By: Bill Bradley
Wabash Economic Development (WEDCOR)

Often times, we cry, "WOLF!", and there is no wolf. However, in this case, I don't think that this is the case. One amazing statistic came forth recently regarding the state of public education in the state of Indiana. Indiana ranks in the number of students who attend and graduate from a college near the bottom with such stellar stars like Mississippi and Arkansas.

An amazing statistic is the fact that in any normal year, we have about 80,000 students who begin the high school experience. Of that number, only about 60,000 ever graduate from high school. Of the 60,000 who graduate, only about 20,000 go on to a two or four year college or university. Of that amount, only about 10,000 ever graduate with a college degree. These are frightful statistics, especially in an age when more training is needed beyond the high school experience.

Twenty years ago, the state of Indiana went through a crisis. We were loosing lower skilled, but well-paying industrial/manufacturing jobs. These jobs were evaporating. They were no longer going to be. Places like International Harvester in Fort Wayne and the various steel mills in northwest Indiana were good examples of industries that were never-to-be-seen again.

In those days, the mentality was that even without a good education, you could obtain a good job at a livable wage. It was true then. Today, however, that is not the case. People within the state of Indiana have got to get away from the idea that you can obtain a good job, with good pay with little or no formal education. A lack of education will only doom our students to low wage jobs. Oh yes, you may say, I have heard about the number of English majors driving cabs in New Your City (many with their Ph.D in English). However, those examples are rare in comparison to the numbers of those who have no education and are stuck in a low wage existence for the next forty years.

Indiana needs to wake up to the fact that our best industrial/manufacturing days are yet to come. With an increased emphasis on education and with our quality work ethic, our state will be able to enter the 21st century with a sense of strength and vitality. Without those ingredients, we will be left out in the dust.

We do not necessarily need more resources for education, but a new mindset that relates the importance of education to our youth. That emphasis, that was common many years ago, needs to be renewed, not out of a sense of making yourself better than the last generation, but rather as a tool for survival into the 21st century. Indiana, it is time to WAKE-UP!!!