The politics of big ol’ ‘Merkin cars
I don’t want to delve into politics too often in this space, but I reserve the right to occasionally dip a toe into the water when I come across something that strikes me as comment-worthy.
Don’t get me wrong; I have strongly-held political opinions that I’m almost always happy to discuss and debate (sometimes politely), but I don’t actively seek opportunities to talk politics or religion or other subjects that provoke people’s most passionate (read: angry) points of view. There’s a time and a place for all that … and I’ve decided, for the most part, that this blog will provide neither.
But I live in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. I’ll just borrow a paragraph from Wikipedia to explain what that means:
Rest in peace, Harvey
Harvey Greisman
I was saddened to learn of the death of an old boss of mine last weekend.
Harvey Greisman, a long-time New York-area PR guy, and former IBM communications vice president, died suddenly of a massive heart attack in Florida (even more sadly, on the same day his own father died in the hospice facility where Harvey was paying a final visit). Harvey was just 61.
I worked for Harvey when he was comms veep for IBM Global Services in 2001-02. Harvey could be a tough guy to work for. I remember one particular teleconference where he wanted to ask a question of one of his reports who was talking through a presentation on the phone. Harvey couldn’t get the guy’s attention to break in, so he began aggressively punching buttons on the phone - beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep – and eventually the speaker stopped speaking. Harvey asked some tough questions, told the guy to go back to the drawing board, and the next speaker rose to the virtual podium, a bit more apprehensive than he had been.
No post, but a sizzlin’ tune
I got a little busy this week and didn’t get a new post put together (you could argue there was a bit of lazy involved, but I’d just deny it). I’m mulling a post framing up my disdain for using “so and so gets it” as a way of bolstering -- maybe so much as proving -- one’s belief in a particular position or approach. We see it a lot these days in social media circles. It bugs me. But I won’t spell it all out here, now.
Instead, I give you another awesome tune - this one an oldy but damn goody from Minneapolis’ own Jonny Lang. He’d have been about 18 when he performed this particular Breaking Me in 1999. I’m going to see him on July 10. But I can’t tell you where yet. More on that later.
Red-hot guitar jam
I share this with you for one reason, and one reason only: It totally rocks.
Good work, great work, neither
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Can people in your company or work group tell the difference between good work and great work? How about lousy work? More importantly, does it really matter to your leaders and colleagues which they get?
But wait! There’s more …
Yes, I had a bad experience at Best Buy
It’s true. I’m proud and unabashed about trumpeting our customer service successes and I’m always happy to call out helpful Blueshirt employees by name (via Twitter) when they live up to the promises of the Best Buy brand. But, if I hope to have any credibility at all, I have to be willing to talk about less-than-stellar experiences, don’t I?
Before we dive into the details of my experience heavy on the lousy, I am going to say that the vast majority of interactions I have at Best Buy are overwhelmingly positive, and make me feel good about the company for which I toil.
Far more often than not, the Best Buy person I encounter on the sales floor takes the time necessary to answer my questions and help me find the product(s) I’m looking for (one went so far as to go out back and pull a CD off the delivery truck before it was unloaded; another consulted the store product map to find an obscure cord I wanted that was “21 feet from the aisle”), to make sure I’m fully and completely satisfied with my shopping experience.
(I should point out that I never tell store employees that I’m a Best Buy employee – until it comes time to claim my discount – so there is no “favoritism” of any kind. I am a regular Joe looking for something cool).
But for every rule, there is an exception.
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