It's all good so far

I spent a little time this morning updating my portion of the company website to reflect some changes in reporting. It did not take very long, but I now have things where they need to be at the moment.

It’s a small victory. As readers (the few and brave that actually return to my blog) know, I spend too much time tilting at the proverbial windmills. Two recent examples.

1. I wanted to upgrade my fitbit flex to the new model that can count steps. I thought I would be able to do this in spite of BP providing over 13000 of them to their employees. The device is available on the Best Buy Website. But the fine print says not available for shipping – check stores. I check – there is not a single device to be had in a 500 mile radius of Houston. I ask why they don’t show the item as sold out. – Well it is because it still shows in some store inventories.

Newsflash Best Buy – if it isn’t in the warehouse and one has to drive over 500 miles to get one – it is effectively sold out – update your website. Say something about due to demand, the item is currently limited to in store stock at a limited number of locations and that it will be available again in approximately some number of days for online ordering. This could even be an automated update based on inventory.

2. Quickbooks: You have often been the target of my ire. Yesterday was no different. I am trying to buy an older version of software that is available on your website. I am switching one company from an online version back to the desktop. The company activity is not large enough to warrant the ongoing online charges. I search the website for products – I see the option for online or desktop. They offer to chat with a picture of a flannel shirted guy wearing a headset and a ball cap on backwards. This inspires a great deal of confidence it is kind of hard to tell where Skippy got his MBA or IT degree, so I avoid the opportunity to chat.

i get to a screen where I can select Quickbook, then choose between the online version and the desktop. I select desktop. It takes me to the download area. I want to purchase the downloadable version and register it. I download the setup files. I figure that there will be a point where it will want to confirm the purchase during the set up process.

We get to a registration screen. I don’t have the numbers because I haven’t been given the opportunity to purchase it. The support section does not have any information. I check the FAQ’s on how to obtain registration numbers. I finally find a phone number, dial, and tumble down the rat hole.

The first support person does not have a strong command of the King’s English and after a few minutes of repeating my needs clearly and distinctly and waiting for a response read from a spread sheet in heavily accented Pidgin, I ask to speak to a manager. I am promptly punished with 35 minutes of hold time. When my call is picked back up, I get another rep speaking Pidgin. They want to go back through the flow chart of questions. I continue to enunciate clearly and distinctly what I want. No I do not want to give them my account, my company name or anything else other for fear that they will over assist and delete all the companies we have online.

After 20 minutes of this and she offers to put me in touch with a manager. I explain quietly and calmly (which the HR rep sitting in cube across from me will confirm) that I had already asked to speak to a manager which resulted in 35 minutes in the penalty box. She says that they can not sell me the registration codes for anything other than the most current version (they revise the software quite a bit – my own 2013 edition is version 14), and that I should probably find a hard copy from another vendor.

I thank her for taking an hour of my life. I suggest that they spend a little programing time explaining this on the website instead of cranking out a revision of the software every 15 minutes. She apologizes but is unable to help me with this issue and asks if there is anything else she can help with. I tell her she can discontinue the phone call and then plan on reading about my experience in every customer survey that I can find and in social media (blog fodder).

I order the software on Amazon. The only reason I did not do this at the start was to see if I could avoid the downtime waiting on a vendor to find and ship the software. I would have liked to have been able to use the software before the end of the year so I could help close the 2013 books for this company. I then go apologize to the HR rep. She said that I was much more professional and polite than she would have been.

Folks – if you are responsible for putting something up on the web so that customers can use purchase or use your products – look at it critically. See where the gaps are. There are a finite number of hours that I can give away to your foreign call center.

At the end of the day, I have the software ordered, and Intuit will get a royalty payment for my purchase, and can continue to keep the their tech support folks paid. I am a little older, and a little wiser, and the windmill has suffered a minor battering.

Volunteer challenges. There are days when my volunteer life brings new challenges. In the past week I have dealt with a leadership conflict in a unit that resulted in one of the lead volunteers leaving, and the others having to pick up the pieces. This incident would have difused itself if all parties had some patience and a natural transition would have taken place.

We don’t own the program or the unit, we are only stewards. Our jobs are to see that the program functions with a minimum of adult drama. The path or method selected to make the program work should be one based on consensus if possible, but always with empathy.

One of the benefits of working within the program as long as I have, is that I have learned that it always doesn’t have to go my way. The others involved are also stakeholders and want the program to succeed. If my path is not chosen, then I still need to work with others to be sure that the goals are accomplished. Not all my plans have been successful, and there are times I have made some mistakes. Hopefully I have learned to accept the feedback and move on.

I just finished Provence 1970 by Luke Barr. It was a very interesting book about the movers and shakers in the world of food; M.F.K Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and others who were living in France at the time and their evolution from away from the strict structure of french cuisine into what would become the new america cooking. They applied the elements – fresh, local, materials combined with the basic techniques from French cooking to bring a far less fussy more accessible approach to cooking.

I am not a big foodie, but I have consumed everything that Peter Mayle has written on living in Provence, and as like most of his readers, I continue to fantasize about the lifestyle he describes. Of course I have not won the lottery – which would be necessary in order for us to afford a hovel in France.

The recurring Post Napa conversation is where we would live if we could find $5 million dollars, but barring us locating a long lost uncle; who while serving as adviser to the Minister of Finance in Nigeria…Napa will remain a nice place to visit.

We are looking in the Texas Hill Country. Travis County is full of transplanted Californians trying to continue their West Coast lifestyle,which pleases the developers and realtors, who have visions of California pricing and commissions. I hope they find an abundant supply of lawyers and hedge fund traders to occupy their overpriced vision. One wonders how successful the Zombie Apocalypse would be if ground zero was in the hills of Austin. Parasitic Professional Courtesy or Competition?

So we look further out into the Hill Country for our own Last House. Somewhere where we can still get to the markets and wineries. Small enough to be affordable. Large enough to have some of the necessities – An Episcopal Church within easy driving distance. Banking and high speed internet so I can continue to stay connected with the family business. A swimming pool built to a standard competitive distance. Scouting, and a bookstore. Nirvana near a population less than 10,000.