Customer service is NOT dead...

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I am on the generic Amazon dot com customer e-mail list. Occasionally users receive offers and suggestions for products based on their previous purchases and ratings at the site.

Several days ago I received an e-mail with this one, 100 Words for Lovers. as a featured product for me.

Any reader of this blog would know this is a product that might interest me, no surprise there. But what was a surprise was the fact it was tagged with a '1% Off' 'sticker'.

My gawd..!! 1 percent..!! Quick, do the math, six cents..!! Be still my beating heart..!!





Well, that was just too rich and too silly to let pass 'uncommented'. So I dug through the Amazon website, found the customer service email address and dashed off a quick note to them:

hey there...

I appreciate in these tough economic times that you are going all out to help the struggling consumer.

Your recent e-mail notice of a $5.95 book offered at 1% off is a great example. It is not every day that a consumer can save _six_cents_ on a purchase. I mean, every penny counts . . .I guess.

So thanks again.


...tom...

I mean, I just had to thank them for their marketing savvy..!!


They state at the site that they will try to respond in less than 24 hours . . .and respond they did:

Hello,

Thanks for sending us your comments! We want to provide service on a level customers will remember, and it's great to know we've succeeded.

We look forward to filling your next order!

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

--snip--

Best regards,

Anu S.
Amazon.com
We're Building Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company

...sigh...

"...and it's great to know we've succeeded."


Well, I guess I should have expected the 'form letter approach' rather than a 'yeah, that is a pretty silly offer, ehh..??' reply.


Go get 'em, Amazon dot com. You certainly wowed this customer.


...tom...
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My desktop, October 15, 2009...

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Yes, there is a theme here. Astronomy pics often take my breath away. Particularly those of Astronomy Picture of the Day. The one shared here is from September 27, 2009.


At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger, Bruce McCandless II was farther out than anyone had ever been before. Guided by a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless, pictured above, was floating free in space. McCandless and fellow NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to experience such an "untethered space walk" during Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984. The MMU works by shooting jets of nitrogen and has since been used to help deploy and retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an MMU is heavy on Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion unit.


Beautiful, just beautiful. Certain worthy of greeting me each day as I sign onto my home computer...


...tom...
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Dad Hits a Home Run...

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Any baseball fan knows catching that ephemeral foul ball is the crowning moment of any baseball game. Well, other than that bottom of the ninth game-winning comeback. It is rather silly to attach so much value to a simple foul ball; but it does make you a part of the onfield struggle if only for that brief moment.


Now imagine catching that elusive foul ball, highfiving with the fans around you, handing the ball to your daughter as a special souvenir . . .and seeing her toss it back toward the field. Arrgggghhhhhhhh..!!





Just that scenario played out for a dad at a Philadelphia Phillies game overnight. But instead of being upset about it or standing dumbfounded with the realization of what his young 3-y/o daughter had just done . . .instead he reacts immediately to her questioning look -- 'What did I do wrong..?!?' -- as the fans around her gasped. Dad immediately envelopes her in the biggest and bestest daddy-hug ever. Letting her know that nothing was wrong and he loved her soooo much.


That my friends is what sports and baseball and family and dads and daughters are all about. It dont get better than that.


See the video here, on a local Phillie-area newscast clip. (And do note the video has already been ripped down from youtube.com "due to a copyright claim by [ the cold-hearted thugs of ] MLB Advanced Media." Sorry, a little editorializing there...)


Very nicely done Dad.



...tom...
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My desktop, September 7, 2009...

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"Today (September4, 2009) planet Earth passes through the plane of Saturn's rings. From the perspective of earthbound astronomers, Saturn's rings will be edge-on. The problem is, Saturn itself is now very close to the Sun, low on horizon after sunset, so good telescopic images will be difficult to come by." Read more.


Photo courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day, September 04, 2009.


...tom...
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Talking nonsense

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Sorry, no deep analysis of 'talking nonsense' to follow. Just an observation.


An old (circa 2006) thought found while reading on Epinions dot com:

"I originally had a lot more to say, but a lot of it makes less sense than what I just typed, so I should just stop here."




Damn it people..!! That is why we read on the Internet: to find nonsense..!! Quit self-censoring your thoughts..!!


Talking nonsense, posting nonsense . . .opposite sides of the same coin...


...tom...
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I remember like...

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I remember like it was yesterday...

American League Rookie of the Year in 1970.

Seven-time All-Star.

Runaway AL MVP in 1976.


I hated the NY Yankees ...still do. But I admired the talent, play, and heart of one Thurman Munson.


Thirty years ago today he died when his private jet crashed as he was making a series of practice landings.

Image source: wallyg at flickr.com

Image source: NY Daily News

Rest in peace, Thurman. You are gone but definitely not forgotten.


...tom...

Short ESPN video remembering Thurman.

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Zeus' thunderbolts

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The Greek god Zeus is considered the king of all the gods. Zeus rules Mount Olympus and bears the thunderbolt as but one symbol of his power and glory.


When Mother Nature looses her thunderbolts on us I am always reminded of Zeus and the ancient Greek gods.





The pic above is from The Big Picture, a 'photo blog' found at Boston.com, the website presence of The Boston Globe newspaper. Once again they excel at collecting and presenting a number of photographs capturing a single subject or topic.


This time they turn their attention to the force of nature we know as lightning. The results are stunning. You really need to take a look if you appreciate the beauty of nature, particularly as expressed by the beauty, power, and portent of terror found in lightning.


...tom...
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