You hear the latest. Airlines now select pilots based, not on skills and abilities, but their gender or color. Do you want on that plane? I don’t. I’d just as soon walk through ice and snow. Better. Just stay home.
Category Archives: CEO Princeple
Missing in Action
Did I mention I was in the Marines. Whilst serving, there was a thing or two I learned. One of those things is that a squadron commanding officer must remain in contact with the squadron at all times.
It just so happened, as a l/cpl, E3, I had to to call the CO, a Lt. Col. Needless to say, it was not something I was used to doing everyday. He answered. I explained the reason for the call. He thanked me. That was that.
When the sec. of defense went missing for three days, just what would have happened if someone called to say we just lost an air craft carrier and there was no one but some seaman, E3 to take the call?
It’s a Puzzlement
The title comes from “The King and I”, though it is not quite a song. Still, Yul Brenner does an outstanding job of it. Sort of makes one think. Well, at least I did consider it over the years.
Maybe they won’t mind me borrowing the title, maybe for just a while. I doubt my post will be nearly as long lasting as the King and I.
The point is this. I drive by restaurants. In Southaven, we have a bunch of them. Moreover they are very much varied. The wife and I generally go out 6 days out of the week and rarely go to the same place twice in one week. Tonight, it was Burger King. Love their fish sandwiches almost as much as the Whopper. Tonight, the wife and I had fish sandwiches. McDonald’s used to be my favorite fish sandwich, but Burger King has them beat by a mile, maybe a mile and a quarter.
Besides, Burger Kings has onion rings so hot you have to cool them a while or burn your tongue on them. The wait was just about 3 minutes. I would have expected 5 so that was a plus.
Nonetheless as I drove home, the traffic was such that I had to go slowly. As I drove past each restaurant, I realized I could tell which ones were good by the number of cars parked in the parking lot. Wendy’s had none. Just before I passed, one car entered the drive through. When we passed I Hop, there were but a few cars. Last time I visited there, I gave up after waiting 30 minutes… and I was the only one there. It was easy for me to leave as they had not yet taken my order. It’s no wonder parking lot had the look of abandonment. That is a real shame. I really liked that place.
On the other hand, even on a Monday, the Chick Fillet was packed. When we go there, we usually park across the little street and walk over. Easier to get in and out.
Well, rather than go through them all, I’ll get to my point, you know, the puzzlement. Why can’t the owners of these places drive by as I did. Perhaps they would be able to see what I saw. What has stopped them from doing the visual evaluation and realize that they are doing something wrong.
As swamped as McDonald’s used to be, it is no longer difficult to find a place to park there anymore. It’s usually a quick walk to the door. My puzzlement is simple and I puzzle just why it is that they don’t understand why they are making less money.
Then again, maybe they don’t care, as long as they can keep the customers going through the drive throughs. However, there are restaurants closing. One was recently replaced by a bank. I found that interesting. They usually had a full parking lot. I guess my method is not totally perfect. Then again, maybe the owner of the restaurant gave up and decided to close down and visit Tahiti. That sort of thing does happen.
Still, it is one more thing to add to the puzzlement.
They’ve Built Their Own House
Those who have eyes have likely noticed that the movie industry is hurting. Box office sales have been plummeting. That is a way of saying that they are losing money.
As I have said many times before, I am not the expert, but some things are casual to the most obvious observer. It is interesting to note that theaters continued to draw crowds during the worst of the depression, which seems to reduce the concept that it is economic.
Certainly TV has had a lot to do with it. At first, it could be totally ignored. The screens of televisions were small and strictly black and white. Also, only the theaters had the latest and best shows. Finally, the movie theater had a certain thing, a magic to them.
For this reason, people were willing to pay the 10 or 15 cents of the day. However, as time passed, the TVs grew larger, and then came color. Even so, the movie industry grew. However, they were looking for newer, different plots. They started pushing the envelope as to what they would show and say. Innuendos became less implied and more, outright plain.
Eventually, of course they reached the point where they said anything and showed everything. It was the advantage they still had over TV, which was still regulated by the FCC.
Then came cable and suddenly, anything that was on the big screen could be seen on the small screen. Now, if not before, for sure now, the movie industry had some real competition.
Still, in spite of it all, they were managing, though I suspect even then, it had begun its failure. While there was a day, a family could afford the occasional night at the theater, not so much anymore. The 50 cent tickets of my youth had risen to ten and fifteen dollars. When you’re taking a family of 6, many times the decision is made to wait a few months for the movie to go to cable or even broadcast TV.
This all brings me to the final two blows that just almost hit at the same time. First there is the loss of substance. I think I have counted 3 versions of the OK Corral; maybe 4 or 5 of the the Alamo. How many times has the Titanic been sunk. I know the Poseiden has gone down at least twice.
The other problem originated in a lab in China and litterally destroyed people, businesses and who knows knows what all. It very well might have sounded the death knell to the, so called, siver screen.
So it is that after nearly a century of shining the big spot lights on themselves, the industry, as it is, will likely go under.
Is it salvageable? I don’t know. I used to frequent the theater. I went to see Sound of Music 4 times at the Fox Wilshire. It was reported that there was one woman who saw the movie once a day for the 4 years of the exclusive run at the Fox Wilshire. She had the entire script commited to memory.
Nonetheless, the movie had tremendous success. People were willing to pay the price to see it, sometimes multiple times because it was a good movie, which was done very well. And, by the way, it had no profanity or nudity. Was it the best movie of all time. I don’t know. However, it certainly was one of the most successful.
It is solid proof that profanity and nudity is not nearly as successful as good quality and material.
It has been years now since I’ve gone to the theater. I have been waiting for a good movie. It would seem that Hollywood has been so busy taking bows after the horrid recently made stuff, that they seem to have forgotten that attractive leading acters is but one small part of a success.
The one thing I do find interesting is that for just about a century, they have made huge advances in equipment and special effects while the plots and dialog have been taking a nosedive.
Bottom line. People will not return to the theater until the theaters start providing something worth paying for. Recently, I have not seen anything worth the 5 dollars of yesteryear, let alone the current prices.
Turn Around, There’s a Cliff Ahead!
I didn’t get all the details as I was distracted at the time. However, near as I can tell, the Disney company is starting to have problems. I would guess their movies are not doing well. I would guess they have had a drop off in park attendance. Maybe they are having trouble selling those little toys associated with the movies.
It is, as I said, a guess. I am not a business genius, but I would suspect they have what we in computers the dumb flip-flop stuck in the on condition.
They need not panic yet, though it would appear they just might be near the precipice.
My advice is simple. When you discover that you are going the wrong way, turn around and go back where you came from. They might improve things when they can tell the difference between boys and girls. They just might start improving things by going back to a true family centered corporation, sorta the way Walt Disney originally intended.
Christians, have a word for this. Repent. That is to say realize that what you are doing is wrong, stop, turn around and go back in the other direction.
Oh yes. One more thing! Bring prces back down, and I mean a bunch. I know Disney deals in fantasy land, but the rest of us must keep our feet solid on dirt, or at least most of us. Disney has done raised the price well beyond what most of us can afford.
Remember, Disneyland is an option. Food, shelter and gas are necessary.
Three Very Unproductive Ways of Spending Time
- Waiting for a car to be serviced. Last time for me was to replace a battery. Over four hours. Most of that was spent waiting for a new battery. I guess I should have brought my own.
- Waiting for a doctor. Normally it is a two to four hour wait. It is the one time I really would like to be a multi-millionaire. People who have a lot of money don’t spend much time waiting for doctors.
- Certainly, the one thing that irks me more than anything is spending 10 to 15 minutes finding and opening the end of a large leaf bag. Sometimes they don’t even let you know where one bad ends and the next begins. It is intentional. They could make the bags easy to open. Of course they can. But they don’t want to do that. You would use more and then they would have to make more. Do you really think they would want something like that? It does make me wonder though. Do the CEOs of these companies use these bags. Do you suppose they know how difficult they are to open. Probably not. They are very rich. They don’t wait for car maintenance, doctors or dentist. They certainly would not rake the leaves. If they did, they would have someone else open the bags.
Do you suppose they have a secret they are keeping to themselves?
Over-engineering
I needed a battery charger so I bought one a few weeks ago; or at least I thought I did. It was a little expensive but it was a Die Hard name brand so I bought it. This afternoon I got it out to use it and realized it was more than I wanted and less.
Without asking it to, it analyzed my battery and said it was faulty and stopped. Now isn’t that neat. I don’t even get the option of charging the battery anyway. It just stopped. After several more attempts, it just kept saying the battery was bad and stopped. Sure am glad the car was a backup, otherwise I would have had to call a tow truck right then and there. I mean, if I can’t get the battery charged, I can’t drive the car up to the shop and get it replaced.
It might be a really slick battery charger, but in this case, I really did need a battery charger, not an analyzer. Whose idea was that, anyway? At least, now I know why the thing was so expensive. Now, of course I need a real battery charger so I can get my car to a place where I can get the battery replaced. Either that or I will need to call a tow truck. I sit here in front of my computer wondering just which will cost me more.
At any rate, I figured maybe others can profit from my mistake. If you need to buy a battery charger, you just might check before you buy it and get more than you want. Or is it less than you want. Well. actually, if you need an analyzer as well as a charger, it just might be what you’re looking for.
I guess I’ll keep it. Maybe one of these days, I’ll actually need a charger that is an analyzer or an analyzer that is also a charger.
Now! One might ask, why do I need to take the car to the shop to get the battery changed. Well, those that have read my posts for a long time know that I bought a Chevy that I am not so pleased with. One of the really neat things about it is that I can’t change the battery. I have to take it to a shop. That’s right, they really buried it. Some more over-engineering. I have changed over half a dozen batteries in my life. When they built this one, they wanted me to have to come back to the shop. Same for the $50 headlights. The total on that one is $100. 50 for the light and 50 to put it in.
That is another reason I will never buy another Chevy. Worse, they don’t like listening to my complaints. I have searched for hours trying to find a complaint department on the net. Back then it didn’t exist. Maybe they do now. If so, it’s too late. I already bought a Nissan.
Regardless, I suspect they’d not listen to me anyway. Otherwise, why did they make sure not to listen to me before. Those folks building GM autos might want to start making backup plans. If GM refuses to listen to their customers, I suspect their sales will fall, quickly.
And! by the way. It is just another reason to make me hesitate in buying another. It is what I call the CEO effect. If GM CEOs drove their own cars, I don’t think we, the regular customers would need to complain. The CEOs would make sure the problems were fixed.
As a side note to the side note, I bought a FOB over the internet. It’s been working now for about a year. Couldn’t get any of the others to work more than three months. Apparently, others have been having problems with them too. It’s sort of why so many have been selling on the internet.
Now, let me see. I wonder if the Die Hard CEO ever had to charge a battery with this battery charger. I wonder if it told him he had a bad battery.
To Err is Human
There is an old saying in the world of computers, “To err is human. To really foul things up takes a computer.” This seems no more prevalent than in Memphis these days. Seems every other day, I hear a story on the local news about someone receiving an outlandish electric bill. I don’t mean a little outlandish either. I mean like 17 or 18 thousnd-dollars-outlandish.
I would say that in this case the computer really fouled things up. If I were in charge of computer operations at Memphis Light, Gas and Water, I think I’d be working on two things: changing my name and changing my occupation.
You would think they would be a little embarrassed. Not so. Not that I can tell, anyway. Gives me another reason to be glad to live south of the stateline.
Oh, and by the way. May I say thanks to the one who messed things up. I am sure he just drove the value of my house a few thousand dollars.
So, thanks. Keep up the great work.
Cold & Flu
I really like Alka-Seltzer Plus. It works. Usually I by the little green or red pills. They are easy to swallow and I don’t need to mix them with water. Made a mistake a few days ago. I bought the powder. My wife was feeling bad and her nose was stuffy.
Well, I tell you, I knew just what to do. I got out the Alka-Seltzer and opened the box, then I realized my mistake. The powder came in an envelope. The envelope has instructions on it, mainly warnings and cautions. I got out my reading glasses. Not enough. Held the envelope under a light. Not enough. Scrounged around and found a magnifying glass and finally read the instructions.
The instructions, by the way are simple. Mix contents of envelope in eight ounces of warm water. It was panic time again. I don’t have anything in the house for measuring water in ounces. I know this for a fact because I looked about everywhere.
Finally, I went to the computer. Glad I have some access to the internet. By the way, 8 ounces is one cup. You might want to remember that. It just might come in handy one day.
At any rate, I’m glad it was just a stuffy nose and achy muscles. I’d hate to think if it were something a little more important.
Well, you will be glad to know. It worked. My wife can breathe easy again and she is sleeping well. Thank you, Alka-Seltzer. But next time, can you please mark things a little more plainly. Not everyone who takes these meds have perfect vision. A small parenthetical (8 oz) would have come in handy too.
I’m going to need to get me a bigger magnifying glass. How small is that print anyway. I don’t even think it is four points. Maybe 2. I wonder if the Chairman of the board can read that print. I wonder if he ever tried.
Serious About Sirius
I guess just about every new car is equipped with Sirius these days and they come with a three month trial. Not only that, I have received a number of e-mails and now snail mail trying to get me to extend the trial. I really wished they would provide me with a simple check box, No thank you! Don’t need; don’t want; have no desire to have your services. Turned it down before. I will turn it down every time it is offered.
The hitch is that all communication is one way, unless I accept. They allow a yes but never a way of saying no. There is no way to reply to the e-mail and when I bought the car, there was no option to turn it down.
First, they have nothing to offer me. They have at least three jazz channels. They have but one easy listening channel, which is about one forth jazz. As far as I was concerned, none of the rest of the music was worth a hoot either. Did I mention I don’t like but about 5 pieces of jazz ever written. Not at all fond of it. Hence the question, if I don’t like it, why should I pay for it? For what reason would I listen to it?
Second, I wouldn’t take it if it were free. I have a selection of the music I like and I listen to that. I do not need or want anyone selecting my music for me. Moreover, I really get upset with organizations that establish one way communications. I’ve already had enough of that. I have signed up for a few things and then I can’t talk to anyone about it. The only way I can stop the service is to stop payment through the bank. In at least one case, I changed banks. They did, eventually stop bothering me, though I never got to send one message to them.
There is a person I used to listen to on the radio who had the perfect expression for such… “Customer NO Service. when I have a small problem easily resolved, and I try to speak to someone, I can’t. When I can’t speak to anyone, I get angry and terminate my business with them.
Now let me see. Let me consider the reasons I need Sirius? None! And I am dead serious about that. No need to ask me again. I have already made up my mind. There is no chance I will ever, ever change my mind for any reason. The only thing I ask from them is stop sending me the trash mail, of all kinds. Now. If I could ever figure out a way to get that message to them.
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