Shop Talk

Just a quick run-down of the news week …

+// The state shut down in NJ is over. Lawmakers agreed on a budget and all is well … for now. Perhaps good PR for Governor Corzine because he made sure they got the job done instead of throwing accusations and waiting for someone to crack. I’m still interested in some sort of poll and I’ll have to look for that. People were hitting up the slot machines as soon as the casinos re-opened. Oh, how naive of me to think that people don’t gamble at 7:30 in the morning.

+// Cingular, you got some ’splainin’ to do! The corporation is accused of not ‘raising the bar’ (pun intended) in terms of service and customer satisfaction. According to a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of as many as, if not more than 20 million AT&T Wireless customers who switched to Cingular upon its merger, service has only gone downhill. Considering the company has gone back on its original word (made public, no less), the situation needs to be rectified - fast, or more people will jump ship to other wireless providers.

+// Even bitter rivals can put aside their competitive ways and work together, as is the case with Coca Cola and Pepsi. Several employees from Coke stole trade secrets and a new product sample and attempted to sell them to Pepsi. Pepsi received a letter in an official Coke envelope from the Bronx in NY. Instead of letting curiousity get the best of the company, it alerted Coke and turned over the letter. Both companies worked together with the FBI to catch the culprits. Great, great PR move in this case. Coke is going to have to deal with some security issues, naturally, but the situation highlights the integrity of both companies (especially Pepsi). No damage control to contend with for either PR department. Perfect. Although, there is one thing: I’m wondering how and why Coke hired ex-convicts (as two of the accused spent time in prison prior to this incident - one on cocaine charges, the other on bank fraud), but I suppose that is a story for another time and day.

+// Ken Lay died of a heart attack weeks after being found guilty for his role in the Enron scandal. Some still think he’s alive, perhaps sipping drinks with supposedly slain rapper Tupac Shakur (Is he or isn’t he? Alas, the debate rages on) on some sandy beach in Mexico. If the ‘Kenny Boy’ camp releases a posthumous rap album any time soon, we’ll know something’s up.