Category: Culture

Target Does not Care About Bloggers?

It seems bloggers are not welcome shoppers at Target.

One of my colleagues at NYU Stern pointed out a disturbing article that is fit for a discussion within a communications course. Today’s New York Times reported that Target snubbed a blogger from Shaping Youth who complained to the retailer about its seeming insensitivity to women in one of its current ad campaigns. Rather than provide an informed and sympathetic response to this audience of concerned shoppers, Target appears to have replied that it does not communicate with new media.

Huh? With all the edgy commercials and friendly feel of its stores that it tries to promote, it seems customers who question innuendo within its advertising just do not matter. With all the work and cost involved in television media advertising, is there such a thing as an accident or something that is not planned? Doesn’t the Target symbol of a bulls-eye have several connotations? Since when is it good policy to offend your customer audience and then not want to discuss it? Smells like a potential public relations nightmare. Doesn’t Target realize how online communication can spread in ways far more widespread than traditional, static media?

Too bad my Business Communication course just ended yesterday, as we could have had a field day with this one!

Hierarchy and Communication

Have you ever had an experience like this Dilbert comic?

dilbert_hierarchy

This reminds me about working in a new company, or on a new team, in a new department, with a strict union, etc. Strange how complicated work and relationships / territory / job security / sense of worth or importance can make some things that seem to be easily understood into situations that are much more complex. Power and positionality in organizations are often more complex than they seem at face value.

Perhaps the lessons here will help reveal us to who will win in the next presidential election?

Attention Jurors

“We ask jurors in the hallway to come back into the main room. Have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.”

Here we all are, waiting . . .

“This is the end of your service.” Hurray!!!

They are going to give us a “Proof of Service,” which means that we do not have to serve again for a minimum of 2 years, and realistically we will not be called again for another 6 years. According to the laws of the State of New York, we will not again have to serve for 2 years. However, it is the practice within the County of New York (which is comprised of Manhattan) that we will not be called back for 6 years.

Wonderful!

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Another Day Waiting

Wait.

Waiting.

Stay here and wait.

Go to lunch and then come back here to wait.

So are the challenges of being on jury duty for a second day.

So far they have kept us here without any new cases and, in fact, little indication of what to expect for the remainder of the day. This seems like it would be a wonderful activity for a contemplative or meditative sort, one who uses such times as opportunities to reflect and grow internally. I wonder if they ever considered yoga sessions here, since people have been surprisingly quiet.

Granted, I see myself as a reflective practitioner, both theoretically as well as practically. I like the act and reflect and revise and act cycle (which can also have evaluative elements, among others, included), but there is a limit to the amount of computer work I can do while using an insecure wifi connection that has been iffy at best today. Of course this could always be worse, and I did use lunch as an opportunity to eat in Little Italy today . . .

Ahh, there was just a call from a courtroom, so they will again shuffle our ballots (like shuffling cards, literally) and call a group of us.

I will hurry and post this and then continue to post, as possible, via Twitter. I have grown to like that microblogging moblog application!

 

Strategies at Jury Duty

I learned two strategies for handling jury duty:

  1. Be among the last into a courtroom. If they run out of seats, you get dismissed and sent back to the larger pool.
  2. If when they call your name in the larger pool, if you are not present (perhaps in the restroom), they send somebody else and you remain in the pool.

Whatever the case, those of us still in this room were just dismissed for lunch.

BTW, I am making even more entries in this liveblogging experience with Twitter, where I can be found at

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