Hanging On

We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately.

― Benjamin Franklin

Last evening, I spent an hour on a Google Hangout with the organizers and volunteers for a political campaign.

I never involve myself in politics, but I want to help a progressive who's challenging an incumbent US senator in my state's Democratic primary.

The crowd was mostly young, eager and soft-spoken―everyone duly chastened, I think, by the uphill battle they're waging.

This morning's news is filled with mentions of Antifa, Boogaloo and QAnon, groups whose names sound like brands of stool-softeners.

I'm glad to know there are at least a few folks committed to orderly progress.

To everyone still with a scintilla of civility―left, right or center―I say this: 

We must all hang on, or surely we'll all hang each other.

Happy July 4th! Wear a mask in public.

The More You Lie, the Less We Buy

After 10 years as a user of Kaspersky anti-virus software, I'm switching brands, due to the treatment I received by an offshore sales rep.

My credit card was stolen a few months ago, so to allow my subscription to auto-renew, I contacted Kaspersky (which doesn't permit users to change the credit card numbers it keeps on file).

The rep who finally took my call refused to stop reading from a script of "security" questions that were blatantly meant to upsell me. 

Each time I asked her what her questions had to do with security, she insisted they were for my own good.

None of them were.

After 10 minutes of this, I told her I'd switch to the leading competitor, unless she helped me update my credit card info.

She wasted another 15 minutes of my time bumbling around with this process, to no avail.

I politely thanked her for the help and hung up. Now I'm moving on to the competitor.

Walk a mile in your customers' shoes, CEOs. Try a quarter-mile, if you have no time for customers.

The more you lie, the less we buy.