So it was late, I was tired, hungry and lazy so I took a trip to Burger King. Usually I’m a KFC fan but Burger King has a few perks not seen at KFC, firstly the girl behind the counter at Burger King is particularly nice to me and somewhat cute which is always good when you are feeling like crap and also the eatery is located at Central Station looking over the place. I just love watching people go about what they are doing - its fun, if not slightly perverted.

Anyways, I digress, the point is that while I was standing at the counter wailing on my fries, my eyes fixed on a staff notice poorly hidden on the wall titled ‘Seven Steps to Great Customer Service’. Basically it was a very condensed version of the correct procedure for serving the customers which read as follows (please note, I’m paraphrasing from memory here…)

1. Smile and Great Customer
2. Take Order
3. Up-sell
4. Repeat order to customer
5. Assemble order (drinks, burger then fries)
6. Repeat order to customer
7. Closing remarks (say something like ‘enjoy your meal’)

Those are the seven steps for great service. But with the inclusion of number three, ‘up-sell’ I find myself asking who this customer service model is ‘great’ for.

Up-selling me things that I don’t want only does one thing to me, up-selling upsets me! I know what I want long before I reach the counter, I do not need some girl - no matter how cute she is - asking if I need any sider orders with that.

I wish fast food retailers would get their act together! I mean the are the most judgmental service based industries. I’m a skinny guy so they almost never ask if I want a large meal - I always go king/super/really really huge/heart-attack size. The always ask if I’m sure and so on. Its so annoying.

On a totally unrelated note, if you are BK talent scout, I’m free for employment more or less anywhere in Scotland. You wouldn’t have to train me too much, I already know the seven steps for ‘great’ service by heart!

So to conclude, Burger King seems to be forgetting who they have to please, the service the offer should be ‘great’ for the customers in the first instance, not ‘great’ for the shareholders and get this, if service is ‘great’ for the customers, then I’m pretty sure he shareholders will be very happy too.

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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Music is primal, from the beginning of time man has been making it. It transcends technology and truly connects the human condition. Yet DRM threatens that connection.

I have no problems with record companies securing their revenue streams but get a grip, think different. Music is a social experience, music I part of everyone and when DRM limits my enjoyment of music I get pissed off.

There I was, talking to a girl (shock, horror!) on Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger was listening to my iTunes, adding the title of the song to my screen name. The girl, she asks me to send her the song: she wants to join in, and hear the music. But the restrictive nature of DRM stopped that. Stopped a connection, maybe even stopped a relationship. And that is the problem of Digital Rights Management.

Its human nature to share things, share experiences, food, even music. So let me do that. Come up with a DRM system that works with everything and lets me SHARE music.

I don’t want to cheat any record company out of any royalties; I’m just sure there has to be a better way.

Consider this, a DRM system that lets me share songs with my friends, I can send a file and when they open it, a box comes up and says, “Hey, this is Ross’s song, he paid of it. You can listen to it five times then you have to pay for it”.

She has the music file and we have shared, you could take that a step further and add in another option, one that lets Ross pay for it and send it as a gift.

And I have another idea, but you will have to listen to that. Introducting the audio blog, more about that in my next post.

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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…I thought I might publish a list of things I would like. I’ve left it this late to do so that you don’t think I’m being serious or anything. That said if there is anything on the list you feel like getting me, feel free to contact me and we can sort something out!

And to clarify, I do not need anything on the list; they are just silly “wants”.

Subscriptions/Membership
- Year Subscription to WIRED magazine - $75USD (about £35)
- Year Subscription to Monocle magazine - £75
- Year Membership to NAPP (including Photoshop Users Magazine) $150USD (about £80)
- Year Subscription to Layers magazine - $50USD (about £25)

Consumer Electronics
- Apple iPod Nano 8GB in Black - £169 [thanks dad]
- Sony HDR-SR7 High Definition HDD Camcorder - £1049.99

Camera Accessories
- Canon EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 L IS USM - £1549.99
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens - £699.99
- Canon EF 17-40mm F4 L Lens - £559.99

DVDs
- [SPOOKS] DVD Box Sets 1 to 5 – from £25 each
- Family Guy Seasons 1,3,4,6 – from £20 each

Other Gifts
- HMV Gift cards – from £5
- iTunes Music Store Gift cards – from £10

World Travel (flights and hotel to and in)
- Vancouver, Canada - £750 plus £500/week
- San Francisco, CA, United States - £550 plus £500/week
- Hong Kong, China - £1500 (if I’m going that far, the cheep seats will just not do) plus £400/week

Totally unrealistic grown up wants:
- House in Edinburgh – from £250,000
- Mercedes CLK 63 AMG Cabriolet – from £69,000

And if you’re mad enough to give me the last two items on my list, could you add in a private island and private jet to sweeten the deal?

This concludes my list of “wants”. All I can say is God help the police if I end up taking hostages and I issue a list of demands!

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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Anyone watched MTV recently?  Nope?  Well don’t bother, its really went down hill.  When I was young I used to love MTV and all those other music shows but to be honest the networks are mere prostitutes to advertisers and marketers.   The shows used to be about music, now they are about inflating star’s egos and selling ring-tones.

Bring back the good old days, bring back music television like the “MTV Generation” would be remember. Or just shut up shop and think of a new way of exploiting the purchasing power of “Generation X/Y/Internet/whatever its called”.

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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In response to a blog post from Liz Gannes (NewTeeVee) Veronica Belmont, of CNET Buzz Out Loud fame confirmed that she will be leaving CNET Networks’ flagship website, CNET.com, on July 20th 2007 for a position with Mahalo, a Sequoia Capital backed search engine start up.

This should be somewhat interesting in that I have long held the impression Belmont has a somewhat loyal following from CNET, a following that are quite likely to follow her wherever she goes. No doubt this will be invaluable to the start up.

Anyway, all the best to Veronica and her new position, now doubt it will be a big change working for a start up as opposed to a media giant like CNET Networks. It will be interesting to watch Mahalo over the coming months…

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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