The idea of writing a book called Is Customer Service Dead, came to me a few years back when I was completing a chapter in my first book entitled, ‘Bend Over & Apologize.’ In that chapter, amongst other things, I recounted a bad experience with a pair of Hush Puppy dress shoes that ended with me couriering my dirty footwear directly to the CEO of Hush Puppies, Inc. My customer service is dead story ended with me being a semi-satisfied Hush Puppy owner, but I know my story literally pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of personal stories, both good & bad just screaming to be collected into a book.

Let’s face it, we have all personally experienced, or at the very least, heard way too many gut wrenching customer service horror stories that usually end up fading away, and over time are forgotten. Even worse, there are great customer service stories that never get told, and that is a true shame!

Not anymore…

There are several ways I will be collecting people’s stories for Is Customer Service Dead:

(A)   People can comment on this blog post. If you or someone you know has a story to tell just click the comment button below and spill your guts. Make sure your email is valid, as if your story is selected for inclusion in the book, I will need to get in touch with you.

(B)   Soon people will be able to  comment on www.IsCustomerServiceDead.net (June 2009)

(C)  You or anyone can email your story to leeraito@gmail.com

There has to be some pretty crazy stories out there, and we are all dying to hear them. Even if you just want to answer the question, “Is Customer Service Dead?” I look forward to your response!

Top 10 Cures for Writers Block 

1. Call A Friend- Call anybody your truly enjoy talking to and chit chat. There is no need to mention writers block just truly enjoy a conversation with a friend. Then as soon as your done write the first thing that comes to your mind.
2. Shut Google Down- Instead head over to www.Wikepedia.org  and search for your first pets name or full name of your first crush. If this doesn’t cure you writers block, then at least you’ll have a new found respect for your first pet, or be crushed that you first love is now a multi-millionaire internet mogul. Start writing!
3. Power of Now – If you have read Eckhart Tole’s book you will realize we constantly have a ‘self speak’ conversation going on in our own heads. Take the next 5 minutes to try and seriously not think about anything or let a single thought come into your head. Writing should be easy after this one!
4. Write Facts- The simple exercise of writing anything can truly break your writers block. Pick up the Yellow Pages, go to the first page your fingers select half way through the book and start typing out what you read. (If you’re curious, page 532 in my City is the Handyman Section…yahoo!!!)
5. Alarm Clock- Set your alarm for 5 minutes from now. The purpose behind this one is that if you are sitting at a computer you will have to stop and hit the snooze button every time it goes off, thus forcing you to stop what you are doing momentarily. If whatever you are doing is not helping your writers block or you find your self zoning out…stop, drop and get writing!
6. Drink Coffee- Caffeine tends to spur brain activity. If you can’t drink coffee (who the heck doesn’t), then have a Pepsi or a chocolate bar. If you just can’t have caffeine period… skip this one all together!
7. Pen & Paper- I know it sounds really strange, but pull out a pen and pad of paper and try writing on that. No laptop, no spell check and no clickity clack…
8. Listen To Music You Would Normally Hate- If you listen to music while you are trying to write and aren’t producing results, then listening to the same old tunes is not going to change your mindset. Shake things up and listen to _________ and start writing.
9. Still Blank– Accept the fact you have writers block and walk away to write another day. Go do something totally off the wall and fun!
10. Unplug Your Internet- If the Instant Messenger, Email, Facebook & iTunes aren’t curing your writers block, then they may be causing it. Disable your internet connection and start writing with out distraction.

Three cheers to the end of writers block and may all your words flow as easily as the air you breathe. If you have found other ways to beat writers block please post your comments below. I may need a # 11 soon :>)

For the longest time, I have been in love with Hush Puppy dress shoes. I wear them almost day and night and despite loving the product so much almost dropped buying the product all together because of a bad experience.When I bought my last pair of Hush Puppies about a year before my problem occurred in 2004, I told everyone. It was their most expensive shoe and I was ecstatic with their new technology, which put a cushion of air under your heel. I talked about them on the plane, at seminars, to family and friends…to absolutely everyone. They looked good and felt even better. I gave Hush Puppies so much free advertising some might have accused me of being on their payroll, I assure you I wasn’t and am not currently.

A little over a year after buying the shoes, I one day realized…hey, my feet aren’t so comfy anymore. I took off my shoe and took a look inside. In both shoes, the air cushion had collapsed and a crater had developed under each heel. I’m hard on my shoes but not that hard, and I’m not even a heavy guy. So, I was disappointed but figured it wouldn’t be a problem, just take them back and get a new pair…right? Not that easy after all.The store indicated that they only can return Hush Puppy product with in one year of purchase and you must produce a receipt, which was OK as I still had it. Strike one. I figured OK, if I contact Hush Puppies directly, they would surely recognize a manufacturing default and pony up a new pair of Puppies. Nope…after contacting Customer Service via email their response was simply to shrug me off stating that they only provide a one-year warranty on all their products. In other words, we don’t care that their may be a manufacturing default and you are out of luck. I guess some people may have stopped trying at this point, but I wanted my Puppies repaired or replaced, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer.In the mean time, I had purchased a new pair of stylish, yet comfortable jet black, slide on Rockports. They were surprisingly comfortable, but not my dear Hush Puppies. With the shoebox that my new Rockports came in, I boxed up my old Hush Puppies and shipped them to the office of the CEO of Hush Puppies, with a letter letting them know how I felt.

We have all heard the term ‘Life Is Too Short’ and it’s a damn good saying to live by in most situations. We can let too many things get to us too easily in relationships, our careers, driving the car in rush hour, when experiencing attitude from a total stranger while we are shopping, or on a simple phone call about our cable bill. Why do we really care?  

Let’s say you have bought a book and have started reading it. You find yourself on the 20^th page and it is progressively getting worse. You have two simple choices.  

1. You can keep painfully reading one of the worst books you have read in your life.
2. Put the book down and never pick it up again…

What bad book are you experiencing in your life, your career, your relationships, or anywhere else? 

Put the book down and move on… life is too short for a bad book!

Business Sexcess was released as an ebook only in 2004 & 2005, and was downloaded thousands of times by readers who were pleasantly surprised.

Here are the chapter titles, and as always in the Business Sexcess world we are talking about business & success, if you think differently its just your dirty little mind!

CONTENTS

Chapter One: You Can’t Do It Alone Forever (6)

Chapter Two: What Truly Excites Your Partner (13)

Chapter Three: Don’t Come Too Soon. Timing is Everything (16)

Chapter Four: Make Every Event Climactic (21)

Chapter Five: It’s What You Do After the Sale That Keeps Them Coming Back (25)

Chapter Six: Not Tonight Honey! Procrastination Elimination (29)

Chapter Seven: Corporate Condoms- The Ultimate Protection (34)

Chapter Eight: Verbal Masturbation! Impressive or Oppressive (38)

Chapter Nine: Digital Penetration (42)

Chapter Ten: Quality Versus Quantity (46)

Chapter Eleven: Bend over and Apologize (48)

Chapter Twelve: Beware of Financial Fornication (50)

Chapter Thirteen: Director, Dominatrix or Sadomasochistic CEO (51)

Chapter Fourteen: Sexcessables (54)

Chapter Fifteen: Tantric Profit (57)

Chapter Sixteen: Dress for Sexcess (61)

Chapter Seventeen: Flirting with Flexibility (66)

Chapter Eighteen: Sexcess Dysfunction (69)

Chapter Nineteen: Laughing Libido (71)

Chapter Twenty: Corporate Adultery (74)

Chapter Twenty-One: Sexcess Toys (77)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Sexcess Transmutation (81)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Intimate Integrity (84)

Fill Out The Email  Form Below To Immediately Receive The eBook Version Free

Enjoy…

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Don’t Read Stumbling on Happiness unless you are prepared to accept when remembering past events that our brains make stuff up, and we have selective memory that is bias towards doing everything in its power to convince ourselves and the world we are better than most. Ultimately, that when we think we know what will make us happy in the future we really don’t have a freaking clue.

So again, don’t read Stumbling on Happiness unless you are open minded enough to accept your brain is some times in control… not you. What percentage of your brain did you really think you control?

There are days that I wish I hadn’t read Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert. Most days though I feel empowered to have learned so much about the human mind, and its inefficiencies, in such a short read.  Maybe, just maybe, I have Stumbled on Happiness and have forever gained a little more control over that three pounds of grey matter housed in my skull. I highly recommend this book for open minded people!