Customer Service

After waiting patiently in a big box store for at least 30 minutes without seeing hide nor hair of a service person... After being told repeatedly by people that obviously worked in the store "sorry, but this isn't my department, someone will be along to help you"... After finally being helped by a bored and seemingly humourless customer service rep, who seemed to do the absolute minimum required to help, I am left wondering, oh customer service, where have you gone?

I can see it dwindling in the place I work too, where coworkers go out of their way to say "I'm not on client service today, I can't help people" "It's not my day" or "it's not my job". I see the frustrated look on the client's face - they only came here to ask for what we said we would provide. They're not asking us to go out of our way to help them - and in fact, we're getting paid TO help them, so why do we act like it's such an inconvenience???

I'm not sure if this is a symptom of an individualistic world, where we can tune others out using our technologies, or whether this is a symptom of the commodification of everything, or whether it's merely apathy, but I do think that if we fail to service our customers, we will lose them. They will find what they want elsewhere for a better price (probably the Internet, because if they're not getting service ANYWAY, they might as well shop where there isn't any) and we stand to lose our reason d'etre. And so customer service apathy is a dangerous trap to fall into.

It sounds cheesy, but if we simply CARE for other people in small ways on a day to day basis, then customer service isn't even an issue. I challenge everyone to care a little more today - at work or elsewhere, and see what comes of it.

Does the Internet Facilitate Democracy?

Well... In my humble opinion yes, and no.

All the buzz in the blogosphere of late about unfair funding practices for elections shows that technology helps people do 2 things: 1. access previously unaccessible information and 2. talk about it with each other. Since access to information and dialog are essential for a working democracy, technology does make a difference, does help citizens create a more democratic society.

but on the other hand, who owns the technological infrastructure anyway? Large corporate interests. And technology is only as good as the coding behind it. In the book CODE, Lawrence Lessig reminds us that if corporate and government interests want to code Internet software for commercial gain, then they will. And coding for commercial gain is often at odds with coding for the citizenry to engage in democratic dialog. Besides, judging by the results of the last US election, fear is a much more powerful motivator than rational dialog and access to information when it comes to making an important decision like who to nominate King for four years.

So technology has the potential to aid democracy, but only people can live up to the potential. Back to square one?

The Relationship End User Agreement

I think relationships should have end user agreements. What would yours look like if you valued yourself enough to have one? What would your potential mate have to do, or accept before he or she would be allowed to download your application? How would your dating life change if, even secretly and in principle only, you had a list of conditions that had to be met before you would let a person move past the thirty day trial period?

I think mine would go something like this:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NOTICE TO BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND: PLEASE READ THIS CONTRACT CAREFULLY, BY DATING, COMMITTING TO, AND HAVING SEX WITH ALL OR ANY PORTION OF THIS WOMAN, YOU ACCEPT ALL TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING, IN PARTICULAR THE LIMITATIONS ON DATING AND HAVING SEX WITH OTHER PEOPLE CONTAINED IN SECTION 2. YOU AGREE THAT THIS AGREEMENT IS ENFORCEABLE LIKE ANY WRITTEN NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT SIGNED BY YOU. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT DATE THIS WOMAN.

1.Definitions: "Woman" means the girl whose pants you're looking to get into, silly.

2.Licenses: If you obtained the woman with her explicit consent, and subject to your compliance with the terms of this agreement (this "Agreement"), including the restrictions in Section 2.2, You are granted an exclusive license to Date this woman in the manner described in the documentation as follows.

2.1 General Use: You may take this woman out for dinner, movies, or coffee or be taken out for same by this woman. You may also engage in certain acts of physical intimacy, cuddling, and emotional support.

2.2 Limitations: You may NOT date any other woman concurrently, or otherwise abuse the trust placed upon you while in this relationship. You may NOT physically, psychologically or emotionally harm the woman. You may NOT engage in passive aggressive guilt trips nor side against this woman in an argument with your mother. Failure to comply with these limitations will result in immediate revoking of the dating contract and possible legal action or psychological trauma

If you have any questions regarding this Agreement or if you wish to request any information from the woman please use the address and contact information included with this product or via the web at www.getaclue.com to contact the dating office serving your jurisdiction

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Of course it's a joke, and everything is exaggerated for comedic effect, but it's worth thinking about. What are you not willing to compromise on in your relationships with others. And if you find something that you are currently compromising on when you really shouldn't be, what can you do to change it?

Holy Patriarchy Batman!

Ok... you just have to laugh. I came across this link via BoingBoing and it was an interesting exploration of the Male Gaze.

The women who are subjects of the photography are treated almost as children. The weaker, even lesser sex who must be spoiled, handled with kid gloves, and definitely not taken seriously. This is not a photographers how-to guide but a magazine by men, for men, about such topics as how to take pictures of a woman in a phone book without her noticing; how to pick up beautiful female hitch-hikers, and my favorite, how to deal with a "honey bear" without getting your cigarettes (or pants) stolen.

The photos themselves are great, and in their own way revealing as well.

As a smart woman, who also poses for the occasional pinup pic, I for one am glad to not be pigeon-holed into the soft porn "glamour" persona of yesteryear. As much as I understand that we still have a long way to go in fighting for women's rights, sometimes it's also good to remember how far we've come.

The Six Million Dollar Blog

It seems we've lost all our readers, and I understand why. Heck, I've even lost Nigel (haha) and since we've been so negligent at updating I get the moving on thing.

So now here comes the long uphill battle of building a blog again.

Reminder: post every day, write about what you are passionate about, keep posting, build links...

keep posting, write what you are passionate about, build links...

If you build it they will come?

Seth Godin reminds us to keep things short and thought provoking. Too long and you'll just lose people.

What am I passionate about? Arts, Performance, Activism and Communication.
So for my part, I'll try to focus on those, and tag posts accordingly. Why rebuild it unless you can rebuild it (we have the technology: faster, better, the six million dollar blog)