The Mauer Solution

Conversation
1

Enclosed is the WCN moderator Gary Mauer’s ideas to better the IWCA as he sees fit… he said he thought of it 2 months ago… Maybe after he found out Chris was on the ballot perhaps? Gary is clearly jealous of what WCR and Chris and Alex have accomplished. In between every word he typed Im sure he stopped to kick, scream and wipe the tears from his eyes knowing Chris has been elected to the BOD of the IWCA.
Congrats Chris, I hope youre taking names of all of those who bad mouth you on WCN so you can point and laugh at them in Reno or wherever they decide to show their face.

Here it is:

“The Mauer Solution” would consist of 3 by-laws changes:

1 All Associate members become eligible to vote in the annual BOD elections.
2 No Professional member whose company sells products directly to professional window cleaners may be appointed to the Executive Committee.
3 Any Professional member whose company sells products directly to professional window cleaners for a period of one year must change status to Associate membership. Should be written to allow Professional member to maintain that status by ceasing direct sales to window cleaners.

I’m thinking there should be a round table on Friday morning at the convention to discuss the “Mauer Solution” - where everyone gets a copy.

2

It’s all about his being in the pocket of Chris Wallace. I find it interesting how quite he and Wallace were when Amos Landers was on the ballot.
It all goes as Nick says to his ego and of course his alliance w/ Wallace.

3

The history with Gar and wcr is so crazy. I really think I need to make a power point presentation detailing the insanity. I end up typing the story out to someone at least once a week.

4

do you have a copy to copy and paste it? haha
its asinine how he thinks his mauer solution should be grandfathered into the iwca bylaws bc he has been talking about it for 2 months haha

5

I’ll be doing a power point on FD at the July event so maybe you could do one as well.:wink:

6

[B]Gary Mauer has waged a personal war against me and my business. About 2 years ago we started a competing window cleaning forum and it quickly became more popular than Garys world forum. Gary contacted us and told us that he would like us to become sponsors if his group. We declined his invitation and he quickly told us he would make life very difficult for us until we decided to change or minds.

We thought that was a little weird and went on with our day. Then we started receiving phone calls from our vendors all the big guys. Apparently Gary Mauer had called them all and told them horrible fictitious things about us and requested that he requested they no longer do business with us.

See Gary makes his living off the sponsors of his group. He saw our growing popularity and feared his sponsors would drop him for a better advertising medium. His plan failed. People realized although Gary had done many great things for the window cleaning world, he was a mean spirited person who treated many people very poorly. There was a mass exodus from his group. Gary now only receives about 300 posts a month to his group and we receive 3,500 a month. Yes 3,500… that should tell you something right there.[/B]
[B]
You see the emails that come across his group, he has something negative to say about me every month. Do you ever here us speak poorly of him? Last month he publicly called for people to not vote for me. Strange behavior. Either way we have had enough and have decided to launch back at him. A man can only be pushed so much by someone before they fire back. I have had enough.[/B]

7

his animosity is amazing and no one here talks badly about wcn… other than getting banned and so forth.
im glad you have decided to fire back… telling people to not vote for you is ridiculous.
i think it all comes down to being threatened by what you guys have built… he makes himself look like a fool

8

I dont even know who this Gary Mauer fellow is. From the sounds I hear, I care not to. I know one thing. His website/forum sucks. No really, it sucks. The way its its laid out, I have a hard time reading posts. I love my WCR family:) Whatcha got up your sleeve Chris? I got your back. They don’t call me bumpy knuckles for nothing.

This all sounds like a reality tv show.

9

Just like the old saying goes…Dont **** where you eat…And Mr.Mauer took
a huge dump.

I didnt know the story until reading this copy and paste from Chris. Is this all connected to the Sorbo thing(because dont know that story either)

Congrats again chris!

10

Don’t give Chris any more ideas… He’s busy enough.

11

Perfect idea. It will be like Big Brother only we’ll call it Little Gar. Our opening narrative each episode will be - “tune in to see what mayhem Little Gar get’s himself into this week”.:smiley:

12

=============================

I sent a paraphrase of your first paragraph to Gary’s list, although it may not show up for some unknown reason.

He should be questioned on whether he said he would make life difficult for you if you did not sponsor his group. If that is true, it says a lot. That is a serous accusation.

13

I remember stumbling onto Gary’s forum years ago. I signed up to learn and give my input. Most of the threads were about FD and I did learn a ton. Whenever I did post, he would reply to the group and ‘scold’ me for not including my full name or whatever other rule he was enforcing at the time. You don’t need to know where I live or the name of my business to read my opinions. I stopped posting out of sheer frustration.
WCR does not edit anything (although some threads do go off the rails sometimes) and that to me is real life. Some people have different ideas and opinions but it’s not anyones job to judge.
If we take the higher ground and keep our lips shut he will make an a$$ of himself every time he opens his mouth.

Jeff

14

Chris can tell you I was a member of his group for about 6 hours. Then I requested to be removed after I saw how he treated everyone. I put up a post asking something along the lines of why Chris and his crew were being singled out? I forgot the response but I responsed with a post about “honesty” and allowing window cleaners to know the truth about a product if it’s junk or not. Long story short 6 hours later I left that group as quick as I could.

15

don’t think so because I did a lot of good the 3 years I was on the board and Chris will to!

That is the point because I do supply window cleaners with a very good SimPole product.
SimPole, Inc.
But, I also run a full time window cleaning company with certified window cleaners (me included) and I still wash windows!
When I was on the IWCA board 2001 to 2005 . But Broad is more fun as Chris will soon find out!
I help start the outdoor Demo’s in 2002 in Alt. GA. and many vender’s benefits from that.
My $1,000.00 was the first cash into the certification program!
Because, I also run SimPole I will have to pick either WeDewWindows Inc. or SimPole? to be part of the IWCA? according to GM !
I feel they both could be part of the IWCA and not be conflict of interest!
I also feel this will not work because you don’t want to mess up the Certification program that many members work very hard on.
It is the key why I stay in the IWCA.org and you don’t want to mess that up!
Either have them stay off the broad which is Ok, with me, but don’t make people choice one or the other or you can kiss the IWCA.ORG goodbye.
We have lost two many members to other group already!

Phillip Alexander
WeDewWindows Inc.
SimPole Inc.
Making products in the USA for window cleaners!
“Be Safe Stay on the Ground with WFP!”
SimPole, Inc.
WE’DEW’ WINDOWS, INC
phil@wedewwindows.com
phil@simpole.com

16

I feel we need to eat dirt because we all our children at times!

Phillip Alexander
WeDewWindows Inc.
SimPole Inc.
Making products in the USA for window cleaners!
“Be Safe Stay on the Ground with WFP!”
SimPole, Inc.
WE’DEW’ WINDOWS, INC
phil@wedewwindows.com
phil@simpole.com:slight_smile:

17

Dirt is good for you!
[ame=“- YouTube”]YouTube- Dirt is good for you![/ame]

18

So is a strong immune system (to fight off whatever might be in that soil).

19

The relationship between the Window Cleaning Network and other forums can be understood in the simplest terms - without the unfortunate speculation and accusation.

The Window Cleaning Network has an independent forum supported by sponsors - somewhat similar to the way an independent magazine would be supported by advertisers.

Some suppliers have in-house forums that support their supply businesses - like WCR and - and for competitive reasons have chosen not to be sponsors here. It is their right to make that choice, but the sponsorship option is still available to them.

The Window Cleaning Network offers not for profit associations many of the benefits of sponsorship, but would require other types of associations (like MWCoA and their forum) to become sponsors if the owners wish to participate here. It is their choice, and the sponsorship option is available.

I have to operate this forum in a way that respects the business model - I can’t make exceptions for any potential sponsor, just because I take heat on their forum. (Does anyone think that if they complained loudly enough, they could get a free magazine ad?)

Apparently an alternative story as to how this works has been posted on WCR - that says I sort of tried to force myself on WCR and threatened to make life miserable for them. Here’s why you should not believe a word of it;

1 - They asked me about sponsorship - several times - even before they started the forum, and expressed a willingness to get on board with a sponsorship.
2 - To the best of my recollection I have never called them, and they have never called me.
3 - I have never threatened them or anyone - potential sponsor or not. I would never tell anyone I’d make their life miserable and never have.
4 - I can promise you all that NOBODY has a threatening email from me. It simply does not happen, because it has been my personal policy for 10 or 12 years never to send anyone an email I couldn’t bear to see posted on a forum or passed around privately.

It may help to realize that the 25+ Window Cleaning Network sponsors are run by intelligent, confident business people who would cut me off in a heartbeat if I behaved that way toward them.

Anyway, the real backstory is common sense business decisions made by forum hosts, based on what they perceive is in their own best interest.

I hope that helps, but please don’t respond - unless you’d like to contact me privately. It is the policy here not to publicly debate the way this forum is run.

Thanks,

Gary Mauer - Moderator
Window Cleaning Network
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

[URL=“http://www.window-cleaning.net”]

20

Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 2:01 PM

[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff](This first paragraph is kinda blunt - after that I ease up quite a bit.)[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]There are precious few people fighting for window cleaners. Most people are just trying to get along, and most of the rest don’t want to hear about it. Priority #1 is stop making my brain hurt, stop whining, stop explaining your principles - so it’s no surprise we are in these predicaments.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Chris Lambrinides cannot end infighting - and I’ve never seen any indication he wants to. He has the luxury of having people like Larry Lackzo, Tony Evans, Micah Kommers, etc making inflammatory statements on his behalf - but that only keeps him clean. It doesn’t make him the uniter.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]As for “Dinosaurs must Die” - that is a slogan they have used since the beginning. Some will claim it means fresh thinking is needed, but much of the time it’s clear that it means the end of their competition. They offered a reward for anyone who would disrupt the Picnic with a dinosaur costume. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]They named the bogus auto poster (that steals WCmail messages) the Dino Bot. They named it for their attempt to eliminate me.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][B]They threaten privately to put me out of business[/B]. So maybe it seems like a cartoon to many people, I know what it means.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]And when someone on WCR says they are going to kick me in the nuts or that I should get a karate chop, Lambrinides says nothing. He lets everyone assume he wants me done in, even if he only has the courage to say it privately.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]If it was just a cute slogan, they would have grown out of it by now - but they are deadly serious.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Bottom line - if they can get me out of the way, they can cut window cleaners off from the other suppliers.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]They don’t want to just compete - they want to eliminate.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [/LEFT]

[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]As for IWCA supplier support, [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]I think you keep taking the money and other assets the suppliers bring to the table - and window cleaners should keep making the decisions, as they always have.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]T[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]hat means you keep excluding all the suppliers. [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]If you give one supplier special voting status because he’s a window cleaner, then you should expect less support from other suppliers. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Suppliers know that Chris will be making suggestions and voting on stuff that affects his supply business. They will be discouraged. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]That’s the part the IWCA hasn’t figured out. They are hoping the gravy train continues. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]A few years ago, when the IWCA decided to schedule a seminar the day the Picnic started - how do you think Chris would have voted, knowing a[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]ll of his competition is showing in Oconomowoc? [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]A few years earlier, the IWCA had a seminar in Oconomowoc the day before the Picnic. How do you think he would have voted on that?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]The other problem with letting suppliers in on the voting is that i[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]f a committee or the BOD is about to do something wrong, and some of your customers are among those who are about to do it, you are not going to get in their face. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Case in point: at the last meeting, the Convention committee and the glass committee set up a window cleaner to do a fabricating debris seminar. The guy has said he’s given up the fight. He says he promises not to use a scraper on tempered glass, and won’t even discuss a waiver unless the builder complains about he way the windows look.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]They removed Craig Aldrich, even though he wanted to do it again.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]If I had been there, I would not have been shy about rocking the boat - but nobody there stood up for presenting the IWCA’s official position - not even Chris Lambrinides, who attended both committee meetings.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Not to single Chris out - e[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]veryone sat on their hands at the IWCA meeting in LA - there’s a lot of blame to go around for that - but the point is you can’t count on a supplier to be the one to put his foot down. He doesn’t want to step in front of the IWCA steamroller any more than any other supplier because he doesn’t want to offend customers.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]He’s going to vote like a supplier - and that means either looking out for angles that benefit him, or keeping his mouth shut.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]So Chris Lambrinides should get in line with the other suppliers who want to help but rarely speak out on contentious issues.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Some people say suppliers can’t understand window cleaning - but suppliers talk to more window cleaners than any window cleaner ever does, And a successful supply business is an incredible feat of business skill. Can you imagine yourself managing a couple hundred g’s of inventory and trying to peddle a million dollars worth of $8 squeegees and $2 rubbers?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]By the way - in your message to the group you said there was fuss about Tony’s seminar in Iowa. What fuss? I said publicly he’d be a good speaker, and I didn’t ask anyone to stay away. I took the high road even though Tony has obviously got me in his sights.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]PS - Be sure to send another message about Tom Schmit.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]

[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Thanks,[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Gary Mauer[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT]