Friday Window Cleaning News

A job on the rise: Ambasasador Window Cleaning was in town this week to clean the windows of the BB&T/Denny's building. Cale Senterfitt balances on his seat as he squeegees a window on Tuesday morning. Click picture to enlarge.
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Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Awards: Duluth , MN – The University of Minnesota Duluth Center for Economic Development announced the recipients of the 17 th Annual Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Awards during a luncheon on April 21, 2009. More than 300 business and community leaders attended the event at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Since 1993, the Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Awards have recognized small business owners who have dared to dream, taken a risk, and invested in the region. This year's award recipients were selected from a prestigious roster of 36 nominees from throughout the Twin Ports and Arrowhead Region. The Micro-Entrepreneur Award was won by Ablaze Custom Cleaning, LLC, Don Liimatainen Jr., Cloquet. Founded in January 2007, this professional cleaning company specializing in janitorial services, carpet cleaning, and window cleaning. Beginning with a $60 investment in window cleaning supplies, Don has built a business that was recognized last October by StartupNation as one of the top 20 businesses in the U.S. run by a college student. Don handles all the day-to-day operations of the company, which has a growing client base that includes nationally known corporations as well as many local companies and residences.
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Elvis has left the village: A 'just for fun' scarecrow competition in Awliscombe and Weston fell victim to thieves at the weekend. A scarecrow depicting Elvis was stolen on Friday and, on Saturday night, villagers managed to take a photograph as a coach party of revellers from the Weymouth area drove off with two more effigies, of a builder and a window cleaner. As the coach company was being contacted in a bid to trace the missing scarecrows, a make-shift crime scene was erected next to the spot where the builder was stolen from - much to the amusement of passers-by. A notice was erected to explain the window cleaner had gone on a coach to Weymouth. Organisers said the thefts had not marred the event. Instead, they had brought out people's sense of humour. Councillor Vernon Whitlock, a former mayor of Honiton, was thoroughly impressed with villagers' efforts. He said a scarecrow dressed as a policeman with a speed gun looked real. Overall winner was Tanya Summers for her scarecrow of Amy Winehouse. Tanya also took first prize in the under-18s class for a celebrity scarecrow.
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Few options in the face of outsourcing: Among the workers who voiced their demands for improved labor conditions during May Day rallies across the country, those employed by outsourcing companies were screaming the loudest. With increasing numbers of workers being hired through outsourcing companies, concerns for the mistreatment and vulnerability of the labor market is growing. "Of course I would prefer to be a proper employee but nowadays it is hard to find companies who actually hire someone directly without using any outsourcing services," said Isnani, who works as a junior analyst at a branch of Standard Chartered Bank.
According to Isnani, he first applied to the bank, but Standard Chartered Bank directed him to an outsourcing company, who has been responsible for his employment affairs since. "Jobs considered part of a company's core business should not be drawn from outsourcing services," Rekson said.
He added workers from outsourcing companies were often unaware they were especially vulnerable to mistreatment and job insecurity due to their weak bargaining position and dependency on contract renewal. Last week, Mathias Tambing, deputy chairman of the Confederation of the All-Indonesian Workers' Unions (KSPSI), said many employers bribed their way out of violations of the outsourcing system. Edi, not his real name, who works for a cleaning service in a building in South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post how bribery had deprived him of his basic working rights. He explained that his company failed to provide insurance when it assigned him to clean the windows of a 15-floor building. "One day officials from the Manpower Ministry made an impromptu inspection and asked whether we had insurance or not," Edi said.
When the window cleaners answered they had none, the inspectors forbade them from working for a week until the outsourcing company organized rightful insurance for their employees. "I think there must've been a special arrangement between the outsourcing company and the building management that allowed us to go up there without insurance," Edi said. Some workers do have the courage and privilege to fight the wrongdoings of outsourcing companies.
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Councillor fooled by bogus cleaner: A WINDOW cleaning scam that has targeted elderly residents across north Swindon even managed to dupe a councillor for the area. Coun Justin Tomlinson (Con, Abbey Meads) was tricked out of almost £100 by the soapy scamster and is eager to make sure other residents don’t fall into the same trap. Justin (pictured), who is also the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for North Swindon, was one of many who was tricked by the con man into paying for a year’s contract to clean his windows and repair his gutters. Justin said: “This man used to be my window cleaner years ago then he came round offering window cleaning, gutters cleaned or fixed.
“He was offering a package for £99 all inclusive for a year. I asked him to do my guttering and then paid him the money. “So I am one of the lucky ones, because at least I got something for my money. A lot of other older residents have been taken in by him “It is absolutely disgraceful that he has targeted a number of elderly residents in the area. “I would urge any resident who has come into contact with him to get in touch with the police to help them build a stronger case so he can be prevented from doing the same thing to other people.” The same man is believed to have targeted a number of other houses – leaving a receipt but failing to turn up to complete the work. Contact details for his bogus company have proved to be false.
PC Troy Smith, of the Swindon North Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We are keen to hear from anyone who has been approached by him and especially anyone who has given money but had no work done. “We believe he has worked over quite a wide area as we think he has also been active in Chippenham. “We want to build as much information as we can about this person so any information would be welcomed.” PC Smith said that a man had been arrested but was now on bail pending further inquiries. Anyone with information is asked to call PC Smith on 0845 408 7000.
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Dad from North Shields delivers baby in kitchen: Thrilled parents Derek Tate and Donna Richards thought they were prepared for their new arrival. But the couple faced a race against time when Donna, 30, went into labour early on Monday morning. And by the time paramedics arrived at their home in North Shields, shocked dad Derek, 27, was already holding his tiny bundle of joy. Little Peri Tate beat the ambulance crew by five minutes when she was born at home in the kitchen after her quick-fire birth. When paramedics arrived at the couple’s home in West Avenue, West Chirton, she was already wrapped in a blanket and snuggled tight in her dad’s arms. And the tiny baby is now doing fine after she entered the world in a makeshift delivery suite. The couple say they are still in shock but are over the moon with Peri’s arrival.
Derek, a window cleaner, said: “It just happened so fast. I just went into auto-pilot and did what I had to do. The ambulance crew said we had done a really good job.” Donna started having labour pains at around 5am on Monday. Derek called an ambulance after the contractions started to get worse but Peri was born in the couple’s kitchen at 6.29am, just five minutes before paramedics arrived. Donna said: “I told Derek to call the hospital but he couldn’t get through. Then I said he’d better hang up and call an ambulance instead, because the baby’s head was coming out.
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Window cleaner tells of crash escape: A window cleaner has told how he was forced to leap for his life when a car hit a van, mounted a busy pavement and smashed into the front of a Ryde cafe on Tuesday.The van driver was freed by firefighters, who removed doors from the vehicle to allow paramedics to support his neck and assess neck injuries. He was taken by ambulance to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport, and treated for whiplash. Window cleaner Robert Holdcroft, from Broadway Crescent, Binstead, saw the silver automatic Peugeot 206 speeding toward him with an 82-year-old Ryde woman at the wheel after it smashed into the Four Seasons Cleaning Services van.Mr Holdcroft, 29, from Broadway Crescent, Binstead, was just able to dive out of the way.He said: “If I had dived the other way, the car would have taken off both my legs. As it was, it clipped me and all I have is a painful pulled muscle. If it had been someone less mobile, they would have been killed.“I work for Four Seasons but was on holiday and I’d just stopped to have a chat with the van driver.”

Bravos' Shipp living professional dream: Don't say defender Samuel Shipp is inexperienced. Yeah, he's never played professional soccer, and will make his debut for Rio Grande Valley Bravos this Saturday night. But just because his first touch Saturday night will be his first professionally doesn't mean he isn't seasoned. Shipp, 29, who played collegiate soccer at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, served a three-year Mormon mission in Argentina, where he learned Spanish. He makes a living through his window-washing business, work that nobody could say is easy. To say that his path to becoming a professional soccer player hasn't been the straightest or anywhere near conventional would be an understatement. But all of that makes Shipp, who moved to the Valley with his Mission-native wife after college, appreciate his opportunity to start a career even more. He isn't like some of his teammates, some that are a decade younger and hope to move up to higher levels. He's playing for the Bravos not to eventually become a star in American or Mexican soccer, but simply to do something he's always wanted to.

As Seen On TV Product Claims Streak-Free Shine: It may not always feel like it, but it's officially spring and that has many of us doing spring cleaning. There's one product on the market that claims to cut cleaning time and hassle. It's called the "Glass Wizard" and typically sells for $9.99. Professional cleaner Crystal Straus put the "As Seen on TV" product to the test. The product touts a "streak-free shine" on glass, mirrors and shower doors. She liked the design right off the bat. "I like the fact that it's designed in a point so you can get in corners," said Straus. The Glass Wizard is like a wand with a wobbly head. It comes with two micro-fiber bonnets and a grime buster mesh bonnet. It just needs water to work. Unfortunately we couldn't conjure a streak free shine. Straus said, "The microfiber is a good idea but using water to do this, it's going to streak." So she switched from water to Windex and tried again with some success. "All these spots are gone and it's not streaky," she said. And Straus liked the extension on the product as well. "I think the exterior pole is a good idea so you don't have to move your furniture," she said. Next stop was the shower. "As soon as the water evaporates, they (the spots) come right back." The mesh bonnet did help on the car window and so did the handle but in order to keep the glass streak-free, we had to keep changing the cloth.