Give 'em the Pickle!



  • No, this is not a porn site.  It's completely safe for work,
    except that it may cause you laugh out loud.  Or it may cause you
    to weep:






    It's a business leadership seminar.  Or, I think, a whole series of
    leadership seminars.  Plus books, videos, plastic accessories and
    other assorted crap.  I haven't felt particularly motivated to delve into the site, so I don't know what else lies within.



    How did I find out about it?  I know someone who had the
    misfortune of working at a (non-IT) company that actually paid for this pickle guy's services.



    He seems to be rather popular, though.  A Google search shows his
    videos and books being sold at many outlets, including Amazon.



  • With my apologies to Terry Pratchett*

    I don't know.  The three finest things in life, in no particular order, are Wine, Women, and Pickles.





    *(Discworld the Game, conversation with the old wizard in the purple robes who can't hear anything; accessible in Act 1. I forget his name, it's been way too long since I last played)





  • Well I dunno nothing about the "pickle" but Bob Farrell is for real. 

    I actually went to Farrell's as a kid.  Why's he doing this instead of enjoying a happy and lucrative retirement?  seems kinda silly to me, but who knows. Probably the same reason he was a successfull salesman and businessman.  Boundless energy and enthusiasm....



  • The Pickle Principle

    Short version:  A regular wrote a letter saying 'I used to visit your restaraunt weekly, and ask for an extra slice of pickel with every order.  I was given the pickel every time, no questions asked, for two years.  Last time, some dumbass at the counter absolutely refused to give me the pickle'

    Hence this guy's customer service philosophy:
    Give 'em the goddamn pickle!

    It's an updated "The customer is always right", with a twist of "go beyond the call of duty"



  • From the site:

    "America's #1 selling customer service video"
    By whose count?! It's not in the 15 hits for "customer service" in "VHS and DVD" at Amazon. Is it only us programmers and engineers who are immediately turned off by such hyperbole? Does this kind of language actually work on the general public?

    Something must be wrong though. VGR says it's on Amazon, but I can't even find it if I search for "Give 'em the pickle" or "bob farrell". Where is it?



  • And I gotta add: Is this guy really just Dogbert in a human suit?



  • @Brendan Kidwell said:

    By whose count?! It's not in the 15 hits
    for "customer service" in "VHS and DVD" at Amazon. Is it only us
    programmers and engineers who are immediately turned off by such
    hyperbole? Does this kind of language actually work on the general
    public?


    Apparently it does not.  My friend is not in IT and he wasn't too
    thrilled with it.  And he didn't seem to notice any leaps in
    quality of service on anyone else's part after they'd been through the
    "pickle treatment."



    The real goal, I'm guessing, is similar to most seminars:  not to
    improve anything, but to convince management it will improve
    things.  I guess it looks good to those who won't have to sit
    through it.

    @Brendan Kidwell said:
    Something must be
    wrong though. VGR says it's on Amazon, but I can't even find it if I
    search for "Give 'em the pickle" or "bob farrell". Where is it?


    Enter "give em pickle" into Google.  Sixth hit.



  • @Brendan Kidwell said:

    From the site:
    "America's #1 selling customer service video"
    By whose count?! It's not in the 15 hits for "customer service" in "VHS and DVD" at Amazon. Is it only us programmers and engineers who are immediately turned off by such hyperbole? Does this kind of language actually work on the general public?


    Those always bothered me as a child, but I stopped caring by about age 13.  Everyone claims to be #1.  Usually this is backed up by the fact that they are in fact #1 in some obscure category (e.g. #1 customer service video produced by a transsexual over the age of 60 in 3rd quarter 2003)

    Another favorite phrase is "2nd to none", based on the assumption that they, and all their competitors are on the same level, making them all "2nd to none".

    Man.  The forum software really does generate 2 js errors per character typed.  That's fucking epic.  I'm up to 1606



  • @VGR said:



    Apparently it does not.  My friend is not in IT and he wasn't too
    thrilled with it.  And he didn't seem to notice any leaps in
    quality of service on anyone else's part after they'd been through the
    "pickle treatment."



    The real goal, I'm guessing, is similar to most seminars:  not to
    improve anything, but to convince management it will improve
    things.  I guess it looks good to those who won't have to sit
    through it.
    <font size="5">P</font>ersonally, I prefer the John Cleese videos, http://www.employeeuniversity.com/corporatevideotraining/TrainingVideos/john-cleese-video.htm even if they are a bit pricey.



  • @merreborn said:

    The Pickle Principle

    Short version:  A regular wrote a letter saying 'I used to visit your restaraunt weekly, and ask for an extra slice of pickel with every order.  I was given the pickel every time, no questions asked, for two years.  Last time, some dumbass at the counter absolutely refused to give me the pickle'

    Hence this guy's customer service philosophy:
    Give 'em the goddamn pickle!

    It's an updated "The customer is always right", with a twist of "go beyond the call of duty"

    I wonder how far this guy would get in the pickle business?

    I'm really tempted to buy a BOBble doll, but I don't want to encourage him by giving him money.


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