Take Five with Jvswag

Here is another email I receive. This time from Meg Whitmas IF YOU HAVE ANY ITEMS YOU CAN DONATE LIKE FOLDING TABLES,FOLDING CHAIRS,COFFEEMAKERS,MICROWAVES,COUCH,RADIO,TELEVISION,CHAIRS,DESKS…PLEASE BRING THEM ON DOWN!This for for the tour of the HQ in Oakland. Plus they want money!!Also your free time, unpaid of course.

Here is a typical letter I get for the Governor's Position. It seems like almost every week that Meg launches a new, false attack ad, and we quickly debunk it. But it's not just our campaign -- independent and non-partisan newspapers, news broadcasts, and bloggers are all calling her ads false and misleading. But despite all the independent fact checks, Meg keeps spouting the same lies. Now, we've got a video to demonstrate just how upside down she is. Watch this video, share it with all of your friends, and chip in $5, $10, $50 buck s to help us get the resources we need to get the facts straight and make our case to California. Thanks, Steven Glazer Attack Attack Attack . This election will be won on tv, not by either candidate.Note the chipping in of dollars.

I recently witnessed two incidents that had me shaking my head on how they were handled in local stores. At Safeway in San Leandro on a day when the temperature was near 100 degrees, a checkout clerk turned around and took a sip of water. A supervisor came up to her and said not to drink with people in her line. She could have easily told her that on a break. At a Wal-Mart in Livermore,on a busy express checkout a supervisor told the harried person at the checkout to apoligize a little better to the people waiting. Why the supervisor did not open up another line is beyond me. It seems like some companies treat their copiers better than their employees. Stress and customer service go together like love and marriage. They have been intertwined since someone first realized that customers will go elsewhere if there is no service to back it up. However, a corollary is that whenever service and customers come together stress is not far behind. Since the majority of our employees are human th...

Managing a political campaign is a demanding job that requires intimate knowledge of all aspects of campaigning, including communications, volunteers, fundraising and accounting. At any time day or night, campaign managers can have access to all of the campaign records in their system. Just like a business. If you have received phone calls, canvassers, campaign mail and ads, you have seen how people want your vote rather than your service or money. Oh, excuse me. They do want your money. I get several emails several times a week from the Jerry Brown's the Meg Whitman's, the Barbara Boxer's all asking for at least $5 to $50. Never mind the sky high unemployment rate, just gimme what you can afford. Using phone banks, canvassing teams and direct mailing you will get bombarded with information, twisted truths, accusations and most of all we want your vote, Sometimes if records are not kept correctly, you may get more than one call or visit. With elections for Governor, US Sena...

If Larry Ellison wants to whine about not getting a second rate basketball team for his own fantasy means and be like Mark Cuban or Dan Snyder, why doesn't he REALLY do something for the Bay Area. He has $300-400 million to throw around so why not put it to better use and hire about 500 people at Oracle.

Having worked at both places there are striking differences. ATT is unionized and people are treated fairly and rules do not change as you go along. There are raises and people are far more apt to stay. Comcast is not unionized and changes policies on the fly. Their customer service center in Livermore, CA has a lot of turnover not to mention poor morale.. No wonder people say things like Comcast service is lousy and post complaints on Twitter, blogs and Facebook. After all there are invisible managers there, supervisors who refuse to take escalation calls and leads who say they will call a customer back and don't. They have a person and group who regularly checks the web for nasty things that people may say about them, but in Livemore that is kept a secret from the employees. If they were aware of this,their service would not rank at the bottom of JD Powers constantly. Soon customers will soon get it and post their issues on the web. They will get a quicker response and better dea...

Job Connections at one time was a fine group. Now it is a standard good old boy's and girl's network. Most people I spoke to did not feel welcomed to the Saturday meeting. Most of the "staff" just say mix and mingle.There are no intros made, you are on your own. The speaker's are more interested in hawking their books and services.They have success teams which support small groups 4-10 people to focus on job searching. However there seems to be two types.If you are on a success team you will find yourself with winners and may find it helpful.If you end up with a suckcess team you will encounter whiners who will go over all their personal woes and take up a lot of time. You can find groups that are better off in libraries and other churches.

Who came up with the term 99er? Is that something you should be proud of like a 49er? The math says almost two years collecting unemployment and they want more??? There used to be what was called professional students now it is professional unemployed. Now some of course need money coming in , but others...gimme a break. Some people I know spend the day, walking the dog, playing golf with the boys,shopping with the girls and other leisure activities other than LOOKING for work. Time these freeloaders received a reality check not an unemployment check. I guess they will soon be called 125ers with a brand new 26 week extension of benefits.

One of the great problems in a company is the impact that one bad employee can have on good employees. This one bad employee can lower the standards of good employees to the extent that an entire department can suffer. What makes this really puzzling is that the reverse does not seem to be true. Good employees rarely can elevate a bad employee. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, "How is it that so few can do so much to so many?" What's a place to do? Someone once said that it is not the people that you fire who are a problem, it is the employees who should be fired, but aren't, that are the problem. Think about these points: * Do you find yourself grumbling every day about a particular employee that just exudes an attitude of not caring and makes those feelings known to everyone within earshot. * Are there some employees that never get motivated no matter what threat or incentive is offered? * Do you have a certain employee that "gets by" somehow by doing the ...

With the World Cup over and Spain the winner, I thought it would be helpful to review several phrases you heard during the broadcasts and where they may have originated from. Advantage Rule: This used to be when a company had a monopoly on a service. Like the old Ma Bell days. Assist: When you are in a call center and you put a customer on hold and ask a colleague a question. They get an assist. Don't overuse it or you may hear the dreaded RTFM. Back Header: This is when you have been with a customer a long time and you simply bend your head back and ask "why me? " Banana Kick: Common in fast food or take out places. You slip on a wet spot and your leg kicks up but you keep your balance and (hopefully) you don't get hurt. If you due hello litigation. Bicycle Kick: When you arrive at work and see no more bicycle slots available. So you kick the one that you haven't recognized before. Chest Trap: This is when you are reading a magazine at work and your boss walks by...

As the former Governor of Alaska likes to say, YOU BETCHA ! You may not be able to fight City Hall, but you sure can call or contact them. Customer service here comes under the heading of serving the public. This is what cities from Oakland to San Leandro to Fremont and all points in between should provide: 1) One main number for citizens to call for information or service request and a walk-up information counter to provide personal service to our citizens. This is a natural. 2) Develop knowledge-based definitions for call takers to answer most frequently asked questions quickly and correctly. Like where is the DMV. 3) Provide a management system that identifies and warns of potential problems. 4) Resolve all problems experienced with any fragmented call system. 5) Bring innovations to the relationship with citizens. 6) Have web access for citizens to initiate a complaint or check on status of a previous request. 7) Allow County staff to focus on handling the complaints and other job ...

With all the hype,anticipation and fear surrounding the Mehserle verdict, the city of Oakland has taken a positive step as far as serving the public with a special section on it's city website. This has updates for the community and businesses which include Spanish,Chinese and Vietnamese languages. Considering that most disasters or demonstrations or riots catch the population unprepared this shows that any violence will not be tolerated. The website is http://www2.oaklandnet.com/ There is also a number to call 510-777-8814 to report tips, rumors or information related to disturbances regarding the Mehserle verdict. In companies this would be referred to as disaster preparation. The city of Oakland, for all the criticism it takes shows real customer service for keeping people in the know. There has been enough fear and loathing generated by the local media on the subject. Television stations want ratings, papers want to sell copies and radio wants listeners. On the day of the verdi...