Wild is the Wind

Where did all the cowgirls go?

I recently read a blog post by Clay Shirky about the difference between how women talk about their own abilities versus men. He wishes that more women would stand up and exert their influence because women are just as talented, smart and capable as their more effusive male colleagues. I wish for this, too.

In fact, many other women wish for this as well. COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg has given many a talk aimed at women. She says that women should take a seat at the table and not count themselves out by default because they want to have a family. Sheryl is living proof that it is possible to maintain a family and still be successful; and she acknowledges the challenges that come with that.

However, she also touches upon the big elephant in the room that many who talk about the disparities between men and women fail to acknowledge. A man who goes for the gold is assertive. A woman who does the same is off-putting at best, and at worst simply labeled a "bitch." Often when I say this, people roll their eyes; Sheryl present a famous Harvard Business school study that proves this is not simply "women getting easily offended" or "being emotional" (which, by the way, is another topic for another day).

It's an issue that permeates regardless of industry. In politics, Hilary Clinton was often given that label. Her wardrobe of pants suits and "attack dog" stance during her campaign gave her a harsh exterior in the public eye to both women and men. Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live commented on the whole thing and turned it into a positive with the saying "Bitches get shit done."

I love that sketch because I sympathize. I am good at my job. I get things done. If that wasn't true, I wouldn't now be earning nearly triple what I was offered upon graduation in 2006 (in a "bad economy", to boot!). However, as a result of my focus on process, keeping on schedule, and GSD (getting shit done), I am sure that there are many colleagues, past and present, who think I'm a bitch. In fact, I can name them (and there are, unfortunately, women among them).

And the truth of the matter is, I'm not a difficult person to work with. Despite going to school for Computer Science, I'm self-taught at a lot of things, lousy at some others and definitely still have quite a bit to learn. This invigorates me to learn more but also terrifies me at the same time; being in technology, I sometimes feel the need to know everything and be on the cutting edge. This isn't necessarily true, but motivates me to keep on my toes and at the very least stay relevant in a few things (and, given current trends, looks like my decision not to dive head first into Flash development wasn't so bad after all).

But the point of writing this wasn't to brag about myself. The point is that yes, women need to step up to the plate more to brag and take credit — myself included. Often times, we shy away or defer to others when we know what the right answer is. This is a problem of self-doubt and wavering self-esteem that perhaps everyone has at times but tends to be more evident among women. However, the flip side of that is let's call a spade a spade. When a woman steps up, do we encourage it? Or do we add to this doubt — do we doubt her abilities because of predisposed notions?

A lot of people don't like to hear the "as a woman, it's hard out there…" speech, but it is. I can only speak from personal experience here so I will tell a short story that I think illustrates the point. I remember looking for internships while I was in college. I didn't have a ton of relevant experience but I had done freelance web design/development for some local bands while in high school and could show some of that work if necessary. In addition, my part-time work study job was helping out at a public school in Brooklyn where I become the defacto computer expert as I refurbished and networked together old Macs and Windows PCs that were previously merely taking up space in the back of the fourth grade classroom. So, while I didn't have a lot of experience on paper, I felt pretty confident I could land a crappy internship at a record label for $8 per hour (and most likely consist of lame administrative work).

I went to the interview in midtown Manhattan. The office building was not glamorous (this was a small, indie label that worked on re-releases of older records) and the office itself was pretty rundown. I was introduced to several men in the office. They were all men. I made a note of the fact that I did not see a single woman in their office. I spoke with the man who interviewed me and explained my skills and background. He nodded and didn't seem impressed; I was unable to really tell if he was unimpressed or if it was just a really good poker face. After I finished my talk, he asked me if I would be willing to take a typing test.

"A typing test?" I responded.

He said, "Yeah, we hired a girl before that couldn't type so we just want to make sure whoever we hire can type."

I made a mental note of the fact that he said they hired a "girl" before. I put two and two together but typed out a stupid sentence from the cover of an LP anyway. When I left the interview, I knew, without a doubt, that I would not be offered the position because I was a woman.

Since then, I've seen the "boys clubs" at certain offices. I've seen the quizzical looks or passive aggressive emails when I've (correctly, I might add) critiqued a colleague's work. Today, in fact, I received an email that did just that. I don't think the email would have been as questioning if I were a male colleague. Perhaps I'm thinking into this too much, but perhaps I'm not.

Before I am crucified, I have to say that the majority of the men I have worked with have not been like this. The majority have been great and accepting of a lady on their team. To my credit, I like sports which greatly improves my ability to relate. My personal theory (because I took Psychology 101 does not mean this is truth so please take it with a grain of salt) is that the gender roles we grow up with have a great bearing on how we interact with folks of the opposite sex. As soon as you take a car out of a girl's hand and put it in a boy's hand, you've implicitly created an impact on the capabilities of each.

While that may be hard to break, it certainly is not impossible to educate better on the implicit sexism that comes across more often than we care to admit in our interactions at work. However, this means that leveling the playing field is not so simple. Per Clay Shirky's post, this is also a rant with no immediate answer. My hope is I've illuminated some issues that can start discussions in favor of a positive, more inclusive future.

Posted on December 1st, 2011 | Tags: feminism, personal, technology, woman, women, women in tech | No Comments

Observation on Museums

I'll preface this by saying that maybe this opinion is largely the way it is because I'm a (relatively) young person.

I'm a member of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art ("The Met" for short here in New York City) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). I started with MoMA membership a year ago and decided to renew this year. The MoMA is a cool place to hang out, has lots of exhibitions of interest to me, and is pretty accessible to my house by train. This year, I decided to get a membership to The Met. I was mostly attracted by the Alexander McQueen exhibit (I won't lie to you, the opportunity to skip to the members line and avoid a 2+ hour wait was appealing) but I've been to The Met many times before and there are some pieces of their permanent collection that really speak to me. Additionally, I discovered that they have a killer roof deck that overlooks Central Park.

That said, I don't make use of these memberships nearly enough. I wish I could find more time to go, particularly during members-only hours when I could really make the best use of my membership in avoiding the herds of tourists. However, I've noticed some differences in how these museums speak to me as a member and thought it might make interesting fodder for my blog (which, I know, I haven't updated in quite a few months).

I find that MoMA is a lot better at asking for money than The Met is; and I should mention that this doesn't mean that MoMA contacts me more frequently about it. Actually, the reverse is true! I get a lot of mail from The Met asking me for money and I just became a member in August of this year. I would understand if I was reaching the end of my membership period and they were looking to retain me, but it's only been a few months. To be honest, the excessive asking is making me consider NOT renewing my membership next year.

On the contrary, I find MoMA's ask to be less, well, annoying because not only does it happen less frequently, but I get much more useful content from MoMA on a regular basis. Every month, I get a booklet from MoMA that tells me what is going on at the museum. It's a tall narrow book (it looks sort of like a Zagat guide in size) so it is easily portable in case you wanted to take it with you to the museum. In addition, as a member of their "Film Plus" program, I get one or two emails a month about specials screenings that I am able to attend gratis with that membership. These emails even go so far as to make it easy for you to RSVP. If you click on "YES" in the email, you get routed to where you can complete your RSVP. If you click on "NO," they know you are not attending and will stop contacting you about that event.

Now, fast forward to today, I check my mail and find two items from The Met. One is a monthly members calendar and the other is a fall bulletin. I find this confusing. Why mail me two things? Just send me one thing, and kill less trees. The fall bulletin is a large magazine-sized book but on the outside of it is yet another ask for money. I'm not so much bothered by the ask as much as the fact that this jacket on the outside of the fall bulletin was covering a wrap-around cover that featured the restored painting of Washington crossing the Delaware, which looks pretty freakin' cool. Why would you cover that? And apparently the fall bulletin is a lot of in depth information about the restoration of that painting. Very interesting stuff. How about putting the ask for money in the middle of the book? So while I'm perusing it and realizing how hard you guys work, I can think about donating before the year's end.

Instead, I'm annoyed because you keep asking me for money in all the wrong ways and compelled to blog about it!

Posted on November 22nd, 2011 | Tags: commentary, museums, observation, personal | No Comments

Magazines and Women

I'm a big fan of magazines. While I usually stick with fashion magazines, lately I've been reading some other more business oriented titles. This year, Anthony and I started our own company for our personal pursuits and I felt really lost throughout the process. So when I got the opportunity to redeem some points for magazine subscriptions, I decided to go with a few titles that would help me wrap my head around our business needs. I subscribed to Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur and Fast Company.

I've really enjoyed my subscription to Inc Magazine. I find their articles to be super informative and their interviews, like recent ones with execs from Tumblr and Kid Robot, to be truly inspiring. And, for what it's worth, I appreciate the attention to detail in the graphic layout of the pages themselves. I love that it's a happy marriage of helpful content and creative design. I also like that the magazine is not written for a particular gender. Women and men alike can pick it up and get something out of it. This is not to say that every magazine should do this, but it's nice that a magazine marketing towards small business owners does not discriminate.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Entrepreneur. Now, working in technology in various industries, I've realized it's a boy's club — not that that's entirely a bad thing! I've worked with some pretty talented men and learned a lot from them (most notably that the lack of women in their midst is mostly an oversight, not intentional). I also happen to like a lot of things men typically like more than most women (sports, fried foods, gadgets) so it doesn't really bother me to spend time in the company of dudes.

That said, there are definite differences between me and my male colleagues. For example, it is probably not socially acceptable for them to wear dresses, or bare their legs at all at work. Though, if I were to wear baggy jeans and oversized t-shirts as they do, I would probably have some difficulty being taken seriously (I don't say this to be contrary; I say this because it actually happened to me).

And this point precisely brings me back to Entrepreneur magazine. Their September issue, which just arrived in my mailbox today, included an article about over-dressing vs under-dressing; the cover simply reads "Exclusive. How to Dress: The Taxonomy of Casual." I was really excited to read that piece because I struggle with this point when dressing myself for work. I don't want to dress too formally (or too trendy, per the industry I'm currently in…) and risk ostracizing myself from my colleagues but I still want to dress in a way that will gain respect (the whole "dress for the job you want" thing).

I read the article and was really disappointed to see it was written for a target audience of 100% men. The graphic associated with the article showed ONLY cartoon-y male characters wearing different types of dress. The depiction of only men didn't stop me from reading the article though, as there as no indication that this article was merely discussing menswear. I think that's probably what surprised me the most; though the article in question was written by an editor at Esquire, it wasn't explicitly stated that this was a "man's guide" to dressing. They had just inferred that only men would be reading it.

This unfortunately begs the question: are women not considered entrepreneurial? I think we all know what the answer to that is and I'm sure it is backed up by data that suggests that most of their subscribers are men or that more men start companies or get VC funding. Despite the data, whatever it may be, why isolate your female readers? Would it have been that difficult to provide a more balanced piece? Considering they hit up Esquire to write about work appropriate clothes, how about consulting an editor of woman's magazine to briefly touch on women's wear? Surprisingly, it is not for lack of women on the cutting room floor; the editor in chief of the magazine is indeed a woman.

I brought this up to the network of women I know and many agreed with my sentiments. In fact, one commented that she has seen technology magazines in airports under the "Men's interests" section. Why is technology only a man's interest? While I acknowledge that there is a dearth of women in tech, that doesn't automatically exclude women from possibly being interested in such publications.

And this is the fundamental flaw – the imposition of gender roles that deny the existence of quite a few people. By writing that article for an audience of men, you are further impressing the position that entrepreneurs are exclusively men. A more balanced article, including women even in small part, would at least acknowledge that there are indeed female entrepreneurs (Yes, really. They exist! And highlighting only those who start cupcakes businesses is not at all representative of the majority of women who own businesses!).

Perhaps I'm more sensitive to these issues being that I'm both a woman and an underrepresented minority, but I'm willing to imagine that I'm not the only woman who picked up the magazine and was just plain bummed to see that she was excluded from participating in that feature.

Posted on August 19th, 2011 | Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneur magazine, magazines, opinion, publications, women | No Comments

Captured: The Things We Carry

Last year, I was inspired by a photo project going around (as well as countless magazines I'd purchased) that showed the inner contents of a person's handbag. I think you can tell a lot about a person by what they carry with them day in and day out. As you can see above, those are the contents of my bag as of July 7th 2011, when this photo was taken.

It's quite a different spread compared to 2010:

The biggest difference to me is the cellphone. I've replaced the Blackberry Pearl and Black & Red notebook with an iPhone. It's funny to think that it's only been a year and yet having the iPhone has completely changed my way of life — for the better! Although, I'm still a fan of paper and have been known to carry around notebooks too. I still can't type fast enough on my iPhone to get the ideas out whereas with a notebook I can speed through them.

The other big difference is the lighting. The 2010 photo was making use of available light and as a result was not the right color temperature (thus why it's greyscale) and a bit underexposed. The 2011 photo is still a little darker than I would've liked, but made use of bounced Speedlight flash (I bounced off the ceiling) to illuminate the items and details therein. However, the lens I used for this year's photo is not as great in quality so I still feel it's a bit off. In addition, my current camera isn't as great about capturing low light as the camera I'd like to buy soon. So next year, it will be better!

Posted on July 28th, 2011 | Tags: bag, captured, carry, insight, photo, story, stuff, things | No Comments

I'm not a water snob but…

I'm not a water snob. A water snob, in my book, is a person who is very particular to which brand of water their allegiances lie. A water snob may in fact not drink any water out of any tap, regardless of how much fluoride may be in said tap water. Water snobs also probably don't accidentally drink any water in the shower, ever.

Now again, I'm not a water snob. I drink tap water if need be, and like it. New York City's water is actually pretty decent, but I've been known to drink tap water in other countries (except for Mexico; I was very careful to be a water snob there due to overwhelming concerns about bacteria in their water supply). I'm generally not picky about Pellegrino or tap at restaurants. And yes, I'm that person who chews on ice chips, well aware that they probably didn't use the filtered water for those.

When it comes to buying bottled water, however, I've become aware that some of it is better than others. Now, I'll preface this by saying that I try to avoid purchasing bottled water. I think the excess plastic is terrible for the environment and the PUR filter on my tap at home does the job pretty well.

That said, sometimes you need to buy bottled water. Normally, I stick with Poland Spring; usually, that's the only thing that's sold by the street vendors or underground subway vendors in New York City. Though apparently (shockingly!) it isn't available on the west coast, at all. I'm going to pretend (and who knows, maybe I'm right?) that its limited availability on the west coast is due to the company wishing to keep a small carbon footprint.

Then, there's the stuff bottled by big business — Dasani (bottled by Coca Cola), Nestle Pure Life, Smart Water. These are all okay. They aren't terrible, and will do okay in a pinch (like, for example, when you need more water than what can fit in your re-usable bottle). I have to say that Pure Life is pretty much like Poland Spring, but with a blue label; tastes fine, though, with the Nestle name, you would have expected it to have a chocolate flavor to it (not that we should aspire to have chocolate-tasting-water, gross!). Or maybe that's just me. I think about Nestle Toll House and Nestle Crunch when I think of their brand.

Finally, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I'll start with the good and the bad: Fiji water. Fiji water comes in wonderful looking containers (more square than cylindrical) with beautiful flowers on the label. You imagine a lush island with the most amazing water you've ever tasted. What you don't imagine are military juntas selling off the region's most precious resource to us abroad while their own people have no access to it. Not a pretty picture. Great water, but it makes my heart hurt. I really don't want to be stressed when purchasing a bottle of water.

And lastly, there's the ugly — Evian. It's "naive" spelled backwards, which should be evidence alone that there's something not quite right about this water. I can't put my finger on it, but one thing is true, this water tastes like someone sucked the life out of it. I recently bought two large bottles because they were on sale; clearly, there was a very good reason for this.

So, in short, I think I'll just stick to re-filling my Camelbak BPF-free water bottle with what comes out of the tap and, unless I'm on the west coast, buying good old reliable Poland Spring water bottles as needed.

(Oh, and don't get me started on Propel and Vitamin Water – which is more sugar than water – and all the other "flavored" varieties. That's a blog post for another day.)

Posted on July 17th, 2011 | Tags: commentary, food, opinion, taste, water, water snob | No Comments

Tina Fey is kinda my hero.

Growing up in New York City demanded some pretty strict parenting on the part of my folks. They never let us walk home from school by ourselves until we were in high school. We were never allowed at sleepovers. And, until my brother came along and found a way to reverse engineer the system, no video game systems (with the exception of the Game Boy, which was most useful to them on long car trips to keep us entertained).

However, at home, they did give us a lot of liberties for which I'm very thankful. We were always showered with gifts at birthdays and Christmas and I remember getting a Barbie for bringing home stellar report cards in grade school. They let us get away with not doing chores. And we even got to stay up really obscenely late on Saturday nights. I remember this pretty clearly because that's when I really got into Saturday Night Live.

SNL is one of the things that made me realize how important living in New York was. The fact that people around the country were watching "live from New York, it's Saturday night!" made me a bit giddy and appreciative. And the show was funny as all hell. I fondly remember the days of Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, the 5-timers club, the list goes on and on. To this day, I still quote some of those sketches.

As time passed, a new cast came to the forefront. Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Maya Rudolph, and, somewhere in the back writing her ass off, Tina Fey. I wish I had paid more attention to credits back then and realized just how awesome her writing was. It's only now, post tons and tons of Emmys for 30 Rock that I realize just how much of a role model Tina Fey is for, not just me, but lots of ladies out there in fields dominated by guys.

The other day I happened to be in Columbus Circle and made my way over to Borders to pick up Tina Fey's book Bossypants. I'd been meaning to grab it for a while but finally got around to it (and thanks to Borders Rewards, was able to get a hard cover for a bit less money that I would have normally paid). I actually picked it up Wednesday evening and am already more than half way through.

I'm actually kind of astounded by how similar my life experiences seem to hers. Immigrant parents? Check. Nerdy upbringing? Check. People telling you you'd "be really pretty if you lost weight"? Check. Weight loss with the help of Weight Watchers (but you don't go and become their spokesperson…)? Check. Working in a field that's full of guys, and constantly proving that you have a right to be there all the same? Check.

Additionally, I'm really impressed by her ability to not be jaded. I feel like sometimes I have to check myself and make sure I'm not being a douche because I'm feeling a bit jaded about where I'm at for whatever reason. I'm normally a very positive person so I'm always disappointed in myself when I act out of character; in this book, she acknowledges that sometimes you fly off the handle but as long as you keep it in check and aren't insulting or yelling at people, it's probably okay.

Though I feel like I've experienced so much in the working world (freelance, nonprofit, television, film, startup, education…), I have to also acknowledge that I'm still very young. There's quite a bit yet to learn. So, I'll go back to reading Bossypants now and hope that I can soak in what it takes to be accomplished yet still a real (funny) person.

Posted on July 15th, 2011 | Tags: book, books, comedy, life, role models, snl, tina fey, work | No Comments

Writing about writing

Writer's block is particularly frustrating. It is one of the things that normally keeps me from keeping up on my blog. What's worse than writer's block? Writer's corner (which is the spot I've put myself in time and time again where I write about characters with no clear idea of how they will end up).

To elaborate some on my frustration, I'm working on a short silent film screenplay. I've already taken a short story I wrote and adapted it into my first short screenplay so this would be my second. That first one was simpler because I already had the story, loosely based on family drama, written in a different format.

Now, however I'm starting from scratch. And though I have an idea of how I want my characters to behave, I don't really know them yet. Maybe I need to give them more qualities of people I know in the real world and then the next step will become more clear? That will probably be my first step as my first script was a little bit easier given that I was thinking about my uncle and his relationship with one of his daughters.

But that said, eventually I need to make the decision. In photography, there's this term that Henri Cartier-Bresson used to describe the moment at which you snap a photo just before the subject takes an action — "the decisive moment." For me, I need to figure out how the characters will get to that moment and then what choice they will make when they get there. This is the tough part.

What are my characters made of? I'm still not sure I know, but when I have the time, I'll have fun trying to figure that out. Though frustrating at times, I do enjoy writing (if only for the ability to throw caution to the wind and make stuff up). When I finish this script, hopefully I'll have the gravitas to actually shoot it and put it up here for mass consumption! For now, I'm off to go finish it.

Posted on June 14th, 2011 | Tags: creativity, stories, storytelling, writing | No Comments

Where does the time go?

Holy cow — it's already June! That means I haven't blogged for a really long time. I should probably not bore you with excuses including my inability to figure out what to write about (do I get really personal or do I keep it light and superficial?) and the fact that I have a bunch of open side projects (two of which require me to write…a lot). And even then, despite leaving my personal blog out in the cold, I still haven't been able to get all that side stuff done.

I manage to get my obligations done, thankfully. Work is a solid 10 hour block of my day. I say 10 hours because of my commuting time (about 45 minutes each way, so I round up to 1 hour). I make it a priority to shower and I've been able to optimize that down to 25 minutes, though that can go longer if I need to wash the thick waves of curly hair that spout from my scalp. Most days of the week, after getting ready for work, I'll sit and watch the news while eating my breakfast. Then in the evening I like to prepare dinner because eating out is expensive. I'd say there's probably an hour and 1/2 spent eating or preparing food outside of the work day.

So when I'm not washing my hair, that leaves me 12 hours of time. But then you have to take into account sleep. A lot of people say you don't really need it (ie: "sleep is for the weak" or "I'll sleep when I'm dead") but I have to disagree. I'm a lot more likely to be in a bad mood if I don't get the optimal amount of sleep, which for me is about 7 hours. So, if I am good and get to bed at a decent hour, I have 5 hours or so to play with each day that are just mine.

In those 5 hours, what could possibly pull me away from the things I need to do? For one, human interaction. A phone call with my sister. Perhaps a movie watched at home with my boyfriend. Or maybe I just want to paint my nails (I will have to write a separate blog about how much money I've spent on my nail polish collection, but I digress). And on some occasions, such as today, I have plans that have me heading back on the train to go downtown and meet up with a friend of two. I love my family and friends and as a result, I am willing to give up a few of these precious 5 hours to enjoy their company.

And then there are things like: cleaning, freelance projects, buying groceries, waiting in line at the drug store. All of them start to add up and deducting from my handful (literally, one hour per finger!) of hours of free time. That said, I'd rather be busy and have great ideas that I will one day get to, than the inverse of that. Someone (most likely a teacher) said "if you are bored, then you are boring." So I take comfort in knowing that, with all the junk I have going on, I must be far from boring!

Posted on June 6th, 2011 | | No Comments

The High Cost of a Low Price

Everyone (well, mostly everyone) knows that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

When it comes to low prices, I've learned the hard way that sometimes you get what you pay for. The adage is true: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

I remember when I moved into my first real apartment post-college. Unlike a lot of my peers, I had to pay for all of my initial expenses myself, with support from my boyfriend who I would be living with. At the time, I worked for a nonprofit organization (for those that don't know, that's code for "not getting paid much") and he worked in theatre (also an industry where low salaries are not surprising). This meant we had to get creative about how to spend money on furnishing an apartment. Luckily, the apartment wasn't very large so there wasn't too much to buy. We were also very fortunate that bed bugs were not widespread then; many of our furniture pieces then were found objects of unknown pedigree.

Though I tried very hard to find one on the street, nobody was getting rid of a pine wood antique chest of drawers like I desired for myself. Some things just don't come easy. Seeing no other way of affording a place to put my clothes, I ordered a filing cabinet made of particleboard that would happen to be large enough for my clothes and fit in our small bedroom. For a short time, it did the job. Until one morning, I was getting ready for work and the thing just crumbled. If you can imagine a dresser imploding and collapsing upon itself, that's exactly what happened.

Now imagine this happening as you are trying to stealthily get ready for work while your boyfriend, who works evenings, is still trying to sleep. Uncomfortable, annoying and totally frustrating, but it taught me that valuable lesson that sometimes paying more is actually worth it. By the way, after that experience, I purchased a solid pine dresser for a large sum of money that I still use to this day.

I've noticed that, in this precarious economy, getting a good deal is huge. In the past couple of years, flash sale websites like RueLaLa and Gilt Groupe have emerged and carved out a niche of offering high fashion looks for more affordable prices. More recently, websites like Groupon and Living Social (and countless others) have gotten into the deal market letting you pay a lower prepaid price for services or goods. In fact, even Facebook is starting it's own version of this (Facebook Deals) which is currently being tested in select markets.

When it comes to Groupon and Living Social, in particular, it seems pretty straightforward. It's very similar to movie ticket vouchers; essentially, you purchase a voucher for a service or product in advance at less than full price to be used at a later date. And again, like movie ticket vouchers, sometimes there are exclusions and restrictions.

For those of us accustomed to hoarding coupons (I'm not into extreme couponing, but I know how to get a good deal on clothes from time to time), the idea of restrictions is nothing new. However, when it comes to online deals, it isn't the restrictions that are the problem. From personal experience, I've found the problem is that either restrictions are not made clear or the retailer is not prepared for the influx of new business these deals may generate.

A friend of mine recently purchased a voucher for a night of karaoke and free pizza. She called the location to make a reservation and, despite calling many times and leaving messages, she never got a response. A voucher deal will not help your business if the new customers it attracts are left with a bad taste from the lack of conscientious customer service.

Similarly, I recently purchased two deals. One was a magazine subscription for a popular women's magazine. The second was a voucher for a wine shop in my neighborhood where I could purchase lots of wine for half the price. Both deals have been less than ideal. The magazine subscription delivered out of order for the first month but seems to have finally gotten on track now. Meanwhile, the wine voucher was doomed from the start. The deal site was unclear about what was or wasn't included in the voucher; this required several emails to purchasers (like myself) to offer a refund if this was unsatisfactory. I thought this was a great effort by the deal site though; it showed that they were not intentionally misleading, but severely absent-minded. Today I decided to redeem this deal as it's Mother's Day weekend and I'd like to bring a bottle of wine up to some of the festivities that are happening.

My boyfriend and I went to the wine shop near our house and gathered a selection of bottles. The wine shop has an area near the entrance labeled "specials" where they feature many lower-priced wines. We made sure to avoid this area as the voucher explicitly stated "no specials." However, upon getting to the checkout counter, we are informed that many of our selections were indeed "specials." Only at the counter were we informed that all prices ending in "7" were "specials." And in fact, some of the bottles near the entrance labeled "special" were not in fact specially priced. In order to make use of the deal, we had to gather some new selections and bring them back to checkout where we had to wait in line again. This was a bit annoying, but reminded me that deals sometimes are not as good as they seem.

But what really bothered me was when we got to the checkout employee. She had no idea how to handle the voucher I gave her and had to call over a colleague. This to me signals that the store perhaps did not put much thought into the deal. All of their staff should have been trained to expect lots of these vouchers and thus know how to input them into their system. Over time, I've learned that being prepared is so instrumental in how others perceive you. For a brand, this is huge. And considering that a deal is used to bring in new customers, you want their first interaction to be positive so they will come back and also be an evangelist for your brand, recommending your product or service to others. As many folks know, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

However, sites like Groupon and Living Social are also making a first impression with consumers. If every time I purchase through one of these sites, I get a raw deal, chances are I will stop purchasing there. And in fact, if location-based services take off, deals can be offered instead to everyone who checks in to a location or perhaps location-enabled users who are within range of the establishment. There are lots of ways to engage customers and get them to try your product or service but at the end of the day, you want to retain customers and it seems the best way is through clear, consistent messaging and providing excellent customer service.

Posted on May 6th, 2011 | Tags: bargain hunting, bargains, commentary, deals, experience, lessons, online deals | No Comments

Captured: Hazy Shade of Winter

Ice Shards

I was born in the summertime. My ancestors lived in warm weather nearly year round. This leads me to believe that I am not built for cold weather. However, being born and raised in New York City, I've adapted to some cold. I have learned how to layer up and prepare for most temperature ranges. That said, the winter always takes me by surprise. I always find myself saying "This winter MUST be colder than last year!" even though that's probably not at all true.

Instead of spending too much time complaining about the weather, I've decided to celebrate the beauty in the cold. With my camera in tow, I've been wandering around the snowy city (and surrounding parts) ready to capture what fills some folks with joy, but just makes me wear tights under my jeans and long-sleeve tees under my dresses.

I found I do best when the weather is cold, the winds are still, and the scene is drenched in sunlight. But I still desperately long for spring. I'd love to wear a jacket and not a coat. I would also very much enjoy not wearing double socks and being able to walk out of the house with wet hair without the fear of icicles developing at the ends of my curls.

So with baseball's spring training just around the corner, I've decided to share a set of photos dedicated to celebrating winter. I'd like to think of this as a indefinite moratorium on winter, at least until this time next year.