April 14, 2010 at 2:32 pm
· Filed under Humor, Thoughts
Well this is every man’s story, or atleast I feel it is. The other day while assisting my better half on her SPRING shopping spree, I was observing couples, where men were “brought” to comment (and trust me those comments do not count). I mean common, I know even if I say you are looking great, you are not gonna like it, unless you convinced about price, look, trendiness, how it gets on you, texture, feel, yada yada yada. (I hope you still love me, after reading this!)
So there is no point giving out a strong opinion, one thing I learned sometime back.
Coming to the point. While I was waiting outside the trial room, I thought I could form a club, or a meetup — “Husbands brought for not so welcomed input”. Anyhoo, this led me to another thought that there should be a social network where you can “hire” (may be not for money alone) people to guide/ comment/ watch your trials so that you can pick up something. You can also share what all stores to visit. What’s ON in these stores, and when is the right time to hit these places. May be you can exchange snaps before the shopping begins of your favorite outfits which you think go well on you so that the other person gets an idea of your taste.
Wouldn’t that just be great? Mark, are you listening?
I recently moved to London from New York and naturally I had to pick a bank where I can open an account. After looking at various options, I thought HSBC will be a good fit. So here I go to the bank with my HR letter, passport, visa details, address proof (basically all the documents saying I am who I am)
The customer service guy tells me big things about HSBC etc and how good it is. Okay. Also they will be charging me 6£ per month (did not pay anything like this in US, neither in India). They opened the account but guess what?
After 7 days I go to them and tell them that I have not received my debit card. After checking through their systems this is the conversation I have.
HSBC guy: Sir we have sent that card to your U.S address
Me: What? Why? How?
HSBC guy: Yeah, that is the address we have on file for communication with you.
Me: But I am here, and I need a card here so that I can use it. Why would you open an account of a person living here, but send the card his other country address.
HSBC guy: Yeah, I understand but that is how we do it!
(And you call yourself world’s local bank. With such stupid business processes)
Me: So should I go to US to collect that card? Will HSBC be paying for it?
HSBC guy: Well, you can order one by calling the customer representative and ask them to block the previous card. Thank you for patience!
(BULL SHIT)
I had to call their helpline, and explain him the situation. He said you can pick up the card from the branch itself in next 5 days. I go to the branch again after 5 days and here we go.
Me: Hi, I am here to collect my card.
HSBC guy: Sure, here is your card.
Me: Okay, give me the PIN also. Without the PIN I cannot use my card anyways.
HSBC guy: Well, that is a good point. The pin would have gone to you address, and which is (after looking into computer), your New Jersey address.
Me: !@#$!@#$@$#%@#$%@$%@#!@!@!!!!!%^&^&*%*^
It happened that I had to order the pin several times and till date I am waiting for my PIN and not able to use the card. Meanwhile they ordered me a withdrawal slip book, so that I can walk in a bank and stand in a line, go through all verification procedures and get some cash (as I cannot use an ATM because I dont have a PIN)
They could send me the slip book, but not the PIN.
What a mess! And if you complain, they make you look stupid as if they are doing it the right way and the customer is annoyed without any reason.
Now tell me who isn’t attracted and glued to Twitter. Celebrities, Politicians, Millions of internet users, Doctors. Welcome the cartoonist. Found these cartoons on Slideshare and thought of sharing it with you. Enjoy!
Go over any news site, blog you will see the entire space filled up with Recession, crunch, layoffs, unemployment. Thought I might try to help here, with my “2 cents” (in literal terms, as can’t afford in these times to spend more)
1. Starting a web site
Yeah, I know you might have already guessed it. But it is just not writing “TOP 10″ or “TOP 15″ things the way I am doing right now.
I just loved the way John Henion and Tania Khadder have set up the entire site. Very creative and catchy.
2. Stand up Comedy
I don’t say being an artist is everyone’s cup of tea, but surely if you have the panache go for it. There are so many things going wrong these days and surely you will get your punchlines and subjects from the turmoil. Layoffs, wall street bonuses, white house comments, recession news, company bankruptcy — there is no dearth. BTW, I came across this video by George Carlin, which is worth a watch.
I was extremely shocked to see these signs while walking down to my office on the Wall Street. Bunch of guys with all funny messages strapped around their body, trying to send a message on/ around Wall Street.
We Buy Gold
4. Blogging
On common, now don’t complain that this should have been on the TOP at #1. When I was reading about blogging, I was trying to understand the whole SEO and stuff. Somewhere I read that you can become famous and attract readers, if you can create controversies .. Don’t know if I will support that, but makes sense to me. The following blog is making some noise these days. People are putting all adjectives for them, but I found them quite funny. Check it out .. http://dabagirls.com/ (Dating A Banker Anonymous)
5. Business around cars
Uncle Sam wants you to buy a car — Whoa, this sounds great to me. America runs on cars (hmm, Dunkin Donuts will not agree) but yeah I really liked that idea. If people get cars, they will travel and money starts pouring in. Think about any business around cars then.
Garage, rental businesses more like Zipcars, accessories around cars might work.
6. Being Patriotic
I really liked the video below, even if Thomas L. Friedman would disagree to make his Flat World, around again
Well, what one can do is gather list of all the products, services, materials which are consumed in United States but produced elsewhere, fire up the patriotic feeling amongst fellow Americans, and when local businesses start pumping up, they share revenue with this guy who generated the patriotic feeling
7. Joining Meetups, Social Networking sites, Business Networking Sites
Well I thought about this and whether it will be helpful. What I realized is you anyways have nothing to do. And what you can definitely do now without spending any bucks is make contacts, connections. After all it’s all networking and personal connections which matter. Be it Satyam Computer’s Mr. Raju scam or Madoff’s ponzi scheme — nothing gets executed without a connection. I am not suggesting to build connections right now, and then be tomorrow’s Madoff, but the emphasis is more on Networking. As we know most of the successful companies originated around similar times. So go for it, and try to find your business partner.
8. Act and make films – Concentrate on home entertainments
Because Netflix is going to help you there .. apparently when everyone is reporting losses, they are posting profits, because they feel recession is good for home entertainment.
