Touch screens are a  great new way to interact with technology instead of the old keyboard and mouse spiel. Researchers at MIT came up with a newer way to do this in a playful fashion.

Let’s face facts… This economy bites, sucks, and blows. Unemployment is at 9.4%, “blue chip” companies are going under, being restructured, and disappearing like frost on a soda bottle on a summer day.

So… as my econ prof once said… “In times of financial turmoil, businesses need to get back to the basics of business. The businesses that function best… providing the best quality service at the best prices… will survive. Those that loose sight of the basics will fold.” Dr. Lonnie Wilson wasn’t big on buzz words or paradigm shifts, just big on the basics.

Let me give you an example of a situation that will have profound impact on a small business if it’s not corrected…

Last weekend the wife & I spent a wonderful vacations week at the beach. We saved up for 3 months for the 4 day excursion, rented a cheap room, brought our own food, basically tried to cut back where we could and still have a great trip. STOP RIGHT THERE… Already I have impacted the local economy positively, and negatively (sort of)… by renting a room out of town I’ve increased the amount of cash flowing into the local economy of the place I visited, but by trying to save cash (cheap motel, bringing my own food) my impact was not as great as it might have been in a better economy. Restaurants in the area would not be getting my business, so they are in greater competition with each other for that smaller amount o fcash from my wallet. PLEASE CONTINUE…

We had heard from a friend that there was an excellent seafood place across from the pier in Flager Beach… good food, fair prices… My family being “seafoodaholics” we decided to splurge on our 2nd night there andeat out. The problem was my friend hadn’t been to Flagler in about 2 years and couldn’t remember the actual name of the joint… no problem, how many seafood restaurants could there be “across from the pier”… Answer: 4. STOP: Word of mouth about the quality of the food, atmosphere, price, etc. played a major part in deciding which business was getting my few dollars.

We chose a nice looking, busy, seafood restaurant that looked like it might be the one that my friend selected. We were greeted, sat, and ordered… so far, so good. The waitress was about 30 years old, and a little stressed… but that’s ok. My family isn’t exactly prima donas… we don’t require hovering waitresses pouring tea whenever we take a sip… The food was the most important aspect of our meal… The meal came… It was good… I’d like to say more about it, but events that happened later have colored my view of the entire meal… STOP: Ok… so far so good basics wise… The customer is relitively satisfied with the atmosphere, the service is probably a little edgy, but not bad enough to cause problems, the food (main service) is missing the “Wow” factor… but why? Where’s the red flag (you know there’s one coming!)

Time to go… “Check Please”… Wait… wait… Oh, here it is… “No problem, I know you’re busy tonight.”… Hmm… $53… Ok, that seems fair for the amount of food, the fact that we’re “splurging”, the good memories we’ll get from this meal… no problem. I pulled out 3 $20s to pay the bill, I’m terrible at knowing the right tip… always go on the 10+% rule. Having been a waiter, I know how important tips can be, so I always leave SOMETHING, even for pretty bad service… wait… wait… wait… “Babe, let’s just leave the $60 and go for a walk on the pier.”

That’s when IT happened. As we were at the front door the waitress “ran into” us with our change… “No, just keep it. Have a great night! Thanks!”… “What?” she said with disbelief & confusion, “I guess so… even though it’s not even 10%.”

Ouch. 1) 10% of $53 is $5.30… I’m no math major, but $60 – $53 is more than $5.30. 2) The tip used to be a way of rewarding exceptional service. A way of showing a waitress (waiter) your GRATITUDE for good service, not a required part of the meal. 3) You do realise that if you make snide comments like this that it has an ADVERSE effect on business, which has an adverse effect on your employment?

Back to basics… customer service, or as Clark Howard rants… “Customer No Service”… It ruined a nice dinner with my family. I won’t be back. Ever. Remember that Psychology class where they talked about memory? How the said that one of the theories was that we NEVER forgot anything, we just lost the ability to recall the information? Remember how that was called “Interference”?  “Interference” A event blocking the correct memory from being recalled. Remember how there were 2 types of Interference… (my wording) Pre-interference, and Post-interference… Pre: previous memory blocks later memory… Post: A later memory blocks a previous memory.

I can’t remember (very well) the food I ate… was it great? Decent? The atmosphere… I remember dust on nicknacks, fairly loud… Wow… Only the negative stuff… All because of “IT”. How will my experience, multiplied by a few customers, effect that business… especially in this economy?

Now, let’s look at a different model… the Pizza restaurant next door. On a whim Barb & I decided to get a pizza the last night. How many pizza restaurants in a small town…3. We chose “Joseph’s Pizzaria”. A mom & pop that was neat as a pin, and close to our motel. We entered were greeted, and placed our order for take out. 4 people working… even though it was late… 3 cleaning/straightening… one cooking. everyone asked us if we had been helped… one waitress who had been in the back when we came in, apologised for our wait, and profusely apologised for not serving us right away  “What can I help you with?”… “No, we’ve been helped, but thanks!” “Would you like some bread sticks while you wait? They’re only $3.99… would you like to taste one?”… “Sir you’re 2 pizzas are done. That’ll be $21.” Oh! I couldn’t resist… “Here’s $25. Keep the change.” “Thanks. Come again.”

WOW! The basics at work. Good food (I loved the pizza.)… good atmosphere (clean)… excellent service. I’ll be back. When we got back to the motel we saw some people who have been coming to this motel for years, they saw the box & said “Hey! You go to Joseph’s?” They had the same experience & had the same thoughts I did.

Pizza is Pizza, but good service is worth a lot, and will probably save that pizzeria from Chapter13.

A good thought in this troubled economy.

Several years ago, before blogs, tweets, & practically everything but Bulletin Boards, my Educational Psychology professor was lecturing about a “new” area of research, Proxmetics… or the study of preferred distances in social situations. He was saying that this was a new field , akin to the not totally understood pseudoscience of physical psychology.

Alright, where is this trip down memory lane taking me… Not to a failed 1990 TV show about a psychologist who solved crimes studying the body language of suspects, nor the interesting, but scientifically inaccurate “How to Read a Person Like a Book”, but in a practical application I have observed within the confines of the bosses office. I have had a grand total of 7 bosses over the last 23 years, and I’ve noticed a correlation between the “proxmetics” of their “visitor’s chairs” and their management styles.

An example… One of my bosses was a well connected, highly powerful, and very aggressive individual in the community. He had an open door policy, but rarely allowed much disagreement. He was aggressive in negotiations, aggressive in policy, and aggressive in his personal life. One day he had me dead to rights… He sent a note telling me when to report to his office, and what to bring with me… As I entered I saw that his office was set up in the Us Vs. Them configuration. 2 visitors chairs about 3 feet from his battleship of a desk where he presided in a tall backed mangers chair. I got there a few minutes early, and noticed a person with a complaint wither under his scrutiny and cold stare.

As I was sweating my wait time, I remembered this college prof and his “pseudoscience” lecture. He specifically said that on eof the new exciting ways it was being used was in negotiations with Japanese businessmen (remember this was in the 80’s when it seemed the Japanese economic juggernaut would consume all of our production here in the US.).  The prof said that the Japanese respected strength, and suggested that putting the other party at a psychological disadvantage to begin with would set the tone for the meeting.

THAT’S when I saw my bosses office in a different light. My boss had placed the chairs at a distance where he could see the entire body of his “guests”. Having sat in the “hot seat” a couple of times, I can tell you that you feel quite naked & alone out there without a desk to hide behind. Meanwhile the boss himself would sit back behind the symbol of his authority, his massive desk, firmly ensconced, firmly entrenched in his position. Secure. Talk about setting the tone in your favor before you even get started.

I figured the minor infraction I was being called in for was minor enough I wasn’t getting fired, so I decided to try something. As I came into his office I pulled the visitor chair over to the corner of his desk (I think I got that from “Men in Black”… it’s one of my favorite scenes in that movie!) The boss was a little taken aback, and even forgot why he called me in. I smiled and said that I had accidentally done so & so, but that I knew it was a mistake and had taken steps to repair the situation… The boss was so discombobulated that I didn’t yammer about not knowing why I was called in, making lame excuses, and generally acting submissive, that he quickly agreed that I was in the wrong, but that I was on the right track to repair the damage, if there even was a problem.

Now I’m not saying that if I had embezzled money, slept with his wife, or burned down the copier that I would have gotten away with it, but in this case a little basic, and half remembered, psychology did help my situation.

Check it out… “How to Read a Person Like a Book” is a good read… fun stuff to try (parlor tricks maybe but fun nonetheless)… Enjoy!

Giz has asked me to share my considerable minor talent, but enormous ego blogging about workplace psychology… Ok, here’s a DEEP one… Just peal the stickers already!

Giz has 2 posts about a passion of his… the 80’s wonder… the 6 sided widow maker… the best thing out of Russian since little black fish eggs on crackers… “The Cube”.

Ui,li,u,ri…. WHAT?… Patterns, memorization… Just peal the darn stickers! “It’s cheating”, I hear you squirming in your swivel chairs, wincing at ruining… “The Cube”. But think about it… Use the toy as a symbol of your problems and how people deal with them.

Totally different subject, but still in the same vein… watching some show tonite… “Wipeout”?… American style MXC… Some lady (I assume) flies out to California, signs  1,000 waivers, gets dressed in their silly tights/helmet.shin guards does an interview with the host… then when she is supposed to walk on this 6′ high beam while 2 slowly spinning arms try to push her off… she says (and I quote) “Uh- No way am I gonna get on that D*** thing!” then she quits. That’s the first way people deal with problems… Ignore the warning signs, their own lead-in behaviors, just say “nope, not doing this.” & fold.

Then there’s Giz…& my wife for that matter. Read books on the issue. Ask experts, tabulate data, form algorithms, analyze, prioritize, sanitize… then come to a conclusion. Takes longer… high rate of success IF you get to a final solution. How many times  do you  get stuck in a rut… Problem-data-solution1, more data, solution 2, 3, 4, ad nauseum. Stuck in a endless cycle… well, “endless” is a bit harsh.

JUST PEAL THE STICKERS OFF!

Sometimes you have to refocus on the the end product. SOMETIMES an elegant solution is great, but a simple one works just fine. It’s a thinking person’s job to figure out where the line is.

Oh… and make sure there’s some rubber cement handy… those darn stickers don’t want to stay on sometimes.

Hey all, you might have noticed that the site has been down for a long time. We had some problems with our hosting company, they denied our existence on their systems while having us pay for service anyway. Our experience with EMC had been riddled with bad support, therefore we moved our content to another web host. Hopefully we won’t experience any downtime in the near future and I hope you enjoy reading our older articles- some new ones are in the making. I’m very into Linux and open-source so the move to a Linux server was double the pleasure. I use this blog as a dump ground for ideas and things I come across on the net and in life. Feedback and even input is very appreciated and I welcome anyone to do so. have fun!