I have been quite busy with the day job of late but I have had some time to get back to writing some new posts.  I was intending on starting this coming weekend but I couldn't not share this song.

For all you literary types, you will really get a kick out of this.

What does it mean to be a Canadian?  Superman.

Still getting back into the blogging schedule for myself.  It isn't easy, I can tell you.  So, for now, here is my most favourite song ever from the Muppets.

If you are a blogger and you're anything like me, I tend to slack off when blogging for myself.  This doesn't mean I am not thinking about blogging - I am normally blogging for others, the company, or teaching someone how to blog without burning out.  So, here is a cute pug video.

I have something to share.  This "something" is a shocking experience in my world.  Some small bit of my worldly foundation has been rocked and cracks have appeared.  What could this shocking experience could have been?  

On Monday of this past week, CIBC called me.  Not some random sales call.  It was "the CIBC".  I am sure you'll know what they may have called me about.  If not, read here.

Yah.  They did.

Early on Monday morning, my phone rang.  I reached over to grab my handset but paused when I saw "CIBC" on the caller ID.  I thought for a moment:

"Why would the CIBC be calling me?"  

A moment paused and, somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain, a penny (or perhaps a few thousand pennies) dropped.  My "red alert" alarm went off.  My internal DEFCON level zoomed to the hightest setting.  Shields went up and the battlements were manned.  Somewhere a group of elven archers notched a few hundred arrows.  I was a little surprised at the level of anger that rose inside me.  My fight or flight decision went instantly to raging fight and I was ready to give whomever was on the other end a piece of my mind.

Of course, all of this happened in an instant.  I picked up the receiver.

"Left Right Minds.  Shane speaking." I said.

"Hello, Mr. Birley.  This is so-and-so.  I am calling you from the CIBC customer service department and I would like to talk to you about your experince with CIBC."

For the first few moments of the conversation, I thought they were out to "get me".  I was waiting to hear words like "slander" or "defamation".  I was expecting to hear phrases like "break your kneecaps", "cement shoes", or a "pair of pliers and a blowtorch".

But I did not get these words nor the phrases.

In a very positive and upbeat tone I heard words like "unacceptable" and phrases like "ashamed about the poor levels of service".  

I didn't know what to say.  "Was this really happening?", I thought. Was this bank that I had been demonizing for years actually calling me to ask about my experience?  Never in a thousand phone calls had I thought CIBC would respond to me - and in such a personal way.

According to what the lady on the other end of the phone said, here is what happened on their end.

Apparently, someone at CIBC had found my blog and had reported it to the customer service department.  They read my postings and checked out some of the comments and then they sought me out.  They called me at my day job number (the only number I post publically on the Internet) to apologize for my experience.

I was shocked and a little humbled.  In my mind, I had painted this bank as being an uncaring corporation that was blind to the front lines.  I had concluded that CIBC hired nothing but robotic space monkeys from Iscandar and reaped the profits their army of numbskulls acquired.

We had a pleasant conversation (once my hackles settled down) and she seemed genuinely upset that I had such experiences with CIBC.

Here is what the conversation boiled down to:

• CIBC has a problem.

• CIBC needs to train their "trench staff" better.  (My words.)

• CIBC should review how they share information from the top.

• CIBC needs to rethink how their branch managers deal with training tellers and their office staff.  It is obvious (to me) that the training standards of CIBC are very poor.

• CIBC staff should "know" the system they use every day and should be able to have process and procedure information at their fingertips.  They should not have to seek out other staff for simple procedures such as the closure of accounts on weekends.

• CIBC should think about how to solve PST and EST issues so that PST time zone clients are not penalized for living on the West coast of Canada.  

She pointed out that the PST/EST issue is eluded to in the terms of service (as being 6PM EST) but I said that this was stupid to expect clients of banks to read every little detail in their terms of service.  In today's world, most individuals will read the big print and walk away thinking they know everything.  Writing such an important detail is not clear enough.  Expectations like this will create can arise.  And before those of you out there start commenting that "it is the clients responsibility to read every detail" - let me stop you before you start.  Why?  Well, simply put: I don't care.  What I do care about is a company needs to assume that their clients are NOT going to read things like a terms of service.  Details as important as:

"Hey, buddy, by the way - if you pay at 3:01pm in your time zone, you'll get a penalty because you don't live in Toronto." 

To me, putting those kinds of details out for all to see is important (and no, terms don't count) enough to invest in a little more paper and ink.  They should also make their services more obvious.  Terms of service are written to cover a whole lot of issues that a typical business needs to struggle with.  But they are not a solution.

Anyway, in regards to the call, that was about it.

I hung up the phone and didn't know what to think.  This call had put a human face on CIBC.  I won't publish her name but the person on the other end of the phone wasn't some vampiric character from a Poe (or Rice) novel.  She was sorry.  She didn't fight with me or try to tell me I had just missed some small type here or there.  She listened and responded to my typical commentary.  There weren't tears or anything like that but she was genuinely interested in how CIBC could learn from my experience and how they could do better.  I know CIBC won't be able to solve such issues overnight but, wow, the fact that someone - a human voice - took the time to call me about my online blathering was shocking.  (Have I said "shocking" enough for one post?)

Does this change my mind about CIBC?  It does a little bit.  I still think the CIBC has some head office to branch issues and I still think that such a large bank should launch themselves into the 2010s and use some of that online juice to let their employees know what is what. Their clients base is changing.  People are more connected and "choosy" than ever.  Those who used banks and accepted how banks did business is changing.  In this economy, maybe banks should be a little more active in their outreach as well.

Anyway.  There you go.  A little heavy for a Saturday night but I have to give CIBC a few kudos for trying.  They came far to late but I can't ignore that they didn't try.  Will they take my comments to heart or, at the very least, read them. I hope so.  It won't bring me back to CIBC but - dammit - I can't say they are 100% demon spawn either.  

Damn.  I was hoping CIBC was ruling the legion of the undead.

You know what is stupid about this post?  I had a great idea and some thoughts that we so amazing that the fabric of reality would have bent slightly to make room for the most brilliant ideas ever conceived.  Sadly, this is not the case now since I was distracted reading something mundane (about how to control comment spam on a blog) and have since forgotten what the most amazing idea I had was.  Thankfully, my quick witted self has come up with a back up plan: here are a few shots of the things I have been doing during the Vancouver Olympics.

A very good friend of mine, Lock, dropped in last weekend and we also headed downtown to check out what was going on.  We found out: lines, lines, lines.  Oh, and a zipline too.