Friday, November 07, 2008

Hello, USAT? Neuharth's column briefly missing

Like rubbernecking past a car wreck, I can't resist octogenarian retired CEO Al Neuharth's weekly column, every Friday in USA Today.

For a few panic-stricken minutes this morning, I couldn't find Big Al's column online, so I called the paper's customer service number (1-800-USA-0001) for help. By the time I got through, Neuharth's Plain Talk had appeared on the site -- but not before I got an eye-opening lesson in 21st century newspaper customer service.



Earlier: More episodes on Gannett Blog's YouTube channel.

25 comments:

  1. Unlike yesterday's video, this one required some editing to chop out a lot of useless footage. I used Apple's iMovie software, learning on the fly by using the online user's guide. Old dogs can learn new tricks!

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  2. Dude, Were you on the bridge of some starship! I mean that background I just can't figure out where the heck you shot that video.

    Interestingly your video played seamlessly, and is a better quality image, than anything on our gannett site.

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  3. Jim,

    I was a Graphic Designer at a southeast paper for 6 years and I would always get calls transfered to me. It would happen to everyone. Maybe training would help. Everyone in our department just got used to it and tried to help the best way we could. My favorite was a screaming advertiser mad about placement and some how he thought his ad deserved better so he cursed me out.

    It is so funny that it still goes on, even at headquarters.

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  4. Hah! I shot the video in our attic. You're looking at the underside of the roof, with foil-backed insulation tucked into the rafters. (I'm working on getting a better studio space.)

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  5. Nothing else to do?

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  6. Gotta start somewhere!

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  7. ALL UR CS CALLZ ARE BELONG TO US!

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  8. Oh, I love your studio. Please don't change a thing.

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  9. Jimbo, you seem like the kind of guy I'd like to have a beer with once a week to shoot the breeze and solve the problems of the world.

    That doesn't come across as easily in the printed word, but the video does flesh out your character.

    Good move! Even if you only use the video for entertainment, I appreciate it.

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  10. He's cute, isn't he?

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  11. Glad you got rid of the clothes hanging. Much improved.

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  12. he IS cute. Sparky's a lucky guy!

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  13. Wonder if Gannett will hire a big bank of mystery shopper-types to call various customer services departments and call centers so they collect information to analyze problems and form task groups and boards to make sure calls are directed properly?

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  14. The ending was sooo funny! I'm glad I stayed with it to watch the whole thing. So did USAT ever call you back? Inquiring minds want to know.

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  15. Thanks, 7:23 pm! To answer your question, I'm still waiting for Doris to return my call.

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  16. gee, big al never knew how much you cared!
    LOL

    where i work, the switchboard operators have been there a long time and know everybody . . . something gannett hasn't ruined yet. but probably will.

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  17. It sounded like you could have been calling my paper. We have two clerks who are responsible for answering the newsroom phone. One is pretty good, she is pretty knowledgeable about where to direct people to and she's really nice considering the amount of crap she has to put up with. But the other one is a total ding-dong! She just meekly asks questions and ends up transferring calls to whichever reporter she spots first, who usually can't help the person. It's a mess.

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  18. "Die hard Al Neuharth fan to do this" HA HA thats funny. I read Neuharths article maybe some one should introduce a bill to congress that 84 year old retired ceos should not write for any major publication

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  19. You are a dick!

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  20. Love the video concept, Jim. You're adorable. And your new office space is, umm, swank.

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  21. Nice glasses, dude.

    And funny video.

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  22. Looks like that article got posted at 12:15 a.m. Friday (9:15 p.m. Thursday your time). When exactly were you expecting it to show up, Jim?

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  23. 9:47 a.m.: Those dates may not reflect the actual publication time. For example, I can publish posts showing they appeared at 1 a.m. on a Monday -- a full 24 hours in advance. It's kind of like a pre-print.

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  24. Saw where Gannett corporate posted a customer service analyst job that very day!

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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