Pure Walt, from Concentrated Thought
Here’s a nifty little screen shot of an Apple web site error that provides a little insight into what’s happening back on the server.
Last year when I bought my iPhone, I tried registering it at the store with an Apple Genius at my side.
This popped up. Amusing as it was, I took a snap shot of it and had been meaning to share it for a while now.
Perhaps it was a time when Apple’s servers were being over whelmed. Nonetheless, it might provide some insight as to what they’re doing.
NOTE: I tried later that evening and it worked fine; my iPhone has been operating just fine.
Pictures of plants frozen in a cast of ice.
This morning we woke up to Ashburn covered in ice. So, I grabbed the camera and braved the rain. Here’s some of nature’s beauty of an ice covered world.
If you ran a company and could make a customer for 75 cents, so happy you’d make more then 75 cents in profit, would you? If you ran a company and could cheat a customer out of 75 cents, knowing it would impact future sales, would you? Next up, we examine Sunco in Ashburn, VA – which do you think their customer service policies favor? Oh yeah, you guessed right.
I’m beginning to wonder if my second calling in life should be more formal: that of business consultant in the field of customer service.
It seems that wherever I go I notice two things. 1) Businesses complaining about profitability. 2) Customer service incidents that drive customers away.
Tonight’s story has me as passenger, while my friend tries to fill up his tire with air after going to the nearest gas station. In this case, Sunoco in Ashburn Village scored in the location category, and by its car wash station, it had a coin operated compressed air station.
My friend plunked in 75 cents to start the machine, to which an LED turned on indicating that not only was the machine suddenly out of service, but that it had swallowed his money as well.
Naturally, he drove around to the cashier to ask for his money back.
And here begins the lesson, Sunoco.
The correct response should have been to service the machine, activate it remotely, or hand back the 75 cents with profuse apologies. Any of those remedies would have been perfect and cost Sunoco nothing.
Instead, this happened.
The cashier retorted that it wasn’t the company’s problem, that he needed to call the service number on the machine. Thus, Sunoco effectively took my friend for 75 cents.
Now, to you or me, perhaps 75 cents isn’t worth a quibble over. And, discounting the inconvenience of having to drudge up more quarters, there’s a significant point that’s about to be made.
By not doing any of the good customer service solutions previously mentioned, it creates the impression that 75 cents is too great a sum of money for Sunoco to part with. And, by not placing an Out of Order sign on the machine, it perhaps further conveys maligned intent to steal from others.
The point to be made is one of lasting customer impressions. Because while Sunoco may have made 75 cents that evening, my friend refused to fill up there. And, as other people were in the car, we couldn’t believe how shitty Sunoco treated him. Do you think we’ll be filling up there? How many times will it be that much harder to simply use the Shell station up the street about a minute and a half away? And, how many people do you think this story will be told to?
While it might not make a huge dent in Sunoco’s pockets, and there certainly is no organized boycott, it serves as a good example of lost revenues. Especially when after filling up, we usually go inside and grab snacks and drinks. And, of course, that didn’t happen either.
What really struck home was as we were thinking about it, having filled up and gotten free air at the Shell station, that Sunoco tried to deny the air pump was actually theirs. The service number provided isn’t for customer refunds, it’s for getting the device fixed.
We’ll let you make the decision. Is this a Sunoco air pump? Do you see any Sunoco stickers on it? Oh, more than one? Thought so.
Some tales of social engineering games at fast food places. (pictures)
While visiting Wendy’s, my friend and I noticed that there was a small line going from the cashier to the door.
It was evident what had happened. The cashiers were slow, and being pre-lunch time, the first few people in line simply stood around the little sheep herding devices.
Most likely, this was caused by a welcome sign slightly blocking the entrance to the guides.
As we stood in line waiting, it got closer to lunch time, and a long line of people started to arrive, extending out the door.
It was at that point I turned to my friend and said, “watch this.”
As we approached the herding device, I deliberately took the long way around.
However, the guy behind me, and everyone else, blindly followed my path like ants on a sugar trail.
The line rerouted itself into the marked area, clearing the log jam of people.
So, I went to the wrong side of the crowd herding devices and waited.
When the next two people walked in together, the moment they saw me, I made sure they saw me nod to the cashier, and I stepped up pretending that I was ordering, by pointing at the menu, but in the end getting a refill. They, in turn, took the position “in line” that I had just vacated.
And, because I’m evil, I held up the line enough for a few more people to arrive, thus establishing a line that ended up looking like this…
And, that’s how we left Wendy’s. A long line of people trailing out the other door, and people arriving getting into the queue backwards.
Chic-Fil-A has a bunch of stand alone tables in groups of two.
When I last went there with a party of six, rather than trying to squeezing into a booth, I decided to conduct an experiment and alter the environment.
I simply rearranged the tables at our end into an elongated configuration that suited our party. And, rather than putting them back the way they were done, neatly pushed in the chairs so that they could accommodate another party of that size.
The obvious advantages were two fold. One, there was a larger aisle allowing for more room, better passage, and improved safety. Two, by sliding the tables up and down the line, any size party from 2 to 18 could conceivably be constructed.
And that’s how I left things.
Upon returning about two months later, I found something interesting had happened. The tables had all been rearranged in the configuration I placed them.
And, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only Chic-Fil-A in the area that has them setup this way. It’s also the most comfortable to eat at.
Here’s an Emergency Exit you won’t want to use.
Got to hand it to Costal Flats in Tysons Corner, VA. They certainly have a sense of humor when it comes to their Emergency Exit.
Parking… only in Ashburn.
Sometimes I question the self-centered behavior that frequents Ashburn parking lots.
Carrot Top made a rather dark comment about Roy (of Siegfried and Roy), and that got me wondering… how is Roy really doing.
During the Criss Angel roast in the Fantasy (12/29/2007) episode [#57] of Mindfreak, Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) made the comment: “Criss Angel the sexiest magician in Las Vegas? What’s your competition? The Amazing f[bleep]ing Johnathan, Penn & Teller, Siegfried and whatever’s left of Roy?”
And, despite my appreciation for dark humor and love for constitutional free speech, the flippant reference to the tragedy made me wince.
I’m not one of people who’s going says “it’s too soon,” makes a career of being personally offended, or demands apologies. I put the comment right up there with off remarks about 9/11 and the Challenger Explosion. In some context such things are funny, and in some they’re painful.
What made me wince, however, was the fact that I hadn’t heard anything about Roy in a while. He was a kind man, and we’ve seem to have forgotten him.
While in Vegas this last week, I had a chance to speak with one of Siegfried and Roy’s neighbors. He shared a fairly candid view on how Roy really is doing. It wasn’t pretty.
What I will share of the conversation is that the press is putting a pretty good face on it, but he’s partly paralyzed and there is some definite brain damage going on. He may stand there and look at you while you’re talking, but not be all mentally there as evidenced from lack of facial expression or interaction. The white tiger “attack” (though many suspect it was trying to protect Roy as he had a stroke) really messed him up. He’s functional, but it’s clear things aren’t going to get better, and it’s been very hard on Siegfried, who’s been endearingly supportive.
Roy, your friends and fans still think of you. We miss the way you bridge humans and animals using compassion and love as a bond.
CES 2008… in my books, it scored a solid C- for many different reasons. Is this a wake up call or a death rattle?
Every time I’ve gone to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I’ve never come back disappointed.
That was, until CES 2008.
Admittedly, I go to the show for a mixed bag of reasons. I’m a hobbyist, and I want to see what bleeding edge stuff is coming out next. I’m a reviewer, and I’m interested in identifying what works, what doesn’t, and conveying how to improve products. I’m an arm chair psychologist, and I enjoy people watching, mass crowd manipulation, and the interactions that happen between consumers and vendors. I’m a purchaser, looking for products that will improves my business and clients’ success. I’m an entertainer, and like to see performances by others. I’m also a marketer, and I like to see how others sell products.
CES, for me, is one of the rare times when all these elements come together. For instance, in years past, I’ve watched as entertainers and booth girls attract attention, pulling people out of the crowd into the vendor area. Then, with a promise of a prize or raffle, or perhaps some interesting swag, get the person to emotionally commit to giving a product attention. A quick, flashy, glitzy presentation subtly conveys memorable sales information, and when all is said and done, the consumer walks away happy, entertained, informed, and, if done right, has reason to tell others to come see that booth. Done real well, sales result for the vendor.
Effectively, you have many vendors competing for product attention at once, and the winner has to be good at not just the initial draw, but also at retention. That means starting with a good product. That means crowd manipulation. That means showmanship. That means sales. Everything.
At CES you never know what you’re going to find. Performers. T-Shirts. Gizmos. Great deals. Innovation. Music. Creativity. And, swag.
I didn’t see any stunning innovations or uses of technology that just blew my socks off as I had in years past.
Normally, I walk out of each day from CES with my arms filled with product information and swag. Instead, I literally walked out on CES this year by day two. I felt it had let me down.
And, it turns out, I wasn’t the only one. Whether back at the hotel, riding an elevator, or standing in line for a Vegas attraction, show, ride, or meal, I talked with other CES attendees, and they all seemed to focus on the lack of luster of this year’s conference.
My favorite story came from a gentleman who was a VIP, he explained that they were provided musical entertainment in the form of an exclusive show. Well, apparently the organizer of that event didn’t seem to realize that older, more conservative, business men weren’t exactly fond of rap music. The generation gap was dwarfed by the culture gap, and it conveyed a pretty negative message, and he questioned his future involvement with CES.
Even a number of big name vendors made a no show this year. Their absence was noticed as a vote of no confidence.
Vendors didn’t engage the crowd, the swag was pitiful, the drawings limited, and the product demonstrations infrequent. The last thing I want to do if I’m interested in a product now is to be told to return in two hours for the next 10 minute demo.
All in all, it was quite disappointing. And, while I have my speculations on what caused this year to be sub-satisfactory, I sincerely hope that CES 2008 becomes a wakeup call for vendors and conference organizers, rather than a death rattle.
Having gotten a decent score using a mirror, Rob practiced and then tried the Party Game hoops using a blindfold. …and got on the high score list with 141.
Having achieved 74 hoops using a mirror, Rob figured out how get the controller just right that he was confident he could pull a decent score blindfolded. We were shocked when he actually started making baskets, stunned when he passed his prior mirror score, floored when he crossed 100 points, and were astounded when he kept going.
Yes, the video is real. Yes, it’s really him. Yes, he’s holding the real controller doing the shooting. Zero trickery involved.
While I can’t score more than 12 points, my brother-in-law scored 74 points …with a mirror.
My brother-in-law, Rob, scored a 74 shooting hoops in Party Games …using a mirror.