I gave 21 month old Hayden an iTouch. She was always using Jill’s iPhone; often when I would call or soon after a missed call. For some reason she would never tell her mother that I had called. Having her own iTouch seemed the perfect solution. Jill would know I called and the life of her iPhone would be extended at least a year. And all was going along swimmingly for a month. Other kids and parents would ooh and aah as Hayden navigated through the touch screen and played counting games and matched barnyard animals to their silhouettes. Her mother and I would beam at the feats of this amazing child. She also liked to watch her favorite YouTube videos of Elmo, Dora and others. She hadn’t figured out the navigation so she would ask Jill to change videos once she tired of the one playing and replaying. All was well in Hayden land.
But then one day at 22 months she did figure out how to navigate YouTube. She knows she likes Dora but doesn’t know she wouldn’t like “Death of Dora.” We did not see that coming. Besides her nightmares, Jill and I have this fear that some unsuspecting child and mother coming over to watch her play on the iTouch only to see Dora’s limbs being severed by a chainsaw. I know I don’t sleep nights anymore.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Can't live with them, can't live without them - Verizon
The phone companies provide us services that we really need: cell phones, home phones, DSL and WiFi in many locations. Life without the Internet or a cell phone is hard to fathom these days. And they work so hard for our business. I recently switched to Verizon’s DSL service. I had gotten something in the mail from them at least twice a week for months. It is hard to watch a TV show without seeing a Verizon or AT&T ad. So why do they do such a crappy job of service once you sign up?
I (really Shirley) had previous experiences with ordering DSL in California back in 2000. They (AT&T) had orders backlogged for 90 days and then failed to show up for the install. They had lost 100,000 orders. Oops, back to the back of the line. I would guess that Shirley made 20 different calls to them with an average duration of 2 hours each. It took that long to get to a person who would answer the phone with “How can I provide you with excellent service?” They had no clue. Verizon has gotten better over the past ten years based on where they started but it is still really sad. This time we were given three different “service ready” dates. The 3rd time it actually worked up not until after 6 PM. They somehow forget to tell you about the after 6 PM part. It seems like it would be so easy to do it right, saving them a lot of money and their customer tremendous frustration. All they need to do is communicate the right “service ready” date and time. You might think my case was a fluke but almost the same thing happened to Eric 6 months earlier.
I (really Shirley) had previous experiences with ordering DSL in California back in 2000. They (AT&T) had orders backlogged for 90 days and then failed to show up for the install. They had lost 100,000 orders. Oops, back to the back of the line. I would guess that Shirley made 20 different calls to them with an average duration of 2 hours each. It took that long to get to a person who would answer the phone with “How can I provide you with excellent service?” They had no clue. Verizon has gotten better over the past ten years based on where they started but it is still really sad. This time we were given three different “service ready” dates. The 3rd time it actually worked up not until after 6 PM. They somehow forget to tell you about the after 6 PM part. It seems like it would be so easy to do it right, saving them a lot of money and their customer tremendous frustration. All they need to do is communicate the right “service ready” date and time. You might think my case was a fluke but almost the same thing happened to Eric 6 months earlier.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Not in Kansas Anymore
I made it home from a speaking gig in the flat, white Wichita. I know it is hard to believe that someone from Dallas complains about a place being flat, but that’s Wichita. As always, it’s nice to be home, especially from Wichita. … Did I mention cold?
I made it home in time for the Super Bowl. Good game and fun to see New Orleans win … and glad I didn’t bet on it. I would have gone with Peyton. “The Who” was the featured half time act. I grew up listening to “The Who” and I’m a grandfather. I think it is time they change their name to “The Was.”
It reminded me incident in the early 80s when I was managing the credit union division for EDS. A female field rep was converting a credit union in Chicago and had not doing a good job. She got more rope than most because she was attractive and personable but it got to the point that the customer complained. She was home in Dallas for a couple of days before she was scheduled to go back to Chicago. I called her in and fired her. She didn’t make a case that she was being picked on or misunderstood or how hard she worked. Instead, the only thing she said in outrage was “but I have tickets for The Who next week.” I definitely think I waited too long to fire her.
I made it home in time for the Super Bowl. Good game and fun to see New Orleans win … and glad I didn’t bet on it. I would have gone with Peyton. “The Who” was the featured half time act. I grew up listening to “The Who” and I’m a grandfather. I think it is time they change their name to “The Was.”
It reminded me incident in the early 80s when I was managing the credit union division for EDS. A female field rep was converting a credit union in Chicago and had not doing a good job. She got more rope than most because she was attractive and personable but it got to the point that the customer complained. She was home in Dallas for a couple of days before she was scheduled to go back to Chicago. I called her in and fired her. She didn’t make a case that she was being picked on or misunderstood or how hard she worked. Instead, the only thing she said in outrage was “but I have tickets for The Who next week.” I definitely think I waited too long to fire her.
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