Whenever I fly, I wonder why the airlines board passengers from the front of the plane to the back. Premier and business class travelers, whose seats are so much more comfortable than mine, may prefer to stow their carry-ons and take their ease. That makes sense.
Economy flyers, though, need a better system. When I travel economy, if my seating area is at the back of the plane, I have to wait until last to board. That means I step around or on all those other people who are either still trying to cram their luggage in the overhead compartments, sprawling in their seats or arguing about who has which seat.
Likewise, I don’t understand why people are in such a hurry to get off the plane the minute it lands. If they have tight connections, sure. But many of those people have to pick up their checked baggage at the carousel. It won’t arrive there before they do.
I now modestly propose a more rational system for boarding large aircraft passengers:
First, admit first class and upgraded passengers, passengers with children, and those who need special assistance.
Second, admit everyone sitting in window seats. Then, once the window passengers are seated and out of the aisles, fill the middle seats. When they're out of the way, finally, let in the people with aisle seats.
If people need to make tight connections, they can be sure to reserve aisle seats. Their luggage will be the last stowed, so it should be easily to hand. They can grab it and go.
(Granted, the storage space for carry-on luggage may be used up before the aisle sitters arrive on the plane, but that happens anyway with the current system.)
In a perfect world, the cabin crew would ask other passengers to wait for people on a deadline. They would remind us that instead of a frantic race to the jetway, we could enjoy a serene and leisurely departure.
Think about this the next time you fly, please, and tell me if you don’t think this would make much more sense.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Oakwood Park Youtube Video
Thanks to Maria Ludwig for keeping New Providence residents informed about the upcoming referendum over whether the borough should sell Oakwood Park to Union County for $1.
Today she forwarded the link to this video about the potential sale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFp9C55h8Gs
Our own Brian Flanagan is running for Union County freeholder. I encourage Union County residents to vote for him.
PS Have you noticed the brick outside the New Providence Library inscribed "No County Park 2009"? I wonder where that came from... kh
Today she forwarded the link to this video about the potential sale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFp9C55h8Gs
Our own Brian Flanagan is running for Union County freeholder. I encourage Union County residents to vote for him.
PS Have you noticed the brick outside the New Providence Library inscribed "No County Park 2009"? I wonder where that came from... kh
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Jury Duty
Last time I served jury duty I noticed that some attorneys had efficient voir dires, but some, not so much.
The ones I liked were the attorneys who asked all potential jurors to stand up. They then asked questions such as “Have you ever been arrested for a speeding violation?” or “Has anyone in your family ever served time in a prison?” The people with “yes” answers sat down. This continued until the attorney had an acceptable number of potential jurors to question more closely.
The slowpokes asked each potential juror each question one by one. Once I’d seen the brisk approach, the laborious one struck me as a waste of time. Worse, I wondered if the poky attorneys purposely lengthened the jury selection process in order to rack up more billable hours.
Luckily for me, when I had jury duty yesterday, I sat next to the best-dressed gentleman in the room. He wore a suit and tie, and I’m pretty sure he carried (but did not wear, as we were indoors) a Panama hat.
Once he identified himself as an attorney, I asked him what he thought of my billable hours theory. He made the very good point that many of the prosecution attorneys worked on a contingency basis, meaning that they wanted to spend as little time as possible on each case.
I asked him why he didn’t hang a placard around his neck announcing that he was an attorney, ensuring that he wouldn’t be impaneled. He responded that in many cases, his profession would not affect his selection or decision. I disagreed with my fellow juror, on that point, but who was I to argue with him?
I still maintain that attorneys don’t want to admit any potential juror whose reaction to evidence they could not predict in advance. A rival attorney, with his or her own background in the law, would be a ripe target for a peremptory challenge. Nonetheless, I admired this attorney’s trust in an even-handed jury system. It was an honor to serve with him.
Fortunately or unfortunately for us both, the jury manager dismissed us all that afternoon. I’ve never yet sat on a jury. I hope that at one point I will, as long as the trial doesn’t last too long.
The ones I liked were the attorneys who asked all potential jurors to stand up. They then asked questions such as “Have you ever been arrested for a speeding violation?” or “Has anyone in your family ever served time in a prison?” The people with “yes” answers sat down. This continued until the attorney had an acceptable number of potential jurors to question more closely.
The slowpokes asked each potential juror each question one by one. Once I’d seen the brisk approach, the laborious one struck me as a waste of time. Worse, I wondered if the poky attorneys purposely lengthened the jury selection process in order to rack up more billable hours.
Luckily for me, when I had jury duty yesterday, I sat next to the best-dressed gentleman in the room. He wore a suit and tie, and I’m pretty sure he carried (but did not wear, as we were indoors) a Panama hat.
Once he identified himself as an attorney, I asked him what he thought of my billable hours theory. He made the very good point that many of the prosecution attorneys worked on a contingency basis, meaning that they wanted to spend as little time as possible on each case.
I asked him why he didn’t hang a placard around his neck announcing that he was an attorney, ensuring that he wouldn’t be impaneled. He responded that in many cases, his profession would not affect his selection or decision. I disagreed with my fellow juror, on that point, but who was I to argue with him?
I still maintain that attorneys don’t want to admit any potential juror whose reaction to evidence they could not predict in advance. A rival attorney, with his or her own background in the law, would be a ripe target for a peremptory challenge. Nonetheless, I admired this attorney’s trust in an even-handed jury system. It was an honor to serve with him.
Fortunately or unfortunately for us both, the jury manager dismissed us all that afternoon. I’ve never yet sat on a jury. I hope that at one point I will, as long as the trial doesn’t last too long.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Attn Direct Mailers: US Postage Rates Increasing
If you like to mail things as much as I do, you'll be dismayed to learn that US postage rates will go up on January 2. Better get those promotional mailings out now.
My favorite direct mail piece is the postcard. Besides the fact that the postage is cheaper, postcards cut through the clutter. The recipient doesn't even have to open the envelope. Just flip it over and read the message.
Like E.B. White, postcards challenge us to write tight. If space permits only 50 words but you have 60, something has to go.
Most of all, postcards are physical. They have an eye appeal and heft that email can never rival.
And they're so darned cheap. I just ordered 500 4-color cards for $33 from printsmadeeasy.com. That's only 15 cents each--half the cost of a postcard stamp on January 2. Better get those mailings out now.
Postcards--when you care enough to send something better than email.
My favorite direct mail piece is the postcard. Besides the fact that the postage is cheaper, postcards cut through the clutter. The recipient doesn't even have to open the envelope. Just flip it over and read the message.
Like E.B. White, postcards challenge us to write tight. If space permits only 50 words but you have 60, something has to go.
Most of all, postcards are physical. They have an eye appeal and heft that email can never rival.
And they're so darned cheap. I just ordered 500 4-color cards for $33 from printsmadeeasy.com. That's only 15 cents each--half the cost of a postcard stamp on January 2. Better get those mailings out now.
Postcards--when you care enough to send something better than email.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Das Kapital
A young friend of mine has taken a bold stand: even though she studies at a prestigious art school, she does not plan to do an internship. She’s as dismayed as I am at the number of companies swelling their rolls with free workers.
I’ve found some interesting work on CraigsList. If I hadn’t, I would abandon it altogether, thanks to the number of companies “hiring” interns, bringing students in to do real jobs. In lieu of pay, they offer no more than to work with colleges to arrange credit. Generous ones also pay for lunch. (What was I saying about “Will work for food”?)
Even if the “hiring” managers, who think they’re getting free workers, don’t know, their HR departments should: these “internships” violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The US Department of Labor offers the following definition of an internship
In short, if companies look for free labor to supplant paid workers, if they want students to perform like skilled employees, they’re in violation.
If they allow an unpaid student into their shop for experience, maybe even to mess up a project or two, cheers to both the company and the student.
Most of the many, many internship postings I’ve read claim to be from startups short on staff and money. Most of them look for students in the “glamour” professions like art, marketing and writing. Nobody posts for interns in positions like bookkeeping or maintenance. I guess those kids are too smart to give away the milk for nothing.
I assume that in the startups' business plans they budget for office space, taxes and their own salaries. They omit funding for glamour jobs, counting on students to perform that work for free.
Instead of student labor, these people should be tapping their social capital.
Goodwill is most important at the beginning and end of a business. At the end of the business, when you try to sell, it’s an intangible asset. But also at the beginning, when you don’t have enough money, you need goodwill. You need that goodwill to raise enough money to convince lenders you deserve more money.
You also need the skills to promote your business. Congratulations to you if you have the skills to do it yourself. If you haven’t, you should have the enough goodwill to convince your friends to help you out. I help my own friends all the time. If you have neither skills nor goodwill, maybe you should rethink your plans.
Most kids in school today are training to be knowledge workers. Their art, writing and marketing skills are their capital; their creative output is their work product. You wouldn’t steal a cobbler’s last or new shoes or a chandler’s wax or candles. You shouldn’t use kids’ knowledge for free, either, even if everybody else is doing it.
Here’s how to “flag” postings for unpaid interns on Craigslist. Open the posting. If it offers no money, click on “prohibited” in the upper right corner. The posting won’t disappear right away, but if enough people flag, it will. When that happens enough, companies will get the message.
On behalf of everyone who likes to be paid for their work, thank you.
I’ve found some interesting work on CraigsList. If I hadn’t, I would abandon it altogether, thanks to the number of companies “hiring” interns, bringing students in to do real jobs. In lieu of pay, they offer no more than to work with colleges to arrange credit. Generous ones also pay for lunch. (What was I saying about “Will work for food”?)
Even if the “hiring” managers, who think they’re getting free workers, don’t know, their HR departments should: these “internships” violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The US Department of Labor offers the following definition of an internship
1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school;
2. The training is for the benefit of the trainee;
3. The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under close observation;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;
5. The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the completion of the training period; and
6. The employer and the trainee understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.
In short, if companies look for free labor to supplant paid workers, if they want students to perform like skilled employees, they’re in violation.
If they allow an unpaid student into their shop for experience, maybe even to mess up a project or two, cheers to both the company and the student.
Most of the many, many internship postings I’ve read claim to be from startups short on staff and money. Most of them look for students in the “glamour” professions like art, marketing and writing. Nobody posts for interns in positions like bookkeeping or maintenance. I guess those kids are too smart to give away the milk for nothing.
I assume that in the startups' business plans they budget for office space, taxes and their own salaries. They omit funding for glamour jobs, counting on students to perform that work for free.
Instead of student labor, these people should be tapping their social capital.
Goodwill is most important at the beginning and end of a business. At the end of the business, when you try to sell, it’s an intangible asset. But also at the beginning, when you don’t have enough money, you need goodwill. You need that goodwill to raise enough money to convince lenders you deserve more money.
You also need the skills to promote your business. Congratulations to you if you have the skills to do it yourself. If you haven’t, you should have the enough goodwill to convince your friends to help you out. I help my own friends all the time. If you have neither skills nor goodwill, maybe you should rethink your plans.
Most kids in school today are training to be knowledge workers. Their art, writing and marketing skills are their capital; their creative output is their work product. You wouldn’t steal a cobbler’s last or new shoes or a chandler’s wax or candles. You shouldn’t use kids’ knowledge for free, either, even if everybody else is doing it.
Here’s how to “flag” postings for unpaid interns on Craigslist. Open the posting. If it offers no money, click on “prohibited” in the upper right corner. The posting won’t disappear right away, but if enough people flag, it will. When that happens enough, companies will get the message.
On behalf of everyone who likes to be paid for their work, thank you.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
No Mulligans for Slater
Customer service workers the world round have cheered Steven Slater since Monday.
Slater was the JetBlue flight attendant who'd grinned and borne passenger rudeness one time too many. After a passenger dropped the f-bomb on him on Monday, he delivered a maledictory speech on the plane's PA system, grabbed a beer and deployed the emergency chute.
On Thursday, though, he asked for his job back.
No mulligans, Steven. A last stand is a last stand. That's why we honor and remember them.
What if Chief Joseph had said, "I will fight no more...unless I can round up more warriors."?
Asking for your job back says that you value the job more than you do your pride. That customers can heap indignity upon you, knowing that even if you lose your cool, you'll crawl back and ask for more.
You say you love flying. Wouldn't you love it just as much jetting from speaking engagement to speaking engagement plugging your new book Emergency Exit: Mollifying Your Customer-Facing Staff?
That strategy didn't work well for Chief Joseph, but Chief Joseph didn't have the internet and YouTube to promote himself. Nor did he have Craiglist, which apparently abounds in unpaid ghostwriters. Judging by all the Craigslist postings in New York and New Jersey, all you have to do is call the honor of writing your book an "internship" to find free scriveners. So stand your ground.
(My posting 80/20 Rule was just a little ahead its time, apparently.)
Slater was the JetBlue flight attendant who'd grinned and borne passenger rudeness one time too many. After a passenger dropped the f-bomb on him on Monday, he delivered a maledictory speech on the plane's PA system, grabbed a beer and deployed the emergency chute.
On Thursday, though, he asked for his job back.
No mulligans, Steven. A last stand is a last stand. That's why we honor and remember them.
What if Chief Joseph had said, "I will fight no more...unless I can round up more warriors."?
Asking for your job back says that you value the job more than you do your pride. That customers can heap indignity upon you, knowing that even if you lose your cool, you'll crawl back and ask for more.
You say you love flying. Wouldn't you love it just as much jetting from speaking engagement to speaking engagement plugging your new book Emergency Exit: Mollifying Your Customer-Facing Staff?
That strategy didn't work well for Chief Joseph, but Chief Joseph didn't have the internet and YouTube to promote himself. Nor did he have Craiglist, which apparently abounds in unpaid ghostwriters. Judging by all the Craigslist postings in New York and New Jersey, all you have to do is call the honor of writing your book an "internship" to find free scriveners. So stand your ground.
(My posting 80/20 Rule was just a little ahead its time, apparently.)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Follow Me (apologies to Phil Collins and Genesis)
Stay with me
My friend, I hope you’ll always be
Right here on my list if ever I read you
Oh, my friend
With long lists
We look trendy, 2.0
And every day is such a perfect day to tweet
In cyberspace
I will follow you. Will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be?
I will stay with you. Will you stay with me?
Just one single tweet in a single week.
Twitter counts
Every follower, so long lists
Imply we’re so popular
Not out of it, fading away.
I can say
Our time is short, but I don’t tweet
Very much, so we’re better with traffic shared
Infrequently
I will follow you. Will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be?
I will stay with you. Will you stay with me?
Just one single tweet in a single week.
My friend, I hope you’ll always be
Right here on my list if ever I read you
Oh, my friend
With long lists
We look trendy, 2.0
And every day is such a perfect day to tweet
In cyberspace
I will follow you. Will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be?
I will stay with you. Will you stay with me?
Just one single tweet in a single week.
Twitter counts
Every follower, so long lists
Imply we’re so popular
Not out of it, fading away.
I can say
Our time is short, but I don’t tweet
Very much, so we’re better with traffic shared
Infrequently
I will follow you. Will you follow me
All the days and nights that we know will be?
I will stay with you. Will you stay with me?
Just one single tweet in a single week.
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