Great Olive Oil – Big Disappointment

Totally on a whim today I ended up in the city of Rochester at a place called F. Olivers which is a store that sells artisan olive oils and balsamic vinegar. It was a great place, small and quaint and the two ladies working were very friendly and enthusiastic about what they were selling. We ended up leaving with a bottle of lemon olive oil.

When I got home I hopped onto my iPad to visit folivers.com so I could leave a note or email telling them how much I enjoyed my visit and to see what else they had to offer. I was astounded to find they have a nice website, but absolutely no way to contact them by email and no Facebook or Twitter presence at all! Their website was professionally designed and the lady who runs the company has a business degree, so I expected much more. The is a blog on the site, but it doesn’t appear to be very current.

I would love to have hit their Facebook page and left a message and to become part of the community they could undoubtedly be fostering, but there’s absolutely nothing there. The company that designed the site mentions branding and they did a nice job with the look and feel of the website, but having no email contact( at the very least) seems an unforgivable oversight in this day and age. Not having a presence on Facebook and/or Twitter seems equally unforgivable. I simply don’t get it.

I came home really excited, but I quickly became deflated. I imaging I’ll visit again and will likely buy more from this store, but I’m nowhere near as excited as I was when I left there. I think they missed a huge opportunity to enchant me and to make my experience last beyond. My physical visit. They certainly dampened my enthusiasm for their brand.

The saddest part is how simple this could be. Setting up an email account and putting up a Facebook page is a pretty simple thing in 2011. Maybe they are planning to get some social media going in the future, who knows. Amazingly they don’t have any way to ask (digitally). These small artisan olive oil places are popping up all over the place. I wonder if someone could engage their customers with social media and run these other folks into the ground?

Warren Buffett Seems Pretty Cool

Last night I watched an interview Charlie Rose did with Warren Buffett on PBS relating to his editorial in the Wall Street Journal relating to the economy and how rich people should be taxed more. The article can be found here.

Watching Mr Buffett is always entertaining as he seems more like your crazy uncle than a billionaire. He’s very engaging, well spoken, and fairly light hearted when he speaks. Before watching this, I’ll admit that I thought raising taxes on the rich was a waste of time, but by the time it was over I could see the logic behind Mr Buffett’s argument. That being said, I don’t think he really goes far enough and here’s why.

½ of the people in the US don’t pay any taxes at all. That’s a lot of people. There are some good reasons for that, but I’d bet there are a good number people out there who could contribute without it being a horrible burden. Mr Buffett talked a little about shared sacrifice and how it’s easier for a guy like him to absorb it, which is true, but in the end I think it weakens our country. Here’s why:

Getting a free ride sounds great, but for too many people it is demoralizing and leads to a wrong mentality. Humans are amazing beings capable of great things when pressed. There is a huge difference between starving to death or collecting welfare. Knowing you are going to starve to death can be a powerful motivator. When I lost my job several years ago I collected unemployment for a couple months (at that time you could collect unemployment for up to 6 months) but quickly realized that I had to do something quickly or my family would starve and we might lose our house. I suppose welfare was an option, but not in my mind. I developed a quiet desperation that I doubt would have been there if I believed someone would take care of me and I could just find a job in my own sweet time.

While well intended, welfare seems to breed generations on welfare. Something about knowing the government will take care of you seems to short-circuit the human will to excel. When faced with no alternative, would people find a job or start a business? Or would they simply lay down and die somewhere? Hard to tell.

I certainly don’t advocate doing away with programs to help those who need it, but I don’t think that rich people paying more will make things better. Too many people seem to feel entitled to other people’s money and that’s not good for America. We need to find ways to encourage people to stand tall and take responsibility for their own lives. As I mentioned earlier humans are amazing and capable of great things under the most difficult situations.

Having rich people pay more isn’t a bad idea, but I don’t think it’s the answer to our bigger problems, most importantly how to get people empowered to be responsible for their own fate.

Out to Lunch

I haven’t posted anything here in a while and it’s the fulfillment of a promise I made to myself when I first started blogging. Unlike many, I do not use my blog to make money or to express my views or to interact with people. My blog is simply a place for me to post my thoughts, random as they may be and to build an online presence for those who care to get a little insight into what makes me tick.

Consistent with my philosophy, I blog when I want and skip it when I’m not in the mood. The past few weeks I have been busy both with work and on vacation and blogging my thoughts hasn’t been a pressing priority.

I’ve seen so many people who blog for a living talk about how they are tied to their blog and can’t get away and all that (of course they always mention how much they enjoy it). I don’t blog for a living, I blog for fun and that allows me to blog when I feel like it. For that I’m grateful.