Garrett M. Vonk

Master of Business Administration

I flew down to Palm Beach for a day to see my Dad walk across the stage and get his MBA from FAU. Now, he can teach business school if he wants to (and I think he wants to), imparting the many lessons he’s learned over his career on a new batch of would-be entrepeneurs and businesspeople. Congratulations, Dad! I was happy to get to spend some time with the family yesterday and go shoot pool with Stephen, Ashley, and Christine. Also, Happy Birthday to my sister, Christine, who turned 24 yesterday.

My Head Explodes

This is probably the most frustrating customer service phone call I’ve ever heard in my life.

This is a whole new level of frustration that not even Vincent Ferrari ever encountered. At least in the case of slimy retention specialists, you’re both on the same page. If I were dealing with people making so egregious a mistake, it would probably be all I could do not to stab myself in the eye with a salad fork. This isn’t “cancel the account” 47 times while the guy pretends not to hear you. This is thirty straight minutes of CSRs at increasing levels of management failing to recall their fourth grade math lessons. To me, it’s almost unbearable to listen to. The best part, the shining pinnacle of ignorance, is near the end of the call when the “floor manager” tells George that their math error–overcharging him by one hundred times the amount they’re quoting–is just a “difference of opinion”.

In All Seriousness

I’m sitting here at PBI waiting for my plane to Hilton Head to board. The guy next to me just reached over to plug in his laptop and noticed my laptop’s power cable plugged into the outlet by his seat. He whipped out his travel surge protector and turned to me and asked, in a very serious voice, “Sir! Would you like to plug your laptop into my surge-protected outlet?” For some reason, this struck me as riotously funny at 7:15 in the morning. I stifled a chuckle and said “No thanks, I’m fine.” It guess was funny in both a wow-you’re-really-excited-about-your-surge-protector way and an um-is-that-supposed-to-be-a-euphemism way.