December 9, 2005
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - Co-Workers: Do the people you work with tend to be younger than you, the same age as you, or older than you? How do the differences in age or generations play themselves out in your work environment? In other words, are these sorts of differences good, bad, or not a factor in the work you do?
Q2 - Television: Last week, Kevin Martin, the relatively new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said he was in favor of an "a la carte" cable pricing plan that would allow consumers to choose to pay only for the individual cable channels they want. Do you like the idea of a la carte pricing for cable TV? If Martin is successful in getting the cable industry to offer it, how many channels do you think you'd choose to subscribe to a la carte?
Q3 - Eating Out: After receiving the bill for a great meal in a restaurant you'd been dying to try, you notice that your waiter neglected to charge for one of the items you ordered and happily devoured. Would you... tell the waiter, not tell the waiter but leave a larger tip than called for, or not do anything? Would your answer be different if the meal or service really sucked?
Q4 - Business Cards: Do you have one? If so, how often do you hand yours out verses receiving them from others?
Posted by Mikal at December 9, 2005 9:02 AM
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Q1 - Co-Workers: My co-workers are in two age groups, those that are roughly my age and another group that is about twenty years younger. I was hired in the late seventies when the company went through an expansion and the other group was hired in the late eighties. Those that survived the layoffs are still here.
We work well together since most of us have been working together for twenty years, we have a very low turn over rate.
Q2 - Television: The a la carte pricing. I would drop all the sports channels and the foreign language channels
Q3 - Eating Out: It has happen to me both ways ( Didnít charge us for a meal and charged us for a meal we didnít have. ). We pointed it out that they forgot to add a meal ( It would have come out of the waiterís pay ) and gave the regular 20% tip. In the other case, we only gave him a 10% tip.
Q4 - Business Cards: Yes, I have several business cards; my work card, the card for the support group that I am Executive Director of and my personal card. My work card I maybe hand out about ten cards a year, for the support group about a hundred and my personal card maybe twenty ñ thirty a year mainly networking at conventions.
1. On my small team, I'm in the middle. There are more people on my team who are older than me than than there are younger. In my office at large, I'd say most people are about the same age. Really, I think most people who work here are within 10 years of me.
2. Well, we get satellite TV at our house. My husband would probably jump all over the opportunity to pick/choose channels. Me, I think we have too many options already (but I'm the one who had a console TV with no remote and no cable when I got married -- which worked out just fine and forced me off my couch to meet people).
3. I'd mention it, unless the service was really bad. But I mean really, really, really bad. If it was just mediocre, I'd probably mention it, but leave a less generous tip.
4. I do have one for work. I don't use it except for the "win a free lunch" bowls. But, I still like having them - for some reason, I feel like it offers some job legitimacy. (At least it does when I give to my relatives, etc.).
Q1. About half are older and half are younger than me. Overall, our ages don't have that much of an effect on us.
Q2. On one hand I like the idea since there's so many cable channels I never watch, but I have the feeling that if this goes through, cable would be overrun with multiple versions of channels (much like HBO and ESPN now) while others would never be offered because they would attract too few subscribers. If I had to choose, I'd probably subscribe to about 15 or so though.
Q3. I'd tell the waiter. I'd do the same if hte meal or dervice sucked also. If you've consumed the item rather than send it back, you should pay for it regardless. The tip would stay the same unless the service was really horrible.
Q4. No business cards now, but when I did have them, they were more useful as note-cards or bookmarks.
1. There are a lot of early-mid 20s types, some mid-40s, and a lot in 60s. Everyone seems to jive. We cool like that. When we older types hear the 20-year-olds talking about the meaning of like, we older folk love to smile knowingly. When we older folks go on about "back in the day", the kids all chuckle when we say things like "The Fonz!" and "Shazbot!" Gererally, everyone has a great work ethic and an even better sense of humor.
2. We currently do not have cable. Yes, we are Americans. But if a la carte came to be, I'd order the weather channel, Comedy Central, Sundance and the artsy-fartsy networks and maybe Discovery and History. Oh, for a breif time, we had some BBC channels...gimme one of those, too.
3. I'd tell in any case. If food was bad, I'd pobably complain...but, when I did complain once, the waitress cried and I ended up feeling bad and leaving her a 30% tip.
4. No. But, yes, I'm thinking about getting one. I need to expedite my playdate info exchanges.
It's almost Friday again, but hey... Better late than never, right?
1. I am the youngest by 10 years. No kiddies or grandkids to run home to means I usually get there first and leave last. And, if I hear "Don't you have any respect for your elders?" one more time in fake-jest I'm going to smack someone. I have respect for those who deserve it. Being older isn't an automatic justification for respect. (ooh... hit a nerve)
2. I would probably have cable if a la carte was an option. I had cable for a few years and ended up watching CSPAN, CNN, HGTV and Comedy Central (in that order) more than any others.
3. I would probably tip more and not mention it, either way.
4. I have two cards and hand one of them out quite a bit more on the trade show circuit. I receive roughly the same amount that I literally hand out. Sometimes stick them in mailings. I usually go through about 400-500 a year. (Including ones I doodle on.)
Q1: Co-Worker -- Right now I don't have any, but when I did/have, they've been a solid mix of older and younger (hardly ever the same age, oddly). There are huge generational issues that American Business seems to overlook, not to mention gender-related ones too.
Q2: Television -- Loving the idea of a la carte pricing for cable television. I'd probably end up with something like 25 channels or so, but they'd all be ones that I actually enjoy watching.
Q3: Eating Out -- Honestly, it depends. I'd gauge the situation to see if the restaurant is the type of place where the waiter could get in trouble for neglecting to add an item to the bill. If so, I'd say something. If not, and if I liked the service, I'd let it go and leave a nice tip. (Just being honest here.)
Q4: Business Cards -- Don't have one right now, but whenever I did, I was a big advocate of handing them out, as well as collecting them from other people.
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