My Chat With Earthlink Customer Service
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: Hi Juliet
Juliet A: Hello this is Juliet A from Earthlink. How may I assist you?
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: I just opened an earthlink account and I’m trying to figure out when/how my cable internet will get installed
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: What’s the next step?
Juliet A: You will receive call from installation department within 72 business hours
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: can i just make an appointment with the installation department now?
Juliet A: Once you receive call, they will schedule an appointment and service will be installed,
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: also, is there a charge for installation?
Juliet A: You will receive call from installation department within 72 business hours from the day of sign up.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: is there a charge for installation?
Juliet A: We do not have information about installation charges
Juliet A: Once you receive call, you will be informed about charges and bill plan
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: is there someone i can call who might have that information?
Juliet A: Once you receive call, you will be informed about charges and bill plan
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: are you a human being?
Juliet A: Yes.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: ok.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: thanks
Juliet A: You are chatting with a Live person
Juliet A: You are welcome
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: hard to believe
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: but i suppose its possible
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: can you tell me a joke or something?
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: just kidding
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: thanks for the help
Juliet A: You can contact installation department at 212 or 718.358.0900
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: THANK YOU!
Juliet A: That’s Funny!!
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: okay i believe you
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: thanks for the hlp
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: help
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: seriously
Juliet A: Thank you. It’s nice and pleasure to assist friendly customers like you.
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: sorry to question your humanity
max.chafkin@earthlink.net: have a nice day
Juliet A: Not a problem.
Juliet A: Thank you. Have a nice day.
Future TechStars, Step Forward
(Not so fast, you.)
An Oral History of Occupy Wall Street
From the February issue of Vanity Fair.
Anyone who has spent any time with Hsieh knows that he is prone to wild thought experiments and is especially susceptible to huge and unreasonable ideas. “One of the best things about Tony,” says Michael Cornthwaite, a Las Vegas restaurateur and a friend, “is that he doesn’t live by or within the same limitations that you’re used to dealing with. He has never—maybe never in his whole life—thought within the same constraints as the rest of us.” This means that a lot of what comes out of Hsieh’s mouth must be interpreted impressionistically: If he says that he’s building a movement to make the world a happier place, you understand that to mean that his online retailer has loftier goals than selling shoes. If he says that one day, there might be a Zappos airline, he means that his company could expand to other businesses—apparel, say, or housewares.
But every so often, these visions remarkably turn out to be true in a literal sense. A few months after our interview, Hsieh sent me an e-mail confirming the plan to move to city hall. The subject line of Hsieh’s e-mail included a smiley-face emoticon—Hsieh loves emoticons—and the following subject: Playing SimCity in Real Life.
” From my February Inc. magazine feature on Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s attempts to reinvent Downtown Las Vegas. Tony is somebody I’ve written a lot about in the past and I think he’s one of the most fascinating entrepreneurs working today. This is the most ambitious thing he’s done yet.
I traveled to Seoul for a December feature for Inc. on entrepreneurship in South Korea. The piece focuses on Korean-American entrepreneurs who are choosing to set up shop over there rather than here. Reactions from Felix Salmon at Reuters and Reihan Salam at the National Review.
The New Establishment
I helped out my friends at Vanity Fair on this year’s list.
A Constant Feeling of Crisis
Part two in my Inc. magazine series on global entrepreneurship.
Rob’s World
A profile of Etsy founder and CEO Rob Kalin. It was an April cover story in Inc. magazine. Kalin was subsequently replaced by CTO Chad Dickerson.
Ja Socialism
My cover story this month:
We venture to the very heart of the hell that is Scandinavian socialism—and find out that it’s not so bad. Pricey, yes, but a good place to start and run a company. What exactly does that suggest about the link between taxes and entrepreneurship?
Reactions from Felix Salmon and Matt Yglesias. Lots of comments here and here.
