by on July 17, 2007

Forget Wedding Crashing, Try Funeral Crashing

if this is a new practice, if it is a practice at all.

Funeral FlowersMy boss’ father passed the weekend before last, so our department attended the funeral, basically as outsiders to their friends and family. It was a small chapel, yet one older man kind of stuck out from the rest.

It is an awkward time to figure out why someone you don’t know is attending your father/husband/uncle’s funeral, but they made an attempt to find out who he was and why he was paying respects.

That all ended when he became disrespectful and beligerant. He avoided questions and would not give his name. He seemed confused that he was in the vehicle processional to the grave site, but followed anyway.

Could it be that he was just looking for free cookies and punch? Too bad we didn’t have any. Too bad he acted that way toward a grieving family.

Have you heard of this happening before?

Filed Under: I Wonder, Personal
by on July 13, 2007

Back to the Basics #1: The Golden Rule

“This is a football.”
-Vince Lombardi: Hall of Fame coach – Green Bay Packers
Back to the BasicsAfter years of being on the losing end of the scoreboard, the Packers brought in a new coach to turn things around. Vince Lombardi did just that with the simplest of methods: going back to the basics. Every year when training camp began, legend has it that he gave the following talk to ALL of the players:

“Everybody stop and gather around,” he said. Then he knelt down, picked up the pigskin, and said, “Let’s start at the beginning. This is a football. These are the yard markers. I’m the coach. You are the players.”

No matter how you cut it, to get into professional football, you have to be great – world class. Still, Coach Lombardi felt it was necessary to go all the way back to the beginning of their football lives and make sure they were all on the same page.

Every now and then, we all need to go back to the basics. I am starting a series to help you along the way. Most of these things would cause groans and moans of boredom in a business meeting or family conference, but your life will assuredly benefit from knowing the basics. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Back to the Basics, Relationships
by on July 11, 2007

Sprint Says 1,200 Customers Aren’t Worth the Trouble

A Jacksonville, FL news site is reporting that they are cancelling the contracts and accounts of over 1,000 annoying customers this month. That’s right: annoying customers.

I have to agree with their decision.

The News4Jax.com article states that the clients involved in the dump call 40-50 times per month making complaints and “unreasonable requests.” There is a line to how much time a company can spend on one person, especially if nothing productive ever happens during that time.

Several things happen with activity like this:

  • Customer service call wait times increase.
  • Customer service staff are more likely to burn out or non-service good clients.
  • Service prices will possibly rise.
  • The true wishes of the masses are overshadowed by the few.

If the customers and the provider are not happy with the situation, then I think it is right for the provider to discontinue their relationship with such problem-makers. It is obviously not something you do on the the drop of the hat because customers are the only source of income a service provider has, but some customers aren’t worth the trouble.

That’s my take on it, how do you feel about Sprint’s move?

Filed Under: Personal, Wacky Wednesday
by on July 6, 2007

New Theme Today

While hunting for a theme to put on my parent’s blog, I ran across one that I just had to modify for myself. I don’t have all of the kinks worked out for doing exactly what I want, but it was about 5 huge steps in the right direction. I’m just glad to see this week over, and I’ll start next week off… tomorrow with another half-day at the office.

Drop me a line and tell me what you think of the new digs.

Filed Under: Blogging, Design
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