Tag Archive for 'ethics'

Customer Service is Great…NOT!

Written by Valoni on March 27, 2008 in critique and thoughts.

Customer Service in Kosova SUX Period (.) Or WAIT!! It doesn’t suck! How can it suck when it is non-existent?!

Well, let me clarify. Customer Service in Kosova really blows…hard…balls.

So, I go to ITS (my internet service provider) to re-charge my internet account, because last night my monthly charge had passed on (the only way to re-charge the account is by personally going to ITS’s office and paying the amount due). Right after work I rush through the maddening traffic of Prishtina just to get there on time. I park the car right across the building. I walk towards the offices, open up the door, walk-up inside all the way to the second floor just to find few rooms with servers and bunch of other rooms saying “Ndalohet Hyrja” (No Entrace). So logically I walk to the one saying “Administration” and with the process of elimination I make sure purposefully it doesn’t say “Ndalohet Hyrja”. There sits a a favorably cute girl with a really nice smile. There’s few other people in this small improvised office, however I turn straight up to the girl and ask her if this is the right place to re-charge/pay for the account. She replies with a positive answer and I automatically ask “How much do I owe?”

Now let me go back in time for a quick moment. While living in the States I never had to memorize “how much”, “what”, and “where” about any of my accounts, because at any given time I could check on the status of any of my accounts either online or through my detailed contracts, orders and so on. So in that way I never had my guard up for being fooled about any of these things. I guess I was protected in a way by various sources.

Anyway, as far as my current ITS (internet service) goes - I was pretty sure that I had the START Package [512kbps], which costs 10 golden Euros, however the girl in question replied in a quite forward manner that I owed 15 Euros for the HIT Package [1mbps] (which apparently I was signed up for). In which I replied with a quick frown, but then I quickly thought that maybe I wasn’t sure about which package I had signed up for. So I gave away my 15 hard earned Euros and walked out with a big question mark tattooed on my forehead.

15 minutes later I come back to my apartment and out of my curiosity I look at the contract I had signed up a month before, which clearly read that I had the START Package which costs 10 Euros. Now, I’m not sure if ITS is not meeting up their quarterly profit projections, but I’m pretty f-in sure that someone is messing up with the database and adding up on prices.

Please, do understand that it’s not a matter of 5 extra Euros that I dished out today. But, it’s the trust that ITS had failed me on. And what’s more important they are lacking a lesson in business ethics, which in long-run will cost them thousands of those 5 Euros.

So, tomorrow with the contract in hand I will go to ITS’s office (as old lady who has been robbed of her purse) and get my 5 blue Euros back. But, I know deep inside that I’m going there to make a point (for their own good) that such business practices will cost them money and customer trust in months and years to come.

As a side note, I am giving myself a task of starting up a website that will offer customers an opportunity to anonymously praise and constructively criticize various businesses. I’m hoping that this will make businesses be more cautious in their service skills and provide customers with a better care and support. Currently the consumer is completely unprotected by any state-level organization in their buying ventures. This “upcoming” website (still as a concept) will rate businesses, in which consumers will be able to research and see before going to the store and saving themselves a headache or two.

Now there’s another customer-service related story I have about the Levi’s Store at the Grand Store Shopping Center, but I’ll save you the agony and let you use your own imagination.

Happy Shopping.

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I - a Design Whore

Written by Valoni on March 22, 2008 in design and thoughts.

I am a Design Whore. Yes! That’s right. I admit it.

Why?

Well, a whore is traditionally a person who gets involved intimately with multiple partners without any regard for self or the other party. I may not fit the bill in terms of people, but as far as design goes - I get involved with different parties and provide design services for a fee or simply a pat on the back – with no regard whatsoever about design ethics, traditions, rules, and any such unruly things.

How did I become a Design Whore? Simply, by replying to every smooch and holler that came my way. I never said ‘No’. Not that I couldn’t say it, but I liked the attention, and hell I loved it that someone needed me to design something. And, believe me - the key to success is being able to say ‘No’. But, I just don’t - I always say ‘Yes’. And not only do I say ‘Yes’, but I offer extra services that I’m not even being asked to perform.

Real-life Example:
The other day I had a regular meeting with a prospective client, who I’ve been in touch for close to 5 months now. I met the client through another designer (who is in the process of becoming a design whore in no-time). The client was part a project that was supported and sponsored by various corporations, however, my designer friend and I (as a major Design Whore myself) were there listening to the client’s request. And get this: I as a Design Whore and my friend only as a prospective Design Whore were going to get “paid” by being allowed to put our logo on the marketing materials. What did I do? I stopped for a second, I looked around befuddled - then as time stopped and everything became slow-mo – I jumped on top of the couch and yelled out loud so God could hear me: Alleluia, Alleluia - We are Made !! Not, that we were only going to get paid with air, but we were asked to do extra flips and turns for the mere pleasure of the client.

Note to Self:
One of these days I hope to become a Design Prostitute where I’ll be able to charge premium fees for the services I provide.

Advice:
Whatever your profession is, please put yourself together and stop becoming a whore and leverage yourself to a prostitute level. You’ll be respected and paid more, of course. That doesn’t mean that you’ll become more talented or anything remotely related to that, but simply you will become a sophisticated whore in which you won’t get involved with just anyone - but, you’ll choose your clients well - and the best part of it all: You will get paid by the hour and most likely drive a better car.

Celebrating:
Becoming a Design Pornstar, would require that tons of people copy your stuff and that you snatch few design awards – which means that you’ll probably be out of work for a long period of time because people will think they can’t afford your services now that you‘re famous. Being jobless will make you do just about anything to get paid – which then, of course, you’ll complete the Cycle of Design and become a Design Whore yet again.

Happy Designing.

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Something’s Gotta Give

Written by Valoni on November 15, 2007 in design and thoughts.

I’m always the black sheep of the crowd when it comes down to the ethics of design. I strongly believe that there should be some moral issues connected with each designer that make her or him a better professional.

One of the reasons I am writing this is because day-in and day-out I am faced with projects or concepts that are critical to some bigger issues and there should be some thought involved, rather than a simple click on the mouse and a “Save for Web” choice on Photoshop.

Let me be clear and give out some clear examples of what I’m driving at. Say a designer is faced with a client who owns a tobacco company and needs to redesign it’s packaging or a billboard for that matter. The job pays well - Maybe even too well to the point where it gives the designer some profit and three months worth of rent. Should the designer take this job? Someone may give a quick “YES!” with a shit-eating grin on their face while giving you the creeps out of their quick standard(less) opinion.

Why do I feel so strong about this? Well, we all know tobacco is harmful not just for the person who smokes it, but even worse for those around who don’t. The designer’s job is to make nice things that sell something. Someone may say — “That’s your job. You’re getting paid to do something” — “Yes!”— I say — “It’s all reasonable. But, you’re not selling your soul. You’re making a conscious choice where and you’re selling your expertise.” And to be quite frank and extremely honest — The Designer is Supposed to Make things Better — which includes considering the bigger picture.

OK. You like the money. You take the job. But, maybe just to make a compromise, give out a fair percentage from the profit to a non-profit organization who’s fighting through anti-smoking campaigns.

There’s another conundrum that I was discussing with a good friend. Say an architecture firm is hired to design a factory for a tobacco company. The bright side of the story is that this new factory will hire a good amount of people who will feed their families. The dark counter-side is that these people will produce a product that causes cancer and kills members of families that are in numbers higher that those it employs.

From time to time I am guilty myself for designing things that don’t quite complement my ethical or moral beliefs. But, my reasoning has always to do with “Oh, I was pushed into it” or “I couldn’t get out of it” or millions of other reasons that I am ashamed to admit. However, I call not just on myself, but on all designers, architects, producers and everyone else in between to be more conscious of the bigger picture and what matters the most at the end of the day.

Life is beautiful and we shouldn’t do anything that compromises that fact.

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