The Importance of Customer Relations

National Grid, my natural gas provider, is a large corporate utility that has a monopoly on Brooklyn. As such, they don't have to give a shit about whether people like dealing with them or how their customer service ranks in comparison to competitors because, in the local market, they have none.

Due to a mistake on my part, as well as the unfortunate coincidence of both the USPS and Capital One Bank sucking at the same time, I have been locked out of both paying my bill online and paying my bill by check via snail mail. I am now forced to either pay by credit card, which comes with a $2.25 transaction fee per bill, money order, which also requires a fee, or pay in person, with cash. I spoke with a customer service representative yesterday who failed to grasp how punishing people so heavily for simple mistakes, some of which aren't even the customer's fault, will just lead to more mistakes as it becomes more and more difficult to pay bills on time. She didn't seem to care much about what I thought. As a result, I decided to send an email to National Grid with my thoughts regarding the matter.

I don't have a question, but rather, a suggestion.

I made a mistake typing in the bank account number when I first set up my online bill payment for my gas bill for National Grid. I now cannot make any payments online. I mailed National Grid a check at the end of February that did not end up making it to National Grid until the beginning of April. Fearing that the check had fallen into the wrong hands or was lost forever, I put a stop payment on the check in March and mailed you another check that was processed a few days later and covered the entire balance on my bill. The initial check with the stop payment order made it to you on April 4th when it was processed. It then took Capitol One, the bank that carries my checking account, 20 days to inform you that the check had been canceled, at which point you placed a ban on receiving any checks from me by mail.

I'm sure someone in your corporation has brought this up, but in case they haven't, I would like to point out how backwards this is in regards to preventing more occurrences of failed or mistaken payments for your customers. Because you have locked out both my online payment option and my ability to mail you a check, it has now become unbelievably difficult for me to pay my bill on time, as I have two roommates to collect payment from and then have to use my lunch break to travel by foot to a payment center. While I accept responsibility for not being more careful in my online payments, there is no actual fault on my part (or yours) for the mishap with mailing the check, except the unfortunate coincidence that both the USPS and Capital One suck.

While I realize you probably don't give a damn whether your customers are happy with you or not because you are a large utility corporation and I have no other option but to do business with you if I want heat, hot water and gas to cook with, but I thought I would take a few minutes out of my time to try and plead my case with whatever shred of human decency you may have left.

I'm tired of dealing with your backwards customer relations policies and plan on doing whatever I can to avoid having to do business with you ever again.

Take care,

Greg

Deemed Too Dense and Intellectual for a Beer Ad

Every culture is born from chaos.

The seeds of culture can only be planted in soil rich with turmoil. From this, we are forced to create order and redefine who we are. Everything we do from that point on is a contribution to our collective identity. An identity that accumulates with every action we take and every word we say. It becomes an entity of its own that remains forever fluid in a world of change. It is impossible to define, but we all know what it is. It is what makes us who we are. It is our icon, our ideal, our idol. From chaos, we create our own culture. With soft artesian water, hops and barley, we made our contribution.

Green-Washing, Corporate Bullshit and How "Certified Organic" Apparently Means Nothing

...or rather, how I learned that most persons and businesses have no problem compromising values and outright lying to make more money.

Recently, it was brought to my attention, with no uncertainty, that "Certified Organic," and in particular, "Organic" Milk, means nothing. I was skeptical, so I did a bit of research. Lo and behold, it is true. "Certified Organic" really does mean nothing, at least when it comes to the milk brands I've been buying.

Seems like I wasn't the only one who was curious.

However, this raises a much bigger concern for me; one that I am a bit embarrassed to consider because of how much of a cynic and skeptic I think myself to be. Even with my limited income, I've been trying more and more to be a responsible consumer: buying organic or natural produce and meats; drinking organic milk; reusing plastic bags until they start to fall apart from wear-and-tear, then using them to pick up my dogs poo; pretty much moving toward a more natural diet and purchasing routine to the extent that my wallet will allow. I put faith in what companies were labeling as all-natural or organic, and charging more for, was actually natural or organic. But it seems that I have been duped. Which inevitably led to a temporary feeling of frustration and helplessness - even when I was trying to do right by the world and go the extra mile, I fell short. Not because of my inability to break habits, but because it is in the interest of business to lie and deceive to continue to grow, or at least maintain, profit-margins. It is rather despicable. And knowing that its been going on in the beer market for the last couple of years with the release of Michelob's line of "craft beer" and its brethren of "knock-off craft beers," I perhaps felt even like more of a fool think it couldn't happen in other categories. But this is the ugly reality of capitalism. Rather than innovate, we deceive and play on consumers' ignorance, apathy and laziness. And, admittedly, I am a part of this world.

Lacking a solution, or rather, a bit lost in my own disappointment, I asked a co-worker what he does to try to be a better consumer. "Do a lot of research. Buy things at farmer's markets." Makes sense. With a note of sarcasm, I asked, "So basically, no product that claims to be organic that's sold outside of a local market is actually organic, huh? You have to compromise quality and ethics to grow to that level of success?" Him being perhaps a bigger skeptic than myself, replied, "Yeah. Pretty much."

What I have failed to understand in this regard is that people have already shown they are willing to pay more for responsibly-grown and/or produced food. Why is it so hard for a company to have a conscience? Money is great, but when we're living on a scorched earth unable to produce even the most basic of necessities, what good is that money going to do you? To steal a line from a video game I've been playing as of late "What's the point of having all that treasure? Ain't nothing here but dirt, mud and guns." We should all keep this in mind, as advertisers and as companies producing and selling goods to other people: being wealthy and rich is great and all, but if we keep compromising the most basic morals and tenets of being a good human being and a good citizen, there won't be a society or a government to give that paper money any value and there won't be a planet worth living on to reap the benefits of all those riches. Preachy. Yikes!

So, to the farmer's market I will be going this Saturday. At least there is still a place to go when you do care.

The Annoyances of Job Searching, or

why do I need to have an undying passion for my job that I should feel requires me to work longer hours, sacrifice my personal life and compromise my integrity without any sort of extra financial compensation?

I will never, for the life of me, understand why it is expected of employees to always be excited about their job, to love their job endlessly and to be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of a job. Perhaps this is because, in my short life, I have failed to enjoy most of the jobs I have had for any appreciable length of time. However, I've always been under the impression that even if you ARE passionate about your work and love your job, that doesn't mean you become your boss's or company's bitch whenever they demand it without being compensated in some way for the extra time you are putting in. I understand that when you're a salaried employee, OT isn't always an option. Still, I feel a bit put off, perhaps alienated, when I read job descriptions that openly state that employees will be EXPECTED to work long hours, be on call 24 hours a day, etc., and have a serious passion for the job that goes far beyond a professional setting. Are there actually people in this world who are like that? Are there enough people like that that employers can weed out those who aren't and staff entire companies?

Don't get me wrong. I feel like I have a great work ethic. I don't generally like to half-ass things or put something out in to the world that I'm not proud of. I love to write. I love to create. And given the choice of going back to restaurant work and making more money, or sticking out my current situation, I'd prefer to stick out my current situation even though it, at times, becomes intolerable. But I fail to grasp when it became acceptable for a company to demand that my job become the most important thing in my life; that my job IS my life and becomes who I am. None of those, I think, should ever be the case (unless someone pays you to be alive).

I get that companies want the best employees who do have a passion for their work. I just don't understand why every aspect of a job is supposed to get me excited, or why I am supposed to walk around all smiles and sunshine every day I'm at work, regardless of what is going on in my personal or professional life. If that's how its supposed to be, perhaps I should just work from home.

Long Time.

Hope you haven't given up on me.

The drought in posts is in part to my new "position" as a contributing writer on TheBeerSessions.com, where I write a review once a week. That being said, I won't be posting reviews of beer on this blog anymore. You can find all of my thoughts on the beers I drink at TheBeerSession.com. If you're nice, maybe I'll post the links here. And by maybe, I mean I will.

Drink it up, buttercup.

Bad News

I just learned that the following brewers are partly or fully owned by Anheuser Busch-InBev:

Goose Island (just sold to AB-InBev)

Widmer Brothers

Redhook

Redbridge

As such, they have been added to my brand boycott list.

Which sucks because I love three of those four breweries (never had Redbridge).

Might have to stop on my way home and get some Goose Island before the deal is done.

A Quick Thought

Advertising is a business so caught up in getting things done, it often forgets what it is its supposed to be doing.