So you've found yourself in Lansing, MI. You have a few hours to kill, perhaps? You're looking for something to do, maybe something outdoors. Let's assume for a moment that it's not winter. You need to make your way up to Hawk Hollow Golf Course. No, not for golf, at least not for the bag-of-clubs version. What you're on your way to do is play some mini-golf.
There is a brief semantic discussion to be had here, which should clear up any misunderstandings that might be going on even at this very moment. When I say mini-golf you might picture windmills and clowns and astro-turf. While you do in fact utilize some aspects of golf while engaging in such activity it should not be confused with what I am not talking about. Clowns and windmills, or to be fair any walls (invisible or otherwise) create the game known as putt-putt. With all due respect to putt-putt, what I am talking about is mini-golf; true to form, golf, miniaturized.
The Little Hawk Putting course is one of the best little secrets that greater Lansing has to offer. It is insane how many people live in this town for several years and never hear of it. I was fortunate to learn of it from friends after living in Lansing for less than a year.
The Little Hawk is a mini-golf course with 18 holes. As I've (strongly) inferred, the twist is that you're not going to see any windmills or clowns here - the Little Hawk is all dirt and real grass, manicured better than some actual golf course greens I've played on. This makes for a very unique, fun, and challenging experience.
I've brought people to this course that have been golfing their whole life and have never seen anything like it. If I lived an hour away I would still probably make it out here fairly often to have a good round with friends.
There are sand traps. Water comes into play, perhaps more than you'd like. There is fringe and rough. Someone in your party will make a decision about taking an unplayable lie (the first time they'll generally make the wrong decision and try to play it).
The Little Hawk Putting Course at Hawk Hollow is some of the best fun you'll have in greater Lansing for under $10 (it's somewhere in the range of $6-8 depending on time of season). Bring your family, bring your friends. Bring a little bug spray if you're playing in the evening. Bring an extra ball, or even your own putter if you want to feel like a seasoned pro.
It's worth a quick aside to note that if you do have your own putter it would be wise to bring it, as you want to learn the feel of it, not some other putter. The balls are also standard balls you'd find at putt-putt, so they are kind of dead - if you bring your own ball you'll get a better feel for how these skills translate to an actual course.
If you've had experience playing competitive golf, you no doubt had a coach tell you over and over that putting is where you shave the most off your score. Play a round of actual golf sometime and count your putts. You may be surprised for what proportion of your score they account. If you're a golfer this course almost feels like cheating - you will get better at putting, and you're doing exactly what your old coach would have wanted. It's like grinding up a pill and mixing it in ice cream to trick your kid into taking medicine.
So get out there. Do something outdoors, enjoy the weather, and impress your friends by sinking those 40-footers next time you're out for a game of (full-sized) golf.
Oh, and check out coupons on their website at http://www.hawkhollow.com/ if you're thinking ahead and want an (even better) bargain.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
An Open Letter to Netflix
An Open Letter to Netflix
Or
Why pissing off idiots without giving them institutional recourse other than abandonment is a bad idea
I've been having some problems with Netflix the last few days, and finally became angry enough about it that I decided I should drop an email to customer service. I wasn't planning on wasting a bunch of time on this, but it appears I have. Why, you ask? It is because Netflix does not have customer service.
It's true, at least in part. Netflix does not have email customer service - the only way to reach them is via phone. To some (like those living in the 90's) this might actually sound like a benefit - you get to talk to a live person to discuss and resolve your problem. Unfortunately, we live in the 2010's, and we have been dealing with live customer service for some time. And it sucks. Unequivocally.
When I see a phone number on a website it strikes me in one of two ways. It may be that the company is small enough or distributed enough into small bits that you're getting a line to either the heart of the company or a local branch. That's a pro! Unfortunately Netflix is the definition of a faceless centralized company (mostly by their own choosing), and so it hits the second way - this phone number is a joke. That's a con.
It may as well be a string of random digits, truthfully. I don't think my eyes would even really register if it was 15 digits, or 4. It's just a footer on the page - maybe it's a page number. Could be my account number?
If you're trying to get something done on their page, and if that something isn't related to getting lost in unhelpful looping choose-your-own-adventure faqs, there are really only two options. One is the random string of digits, the other is deactivation of your account.
What I want to do is send a quick email. I've learned what customer support requires in order to function. I will send a quick bulleted list of problems and the things I have tried to fix it. They can solve it at their leisure. I don't have to sit there while my phone call goes half way around the globe - you can outsource my email to the moon for all I care.
What I don't want is to wait on hold on the phone to talk to someone, only to find that they have no idea what they're talking about. Then I wait on hold for another person, who also has no idea. Transfer, transfer, transfer. Instead of transferring me, and making me angrier and angrier, just forward my email along. It will not get angry. It is an email, and it is unfeeling. It lacks the capacity for emotion.
Truth be told, I'm not even saying that your phone customer support is bad. I have no basis for that; I've never called. And I never will. Banks and credit card companies and computer companies and Microsoft and Microsoft and Microsoft have already shit in the pool, so to speak, and I want nothing to do with it. I don't want to jump in a shitty pool. I don't want to talk to your customer service people, because I will hate them. I don't want or need that hatred. When I get back the poorly worded email that doesn't address any of my points I don't feel hate - I feel pity. That, that I can live with.
There's a deeper point, here, and it relates to the flak you've been getting from all corners of the internet over your recent price schedule changes.
Now, I'm not going to complain about this price hike, because I realize that it is necessary. I frankly think that the people complaining about it are fairly ignorant of all the facts, whether by their own choosing or through neglect.
You, as a company, are getting hosed. Movie and television studios have caught on, and they know two things: Netflix has big pockets, and big cable has bigger. Those two things make you a tempting target. They want you gone, but they want to empty your pockets into their own first.
You see, a company like Comcast is scared of you. And they rightly should be. They should be very very afraid, because you are the calculator to their slide rule. The VHS to their betamax. The printing press to their abbeys full of monks.
In a fair open market you should be decimating them. There is no real reason for Comcast to make it into the next decade unless they diversify and completely change the face of their company. They have represented al that is evil for so long, and angered so many people over the years that vilifying them should not be difficult at all. The real problem is that we are not in a fair market.
Comcast (or whoever you want to blame) has huge pockets, and some of those pockets may in fact actually contain movie studios, or distribution houses. They want to put you out of business, but they can't just not sell to you - that would make them the bad guys. Beyond that, they want to make some money for themselves while stringing you out for the long game. And if they can turn the public against you, all the better.
And that they have done in spades. You are vilified in the social cloud since your price hike. People are calling for your demise over $6, and it's hard to not get caught up in it. $6. Do you understand this? $6 and they are at the gates with pitchforks and torches.
Movies cost money, and your movies just got a whole lot more expensive. Oh, not on the consumer side, on your side. What we should be understanding is that you need to raise prices because the movie and tv studios are basically bending you over the table, having their way with you, and then picking your pocket. And we don't care, for a few reasons.
First off, you need to dig for that information. No one is talking about it. You should be screaming it from the rooftops. There should be a grassroots movement against these studios. You should call some bluffs, and see if studio X doesn't mind that their product is no longer going to be on Netflix. Tell the people what you're doing and what they are doing. Get the people on your side! They are your customers, and they care about you. Or at least they would, if you didn't:
Completely lack a face. You see, that's your second problem. As a company you are as faceless as a pedestrian on Google Street View. When I think of Netflix I think of your logo, and that's it. Thinking about it; it's almost scary. Is your CEO a recluse? Who invented Netflix? Have you ever tried to personify your company in the slightest? Is it your design to come off as a completely dehumanized organization?
You see, it's important. Because when you want to fight a war the first thing you need to do is dehumanize your enemy. And big cable is fighting a war with you, and you're doing the work for them. You are handing them your head on a plate. The masses are eating it up like pudding.
At the end of the day that's not what I want. I want you to succeed, and big cable to fail. Like I said, there's really no reason for it to exist in the near future. You cannot let them stick it to you over $6. Cable companies raise their rates by $6 without reason, constantly. If you keep turning a blind eye and letting these shots graze your hull, eventually your ship is going to start sinking. (Okay, sorry for the nautical analogy, I just watched Hunt for Red October the other night - such a good movie, and it's on instant)
The conclusions to be drawn are actually a bit counter-intuitive. To put a human face on your company you need to have email customer support, instead of the actual humans on the phone. Because the only way I can ever deal with phone customer support is to completely dehumanize them, and that's just hurting you more.
Now fix my Netflix!
Best Wishes,
Paul
Or
Why pissing off idiots without giving them institutional recourse other than abandonment is a bad idea
I've been having some problems with Netflix the last few days, and finally became angry enough about it that I decided I should drop an email to customer service. I wasn't planning on wasting a bunch of time on this, but it appears I have. Why, you ask? It is because Netflix does not have customer service.
It's true, at least in part. Netflix does not have email customer service - the only way to reach them is via phone. To some (like those living in the 90's) this might actually sound like a benefit - you get to talk to a live person to discuss and resolve your problem. Unfortunately, we live in the 2010's, and we have been dealing with live customer service for some time. And it sucks. Unequivocally.
When I see a phone number on a website it strikes me in one of two ways. It may be that the company is small enough or distributed enough into small bits that you're getting a line to either the heart of the company or a local branch. That's a pro! Unfortunately Netflix is the definition of a faceless centralized company (mostly by their own choosing), and so it hits the second way - this phone number is a joke. That's a con.
It may as well be a string of random digits, truthfully. I don't think my eyes would even really register if it was 15 digits, or 4. It's just a footer on the page - maybe it's a page number. Could be my account number?
If you're trying to get something done on their page, and if that something isn't related to getting lost in unhelpful looping choose-your-own-adventure faqs, there are really only two options. One is the random string of digits, the other is deactivation of your account.
What I want to do is send a quick email. I've learned what customer support requires in order to function. I will send a quick bulleted list of problems and the things I have tried to fix it. They can solve it at their leisure. I don't have to sit there while my phone call goes half way around the globe - you can outsource my email to the moon for all I care.
What I don't want is to wait on hold on the phone to talk to someone, only to find that they have no idea what they're talking about. Then I wait on hold for another person, who also has no idea. Transfer, transfer, transfer. Instead of transferring me, and making me angrier and angrier, just forward my email along. It will not get angry. It is an email, and it is unfeeling. It lacks the capacity for emotion.
Truth be told, I'm not even saying that your phone customer support is bad. I have no basis for that; I've never called. And I never will. Banks and credit card companies and computer companies and Microsoft and Microsoft and Microsoft have already shit in the pool, so to speak, and I want nothing to do with it. I don't want to jump in a shitty pool. I don't want to talk to your customer service people, because I will hate them. I don't want or need that hatred. When I get back the poorly worded email that doesn't address any of my points I don't feel hate - I feel pity. That, that I can live with.
There's a deeper point, here, and it relates to the flak you've been getting from all corners of the internet over your recent price schedule changes.
Now, I'm not going to complain about this price hike, because I realize that it is necessary. I frankly think that the people complaining about it are fairly ignorant of all the facts, whether by their own choosing or through neglect.
You, as a company, are getting hosed. Movie and television studios have caught on, and they know two things: Netflix has big pockets, and big cable has bigger. Those two things make you a tempting target. They want you gone, but they want to empty your pockets into their own first.
You see, a company like Comcast is scared of you. And they rightly should be. They should be very very afraid, because you are the calculator to their slide rule. The VHS to their betamax. The printing press to their abbeys full of monks.
In a fair open market you should be decimating them. There is no real reason for Comcast to make it into the next decade unless they diversify and completely change the face of their company. They have represented al that is evil for so long, and angered so many people over the years that vilifying them should not be difficult at all. The real problem is that we are not in a fair market.
Comcast (or whoever you want to blame) has huge pockets, and some of those pockets may in fact actually contain movie studios, or distribution houses. They want to put you out of business, but they can't just not sell to you - that would make them the bad guys. Beyond that, they want to make some money for themselves while stringing you out for the long game. And if they can turn the public against you, all the better.
And that they have done in spades. You are vilified in the social cloud since your price hike. People are calling for your demise over $6, and it's hard to not get caught up in it. $6. Do you understand this? $6 and they are at the gates with pitchforks and torches.
Movies cost money, and your movies just got a whole lot more expensive. Oh, not on the consumer side, on your side. What we should be understanding is that you need to raise prices because the movie and tv studios are basically bending you over the table, having their way with you, and then picking your pocket. And we don't care, for a few reasons.
First off, you need to dig for that information. No one is talking about it. You should be screaming it from the rooftops. There should be a grassroots movement against these studios. You should call some bluffs, and see if studio X doesn't mind that their product is no longer going to be on Netflix. Tell the people what you're doing and what they are doing. Get the people on your side! They are your customers, and they care about you. Or at least they would, if you didn't:
Completely lack a face. You see, that's your second problem. As a company you are as faceless as a pedestrian on Google Street View. When I think of Netflix I think of your logo, and that's it. Thinking about it; it's almost scary. Is your CEO a recluse? Who invented Netflix? Have you ever tried to personify your company in the slightest? Is it your design to come off as a completely dehumanized organization?
You see, it's important. Because when you want to fight a war the first thing you need to do is dehumanize your enemy. And big cable is fighting a war with you, and you're doing the work for them. You are handing them your head on a plate. The masses are eating it up like pudding.
At the end of the day that's not what I want. I want you to succeed, and big cable to fail. Like I said, there's really no reason for it to exist in the near future. You cannot let them stick it to you over $6. Cable companies raise their rates by $6 without reason, constantly. If you keep turning a blind eye and letting these shots graze your hull, eventually your ship is going to start sinking. (Okay, sorry for the nautical analogy, I just watched Hunt for Red October the other night - such a good movie, and it's on instant)
The conclusions to be drawn are actually a bit counter-intuitive. To put a human face on your company you need to have email customer support, instead of the actual humans on the phone. Because the only way I can ever deal with phone customer support is to completely dehumanize them, and that's just hurting you more.
Now fix my Netflix!
Best Wishes,
Paul
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