Customer loyalty a love story part two: comparisons and deja vu

I’ve often pondered customer loyalty. The rivalry’s the fanboyism the guilt when you finally admit to yourself that Kinect is better than the move. Why do we go through these roller-coasters of emotion and elation? Why do they feel so familiar?

Finally I believe I have found the answer I sought for so long. Customer loyalty feels familiar because we practice it every day in our relationships. Or more specifically our friendships. I remember my first rivalry it was my three friends and I against another group of girls. All we would talk about was how we were better bigger badder. Not ten years after that I was arguing with my Xbox loving friends and insisting that the ps3 was better bigger badder. As I focus now I recall similarities in my own relationships. My first fan boy experience was lil bow wow he could do no wrong in my eyes when he sang about loving fish instead of insisting he had no taste I was jealous that he could find fish delicious and I couldn’t.

Finally I came to my last comparison, guilt. Most of the time these days I feel guilty for looking at an Xbox and wishing I had one. And yet just a few years ago I experienced those same emotions when I had admitted for myself just for a second that I wished that I was friends with the other girl the one with the nice birthday parties at chuck e cheese. But we would never be friends for our loyalties wouldn’t allow it just like I had inherited my feud with this girl I barely knew I had also inherited PlayStation’s rivalry with Xbox.  However sad that makes me its how my world works. I'm an easy target a naturally loyal person I was lost to Xbox the moment I picked up a psp.

america the doomed

When I was younger the world was simple the republicans were the bad guys and the democrats were the knights in shining armor. However the upcoming farce of an election has forcefully and painfully ripped my rose color shades off my face and forced me to realize a new truth. My country is in danger. Right now I no longer care if the president is republican, democrat or even the ghost of Christmas past. As long as they can heal my beloved country and make it so I can say to the new immigrant yes our streets may not be paved in gold but we have a booming economy and jobs to spare. However back in this reality we tax the secretary more than her millionaire boss even when he asks for higher taxes. In what world does that make sense?

Obama promised change but besides healthcare and Osama bin laden what do we have? I don’t know if Obama is just not forceful enough to get congress to pass his bills which would help the American people or if he’s simply another lying politician? The republican nominees are no better unlike Obama I know there hearts aren’t in the right place and I fear that if elected their conservatism and focus on the past will strangle America’s future. For how can a country grow if it’s always looking back? Not to mention our country is basically a joke Known mostly for its arrogance and bad eating habits. But we have nothing to be arrogant about and at a time when money is tight and jobs are scarce should we really be stuffing our faces?

When I was younger id joke that if things got really bad here id move to Switzerland. However that seems to no longer be a smart option seeing as how a scarce few month ago both the Swiss franc and gold took a nose dive. Is this the end? Could it be that in just a few years’ time there will no longer be any safe harbors left? I shudder to think of how much worse our world can get for how can we bailout Italy and Greece if we too need a bailing out? But that’s just one problem. Also we have a broken government so corrupt that we expect our politicians to lie to us. Yet we insist it’s the people in it. Let’s face it honor and integrity in politics are dead Seen as nothing but a weakness. Yet we cling to a system that would only work if they had those qualities. Sad is it not? Yet what will you do America? Will you change your government or will you go down in flames?

An American Fanboy

The Urban dictionary describes a Fan boy as “a person who is completely loyal to a game or company regardless of if they suck or not.” If you were to change “game or company” to country than you would have me. Some might say I am simply describing a patriot. Yet I feel that that term no longer fits me. I don’t believe in my country yet I love her. I see the corruption and greed compromising the structure of a once great nation and I open my arms and embrace her. Because my love for her is blind but I still see all. And the only appropriate title I could find was ‘Fan boy’ a term used to describe something as trivial as a gaming system fan. But yet it completely defines me. I am a Fan boy I am completely loyal to my country and to use the websites rather unimaginative wording I care not whether my country sucks or not. all I know is that America is me and I am her.

Sadly I see a future hopefully not in my lifetime when America is naught but a story to tell kids before bedtime and a footnote in the annals of history.

Customer loyalty a love story part 1 best buy

Hook

I first stepped into BestBuy at an age i only vaguely remember. young and impressionable I was dazzled by the spacious layout, shiny electronics and sales people who didn’t seem to mind that i was a rather disheveled little girl who obviously wouldn’t be convincing her mother to drop 600 dollars on a fancy laptop anytime soon. They patiently explained hard drives and webcams until I understood. And With that they got a customer for life.

Line                                                     

For a while best buy dropped off of my radar as I went through a technical dry spell that would only end in the sixth grade. In the sixth grade I  finally became fed up with mediocre electronic hand me downs and thus I came into a period of electronical enlightenment. Now a burgeoning young adult I knew what I wanted and why I wanted it. I again turned to BestBuy. There I was made aware of the various improvements that had been made to computers since the hazy days of my youth. As I left the store with my new all in one touchscreen computer I felt a sense of excitement and the premonition that this was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Sinker

As I reached my teens and became more aware of money and the cost of what my mother was paying to support my new-found technological enthusiasm other information began to filter into my consciousness. Now it wasn’t just about nice people and behemoth stores it was now about credit interest rates, warrantees and most of all prices. Here’s where best buy locked in my customer loyalty. No interest for months depending on the purchase price and great warrantees like geek squad technical support and black tie protection. This came in handy seeing as how me and electronics seem to bring out the worst in each other. Seeing as how they are both my kryptonite and my ambrosia.

Synopsis

I won’t deny that I have been known to have a volatile temper I have cursed the name of Toshiba Samsung and others. But never have I cursed BestBuy. So in conclusion with a blend of great customer service an excellent layout good products and great warrantees not to mention an overall friendly feel. However the most important fact for me is that I never walked away with that nasty I’ve  just been used feeling. Now that may change when I start paying for my own things but for now that’s a great bonus because the main thing you can ask for as a consumer is to never regret the things you buy.

Upgrades

A few months ago i was viewing an app on my cellphone that kept me up to date on the latest occurrences in the consumer tech world. As i perused the articles on display i came across something that felt like the greatest betrayal. There on my 4.3 inch screen in bold type were the words htc sensation XE. I wanted to cry i had barely had my htc sensation for a week or so and already its successor was here. I went around in a daze for two days and then my cynical side showed itself when news of the htc sensation XL came out. I muttered a few words about blood sucking leeches and admitted to myself that i didn’t need a sensation XL or XE i was perfectly happy with my plain old sensation. I was lucky the XL and XE were Europe only America was not getting her hands on it anytime soon and i was granted a temporary reprieve. Sadly this was only a preview of the world we live in. my phone was nowhere near fulfilling its potential yet i was ready to trade it in for its upgrade which was only marginally better than the original. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony had it right. There systems have years of life in the and there eventual replacements are always extremely better than the one before. I would trade in new cellphones coming out constantly to maybe letting these phones breath and grow into themselves so that their upgrades are strides in there field not a $600 shuffle step.

america the forgotten dream

All good things must end. this is an irrefutable fact of our world. Some are corrupted and morphed into a parody of their former selves, some disappear quietly into the night. Others fight to the bitter end even when its hopeless. So what are we? I am an american however i see the future clearly and i dread it. I see a future where debt is all we know. I see a future where america is so corrupt that all that's left is an empty shell of the american dream. I see a future where america bows down to its debt and is swallowed quickly and quietly by an foreign usurper.I see a future where america defaults on its national debt and overnight become more of a joke than we already are. i see a future where americans rally around their flag and unite to solve our nations problems. Yet the last one is the only dream i have whilst asleep. there have been great countries through the years Rome, Greece, Egypt. All great countries reduced to a shadow of their former selves. will america be reduced to that? After only a few hundred years will america disappear? Will we be reduced to a chapter in the history books. As i write this i wonder will the good that is america be corrupted into a shadow of Its former self. Will it disappear quietly into the night. Or will we fight to the bitter end even when all is hopeless. selfishly i hope its not in my time that would be too much to bear.

video games

If you blame a video game for people doing violent acts than you are simply pointing a finger. If some one is so influenced by a video game that they go out and perform violent acts then it becomes obvious that they had hidden violent tendencies. If we try to coddle everyone (who is old enough to play rated M games) than we take one step close to the totalitarianistic governments depicted in syfy novels. I don’t know about anyone else but once I hit 21 I am an (official) adult. Therefore, i should be trusted to make my own decisions. Sure if i mess up my mom will say that she told me so. However, neither she nor the government has the right to restrict things "for my own good."
After all, look what happened with prohibition. It was a hopeless cause. And blocking games (or game content) will simply be avoiding the major issue. Violence comes from the people by the people and has been there since before we were called people.