Good service deserves notice, too

It occurs to me that, while we often note (loudly) examples of poor service from stores in our LJs, we don't note the good ones nearly as much.

So, in the name of Credit Where Credit Is Due: the salesman in the Verizon store yesterday did quite well by us. We came in with an unusually complex situation for him to deal with -- take our existing joined phone plan, split it into two separate plans with very different needs (she wanted unlimited texting, I don't care about text but do care about data), and get her a new phone. He got through the whole thing with aplomb, and went above-and-beyond repeatedly.

When msmemory asked if it would be possible to transfer her contact info to the new phone, he calmly went rooting around in the back room to find a cable compatible with her ancient one, and showed back up with everything transferred and done. Along the way, he discovered that the cheapest current data plan for my old Treo 650 would cost more than he thought reasonable, so he went and talked his manager into switching me back to the (rather cheaper, and no longer officially in existence) plan I originally got with the phone, without my even having to ask. He consulted on my question of what service I should be getting for my mother, without pressuring me to buy. And at no point did he really try to upsell us out of what we'd already decided.

So points to him, and good job: it sharpens my decision about whether to switch to AT&T for my next phone (to get an iPhone) or to wait until the Pre makes it to Verizon and get that instead...

Good service deserves notice, too

It occurs to me that, while we often note (loudly) examples of poor service from stores in our LJs, we don't note the good ones nearly as much.

So, in the name of Credit Where Credit Is Due: the salesman in the Verizon store yesterday did quite well by us. We came in with an unusually complex situation for him to deal with -- take our existing joined phone plan, split it into two separate plans with very different needs (she wanted unlimited texting, I don't care about text but do care about data), and get her a new phone. He got through the whole thing with aplomb, and went above-and-beyond repeatedly.

When msmemory asked if it would be possible to transfer her contact info to the new phone, he calmly went rooting around in the back room to find a cable compatible with her ancient one, and showed back up with everything transferred and done. Along the way, he discovered that the cheapest current data plan for my old Treo 650 would cost more than he thought reasonable, so he went and talked his manager into switching me back to the (rather cheaper, and no longer officially in existence) plan I originally got with the phone, without my even having to ask. He consulted on my question of what service I should be getting for my mother, without pressuring me to buy. And at no point did he really try to upsell us out of what we'd already decided.

So points to him, and good job: it sharpens my decision about whether to switch to AT&T for my next phone (to get an iPhone) or to wait until the Pre makes it to Verizon and get that instead...

weather.com as abstract art

You know that you're in for an interesting afternoon when the radar map looks like a Jackson Pollock painting...

weather.com as abstract art

You know that you're in for an interesting afternoon when the radar map looks like a Jackson Pollock painting...

Jimmy Carter on gender equality

Thanks to hfcougar (who got it from ladyariadne) for the link (a while back, but I'm just catching up) to this fine and eloquent editorial by Jimmy Carter. I find it faintly depressing that Michael Jackson's doctor has been getting endless news airtime and this seems to have been entirely overlooked, but there's nothing for that but to forward it on...

Jimmy Carter on gender equality

Thanks to hfcougar (who got it from ladyariadne) for the link (a while back, but I'm just catching up) to this fine and eloquent editorial by Jimmy Carter. I find it faintly depressing that Michael Jackson's doctor has been getting endless news airtime and this seems to have been entirely overlooked, but there's nothing for that but to forward it on...

Some toys the world probably doesn't really need

When I got my comics home last night, I found that Steve had dropped a free Black Lantern ring into the bag.

Now, I appreciate free toys as much as anybody, but I find myself a bit weirded out here. In the current storyline, this is an artifact of pure evil, that raises the dead wearer to make war on the living. Not exactly inspiring, or even especially cool.

Serious case of "eww". As giveaways go, I don't find this one of DC's cleverest...

Some toys the world probably doesn't really need

When I got my comics home last night, I found that Steve had dropped a free Black Lantern ring into the bag.

Now, I appreciate free toys as much as anybody, but I find myself a bit weirded out here. In the current storyline, this is an artifact of pure evil, that raises the dead wearer to make war on the living. Not exactly inspiring, or even especially cool.

Serious case of "eww". As giveaways go, I don't find this one of DC's cleverest...

Yes, geekery is everywhere in modern culture

Example #947: the episode of Ace of Cakes we have on in the background, where today's cake project is making a Serenity cake for somebody's birthday. Pretty good reproduction, too (if utterly improbable-looking structurally). And the next cake after that is a reproduction of Yuri Gagarin's space capsule the Hubble. And the one after *that* is a reproduction of Jupiter -- yes, a spherical cake designed to hang from the ceiling...

Yes, geekery is everywhere in modern culture

Example #947: the episode of Ace of Cakes we have on in the background, where today's cake project is making a Serenity cake for somebody's birthday. Pretty good reproduction, too (if utterly improbable-looking structurally). And the next cake after that is a reproduction of Yuri Gagarin's space capsule the Hubble. And the one after *that* is a reproduction of Jupiter -- yes, a spherical cake designed to hang from the ceiling...