Tag Archives: Company Policy

Ask Erica (Advice from the Internet)

I don’t know if this is a normal thing, or that everyone fancies themselves a great advice giver, but I have had a few people, especially lately, tell me I am really good at reading situations and giving advice. Also, I think the same intuitive leaps that make me a good Internet Stalker, also make me good at figuring out what people will do next. We can also pretend it’s my background in Anthropology, but I am pretty sure that’s stretching it.

So, I am now inviting people to “Ask Erica” and submit their burning questions to be answered by an intuitive, insightful Internet Person™. I am hoping to make this a regular thing.

My credentials:  I love advice columns and read too much about etiquette and ethics and all that other jazz. I have a crazy, messed-up family and can speak from experience. I have been in both inappropriate, tortured love affairs, and wonderful, sane, stable relationships.  As for careers, I have been everything from an assistant clown to a marketing and customer service professional. I have seen the worst of office politics, and the best. I also love, love, love giving my opinion.

So, I am accepting questions on relationships (office, love or family), or professional “what am I doing with my life/how do I get “X” job” or “what do I do about my co-worker whose nose whistles ABBA” type questions. Also, “modern day etiquette.” I can give some career advice, and tell you if you are crazy, or totally justified.

Subjects in which I will not stand behind my advice (but will give it anyway): House cleaning tips, financial advice and pet care.

I promise to keep them anonymous (if that’s what you request) and to tell it to you straight (but I will try not to be a jerkface).  If I can’t answer your question, I promise to try to pull in an “Internet Expert” and help you out.

Email your burning questions to youshouldonlyknow <at> gmail dot com. I will answer as many as possible.

Some Advice Columns/Blogs I Love:

Ask a Manager

Evil HR Lady

Dear Prudence

IndieEtiquette

The Advice Goddess

The Ethicist

Carolyn Hax

P.S. Before you submit anything, please remember you are asking advice from a girl who managed to temporarily blind and choke herself on tap water.

My Part to Save the World

For a girl who works in Marketing, I really hate direct mail. It’s a waste of resources, postage and usually – it’s just trash. I know there are some people who really love catalogs, but I just can’t wrap my head around it. I do have a fondness for trade magazines, but some people are just either addicted to that pure joy of receiving mail, or too lazy to cancel stuff and would just rather toss it.

After a round of lay-offs at my company, we all started taking turns delivering the mail.  And when it was my turn, I realized  that not only were there people who really, really loved catalogs that were no longer there, or mail was coming for people who haven’t been there in years.  Or, I would give the correct or most logical person the mail, and they would glance at it, and toss it right in the trash. This was upsetting for a few reasons – one being the waste of paper and resources, and the other a pang of sympathy for my fellow marketeers and the lost money.

In an act of heroism (my term), I sent an email to the company offering to have a clearinghouse of sorts. If you receive a magazine, catalog, awful promotional plastic-y items or some other junk mail that you don’t want, give it to me. I have volunteered to remove us from all sorts of lists. I also try to deliver the mail more often, and if I see a magazine that used to go to someone else, that some one else may like, I ask them. If they want it, I have asked them to call up the company and switch the name to their own, so that it gets delivered to them in the future.

So far, so good. It takes me about a half hour each week, and I’ve been doing it about two months. Already I am seeing some improvement. I try to keep track of which companies make it easy to unsubscribe from, and which ones make it really hard. Also, I get to see all sorts of awesome trade magazines, like “the ‘only’ magazine dedicated to in house printing.” Who knew? You also wouldn’t believe how many of the same things get mailed to so many different people at the same company.

Want to do the same? Catalog Choice is pretty good for most catalogs that you may receive at home, and Ec0-Cycle has some good suggestions and links for both work and home.

Creation of Customerzillas

A large aspect of my job is customer service. The user experience, customer satisfaction – whatever you want to call it.  I manage the customer service department of my company. I love it. I don’t always love some of the daily tasks that others excel at, but I love taking an unhappy or ambivalent customer and turning them around. I like resolving complaints and I love getting emails that tell us what a great job we are doing. I think we do do a  great job of it. We are proactive, we try to resolve complaints, offer refunds with no strings, respond to every email and phone call quickly and we try to go above and beyond when the opportunity presents itself. I love to read about customer service (and am always on the lookout for good blogs, if you have recommendations!).  A lot of how I base my decisions is on how I would like to be treated myself, or based on mistakes I have seen other companies make.

I am a discriminating customer.  I have written (and hope to write more!) reviews on this blog. I am always on the lookout for ways a company can impress me, and always disappointed when they fall short.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to understand I have balance.  Both The Consumerist and Not Always Right are daily reads.

You got all that? I love my customers. I love giving great service, and I love receiving it. But I would very much like to believe that I am a good customer – that my expectations are reasonable, that I am pleasant to deal with and that I generally have issues resolved to my satisfaction. I am sure some reps would disagree with me, but I think I have more checks on the “Not a Jerk” column.

Have you ever heard the story of the tire return at Nordstrom? Or this recent story about a return at  L.L. Bean?  Both are awesome stories of customer service. I am impressed at the company’s empowering their reps to do what they thought was right, and it had the desired effect of great P.R. and probably a customer for life.

So, why am I whining? I think we are creating monsters.  Again, don’t get me wrong – I think we should get premium service when we pay premium prices. And I think that companies should really acknowledge that the customer is choosing to spend their money with them. It’s not only good for the bottom line, but its just part of being a good person or member of the community. The problem is – I think we are spoiling people.

We keep being told that the customer is always right. The recession is here, and money is tight and companies should be fighting over our dollars. And in a sense, that’s true. But – let’s get real. We all know that when you tell Target that you will never shop there again if they don’t accept a return of an obviously worn sneaker that you don’t mean it and will be back there as soon as something you want is on sale. And its a little ridiculous to expect minimum-wage earning employees to know the SKU number of everything in the store. I think that what you can expect is at the very least, a greeting, a smile and the willingness to ask a manager a question that they cannot answer.

Of course, the more premium the service, the more you should expect. I think it also has to do with how well the employee is being treated. Trader Joe’s and Starbucks are great example of this concept. If you treat employees well, they may go the extra mile to pass along that love to your customer. Stores know that. Stores that hire jerks don’t really care about customer satisfaction, because they are competing mainly on price or your laziness (convenience).

I just wish people would take a second and think before they make demands. Are they requesting a refund, exchange or whatever because they think its fair? Are they trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes? Are they trying to get away with something? If you are a customer, think about if you have really been wronged, or just have buyer’s remorse. Should a company have to pay for a mistake you may have made?

This is a plea to companies to put a stop to it and not kowtow to every threat of  “complaining to the internet/my ‘very influential friends’/your CEO” or we are going to end up worshipping these beasts, the same way being a “Bridezilla” or a “Super Sweet 16 Star” is considered some sort of acceptable behavior worthy of cable TV adulation.

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