thegratefulone: after a 5th consecutive nite playin MW2 til 3am everytime i blink i now c an RPG flyin across a courtyard or a sniper focusin in on a target
about 10 minutes ago
xfactorcomms: RT @searchDNA: #SEO, link building queries to identify target sites link. Or just use SearchDNA
about 17 minutes ago
Radd28: @BDub81 Kmart or target. Ebay.
about 22 minutes ago
Skynoheaven: Did not twitter for many weeks now because there is no Sense or even respone. Only advertising spam. IHMO the twitter hype is over.
about 24 minutes ago
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 | By Michael Stodola  Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Michael Stodola |
| Published Feb. 2, 2007 at 9:38 a.m. |
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Janet and I were eating at a local restaurant -- our Friday night date -- I won't say where, but we had horrible service. So, when it came time to pay, I left a tip I thought equaled our experience (a bit pitiful and empty). Janet, a former waitress, thought it was a terrible thing to do.
"He's just a poor college student," she argued.
Whatever.
Isn't that the point of the tip? Bad service, bad tip. Great service, great tip. It's survival of the fittest. I figure this kid would, one: get bad tips, and then two: find a new line of work. That would be a win-win situation. He would be happier and so would the restaurant-going public.
That's how we all should roll. Reward good stuff, and ignore, or penalize, bad stuff. I do that with advertising and design. Companies with good advertising or design get my business. Companies with bad advertising or design get nothing. It's why I shop at Target (visually-arresting, fresh spots selling everyday products) and not K-Mart or Wal-Mart (whose brands are cheap and pedestrian). It's why I eat at Cubanitas or Roots (thoughtful décor and style) and not Applebee's (obnoxious, phony clutter). And it's also why I'll never buy a car at Rosen (I'm not sure what's going on there) and stopped going to Cousins Subs. (Dan Patrick talking about his "ad agency." I tend to lose my appetite.)
I vote with my wallet. Good design and advertising (good architecture, too) matter. It adds to our culture and should be rewarded. And just like the pitiful waiter (who's hopefully a satisfied truck driver at this point), we should "convince" the business that muck-up our collective aesthetic to hit the bricks. Good riddance to bad brands.
Darwinistic consumerism, HO!
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4 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by Skarzan on July 30, 2007 at 10:03 p.m. (report)
Now you're talking. I hope you were able to bring your wife's thinking around on this... you're spot on, as they say across the pond.
| Rate this: |
Posted by Orange Gorilla on April 20, 2007 at 12:05 a.m. (report)
On some levels that seems like an elitist stance to take. The truth is better advertising and better design doesn't always equate to a better experience or a better product. For example, what about your favorite dive bar or those classic Mom and Pop restaurants that are worn and weathered by time, but simultaneously hold a nostalgia and personality that you couldn't replicate in a new contemporary bar or eatery. In today's time most often it's the product with the biggest advertising/marketing budget that wins out. We are living in a society that is becoming more and more cookie cutter. Where the big corporations squeeze out the little guy. Yeah Consumer Darwinism is amidst us right now. It's on every other freeway exit outside of the city where you see the same three gas stations, the same three fastfood joints and the same three motels. Not really something to look forward to in my opinion. As for the waiter, you should have tipped him better. Speaking first hand, the job is a tough one. You're main purpose as a server is to kiss EVERYONE'S ass. Why would someone want to do that? At that moment, for whatever reason, its the only way they know or are able to 'survive'. Sure I've had bad service before, but I've always left at least 15%, because I've been there and I know what's its like to be in that position. And besides the heart of your experience at that unnamed restaurent comes from within, not from the waiter. It is your conscience choice to choose to let his service affect you in the manner it did. You made the choice to give him that power. I find it hard to believe your "Friday night date" with Janet was actually 'pitiful and empty' at all, but you seemed to let your brief interactions with your waiter define it that way. Sincerely, Waiting For Your Next Blog
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Posted by metallicachild on Feb. 6, 2007 at 5:04 p.m. (report)
I understand you are relating good ads to good brands, good restaurants to a nice atmosphere/architecture and what not, but really, how much does that really affect your decision in food and shopping? You would pass up a great car deal at Rosen because of their ads? You literally lose your appetite for Cousins Subs suddenly because of their ads, yet the taste has been the same all along? I agree that good design and advertising should be rewarded and that's great that you have the means to do so. Let's just have a reality check here, because sometimes, good brands and advertising is like dangling a carrot in front of someone. For example, I love the look of LaCoste, I always have for many years, but buying a LaCoste shirt in the 80's was much different than today. LaCoste changed their brand image, their style and their prices. Instead, a simple tennis shirt turned into a trendy expensive icon that you can find in some Milwaukee boutique stores. I don't remember buying LaCoste in the 80's at boutiques. I agree that brands and advertising add to our culture, but culture constantly changes to a pace that some of our wallets can't keep up with, despite what we enjoy from a product. I haven't seen any ads for Roots, but I'd be curious to know your decision making if their design elements change for the worse or if that waiter you had took a job there....
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Posted by Milly on Feb. 2, 2007 at 4:03 p.m. (report)
I personally can't be quite so cut-and-dried about this issue. Although I agree with you to an extent, that good service should get rewarded and bad service should not, I think empathy is important to add to the equation. If I am receiving "bad service" I key into what's going on with the situation: Is it really the server's fault or is it, for example, the fault of the cooks being slow, etc. in which case I do no think the server should be shorted.
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