Introducing Finnley

We have a new addition to the family!!  His name is Finnley (a name somehow derived from Huckleberry Finn, I think), and he is a Havanese pup of about 10 weeks.  Weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds, the approximate breakdown is: .5 pounds of pup, and 3.5 pounds of fluff.    So, yes, he is a total fluffball, but so far he seems to be a really sweet little guy.    

Anyway, come by and see him sometime. 

Cheers.

Time To Get Human

Ain’t technology grand?  I think so . . . it is how I make my living after all.  But, for all of the fine techno bells, whistles and whatnots out there, sometimes it’s nice to connect with an actual human.   Am I right?!?!  (Yes, I recognize the irony of making this statement over a blog.) 

Case in point, I’m sure we’ve all experienced the joys of contacting a company with a question, complaint, etc., only to be bogged down in the ones and zeros of the dreaded automated response system – eeeeek!  Well, now there’s help for us all:  Gethuman.com is a website that posts the path through the phone systems of many popular companies.  Simply put, it lists what you need to do to talk to a real live human!  It also grades the company’s customer service on a scale of A to F - although, if you are seeking out a site like gethuman.com, you’ve probably already concluded the customer service stinks.

In looking over the list, it became pretty obvious which companies try hardest to obstruct “human contact” by requiring multiple phone inputs:

• OfficeMax Rebates – Press 2; at prompt press 2; at prompt press 2; enter fake phone #; press 1 to confirm; press 1 to confirm
• HSBC (UK) – Press * at each prompt (requires 8 presses)
• Toys ”R” Us – Press 1; at prompt press 2; at prompt press 7; at prompt press 2; hold through multiple requests.

Or by requiring obscure inputs – i.e. inputs not given as instructions that one would have to know in advance of calling:

• Vodafone (UK) – Dial 0*0*0*0*0*. If voice prompts continue, repeat
• Simple Freedom – Press #0#0
• Wal-Mart – Dial 1433 quickly.  Although when I tried this one, nobody answered.  No humans at Wal-Mart I guess. 

Some were downright devious, like:

• At Currys, the first time you press * you are told that option is not available.  But when you press * again, magically you get a human.
• At SUNOCO, you have to dial 00000 then they ask for an account number.  If you give an invalid number, they repeat the request indefinitely.  But, if you mumble when prompted for the account number, then you get a human.

And some were just kinda funny, like:

• At a company called Humana the only way to talk to an actual human is to say “member,” “pharmacy,” “prescription benefits” and then give a fake ID.
• The only way to get a human at SBC DSL is to say “sales”, and the only way at Secure Horizons is to say you are a “prospective member”.  I guess they prefer to talk to potential customers rather than existing customers.

Needless to say, the companies noted above received an ‘F’ on their customer service ratings.  But on a more positive note, I am happy to report that the only number listed for Disney was given an ‘A’ rating, and it connects directly to a human.   Score one for Walt!

Anyway, technology certainly is cool.  Although, it seems ironic that sometimes we need to use “good” technology (like gethuman.com) in order to escape from “bad” technology.  One thing’s clear tho, at the end of the day, it really is nice to chit-chat face-to-face, or voice-to-voice, even with the evolution of faces and voices in today’s tech-heavy world.

So, having said all that, please feel free to send us an email or comment on our blog. 

jph3

Happy Obligation-Chocolate Day!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Japan.  I’m going back there in a couple of weeks, and in preparation for the trip I have spent some time brushing up on the language, customs, prior memories from living there, etc.  In doing so, one interesting aspect of Japanese culture that came back to me was ‘Choko-day’, which is their equivalent of Valentine’s Day, also celebrated on Feb. 14. 

Yup, you guessed it, the word ‘Choko’ means chocolate.  So for them, this is the day for giving chocolate to friends, family, co-workers, strangers, missionaries (score!), etc.  And of course it is also a day for giving large sums of casholla to ‘choko-ya’ (chocolate makers).  But what’s interesting to me is that Japanese folks are very upfront about labeling the relationships behind the giving on choko-day.  For example:

• Tomo-choko (友チョコ) is the chocolate that one gives to a friend (tomo).  Usually kids give tomo-choko.
• Taku-choko (宅チョコ) is the chocolate that a member of a home/house (taku) gives to the home itself (it is then usually gobbled up by the kids in the home, since houses don’t actually eat chocolate, FYI).
• Koi-choko (恋チョコ) is the chocolate given by a girl to a secret crush (koi). 
• Giri-choko (義理チョコ) is obligation chocolate, or chocolate that is given out of duty born of professional or societal roles.   E.g. workers are ‘obligated’ (giri) to give giri-choko to their bosses and sometimes students give giri-choko to their teachers.
• Honmei-choko (本命チョコ) is the chocolate given to the most honored of loved ones, truly and sincerely, from the heart of hearts (the honmei). 

I have no market data to support this, but my guess is that the largest amount of chocolate given on Feb. 14 in Japan is giri-choko, and at first blush, this might sound like a bad thing.  But please note, the notion of ‘obligation’ in Japan means something a little different to a traditional Japanese person.   

The components that make up the word ‘giri’ are ‘gi’ (justice, righteousness, morality, honor) and ‘ri’ (reason, principle, right, truth).  So, adding a little of my own understanding of Japanese culture, I believe a more complete translation for a gift given of ‘giri’ would be ‘a demonstration of service to one’s superiors with a sense of self-sacrificing devotion’.  This, in my book, is a very good thing – assuming your superiors are honorable, of course. 

But as with all giving, regardless of terms, definitions, semantics, and what-not, obviously the true value of the gift comes from the intentions of the giver.  Even in Japan, duty and obligation can be, and often is, automated and void of traditional intentions. But still, to many over there, devoted service is a way of life. 

So, to make a very long story only slightly longer, to my friends and colleagues wherever you may be, I wish you a happy ‘Obligation-Chocolate day’, along with my sincerest hope that I might have the opportunity to serve you well in the coming year.  

But lastly, and definitely most importantly, to my beloved wife: only you will receive my gift of honmei-choko.  From my heart of hearts, and with everything that I have inside, there is nothing more important to me than you.  

Cheers,
jph3