FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

Why I'm Disappointed To Learn About Barbara Walter's Sex Life

  Time was when I had Barbara Walters on a pedestal. It was a long time ago--at the start of my career. But to discount the importance she played in my professional life would be denying my  personal history.

For years I believed Barbara Walters succeeded because she was smart and simply worked harder than anyone else.
She was my inspiration. Because of her, I believed if I had the talent and I worked harder, I could succeed as well.

Because of her I believed that a woman could be successful without the requisite couch time.In the early 1970s for a woman to be successful in television news was an anomaly. The sexism and parochial attitudes were pervasive.

Barbara Walters did not give the public appearance as someone who was a bed hopper. Funny thing about public personas.

In 1973 I had an opportunity to sit in on broadcast of The Today Show. During my time in the control room I heard some "gossip" about Ms. Walters that I discounted as stupid boys being jealous. So it was a rumor that I kept to myself until last week.

More about what I heard  and  why I simply didn't want to believe it  on my Sunday post at BlogHer

Image Credit Image Credit: NewsGroper: These Blogs Are not Real

At Just 9 Months Old, Adiri Is a Rising Star In The Baby Bottle Business

Since introducing the world to the baby bottle that looks and feels like a mother's breast,The New York Times has featured the company on the front page of its business section and it has become a must have product for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Halle Berry

The company is run by three women: two attorneys and a marketing executive. None had any experience in manufacturing. In its first year, the company estimates it will earn a conservative 2.5 to 3 million dollars.

CEO Jennifer Morrill had no intention to run this business. She inherited it, along with a life insurance policy from her dad --the original inventor of the product.  When she tried to sell it, no one was interested.

The rest is the Adiri story. To read how these three women are turning the baby bottle business upside down check out my post today on BlogHer.

European Salaries Not Keeping Up With Price Increases

For some time I've been having Euro envy.There are those reports of Europeans taking advantage of the falling dollar and hopping over here for vacations and shopping sprees.

A few months ago, when the prices of a hotel rooms reached astronomical amounts in New York, taxi drivers blamed the European.

Envy is never a good emotion and as it turns out, life on the other side of the Atlantic is having its economic challenges as well. The New York Times has a report on Europe's middle class == a group that is definitely not hopping over here for shopping sprees. As The NYT reports, they're having a hard time finding enough money to buy a baguette.

When their local bakery in this town south of Paris raised the price of a baguette for the third time in six months, Anne-Laure Renard and Guy Talpot bought a bread maker. When gasoline became their biggest single expense, they sold one of their two cars.

Their combined annual income of 40,000 euros, about $62,500, lands Ms. Renard, a teacher, and Mr. Talpot, a postal worker, smack in the middle of France’s middle class. And over the last year, prices in France have risen four times as fast as their salaries.
[...]
“In France, when you can’t afford a baguette anymore, you know you’re in trouble,” Ms. Renard said one recent evening in her kitchen, as her partner measured powdered milk for their 13-month-old son, Vincent. “The French Revolution started with bread riots.”

It's not just in France-- all over Europe workers are feeling their middle class lifestyle disappear because wages have not kept up with inflation --- prices have risen 25% since 2000 and as one person said if your salary doesn't keep up with inflation you begin to feel poor.

The Leaked Microsoft Video: What embarasses some may motivate others

Labeled as "stupid, embarrassing,laughably awful,"  Microsoft has been taking major heat for a video intended for its Vista sales team that leaked onto YouTube.

Actually, I don't think it's so bad--for what it is---an internal video for a sales meeting. Anyone who has ever gone to a sales meeting knows that for outsiders the insider jokes and humor always fall flat.

It's like overhearing two lovers whispering sweet nothing into each other's ears. It may sound great to the two lovers, but to the eavesdroppers its an eye roll.

What seems juvenile and insipid to the outsider, can help build morale for those tasked with selling.Such it is with internal sales material.  It is for a targeted audience. What motivates them, may embarrass us.

This was not a commercial. This was an internal video. We should be embarrassed watching it--we are not the intended audience. But just because we're embarrassed, it  doesn't mean that it didn't do what it was supposed to do: motivate the troops, create community and remind them that the company was supporting the product.

Many years ago, I was retained by an major insurance company to motivate their sales team to promote a particular life insurance policy. We decided to go with a cowboy theme ---not sure why but we selected a cowboy -- it seemed like a good idea at the time. We also created an audio in the style of a 1930's radio program to promote the benefits of selling this product.

The sales team said they were insulted. They said that we had trivialized their professionalism. On the other hand, they all remembered the product---for years. And that was the problem, the one point the client had failed to share before we went all out with this "high creative" was that it was a lousy product.

High creative and lousy products don't mix well. They only tend to embarrass and insult. Which could explain why people are so embarrassed by the video. It's hyping a less than stellar product. They used a spoof of the quintessential music video and they tainted it with a product that consumers are saying,

"Thanks, but no thanks." 

Nalgene Pulling Water Bottles with BPA AFTER Canada Bans BPA in Baby Products

When it comes to plastic bottles, you won't be finding these numbers on products sold in Canada --that's because  these numbers indicate the product has BPA. Last week, the Canadian government  banned all products containing BPA --a chemical widely used baby bottles and the beloved Nalgene water bottle.

From The Washington Post

The move in Canada adds pressure on U.S. federal regulators to reexamine their position on BPA, which is suspected of causing breast and prostrate cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity and other serious disorders in laboratory animals. This week, a federal health panel in the United States for the first time expressed concerns about BPA.

Although the U.S. government isn't even close to banning BPA--companies are taking a proactive stand and voluntarily recalling these products.

For more on this dramatic change in American corporate behavior, check out my post on BlogHer.

The Disappearing Workload

A couple of months ago my garage door stopped working properly. I could open it, but every time I tried to  close it the door would lower to within six inches of the floor and then open again.

There was a fix...I just had to hold down the keypad until the door hit the ground. The big exception was the  remote door opener in my car--- no matter how long I held it down, the door would not close.

So to get out of my garage I had to open the door, drive the car into the driveway, get out of the car, punch in my security code into the garage door's  "keyless entry pad", press down the keypad until the garage door closes completely, get back in my car, slam the door and drive away.

Two weeks ago I went on Craig's List in search of a garage door opener fixer.The repair guy answered in inquiry but when he found out where I lived, he opted not to continue the correspondence. I was amazed. Who in this economy can afford to turn away work?

Wherever I go I hear the dreaded words, " It's slow." Whether its the nail technicians, hair stylists or restaurants that seem to have plenty of seating these days, it's getting harder to earn a buck.

Today The New York Times confirms this observation.

The gradual erosion of the paycheck has become a stealth force driving the American economic downturn. Most of the attention has focused on the loss of jobs and the risk of layoffs. But the less-noticeable shrinking of hours and pay for millions of workers around the country appears to be a bigger contributor to the decline, which has already spread from housing and finance to other important areas of the economy.

[...]

As people bring home paychecks that do not go as far, they are forced to economize, eliminating demand for goods and services that once captured their dollars, spreading pain to providers like auto dealers and lawn care providers. They, too, must trim their outlays on pay, shrinking working hours more and furthering the slowdown

“It means spending slows going forward,” said Robert Barbera, chief economist at the trading and research firm ITG.

Yesterday I found someone else on Craig's List to fix the garage door. He said business has been slow. He also mentioned he's originally from Minot, North Dakota where it seems they've discovered oil

"So," I asked, " Are you planning to return to Minot?"

"Not quite yet,"  said like a man who may be glad he's from Minot but doesn't want to be from Minot.

Reminding me to remind myself the hope springs eternal.

Telemarketer's Newest BFF: Gas Rebates

In the past 30 minutes I have gotten two calls from two very different companies offering me a Gas Rebate for trying their products.

The first was a $15 gas rebate for trying a new accident and hospital policy. The company got my name from my life insurance carrier. The gist of the conversation was I could try the accidental policy for 30 days and if I didn't like it could cancel the policy and keep the $15 gas rebate.

About 15 minutes later, I got a call from a company associated with American Express offering me a $60 rebate for joining a new discount shopping program.

Can I hear 100? $200? How about a year of free gas. Then you'll have my attention.

On The Job: People Bitter When CoWorkers Leave

Over at the Wall Street Journal Jared Sandberg of the Cubicle Culture has a great piece called, "Goodbye, Colleague, Thanks for Leaving Me To Do All Your Work.    Bitter anyone?

The paragraph that jumped out at me had to do with going away parties.

...parties depend on whether the reasons for departure are acceptable (a spouse's transfer, sick kids or a career change) or unacceptable (joining a competitor). In the latter case, there's no party, unless you live it up with security while being escorted to the door. Anything short of implying "that it's not paradise on earth at this company," she says, doesn't rate a party.

So here's my question, when you left your last job did they throw you a party, or did they show you the door?

Stranded Airline Passengers Twitter Their Pain Away

American Airlines is predicting it will have to cancel 600 flights today. That's in addition to the 900 canceled on Thursday and the 1000 canceled on Wednesday. As thousands of passengers find themselves stranded, they are tweeting their pain away.

A Happy Friday To All. May Your Travels Be Safe.

P.S. Frontier Airlines just filed for bankruptcy.

Starbucks Walking The Talk : Trying To Provide Better Customer Service

Starbucks is pulling out all the stops to convince consumers that it has seen the light and that it is working to be a better coffee shop.

In addition to its corporate wide retraining, the company has launched a new brew, started offering free refills, is talking about offering a loyalty card with perks, and has launched a  website  for consumers to share their feedback and ideas on how to make Starbucks a better coffee shop.

This is all good. And yet, for some, not good enough.

Skeptics have panned MyStarbucksIdea.com, unveiled at the company's heavily attended annual meeting in mid-March, as an online suggestion box that's already grown stale. But the heavy traffic it's drawn and the message Starbucks is sending — that it is listening, and listening carefully — have impressed corporate marketing experts.

But will it work?  If success were based on listening and responding to consumers, then maybe Starbucks would have an easy recovery. But unfortunately for Starbucks, their comeback could be hampered not by unsatisfied customers but customers who can't afford their "little luxury" anymore. So the customers may feel the Starbucks love but it may be a love that has simply gotten too expensive.

From Life and Money Today

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX is being challenged like never before, having saturated the market place in some locations it is now facing the challenges of selling costly coffee in a slowing economy.

Would you rather pay $4 for a cup of coffee or a gallon of gas? You can find cheaper coffee but you’ve few options to find cheaper fuel. Amid the already difficult operating environment Starbucks is faced with competition from the largest restaurant chain in the world, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD). McDonald’s is looking to steal its morning thunder with competitive offerings at a far lower pricing structure. The threat is very real no matter what spin Starbucks puts on it.

Last week when I was in NYC, I had a meeting at a Starbucks around 98th and Broadway on the Upper West Side. There was a new barista trying to make the drinks and he was having some challenges.

The woman ahead of me had ordered a mocha and he forgot to put in the chocolate. I  ordered a no fat grande latte with two pumps of vanilla. He handed me a honey latte.

I asked for an iced tea. They insisted on making another lattee. I really wanted an iced tea. It was hot in there and my desire for my no fat grande lattee with two pumps of vanilla had come and gone. They insisted on making the lattee.

They also insisted on giving me a coupon for a free drink  because their service was not up to par. I liked that. They didn't give the coupon to the woman ahead of me, not sure why my situation was different but I appreciated the gesture and have only kind thoughts for the young man struggling so hard to make drinks.

As my biology teacher in high school said after I got an F on a test, "you must have been stressed."