Said Einstein.
No it was Shakespeare I think but then again what does it matter. I guess a lot since I discovered having a short name is always a plus - especially if you tangle with any call center support (you need that to discover how to turn on that bluetooth you just got - not from rinsing with mouthwash but to wirelessly yak with humanity).
Otherwise my friends with certain highly prized first and last names hailing from the south of the Indian peninsula have to budget 15 minutes to establish their identity using the spelling of their names...those converstaions go something like -
Mie name is Ravichandrashekhar Venkatachari Bhatiprollu - R as in Robert, A as in Apple ....you can simply imagine that the person on the other end has asked for a bathroom break after the thrid occurence of the A in the first name and its not even close to being done. Then middle and then last name...is this guy or gal in Phillipines going to last that long? After which comes the whole argument about how the telephone bill has some wrongly billed minutes when the connection did not even go through and uncle Arvind was upset I had hung up on him.
Having wished the curse of customer service through telephones on ourselves, we find that there are many such nuances that work against the desire to seek quick help. I still find that talking to people at times is easier than dealing with voice prompted automatons that some large businesses employ (airlines who do not really want to deal with any human are notorious) where they clearly do not get the emotional aspect of how upset you really are and want a throat to strangle.
Some banks in the US got that message and have switched to live operators manning the switchboard 24 hours a day. And this really leaves a mark in terms of service rendered. Hence that name becomes tops in customer quality. I savor these relations.
So name your poison.
Today's world is hyper connected. I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot. It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is. Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy. It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff? Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality. So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing? Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
I would blame the aggressive (automated) CRM vendors for the mess. Let the buyers (of these) beware- I forget the Latin phrase for this. QED.
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