‘Labor Day’ takes on new meaning this year Labor Day holiday will be especially meaningful to me this year. On Sunday, September 2, I celebrate 36 years in business. That makes me, uh, “seasoned.” The gray hair is just a “professorial prop;” the wrinkles are “character lines.” I love what I do and have for […]
Company ‘enlisting real people to answer customer calls…’ Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” After many years of soft drink evolution from sugar to artificial sweeteners of many types, product manufacturers are again touting “real sugar” in their concoctions. It appears the same is happening in customer […]
Trump broke the ice, but will results break the country? I give Trump his due for meeting Kim Jong Un in person. And I say this despite the fact that I despise Trump. Back in 1969, I advocated the Israelis sitting down face-to-face with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as part of my religious school Salutatorian […]
Address NRA intransigence with your vote in November The Washington Post headline sums up one position: “Oliver North, incoming NRA chief, blames school shootings on ‘culture of violence’.” Via NBC News, Bernie Sanders expresses another: “Bernie Sanders lashes out at Congress over gun control after Santa Fe, Texas, shooting…The Vermont senator said legislators will need […]
What do these top two Google headlines have in common? “‘I was going to get this over with’: Inside Giuliani’s explosive Stormy Daniels revelation…Rudolph W. Giuliani said President Trump personally repaid his lawyer the $130,000 that was used to buy Stormy Daniels’s silence about an alleged affair.” -Washington Post “A serial pooper targeted a N.J. […]
White House ‘de-press’ briefing is a ‘no’ show Watching the latest White House press briefing was depressing. I haven’t watched many lately for that reason, plus the fact that I wind up swearing loudly in the workout room. While Sarah Sanders’ never-ending string of non-answers is infuriating, it also makes me wonder why the […]
Mea culpas can be helpful or off-putting Depending on the circumstances and perceived sincerity, apologies can help solve a reputation problem or exacerbate it. Reputation management specialists hold a variety of views about if, when and how to apologize. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is the latest bigwig to apologize for his company’s actions. Whether or not […]
Sanctions work against countries…why not domestic scofflaws? Why shouldn’t young consumers level their brand of sanctions against corporate and celebrity targets who in many cases desperately deserve to be called to account? David Hogg has become, at least for the moment, a symbolic firebrand of this movement. To all the Laura Ingrahams and fellow believers […]
I’ve always been a fan of “artificial intelligence,” starting with an elementary robot that looked like an erector set in motion. I was a small child, and my next-door neighbor had discovered a way to repurpose the robot to function as a TV remote. Pretty cool and heady stuff back then. Today’s technology is both […]
Time was, big ad agencies held sway over consumers with grandiose claims of product and service excellence. Quite often, the claims were exaggerated or downright false. But, until a groundswell of consumer sentiment hit the headlines, a grassroots activist went on the warpath, or an investigative reporter uncovered falsehoods, the ads, PR campaigns, and promotional […]
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