Timing and direction matter more than speed and distance
I never knew my Papaw Marshall. He passed away when I was about 18 months old. But I’ve got his pocket watch and his old compass sitting in a box on my bedside table. Sometimes I take them out and look at them. The old brass watch is right only twice a day now, and honestly that isn’t much worse than me before my coffee. That compass still points north every time I hold it in my hand. Worn brass makes me wonder how often he glanced at that watch to see how long until dinner. Where was he trying to go when he pointed the compass needle towards north?
Those two little heirlooms remind me that direction and timing matter more than speed. Going the right way at the wrong time has gotten me just as lost as going the wrong way at the right time.
I also like to think that the destination matters less than which road you take to get there. The miles traveled and the hours logged don’t mean as much as the care you take with every step and the people you meet along the way.
Like most kids my age who were raised in a Southern Baptist church, I learned the Golden Rule in Vacation Bible School (this was before they abbreviated it to V.B.S.). “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Mrs. Auttonberry would be proud.
Maybe it was all the red Kool-Aid and Nilla Wafers, which had the nutritional value of candy-coated cardboard, but my way of thinking has changed. At the risk of profaning scripture, I like the Platinum Rule better: “Do unto others as they would want done unto them.”
How our community wants to be treated has become like my Papaw Marshall’s old compass. It is the true north guiding my company, Mike Smith Heat & Air, and showing us how to serve people every day.
Surviving Louisiana’s July and August without air conditioning would be unthinkable these days. I’ll never understand how the old timers in my Papaw Marshall’s generation made it with just an attic fan and open windows, praying that the mosquitoes didn’t carry off the baby in the night. And when December and January come, pipes can freeze and burst during our next snow-pocalypse without reliable heat.
I’ve made it my mission to make sure that our community has access to skilled and trained technicians who are more than capable of providing cold air in the summer and heat in the winter. Somehow, they magically change the weather inside homes. I see it every day. It’s the closest thing to witchcraft I’m willing to endorse. My wife’s banana pudding and meringue recipe is a close second.
But after listening to the homeowners we serve, I’ve come to believe that keeping homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter is the bare minimum. Our community deserves a high level of professionalism and customer service when inviting us into their home.
My trade, HVAC, gets a bad rap. The TikTok parodies of stereotypical “HVAC Guys” make my skin crawl. Mostly because we deserve it, bless our hearts. But why are we ok that the typical training program, if a company has one, consists of on-the-job training? My neighbors deserve better. Mike Smith’s in-house training program beats in-your-house training any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Why has it become expected for contractors to miss their appointments and not follow up with phone calls when they said they would? The most basic customer service skill of communication is neglected far too often.
We do things differently. We train not only how to add refrigerant properly or change parts the right way, but how to respect people’s time and property. How to shake a hand and look someone in the eye. Knock before entering and leave the floor cleaner than you found it. My mama would call that good home-training.
Every home is someone’s most important place in the world. That means when we’re invited in, we’re guests first and technicians second. It means respecting a busy mom’s schedule, or making sure an elderly neighbor can sleep comfortably tonight. It means explaining why something needs fixing, not just handing over a bill.
Keeping homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer is only the start of what our community needs. We keep our word. We do what we say we’re going to do. People deserve to be treated with courtesy and care.
That’s the kind of work that makes me proud. That’s the kind of work I think my Papaw Marshall, who was welder, would’ve understood. His old watch reminds me that time is precious, and the compass reminds me to stay pointed toward what matters most.
It’s not just about where you’re going. It’s about how you get there. And who you help along the way—even if it’s just helping them sleep without sweating through the sheets in July.
—
Jerod Smith
Mike Smith Heat & Air, West Monroe, LA