Dexter placed the paper filter into the brewing chamber of the coffeemaker. He carefully measured out the scoops of ground coffee into the paper filter. It always took a little effort to get the brewing chamber placed correctly into the coffeemaker. He then filled the water reservoir to the six-cup level. After rising out the glass carafe one more time, he put the lid on it and then slid it onto the burner, checking to make sure it was in the correct place.
He pushed the button, and watched the light come on. It would take a few minutes for the coffeemaker to complete the magic task of brewing a reasonably good pot of coffee. Knowing that, Dexter headed off to the bathroom for his morning ritual.
After his shower, Dexter took a moment to study his reflection in the mirror. He decided that Samantha had been right. He was looking pretty fit. Of course, working out wouldn't put any hair back on his head. He wondered about one of those medicines intended to promote hair growth, but figured that the only hair he would grow, would be in his nose and ears.
Feeling good about himself, Dexter went into the kitchen. He grabbed a coffee cup and, without looking, picked up the glass coffee carafe from the coffeemaker. It took a fraction of a second for him to realize that it felt a little light. He looked at the carafe. It was empty.
"What the fuck? It can't be broken, it's not even a year old, and there are no moving parts," Dexter said.
A moment of inspection let him know that the coffeemaker was plugged in, there was water in the holding tank, and coffee in the brewing chamber. The 'power' light was off. He flipped the switch, and nothing happened. The power light remained off. There was no other explanation for the absence of brewed coffee, other than the coffeemaker being defective.
"This damned thing is broken," Dexter said.
For the first time in ages, the little kernel of engineer in Dexter began to emerge. Rather than toss the coffeemaker, Dexter took it apart to find out why it wasn't working (It should be noted that this was the simplest coffeemaker on the market. There just wasn't that much to it.).
It didn't take Dexter much time to locate the heating element. He put an ohmmeter on it, only to discover that there was infinite resistance. He examined the heating element, knowing that it had burned out.
"This is a piece of shit," Dexter declared as he headed out the door on his way to the shopping mall.
Five hours later, Dexter was surrounded by a variety of drip coffee makers, each of which was completely disassembled. Few devices are as simple as a coffeemaker. There were minor variations. Some had timers to turn on or off the heating element. Others had valves that allowed the user to remove the pot to pour some coffee, in the middle of the brewing cycle. Basically, though, they were the same.
Gravity forced water through a one-way valve into a small chamber containing a heating element. The one-way valve prevented the water from flowing back into the water holding tank. The heating element boiled the water, forcing it up through a simple tube. The tube released the water over the brewing basket. Gravity, again, pulled the water through the coffee grounds, out a hole at the base of the brewing basket, and into the coffee carafe.
There just isn't much that can go wrong with a drip coffeemaker except for the heating element failing, the tube getting clogged with calcium deposits, or the one-way valve sticking. The weak points are the heating element and the one-way valve. Of the two, the weakest point was the heating element.
Dexter looked around at the mess he had made in the little dinette area. The sad thing was, that most of the mess was packaging. He figured that more money had been spent on packaging the coffee machines in plastic, cardboard, and Styrofoam; than had been used to make the machines themselves.
The fact was, he'd had fun taking them apart, figuring out how they worked, and finding the design flaw in each coffeemaker ... and each of them did have a serious design flaw. Usually, there was more than one. The most common was the poor quality of the heating element. The diameter of the heating coil inside the heating element was too small. It would burn out after a few hundred uses.
This was a flaw that could easily be fixed. A ten percent increase in the diameter of the element wire, would have made it a product that lasted forever. He believed that it was a flaw that could easily be fixed by using existing products. All he had to do, now, was prove that to himself.
Feeling good for a change, he said, "That was fun. Now comes the real work."
Taking a seat in front of his computer, Dexter cracked his fingers before bringing up his browser. He was now on a mission. Two hours of searching for information on heating elements, had produced a greater understanding of what was involved in getting a quality heating element. He found several heating elements intended for commercial grade coffee makers that would work, and work well.
Although this particular project was a little outside Dexter's area of expertise, he had come to the conclusion that it was possible to build a simple drip coffeemaker, that could be used for at least twenty years. He knew there were engineers out there who did this for a living. They would know of design heuristics that could avoid the thousand other design problems that could emerge.
Dexter spent the next three hours writing an article entitled, "To Engineer Or Not To Engineer." It started with a simple description of his problem with finding a quality coffeemaker. He wrote about how he had taken apart a number of machines of various manufacture to discover common underlying design flaws.
He described how good engineers could create a quality product if allowed to actually do their jobs. He called upon engineers who created coffee makers, toasters, and other common appliances to consider leaving the monolithic companies that forced them into producing poorly designed and manufactured products. He suggested that they open their own companies to produce well-designed products, following well established engineering principles.
Rather than trying to start a company that produced a hundred different products, they should focus on a single quality product line for home markets. In terms of coffeemakers, he suggested single cup, six cup, and twelve cup machines. These three simple products could take over an entire market sector, if designed and manufactured to high standards.
Improvements in quality and style should be done at an engineering pace, rather than in a marketeer's frenzy. There was no real reason to create a new style of coffeemaker every year, to keep up with some fad in fashion. Dexter didn't know of anyone who redecorated their kitchen every year by going out and buying all new appliances. He did know people, including himself, who complained that their coffeemaker broke after a year and they'd had to replace it.
Dexter argued that a good engineer could design products that would last twenty years with a price tag of only a few dollars more than the price of the garbage currently on the market. There was no real reason that these products couldn't last a lifetime. He suggested they be called 'Heirloom Products, ' after the idea that children could inherit their parent's coffeemaker, toaster, or whatever.
Dexter recognized that the most immediate question would be the profitability of such a strategy. He pointed out a certain tool company, with a lifetime warranty on its products, had been selling tools for decades. He noted that not only was it still in business, it was still at the top of its trade.
He suggested that having a coffeemaker with that same kind of warranty would revolutionize the world of household appliances. The idea of a 'no questions asked, in store replacement' strategy on products with a twenty-year warranty was suggested. All it would require, would be inscribing the date of manufacture on the base of the product.
Continuing with the demand for quality, Dexter felt that engineers should sign their work. It was a sign of pride and ownership. There was nothing like buying a product with the name of the person who designed it inscribed on it, somewhere. John Deere signed his product by putting his name upon it. Henry Ford did the same. Why not small appliances?
Dexter uploaded the article. It was only after finishing it that he realized he had worked through breakfast and lunch. Despite having parts of a dozen coffee makers lying around the place, he still hadn't even had a cup of coffee. It had been a long time since anything had captured his interest like that.
After a late lunch, Dexter puttered around his apartment. He cleaned up the mess he had created by taking apart so many coffee makers. It was the heat conducting grease that was the most difficult to eliminate. There were going to be spots of it on the floor for a long time. He figured the only way to get rid of it, was to replace the carpet.
He checked the website over the course of the afternoon, finding that his article had generated almost no interest. There had been a few emails, but mostly they were telling him that it was the worst article that he had put on the site yet.
Well, that was to be expected. Who was really in a position to leave the company where they were working, to start up something that was so risky? Dexter had to admit that it was a pipe dream. He knew he didn't know enough to start a venture like that, even though he had the money.
It was dinnertime before he plopped himself down in front of his television set to watch the news. Considering how often he was mentioned, it had become habit to watch the business news programs, just to see what they were saying about him. He thought he had become thick-skinned when it came to news commentaries.
"Dexter James is a naive fool," was the lead statement to that evening's program.
For the next thirty minutes he listened while pundits, experts, and financial advisers trashed his article. According to them, he had shown his true ignorance of how a business was run. Dexter's ears felt so hot, that he was amazed his hair didn't catch fire.
At the second commercial break, Dexter pulled out his cell phone and called his internet provider. He warned them to ramp up the bandwidth, and to get the backup servers online. He expected a firestorm to erupt at any time. The system administrator on the other end of the call, let Dexter know that that traffic was already increasing.
After Dexter hung up, his cell phone rang. He checked the caller id and was surprised by the identity of his caller.
Dexter answered, "Hello, Ed."
"Dexter, have you been listening to the garbage being spouted on the Xander Show?" Ed Daimler asked.
"Yes, I have," Dexter answered.
Ed said, "I'm pissed."
"It definitely isn't very flattering to me," Dexter said.
The fact was that the program had transitioned from criticizing his ideas, to criticizing him. He felt that this was rather unprofessional of the individuals making the commentaries. It was one thing to say that an idea was bad. It was another thing entirely to say the person with the idea was a total idiot.
"I read your article and I agree with damned near every word you wrote. I started my company on the principle of quality first. I even put my name on the door of the company, to let people know that I took pride in my work. I backed my products with the most aggressive warranty in the market. To hear those scum sucking assholes declare that to be the epitome of narcissism and bad business practice, makes me mad."
"I agree with you," Dexter said, thinking that Ed was going to write a nasty email to Phil Xander.
Ed said, "I'm going to the studio tomorrow, to give that damned Phil Xander a piece of my mind."
"Really?" Dexter asked surprised that Ed would defend him like that.
"Yes. And I want you to come with me," Ed said.
That took Dexter by surprise.
Stuttering, Dexter said, "I ... I ... I've never been on television, before."
"No problem. Just tell it like it is, and you'll trample those idiots into the ground," Ed said.
"But..."
"They wouldn't know how to run a lemonade stand, much less a real business."
"But..."
"I know a couple of other men whose names are on their company. I'll be making some calls, tonight. I'll bet I can find a dozen of them who would join us on that show. We'll show those assholes what's what," Ed said.
"You're really angry," Dexter said.
Ed said, "You bet I am. I built Daimler Plastics from the ground up. I stood behind every product I shipped out the door. When I retired, the suits that took over the company damned near destroyed it. They were talking crap like those assholes on the Xander Show. It has got to stop."
"I couldn't agree with you more," Dexter said.
Unfortunately, Dexter didn't think he would make a very good spokesperson. He didn't have the full head of hair with the proper amount of gray, to give him that distinguished leader look like most executives had. He didn't even have a good suit to wear on the program. At best, he had a sport coat, slacks, and white shirt.
"Dexter, I really want you to go there with me," Ed said.
"Where, exactly, would we be going?" Dexter asked.
"New York City."
"I'll have to see if I can get a flight," Dexter said.
He figured that a last minute flight would cost a fortune, but he could afford it. It would probably be an early morning flight, and he'd arrive feeling like hell. He hated business travel.
"Dexter, I know you have money. It's time you learned how to use it to your best advantage. Call up an executive charter service. Arrange for them to fly you, tomorrow, at a time of your convenience. They can arrange for a limo to take you to the Astoria. We'll meet there around two in the afternoon, and then head over to the studio," Ed said.
"You don't even know if they are going to put us on the show," Dexter said.
Ed laughed. "There's a certain real estate magnate whose name is on a dozen buildings and businesses around the country. He'll get us invited."
"Oh."
Ed said, "I happen to be camping, so I won't be bringing a suit with me. In fact, I'll be there dressed real casual: slacks and a long-sleeved blue shirt. I suggest that you wear something similar."
"Why?" Dexter asked.
"I want them to think of us as working men, not lawyers or accountants or sniveling little assholes who hide behind silk ties and expensive suits. I want to come across as a guy who is not afraid of rolling up his shirtsleeves and getting dirty to get the job done. You see, business isn't about making the deal. It's about delivering on the deal, so you get paid," Ed answered.
"That's a good line. I hope you use it, tomorrow," Dexter said.
"Don't worry. You'll be doing most of the talking," Ed said.
Dexter said, "You know ... I'm kind of a private person."
"You'll come across as sincere."
"I'm not really a public speaker."
"You're plenty eloquent."
"I'm going to look like fool and that wouldn't reflect well on you," Dexter said.
"Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself," Ed said.
"Okay ... I guess I'll see you at the Astoria."
"Good. I've got some calls to make," Ed said before ending the call.
Dexter stared at the phone, realizing that he had just agreed to appear on an internationally broadcast business program.
"Oh, shit! What did I just do?"
Edited By TeNderLoin