Repair company never left holding the bag

Muhammed El-Hasan DAILY BREEZE. Daily Breeze. Torrance, Calif.: May 24, 2005. pg. C.1

Copyright Copley Press, Inc. May 24, 2005

In high school, Carl Tice dated a "beautiful" girl. As they grew closer, her father hired Tice to work at his Torrance vacuum cleaner store as a repairman.
Tice eventually married the girl, now his wife, Linda Tice, and together they bought out her father in 1987. That ended Carl Tice's career as a sound engineer
for contemporary Christian rock bands. The Tices have owned All Makes Vacuum & Sewing Machine Co. in Torrance since 1987. Tice, 40, of Torrance, sells
and repairs vacuums and sewing machines. He also sells central vacuum systems and air purifiers.

What does your job entail?

As the owner of a vacuum cleaner shop, I do everything. I have one full-time employee.
And my wife comes in and helps out. We repair 50 to 60 vacuums a week and a good 15 to 20 sewing machines a week.

How long does it take to fix a vacuum cleaner?
We try to promise our customers a 24-hour turnaround time. What's the most common vacuum problem? People
don't change their belts and bags when they should. A lot of those machines need their belts to be replaced
every four to six months. What happens is the belt starts to slip.

How can someone at home tell if the belt needs replacing?
Turn the machine on and turn it over. Put your foot on the brush, and if it doesn't take a lot of pressure
to make that brush stop, then the belt probably needs changing.

What happens if the bag's too full?
Obviously, it's not going to pick dirt up. These days with those bagless machines, a lot of people don't change
the filter when they have to. So, the machines get clogged up.

What's the strangest vacuum problem you've encountered?
I could tell you stories that couldn't be printed.

Tell me one we can print.
We had one gal bring in a machine, and it was stuffed with yellow bird feathers. We've also found small rodents
stuck in machines.

What's easier to fix, vacuums or sewing machines?
Vacuums are much simpler devices.

How many different vacuum cleaner bags do you carry?
We carry every single conceivable vacuum cleaner bag, about 200 different styles of bags.

What's the most expensive vacuum cleaner you sell?
Miele vacuums, which go for $400 to $1,300. Those machines will last easily 15, 20 years. They pick up better.
They're very ergonomic and very efficient.

What kind of vacuum do you have at home?
Miele.

What's the best part of your job?
It's actually about the satisfaction in knowing that when a customer walks out with a new machine or repair,
it's done right and matches their needs at the right price. I also love the flexibility and freedom of owning
my own business.

What's the worst part of your job?
The constant worrying about how much business you're going to do that day, whether you're going to be able
to make the mortgage payment.

What misconceptions about your work would you like to clear up?
A lot of people think appliance shops are junk shops. But it's not the "Sanford & Son" scenario. We make a fair living here.

At Work profiles a South Bay worker or employee each Tuesday.