Category: New

We were young and we thought,

Maybe we’d give Arizona a shot.

First of all, it was too bloody hot,

But the extreme politics were not.

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When addressing the concerns of the communications age, we sometimes omit simpler technologies.  That can be a mistake.  Some of these supposedly easy-to-use technologies can trip even the most wary among us.  Take technology such as the entry telephone at your apartment building.  ‘What could be simpler?’ you say.  Hah!  Even an entry phone can be a challenge for foolish users and the cause of many frustrations.

It was only after about six years of trying to let visitors come up to our suite that it became automatic to press the number ‘9’ on the telephone that would activate the switch that allowed the visitor to open the door.  Previously many of our visitors were required to call twice.  The second time, they would plaintively ask: ‘How do we get in?’

Then we would remember to press ‘9.’

But that does not work for the people stymied by the entry phone.  We have always been bedevilled by people who call us at random and ask if we will please let them in to see people we have never heard of.  And then there are the pizza and Chinese food deliveries.  They are so used to dialling our code anyway.

The greatest challenge is the person who is so unfamiliar with entry phones that they use their cell phone to call you to ask you to let them in.  You use up their cell minutes with a blow-by-blow lesson on how to use entry phones.  Most of the time is spent trying to explain that unless they call you on the entry phone, you cannot press ‘9’ to let them in.  When all else fails, you go downstairs to let them in.

Of course, when you are getting an elevator to go down 15 floors to let them in, some kind soul has let them into the building and they pass you in the elevator taking them up 15 floors.  You can lose friends that way.  Literally.

Mind you, even companies that sell entry phone systems can forget to mention things that can cause confusion.  They want to make a sale.  Why cause buyer concern.  Like what they forgot to tell the joint facilities committee that currently looks after ours and a sister building.  The two condominiums share a gate house.  The committee decided to put the gate at the gate house on the entry phone system.  The system was installed before anyone was told that the two building’s unit codes could not be integrated. 

People in the two buildings could not explain to their visitors how to use the gate house system as it used entirely different codes and, of course, took about twice as long to scroll through and find the number for the person being called on.  Concern about similar names in the two buildings was also another late thought.  The installation was a mess and nobody was happy except the entry phone company.  They got paid twice; once to install it and then again to make it work.  We now tell our visitors to eliminate frustration and come to the back door and forget about the main entrance.  At least we know how the entry phone at the back door works.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Dalton tells us Ontario’s got it,

Tim tells us Ontario will get it,

Andrea tells us come an’ get it.

It’s the political season isn’t it?

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Your Reporter: (breathlessly) “Reporting in boss, we just covered our first city council meeting of 2011.”

News Director: (stuffily) “Well, what’s the report?  What happened that our readers, listeners or viewers will want to know?”

Y.P: (dejectedly) “Nothin much.” (a glimmer of an idea) “Just a minute.  I got a good shot of the mayor without that surprised grin he’s had on his face since election day.  I think he’s trying to look more magisterial.

N.D: (huffily) “Big deal.  In four years, he’ll look like he’s got a chronic ulcer.  Like me.  What else, ya got?”

Y.P:  (cheerfully) “We got a shot of three senior cops.  I’ve never seen so much metal on cop uniforms before.  They were patting themselves on the back for doing their job when that tornado went through Midland last year.  The Midland chief of police gave our chief a plaque.”

N.D:  (peevishly) “That’ll run on page 50—if we have enough advertising for 50 pages.”

Y.R” (perkily) “And guess what?  City council is gonna spend $65,000 next year slowing down traffic.  Well, they are if the budget item passes.  Every ward councillor is going to have cushions to put down on the road that their constituents complain the most about.  Ain’t that great?”

N.D: (wearily) “Cushions?  What the hell good will they do?

Y.R: (thoughtfully) “Wul, they’re kinda like temporary speed bumps that if you speed over them, they can damage your car’s tie rods and send you out of control into the nearest pedestrians.

N.D: (unbelievingly) “And council agreed to killing pedestrians?”

Y.R: (laughingly) “Of course not.  It’s a known fact that people don’t want to damage their car, so they slow down for them.  I don’t think they’re  out to kill pedestrians.  Yet.

“And the city also got some speed boards that they put up on problem streets to tell people how fast they are going.  The boards can also be redirected so that local skate boarders can have speed trials.”

N.D: (grumpily) “But what’s happened to the new, fresh, open council that the new mayor promised us?”

Y.R: (musingly) “Gee boss.  Nothing, I guess.  Nobody wanted to talk to council about anything last night.  I think it was just too damn cold and nobody wanted to come out just to complain about something.  Give ‘em time.

“Mind you, if the new mayor thinks that council is open and transparent for Babel citizens, he’s in for a surprise.  He does it in a friendlier way but he seem’s just the same as that last mayor—sitting there with all that metal around his neck, talking about things that people at home aren’t supposed to understand  unless they have an agenda.

“You know boss, our new mayor should take a page from the experience of great mayors of the past like that guy Fiorello LaGardia of New York.  When the newspapers in that city went on strike, Mayor LaGardia knew just what to do and he went on radio every day during the strike to read the comics to the people in New York.  That shows that a good mayor knows what it is that people really want.”

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

President Obama is heading to Tucson to give the eulogy,

If to preach for gun control, should he waste the energy?

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The following is an intervention to the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission objecting to full control of CTVglobemedia being taken over by Bell Canada Enterprises.  The hearing commences on February 1, 2011 in Gatineau, Quebec and the writer would appreciate any suggestions you might wish to add before that date.  The following is the submission:

Response to Broadcasting Consultation CRTC 2010-926

Regarding change of effective control of CTVglobemedia

The commission has asked for comments on Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) taking over effective control of CTVglobemedia.  This response is opposed to the take over and will deal with questions related to value of the action for Canadians, BCE’s declared rationale for the action and the ability of BCE management to manage a broadcasting enterprise.

VALUE FOR CANADIANS

It is the opinion of the writer that BCE offers no value to Canadians in taking full control of CTVglobemedia.  For the same reason that the CRTC divides its activities into separate functions when regulating telecommunications and broadcasting in Canada, BCE’s presence in both areas creates an increased conflict of interest and raises a growing potential for anti-competition concerns.  While BCE has long had a declared interest in what it calls ‘convergence’ (a coming together of the technologies involved), the company’s experience and knowledge in the area of broadcast content and broadcasting is quite limited.  BCE has yet to realize that there is a critical difference between financial acquisition and adding value.  Instead of bringing value to CTVglobemedia, BCE is creating many potential problems for the broadcast industry and for Canadians.

BCE’S RATIONALE

BCE spokespeople have stated that BCE wants to acquire CTVglobemedia to provide BCE with content for new hand-held broadcast and communication devices.  Hand-held communication devices appear to deal effectively with content of no more than two to three minutes duration.  The best people at creating content for these devices do not work for CTVglobemedia.  They are mostly, at this time, neither out of puberty nor out of school.  Even if CTVglobemedia’s expertise was in content for these devices, why would the CRTC want to support BCE’s attempt to do an end run on their competition to lock in the content of the largest English-language television network in Canada?

BCE MANAGEMENT

There is a serious disconnect today between BCE management and its telecommunications customers.  In its long-term efforts to downsize staff and outsource communication functions, BCE has lost contact with its publics.  The company has to rely on research firms to confirm how much it is despised by customers and former customers.  It is negligent in its provision of services, its billing practices and in delivering quality of service.  It uses automated telemarketing equipment day and night to harass people whom it thinks owe it money.  It provides the public with no access to the company other than through thoroughly bureaucratic call centres.

DISCUSSION

As a long-time public relations professional, the writer appreciates that BCE’s public relations firms have done a thorough job of writing letters of support for this undertaking on behalf of many charities.  The letters would even be convincing if the supposed writers had any knowledge or understanding of how CTV network functions or the corporate structure of today’s BCE.  It is embarrassing for the charities to have to send these letters as they are, in effect, coerced into sending them.

Having once worked for BCE, the writer has a great appreciation for the real employees of Bell Canada who built a strong and lasting company in Ontario and Quebec.  Historically, Bell Canada  has served millions of Canadians well over the years.  For BCE management to be concentrating efforts on this take-over activity is time and effort not being spent on rebuilding and strengthening Bell Canada in its many telecommunications, network and satellite-related services.  It needs the concentration of all those public relations people and management on rebuilding the credibility of Bell Canada with all Canadians.

This is not to say that CTVglobemedia is less needful of better management.  A single viewing of CTV news out of Toronto at 6 pm on any weeknight will convince you of the poor management that allows continual self promotion for network programming, self aggrandizement for management, inside jokes for on-air staff and generally shallow coverage of Canadian news events.

It is obvious that under BCE control, CTV would quickly want to divest itself of the CTV secondary television stations in markets such as Barrie, Ontario.  Despite the vital need for these stations to train, develop and provide experience for the future major market announcers, news people, anchors, technical staff and support staff needed by the industry, BCE management would consider this a needless expense for it to sustain.

Canada has some excellent independent television production companies.  CTVglobemedia is expected to produce news and sports programming but need not be in competition with this primary source of Canadian entertainment programming.  If BCE intends to own and control exclusive rights to CTV’s news and sports programming for transmission to hand-held devices, it would mean a serious restraint of competition.  CTV has already established its intentions in overpaying for events such as the Olympics to eliminate competition for this type of programming.

Respectfully submitted, January 2011,

Peter Lowry

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

American politicians, get used to murder and mayhem,

They have NRA’s Sarah Palin to draw targets on them.

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A federal election should soon be required,

Mr. Harper’s  ‘good until’  date has expired.

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One phenomenon the world has been slow to appreciate is that the world-wide web is truly world-wide.  Talking to a technician at one of the computer industry’s ubiquitous call centres the other day, we made a joke while filling out a form when the technician told us to indicate that we were talking to a call centre designated ‘SM.’  The joke was that we said: ‘That must mean Santa Monica.’  Not being allowed a sense of humour, the techie simply agreed.  We both knew it probably meant something more like ‘South Mumbai’ but there was no intent to be rude.

For seniors, this is neither funny nor a joke.  As much as these call centres try to train their employees to talk like Americans, they fail.  The unfamiliar speaking cadence and technical words used by these people leave seniors constantly asking the technicians to repeat themselves and there is a great deal of frustration on both sides of the conversation.  Thankfully the improvements in the voice-over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology that makes the communications costs so cheap have now overcome many of the earlier voice quality problems.

The problem is that being a senior means that you have lost some of the hearing ability that you had when younger. You no longer hear the full range.  You have difficulty recognizing tones.  Background noise interferes.  You strain to hear what is being said, strain to understand and become easily frustrated.  It does not make for good communication for the senior customer.

But the other side of the coin is the problems the computer company creates.  When call centres were on-site with other head office functions of the company, there was a high level of direct communication on customer needs, concerns and reactions.  This communication breaks down when distance, borders, culture and principal languages divide the people who should be in communication.  Customers become nothing more than statistics and animosities are created between the company and its distant supplier.  Soon the relationship breaks down and a new and probably cheaper centre is considered.

In the early days, the provision of customer help was a challenge that involved the development staff and executive.  They wanted to know what the consumer was experiencing.  Today, they hardly care.  Today, a call centre will only help a customer to a certain pre-determined cost and then will effectively dump the customer into the growing ranks of the disgruntled.

And that is why seniors are the first to feel the pain of the service we so grudgingly get from an industry of the young.  Next time you are talking to someone in ‘South Mumbai,’ you should tell them that you want them as a friend on your facebook site.  That will win them over.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]