Nonnymus > wrote in :

> Brick wrote:
>
>>
>> Welcome aboard Alan. It happens that I use a Silver Smoker as well.
>> But, mine is an original New Braunfels Silver Smoker which is head
>> and shoulders better made then the current Charbroil Silver Smoker
>> which resulted from the Charbroil buyout of the NB Company.
>
> Brick, I'm not qualified to comment on the NB original or post
> acquisition issue, but your comments sure bring up some interesting
> memories from my past. I don't think I'll ever understand the
reasoning
> behind a pack of peckerhead pencil pushers deciding to buy a company,
> then cheapening its product, creating a mess, then selling it out at a
> loss. It happened with lawn mowers, motorcycles, chain saws, autos,
> electronics etc. and the story is almost always the same:

<snip>

> As a friend once told me, "Nonny, there's a lot of stupid out there."
>
>
> Nonny

Not exactly relevant to my original question, Nonny, but you _have_
pushed a lot of sympathetic buttons here. I don't know from the old
company and the new company, I just know when I did some basic web
research, the Silver Smoker was well thought of and CharBroil was a
decent name. But Brick is right on about the gaps in the fire door, the
grill height, etc. I've lurked enough to know that maintaining the
proper temperature is an art and not having good equipment doesn't help.

I'm a high tech kind of guy and over the years, I've seen all the things
you mention happen over and over again in my industry until I'd almost
rather tell people I sell insurance for a living than tell them I'm in
the computer business.

The comedian Ron White says you can't fix stupid. But I think in a lot
of cases you can. We're going through a period when companies have
forgotten that customers come first. But I was taught by a lot of very
good mentors that it's easier to keep customers you have by treating
them right rather than trying to find new ones after you've screwed over
the old ones. If being stupid hits the bottom line, someone will pay
attention. So hang in there, and when you're not happy, bitch a lot.

In the meantime, on the original topic, thanks to everyone for the warm
welcome. I wouldn't have expected anything else. And thanks for the
pointers. I'll follow up. And like a lot of you with obviously very
good self images, I'll be posting about my screw-ups so we can all have
a good laugh.

By the way, I'm posting from Massachusetts, where we just celebrated the
state holiday known as "Stupid Day", otherwise known as the first
snowfall of the season when everyone forgets how to drive in the stuff.
So the question is, for the rest of you folks who know what winter is,
do you continue smokin' through the cold and snow, or do we wait until
spring to get serious?