Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. That amusing line from The Outlaw Josey Wales is the fundamental requirement of getting and retaining my patronage. So, for instance, any company that sends me spam is off the list. Tiger Direct sold me TS1’s new PC back in February immediately added me to their Annoy Daily list and so that’s that for them. Companies that think I’d ever buy financial advice or products or any prescription or ‘natural’ substitutes for prescription drugs from spam mail, making inane or illegal promises in their email, are just morons.
Treating me with at least a modicum of respect is next and I don’t mean me only as an individual but also as part of the general mass of consumers. For years, for instance, I’ve avoided Exxon because of how they handled the whole Valdez incident–not that the company had a spill but the BS coverup the tried to pull afterwards–and now I’d put MCI in the same list. Smith Barney, which I use for brokerage, is tilting on the edge but then again I’m not sure any of their competitors are significantly better.
That also means treating me with respect as an individual consumer. Century Theaters is now off my list because of what happened yesterday. We were watching a Matchstick Men matinee in a mostly empty theater when the man of a couple sitting in the row in front of us jumped up and left the room after giving me an unhappy look. Next thing I know, a manager is in my face telling me that if I say another word he’ll throw me out. For whispering?!?!?! I sat stewing and watched the rest of the movie, then spoke with the same manager and his boss after. Their claim is that talking violates some unstated rule but other kinds of noise which can be much louder (laughing, screaming) do not. And, of course, the managers simply took the word of the other customer that I actually did speak, never asking me if that was true or not.
This is really a shame since the Century Theater over on Shoreline has been my favorite place to see movies for the last six years, not to mention the only good theater in a reasonable drive. I suppose I’ll mostly just wait even more often for films to show up on cable and make few exceptions that’ll justify the extra drive. Not going to miss Return of the King, that’s for sure, but on the bubble shows like Kill Bill and Matrix: Revolutions will have to get fantastic reviews and word of mouth to get my box office dollars.
One film I won’t be upset about not seeing, if it ever does come out, is The Passion, Mel Gibson’s self-financed Jesus fantasy. There are plenty of articles I could cite but the one by Frank Rich in today’s NY Times will do just fine. “Modern secular” Jew is as good a way to describe my religious beliefs as any though I remain blissfully unaware of any conspiracy that targets this once favorite movie star. Gibson clearly doesn’t want my money and I’m glad not to give it to him.
I’m not a huge music downloader, grabbed a few songs off newsgroups (never used any of the P2P networks) last year, but the deviant behavior of the major music companies behind the RIAA has certainly turned me off too. I haven’t bought the new Zevon CD and that’s one of the reasons; Warren, after all, has passed beyond the point of caring. I do wonder what will choice I’ll make when the next Springsteen is released, or even the Beatles’ Let It Be…Naked in a couple of months. There are some promising independent music companies but for better or worse I have yet to hear music from them that I enjoy enought to buy.
Insulting commercials are another huge turnoff. Such as the current FedEx TV ad which puts down people with MBAs for no good reason and not in a way I find amusing, since I do have an MBA I worked hard to earn. Comcast ads that simply lie about the difficulties one might have using satellite TV service are really irritating though for the time being I don’t have a good alternative to using them since SBC seems unable to get me working DSL.
Another company I’d rather not do business with, but have little alternative at this time, is KnightRidder and its San Jose Mercury News. Though I do wonder if the San Francisco Chronicle, the one possibility, would be any different on my hot button issue (though early evidence, such as this article, is not promising). That issue is the way the paper deals with illegal aliens, persistently labelling them undocumented immigrants, and how the editors and columnists refuse to respond to reader complaints about this farce.
Then there’s a popular restaurant here in Mountain View, Tony & Alba’s, which I haven’t really eaten at in years because of their poor attitude towards clean utensils and glasses, and their poor response to my complaints about such. Being on Atkins and that place being an Italian restaurant, pizzeria really, means I wouldn’t be eating there anyway. But still a good example of how not to take care of customers. A good contrast is PHPWebHosting, whom I’ve used to host this site since its inception and recommended to others, who respond very well to problem tickets almost every time and when they don’t, always have an apology and reasonable explanation.
Now some people, having put up with my rant all the way to this point, may ask “What about Microsoft?” Aren’t they a guilty enough collective of 55,000? Probably, I’d answer. However, despite the many arguments about Linux or Mac that you’d care to make, I can’t make that switch for practical reasons. And, bottom line, I don’t agree (enough) with those arguments to change even if I could.
Finally, nothing beats a good product or service at a good price.
BillSaysThis 