I must be getting popular because the spam bots are attacking my site and leaving stupid comments about all things spamish. I knock them out as soon as they post but you’ll probably see a few here and there before I get to delete them.
Comment | 
posted 07/21/2006 11:22 AM
I’ve got a new complaint to throw out there. Maybe you’ve run into this, too.
Lately companies have started rolling out satisfaction surveys after they perform a service for you. For example, when I take the Saab to the dealership, I get a survey. The company that moved us from Detroit to Minneapolis sent one out, as well.
I’m fine with this. It shows they are interested in how things went and are looking for feedback. I’m all for it.
What I’m not for, however, is that the company that sends the survey wants you to put the highest mark for every category. If not, they want you to call them so that they can resolve the issue and get you to give them the highest ranking.
What’s the point? I don’t feel like calling up the company and explaining why I gave them a “good” instead of an “excellent” for a question so I end up just checking “excellent” to be finished with the whole thing. Does this really help the company, however? I don’t think it does. I mean, they are turning a survey with 7 responses into a binary survey. Save me the effort and just make them “yes/no” questions if this is how it works.
My complaint is that this all seems like a waste of time to me. I don’t really like giving out the highest rating unless I feel like they really went out of their way or was impressed by their level of service. It doesn’t mean I’m upset with them or think they did a bad job. To me, the “good” ranking means I’m happy, but maybe they can come up with something in the future to improve service and make me extra-happy. If I just mark everything as “excellent”, is there any incentive for the company to innovate and improve? I don’t think so.
I know why this happens. Somebody at the top decides customer service is important so they mandate that anything less than an “excellent” ranking on a survey is bad. The group doing the service and sending out the survey tries to stay out of trouble by asking customers to fill out “excellent” for everything. Customers oblige because they don’t want to get into any discussions on the phone so they blindly check off the “excellent” box and send it off.
By doing this, companies are fooling themselves into thinking they’re doing a great job, when really, they might just be doing an average or good job. When they look at the monthly chart and everything comes up “excellent”, why should they bother to improve? They’re already great!
Comment [1] | posted 07/13/2006 04:08 PM
I told you the grumpy old man in me is coming out…
People and things sometimes bother me. Sometimes they bother me enough to write about them. Here are some examples:
The Applebee’s Guys
I cringe everytime these commercials come on. Actually, I change the station. But, sometimes you just can’t change it. Maybe you’re at a bar or you’re a guest in someone’s home. All I know is that my life would be better if the water in the first commercial had risen about 12 inches higher and washed them away to China.
Alonozo Mourning
Yeah! Alonzo got his ring. Woo hoo! Yippee! Listen. I have a lot of respect for Mourning after coming back from all of his kidney issues and playing at a high level. In fact, I think he was Miami’s second best player in the playoffs. But I think what he did to the New Jersey Nets was low class. After Mourning was diagnosed with kidney issues, New Jersey could have cut Mourning. Instead, they kept him on the roster and continued to pay him his full salary. When Mourning returned, instead of being grateful to the Nets for hanging with him, he demanded a trade to a contender and eventually ended up in Miami. Nice.
The guy who used to own my house and fixed the washing machine with duct tape and wood scraps
Nice. Actually, it was good for a laugh. I have the contraption somewhere in the basement. I just need to take a picture of it so it can be preserved in the duct tape hall of fame.
People that don’t update their blogs
Doh. That’s me.
Comment | posted 06/28/2006 11:34 AM
I’m late on this posting but man…what a depressing playoff season. I went into it with high hopes – both the Red Wings and the Pistons were top seeds with the best records in their respective leagues. Right on cue, however, the Red Wings lost in the first round (a disturbing trend) and the Pistons fell apart against Miami. Actually, the Pistons fell apart beginning with game 3 against Cleveland. I’d love to know what happened there. It’s like somebody flipped a switch or something.
With my teams out, it was time to start rooting against teams I don’t like. If I had to pick a team in each league that I’d really hate to win the championship, it would be the Carolina Hurricanes and the Miami Heat. So it figures that both went on to win the title.
Why root against these two? Well, Carolina is owned by Pete Karmanos, owner of my former company. I can’t stand the guy and I was rooting against him. I would have loved to have seen all of the Carolina suck-ups that come out of the woodwork at Compuware this time of year but I’ve moved on. [For the record, I think if I never worked for Karmanos I would love the guy. The things he’s done the last couple of years at Compuware, however, really drove me nuts and, eventually, drove me away.]
I wanted to see Miami lose for a couple of reasons. Number one, I like Dallas. I went to high school there and I wanted to see them win. Number two, I can’t stand Alonzo Mourning. Number three, I can’t stand Pat Riley. Number four, I hate the Dwayne Wade whiner face – it’s almost as bad as that face Labron James makes when he hits a big shot. (He looks like he’s trying to figure out who just ripped a big stinky one in his house or something. Trust me…watch the highlights.)
So I’m bitter, but things are ok. Thankfully the Tigers are winning at an unbelievable pace. Normally, if the Wings and Pistons lost in the playoffs, Detroit would start thinking about Lions training camp (to me, an even more depressing subject) because the Tigers were always so bad. Not this year.
Go Tigers!
Comment | posted 06/28/2006 11:19 AM
Wow. I don’t think I had but one post in May. Sorry about that. Life has been extremely hectic lately but things are slowly beginning to settle down now. I’ll have more time to write my grumpy old man ramblings in the coming weeks.
I am living in our new home in Plymouth, Minnesota now. The movers came on June 5th and with the help of my parents, we were able to make the house livable in two days. I’ve spent every evening since then (not to mention all day on the weekends) working on getting things put away and reducing the number of piles of stuff laying about the house. I’m down to the laundry room, garage, and Lucy’s room. I’m amazed at how much crap stuff we have. Luckily there is a lot of storage space here so I’ve been working on getting things organized.
DeAnne and the kids will arrive at the end of June. DeAnne had a few complications following the delivery and she is recuperating at her parent’s house in Clinton Township, MI. My parents took Jack off of her hands and they are working on getting him potty trained. So far, it sounds like they have been successful. DeAnne’s recovery is too slow for her pace but, in general, she is doing well. Luckily for us my mom will be coming out with her and the kids at the end of June to help out. Her parents will be visiting some time in July, I believe.
All in all, I love living here. Our house is great, and so is the neighborhood. The people here are very friendly and the weather has been fantastic. I’m looking forward to showing DeAnne and the kids the sites around the cities. There is a lot to see and do here if you just take the time.
Comment [1] | posted 06/12/2006 09:07 PM
Not much time to write but here is our new daughter, born at 1:13 AM on Saturday, May 6th. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 8 oz and was 20.5” long. The delivery took over 30 hours but DeAnne and Lucy are doing just great.
Yes…Lucy is another clone of DeAnne, just like Jack.
Update Pictures of Lucy have been added to the gallery…
Comment [3] | posted 05/07/2006 12:48 PM
I knew it would finally happen. I was checking my newsreader and came across a post from Google stating their new calendar service is up and running. At first glance, it’s pretty cool. I was able to export my calendar from Outlook into Google in seconds. The only problem is that the times that display with the event are off by 2 hours. I guess that’s a big problem. I have no idea why that is happening but I’ll investigate.
Anyway, it’s easy to add events and share your calendar with others. You can also allow others to add to your calendar (great if you’re married…), set up invitations, create multiple calendars, be notified of events via sms, and other assorted goodies. There is even a feature (as I understand it) where you can easily add events that you receive in emails in your gmail account. Not sure how it works but I’ll be interested in checking it out.
Check it out at http://www.google.com/calendar
Comment [3] | posted 04/13/2006 05:27 PM
I made this Google Map so you could get an idea of where I am here in downtown Minneapolis. If you zoom out, you’ll see some other markers, including one for our new house in Plymouth. Click on the markers for more information. I don’t know if this works in Internet Explorer or not, but it definitely works with Firefox.
Comment [1] | posted 04/09/2006 07:14 PM
It figures. I lived in Detroit for 15 years and the Tigers were horrible. I move to Minneapolis and they start out 5-0. It’s a long season but it’s nice to see them get off to a good start for once. Usually they drop 8 of their first 10 and start out the season behind the 8 ball.
It’s especially nice to see the pitching staff getting off to a good start. All 5 starters won their first starts of the season. Verlander and Bonderman looked especially strong. And what can I say about Chris Shelton? What a start! In 5 games he’s batting .700(!) with 5 homers and 9 rbi. With the Tigers luck, they’ll probably drop the next 10 games but I’ll try to stay positive.
162-0!
Comment [1] | posted 04/09/2006 04:31 PM
My first week in Minneapolis is in the books and it’s been a good one. I moved into my apartment on Sunday and started work on Monday. It’s been really nice living downtown. I walk everywhere and haven’t used my car since I parked it when I arrived. Work is about 6 blocks away and I’m right next to Nicollet Avenue where there are lots of restaurants, bars and places to shop.
Work has been good so far. The team I’m on is very nice and everyone has been really friendly. I’ve been working on getting up to speed with the application I’ll be working on, as well as learning all of the ins-and-outs related to Target. Luckily they gave me a nice laptop so I’m able to use it at my apartment. I’d go crazy without it.
I’ve been walking around the city quite a bit trying to figure out where everything is. I spent most of the day on Saturday just walking around taking pictures. You can check them out in the Minneapolis album in the gallery. Highlights included the Mississippi River and Saint Mary’s Basilica. Very neat.
DeAnne and Jack sound like they are doing well back in Ferndale. DeAnne’s family and friends have been helping her out, which is a big relief to me. Their support is very much appreciated. I still can’t get Jack to talk to me on the phone…the best I get are some barks. Oh well. The realtor is holding an open house today so hopefully we’ll find a buyer soon.
Comment | posted 04/09/2006 04:16 PM
Jay Dreyer's blog on whatever pops into his head...sports, tech stuff, Detroit, Minneapolis, etc.
