[Tfug] Web 2.0 for business?

[Chris Niswander]

Claude Rubinson wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 02, 2010 at 01:03:55PM -0700, Paul Steinbach wrote:
>> It appears to me that the swing to smart phones and portable phones
>> will lead to people expecting to make instant contact with anyone
>> who provides any service to them.
> 
> I hadn't thought about this from a business perspective before, but I
> suspect that you're right on target.  In the classes that I've taught
> at the UofA, I've noticed an increasing impatience among undergrads
> who expect that you will respond to email within minutes, hours at the
> most.  

So, Claude,

- Are all of your students like this?
   Or just a few desperate cases and especially spoiled brats?
- Maybe your students are applying the Golden Rule,
   and they themselves never do anything that is worth
   not interrupting.
   "Oh!  OH!  OMIGOD! ...wait, I'm going to take this call.
    Hello, Spiffy McSpoiledsome, who guarantees sex...
    always five minutes or less!"
- Maybe they've just confused you with the pizza delivery guy?

But even a pizza delivery guy only takes some shifts,
and other delivery people cover the other shifts.

Maybe the future is near-instantaneous bad service provided
from whatever up-in-the-middle-of-our-night countries
that haven't learned to speak English yet.

Or a special new question on phone systems and contact forms:
   "Do you want instant bad service,
    or are you willing to wait for someone whose time isn't worthless?"

Somewhat seriously, this could bode ill for people who want to
start a business that's so small and personal, it doesn't have
24-hour phone-email-Wave[TM]-hoocha staff in MiddleOfThe#@$@NightStan.