Borderline scam

Hey it finally snowed!!! Hopefully that will be it for this winter. Having to work in it is no fun at all.

Am I they only one still writing “06” for the year?

The following is not related to the area’s entertainment, but it is “on my mind”.

I’m convinced corporate America does all it can do to screw its employees and customers. I work for a national company and every year they do something that makes me shake my head in disbelief. The latest “great idea” is to charge people $359.00 for a piece of paper every year. It does have a guarantee with it, however if you’re smart, it doesn’t take long to figure the product is a borderline scam.

We deal with lot’s of elderly people and I’m guessing the corporate “thinkers” are hoping they will be the ones to buy the item. Maybe if I were like every other brainless employee that follows corporate directives like blind sheep, I too would be out there taking advantage of all the stupid people. However I just can’t do it. Of course I’ll be a worthless piece of shit for not selling this item. God forbid if I’m actually trying to provide solutions to actual problems.

Being in the industry that I’m in, there aren’t to many problems at this time of year, so things are slow and perhaps the big push for the latest idea. When I first started “Identifying the Problem” and “Explaining the Solution” were 2 of the 5 job responsibilities drilled into my head. Now it seems like the solution is to milk our existing customer base of every last dime they have, even if they don’t have a problem.

Not only do they spend tireless amounts of time developing new ways to get more money from people, they also work on ways to do less service for more money. Another corporate boo boo, since we are a service type company. Of course our customers aren’t dumb and when they’ve had enough, they cancel their service.

Just like a full circle the corporate big wigs then see a loss of customer base and tie bonuses into customer retention. What the fuck?!!! Just let us “service” our customers and quit coming up with bad corporate decisions and blaming everyone else. Corporate America is a numbers game. Unfortunately most worry more about gaining more revenue with less expenditures and that usually involves screwing over customers and employees.

Since I’ve started with this company in 2003, I’ve seen probably 20+ people doing what I do, come and go in our small office. With only 4 years under my belt, I’m considered an “old timer”. Every year at this time they hire massive amounts of people only to see 7/8’s of them gone by summer. Does anyone at the corporate level see this as a problem? Hell no!!! What’s really sad is that in this business you need experience. So all those newbies just hired, get 2 weeks training and become our “experts” in the field. Of course they don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground and tell customers inaccurate information. Thus usually their solutions will not fix the customer’s problem. Then you have a pissed off customer. It’s just another endless cycle in corporate America.

I’ll take the moral high ground and treat my customers (existing and new) with respect and providing the best solutions for their problems based upon my experience. This concept has helped me stay ahead of everyone else in years pass and I see no reason why it should change. Unfortunately, I could be one computer report showing a lack of “scam product” sales away from the unemployment line.

OK just had to get that off my mind.

Couple things I’d like to mention now.

I was deleting lots of old files from the server and really fucked the site up, and the server too. It seems that everything has been restored now (cross my fingers), so you’ll start seeing a shit load of updates in the next few weeks. If you click into an area that is not “working” please send me an email. You really don’t know how big a site is until you practically have to rebuild it again.

Hierosonic is having their CD Release party Feb. 10th at Dragonfly. From what I’m hearing most presales have been sold. You can contact the bands to see if the have any left or go here to order tickets online to save a few bucks. I’m really looking forward to this show!!! I’m sure Hiero will be doing some special shit for this gig, they always do.

MMC 11 is just around the corner. This year it’s held in the winter so hopefully more musicians will be able to attend. I always look forward to each MMC to catch up with old friends and get the networking wheels spinning. It also gives me an opportunity to catch a bunch of bands in a short amount of time. If I like what I see, they get booked in our shows. Looks like in years past the “Main Stage” of the hotel will be where the action is. Couple new venues added too. Click here for the current MMC11 band showcase schedule and more info.

Well that’s all for now, got to get back to working on the site. Hope everyone is having a good start to the new year!

Lator Gators - BigJim