Now Don't I Look the Fool?

If you look just a tad further in the blog you will see I went on a good rant against HR.com.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see not one, but two responses in my email inbox today. Both emails were apologetic; one of them included some internal dialog about the problem and they were obviously concerned about the problem. And when I checked my voicemail I discovered I missed a call from them too.

It is now obvious I forgot my cardinal rule when dealing with people (whether an individual or someone working for a company). The rule is, "Interpret their actions through a veil of good intentions." Because in my rant I missed the obvious possibility that somebody just goofed. It was simple mistake and I jumped all over them before I had the facts.

I therefore offer one of the emails I received as proof of their good intent. More than that, I offer my sincere and abject apology for mistaking their intentions.

Hello Jeffrey,
Thanks for taking the time to email us and alert us to the link problem you experienced. I apologize on behalf of HR.com for the error. It has been dealt with and you now have access to the article.

It was a technical error on our part. The article had a future date on it and was expected to display but unfortunately, it did not at the time of the mailout.

I am very interested in hearing more from you regarding any other problems or concerns you may have had with our mailouts and our site in general.

Please feel free to contact me via email at any time at ____@hr.com or via phone at 905-555-0713 (my remote office)...I will be at this number for the remainder of the week.

Again, my sincere apologies. It wasn't our intention to restrict this article.

Kind Regards,
Belinda Pianezza
HR.com
Product Manager - Website Development and Content

For the pessimists out there, "Sure, the rule doesn't always work." But talking about the rule is really a matter for another post.

$crooge McDuck has more cash than Bruce Wayne

Forbes has produced The Forbes Fictional 15, a list of our favorite characters and a discussion about how they made and lost their money.

Interesting to note Jed Clampett has moved up to 7th place on the list, while J.R. Ewing is no longer a member. They both may be in oil, but it's all about how you manage the company.

Personally, I'm glad to see Thurston Howell III is still on the list and disappointed Lucius Malfoy has worked his way on.

An open letter to HR.com

I enclose, for your reading pleasure, an open letter to the management of HR.com.

Dear Ms. McGrath;

I’ve been reading your emails for years, at least three or four, and with a couple different email addresses. I have forwarded your emails to a half dozen or more executives at that many companies. I’ve saved (and recently lost in a poorly managed email system migration) a number of emails because I found them informative and relevant. I read fewer emails in the last year as you provided the “best of” series instead of new content, but I never threw your emails away without first taking a glance to see what (potentially new) information you had for me.

It is with great disappointment I opened today’s message under the following header:
From: HR.com [mailto:realityhr@hr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 06 December, 2005 1:12 PM
To: jeffrey@davidson.net
Subject: Reality HR Interview with Arte Nathan of Wynn Las Vegas

I clicked on the link:
For All Members:
- View the entire article here.
http://redir.hr.com/c.asp?s=64832054&l=143244

and I discovered the article had expired for general members. Now first, I am guessing you think of me and my fellow general members as idiots, because why else would you tell us the article was available, but had expired within the first 12 hours? There are just too many vagaries in life to presume all of your members (or most? or any realistic sample of the population?) are going to read the article in something less than that time. So I therefore don’t believe the article ever was available to my class of your membership. Or second, maybe the article was expired and then we never did have a realistic chance to read the article and you don’t think of us as idiots, but as guinea pigs or rats in a maze.

As a small business owner I understand the need to convert customers who browse into those who purchase, and as a patron of businesses I know the only way this only happens when I find enough value to pay for the service and the service provider has earned and keeps my trust. You have, with the simple action of this link promising an article “for all members,” but then providing me with nothing more than the chance to buy I, betrayed my trust and lost my business.

I contrast your message with the emails I get from McKinsey or Emerald Insight, both of which clearly identify when content is part of a premium service and do not lie to me about article availability.

For years I have been a fan of your services, though I have never paid for them. While I cannot assure you any of the articles I forwarded were read or that any revenue resulted from my actions, I provided you one of the key things every business needs, avid fans trying to recruit new customers for you. Was the loss of my business worth what you gained by making this interview a revenue generating item?

Cordially,
~Jeffrey
--
Jeffrey Davidson

Integrity in Advertising

In a fabulous new telling of a classic tale, follow the link to the new clip for an incredibly scary version of West Side Story.

Honestly, it's amazing how much editing can change a love story into something else.

I am reminded of the movie My Girl. It came out in the Fall of 1991 and was advertised as a feel good movie, building on the reputation of Macaulay Caulkin and his Home Alone movies.

The movie itself was not a feel good movie. It was a very touching story about a girl coming of age, dealing with her first period, her father's remarriage to a floozy, and the death of her best friend (Macaulay). I left the theatre screaming mad. Not because the movie sucked (though in my (incorrect) opinion at the time, it did), but because I was lied to. I was promised one movie and I got something completely and utterly different.

On SALE Now!

As mentioned previously, we have closed the doors at Lone Star Games. And now that we are out of the retail business, we're trying to sell as much of our left-over inventory as possible. To do this, we are selling everything at our cost (wholesale + shipping), and without any additional markup. If you want to take advantage of this great offer, please check out our Going Out of Business flier.

Seriously, you will find great prices, and I will not mark up shipping costs if you live out of my immediate driving range. Please, do us a favor and take advantage of this great offer. We also have lots of card covers, a handful of books, and some open DVDs if you're interested into those items. (Just send me an email asking for details.)

And if saving money on great stuff doesn't motivate you... Please, help me make Kristi happy. Once I sell enough inventory out of my garage she will be able to get her car in from the cold.