The secret to reaching a live customer rep

gethuman - advocacy for high quality customer service for consumers

How long did it take you to snake your way through a series of telephone menus the last time you called customer service? Well, here's something you can do about it. Get Human is a simple, wonderful site run by volunteers and 'powered' by you and me - if we will just take a minute to give them some feedback.

You can rate the companies you call; feed their data base with company name, number called, minutes on hold, and your rating of their service quality. They plan to publish the best and the worst.

And, amazingly they have a page you'll have to bookmark -- a directory of the phone numbers and/or shortcuts for reaching a human customer rep at a wide range of companies. Check there before making your next customer service call.

Thanks, Gethuman!

LiveScience.com: The Most Popular Myths in Science

LiveScience.com: The Most Popular Myths in Science: "
Chickens can live without a head

True, and not just for a few minutes. A chicken can stagger around without its
noggin because the brain stem, often left partially intact after a beheading,
controls most of its reflexes. One robust fellow lived a full eighteen months.
Likely he was a real birdbrain, however.

While I was noodling around on the Live Science site, I found this interesting fact. Well, it may not be important in your business, but it made me chuckle.

If you've got a few minutes check out the most popular science myths. Pretty interesting.

Happiness in Old Age Depends on Attitude

LiveScience.com - Happiness in Old Age Depends on Attitude: "'In fact, optimism and effective coping styles were found to be more important to successfully aging than traditional measures of health and wellness,' Jeste said. 'These findings suggest that physical health is not the best indicator of successful aging--attitude is.'"

Ain't that the truth! This report confirms my life experience. When my attitude deteriorates into self-pity or when I let the blues take control, life spins downward. Fortunately that doesn't happen too often.

AOL Offers Goodmail Service Free to Nonprofits

DMNews.com test News Article

"There will be no requirement, ever, for not-for-profits who deliver e-mail
to AOL members to pay for e-mail certification and delivery," AOL postmaster
Charles Stiles said.

Good news for my non-profit clients. We've all been nervous about what the cost of AOL's e-mail delivery system would do to budgets and fundraising plans. The new arrangement is slated to go into effect within 90 days. I'll keep you posted.

"On Friday, AOL said qualifying not-for-profit organizations and
not-for-profit advocacy groups would "receive the full functionality of AOL's
e-mail system, including having images and Web links enabled in mail, and
delivery to the e-mail inboxes of AOL members, at no charge to either the sender
or the recipient."