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From kotaku regarding some Grand Theft Auto IV games freezing:

He ended the call by saying that they really have no idea when a fix will be coming because they can’t figure out what is exactly causing the problem and then once more apologized.

“I feel terrible about this.”

Wouldn’t it be great if all customer service representatives had the gall to to this? Or better yet. How much happier would your customers be if you gave your frontline customer service staff the authority to to this? Being honest will surely sometimes drive people away when you and your company do something stupid. More often than not though I’d venture a guess that just as you appreciate honesty, so will your customers.

Customer service is not a cost. It’s an investment. If you have great customer service, then you will be in sparse company. As Tim Berry writes, it’s much easier to write about negative experiences, because it’s more fun and there are more examples. Even the NYTimes is getting in on the action.

If you want to better your customer service, I highly recommend following the tips from Joel Spolsky and these from allbusiness.com. I’m particularly fond of Number 4 from Joel (Take the Blame) and Number 4 from allbusiness (Empower Your Staff with a Chief-Problem-Solver).

Related: Your Biggest Marketing Engine

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Do you smell what Barack is cooking?

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Is what you didn’t intend to do in the first pace.

Seth Godin’s latest post, The Wealthy Gardener, hits on this again. The ancillary benefits of what you do.

Have you checked out what Johnny Lee is doing with Wii remotes (or Wiimotes as I’ve come to call them)? I bet Nintendo didn’t think about that when they were designing a gaming system. Virtual whiteboards for $50 instead of $3000. And true 3D gaming experiences…. (watch the video and be WOWed)

Sometimes your users will do something with your product or service that you didn’t design it for. Go with it. Facebook didn’t start out with the goal of being what it is today. But they listened to their users and reacted appropriately (ignoring the whole Beacon fiasco).

There’s usually what you do (make video games), and then all the little things that happen around what you do (cheap digital whiteboards). Pay close attention to both.

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I’ve just discovered a great new blog (not new to everyone, but new to me anyway), The Chief Happiness Officer written excellently by Alexander Kjerulf. He’s recently gotten a huge amount of press (even got picked up by the NY Times) for a recent post about how the customer isn’t always right.

Alex hit another home run a few days ago with his post Dealing With UnPopular Employees

Letting people stay in jobs where they don’t fit in, where they’re not happy and where they’re not pulling their weight is a mistake. Managers may think they’re doing them a favor… they’re not!

Remember, just one unhappy, unproductive employee can pull down the whole department. And what’s worse - this attitude is contagious. It spreads and infects others and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a hard-core little clique of dissatisfied, cynical employees who make everyone around them unhappy.

Exactly! If you have an employee that isn’t happy, talk to them to see what’s making them unhappy, and if you can’t find a good resolution. Do them (and you) a favor and part ways. I worked at a company at one point and time where almost the entire staff was unhappy (the company was small, less than 15 employees). I didn’t get fired, but I did myself a big favor and quit. It was one of those decisions that you make that leaves a good taste in your mouth.

If you work somewhere and you’re not happy, figure out why you aren’t, and try to resolve it. If you just can’t find a resolution with your employer, then maybe you’d better dust off the old resume and start looking elsewhere. And managers… it’s almost always better to run with a team of 5 really great, really happy employees then 10 who just come in for the paycheck. In fact, I’d say that for every 2 mildly unhappy employees, you could replace with one very happy employee. And bump that ratio to 3:1 for severely unhappy to very happy.

And we forget that the opposite of that second paragraph is also true. Let’s re-write a bit:

Remember, just one very happy, productive employee can help raise the whole department. And what’s better - this attitude is contagious. It spreads and infects others and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a hard-core little clique of very satisfied, uber happy employees who make everyone around them happy.

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I just started using this new IM/Social Networking/E-Mail Notification client last week. I’ve been using Trillian for a few years now, and within an hour of using Digsby I was sold. Here’s why:

• UI is amazing. I forget which skin I’m using, but it’s red and black and freaking cool.
• Inclusion of Social Networking Notifications. I now get my myspace and Facebook feeds right on my desktop. Makes my life much easier for keeping up with the people I care about (or am just nosy about). I hope that they soon release LinkedIn, Digg and Delicious capabilites. It can also do Twitter, but I have yet to join that particular cult.
• It integrates Google Talk without me having to pay for it, unlike Trillian.
• (Maybe my favorite feature) When I get a new IM, I can respond to it in the little notification window that pops up at the bottom of my screen. Genius! I don’t have to use Alt+Tab to carry on a conversation. Helps me not lose focus of where I’m at in a particular blog post or news article that I’m reading.
• Also, I can see full HTML profiles instead of just text based ones (like Trillian, I refuse to pay for pro or use one of the cracks that’s out there, I’m typically an honest guy)

Admittedly I don’t use the email notifier because I always have my trusty Blackberry by my side, and it notifies me, if I need to respond right away I click over to my always-open (and permalocked) Gmail tab. If not, I delete it from the BB and get to it later (or not at all).

Also of note, I’ve never tried Pidgin/GAIM so I can’t really compare it that service.

Give it a try, maybe you’ll love it.

Addendum: Almost forgot about the widget!  Yes, there’s a widget on my facebook profile now so that people can chat with me if I’m around without having to install any software locally (at least I think so, I talk to myself enough in real life that I don’t need to start doing it online too).

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First Day Of Being Self-Employed

6:30am Wake up.

6:45am Wake up again.

6:46-8:00am Random Interweb stuff.  Read xkcd, blogs, chat online with Drew and Jamie.

8:00- 8:15am Shower, make myself look good (or as best as I can).

8:15-8:20 Walk over to Drew’s to head to the office.

8:20-8:25 Walk back to my house to get the truck so we can take both vehicles so that we only have to make one trip moving all our stuff.

8:35am Arrive at office.

8:35-9:30am Do random office stuff, set up computers, scanners, network, etc.  Already have a junk drawer.  Fortunately for me…. it’s in Drew’s desk.

9:30-11:00am Finish writing most of the actual content for the website.  Talk about a major contract that we might have with a local company with Drew.  And then make Drew go to Bagelmakers to get us food.  Forgot to eat breakfast.  I’ll remedy that tomorrow.

11:00am-1:00pm Run various errands.  Bank, then head to the Verizon Store because while my scroll ball still works in my Blackberry, it doesn’t click anymore.  Very annoying.  Technician lady has to call someone somewhere else to figure out how to fix it.  He suggests a clean install meaning that I lose all my data.  I tell him he can go eff himself.  They’re sending me a new Blackberry.  Should be here Friday.

1:00-2:00pm Drew goes home for lunch.  I go to the Chinese Restaurant that’s in the same building as we are.  Good, not great.  Very well priced.  LOTS of food.  So overall a good value.  Tons of salt though I’m sure.  Do very little actual work.  Read blogs again.  Random web surfing.  Read a little of the latest edition of WIRED.

2:00-4:30pm Actual work.  Write a bid proposal for the aforementioned possible big contract.  If we get this, it’ll start us out with a bang.  We both play with the scanning software.  Yes, probably should have done that prior to opening the doors and advertising what we could do without actually having seen it ourselves first, but…. being an entrepreneur is about taking some risks.   Document shredding people drop of two gigantic bins for us to put papers that are to be destroyed in.  Meet our office neighbor.  A little eccentric, but very nice.
4:30-5:00pm Drew and I go check out a local gym that just opened a new branch.  I used to be a member and loved it, and after seeing the new branch I’m pretty sold.  I think we’re signing up tomorrow.

5:00-7:00pm Home.  Watch a little TV, doze off, K calls, talked with her for a few minutes while she was on her way to class.  I miss her a lot.  Very proud of her.  Doze off again after that.  Mom wakes me up around 7.

7:00-9:00pm Mom takes me to Wal-Mart to buy Drew and I some office warming presents.  Coffee pot (YAY!), coffee, filters, stapler, snacks.  Awesomeness.  Then we eat at a greasy spoon type place.  Drop office warming presents off at the office, and head home.

9:00-10:00pm Get ready to go to work at the Civic Center.  Why on earth did I agree to that?

10:00pm-12:45am Work at the Civic Center.  Very tiring, physical work.  Makes you feel alive to sweat while you work once in a while.  That’s why I agreed to it.  Plus…. money is good.  More money is better.

12:45am Write blog post outlining the events of the first day of self employment while drinking a beer.  It was a VERY long day, but I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.  God I love this.

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Today…. we sign the lease.

A friend and I are starting a business. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a few years now. We hit a good idea, and just kind of…. never looked back. We’ve got all our equipment, we sign the lease on our office today, we’ve got a logo, the website’s in the works, biz cards, radio ads going out next week, everything. It’s scary and exciting. I hope that it works. I’ve imagined both scenarios. Us being insanely successful and having more work than we know what to do with. Us not being able to generate business of any kind and shutting the doors in 6 months. You can guess which path I hope we take.

Now all we need are some clients.

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This movie was magnificent.  Hands down the best I’ve seen so far this year (yes, I know it’s only January, but I have a feeling that I’ll be able to say that through at least September).  It was intelligently funny.  I laughed through most of the movie, but can’t quote a single line, and that makes it great for viewing multiple times.

The thing that sets Juno apart from other smart, funny movies though is that it is, at its very core, a story about love.  I’m not saying that it’s a romantic comedy, because it’s not.  It’s a comedy with a heart.  The love that’s in this movie is simple and elegant and moving…. and I think everyone who sees it will see a part of themselves in the characters.  Scared, awkward and uncertain, but very knowing that they’re feeling something genuine.

The soundtrack was interesting also (I’m going to have to check that out in a little more detail).

Deliciously intelligent and heartwarming.

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Exploding your head with Maths

Hat Tip to WTTF

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