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It will be a sad sad day!
Posted on November 7, 2007 by Brian under Games, Life, Toys, Wishlist.
A few months ago I decided that I was going to cancel my account to World of Warcraft. This does not mean that I loose my character or anything like that it just means that I am not going to pay to play for a while. I looked online to see when my account ends and it says that it ends on November 22, 2007 4:16 AM PST. That happens to fall on a Thursday I am thinking of taking that Thursday off and just staying up and playing WOW till my account disconnects. It’s what any good WOW player would do if he was going to take a break from playing. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game! and they are coming out with yet another expansion that I want that will raise the cap to level 80 (I just hit level 70 on my Warlock) and add a new series of skills and powers to my character. However, the reason I am stopping for a while is because we really want to get our house done and on the market. I don’t want any distractions from me doing that so I am packing up anything that might be a distraction to me. The WOW is getting turned off for a while, the X-Box is going to get put up for a while (or I may let my dad play Halo 2 on it till I get moved. you know to see if I can get him hooked, lol!) and the PlayStation is going to go to Game stop to see if I can get anything out of it, maybe get some credits toward a PSP game or something. But the point is I want to completely focus on getting the house remodeled so that we can move out and into a nicer house. Ching said last night that when we get into our new home I can turn my account back on and play again because thats all we will really be doing, staying at home playing games and watching movies. We wont have the money to do anything else. I am hoping that we wont go into serious debt because we have a new house but I do want a house that will make her happy. We are trying to find a comfortable middle ground right know. I am sure that we will find it eventually but we have about a year before we really need to look, at the moment its just all a dream. Until we get this house fixed up and looking better we have no hope of selling it and getting into anything so first thing is first. Until then, I will be sad because I can not deliver my other worldly level of pawnage to the unsuspecting n00bs that reside within the World of Warcraft. Maybe I can ask for the expansion for Christmas, that would be a definite motivator to get me going.
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Lunar Space Race
Posted on October 24, 2007 by Brian under News.
I have been reading in the news that China, Japan and soon India are all sending probes into space to be the first to colonize the Moon. China wants to build a space defense platform on the Moon that will be what they believe there shining monument in there Military. Personally I think they watched Austin Powers too much and think that if they put a weapons platform on the moon that the other countries will bow before there superiority. I think they have not thought this through. It’s going to take years of effort and trillions of dollars (that they do not have) to build a defense platform on the moon. Not to mention that if they choose to launch something offensively, it will take 3 days or more for it to reach earth, with all the orbital satellite’s that detect foreign object heading toward earth it will be like watching a bug hit your window in slow motion. Japan has also launched a probe to the moon. This one is a little more ambitious. They are looking to map the surface and plan on future exploration of the moon for “various” reasons. One such reason that is speculated is mining the planet for the known and unknown metals that are deposited there from the millions of years of meteor impacts. It was found years ago that there are large sources of Iron ore that have been impacted on the surface and covered over by years of silt. This could be a big boom to the Japanese economy if they can find an economic way to mine, refine and transport the ore to the planet. They themselves are in a financial bind as there space program has been delayed for years due to budget cuts, errors in equipment and overall failure of the program itself. This launch was supposed to happen four years ago but because of a scuttled launch then a series of costly failures it was postponed. Between China and Japan I would like to see who gets the claim on the Moon first, will this start an international incident that will force the United States to interfere and forcibly settle the possible dispute between the two countries! Or will America step up once the countries do make steps to colonize and tell them that they cant since we were technically the first one’s on the Moon and stake a claim for themselves and tax the crap out of any country that wants to turn it into a resource. Oh! Let’s not forget India. They will be heading to the moon soon as well, but it is unclear at the moment why. The only thing that I can think of is that they have to ride on the coat tales of other countries when it comes to the space race. So since China and Japan are going they have to go or they will look inferior to the rest of the other countries. I think it’s funny that these countries are just now headed to the moon and we are working towards Mars. I hope this drives the United States to pick up the pace and start the colonization of Mars and get a foot hold on the planets that can be used as resources. I told a friend of mine that we should just build a penal colony on Moon and send all of our life prisoners there. There is no chance of escape and in order to survive they would need to farm animals, veggies and what not. Its like Australia, it was originally a penal colony that was comprised of convicts, Marines and the Marines families. The convicts would have to farm there veggie, fruits and animals for consumption. They could be regulated and even mine the interior for minerals and metals that would be used to sustain the facility. They would learn a trade expand the facility and in the end have the ability to prove there worth as a valued member of society. Something that they can not do here on Earth. On Earth they just sit in a cell and wait to die.
I think I will draw up some pictures of my idea for a Lunar Penal Colony and see what everyone thinks. Stay tuned for more on this.
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Do You See the Signs!
Posted on September 19, 2007 by Brian under Life, News.
They are everywhere, signs of a break in our society. Signs of a civil war or at the least a fall in the structure of or nation. I have been watching the news and I have noticed an alarming trend. First you have the Federal Reserve lowering the national interest rate to help fight off what some people are calling the beginning to a new recession. If the country goes into another recession then you have companies that will lay off employees to cut cost, you have large concentrations of unemployed people that are now starving, trying to hold on to what they have. Recession brings crime and hatred from those less fortunate. To make matters worse you have people that are expressing there right to free speech getting arrested for simply wearing “Anti-Bush” t-shirts, or look at the collage student that was tazered for asking questions at a Kerry forum. Then there is Mike McConnell, the top U.S. Intelligence Spy Official asking Congress to lift the restrictions on privacy invasion, stating that the current laws are restricting there abilities to do there jobs effectively. Some congress officials believe that lifting this ban would allow the Intelligence department to spy on whom ever they wanted when ever they wanted. Currently there are restrictions limiting the spying to foreign persons on American soil. One statement stated that they can only spy on Americans if they they are following leads that will eventually lead them to a foreign person suspected of terrorist activity. Lifting that ban would allow them more access to more Americans and leave us open to be spied on by our own country for whatever reasons that the Intelligence department saw fit. To top it all off you now have a person that is wanting to sue God. Thats right, sue God. He states that he is doing it as a statement to tell the Judicial system that they need to open there doors to allow all kinds of lawsuits to be presented and tried. The reality of the situation is that we can not allow frivolous lawsuits like this to go into the system to be tried. We are wasting time, money and manpower trying case after case of some stupid person that is trying to make the Judicial system work for them just to make a quick buck. (more…)
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Delaying Everyone’s Lives Through Atlanta
Posted on July 25, 2007 by Brian under Family, Life, Travel.
I really have no idea where to begin with this story. I either try to compose myself and write a really long but not as entertaining article about our return trip from Atlanta or I get mad and write an incoherent rambling that will be slightly more entertaining but will make me look like a complete idiot. So I will attempt to try to balance this 2 in this little adventure.
I guess I should start our story in Jamaica! We arrive at the airport and immediately get placed in line to wait for the Delta ticket window, so that we can get our flight and gate information. After what seemed like an eternity we finally get through that ordeal (passing the time by making fun of the first class passengers) and move on to our next line, Security. We wait for our chance to dump all of our metal belongings into a big tub and walk through the metal detector and then immediately get placed in yet another line. This line is for Immigration and is a very long yet steadily moving snake of people that are all hot and aggravated. Once we got through Immigration it was pretty smooth. However, I suggest never buying food at a Jamaican airport. A dammed hotdog cost 5 dollars, a personal pizza was 9 dollars and a 20oz bottle of Pepsi that normally cost you 1dollar out of the vending machine cost me a whopping 4 dollars. I wanted to ask if they offered KY before they took our money and fucked us. After sitting for a while waiting on our flight we learn that it’s delayed. This concerns us because we have a connecting flight. Then at the last minute we get to move to another gate on the other end of the terminal. After more waiting we finally get to board the plane and get to take off. Then the true nightmare begins. We get to Atlanta and make our way to yet another line in Immigration. We move pretty quickly through there and get to make fun of some teenagers that thought they would be slick and jump in front of some people when they saw there friends. But Security was on top of it and made them go to the back of the line. Once through Immigration we moved on to an almost 2 hour wait at the baggage claim for our luggage. Yes, I said almost 2 hours. It was absolutely unacceptable. We had people around us missing there flights, everyone was getting increasingly aggravated it was awful. Finally we get our luggage and we move on to the biggest joke of all, Customs. Customs is nothing more than people piling there luggage into a big mound for the airport people to place on the plane (they called this the baggage transition). We then went through the regular security stuff of getting practically naked and then running to the plane. Once we got through security we literally ran to our gate. We found out once we got there that the plane was delayed and we would have had plenty of time to simply walk to the gate instead of running like a bunch of idiots. Once loaded on the plane and on our way home all we can think about is food and our own bed. However, Delta had other plans for us. We depart the plane and head towards baggage claim. Once there we watch person after person get there luggage and happily move on. We do not receive our luggage. We wait and wait and still nothing. We finally go to the Delta ticket window to be told by a man that obviously did not like his job that we would not receive our luggage till 10a, the next morning. So my plans to sleep late are ruined by Delta. 10am the next morning, we receive one item of luggage. Again, a trip to the ticket window, We are then told by a very rude lady that these things happen and I will have to wait till the next flight comes in to see if it’s on that one. We decide to go to lunch and then come back. When we come back we learn the flight is delayed, so we wait and wait and finally it arrives, But still no luggage. I go to the window again to be told that they don’t even have it off the plane yet. The plane had been on the ground for an hour and its still not unloaded. This is getting out of hand. I am trying to remain calm; no one is offering any excuses or apologies. No one can seem to locate my luggage and I was told that if I wanted it delivered that it could be 7 days before I got it. Finally a man came to look for the luggage because even he felt that it had been too long. Finally the luggage comes out and I move on my way. Again, with no apology, no compensation for my time nothing to show that they had any remorse for what they had done. Only the lingering foul taste of that woman’s words “these things happenâ€.
Needless to say, we will not be flying Delta again if we can at all help it. If we learned anything from this trip, it’s that baggage claim is the great equalizer. No matter if you travel, coach, executive or first class. You are all going to sit and wait for your dammed luggage to get spit out of the machine. We also learned to pack light, make sure it’s a carry on and if you have to take any liquids, go to the dollar store and buy the little 3oz plastic bottles and fill them yourself. Place them in a one quart Ziploc bag and you should be golden. No matter who I fly through, I don’t think I will ever check my luggage ever again.
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The Death of your Satisfaction!
Posted on June 28, 2007 by Brian under Life, News.
Customer Care is dead. That’s right; Customer Care and Customer Satisfaction are dead. They have ceased to be an important part of today’s corporate philosophy and are quickly being replaced with a “we don’t care what you think, give us your money, you have no choice” attitude. Let me detail for you the events that have happened in the last few months that have given me my current perspective on Customer Care.
First there are the Fast Food, Movie Theater, Gas Station Attendant, Grocery Store, Bank Teller, type of reps. We’ll call them “Standersâ€! These “Standers†have never been trained in Customer Service, never been trained on how to make a customer happy or deal with an escalated situation or even how to present them selves to the customer on a face to face basis. No, they are simply given a uniform and told to stand in one place and do Job-A or Job-B, nothing more! I understand the difficulty of providing the people that come in with, what I would consider as Adequate Customer Service Training, due to the increasing amount of turnover with the young people of today. However, the supervisors of these establishments should be taking more pride in where they work (weather they like where they work or not). This means that they should be giving there new employees a simple run through on Customer Service Skills, Ways of Communicating, proper Presentation of One’s Self in a public atmosphere and above all, How to handle a difficult customer. Some other points that should be trained are Appearance and Pride in your Work-Place. All of these skills are being pushed to the wayside. As I see it the only reason is that the corporations are more interested in making the all-mighty dollar instead of building solid relationships with its customer base. What they are failing to realize is that if you build that customer relationship up you will gain more revenue. This is because the happier the customer is to come to the establishment the more they will come and the more money they will be willing to spend. You may have to make a few short term sacrifices to gain long term goals but so what. So you have to give a few tickets away to a few customers, comp a few meals or return a few over draft fees. If this is handled correctly the customer will walk away feeling refreshed that his concern was met, his situation was resolved and he was compensated for the inconvenience. What is happening instead is that the customer is walking away more aggravated and more irritated than when he first filed the complaint! This is in part due to the supervisors thinking that if they make this persons experience unpleasant they will A.) Never return and they wont have to face them again or B.) If they return, they will never complain because they will not want to re-live the previous unpleasant experience. Sooner or later these companies are going to experience a decrease in there customer base, this will be directly due to the customers that they have driven away. With Blogs and personal websites becoming more and more popular and Pod-casts becoming the next generation in evolving news and gossip, you run into a situation where you get a disgruntled customer that voices his opinion over the web and it is relayed to several others that have had similar experiences, then they voice there opinions and so on and so on. Then you have Forums telling people where to go and where not to go. This is all something that Corporate America is overlooking. If anything with the ease of Web base complaints and the flow of information from the customer base these corporations should be ramping up there Customer Service Training and trying harder to gain that customer base and keep the flow of customers coming. But, enough on the “Standers†for now! Lets move to the worst Customer Service industry of all and the one that will be the most difficult to train. That would be the Medical profession. We’ll call these folks “Sittersâ€! These people have nothing to loose because we are always in need of Doctors, Optometrist and Dental professionals. They can treat you like crap because they know that they will continue to have a customer base regardless of the amount of people that they piss off. The worst part is you can’t train these people. Most of them have been doing this for so long that they will refuse to be trained no matter how hard you try. And to make matters worse, they will train a whole new generation of people that will be taking over there job to handle customers in the same way. These “Sitters†have no fear of you not returning and in some cases are happy if you choose to never visit them again. There employment is not based on customer satisfaction, they don’t hand out surveys that say “How am I doing†and allow you to drop it in a box for there management to see. They simply exist to process the information for the Office’s and Insurance companies. The thought of calling a patient to tell them that there appointment was canceled over a week ago never crosses there mind. They will let you take time off of work, drive all the way out there and then tell you at that point your appointment has been canceled. The people have been conditioned by the years of service in this industry to have no remorse for there actions. They are devoid of any and all emotion when they encounter an upset patient. I really feel for some of the older or more handicapped individuals that plan for these appointments. They have a hard enough time getting around there own home much less driving across town to a doctors office. To be told at the last second as you walk in that your appointment has been canceled is just outrageous. However, you will not see any change in this field. They will continue to treat each and every person like crap because that’s all they know how to do.
So as you see, the world of Customer care and Customer Satisfaction are truly dead. At least from my perspective! Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that EVERY place on the planet is like this. I have run into some very friendly places and when I do I take a moment and let them know how good of a job they did. Then I make sure to tell as many people as I know how good the Customer Service was at that place. I do the same for the bad places. This way word of mouth spreads the information like it has for years and the customer base hopefully goes to the correct (good) places and away from those that do not deserve it. I hope that the people from Corporate America read this, and feel free to give me your comments about your feelings toward the Customer Service of today. I have a feeling that I will find several people that have the same thoughts as me.
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