The Choice of Lies

Periodically, a person comes across my path who seems to have no grasp of the truth. No truth for their work. No truth for themselves. No true in their lives. Recently, the opportunity came up to watch the fill cycle of the lie.

In the beginning, there was small talk, an exchange of experiences and information. The realization came that some of the information wasn't correct. But we all make mistakes, right?

The once told stories were told again but were different. Details were rearranged. Details were added. The whole of the story changed. Wait, how could you be in two different places at once?

Eventually, conversation was limited to necessary information exchange. After some bad computations with the wrong information, it became better to gather all the information without a query.

Several months passed.... someone mentioned that she & me didn't really talk any more. Really? All that I'd done is stop listening to the lies. She stopped talking.

When she announced her departure, I wished her well. I do hope that she finds some truth.

Corporate Dumb

I know the argument from the bean counters: less-qualified, under-trained, fewer customer service workers makes for better profit at the end of the quarter. After all, workers are an expense that corporate daddy has to reduce, right?

Well, they have their belief and I have mine. I believe that customer service has the power to distinguish a company from the rest. I do spend my money where this appears to be a thought in the marketing and sales strategy.

Sometime ago, I broke up with my phone company. Things changed, I moved and the old company wasn't an option. The break-up wasn't pleasant but it wasn't horrible and by the end, the customer service gal asked that if the situation changes to just consider them again.

Enter Time Warner company: clearly the offshore customer service didn't care much about fulfilling their end of the bargain: the phone numbers weren't transferred, I had to start over with all new numbers. One of the numbers I received was getting collection calls day and night for the last person who had the number. So I had to change the number again, that was a fiasco. They told me one number but assigned another. I had a friend ask me why the number on her caller ID wasn't what I had given her.

When the 'deal' was up, I received the notice letter that they were going to nearly double the bill. I called to talk about it with customer service. The 'for a lifetime' deal lasted less than 2 years. The company rep launched into a sales pitch for more services, which I declined. He hung up.

So I changed providers.

I called once again to discontinue my service. When Time Warner discovered that I was taking my number with me and no, I really did take the hang up personally, they transferred me with hold times for over 85 minutes.

Guess what Time Warner, if the situation comes up that I need a different provider, you won't be on the short list. You've been cut.

S = Samuel Gompers

Born in London to a poor family, Samuel Gompers was just 10 when he was apprenticed to a cigar maker. When he was 13, his family immigrated to New York. By 14 he joined the Cigar makers’ Local Union. His evenings were devoted to activities such as debate, public speaking and parliamentary procedure.

Of his work as a cigar maker, Samuel Gompers said that he ‘loved the freedom of that work, for I had earned the mind-freedom that accompanied skill as a craftsman. I was eager to learn from discussion and reading.

He met another cigar maker, Sophia Julian and they married. Gompers was 17. He and his wife had twelve children, six who survived to adulthood.

A believer is social reform, he believed the best way to improve quality of work and the condition of society was for the workers to collectively bargain by way of unions.  He was elected president of the Cigar Makers International Union.

In 1886, he was elected president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and remained president for 40 years. His efforts helped to establish an eight hour work day and was instrumental in organizing labor to respond to President Woodrow Wilson’s needs during World War I.

For more about Samuel Gompers, visit: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/238225/Samuel-Gompers

Q = Phineas Quimby

Phineas Quimby described himself as a mind-healer. He also has been called a spiritualist, mesmerist and philosopher. His work led to the establishment of the New Thought Movement.

Quimby was mesmerized by Charles Poyen, a French mesmerist who toured America in the 1830s. He felt that he could become a mesmerist himself and followed Poyen until he had learned how to hypnotize.

Partnering with Lucius Burkmar, who was easily hypnotized, the pair set out on a demonstration tour. Quimby was disappointed when mobs formed to chase him from towns because the townspeople thought his show was too much like witchcraft.

Mesmerism was known as a form of faith healing. Quimby was featured as a healer in several scientific papers on the subject. One of his students, Mary Baker Eddy used Quimby’s philosophy that disease was rooted in a mental cause. This thought was instrumental in the founding of Christian Science.

Interested in more about Phineas Quimby? http://www.nndb.com/people/269/000203657/

F = Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl MD, PhD survived three years in a Nazi concentration camp moving on to write 39 books and inspire people around the world. The Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist worked in the camps to help other inmates overcome their shock and grief to live through the experience.

Dr. Frankl was originally detained with his parents and wife, none of whom survived. Of his immediate family only his sister who had immigrated to Australia survived World War II. After his liberation from the camp in 1945, he went on to publish the best-selling book: From Concentration Camp to Existentialism in 1946; later the book would be titled: Man’s Search for Meaning.

Watch an interview with Viktor Frankl explaining the power of choice:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EIxGrIc_6g