Posted by Ted Hopton on January 29, 2008
OK, this one was just too funny to pass up! Reuters’ headline sums it up: “Fly naked on nudist holiday flight“
German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.
Well, in every market there are specialty niches: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Interest, Humor, Marketing, Travel | Tagged: Humor, Travel | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 27, 2008
My friend, Steve, told me a sad little story today. Seems he asked a young woman who was leaving a gathering early if she was giving up the ghost, and her response was, “Huh? What’s that mean?”
In case you don’t know, either, it’s a phrase that originates in the Bible and means to die. In more casual parlance, it means to pack it in or give up. I knew this, of course, as did the other 40+ year-olds he told the story to. But the second young woman he tried the phrase on had the same reaction: “What are you talking about?”
This was one of those rueful moments we all will experience at some point in our lives, and which some of us seem to be experiencing more than before. (Reminds me of the comedian’s line about how he seems to be hanging out with an older crowd than he used to.) Apparently people in their mid-twenties are not familiar with “give up the ghost,” so it must have passed out of frequent usage some time ago, leaving those of us who know what it means feeling like old fogies.
Oh, and the first young woman handled the situation very smoothly, as she reassured Steve that she works with lots of “older people.” Has anyone seen my cane?
Posted in Human Interest, Humor, Nostalgia | Tagged: Human Interest, Humor | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 27, 2008
This is my first post on WordPress, on my own new domain, http://yaichablog.com/. I’ve brought over all my posts and comments from my Blogger.com blog, so if you’ve been reading there you’ll find it all is here, too.
The only thing missing is my final post on Blogger.com, and since I want you to stay here, I’ll quote it for you:
I’m Fickle, So This Blog Is Moving to http://yaichablog.com/
Dear Blogger.com,
You swept me off my feet at first: what sexy features you have! Being with you was easy and relaxed, and your pages are very pretty! You get along so well with my videos and pictures and links, too. And you’re a cheap date (free of charge), as well.
In the end, however, I hardly gave you a chance. After just a few whirlwind weeks, my eyes started straying. As I heard about other blogging tools, I wondered what it would be like to be with them . . . and then I found WordPress.
It’s over, Blogger.com. I’m sorry, but I need to move on. I’ve outgrown this relationship. Sure, you’re still sexy and fun, and I’ll miss that. But WordPress offers me the potential for a deeper, more meaningful relationship.
In fact, we’ve eloped: I got my own domain name with WordPress, something you never were willing to do for me. Now, my blog will have it’s own home at http://yaichablog.com/
I hope we can still be friends, Blogger.com, and I know you’ll be just right for someone else. You’re just the kind of blogging software that I’d be happy to introduce to my mother, in fact.
Although this is my last post with you, I’ve brought all the pages we made together with me to WordPress, and they’ll always remind me of you. Come visit me at http://yaichablog.com/ and let’s stay in touch.
Best regards,
Ted
http://yaichablog.com/
Posted in Blogs, Humor | Tagged: blogger, Blogs, wordpress | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 20, 2008
Gotta love Lisa Scottoline’s columns! She’s a popular author (but I’ve never read her books) and she writes a weekly column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. One of her recent ones, “Resolved: I Wish to Get What I Aim At,” is a riff on New Year’s resolutions:
I suggest we replace the word resolution with wish, and from now on, we can all make wishes for New Year’s. It’s dull to make a resolution, but it’s fun to make a wish. It makes you think of birthday cake….Wish doesn’t take itself as seriously as resolution, and neither should we. We’re just people, and often we fall short. To err is human, right? For homo sapiens, failure is a job requirement….
Aim is like a prenup. You want to keep your aim. You will try to keep your aim. In fact, you aim to keep your aim. But you’re realistic enough to know that you might not be able to keep your aim. Because you can get so sick of your aim, it’s not even funny. And if your aim tells that duck story one more time, you might commit murder.
But there was one back in December that really stood out, “Holiday Glut? Get help from the Guilt-O-Meter” [sic -- I think that's a typo in the title and it should be "Holiday Guilt" since "Glut" makes no sense for this column]. Take a look: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Interest, Humor | Tagged: Human Interest, Humor, opinion | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 11, 2008
Why is it so hard to find humorous videos about call centers that are tasteful? I suppose it’s a reflection of comedy’s penchant for ridiculing people and groups to get a laugh. I’m not interested in censorship, not at all, but in trying to find funny videos about call centers on You Tube the pickings were pretty slim, after I eliminated those that were either blatantly or subtly offensive.
See my Call Center Humor playlist on ICMI’s QueueTube (click on the “Call Center Videos” tab at the top of this page) for a continually updated collection of funny videos about call centers that you can show to people you work with and not get fired . . . well, judge for yourself before you show them, since everyone’s tastes vary. I think they are acceptable, but don’t come to me if your boss wants to know why you’ve been spending time during the workday on YouTube!
I’ll keep adding to the playlist as I find more that meet my criteria of funny but not offensive — please send me any you find, too. And if you have any comments on these, please share them.
Posted in Call Centers, Humor, ICMI, ICMI's QueueTube, Web 2.0 | Tagged: Call Centers, Humor, ICMI, ICMI's QueueTube, user-generated, Video | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 16, 2006
Even if the joke is on us (again!), I think most of you will agree that this essay by Evan Eisenberg on the Slate website is very funny: Our Options Have Changed . . . It’s a parody of a really bad IVR script for technical support.
There were a number of places that made me laugh out loud, but here’s one of my favorite parts:
“Please key in the model and serial number of the product you are calling about. The model number is the series of 12 letters and digits that is visible when you push the unit away from the wall, work your head into the gap using a crowbar and No. 10 machine oil, and train a beam of ultraviolet light on the lower three centimeters of the right-hand rear surface of the appliance. If the model number is obscured by dust or cockroach detritus, wipe it with a soft, lint-free cloth soaked in a solution of ordinary rubbing alcohol, Kirschwasser, and formaldehyde. The serial number is the 37-digit number inscribed by means of laser nanotechnology on the underside of the unit and is not visible to the naked eye. When you have entered both numbers, press the pound key.”
Enough said!
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Service, Humor | Tagged: call center, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Humor | Leave a Comment »
