Donor Demands…

Interesting story today in Arts Journal about donor demands attached to major gifts. The article talks about a guy who left 1/2 million dollars to a historical society with one caveat. All the board members must resign. How much do you want the money?

After much wrangling and legalizing, the entire board did eventually decide to resign in order for the organization to receive the bequest.

Sniping

I buy a lot on ebay. And I admit, I’m a sniper. Yes, it’s true. I decide what I want and I go to esnipe and enter my bid. And I win almost all of the time. While there are times I feel guilty about it, most of the time I feel that everyone has this option and that knowledge is power. There is nothing unethical about it – in the old days, I’d watch the auction until there were 10 seconds left or so and then bid. What’s the difference? Automation, that’s all. (There was one time that I sniped a Columbia Ski Jacket for a friend and got the nastiest, most vile hate email from the losing party. Ouch.)

In today’s HBS Working Knowledge, there’s an interesting interview/article called Amazon, eBay and the Bidding Wars. Harvard Business School professor Alvin Roth takes a look at how bidding rules change the way the game is played. One thing he mentions is that on Amazon Auctions, the auction can be extended, making sniping irrelevent. This just happened to me this morning on ebay, as well. No one had bid on the item and the auction was extended 2 days and my snipe bid was voided. Fortunately, I caught it and re-bid.

Oh, the intrigue….

Chuck E Cheese – Better than Ever

Andrew & I have had years of discussion of what the worst job on earth could be. Could it be the circus pooper scooper? The sewer inspector? A crack whore? No, we agree that the worst job on earth is a server at Chuck E. Cheese’s. If you’ve never been to a Chuck E. Cheese on a Sunday afternoon, you have NO idea what you are missing. It truly is a sensory experience like no other.

So when I read Man Tasered By Police In Salad Bar Dispute I was hysterical. So this guy gets tasered at the salad bar at Chuck E. Cheese with his kids standing by. Probably no one else noticed or heard the screams. I’ve had the salad bar at Chuck E. Cheese’s and I’m here to tell you it’s not worth stealing. Read on.

Smorgasbord

Those who know me know that I answer questions fully. It’s my nature. When my son was 4, he asked me where the sky starts and it turned into quite a long discussion about the different layers of the atmosphere. The boys have come to expect it. Even my best friend’s kids know that if they want a really complete answer, I’m the one to call. Maybe that’s why I started a research business all those years ago. I really love the details.

But Andrew puts me to shame. On a good day, he’ll ask you if you want the long version or the short version. But most of the time, it’s the long version. Case in point – dinner tonight. Reed asked what was for dessert. A simple (and oh, so typical) question. Andrew’s answer? “A smorgasbord of cookies.” Reed: “What’s a smorgasbord?” Now the trouble begins. I really don’t even think anyone who wasn’t here would believe what Andrew’s answer was. He said (and I must paraphrase since taking notes at the table is considered rude by some), it was a Swedish meal, usually in a restaurant, with a big table with a variety of foods, kind of like a buffet and you go up and help yourself. Kind of like a rijstaffel in Holland. Except that has an Asian influence because of all the years that the Dutch ruled Southeast Asia.

“But Dad,” said Reed, “I just want to know what is for dessert. I mean what kind of cookies!” But it got worse. Then Andrew explained that pupu platters (which Davis had brought up during the rijstaffel portion of the discussion because rijstaffel is a funny word and he likes funny words – particularly those that sound like poo) were actually a sampling of Asian appetizers often served in Chinese-American restaurants, but that its origins were from the American fascination with Polynesian culture.

Well now the boys had eyes like glazed donuts. And they wanted their cookies. (The cookies were Grasshoppers, Uh Oh Oreos and Teeny Bits if you were on the edge of your seat.)

The point of telling this story? One is to poke fun at Andrew which is very amusing, I admit. But the other is that in life, we need to consider our audience. Not every action item that we come across needs the same degree of attention or the same depth of answer.

A Real Conversation

I’ve been reading a lot lately about solicited Word of Mouth Marketing being insincere. That asking people to talk up your product or service lends itself to fake talk. The Adrants forum was very active today with differing views.

And we’ve all read about the proliferation of blogs. How can we use them in business? In public relations? To our benefit? This article from ZDNet today, The way it should be: A vendor responds directly in our blogs really struck me. It talks about how Scalix founder Julie Farris responded to a public blog about her product. Doesn’t sound earthshattering, does it? I think it is. I think that corporations are so afraid to say anything in public that isn’t pre-written by “experts” that they wait for their spin to be done for them. Sometimes, it’s too late. Sometimes, it’s too fluffy. Sometimes, it’s right on. But the point is that if a company executive has a passion for the products and some common sense (read: doesn’t come off like a jerk), then posting and reacting makes the company more real – particularly in the blogsphere.

Logical. But scary at the same time. Maybe the PR guys should be spending more time training their clients to think on their feet (or on their keyboards). Now there’s a thought.