Devils in the details

Because the specifics matter. It’s one thing to say that Citi wasted some of the money taxpayers sent its way via the bailout; it’s another thing to say Citi wasted some of the taxpayers’ money by upholstering the pillows on the private jet Sandy Weill took to Mexico over Christmas vacation with Hermes scarves. It’s one thing to say Wall Street bankers felt pressure to chase profits; it’s another thing to say they achieved those profits by systematically robbing a whole generation of pensioners and working-class homeowners, under the noses of the politicians they bought with tens of millions in campaign contributions.

This from Matt Taibbi, at his True Slant blog, on Fareed Zakarias's defense of capitalism as it stands.

The devils (plural) are always in the details, but that doesn't matter to those who trump ideological frameworks as Bibles for how we should lead our lives. To some, the Market is an omnipresent, omniscient force of good will that works for the betterment of all. Really we know that not to be the case. Just as communism isn't a perfect idea, or Christianity still has some kinks to work out, capitalism - as a system - is just as flawed as the rest.

It may be the best way, but it's far from the perfect way. The chasing of money for the sake of greed alone is bound to produce criminals. Period.

To say the system is flawed is an understatement, and one that we keep uttering to make ourselves feel better when this kind of thing happens from time to time.

Thank you, come again.

Americans are becoming more tolerant of piss-poor service, and it's really ticking me off.

After reading about some poor schmuck in Illinois who was harrassed after not showing his receipt, I couldn't help but think about a few "customer service" examples I've encountered recently.

I can't help but wonder why companies would mistreat the very people who give them money. But you know what I've figured out? If the company is big enough (McDonald's, Bank of America, Wal-Mart), the economics of scale work in their favor. They don't care if someone has a bad experience because there are millions of experiences happening every day.

But even local businesses suffer from stupidity. Just recently at work we had a lady win a year's worth of flowers at our Women's Expo. We hooked up with a local florist to deliver the flowers every month. After a few months, the winner called us up and said the flowers she was receiving were dead. So we contacted the flower shop to figure out what was going on.

Now this is where the smart business owner says, "Gosh, someone's unhappy, and they know people, so I'd better treat them right." Instead, the owner called up our winner and yelled at her. And on the next delivery, they left her dead flowers along with a note of how much all of this was costing our credit union - and a message saying "You ought to appreciate what we're doing for you."

Uh huh. Appreciate dead flowers. Sounds like a smart business decision, doesn't it?

Entrepreneurs can shoot themselves in the foot with this type of behavior. Our flower winner is going to tell us, and tell her friends. We'll tell the people we know, and so on, until the flower shop shuts down because of an excess of dumbness.

This is the free market system at work, of course, and the thinking goes that competition and comparisons will lead to an evolutionary system - where only the fittest companies survive.

Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. Those giant corporations, like Microsoft, are so huge and so ingrained in our everyday lives that a few unhappy customers won't stop people from, say, using the latest Office software. It's hard to imagine a full-scale boycott of Microsoft. People just aren't as organized as they used to be.

Locally, however, a group of people can have a big impact. Smaller businesses have more to lose, and so their reputation is everything. Some businesses can save a lot of money by not advertising - they let word of mouth and referrals do the fetching for them.

But if the word of mouth involves four-letter words, all the advertising in the world might not save the bottom line. And that's the way it should be.

Tattoo 'Pepsi' on my behind.

I think sitting through movie theater commercials is a situation where everyone is absolutely outraged, but no one does anything about it.

Why pay to see a commercial? It's silly. But no one exactly gets up out of the theater in protest.

I've noticed a similar trend with product placements in movies and TV. From what I've read, everyone is shrugging it off - "Well, it'll cut down on the cost of production" - when really the integrity of art and culture is suffering.

Last night's episode of "The Office" had a glaring example, where one of the characters uses a new shredding machine - with a "Staples" label clearly slapped on the front - and brags about its ability to shred CDs and credit cards (and lettuce for a salad). The commercial that came right after the scene was, of course, one for Staple's new, sleek shredder.

Coincidence?

Later, I caught a bit of "30 Rock" where the writing crew is drinking Snapple, making fun of product placements in TV shows, but then cut to - you guessed it - a Snapple ad.

The worst for me, however, was during the "Talledegha Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" dinner scene, where they all gorge on Pizza Hut, Pepsi, and Doritos, and then praise them to tiny, infant baby Jesus. It was a giant commercial for Pepsi - even worse than the stock cars that carry the logos on the hood.

Carrying a sponsor's logo on a vehicle - or a badge, or a uniform, or whatever - somehow doesn't upset me. No big deal. But these placements in movies, where it's so obvious not even Wayne and Garth ("Little, yellow, different") can satirize them enough.

Do we just throw up our hands and say, "oh well?"

I guess one recourse is to boycott the shows and movies that do this kind of thing. Except now just about everyone is doing it. And that would mean, in the case of "The Office" especially, that we'd be giving up great art for ideals that won't survive in a market-driven economy (and hey, Pam makes it all kind of worth it).

Even video games are getting into the act. I noticed it while swinging through New York in "Spider-Man 2," but the game developers didn't give Spidey the ability to take a crap on a billboard. Dang.

Maybe I'll keep a count going, and whoever annoys me the most - that's the show I'll stop watching.

But soon I'll run out of things to watch, and I'll have only books as a getaway plan.

Unless Pepsi pays for a billboard in the next Neil Gaiman novel...