I’ve never understood the mindset that a business always has to grow. Yeah, it’s depressing to see your business shrinking, but isn’t that bound to happen? You can’t grow forever. I’ve always thought providing for yourself (and employees, if you have any) should be the goal. If you can grow that’s great, but all you really need to do is stay stable (which will often mean growing just to keep yourself where you’re at).
That’s why this article piqued my interest. Ah, kindred spirits.
If you haven’t seen Dove’s newest ads, they use wrinkled, freckled and full-figured women–instead of skinny waifs–to hock beauty products. What a concept, huh?
But it wasn’t so easy to convince some men on the marketing team that most advertising makes many women feel inferior. How did they help the men understand? A nice little analogy:
“Imagine thinking every day that your dick isn’t big enough. Men just aren’t surrounded by images that make them feel deeply insecure.”
They got the message. Read the whole story behind Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign.
Despite its image as the upscale discounter, Target is actually cheaper than Wal-Mart. A recent Star Tribune story explored whether or not Target’s upscaled status would turn into a liability when rising gas prices force consumers to focus on price over style.
As part of the story they did a comparison shopping test to see which store was cheaper. Of 14 identical items from various departments, the total at Target came to $106.08, 87 cents cheaper than Wal-Mart and $17.08 cheaper than K-Mart.
Last month our house suffered some minor damage in a storm. I called two local companies before having a friend help me fix the damage. One company gave me a ballpark quote over the phone and explained that since they were so busy it would be a week before they could do my house. The guy was pretty nice about it, honest about the cost and that it was a pretty simple job I could probably do myself if I could get up there. Which is what we ended up doing (well, not me, but a friend).
The other company I called took down my name and said they’d have their estimator give me a call back. Guess when he called? Today. I called them on July 26. They get back to me on August 18. Ummm, nice try.
I can understand when a company is busy and they don’t have time for a nothing job like mine (I’ve certainly been in that position). That’s understandable. But shouldn’t you be following up a little sooner? Maybe just call and say, hey we can’t get to you for a month. It would at least give the opportunity to make a good impression, maybe even refer another company instead. Oh well.
Wells Fargo, you suck. It’s not enough that we owe you thousands and thousands of dollars in student loans. You have to make the process incredibly painful.
[begin rant]
Last week I had the disturbing feeling that my work had been stolen. Everyone makes a big deal about music piracy, which is indeed a big issue (I just wrote an article about it for a teen web site, which was a pain to write since it seems like such a no-brainer issue; I then spent my entire weekend at Sonshine telling the teens not be thieves. It’s not a no-brainer issue.), but it’s not the only kind of piracy going on. Articles
Gas stations must have the absolute worst customer service ever. Many of them make you pre-pay (at least the ones near my house) which is annoying. Normally I just pay at the pump and it’s not an issue. But today I wanted to run inside and get a drink. The pre-pay requirement meant I’d have to go inside, pre-pay, come back out and pump my gas, then go back inside to get my drink.
Screw it. I payed at the pump and my bought my drink somewhere else.
I understand why they make you pre-pay. They can’t afford to have everyone drive off with free gas. Especially in my neighborhood it makes sense. But I’ve got to think treating all your customers like thieves doesn’t do much for the community or your customer service. There’s got to be a better way.
Barnes & Noble is competing with it self. Last week I went to my local Barnes & Noble to pick up a few CDs with a gift card I’d received for my birthday (Somehow I can’t bring myself to buy books with those gift cards, as goofy as that sounds. A new book would use up the entire card, and I tend to justify used books whether it’s my birthday or not. CDs, on the other hand, I can rarely justify, so birthday money often goes to them).
I had $25 to spend and wanted several CDs. I’d probably have to settle for two, but it shouldn’t be that hard. Here’s what I found at the real live Barnes & Noble:
How many times must the UPS man drive by / Before he’ll deliver my goods?
Sheesh. I’m expecting a UPS package today and I’ve seen the UPS truck drive by three times already without delivering anything to me. What can brown do for me? Brown can deliver my freaking package without taunting me.
Update: Apparently Brown did deliver my package, according to the tracking number results, at 1:40 p.m. and left it at my front door. Well, there aren’t any packages on my front door, and nobody knocked at 1:40 p.m. My two dogs would have made me aware of something as dangerous as that. So we’ll see if UPS can prove themselves.
Update (again): Well, Brown finally delivered my package. Apparently the guy had delivered it a few doors down to the wrong house, and the address number happened to be faded enough that a “2” looked like a “1”. Fair enough. After stopping at my house he tracked the package down and re-delivered it to me (A process that took almost two hours–I really hope he didn’t spend those two hours driving up and down streets looking for my package. Yikes. That’s dedication to get a job done right, but holy cow.).
So after an afternoon of waiting I finally have the CDs I bought with my birthday money from BarnesandNoble.com, which is an entirely different marketing rant.
I filled up my gas tank today and as I was tightening the gas cap the pump beeped at me and asked if I’d like a receipt.
Yes.
It beeped and told me it was printing one, and I waited dutifully. My eyes went from the little electronic screen to the spot where the paper is supposed to come out.
No paper.
Sigh.
Roll eyes.
Yet again the pump and it’s self-serve convenience was mocking me. I walked into the store and asked for a receipt for pump 11. The cashier rattled off the price and I nodded. He handed me my receipt and then did something no other cashier has ever done when the self-service pump failed to issue the receipt it asked if I wanted: “Sorry about that,” he said.
That’s all I wanted. If your stuff doesn’t work right, at least acknowledge it.