I'm hearing this stuff WAY too much lately:
- I'm not smart enough for that
- I'm not ready for that yet
- I want to but this is outside of my area of my expertise
- I want to, but I can't because of my job
- When I get this degree/certification then I'll be ready for that dream (this one is my biggest pet peeve)
These phrases are tiring to me.
If they start coming out of your mouth, just stop.
- You're good enough. Really.
- You're more than smart enough (turn off the damn TV you'll be 50% smarter in 10 mins)
- Your job isn't working, find another one. Not some day. Today.
- Your degree isn't your ticket to success
The time to do that thing is now.
Get off of your ass and go do it.
We canceled the last of our Comcast services this afternoon at my home. Our Verizon FIOS is so good I tell everyone about it, so we switched to their TV service as well. Here's the conversation as I cancelled the service:
Comcast Rep: Good afternoon, how can I help you today?
Me: I'd like to cancel my TV service.
Comcast Rep: Can I ask why?
Me: I'm switching to a competitor.
Comcast Rep: <hahahaha> So you can get less service for more money and a yearly contract?
(yes, she laughed out loud and notice I didn't mention who I was switching to, but she knew didn't she?)
Me: Actually, it's 1/2 the cost, they have the same channel line up almost line for line with some additions my kids are interested in that you don't offer. Oh, and up to 3 DVR's are free for 12 months.
Comcast Rep: Well what if I work something out so your service is cheaper?
Me: Maybe you should have done that BEFORE I had the other guy installed.
Comcast Rep: <clicks away at her keyboard> Well, I can get you Internet/Phone/TV for what you are paying now.
Me: That's still more expensive than what I've got.
Comcast Rep: <hahaha>Well, that Verizon internet isn't nearly as good as ours.
(yep, there's that laugh again, and I still haven't told her it's FIOS TV)
Me: I've been a customer with this competitor for 15 months, it's so good I tell my friends about it. Does laughing at people calling to cancel ever work?
Comcast Rep (ignoring my question): Well, I had FIOS at MY house and it wasn't very good at all.
(I could have ripped into her for getting FIOS as an employee of Comcast, but clearly she was full of crap, so I didn't go there)
Me: There's nothing you can do at this point to keep me. I'd rather listen to AM radio than keep paying Comcast after this call.
She then proceeded to cancel my account.
PATHETIC.
I've had a Cannon ZR200 digital camcorder for a couple of years now. It's worked great.
A few weeks ago it started rejecting tapes with a loud beeping sound. I tried a few things, nothing worked. We went on vacation without it where I got oil inside my Cannon point and shoot and water in my son's Nintendo DS (both ruined).
I just sat down to look at this ZR200 again and googled the problem. More than 10 forums reported the same problem with this camera. The solution: >> Turn camera on side - thump on side opposite the screen. <<
So I sighed thinking "no way is this gonna work", but "thumped it" anyway.
Sure enough, problem solved.
I wonder what would happen if I beat the crap out of it... maybe it'll become a high definition camera. Hmm.
I just got the above message when signing up for a trial license for a software program. I'm not going to buy this because they cut corners on the registration process and then were stupid about it.
Get a clue guys, make it easier for people to try and buy your stuff.
I had the strangest conversation this morning with some people at a large subscription based software company. They were astounded that a longtime customer found a cheaper solution that did what they needed.
"But we're the 900 pound gorilla" they seemed to say. "Why would anyone want anything but us?"
The customer left because the "900 pound gorilla" was offering the same product and service as they were 2 years ago and several competitors are coming up with innovative solutions to the same problem for 25% of the cost.
They have the industry clout and funding to do a million innovative things and instead they sit back and complain that they are on the top and they shouldn't need any reason to be afraid that they wont always be there.
I spent several hours on the phone separately with both Vonage and Sprint this morning. Both calls should have taken less than 10 minutes and each took almost 90 minutes. Both calls required multiple unnecessary department transfers and either broken english speaking reps, or reps who spoke english well who were rude. Really rude. Unnecessarily rude.
Both companies made me give the account number no less than 10 times. 10 times!
In the end, I felt like a victom. Vonage ended up getting my change wrong, billing me for something they said they were going to give me for free for my throuble, and now my service doesn't work.
Sprint double charged me for my change request.
Now I have to call both call centers again.
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