Got a second? Alps Controls needs your input on this one-question survey.

One of the (minor) disadvantages to being The New Guy at Alps Controls – especially when I’m also The New Guy to the HVAC and building automation controls industry – is that often when my boss comes to ask me a question, I have to answer something like this:*

BOSS: Say, New Guy, what do you think about selling belts on our e-catalog site?

ME: Er. Um. Belts? Like leather, snakeskin belts? Big buckles –

BOSS: No, like belts in an air handler or some other HVAC unit. You know, kind of like a fan belt that you’d have in your car? Many of our customers do maintenance on these units and would be interested in buying new and replacement belts in the standard sizes that they’d need.

ME: Right.

BOSS: …?

ME: So maybe I could find out if our customers would want to buy those, right?

BOSS: (already walking out) Good idea.

So help me out here and answer this quickie question:

*for dramatization purposes only. Actual conversation may or may not have been quicker, more succinct and less embarrassing to all parties involved.