A woman tweets in Washington, July 6, 2011.LARRY DOWNING
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Who's right? They're probably both wrong
A restaurant lives and dies by the quality of the food, it's true, but a great customer experience is often just as memorable. Which brings us to an interesting story in the Houston Press about a female patron at a place called Down House. She tweeted that the bartender was a "twerp" and added the hashtag #jackoff.
"I immediately called up here and talked to her for a few minutes and asked her if she had any kinder words," general manager Forrest DeSpain said. She didn't, he added, so he asked her to leave.
According to Houston Press, the woman responded by posting a series of tweets, most of them in the same vein: "Left @DownHouseHTX in tears after GM called up & asked the bartender to hand me the phone. He proceeded to curse a me & ask me to leave. Wow."
She has provided an explanation to the publication, and her original tweet has since been deleted.
It's an unfortunate situation for both parties, but it all boils down to this: No matter who you follow, or who follows you, Twitter is a public space. If you insult someone, there's a good chance they're going to see it. If the patron wasn't willing to call the bartender a "twerp" to his face, it's hard to argue that tweeting it is fair play. A personal complaint to the manager would have been a better way to handle it.
That said, the restaurant could have handled the situation better. Throwing patrons out for what appears to be a minor etiquette issue isn't going to go over well in the court of public opinion. A one-on-one conversation is always preferable, and if the customer and the manager were able to come to an understanding, a favourable tweet, rather than a negative one, might have resulted.
Don't let anyone take your milk
"Long before I became a millionaire entrepreneur, I was a punk with a juvenile criminal record, street gang experience, and a lot of emotional scarring ... My teenage years were hardly the typical starting point for a normal, productive life, let alone a successful business career. Turns out, that didn't matter." That's how author Ryan Blair describes the motivation behind his book Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain, which examines his transition from a life of crime to wildly successful businessman. "In juvenile detention, he says, "if you let someone take your milk the first day, they'll start taking it every day. The same is true in business."
Can an engineer make a good entrepreneur?
New Scientist interviewed engineering graduate Tom Pellereau, who was about to pack in his career as an inventor when he got picked for the British version of The Apprentice, which he went on to win. The publication pointed out that host Alan Sugar said during the series that he's never worked with an engineer who's made a good entrepreneur. "I definitely think I'll change that opinion," Mr. Pellereau answered, "and anyway, I've done a lot more than just engineering. I've spent the last eight years bringing products to market. Which you rapidly realize is 10 minutes coming up with the idea, two years coming up with the name, the brand and so on. So you have to rapidly become good at branding, presenting, sales ..."
EVENTS AND KEY DATES
Waterloo companies recruiting for tech jobs
Communitech is holding a recruiting event Wednesday in Waterloo, Ont., 570 News reports. More than 40 local companies will be on hand at the Waterloo Inn's Regent Room from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. There can be more than 1,000 job openings in the region at a time, and the TechVibes event is designed to help companies fill those positions. "We're hoping to make this not only the largest event from number of companies participating, but the largest event from number of job seekers that come out and talk to the great companies," Communitech president and CEO Iain Klugman told the all-news radio station. The companies involved range from small start-ups to large multinationals.
Turn competitive energy into positive change
The Economist hosts its second annual Ideas Economy: Human Potential conference Sept. 14 and 15 at The Times Center in New York, with a focus on "the next level of competition," the trends and ideas transforming the nature of work, and several of the key issues covered in the magazine's Sept. 10 "future of jobs" special report. Martha Stewart, Startup America chairman Steve Case and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner join other notable business leaders, management thinkers, authors and intellectuals at the conference. Other topics include the mechanisms through which individuals, companies and nations can channel competitive energy into positive change, and how the rise of the social web, increased innovation and the expansion of the entrepreneurial spirit will create more business opportunities than ever before.
EDITOR'S PICKS FROM REPORT ON SMALL BUSINESS
Let's do lunch
As host of a business lunch, you're expected to select the venue, e-mail invitations, confirm the guest list, greet and seat, make introductions (and get everyone's name right) and keep the conversation flowing. And while a lot can go wrong, it can also be a powerful tool. Check out these tips on how to make the best impression.
FROM THE ROSB ARCHIVES
At the office, shut the party down
In a Q&A advice column entitled Your Guru from an earlier issue of our small-business magazine, we tackled this question: "Every month or so, I take my staff out for drinks. It's a way for them to let their hair down, and for me to make sure they know how much I appreciate their help. At the last outing, however, things got a little out of hand, and I may have drunk too much. Now a few of my staff treat me like I'm their best buddy, not the boss. How do I reassert my authority?" You'll find the answer here.
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