There Are ALWAYS Consequences

Seth Godin is one of those guys, you know?

One of those "self help" guys that makes a living giving life lessons and vague advice in order to make you feel good and more productive for having purchased his books.  He is, however, right far more often than wrong and so I subscribe to his blog and once in a while, something just "pops."  Like this one.

If you want employees to go job hunting in order to leverage you into giving them a raise to keep them, then by all means, only give them a raise when they go job hunting.

If you want vendors to nickel and dime you for the last penny, then by all means, stretch out their payments and use them as a free source of cash.

If you want the home seller or the art dealer or the agent to put their goods up for auction to maximize the price you'll have to pay, then definitely punish those that don't have auctions by seeking to pay them as little as possible.

If you want internet companies to auction off your attention to the highest bidder, the best strategy is to only use services that don't charge you a fee.

If you want to be spammed, buy something from a telemarketer or an email pitch.

If you want gotchas, fine print and the hard sell, buy your car from someone who promises you the lowest price and then figures out how to make a profit some other way.

If you want customers to throw tantrums in order to get better service, my best advice is to only give a focused, urgent response to customers who throw tantrums.

Most of all, if you want customers to hear about you, make something worth talking about. And if you want customers who are loyal, act in a way that deserves loyalty.

 "If you want customers to throw tantrums..."

Management has convinced us that taking shit from customers is desirable work response.  When one company responds to abuse by giving the abuser what he or she demands, it reinforces the behavior.  Then we wonder why we get nowhere with AT&T or Comcast or Peoples Gas or the DMV when we get snotty and entitled when things aren't perfect. 

"You get what you pay for..." 

Pretty much everyone with something to sell is doing it for a reason that is NOT your satisfaction.  I bought a futon not long ago for Dana's office.  It was a brand new, almost never been sat upon, kind of deal. I got it for $100.00.  Why?  Because the seller had just had an engagement fall through and needed to move and had no one to move this futon.  I took it apart, put it in the Prius and hauled it away.  I paid her $100.00.  She discounted me $300.00 to get it out of her hair.

At work a few years ago, I transitioned from a CRM-based ticketing system (in-house) that was hopelessly flawed to Eventbrite.  There were some who cried foul at the idea that Eventbrite takes a percentage per ticket fee - that our old system didn't cost us anything.  My argument was that for a few cents on the dollar, we could have a comprehensive ticketing platform - that it was well worth the fees they took.  Three years later, my argument still stands and Eventbrite justifies the expense each and every time we sell tickets.

There are ALWAYS consequences to your choices.  It seems kind of goofy reading that sentence - as if it even merits typing out.  But the choices we make that we think do not effect us are the most pernicious.

If you want idiots chosen by ideologies you don't subscribe to making decisions on taxes, what taxes are spent on, how to pay for schools and roads, be too busy to vote on election day.  And then complain to the world about the politicians you allowed to walk into office because you were otherwise occupied.

If you want people to notice your sexual assets first upon meeting you, be sure to wear clothing that accentuates your potential for sex.  Then complain about how unfair it is to have people look at you as a sex object.

If you want shitty cell phone service, go with the cheapest plan.  Then bitch about your inability to get through a phone call without it dropping.

If you want to simply lose your mind, be sure to drive your car on Fullerton on a Saturday afternoon.  Then be flabbergasted that every-fucking-one else did the same thing and how can this be taking so LONG?

If you want Black Americans to continue to be viewed as criminals and thugs, watch a lot of television and movies that portray them as such.  Then be shocked that Middle America sees Black Americans as one stereotype.

If you want terrorists to keep cutting off the heads of journalists on YouTube, be sure to add your view to the avalanche of views that support the idea that cutting someone's head off on YouTube is an effective way to get America's attention.

If you want Walmart to continue to undermine the working class, keep shopping at Walmart.  Then be surprised that the savings you get for buying those discounted tube socks and PS4 are absorbed as a lack of employee benefits to that 56-year old greeter.

Yes - this is in essence an argument that states you bring most of the negative effects of the planet on yourself but the logic is hard to ignore.  We all want things to go easier, faster, cheaper for us.  We all want that lunch in a minute or so after waiting for it but real food that isn't laden with preservatives and chemicals and designed to make you fat as a fucking house takes longer than a minute to prepare.  It's more fun to blame everyone else for the worst moments in our day but it's more honest to realize you probably brought most of it on yourself.