United Linen Blog

Happy New Year!

New Year's Dining Traditions

Eating black-eyed peas has been a long standing southern tradition and is one that many of us at United Linen enjoy.  Tradition has it that eating black-eyed peas on New Year's will bring you good luck and financial enrichment.  And while we do not put stock in eating a pea to enhance our future, it's still a fun and tasty tradition that many of us look forward to taking part in. 

Below is a recipe for making Black-Eyed Peas soup (or Hoppin' Johns) for those who do not have their own recipe or are looking to try something different.

 Ingredients:

• ham bone or salt pork

• water

• 1 cup dried black-eyed peas, rinsed and soaked overnight

• 1 cup long-grain rice

• salt and pepper

Cover ham bone or hunk of salt pork with water and cook for 2 hours.

Add 1 cup dried black-eyed peas which have been washed and soaked overnight.

Cook until almost tender.  Remove meat and add 1 cup of washed raw rice with salt and pepper.

Boil until rice is tender and liquid has evaporated.

Are there any New Year's Eve or New Year's Day dining traditions or recipes you have that you would like to share with us?

Does Tipping Lead To Better Service?

 Does tipping lead to better service?

Paul Wachter of the NY Times wrote an interesting article about a restaurant in San Diego, The Linkery, that has instituted a No-Tipping policy.  The article explores the origins of tipping, reactions from other restaurant owners about The Linkery's no-tipping policy and the struggle between a restauant's front-of-the-house and back-of-the house where income is concerned.  Regarless of several high-end restaurants adopting no-tipping policies, Wachter includes a Zagat survey showing that 80% of Americans say they perfer tipping to paying a service fee.

As a diner, what is your perception of a restaurant that would enforce a No-Tipping policy?  Do you believe tipping leads to better service?

UL Gets Named B2B Twitterer of the Year

Many thanks to Joseph Zuccaro, the Marketing Consigliere, who named United Linen the B2B Twitterer of the Year. 

Joseph, thanks for recognizing our marketing efforts in the small business world. 

So when is the interview on Good Morning America :-)?

Jesus Christ - The Reason for the Season

It's the day after Christmas, but the story is stil worth telling any day of the year.

Matthew 1  18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:  His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, shw was found to be with child thrugh the Holy  spirit.  19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph so of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  21She will give birth to a son, and you are togive hime the name Jesus, because wh will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord ahd said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" - which means, "God with us."

24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 2  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of king Herod, Magi from the east came to Jrusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is waht the prophet has written:

6"'But you, Bethlehem,. in the lasnd of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

7Then Herod calle the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child.  as soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  11On coming to the house, they sw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.  12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their contry by another route.

Mat's Day at DisneyWorld

Mat Saddoris, President and Owner of United Linen & Uniform Services gets a day at Walt Disney World...virtually.

My son was  hoping against hope that there would be no school today because of the snow we got yesterday.  And sure enough, his prayers were answered.  Another snow-day for the school kids in Bartlesville.

However, for those of us at United Linen & Uniform Services, we keep moving.  It takes more than a an inch or two of snow for us to even consider shutting down for the day.  If the snow and ice are so bad that our customers can't get to their places of business and we can't get there in a safe manner, we will make the call and shut down.  This happened once last year.

In the event that United Linen shuts down due to snow and ice, there are a couple of things we will to so our customers will know what's going on with their deliveries.

1. Website:  We will post a Special Notice on the home page of our website.  If you see this notice pop up on our home page (www.unitedlinen.com) please read it and be advised of the special instructions.  We will let you know what Routes and what parts of our service area will be affected.

2. Phone Calls:  We will also make calls to our customers in the areas we will not be able to get to and let them know when they will be getting their next delivery.  Expereience has shown that if we can't get to a customer's place of business, our customer probably didn't make it either.

You can always call us and find out the status of your delivery.  With snow and ice on the ground we'll be driving a bit slower and cautious, so our delivery times may be behind a bit.  Getting to your business safely is our top priority.

Be safe and have fun,

Why were egyptian mummies wrapped in linen?  According to Wikipedia, Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen because it was seen as a symbol of light and purity.  When the tomb of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, Rameses II., who died 1258 B.C, - 3,000 years ago - was discovered in 1881, the linen wrappings were in a state of perfect preservation.

Over the past year we have photographed and shot video of our Customer Serivce and Sales dept in action.  The following video is probably best described as "Customer Service, United Linen style".

United Linen's 2008 Humble Bumble award announced

Another Snow Day in Northeast Oklahoma

My son was  hoping against hope that there would be no school today because of the snow we got yesterday.  And sure enough, his prayers were answered.  Another snow-day for the school kids in Bartlesville.

However, for those of us at United Linen & Uniform Services, we keep moving.  It takes more than a an inch or two of snow for us to even consider shutting down for the day.  If the snow and ice are so bad that our customers can't get to their places of business and we can't get there in a safe manner, we will make the call and shut down.  This happened once last year.

In the event that United Linen shuts down due to snow and ice, there are a couple of things we will to so our customers will know what's going on with their deliveries.

1. Website:  We will post a Special Notice on the home page of our website.  If you see this notice pop up on our home page (www.unitedlinen.com) please read it and be advised of the special instructions.  We will let you know what Routes and what parts of our service area will be affected.

2. Phone Calls:  We will also make calls to our customers in the areas we will not be able to get to and let them know when they will be getting their next delivery.  Expereience has shown that if we can't get to a customer's place of business, our customer probably didn't make it either.

You can always call us and find out the status of your delivery.  With snow and ice on the ground we'll be driving a bit slower and cautious, so our delivery times may be behind a bit.  Getting to your business safely is our top priority.

Be safe and have fun,

Monday Morning Linen Trivia - Why Were Egyptian Mummies Wrapped in Linen?

Why were egyptian mummies wrapped in linen?  According to Wikipedia, Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen because it was seen as a symbol of light and purity.  When the tomb of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, Rameses II., who died 1258 B.C, - 3,000 years ago - was discovered in 1881, the linen wrappings were in a state of perfect preservation.

We Bring It! Customer Service, United Linen style

Over the past year we have photographed and shot video of our Customer Serivce and Sales dept in action.  The following video is probably best described as "Customer Service, United Linen style".