So, I'm putting my kid on a plane to London, with three bags--'cuz he's moving there for a year to spend a gap year.
We step up to the United Airlines counter, knowing there will be a surcharge for the extra bag, but knowing that all bags are well under the weight limit. The website quotes extra bags at $125.
'That will be two hundred dollars please.'
What? I ask--nowhere does it quote $200 for one extra bag.
Oh, comes the reply, we do that by destination, and you have to call us to get a quote...
I hand over the card for my haircut, and grimly say, 'Well, at least he's not taking a guitar...'
The chirpy response: 'Oh you saw that video? We now use it as a training video!'
Words fail. They just fail.
They never made the guitar destruction right, never learned anything from the experience. But they do view the video for training, created at someone else's expense.
What do you think the odds are that I ever, ever, ever spend another penny voluntarily with United Airlines?
But, as a zombie company, it will never be allowed to fail, and join Braniff, Eastern and so many others on the ash-heap of business history.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thoughts for Mid-American Mom and Dad
For parents and their children who are planning for college: an article from 'Inside Higher Education'(a very informative site in general, by the way), discussing the increasingly competitive environment for university admission.
It is a sobering read.
Eight years ago, I sat in meetings with a high-powered university financial administrator of a major public university. He had a certain black humor about his job, as it was his role to inform all the deans and department heads that the day was approaching(he estimated 12-15 years) when his institution would function as a private university. The twin realities of an inexorable shrinkange of the tax base and inexorably growing demand on those dollars(due to promises made by previous legislatures) could lead to no other conclusion. Every dean would have to think and act aggressively about how to attract and retain both development dollars and high-value students to their public, state-supported university.
He said it made him the most hated man on campus.
The only error in his message was the time-line he projected, shortened dramatically by the ongoing shift in the economy. The deans that took him at his word are weathering the storm. One in particular who did not heed advice is no longer a dean, and his successor has been playing 'catch-up' ever since.
So, Mid-American Mom and Dad, who may have gone to college in the 1980's or 1990's: It is a different world that your children are embarking upon.
Math scores really matter.
The ability to write and converse coherently in English really matters.
Grades, SAT, and ACT scores really matter. AP courses really matter.
Whether your kid had a wonderful time in the umpteen kiddie soccer and softball programs now dangled before you does not matter.
University admission, with substantial scholarship assistance, is not a slam-dunk assumption, and your child's competitor may well be sitting in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangalore, or Capetown.
I can assure you, his/her family is paying attention to the list cited above.
It is a sobering read.
Eight years ago, I sat in meetings with a high-powered university financial administrator of a major public university. He had a certain black humor about his job, as it was his role to inform all the deans and department heads that the day was approaching(he estimated 12-15 years) when his institution would function as a private university. The twin realities of an inexorable shrinkange of the tax base and inexorably growing demand on those dollars(due to promises made by previous legislatures) could lead to no other conclusion. Every dean would have to think and act aggressively about how to attract and retain both development dollars and high-value students to their public, state-supported university.
He said it made him the most hated man on campus.
The only error in his message was the time-line he projected, shortened dramatically by the ongoing shift in the economy. The deans that took him at his word are weathering the storm. One in particular who did not heed advice is no longer a dean, and his successor has been playing 'catch-up' ever since.
So, Mid-American Mom and Dad, who may have gone to college in the 1980's or 1990's: It is a different world that your children are embarking upon.
Math scores really matter.
The ability to write and converse coherently in English really matters.
Grades, SAT, and ACT scores really matter. AP courses really matter.
Whether your kid had a wonderful time in the umpteen kiddie soccer and softball programs now dangled before you does not matter.
University admission, with substantial scholarship assistance, is not a slam-dunk assumption, and your child's competitor may well be sitting in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangalore, or Capetown.
I can assure you, his/her family is paying attention to the list cited above.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Let's Be Careful Out There
If you ever had the pleasure of watching the venerable 'Hill Street Blues', from the 1980's, the character of the old Sergeant stands out vividly in the memory. He gave the morning briefing to the patrol officers in a drug-ridden and despairing neighborhood, and would always end with the admonishment: 'Let's Be Careful Out There'.
Fast-forward to Summer 2009. There is a gentleman named Tim Wood, whose public credits are as follows:
Timothy L. Wood is an assistant professor of history at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He is the author of Agents of Wrath, Sowers of Discord: Authority and Dissent in Puritan Massachusetts, 1630-1655 (Routledge).
There is another Tim Wood out there, who posted some sort of rant comparing our current President to Adolf Hitler.
Someone, with waaay toooo much time on his/her hands, decided that Timothy Wood, the professor, and Timothy Wood the wearer of tin-foil hats, were the same person!
(Which they definitely are not!)
Timothy Wood the professor has been bombarded with email from all corners, and his life has been disrupted by thousands of gullible people who assume: 'Well, it's on my email, it must be true!'
Take a moment to read his account, please.
It's insightful, both as to how this sort of lunacy gets underway, and why it can flourish so easily.
Let's Be Careful Out There!
Fast-forward to Summer 2009. There is a gentleman named Tim Wood, whose public credits are as follows:
Timothy L. Wood is an assistant professor of history at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He is the author of Agents of Wrath, Sowers of Discord: Authority and Dissent in Puritan Massachusetts, 1630-1655 (Routledge).
There is another Tim Wood out there, who posted some sort of rant comparing our current President to Adolf Hitler.
Someone, with waaay toooo much time on his/her hands, decided that Timothy Wood, the professor, and Timothy Wood the wearer of tin-foil hats, were the same person!
(Which they definitely are not!)
Timothy Wood the professor has been bombarded with email from all corners, and his life has been disrupted by thousands of gullible people who assume: 'Well, it's on my email, it must be true!'
Take a moment to read his account, please.
It's insightful, both as to how this sort of lunacy gets underway, and why it can flourish so easily.
Let's Be Careful Out There!
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