A few years ago, my favorite American football team -- the Minnesota Vikings -- made it to their conference championship game. If they won the game, they would play in the Super Bowl. This was the third time in my lifetime that the Vikings had played in the conference championship game. On the two previous occasions, they lost in overtime in heart-breaking fashion.
As the most recent championship game approached, I thought to myself, "I'd pay $100 to guarantee that the Vikings win." Unfortunately for me, $100 was not a sufficiently large amount of money to bribe the Viking's opponent -- the Philadelphia Eagles -- to lose.
So, I decided to place a $100 bet on the Eagles to win the conference championship. That is, I bet against the Vikings.
My reasoning was as follows. Had the Vikings won the game, I could view my losing bet as a $100 payment for the Vikings winning the game. Had the Vikings lost the game, the disappointment I would feel after seeing them lose the conference championship game for third time in my lifetime would be offset from the winnings from my $100 bet.
In case you are wondering, I collected on my $100 bet. I still have not seen the Vikings play in the Super Bowl.
There are many situations in life in which you may want something that you cannot buy. For example, you may want the next leader of your country to be affiliated with a particular political party. In many of these situations, there are betting exchanges in which you can bet against your desired outcome (check out PredictIt.org for political bets). In order to assuage the pain of your desired result not occurring, you might consider doing as I did and placing a bet against your desired outcome.
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Friday, September 6, 2019
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Somebody invent this please
I love eggs and hot sauce. I also love coffee. Unfortunately it is impossible to enjoy these two things in the same meal because the hot sauce negatively affects the taste of coffee.
If somebody would invent a palette cleanser that would allow me to enjoy coffee and hot sauce in the same meal, I would be immensely grateful.
If somebody would invent a palette cleanser that would allow me to enjoy coffee and hot sauce in the same meal, I would be immensely grateful.
On customer service in the United States
Every time I go to my local CVS pharmacy, as soon as pass through the entrance doors, an employee will scream "hey, welcome in" from wherever they are in the store. Most of the time, I can't even see the employee. And, the way the employee says the above phrase is startling and obviously forced.
Every time I visit the Starbucks nearest my apartment, after I order my coffee, the barista will ask, "so, how's your day going?" Typically, the barista says this with a smile. But, based on the fact that every Starbucks barista says the exact same thing to every customer, and based on the fact that it is not natural to ask how one's day is going in any part of conversation other than when one first meets somebody, it is apparent that the baristas are asking about my day, not out of genuine interest, but because they have been told to do so.
I have no idea why, but corporate America has clearly concluded that telling employees exactly what to say to customers is good customer service. I could not disagree with this conclusion more.
First, when an employee is forced to say a particular phrase to every customer, the phrase never seems genuine. And, because the phrase doesn't seem genuine, it is annoying to customers to have to participate in the charade.
Second, the facade of friendliness actually impedes employees from making genuine connections with regular customers. Let's return to the coffee shop example. In addition to my local Starbucks, I also frequently visit a locally-owned coffee shop near my apartment called Cafe Allegro. The baristas at Cafe Allegro know me by name and the conversations I have with them are real an natural. There is no question that, when they ask how I am doing, they are doing so because they have made a personal choice to do so. By contrast, even though the baristas at Starbucks also know me by name, when the say "so, how's your day going?" even it they are being genuine, it feels fake because I know there is a corporate directive to every employee mandating that they ask this to every customer.
I realize that "mechanizing" good customer service is corporate America's reaction to bad customer service (e.g., a barista dryly asking "hey, whadya want?"). But, I do not think forcing employees to repeat the same phrase over and over again is the solution.
Every time I visit the Starbucks nearest my apartment, after I order my coffee, the barista will ask, "so, how's your day going?" Typically, the barista says this with a smile. But, based on the fact that every Starbucks barista says the exact same thing to every customer, and based on the fact that it is not natural to ask how one's day is going in any part of conversation other than when one first meets somebody, it is apparent that the baristas are asking about my day, not out of genuine interest, but because they have been told to do so.
I have no idea why, but corporate America has clearly concluded that telling employees exactly what to say to customers is good customer service. I could not disagree with this conclusion more.
First, when an employee is forced to say a particular phrase to every customer, the phrase never seems genuine. And, because the phrase doesn't seem genuine, it is annoying to customers to have to participate in the charade.
Second, the facade of friendliness actually impedes employees from making genuine connections with regular customers. Let's return to the coffee shop example. In addition to my local Starbucks, I also frequently visit a locally-owned coffee shop near my apartment called Cafe Allegro. The baristas at Cafe Allegro know me by name and the conversations I have with them are real an natural. There is no question that, when they ask how I am doing, they are doing so because they have made a personal choice to do so. By contrast, even though the baristas at Starbucks also know me by name, when the say "so, how's your day going?" even it they are being genuine, it feels fake because I know there is a corporate directive to every employee mandating that they ask this to every customer.
I realize that "mechanizing" good customer service is corporate America's reaction to bad customer service (e.g., a barista dryly asking "hey, whadya want?"). But, I do not think forcing employees to repeat the same phrase over and over again is the solution.
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