jonathan stegall

Do you remember CDNow? They were an online music retailer that was purchased by Amazon in the late 1990s. In that time, when I was getting used to the web as well as getting to know Jesus, I used CDNow and RadRockers.com (which is still around). The reason all of this is relevant is that today was the first customer service-related encounter that I remember having with Amazon, or CDNow before it.

My wife, as you may know, is a graduate student at Candler School of Theology. She purchased her books for the semester on Amazon (and saved lots of money). One of the packages was supposed to have three books in it, but when it was delivered it only had one.

After a quick search of the website, she found the Contact Us link, and the system allows you to give them your phone number and tell them when you would like to be called. At that time, it calls you and connects you with a customer service rep. Of course, she was able to give information to document the issue, and it was quickly corrected and the missing books will be shipped.

Normally, customer service does not stick out to me for good or bad, but for some reason this strikes me as significant. I’ve never had a customer service experience that was so convenient and easy, presumably on both ends, as that one seemed to be.

Occasionally, I open up StumbleUpon in my Firefox, and spend a few minutes looking around at what it thinks I might like. Today, I found Delocator, a site that locates non-corporate cafes, bookstores, and movie theaters based on one’s zip code.

My wife and I are big fans of coffeeshops, and do everything we can to avoid the corporate ones for a variety of reasons. Because of this, we’re aware of most of the listings for our area, but I can only imagine the usefulness of this service should we travel, or move, or whatever. Great stuff.

So I’m a somewhat casual user of Facebook. I’m interested in learning how to take advantage of the Developer tools, and it’s fun to find random people I know, and I appreciate the fact that it doesn’t allow people to create crappy “layouts” like MySpace does.

There. I’ve said it. I have a Facebook account. On to my point.

I noticed that there’s a group with the purpose of taking a stand against close-mindedness and intolerance. Part of its description is as follows:

There is more than one point of view about every topic and some people are too closed minded to see that. I can no longer tolerate people who cant open their mind to other people’s beliefs or opinions. Just because it’s not what you believe doesn’t mean it’s wrong.. have respect for others.

Fair enough. The title of the group is, though, “I HATE ignorant and closeminded people.” Honest. Classic.

Herobuilders.com offers custom action figures.

CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES & CUSTOM FIGURES FROM 1 TO A MILLION, these unique gifts make the perfect present for , Birthday gifts, Mothers Day Gifts, Fathers Day Gifts, Christmas Gifts, Retirement Gifts, Military Gifts, Corporate Incentives, there is no event that these would not be welcome

That is absolutely hilarious.