Yuggies + Other Window Cleaning News

Can you see clearly now? Luke Murray of Capital Window Cleaning does some spring cleaning at the front window of Vogue optical. if you can't see the letters, it's time to have your eyes checked.

A CLEARER VIEW OF OPENING DAY. Pat Kincaid of Fish Window Cleaning, clears the winter season off the luxury box windows at O'Brien Field on Tuesday in preparation for the Chiefs opening day on Thursday. When the Chiefs aren’t using the stadium, it is also the home field of the Bradley University baseball team and plays host to numerous high school games during the season.

Yuggies are yearning for work: Spotted on an E. Ninth St lamppost recently was an ad with the word “Yuggies” on it. “Help us help you and give us something to do,” it implored. The Yuggies, or Young Urban Graduates — not to be confused with yuppies — is a group that was started a couple of months ago by five New York University students and graduates. They were frustrated with the common problem young people face of needing to find a job but having trouble getting hired due to lack of experience; meanwhile, they can’t get experience if no one hires them. Also, the Yuggies needed to start making some money to begin paying off their school debts. Yuggies offers services ranging from language lessons and grocery shopping to SAT prep and window cleaning. The Yuggies understand the current economic crisis, and offer their services to the community for extremely low prices.

Surrey Police community support officers park illegally to buy fast food: A pair of peckish police community support officers have been rapped after parking on double yellow lines to buy fast food. But despite the pair being caught illegally parked outside Caterham Charcoal Grill, High Street, Caterham-on-the-Hill, the driver escaped with a dressing down from a senior officer, and a donation to charity. Superintendent Kul Verma said: "Surrey Police expects the very highest standards from its staff at all times. Having reviewed this matter, the actions of our staff have fallen far below our normal high standards as there was no operational reason for the contravention of the road markings. "Those officers concerned have already been spoken to and will be disciplined regarding their conduct on this day, and what is expected from them in the future. Window cleaner Mark Williams, of Milner Close, Caterham, who snapped the arresting sight, said: "I managed to find a space and there must have been other places they could park. I'm not angry about it, I just think it's quite funny." "I'm going to be really careful where I park from now on. I don't want the police after me because I took their photo." June Venters QC, a specialist criminal lawyer of Venters Solicitors, High Street, Reigate, said: "The police have to set an example. If they don't they will find the public will lose respect for them, and I'm sure they don't want that."

Dirty stained shower glass? Does it look unkept and frustrates every day you look at it? Have you spent a small fortune on those ‘super market cleaners’ with the broken promises? Are you sick and tired of daily scrubbing of the glass to ‘keep on top’ of future stains? Been told by your Shower or window supplier there is NO easy fix and expensive replacement is the best option? We have heard this all before, hundreds of times, and are here to reverse your dilemma, swiftly, professionally and affordably. The Water Stain Doctor (AUS) Ltd is the end result of over 4 years trialing and product testing. Our Company devised the systems to perfect the restoration process. We hand pick our Field Agents and train them extensively. Since 2001, The Water Stain Doctor (AUS) has carried out over 5000 glass and Perspex restorations.

LOCAL CURRENCY: A small British village is printing its own currency in a bid to preserve community values and fight climate change. When thirty somethings tire of London they move to Brighton, where they wear expensive Japanese denim and talk in an accent just this side of Michael Caine. After a few years, their aspirations shift to Lewes, a pretty hillside town in southern England - like Dalkey, but 10 miles inland - which takes Brighton's laidback, arty atmosphere and adds about a hundred grand to the price of a small Victorian terrace. What sets Lewes apart is that it has its own currency, the Lewes Pound, which was launched in September last year to promote the town's status as a "transition town". This is an international scheme whereby residents unite to preserve community values and fight climate change and fossil-fuel dependency by favouring local produce over that available from international conglomerates. An initial launch of 3,000 Lewes pound notes was greeted with enthusiasm by the locals, and by the online community who traded the £1 notes on eBay for up to £35 each. The money tracks the value of sterling but is not legal tender, relying on the trust of local people and the shop owners who have bought into the scheme, as indicated by a small green sign in their windows. Local exchange trading schemes (Lets) like the Lewes pound are not common, but hardly unique. For instance, a Lets system was operating in Galway city in the mid-1990s, and America now has at least 12 separate local currency schemes. "I have a few notes in my till," says Scott, from behind the counter in Wickle, a gift shop in the town's renovated Needlemakers factory. "We use them to pay for local services. For example, the window cleaner takes them." Not so the lady in WH Smiths: "We're not allowed to take them, we're a national chain you see." Likewise, the bureau de change desk in the local post office was having none of it.

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Pella advocates window safety/ National Window Safety Week is April 5-11: As temperatures rise, so can the potential for accidental falls as more North Americans open windows and doors to let in fresh air. To help promote greater safety, Pella Corporation has partnered with the National Safety Council (NSC), through its Window Safety Task Force, to share safety tips during National Safety Week April 5 – 11, for use year-round. “For safety’s sake, keep an eye on children and keep their play away from windows and doors,” said Kathy Krafka Harkema, Pella’s window safety spokesperson and a NSC Window Safety Task Force member. “There’s no substitute for adult supervision, when it comes to maintaining child safety. So whether you’re a parent, a caregiver or have young children visiting in your home, practice window and door safety year-round.”

ReNEW Franchising: Our surface restoration system is an environmentally safe and effective cleaning method designed to restore the exterior of buildings to their original appearance. The process removes biological growth and pollutants from the surface. The system is very fast, thereby saving customers inconvenience, downtime, and money. Until now, pressure washing has primarily been the method used in cleaning the exterior of buildings. There have been significant complaints about the damage to buildings as a result of cleaning with pressure. The ReNEW Softwash system uses virtually no pressure to apply our cleaning solution, ReNEW 754. Our product and system are responsible for the remarkably improved appearance of hundreds of buildings. Because of our process, your house will stay cleaner for much longer than if pressure washed and without causing damage.

POLICE have held their hands up and admitted they were "unfair" to fine motorists for making U-turns on the A12 in Havering where there were no signs stating they could not do so. At least 10 fuming motorists were slapped with a £60 fine and three points on their licence throughout the week of Monday, March 16, for apparently not complying with signage on the Colchester-bound carriageway at the junction with Harold Court Road. But motorists complained it was wrong because there is not a no U-turns sign. Now Traffic Operations Inspector Phil Langworthy, from Chadwell Heath Traffic Garage, has said all fines will be withdrawn. One driver, 18-year-old window cleaner, Matt Richards, of Arlington Gardens, Harold Wood, who only passed his test six-months ago, faced losing his licence as a result of the manoeuvre. "I already had three points for speeding and you aren't allowed more than six in the first two years. I was well annoyed. "If I lost my licence I'd most probably have lost my job as well," Matt said. He along with all drivers stopped during this operation, set up to prevent crashes, received letters this week explaining their fines had been cancelled.

Cutbacks ripple through many other businesses: On a recent morning at Healey Chevrolet in Beacon, about 10 employees roamed the empty showroom. They would wait a long time for a customer. Healey, like just about every auto dealership in the country, has seen its sales deteriorate as consumers, worried about their jobs, aren't about to sink thousands of dollars into a new car. Now, Paul and Dwight Healey, partners in the business their father started, are shedding ballast in an effort to stay weatherly in the worst economic tempest in decades. The belt-tightening extends to the guy who washes their windows to the diner where employees used to eat dinner. Domestic auto sales are down 40 percent or more nationwide. General Motors' U.S. sales in March fell by 45 percent from the same month a year ago. Healey Brothers has watched its revenue fall about 20 percent from its peak in 2004. Window washing went from once a week to once a month. Even document shredding, mandated for paperwork containing Social Security numbers, went from monthly to quarterly. "Now, when we buy a box of pens, we look at how much it costs," Paul Healey said.

Firefighters team forms for 'technical' rescues: A newly formed team of firefighters from throughout the region has been practicing rescues this week in downtown Peabody. The 45-member unit, including firefighters from Peabody, Beverly, Lynn and a number of other communities throughout Essex County, will specialize in unique "technical" rescues, Peabody fire Chief Steve Pasdon said. The training is addressing "high-angle" rescues and will provide skills to extract someone, for example, from a cliff or tree or save a high-rise window washer in distress, the chief said. The team will also learn about confined-space rescues and how to save victims of a trench collapse.

A visionary entrepreneur: A self-described visionary, Tarverdi immigrated from Iran with his family as a boy in 1971. He visited Modesto and its sizable Assyrian community often in those years, he said. After his father died a few years later, Tarverdi set up a Bay Area window-washing business that expanded to a full-service janitorial business at customers' request. By 1991, his workers were cleaning 6.7 million square feet each night in Santa Clara County, The Business Journal of San Jose reported. Tarverdi's company grew and evolved into Continental Maintenance Industries, Centennial Contract Services and Platinum Facilities Services, boasting clients such as Pixar Animations Studios, NASA, Coca-Cola and Kmart. The firms handle $10 million annually in volume, Tarverdi said. "God has blessed me," he said.

Cleaners At Risk in Credit Crunch - Friday the 13th

Domestic helps and window cleaners in Northamptonshire could be among the trades hit by the recession, as householders become more self-reliant, a major insurer has warned. Figures from Legal and General, released today, show people were becoming more self-reliant when it came to odd jobs around the home. The insurer found 45 per cent of people who employed some sort of home help in 2008 were cutting back, with 23 per cent of householders employing people to help around the house, compared with 42 per cent in February 2008. Jodie Gascoigne (pictured) set up Maid 2 Shine, a domestic cleaning company, three years ago with money from the Prince's Trust. She said she had noticed a small drop in the number of clients. She added: "It's quieter. The phone isn't ringing as often and there has been the odd cancellation. People do want their homes cleaned, though, so they tend to try to find an alternative, like cutting back. "I hope for more spring cleans and one-off cleans within the next six weeks, so we will see it pick up." Legal and General found there had been a 48 per cent drop in the number of households that employed a window cleaner.
Dave Moore, of Grange Park Window Cleaning Services, said: "I have a few customers who have cut back from one month to two months, but it's not much different. I wouldn't say it's affected me in a major way." But commercial window cleaners said the recession had left them relatively unscathed. John Devall, of Devall's Window Cleaning, in St David's, Northampton, said: "We have lost two or three jobs, but we're picking them up at the same time. If you've got dirty premises, people won't go into them. "People are always ringing me up and asking if I do domestic." Pete Goodwin, of GB Window Cleaning Services, in Ecton Brook, Northampton, said his company's schedules were changing as a result of recession.
He said: "Where companies used to have it done monthly, it's changing to quarterly. They're cutting back like everybody. There are a lot of places closing down and it affects us as well."
"We don't expect to do much this year, except keep going. "There's plenty of glass out there, so we can pick the work up. We're not like other industries, which rely on companies to give them work. "Even if it's once a year, people need their windows cleaning."

Friday, 13 February 2009: There are two main theories to why walking under a ladder is unlucky – some believe that in medieval times, a leaning ladder was thought to resemble a gallows, so if you walked under a ladder you were guaranteeing your own death by hanging. Others believe the triangle made by the ladder against the wall is the symbol of the Holy Trinity and by walking through the triangle, you are violating God and will be punished. David Whale, from Pane in the Glass window cleaners, in Kettering, said: "We use ladders all the time and people are always very wary about walking under them." Window cleaners around Kettering have also reported people crossing the road to avoid walking beneath them when they are out working and have noticed people are more likely to avoid walking beneath them on Friday the 13th. Pictured: Fingers crossed – Marco Martinelli takes his chances under window cleaner David Whale’s ladder.

Tesco saved my eyesight, says George Green father: A FORTUNATE father is looking at life in a new light after a free eye test at a Slough supermarket saved his sight. Colin Stares dropped into Tesco in Wellington Street to pick up some paracetamol for a headache when the offer caught his attention. Forty-eight hours later the former window cleaner was undergoing emergency eye surgery to tackle a severe case of Glaucoma - a rare disorder that could have blinded him within weeks. The 49-year-old from George Green this week visited staff at the pharmacy to thank them for saving his sight in the nick of time. He said: “I was getting severe headaches and I was in a hurry so I thought I should really quickly go and get some headache tablets. I saw they had a big eye-unit where they scan eyes for free - and at the time I thought I was just saving myself a tenner.”
Pharmacist Jameel Zuman found he was suffering from dangerously high eye pressure and immediately packed him off to Prince Charles Eye Unit at the King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor.
Colin, who closed his window cleaning business in 2007 to help raise his two-year old son, Cameron, said he was two or three weeks away from total blindness: “Tesco were brilliant - if they hadn’t spotted the problem I might not have been able to see my son grow up.”
Doctors found he was suffering from Primary Closed Angle Glaucoma - a condition that is extremely rare among under-50s. It is caused by the failure of tear ducts to effectively lubricate the eye and can cause eyesight to rapidly deteriorate. Five months on, Colin has been given the all clear this week and is telling anyone with a headache to check themselves in for an eye-test.

More Window Cleaning Jobs To Go

GLOOMY OUTLOOK, NZ: No amount of window cleaning will brighten the vision of the economy in the near future. One in three New Zealand employers plans to cut staff numbers by March as business confidence tumbles in the nation's worst business survey for more than a decade. The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion has revealed the worst figures in years, with economists describing the results as "absolutely dire" and "the very worst of times". The shocking sentiment indicates a shift to higher unemployment, declining profitability and the worst drop in business activity since 1970. However, the horror news is likely to stop inflation boosting the case for a significant interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank on January 29. The lower interest rates will be chilling comfort to those without jobs or slashed pay packets. The survey shows 32 per cent of employers plan to cut their workforce in the next three months. Twenty per cent of businesses said they had already cut staff numbers since September. The service sector was no better, with a net 47% expecting a decline in profitability.

State budget deficit could hit $1 billion: HARTFORD -- Minority Republicans predicted Monday the deficit in the current budget may rise to a billion dollars, more than triple the shortfall the General Assembly will deal with Wednesday. The Republicans said unless lawmakers agree to make larger spending cuts during Wednesday's special session, it's likely the Democratic majority will either raise taxes or raid the $1.4 billion emergency budget reserves going into the two-year budget cycle that starts July 1. "Connecticut needs real solutions that don't dismantle the public services on which Connecticut's residents and businesses rely more than ever," the unions said in a statement. "Driving down the standard of living for middle-class families and cutting core public services during an economic downturn is a recipe for continued disaster."
Meanwhile on Monday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, fearing continued erosion of tax revenues, ordered new cost-cutting tactics including the canceling of nonessential state contracts and the phasing out of deputy commissioner positions. As examples, she said items such as magazine subscriptions and new athletic equipment would be deferred and landscaping and window-washing schedules would be pushed back.

HARTFORD (AP) -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell says she plans to phase out some deputy commissioner positions as part of a plan to cut spending in the midst of a deficit crisis. Rell has ordered a review of all deputy commissioners and other executive appointments, and will make a plan to reduce those positions once she gets the information. Rell also ordered a review of existing state contracts with outside vendors, and says she'll terminate non-essential services such as window cleaning, promotional items and exercise equipment.