October 27, 2006
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - Image: Does it bother you that the rest of the world seems to hate the United States? Do you think the U.S. has to change its politics or simply do a more effective job at public relations?
Q2 - Education: Which do you feel is the best environment for children's education, single sex or co-ed?
Q3 - Convenience: The 2007 Lexus LS has a feature that helps its driver parallel park or back the vehicle into a parking space. At the touch of a button, the 'Advanced Parking Guidance System' automatically parallel parks the LS or backs it into a parking space with just a little brake work by the driver. If this feature were available for your car, would you use it?
Q4 - Work: If you had to choose between working in sales or customer service, which would you choose?
Posted by Mikal at October 27, 2006 12:12 AM
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Q1. Yes it bothers me that the rest of the world looks so poorly on the U.S. It seems that we've become the world's playground bully. And no one likes bullies. I think it's a combination of changing politics and better PR. Highlight the good we do, change the bad.
Q2. Co-ed. Seems to me that is how the world runs, so teach them early.
Q3. Nope, wouldn't use it. I think parallel parking is dumb anyway. It's not American, drive in, back out is what I say. Widen the roads. That's the American spirit. (and probably why people hate us)
Q4. Customer Service. I like to help people.
Q1. Hey, you asked two questions here! but I guess Five For Friday works too. We need to change our politics! We need to mind our own business better and reduce the size of government intrusion. We just need to reduce the size of government period.
Q2. Co-ed until they reach high-school, then it should be single sex.
Q3. Absolutely I'd use it, but it's a moot point. I'd never buy a vehicle with this feature.
Q4. Tough one... Sales.
1. Noóthe U.S. isn't running for World Prom Queen. Whether I agree with our policies is a separate issue, but I don't think letting some warped need to be liked bleed through on a global level is good for me as a rational individual or good for national policymaking on the whole.
2. I'm unsure; there's plenty of evidence either way. I lean toward co-ed.
3. I don't even drive a car. I wonder if cars should be less and less convenient, because people in the U.S. are using them all the time when we don't need them, regardless of price or environmental impacts. So I think this is more of the same. And of course, I'd totally use it.
4. Customer service. Sales grosses me out.
Q1. No. Everyone on a position of power will be hated at one time or another by someone. This might sound terrible, but I side with Machiavelli on this one. It is better to be feared than loved.
Q2. Co-ed. We have to live and work together. We need to learn together too. Some of lifes most important social structures are built through our education systems. I think co-ed is essential.
Q3. No, I would not. I am a person who relies heavily on instincts. I don't like the idea of a machine making any decisions for me. Even ones as simple as "how many inches do I have left before I hit this car?"
Q4. Neither. I detest both. If it I had to choose one of these or be destitute, I would be destitute. I'd rather live in a cardboard box and pee in a pickle jar than answer phones.
Q1 - No, it doesn't bother me that the rest of the world seems to hate the US. The world will always need someone to hate and that someone will always be the most successful someone, so it might as well be us.
Q2 - Co-ed. Kids need to learn how to interact with the opposite sex so they can properly function in society.
Q3 - I would never use it. If you can't park on your own, you shouldn't be able to drive.
Q4 - If I were selling a sweet product, then I would choose sales. Otherwise, customer service.
Q1 - I think we need better PR. Most of our news produces negative PR for the U.S. In this area, we are our own worst enemy. I can't believe that Iran's president, Ahmadinejad, gets away with saying and doing what he says and does, that terrorists are presented as some sort of modern day freedom fighter, and that the U.S. comes across as the world bully. Ideas drive people's actions, and because we are losing this war of ideas, we'd better do something about it, and I think that something is to advertise the good we do.
Q2 - Single-sex up until college. The reason why is that because I feel male students are being psychologically abused by the current school system that expects them to behave like girls. Boys are different. In the past, schools gave boys a little more liberty to be boys. If we could go back to that, I would say go co-ed, but I don't think we can go back, so put the boys all together and treat them like boys.
Q3 - I would love a parallel-parking feature. Right now, if I find a spot in which I need to parallel park, I park somewhere else.
Q4 - Depends on the product. If I believed in the product, I'd want to be in sales. If the product were lousy, I'd like to be in customer service, so I could tell the customer they should have bought something else. Yes, I'm cruel.
1. Changing our policies will do the most good, I imagine, but some good PR never hurts.
2. Co-ed is the best course, generally.
3. Sure, I'd use this feature and, if my sales income (see question 4) increases, then I'd even buy it.
4. Sales - without a doubt. I've done it for 11 years!
1) Yes. It bothers me. I think we should hire a good PR firm... AND change our policies in some cases.... and buy the world a Coke
2) Co-Ed.. I dunno about education, but there's a socialization aspect that kids must learn too.
3) Sure I would! ... in fact I'd probably tell it to back into my parking spot downtown each morning... from my driveway at home. Sure I'd be going backwards all the way downtown... but I could get so much more done!
4) ... customer service I guess... though the money is in sales. :)
My answers are posted on my site.
1. Good points all around from my predecessors. I have a lot of thoughts on this matter, too many to talk about here. But generally speaking, I don't like being hated. But if I believe in something, I'm not too apt to change just to make others happy. Frankly, our international politics (and I mean the stuff we never hear about) could use a change, but that's not going to happen.
2. Depends on the type of education. For the most part, co-ed is my gut feeling, but just barely.
3. The only problem is getting other drivers to give you the room and time to do it. I'm not interested in that feature. A whole ton of money for something so easily done on your own.
4. Service. I can't stand sales. But I would (and have) done it before to keep a roof over the heads of my kids and food on the table. After losing a service job in 2001 that paid about $650 per week, I took a sales job that paid $100 per week because that's all there was.
1.People are going to hate the successful and proud. We are a great country in many ways. I may be shallow, but I dont really think about it. I have lived in a nother country, and yes countries and governments are differnt, but I love the rest of the world, and I didnt really find that many people hated us, except maybe the French. It think that it is interesting that we listen to the media. they are not that accurate. I love the world, and I feel love from them.
2. co-ed. Why segreate us for our differnces. we were placed and meant to live in this world together. This world would not surrvive with one and not the other. the more we learn to respect and live with one another, the better off we will be.
3. When I first saw that comercial for that car, my honest and first thought, was, why go to drviers ed, if our cars dont allow us to use what we learned. It is scary that we rely more on technology, as great as it is, and not our own intuition, or knowledge. We are lazy, and the car people just want to make money. In the long run it is enabling us from being smarter, and more intellegent.
4. If those were my only 2 choices, I would have to go with customer service. I dont care much for sales. It sucks!!! Customer service has its good points and bad points. To be honest, I think that my talents could be utilized elsewhere.
My comments are posted on my site.
Q1: Having lived abroad, our arrogance is shocking, and there is no need for us to be so arrogant. It embarrasses me how we have ruined our image for probably decades to come. When our empire declines we're going to need the world.
Q2: Both. I think both have value. But one should not preclude the other.
Q3: If you can't parallel park. One shouldn't be driving. Especially in dense cities such as SF and Portland OR.
Q4: I'd rather jab an ice pick up my nose.
I don't think anyone would hate another especially if they hung out and maybe went skiing together and later hit the bars and sang kareoke.
girls and boys should learn together, becasue they can be dangerous coming together ignorant of each other.
sure i would use it. make everyone do it manually at the dmv though
c.service, selling is not in my blood
Q1- It does bother me, especially since many, many, MANY of those nations have no problem whatsoever accepting our foreign aid. I think the U.S. needs to focus more on doing what is right than doing what the rest of the world wants. Actions founded on integrity will stand the test of time, even if they are initially unpopular.
Q2- I think either can be very effective. The most important factor in my opinion is the amount of direct interaction each student gets from the teacher.
Q3- YES YES YES! I can parallel park without difficulty, but if the car wants to do it for me...
Q4- Probably customer service- that is my nature. I like to see everyone happy and try to find the positive side of almost every situation.
1 - To some extent it does bother me, but then I also think that we as a nation are trying to uphold the values that we collectively believe in. However, it also seems that while the world tends to think that we should be the first country to volunteer to help in the event of ANY kind of problem anywhere, we're also the first to get blamed for any problems. We definitely need better PR globally!
2 - I have always believed in the coed system.
3 - No, I would not use it. I regularly parallel park now and sometimes find it challenging in a good way. We as Americans tend to seek and find the easy way out of doing tasks that we find "messy", which I do not believe in.......
4 - Right now I'm doing a combination of the two and I love it. I have done both, and they're both challenging. I wouldn't change my current position but if I had to answer it decisively, it would probably be customer service.
1: Such a complicated setup here. I love my country, and am disappointed with the state of affairs. But does it bother me that other countries seem to hate us? Not exactly. It bothers me that we give them more reasons to. Mostly it bothers me that people used to look at America as the ideal, and now see us for more of our warts and less of our successes. There was a quote about America used to be respected because we had a better ideal to offer the world, not the strongest military or because we fired the first shot. As a previous commenter posted, history will judge us. My guess is harshly.
2: Don't know enough to have an opinon.
3: Nah, I don't need to parallel park often enough to want that feature.
4: Sales. More payoff for the effort.
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