Two Wrongs Won’t Make It Right

Hello PIworld and welcome to the maiden voyage of my blog! I want to thank Dave Leskusky for inviting me over from PrintMediaCentr to mix things up a bit, so let’s get right to it.

As a self-proclaimed TV junkie, I must admit the first spark of a post topic often comes through the broadcast airwaves. Thanks to my DVR, while catching up on Parks and Recreation, an episode titled “Sweet Sixteen” provided more of a zap than a spark.

To briefly recap, Amy Poeler’s character Leslie Knope is running for city council. Leslie was driving to a party and along the way noticed her campaign signage on someone’s lawn. Screeching to a halt, she cries out, “THEY screwed up my campaign signs!”

Leslie grabs a poster from a lawn and rushes over to “Sign-Tology” and complains to Walter behind the counter that she “would never have ordered a sign with all that complicated nonsense, because we’re not insane.” Walter then pulls out the order form and proceeds to read the URL address that was printed.

Leslie agrees that was on the form, but adds, “using basic logic and human intelligence, one can surmise that is a link to an image. This isn’t what we wanted printed on the signs.”

Walter replies, “What ever is on the order form is what I print, and in this case it was a long string of letters and numbers.”

Leslie reaches behind the counter to a computer and clicks on the actual poster file. Walter says, “Now that’s a nice sign, you should have used that.”

This scenario was, of course, included in a sit-com, but it’s a good time to remember that in order for a show to be relatable, it has to touch upon some common experience of the masses. Whether it’s a jab at customer service or one of the chains that offer “printing” services, only the writers know. But there is a very good lesson for us to learn from this exchange: the customer is NOT always right.