Consumer Maven

A Slice of Heaven

We all have our favorite relatives, and one of mine is my ubber cool, rocking anthropologist cousin who lives in Los Angeles.  Growing up in East LA she's left university teaching and is an academic and researcher now living in West LA.  One of the reasons that she is a favored cousin is that we have so much in common -- from our interest in cultures, US subcultures, and of course, FOOD!!  She just send me an article from the LA Times by Wedgeworth and Deane about the joys of finding cookie dough in your refrigerator.  This has reminded me of a darling specialty cooking shop that I wanted to talk about.

I live in the Lincoln Square area in Chicago's North Side.  Originally I fled here to escape the gentrification in Andersonville, after fleeing the same in Lake View, where I grew up.  (I have friends who asked where I will move to next so they can buy low and live in a nice area, since I perpetually manage to escape into the next upscaled neighborhood).  One of the things I very much love about Lincoln Square is that we have an alderman who handles the difficult task of encouraging growth and gentrification, which seems determined to happen anyway, but balancing it with keeping a neighborhood feel.  The latter is kept intact by encouraging smaller independent retailers and discouraging the big box retailers, who inevitably lead to parking and irritating traffic congestion.  But I digress.  One of the charming little shops in my area is a place called the Chopping Block.

A few months ago I discovered that they started carrying premade cookie dough.  I normally am a whole grain type of gal, and I certainly never buy premade store bought cookie dough because of the preservatives and other additives that are in them.  Well, I thought I'd experiment and try one of their doughs.  Lacking the preservatives that usually make me ill, I enthusiastically decided to dive into testing them.  I started with Peanut Butter Oatmeal, which turns out to also have coconut in it and is amazingly scrumptious.  I bought a friend Chocolate Chip Krispy, but I've never received any samples so there probably just aren't any left.  Then I tried the holiday cookies.  The sugar cookie is good, almost as good as my own without the work!!  I've improvised and sliced them much thinner, then spreading some melted chocolate inside to bind them, and dipping part in chocolate and then finely ground pistachios.  Improvising is so much more fun without all the other cleanup!  Last but not least, I've tried the Chocolate Peppermint, which I highly recommend right out of the oven.  However, don't hang out by the cooling rack too long or those sweeties will never make it to the cookie jar.  My next venture, when they ever have it in stock again, will be White Chocolate Cherry.  Check them out yourself if you will, but save me one of each!  Chopping Block Cookies

John Okumura

I was sad to hear about John Okumura, a man who lived honestly, honored his committment to quality and was one of the best of his generation of architectural woodworkers.  We recently found out about a memorial website that was done by the family, and we'd like to share it with you.  The beauty of the work that he produced is more than evident, as he put his energy and life force into all of his creative endeavors.  He is, as one of his past employees commented, considered the "Mr. Miyage of Japanese architectural woodworking."  Click here to check out the memorial website of the work of John Okumura.  Our heartfelt condolences to the family.  Because of what he did for a living, we are grateful that there is certainly one of his works, the Japanese wood joinery and gate at Osaka Gardens in Chicago's Jackson Park, that we can all enjoy.  The beauty and splendor of traditional wood joinery, right here in Chicago...who knew???

Chicago Police Officer Mike Mette Defense Fund

For those of you who haven't seen my blog on what happened to Officer Mike Mette you can catch-up.

For those of you who want to help, check out the Mike Mette Defense Fund.

For those of you who just need to know the short version:  this man was unjustly ruled against and given an amazingly preposterous jail sentence that defies common sense and human decency.  I encourage all of you to read what happened to him.  If it happened to him, it can easily happen to any of us. 

Whole Foods Market Alternatives fresh from Jewel

I live on the north side of Chicago and shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Jewel for food and household supplies.   In another time in Chicago, I used to be able to go to an assortment of natural foods stores, but for those of us in Chicago, for the most part, Whole Foods ate up all their natural foods grocer competition and now they are the only game in town.  Or they have been.

Over the past several years, I've been delighted to find that my local Jewel carried a decent selection of organic produce, especially the Earthbound Organics line.  Because of dietary restrictions, there was a time where I used to lament that if I were locked in Jewel for a week I'd starve.  That, I am happy to say, is no longer true.  The proof is in the fact that I often need to take either my Zuca Cart or horrors, even my bubba cart because Jewel is now blessedly providing much in the way of food shopping alternatives for even fussy shoppers like me. 

There I've been able to buy my organic vegetables, salad materials, some fruit, dairy and soy products, eggs, dried cereal, snacks, and now chicken!  For anyone who hasn't been in a Jewel lately, they've reorganized (again) and thankfully gone back to segregating most of their natural and organic foods from the conventional stuff.  In my "small" Jewel, in a section called, "Wild Harvest," there are two full aisles of dry goods, followed by another aisle of refrigerated goods (dairy but not eggs), and the store also carries some natural and organic breads in the standard bread aisle.  There are also organic and natural (preservative and artificial additive free, just for clarification) frozen foods that include both desserts and entrees, as well as gluten free foods!!

Mostly out of curiosity, I just picked up a package of their Wild Harvest boneless chicken.  My impressions when I brought this home was that it was very, very  well packaged.  For one, the outer plastic packaging was thicker and leak proof, making using a plastic bag around it unnecessary.  Inside, the chicken was placed in a plastic tray.  Although maybe not the most environmentally sensitive use of packaging, with all the recycling options in Chicago this just requires it to be rinsed/washed off.  What it does do from a consumer standpoint is keep the chicken pieces intact better and not create a little bio-bacterial farm that seems to occur when stores use a plastic/cotton pad underneath to soak up the difference.

I also could not help but notice that the chicken didn't smell, and I mean that in a nice way.  Lately my chicken from Whole Foods has an odor that chicken gets when it begins to obviously deteriorate.  This occurs even when I purchase it the same day I use it.  I've heard that when the life energy level of a store or business (or even a home) is "low" then foods will tend to rot or deteriorate quickly.  Who would have ever thought that this could happen more at Whole Foods versus my local Jewel?  Then again, maybe something is a little rotten at the top of my favorite grocer.

How do you define justice?

This morning I came across John Kass's column in the Chicago Tribune, "Finally, wronged cop gets some support."  Admittedly I've been a very, very busy girl, dealing with some major family issues, deaths in the family and 'life' in general, so I remember reading his earlier column and then forgetting about it.  John, thank you for today's column. 

Part of John Kass's column is here:  " Last Sunday I told you about Mette trying to repeatedly avoid conflict, being chased down the street, then getting pushed hard by the drunk "two or three times," according to the judge's own ruling, before punching the drunk once. And for that he gets 5 years?

"To all the people who read your column, words can't express how it makes me feel to have this much support," Mette said. "Everybody is calling. It's in the news now, and it's tough to describe how good the support makes me feel. I just want people to know that I appreciate them."  So many of you have called and written, I figured it was time for an update. But Mette doesn't have much time.

He's losing his job as a Chicago police officer. If something isn't done, he'll report for prison Nov. 9 and meet the inmates, who'll know he's a cop. 

And what do you say?   "I say I can't believe this is happening, either. But I'm going to prison for defending myself, for landing one punch on somebody who attacked me with both fists? That's what I can't believe."

A defense fund has been established, the Michael Mette Defense Fund, at Northwest Community Credit Union, 7400 N. Waukegan Rd., Niles, IL 60714. And Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police -- the police union -- has come to his side."

Originally I noted the link for the full article by John Kass, but it has been archived.  The Second City Sarge blog has listed reproduced Kass's article here:  http://secondcitysarge.blogspot.com/2007/10/mike-mette.html

I for one, will be both making a contribution and putting in my prayers.  For those of you who are more into praying than donating, please ask that those who are in a position to help Officer Michael Mette be inspired to do so.  In my prayers and thoughts, this includes all who have made errors in judgment...may they be big enough as human beings to recognize what they have done and to turn this around and make it right.

While many of you probably wonder why I am writing this in my Consumer Maven blog, the answer is simply this.  We are all consumers of police protection.  I have friends who are Officers.  Okay, so my current boyfriend is one.  Does that make me overly sensitive about stories in the media involving police officers??  You bet it does, but only because I hear both sides now.  And yes I've had run ins with traffic cops who in the past were less than nice, but I've also (before my current connections) had some incredibly kind officers whose humanity helped me get through some tragic events in my life.  It is the latter that I will always remember, and which helped me have a huge measure of respect for the men in blue, the Officers on the street of the Chicago Police Department.  Yes, there are bad apples - we all know that.  Because these men are in uniform, we expect and hold them to a higher standard.  But because they are in uniform, I know that they deal with unfathomable amounts of seeing human misery, of death, of violent crimes, of things unspeakable that most of us would reel from if we had to see one of them.  Most of these officers see a lot of this, and often daily.  For this, for what you all do and your service to us all, I thank you. 

UPS and FEDEX service decline?

Since last fall, I noticed that UPS stopped ringing my doorbell when they deliver, and worse yet, they would just 'drop' the packages in the foyer.  Since I live in the city, I always preferred UPS deliveries to the Post Office since they would hand delivery everything and it wouldn't just sit out in the open.  In the past, we've had packages left in the foyer stolen by passersby, so the drive and dump mode is not a good thing here. 

We had a great UPS guy before.  In fact, we had a great substitute driver that took over his route part of the time when our regular driver changed routes.  I was talking with one of my neighbors, a retired UPS Supervisor who commented that FED-EX was doing the same thing, and we thought that perhaps it was driver specific.  Then a friend of mine in another neighborhood commented that the UPS driver was also doing the drive and drop delivery method, as well.  Since I appreciate a driver ringing my bell and bringing the darn thing upstairs (especially when it involves a case of printing paper), I was dismayed to experience what seemed like a decline in service levels.

Last week I called UPS at one of their operations centers.  It turns out according the the UPS person I spoke to, IDOT (the Illinois Department of Transportation) reduced the amount of hours that a driver can be on the road per day, from 12 to 11 hours.  Anyone who ever knew a UPS driver knows that they work long hours, that they hit the road very early and that they have to be back by 8pm so that their packages can be unloaded and processed and retransported to whatever hubs they need to go to.  So basically, the drivers have to do what they did in 12 hours in 11 hours, or some semblance of that.  Now if that is true, I can understand why the service level went from personalized delivery to what my postman does, which is to drop it off in the hallway. 

That being said, today my FEDEX delivery guy rang my bell and schlepped up a heavy box for me.  Truck to driver to recipient package delivery isn't all dead yet, Hallelujah! 

Finally, Asian Americans as Real People!

 

A "shopping experience" that I've not touched on in the Consumer Maven is the subject of entertainment, particularly what is brought to the masses.  Because most ethnic subcultures tend to live in urban and metropolitan areas, the perceptions of minorities by the general population is strongly influenced by what the media shows.  Because the entertainment media has been very slow to include Asian Americans, Native Americans and Latinos as they live and breathe as 'real' people with 'real problems, emotions and experiences and growth' (just like 'everyone else'), I find it even more important that they take responsibility in how minorities here are portrayed.  African Americans, who have also long fought the way they have been portrayed, have been finally getting better programming options.  These have not necessarily come from the major networks themselves, who seem to be a few beats behind and continue to do the 'same old' same old.  Those options have been opened up by African Americans themselves, many of those shows being on the CW.  It's been refreshing to see how successful African Americans are sharing their success in improving the quality of entertainment programming for all Americans.  Personally I've been a fan of the shows that the Waynans have produced, and I look forward to more diversity as that door gets opened wider and wider.

    

     In that spirit, I want to share that I just saw Eric Byler's film short entitled, "My Life Disoriented."  Eric Byler, whose ancestry is half Chinese, brings a unique perspective.  Though short, it has to be his best work to date. I was very disappointed that PBS in Chicago (WTTW) rescheduled the air date for 2:30 am, but thankful that I could record it. The film centers on an Asian American family that has to relocate from San Francisco to Bakersfield, where there are far fewer Asian Americans. Byler and writer Clair Yorita Lee address issues head on that Asian Americans across the country face, and issues that ALL teenagers experience.  The film deals with how we face our issues, grow from them, find a sense of who we are, develop our concience and our sense of conciousness, and learn who we are in this world and who we want to be.  Byler's film covers all the important emotive areas that shape our lives from teenagers to adults.

     It is also with great relief that Byler, along with his generation of Asian American film makers, are bringing to the American public films that are rooted in reality. For most Caucasians, they see themselves reflected back in the entertainment media and have done so since television first aired entertainment, and since they can probably remember seeing a film. For Asian Americans, it is an entirely different and wondorous experience to finally see people who they can relate to visually, but are also not forced stereotypes with accents and boilerplate situations.  I was excited to see this on television, even if it was at the UnGodly hour of 2:30 am. 

     Perhaps someday, a major network will also grow up and carry a series the likes of Byler's "My Life Disoriented." For now, we can only hope many, many people of all races and ancestry see this fabulous film short. For those who don't have Asian American friends, this may be their only shot at really 'seeing' and experiencing Asian Amercians in all their complexities, their family situations and their mixed race relatives, who for once are also given a voice.

My thanks to my good friend, Cultural Edge for sharing her comments with me.  For a clip of the film check out My Life Disoriented on YouTube.

Lovemarks, Love Bytes and Law Office Software

The study of consumer behavior fascinates me.   Doing field observationals on how people shop reveals physical behavior patterns that help understand the purchasing process.  Understanding why and how people buy is important to getting sales.  Despite this, it is customer satisfaction with the product that can make or break a company’s long term success.  Customer satisfaction isn’t just a survey at the end of the purchase cycle.  It is so much more than that:  it is the sum total of the buying or shopping experience.

For business software, usually the shopping experience is about finding the right software, installing it, and learning how to use it with varying degrees of success.  If another package hits the market and we’re not enthralled with what we have, we often look to see what else is out there and often we replace what isn’t completely working to our needs.  Of the business software on the market today, there are few that were the leaders when they first were released.  For anyone who used the predecessors to MS Office Productivity Software in the 1980s, we all remember multitudes of programs that no longer exist today.  The same can be said for most other user applications. 

An exception to this is Needles, a law office case software program designed to manage cases.  The Needles software was first launched in 1985 under the name PINS, which stood for Personal Injury Negligence System.   Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd., a company already familiar with the application needs of business users, was approached by a group of attorneys who wanted customized software for their practice.  The PINS software was the first case management software to hit the market.  Ten years later, when many software companies disappeared from this application’s landscape, the firm launched Needles, which runs on a PC platform.  In 2005, the company celebrated its 20^th year of business in providing attorneys and law offices a product that they love.  Yes, I said LOVE. 

There are few things more unlikely than to think that attorneys and their staff can find love in a byte, until I heard about the Needles experience.  Customer experiences with one company become a sum of memorable events.  When it comes to software, not all companies can provide consistently positive memories.    In February of 2005, Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd. sponsored a contest  in which customers were asked to finish the sentence, “I love my Needles because…”  Clearly Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd. and Needles have earned much customer love.  When I was given a copy of the book of over 180 responses, (Needles has about 400 client testimonials in total and that number is always growing) I was intrigued at the type of comments. 

Written primarily by attorneys or their paralegals, Needles users proclaimed their love for the software and for the Company.  Apparently the system is so well designed in serving the needs of law offices that it has the ability to capture all pertinent information related to any case and provide any information on any case with relative ease.  Their to-do list, the heart of the system and the love of any calendar aficionado keeps a practice humming and on schedule, without concerns that missed deadlines or statues will be blown.  Needles was frequently credited for: ‘getting my life back,’ ‘being able to provide superior client service,’ and ‘knowing what I need to know when I need to know [it].”  Other comments included outright proclamations of love for Needles, because “Needles loves me back.”  When was the last time you said that about your office software?

In his book titled, “LOVEMARKS,” Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, refers to trademarks that have emotional connections and love. Roberts also makes it clear that where love and products are concerned, love must be also earned.  I was struck at how much of what defined a LOVEMARK also defined the Needles software experience.  Roberts states that companies must be passionate, involve their customers, celebrate loyalty, tell and retell great stories and accept responsibility.  All of these define Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd. and their relationship with customers.  

The firm gives superior customer service in many areas.  The sales staff doesn’t push to “sell” their product.  They help prospective customers understand how Needles can help make their practice better.  The training department doesn’t provide mass training for groups of users, but helps law offices, insurance companies and other users so that the system is set up for their business requirements.  Needles is highly customizable; user configurations then become highly personalized.  Not surprisingly, while Needles has converted customers from other case management programs, they have never lost a customer to a competitor.  Calls to the company will never leave you in voice mail jail.  Are you ready for this??? A person, yes, a living, breathing human being answers all calls and makes sure you get taken care of.  Needles upgrades come primarily from the input of their client user base.  The firm has a Customer Advisory Board.  How much better than that can you get?

You can check them out either at their corporate website, Needles Case Management Software for Law Offices, or their press site, which includes several customer stories about attorneys who love their case managment software programs. 

Whole Foods, Part Inconsistency and that's a good thing!

As a north side Chicagoan, I usually go to the Lake View Whole Foods.  I've been a Whole Foods shopper since they first opened in Chicago.  At one time, when friends or relatives would drive me to the store, I used to always go to the North Avenue store until about 1999/2000.  I liked that store, both for its selection and the management.  While doing a management project in my MBA program, I had met the Regional President and the Regional Vice President (whose name I still remember, Bob Marks, who came from their Fresh Fields buy out).   From around 2000 I started shopping only at the Lake View store, both due to it's closeness in terms of public transportation for me, and the fact that the North Avenue store started to be a not so pleasant experience, especially at the checkout.  The management that I had known back then had left, and the management that came in seemed to contribute to a downward spiral in keeping the energy in the North avenue store "up" and feeling good.  With that in mind, it was not an incentive to even go in there, much less shop there.

I was at the North Avenue store today, and I was really quite happy to see how things have changed for the better.   While I was looking for toothpaste, an employee gave me a friendly "hello" - not the robotic stuff I get at "my" Whole Foods in Lake View, but a genuine, (like Trader Joe's) type of greeting, where the person's energy is open and not closed.  Wow, I was thinking to myself... at least one of the three stores in Chicago has a friendly person in it.  I have to admit that when I first came through the doors of my long missed store, I felt a different energy than I remembered from before.  I momentarily thought that either they hired Dr. Phyllis Light (she does business energy clearings and helps to raise the energy and conciousness in a space to a higher place) or they just had a major change in personnel since I've been there last. 

My mother wanted me to pick up some dried food items, and I could not find it, despite several roam arounds in the appropriate place.  I finally asked one of the guys who was trying to stock some shelves.  He suggested I wait or shop in the vicinity while he goes to find out where it was, and said he didn't want to drag me all over the store.  Since I was bundled up from the cold (having to take two busses and trains), I really appreciated it.  When I returned, he told me where the item was, and walked me over to the section.  I rarely find people who have energy that feels genuinely kind, especially when interupting them while they are trying to do their job, so I was more than floored by this experience.  I was also feeling good that I had one good and one stellar people experiences while shopping at this Whole Foods.  Then came the telltale checkout.  The cashier was a young, funky kind of guy who was on the fun side.  This was the kind of cashier that I used to enjoy having as my last shopping experience when I'd go to the Lake View store (before things got depressing).  I left the store feeling good that at least this location in Chicago hasn't lost its soul.  One out of three isn't great, but it's better than 0:0.

Zappos Shoes

While I love my shoes, I also love good value.  Some years ago I came across an on-line shoe store called Zappos.  Not only have I ordered shoes from them, but so have friends and even an uncle has ordered from them.  Whenever people comment about my shoes, I am quick to tell them where I got them from and what a great shopping experience Zappos is.  Besides their 365 day return policy on unused shoes, they provide free shipping and free return shipping.  It is clear that the company invested heavily in good technology, as their site offers free form customer opinions, excellent communications (automated emails letting you know your order was processed, shipped, and/or your return received), and you can email them without having to use a web form.   Unlike some companies that have invested heavily on technology but make it difficult to speak to a human being, Zappos has never failed to amaze and astonish me both from their technology and their personalized customer service.

Last year I had an issue with a pair of boots I ordered and unfortunately, had worn.  The first customer service responses were positive but the issue still seemed left in my hands, or in my case, my boots.  A few days later I received another email from another customer service person who followed up on what was probably a new employee answer.  I make this 'assumption' because generally when I've had problems, Zappos customer service people provide action oriented responses versus suggestions.  The followup email came and due to the unusual situation involved with the boots when I first received them, they exchanged them for me.  In between this occurrence, I received a phone call from Zappos as well.  Was I impressed??  You bet I was.  Another thing I want to share with you.  Their email tag reads:

We are constantly striving to improve our service. If there is anything more we can do for you or if we could improve your experience, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are always here for you - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We like to think of ourselves as a service company that just happens to sell shoes. 1-800-ZAPPOS-1 or 1-800-927-7671.

Are they kidding??? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Zappos is a company that is serious about how they treat their customers.  For an on-line company, I've never experienced such a customer focused consumer business.  Once I emailed a question on a holiday and on a Sunday, not expecting a response until the following week.  To my surprise, I received an email that very day, and it was not a responder but an actual response to my question.  Whenever I've emailed questions, it is always clear that the person responding answers what I am asking, and does not cut/paste some pre-formed company line response.  Zappos has managed to make on-line shopping experiences almost as much fun as being in the store, and has provided customer service that in general has been better than service often received in retail establishments - even the brick and mortars.