What Does Your Makeup Say About You?

There’s a lot of talk about durability in the dispatch furniture industry, and we get asked a ton of questions. Is steel stronger? Is wood stronger? Is 12-gauge steel really better than 14-gauge steel? What is the lifetime of the furniture? 10 years? 15 years? 20 years? The truth is, a dispatch console could be made of bulletproof glass and hurricane-rated I-beams, but if the integrity of the completed product isn’t tested, it couldn’t withstand a Donald Trump temper tantrum, let alone the amount of abuse a console takes in a comm center!

Early on the morning of June 12, 2016, a terrorist entered the gay nightclub PULSE in Orlando, FL and unleashed unimaginable hate on the lives of 49 innocent victims. He wounded 53 others and changed the lives of every person, family and the nation with this unmitigated reign of terror. The PULSE nightclub attack is now the worst mass shooting in United States history.

Some of you may not know that there are a variety of methods to look into when purchasing dispatch furniture, and agencies have a couple of different options when it comes to paying for it. Traditionally, purchasing console furniture is done by making a large purchase upfront through a purchase order, or PO, but many smaller agencies can struggle to come up with the funds needed to go this route. If you are one of these agencies, it may be time to look for alternative purchasing options.

WARNING: This is a baby-free article. ☺

Buying new dispatch furniture for your communications center can be a daunting task. It comes with a lot of recommendations, shared experiences and horror stories, and it's kind of like a blind date. You've heard from your friend at Comm Center A that Vendor X is a great catch! They’re attractive, timely, well-behaved, plus they come with great references; everything fits! However, when you get down to the nitty gritty, everything falls apart and nothing works out like you thought it would. As a recipient of several, horrible, no good, very bad dates, it really makes you question what you ever did to your friend at Comm Center A. I mean, this is what they REALLY think of you? But I digress…

As a child, like most, my favorite Holiday was Christmas! I always looked forward to running into my parent’s room Christmas morning to let them know that Santa had arrived. At times, we woke them up so early that my Mom and Dad would tell my sister and I to go back to bed. I guess 3 am was a little early for them. And yes, I do remember sitting in bed from 3 to 7 am wide awake in anticipation and those four hours literally felt like eternity!

Now that we’re in the mid-swing of the holiday season a lot of us are dreading stepping on the scale. But there’s some good news; according to Doctor Deborah Balfanz the average American gains only one pound over the holidays. That averages out to about 100 calories per day over a month long period.

You begged and pleaded. You worked hard to fit the treadmill into your budget for three years running and went through all of the red tape. You had all of your dispatchers sign the waivers, and the effort seemed to pay off; the treadmill was a hit! You were the hero, until a couple of months went by, and the popularity started to wain. Of course there are the dedicated few who spend an hour or two every day burning calories, but how do you keep interest high in the rest of the center? FEAR NOT! Here are five fun (and FIT!) ways to keep your treadmill desk or bike in use:

We all know that funding for even the smallest of items can feel like it takes an act of Congress or the signatures of our Four Fathers. And, we all know that keeping employees motivated and positive is an additional struggle. So when you try and do something to boost morale, such as introduce health accessories (i.e. a treadmill or bike) into the workplace, it can often feel like you’re met with road block after road block. Fortunately, there may be a solution out there that can help curb the funding hurdle.

In today’s world, everyone has seen the studies on standing at your desk. They are EVERYWHERE! Seriously. They are in the New York Times,  Forbes , Huffington Post , and Smithsonian Magazine, just to name a few. Don’t worry; in case you have been living off the grid for the last three years, I have linked to a couple of the articles.

I am lucky. Every day I step into my office, and there is my laptop. Nobody has touched it. I do not need to worry about if someone using my desk before me ate dinner, or if they are sick, or if they washed their hands after…. Ok, you get the picture. What can you do about a keyboard a mouse in a shared workspace?