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Here are the 5 things that I may not have mentioned before on this site, or in person, and things that you may not have known or guessed before. It was hard for me to pinpoint only 5 things out of the countless things that never get mentioned on this site, so I’ll stick with the following five simply because they are related to this site and show something about me.

1. I don’t like doing favors because of obligations, and I try to do things first without asking for anything in return. Online, I do my best not to post comments on a site when it is assumed that I must post a comment. I do the same thing with links; I rarely ask for link exchanges. Instead, I like linking to sites even if those sites do not or would not link to me. Similarly, I post comments on sites even if the owner of such sites have stopped posting comments on my site.
2. Online, I have a few nicknames that many people, both mature and immature, have called me in the past. These nicknames have become so popular that many people online only know me by these nicknames.
3. All posts except a few that belong to the “update” category have a reason and a message behind them. This includes posts ranging from reviewing online services to movies to personal stories and narratives.
4. I do not like to follow the typical trend of posting about a certain topic simply because it is the season to do so. I do, however, love reading such articles on other sites as it seems that many people can write just about anything so beautifully that one feel relaxed and drenched in their writing. Why do I love something which I myself don’t do? Simple: Just because I do not do something or at the moment think that I cannot do well does not mean that I have to condemn and avoid it.
5. I try to avoid small talk. So if I ask you “How are you doing today?” online, I’m actually interested and am ready to listen to whatever comes my way, whether it’s for a minute or for a long time.

For this meme, I would like to tag Ally, Birdie, Simply-Precious, Jerine, Sawai and Valerie, if they have time, would like to participate and haven’t already done so. I’ll send a message to those who have been tagged to let them know about this. This post will also be linked to from the “About” page soon.

Thanks Daniel for the tag, and thank you for reading.

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The sharing option is simple; at the end of each post, including this one, you’ll notice a “Share this” link which you can click to see different ways to share a post with different online services and with your friends. This change is simply a minor improvement over the last change, v 0.80.

Please let me know what you think or if you have any recommendations like adding, changing or removing something. In the meantime, I’ll keep taking your suggestions and keep integrating them into the site. Thank you.

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After about an hour and a half of being put on hold, I was told that the support staff could not figure out what the problem was, and that the only way to identify and fix the problem would be to leave my computer and modem turned off and wait for the technicians to come over on Tuesday. That sounded strange and a bit illogical to me, so I decided to leave the computer on and see if I could fix the issue. I also decided to call again this morning and see if I could get someone to come today instead of Tuesday. After being put on hold again for about 37 minutes, I was finally told that the technicians would call me within 30 minutes to let me know whether or not they could come today. I waited for about an hour for a call that never came through. While I was waiting and changing a few settings on the computer, the connection came back on. Right now, everything is working fine again, and I haven’t heard anything from the technicians who were supposed to call me hours ago.

Had I left the modem and the computer off and waited for the technicians to call me, I would not have known that the connection was back on again. Time Warner has a lot to fix about their communication methods and priorities. First, I didn’t get any notification from them about the updates they were performing earlier this month, and that resulted in an unexpected service interruption. Second, even when I was told that someone would definitely call me, no one did. As a customer, I’m paying not only for the connection but also for being notified about anything that may affect the services I have. When it comes to communication, support, and my experience so far, it seems that Time Warner Cable is not good at notifications, nor is it good at followups about support issues that are critical to a customer.

Customers get multiple notifications from different departments when it comes to billing. How about notifying and keeping in touch with the customers about other things also? How about having a central help system that allows support staff in any department to find out any pending issues that need resolution? A notice could be left in that system marking any issues as either “pending resolution” or “resolved.” That will facilitate the efficient resolution of customer issues and unconventional actions takes by the support staff, such as calling a customer back. Only when someone calls a customer back would such a system allow a support issue of this nature to be marked as resolved. That way, things won’t get lost into thin air that leave the customer wondering “Do they even remember that they were supposed to call me?”

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Sometimes you cannot explain yourself in person because you can’t find the right words. The same way, sometimes you can’t explain yourself online because of running out of time, given the nature of the dynamic and the ever-changing online world. That’s also how life is for many of us. Many people simply look at the way other people react to something, and they tend to react in a similar fashion. You can’t always control outside factors, like opinions of others, so most of the time you’ll have to deal with them the way many situations need to be dealt with in person, by not dealing them with at all. Why? Because many people always judge others without doing any thinking of their own. It’s easier to follow the crowd than to wonder why.

Take my picture of a white flower stigma as an example. While the picture was taken innocently, some people thought it was seductive, suggestive and a few other things. I also got an email from someone saying they were “disappointed” since they used to love my pictures before and had also bought some of my pictures before. On top of that, one of the commentors blocked me on Flickr because of the way people interpreted the picture. All this happened simply because of comments left by others for one picture.

If you’re the one who is being misinterpreted in one way or the other, directly or indirectly, what you can do is to either clarify things clearly or simply let them go. If people jump to conclusions online, then maybe they’re the type of people you find in real life also; people who just look for drama. If you find yourself jumping to conclusions, just pause your certain thoughts for a while and ask yourself this question: “Am I arriving at this thought because of my own thinking, or because others are doing it too?” If you find yourself being judged without any substance, ask yourself this: “Should I even bother to think about this?”

In the end, it all comes down to whether or not something is worth stressing about. Many times, somethings are not even worth thinking about.

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It’s the idea of not talking to someone in person that somehow makes some people feel that they can bend the very rules they cherish when negotiating in person. It’s like friendship for many; you pretend to be sincere over the phone to people who have been there for you, and you act sincere to people who want to use you. The same way, many buyers simply back out of a deal without letting the seller know about it. While it’s normal to back out of such a sale at the last minute, it is anything but normal for a supposed buyer to simply disappear and not let the seller know what happened.

Last week, I had a buyer who called me 4 times in 3 days and requested repeatedly that I “please keep the tv” for him till Thursday evening. Well, he never showed up, and never responded to me. Could this be because of the embarrassment he felt when backing out of the deal that he had begged so hard for in the beginning? I’m not sure. Regardless, it’s funny how only a few people take the time to call or email and say “Sorry, I’m not interested anymore and won’t be coming by at 4” instead of making someone wait and lose other sales by telling other customers “Sorry, I already promised this to someone and they’ll come later during the day. Thus, I cannot sell this to you. Sorry.”

As for the 27″ Sanyo TV and the Sanyo DVD player I was selling, after the original buyer simply vanished, someone came yesterday and paid almost twice the amount I had originally wanted. Interestingly, not all sales end that way. Maybe online classifieds should have tutorials teaching buyers how to be effective at communication, and how to be ethical when it comes to negotiating a deal along with ideas on how to gracefully bail out. When a buyer is negotiating a deal for themselves, they should know that they’re also in turn making the seller negotiate a deal for themselves. Long live free communication between buyers and sellers. Long live Craigslist.

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If you like any of the points mentioned in this post, I’ve got a hundred more in the works. You can contact me and hire me to allow you to use these and many more points, and to have me provide consulting too.

Here is the 2nd part of that list, with 5 more plans that could help revolutionize the fast food industry.

1. Straight or gay; you simply gotta pay

   You might be charged more or given a discount depending on your sexual preference. I originally came up with this idea in order to allow discounts for people of certain sexual preferences that might otherwise be discriminated. However, the fast food corporations love this plan only if they get to charge people of any preference more money instead of giving discounts. For example, some employees suggested to me that San Francisco’s Burger King might charge more if one is not a lesbian, and that Irvine’s McDonald’s might charge more if one is gay. The extra charge will depend solely on the sexual orientation and preference of the management of the local fast food location in question.

   I’m working on this plan to make sure it’s not discriminatory, though I keep getting told everyday by all the food corporations that they’re in the food business, not in the anti-discrimination business.

2. Bow down to your sponsor or pay us

   Fast food companies will charge more when a customer doesn’t use specific products from a sponsor. This initiative is still being discussed heavily, and negotiations are far from complete. The concept is simple: a fast food chain will have a sponsor of the month, and that specific fast food chain will charge extra whenever you do not own a product from that sponsor. For example, if Honda is sponsoring the month of December at Carls Jr., every Honda driver will pay the regular price for all the drive-thru orders. All other drivers will pay extra for any menu item. Plans are also being made to include discounted or extra menu items available only to users of a specific product.

   Some have even proposed extending the idea to have sponsors from the mainstream language advocates or specific communities where speaking a specific language or looking and acting like a certain someone will earn special discounts. If it’s any consolation, the following month your own community might be the sponsor, making you feel like the superior race then. Just like before, I’ve been sent some modified plans by various religious organizations regarding charging people from other religions a lot more, or banning nonreligious people completely from ordering any food. Whether the plan is to convert nonreligious people or to starve them to death, I don’t know. While there are some rumors floating around that people who convert on the spot from one religion to the religion advocated by the sponsor of the month will get prizes and free religious books for life, I can deny all such rumors at this moment and say that these rumors have no ground to stand on.

3. Screw your city and pay us!

   You’ll be charged extra for buying at a fast food place that’s not in your city of residence. This plan requires an ID card to verify the zip code of all buyers at different fast food chains. If you live in the same city, you’ll pay the normal price, and maybe get a discount. If you live in a different city, you’ll pay extra and get no discount unless you move to become a local resident. I originally got contacted by different county officials who wanted certain members of the society kicked out, and at the same time wanted wealthier citizens to move in. We came up with several plans and this one was voted as being the best by different county officials.

4. Eat my food or pay up to feast at other places

   You’ll be charged extra for not being a loyal customer at specific fast food chains. When you go to any fast food place, you’ll be expected to know all of the menu items by heart. Hiding the menu itself is an easy way to find out who knows the menu and who doesn’t. People can still ask what the menu is, but an extra charge will be added to such orders. A discount and a gift coupon will be given to those who pay an extra “I converted” fee, which allows customers to convert from something like Wendyism to Jack-in-the-Box’ism or from Subwayism to Quiznoism. A credit card will be kept on file for each convert; if they do not come and order something on a regular basis, they’ll be charged a “defect/spy/going-to-hell” fee. Plans are also being considered to charge customers instantly when they ask what the menu items are, even if they don’t buy anything.

   An increase in graduates of criminal justice degrees is expected, as more fast food chains will start hiring security guards and detectives to chase down people who ask for menu items and then run away without ordering or paying anything. This plan is being heavily modified by me, as many religious organizations have shown opposition to such a plan saying that offering incentives to worship a fast food place may actually cause many immature people to stop worshiping God and start worshiping the big M signs. These religious people instead advocate the “Bow down to your sponsore or pay us!” plan above.

5. My Capitalist Nanny!

   This one was recommended by Jerine. I talked about this with local branches of several national fast food chains and they all agreed; kids make more mess than adults. Thus, anyone who brings children to fast food places will be charged an extra “My Capitalist Nanny” fee depending on what the kids do. If the kids play around, parents will be charged extra. If the children make a mess on the table, they’ll be charged extra. If they kids scream, they’ll be charged extra. If someone brings more than one child with them, they must make sure that each child orders something, or else there will be an extra fee. Many executives are even considering offering menu items where parents can rent a nanny from the fast food store for an hour while they eat.

   Right now, research is being done to see as to whether some children will start to realize why their poor parents always locked them in their rooms and never took them to McDonald’s anymore, and thus when they grow up, whether these children might start a psycho-stalking spree against fast food executives. Many executives laughed at such research in the beginning saying that no one gets stalked or attacked anymore, but after reading this blog about stalking and stabbing by strangers, and being used and being lied to by friends, those executives are slowly realizing that they should take precautions. Right now, research is also being done to see whether renting nannies would be a good idea or not. Some have even suggested offering hot nannies to take care of all people regardless of their age, but this has been heavily criticized by parents who say that the old freaky executives just want to live out their sick fantasies through such plans.

These are the other 5 points I’m working on to make sure it’s easier for corporations to establish and promote different types of healthier relationships with all the communities. You might also want to read more about the Fast food business annoyances to get a feel of what the fast food industry is like at the moment.

What do you think about these points overall, or any of these points? As for me, I’ve eaten too much Pizza Hut since yesterday. It’s time to take some rest. Thank you for reading.

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It was very easy to sign up. I called 1-888-TW-CABLE [1-888-892-2253] and was told that some technicians could come to my place after 10 days. My SBC renewal date was coming up, so I decided to call again after a few minutes to get some other person on the line to help me. I called back after about 3 minutes and was told that someone could come over in 2 days. That was great. So far, calling Time Warner over the phone to get a new service was a good experience, and very fast.

The contracted technicians came and hooked up the new cable to the house. The technicians gave me a receipt and told me that they had no welcome package or any other paperwork for me, as the service was so easy to use. For me, that was fine as I already knew how to use the service. However, I wondered how new customers who had never used a broadband connection before would get started without a welcome package. For me, though, the service worked flawlessly and it was at least 3 times faster than the dsl connection I had from SBC.

On Tuesday, December 5th, around 3 pm, my internet connection dropped suddenly. I called the Time Warner helpline and heard an automated recording that talked about the entire Adelphia network in my region being upgraded at that moment, and the possibility of the entire process continuing until 11 pm, Thursday. The recording also told callers not to call regarding any connection issues until then. For me, that was unacceptable and a good example of bad communication. One of the last things a company would want is for customers to panic, and having no internet connection all of a sudden without any notice or a warning surely results in many customers who go crazy. I didn’t get anything in the mail regarding this, nor was I emailed anything. I could live without the connection for a few hours, but being prepared for such a thing is better. Unexpected surprises that are unpleasant are, well, unpleasant. The connection did come back on for me after a few hours on the same day, and it’s been good since then.

Communication is the central key to any good relationship, whether it be a one on one relationship or a business relationship. The recording on helpline did address my specific question right away. Even then, however, I would prefer a message coming from the businesses to the customers notifying them of any outages in advance, instead of customers reaching out helplessly to the businesses asking them about any sudden emergencies or issues.

Has anything similar happened to you? What is your outtake on this?

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I timed how long it took PeoplePC to disconnect me on random days, and noticed that it ranged from 3 to 4 hours for any local number I dialed into. It’s inconvenient to be disconnected like that, so I thought PeoplePC was disconnecting me because I wasn’t using their software. I downloaded their software to see if I was being disconnected simply because of that reason. Their software was simply a dialer that dialed into PeoplePC and showed the PeoplePC member homepage after a connection was established. The software kept running in the taskbar while allowing users to access the internet. However, even when I had connected using their software, a very happy “disconnect warning” box popped up on the screen after about 3 hours, advising me that the internet connection would be dropped in 10 minutes, and I could reconnect again immediately if I wished. The box also told me that this was the limitation of their basic plan, and that I could get their advanced plan to avoid this forever.

Somehow, PeoplePC didn’t appear to be offering the “unlimited access” that it claimed to. I used to have AOL and other dialup ISP’s long time ago and they didn’t disconnect users even after being connected for 12 hours or so. Searching through the PeoplePC help pages, I found the following section which talks about being disconnected automatically:

The reference to broadband connections having service interruptions didn’t make sense, as those interruptions are accidental and rare, whereas PeoplePC had a different connection technology [dialup] and was disconnecting on purpose simply because majority of the users were online for no more than an hour. Also, it is not the very nature of electro-communication medium that the connection be temporary after every hour, contrary to what PeoplePC is trying to imply in the last sentence of the above quote. The point of the entire paragraph itself is nullified because when you use the PeoplePC software to connect to the internet, the pop-up box that tells the user about the connection being dropped in 10 minutes also tells the user that if they purchase a higher PeoplePC plan, they will not be subject to such an annoyance. Sorry, I meant “limitation.”

For many people, staying online means accessing different email accounts and services. Using a dialup as a connection, that sometimes takes more than an an hour. PeoplePC does not mention the fact about disconnection during the sign-up process, nor does it mention it in their terms of service or the contract agreement you agree to abide by. Thus, for many people, if not most, PeoplePC is not cheap unless you get their premium plan, and you won’t know about it unless you get disconnected all of a sudden. Or unless you read about it here just now or somewhere else online.

Thus, with or without the PeoplePC software, you’ll get disconnected from the internet after a while if you get their basic plan, even though PeoplePC claims they offer “unlimited access.” And even though PeoplePC states on their site that this disconnection is because of “the very nature of electro-communication medium“, their own PeoplePC software implies otherwise by telling users to pay more for a higher price in order to get a connection that will not be dropped after a while.

What do you think about this? Have you ever experienced something similar?

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