Righteous Indignation...

Lost in all the madness of Roots and Blues prep is one significant piece of PJP news...our Ecolab dishwasher is FINALLY being removed next Tuesday.  It has only taken months of lobbying for removal since our contract for service ended in April for it to finally happen (we actually gave written notice to terminate in February).  Our new dishwasher, this one from the Swisher Hygiene company, promises to cost a few dollars less a month and to not require minimum monthly chemical purchases.  It should be delivered on Tuesday afternoon, hopefully just as the Ecolab dishwasher is removed. I would like to think that the removal of our current dishwasher means a close to our long and tumultuous relationship with the Ecolab corporation...but we both know that is unlikely.  I still haven't paid all those bills for the $75 a month of chemicals that we never purchased.  Every time Debbie from collections calls, I smile and remind her nicely that we won't be paying it EVER.  Because I haven't paid it, Ecolab has added on another $1000 or so in "reinstatement fees", an extra charge so vague that the collections department isn't even clear why it is assessed.

I suppose one could argue that it would be easier to just pay the past due balance and move on (and I bet Debbie from Collections would be the very first to support this idea).  But we really just can't agree out of simple principle.  And here is why...small businesses matter.  I'm washing 50 loads of dishes a day right now.  One day, we will achieve World Pie Domination and our production facility will wash 550 loads of dishes a day.  I bet I matter a lot more to the dishwashing industry when that happens than I do now.  But the point is, Ecolab doesn't care want we want or need right now...and that says a lot about their company philosophy.

More than likely, Ecolab doesn't really care about our $75 a month...how can they when they bring in millions each year?  But they care enough to send bills and call us each week about it.  So we care enough to refuse to pay it on the theory that what we need right should actually matter.

I'll guess I'll add Debbie from Collections to our Christmas card list...