Ink Blot

The Peon: This is not really a career path, this is a job. People who work for the paycheck, not really aspiring for more responsibility, but more money would be good. They float, engaged at about 30%, and enjoy the whining so much that they dare not look up the ladder.

The Guru: This is THE MAN (or WOMAN). They know their shit and they are the resident expert on their niche, even if it’s just within that department. They might be promoted to management for sheer lack of other places to put them, Uber-Engineer is not a typical job title. They are the go-to people, if they got hit by a bus, the company would fail.

The Jack-of-All-Trades: They dabble. They know a little bit about a lot of things, usually just enough to be dangerous.  They are the ideal employees, not irreplaceable, not commanding great salaries, but certainly competent to get the job done.

The Executive: Was once a Guru or a JoAT. Has since lost all street cred and now deals in dollars and cents. Has a firm bottom line but a flabby bottom. They can be figureheads or genuine leaders. Or Mob Bosses. Every company needs one.

I have never been a feminist scholar. What does scholar mean anyway? That I’ve studied Feminists and anti-feminists of the past and know the history, the path that has been walked. Knowing where the path is supposed to go makes it harder to walk where you want, even to forge a new one. I’ve heard of Rebecca West and Elizabeth Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony of course, but I have never read the tomes upon tomes of rhetoric devoted to the cause by them and others. I wish to walk my own path, never mind where others have walked in the past. Am I re-inventing the wheel? Perhaps, but maybe a wheel is not what I am after, just a way to get from here to there.

Feminism is far more a gut feeling. I am what I am not because of what is between my legs, but what is between my ears. Anyone who says differently is selling something.  One criterion I heard once upon a time for being a feminist is that women’s’ experiences in life are categorically different from men’s’. Well, yes, but my experiences are different from yours because I am me and you are you. Who we are as individuals is, at least in part, the summation of our past experiences. That alone is enough cause for you to view an event one way, and me to see it another, even if we see the same event at the same time. We all arrive at any of our own opinions and beliefs by way of our own lives. We all get equal time in the sun… no matter to race, gender, religion, orientation or any other line in the sand you can draw.

The only thing to elevate the masses is money.

The idea of customer service is about as old as the idea of selling a thing from one person to another in exchange for money or goods. Who sets the rules as to what is GOOD customer service? Going the extra mile is one thing, but beware that one mile doesn’t turn into 10, into 100.  Customer service can also be ranked by what it is you are buying. With my cup of tea in the morning, I don’t expect a free muffin, I do expect a smile from the barista. From my car dealership, it is wonderful service that we get free inspections at the dealer for life, with the expectation that any repairs needed will be bought at that time. From my former mechanic, I’m not paying for the extra 4 hours of labor to order the part you said you had in stock in the first place. It’s farily easy in the market as an end consumer where I draw the line at service.

 So, in the business-to-business world, where are the lines drawn? Are you willing to go 10 miles for the promise of a big sale in 6 months to a year? 100? 1,000? Make those miles into dollars and how does the situation change? How much upfront cost do you incur for the sake of a $6 million dollar sale you MIGHT make in a year? Is there a mark up for being annoying? There should be.