How to Crush an 11-year-old's Dreams
You do it slowly and in front of an audience at America's Got Talent. For 6th grade rapper CJ Dippa, things will never be the same.
Chase Banker: I Hate That We’re Required To Pull People Out Of Line To Offer Upsells
Chase now requires bankers to drag customers waiting for a teller out of line so they can upsell other bank products. One longtime banker wrote in to apologize for the practice, which "blatantly exploits a customer's trust," and to encourage customers to call Chase and tell them that they hate it, too. Read the banker's full heartfelt note, after the jump.
Our tipster writes:
I have run into a bit of a problem with my employer, Chase, and I was hoping that your readers can help me out. I loved my job at Washington Mutual, and I still like my job despite the flak the industry gets in general, because after almost a decade I have a strong customer base that knows and trusts me. I also can do quite a bit to help people avoid fees and make the best financial decisions. These things, plus coworkers that share the same philosophy, are the reasons that I am still working in retail banking.Chase, however, seems to have decided to erode more of what little trust that consumers have left. They (understandably) would like all of the new account reps to have someone at their desks at all times. They do this by having the banker walk up to someone in line, ask them what brings them in, and then tell them that they of course can help them with that and leads them to their desk. Here's the thing: the banker doesn't actually have a cash drawer or the ability to post transactions. While the customer is sitting at the desk, the banker will send someone else up to the teller line to post the transaction.
This process takes a lot more time than if the customer had just seen an actual teller. While the customer is now hostage at the banker's desk, the banker suggests that they do a quick review of the customer's information, to make sure that everything is up to date. This of course leads to product recommendations - in other words, a bait and switch to get the customer in front of a person that has been hard wired to sell, sell, sell.
I'm running out of excuses to avoid doing this myself. It's become such a large part of my job that if I protest too much I risk losing my job. If this has ever happened to you in a branch, or even if it hasn't but the very idea of it makes you as angry as it does me, PLEASE let Chase know. Trust me, the bankers hate this as much as the customers, and would love to see it go. It won't because it does increase sales in a branch, which is why the branches are feeling such pressure. But it blatantly exploits a customer's trust and I'm sick of it.
It's not enough to tell the folks in the branch because we've been hearing so much about the banking industry in general that we honestly start to tune it out. But you can ask that we submit feedback (the link is right there on our homepage) so that it will be routed to the right people. If the banker won't do it or doesn't know how, ask for a manager or anyone else. Insist that your complaint be heard beyond the branch. If you are an employee go out of your way to help customers register their dissatisfaction. But, please, be nice to your local bankers when you do this! We didn't put this policy into place.
You can also call or e-mail or write the "Chase Executive Office":
P.O. Box 19020
Houston, Tx 77224executive.office@chase.com
(800) 242-7399
Thank you for reading!
- A banker that actually wants to help you (there are many more of us than you think)
PREVIOUSLY: Chase Concierge Grills Me About Why I Bank With ING
Digit-Eyes identfies everything for the blind without breaking the bank
Filed under: iPhone, App Review
The Digit-Eyes Audio Scanner and Labeler (US$29.95) from Digital Miracles is a remarkable Assistive Technology (AT) app for the iPhone The app does three things. The first and simplest is, using the built in camera, scanning UPC and EAN codes found on most everything. Taking advantage of the VoiceOver accessibility capability built into the iPhone
The second thing it does, is more compelling. Once you register for a free account on their site, you can create text labels for printing on over 50 sizes of standard Avery labels. Select a type of label and a template page is displayed full of empty boxes representing labels. In each box, type in up to 100 characters of anything you want the label to say.
Once done, all your text is transformed into a .pdf page of QR (quick recognition) codes like the one shown in the upper right corner of this post. Print the page on the Avery label stock, and stick each on whatever you wanted the label to say. For example, if you typed in "Blueberries bought on July 31st", you would stick that corresponding label on a container of blueberries. Then using the Digit-Eyes app, scan the label on the container and the screen will display and a voice will read back "Digit-Eyes label read: Blueberries bought on July 31st". The database of what's behind each label is stored on your iPhone so you won't need an Internet connection to access the information.
TUAWDigit-Eyes identfies everything for the blind without breaking the bank originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Internet Sensation Reacts to New-found Fame
Antoine Dodson of Huntsville, AL reacts to becoming overnight internet sensation in this second interview.
Cool Light Paintings
This isn't Photoshop. All it takes is a flashlight (or sparkler) and a camera to create some really beautiful images.
The Best Links:
How To Stop Video Autoplay On Youtube
Have you ever opened multiple Youtube videos at the same time? The cacophony of sounds has probably been unbearable. Youtube videos start to play automatically, and there does not seem to be a restriction in the number of videos that can play at the same time. A user opening four videos simultaneously will make the experience that all four start to buffer and play immediately, and not only the one in the active browser tab.
But autoplay of videos can also be a problem if only one video is opened at the same time. Users with slow Internet connections for instance may experience buffering periods in which the video stops playing. Many like to overcome that problem by stopping the video once it starts loading, to restart it once it has been buffered completely. This ensures that the video can be watched without interruption.
Several add-ons have been developed that automate the process. The majority of add-ons stop the Youtube video once it starts playing without interruption of the video buffering.
Google Chrome
The Google Chrome extension Stop Autoplay for YouTube does everything a Chrome user would expect. It stops the auto-play of the video, and keeps the buffering link alive so that the video will buffer to 100%, even in a background tab.
Even better is the fact that the add-on supports both Flash and HTML5 video players on Youtube, ensuring that all videos are stopped from autoplaying. [download link]
Firefox
The Firefox add-on stops automatic video playback of embedded media. It works not only with Youtube videos but other embedded media as well. Media is blocked from autostarting in two ways. The first tries to stop the automatic playback, the second replaces the embedded media with a red frame.
youtube autoplay
The options offer detailed configuration settings. It is for instance possible to block Flash and Silverlight, or whitelist and blacklist sites. [download link]
Firefox alternatives:
Tubestop: Stops the autoplay of Youtube videos. [download link]
TweakTube – YouTube Enhancer / Video Downloader: Overkill if autoplay is the only issue. Users who want an all in one solution that offers much more than that can give the Firefox add-on a try. [download link]
Greasemonkey scripts
YouTube Auto Buffer & Auto HD & Remove Ads: Buffers Youtube videos completely while preventing autoplay. Offers some additional features like removing ads from Youtube pages. [download link]
YousableTubeFix: Customized versions available for Chrome, Opera and Firefox. Does a lot of things besides preventing autoplay on Youtube.
- Download the video as FLV or MP4 in many formats: use the download button
- Resize or expand the video automatically or manually, to any custom size.
- Remove ads and any unwanted YouTube section; like video annotations and captions, video information, header and footer, etc…
- Change the default video quality to any of the available ones (like 720p or 1080p). The video quality availability is autodetected and the script can change to the best available one automatically.
- Automatically expand the video description, category and tags.
- Prevent only video autoplay, or both video autoplay and autodownload.
- Change the Flash Player Quality attribute to a lower one to play the video with less CPU use.
Opera users can try the YousableTubefix userscript to stop autoplay. Anyone knows if there is a comparable solution for Internet Explorer users?
© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: autoplay, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, youtube, youtube autoplay
BED INTRUDER SONG!!!
The Auto-Tune The News people are rapidly achieving the status of national treasures. ( Context .)
Law & Order Illustrated: These Are Their Stories
Different artists interpret one-line episode summaries of Law and Order. visit here for full exhibit.
