Day: April 21, 2020

Raw

(DON’T) Take the Survey!

FanTC

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Have you noticed?

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They’re everywhere.

They’re in your school.

They’re at your work.

They pop up in web browsers and emails.

They’re at the end of phone calls.

“Please take a moment to fill out this brief survey.”

I literally googled how to block email surveys. But that’s just the thing. There isn’t ONE survey server. There are literally DOZENS of them, and everyone is using a different sever, so even if you block one, it doesn’t block them all.

How much time are we spending filling out these statistic catchers? It’s all a marketing gimmick. They sell your statistics across the web to suppliers and vendors wanting to sell you something. Yes, they do want to improve your experience – then drop you in a bucket with your peers and turn you into a number.

Surveys. Man. I just don’t like them.

But if you take the survey, you could win something. If you offer up your information, it could be worth your while. Or you’re doing it to improve someone else’s experience. Because with enough surveys, companies can make an educated decision on what their consumers really want.

Surveys drive the numbers. If there aren’t enough numbers, then they issue more surveys. Push the surveys. Make people take them. It’s optional, but they’ll figure out what makes you tick, and eventually you’ll cave.

I wrote to my insurance agent begging her to take me off the survey list.

I really don’t like them.

They seem so harmless at first. They seem like such a good idea. Surveys drive the numbers. Everyone wants the numbers to be good. Everyone wants to be a part of something good.

“I took the survey. They improved their quality because of my contribution.”

Stuff and nonsense.

I will not take your surveys, ma’am.

I will not take them, Sam the Man.

I will not fill them out today.

I did not fill them yesterday.

I will not, would not take them now.

I cannot, could not like them how.

This has been,

FanTC

Ponderings, Raw

Quarantine Week #6

FanTC

Can you believe it? It’s already been 2 months since the pandemic outbreak in the US. There is so much news and misinformation going around, I hate to stake a claim on anything. But where do we go from here? It’s already too late to stop it. The virus is here. It’s in our air and in our blood. Most of the population won’t feel its affects, so the numbers are already heavily skewed with no way of correcting them.

I suppose what I really want to know in all this is what’s really going on, guys? I mean seriously. SARS and Ebola came and went with far less commotion than Covid-19. The common flu has claimed as many – if not more – lives than this Corona thing. But you don’t see those other viruses garnering the attention this one has. What’s different in our society? What triggered the wide-spread panic?

There’s never a tell for how the mass media will react to a situation. In some cases, we can rise up and stand together, but in others we break down and riot in the streets. The settings have to be just so for each scenario.

But what do I know? I’m just a writer stuck at home with a cat and a ginger and trying to make the best of her situation.

How are you making the best of your situation?

 

We were walking the other day around the lagoon near our home. The graffiti we discovered along the way is already being influenced by this pandemic.

 

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin