Who has the most satisfying customer experience in the UK? That'll be Apple Retail

Leading UK consumer campaigner, Which?, has conducted a survey into customer satisfaction across UK high-street retail stores. While the likes of WHSmith and carrier, EE, scored near the bottom, is there any surprise who topped the table? Apple Retail Stores.

Over 11,000 UK consumers responded to the survey, with Apple coming out on top with an 85% satisfaction score. Apple Retail Stores were praised specifically for their "unique look and feel" and "great customer service."

Apple Retail Stores do stand out among their competitors. The look and feel is indeed unique, but such customer services as EasyPay allowing payment via your iTunes account through your iPhone sets Apple apart from the rest. It's no doubt a great result for Apple, but 11,000 people doesn't come close to the numbers that pass through Apple Retail Stores each and every day.

Personally, I can't recall a visit to an Apple Store that I'd consider unsatisfactory, and though they're often extremely busy, there's never much of a wait to be dealt with by a member of the store team. Not counting the Genius Bar, of course. But how about you, have you ever had a bad experience in an Apple Retail Store?

Source: The Independent

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/53cZxvOYm2k/story01.htm

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NC colleges look to expand advanced manufacturing

You hear a lot of bad news about alcohol abuse, so it?s always a relief to here something good, right? Earlier this year, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol (NIAAA) reported on several hopeful findings that, in their words, ?challenge past perceptions of the nature, course, and outcome of alcoholism.? What does that mean, exactly? Among other things, NIAAA noted that most people do overcome alcohol dependency, and that ?about 75 percent of [those] who recover from alcohol dependence do so without seeking any kind of help, including specialty alcohol (rehab) programs and AA. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nc-colleges-look-expand-advanced-153208024.html

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Dinner with a real African Princess | Rowan Family Tree

The exotic life I lead! In just a couple of weeks I will be back to the African continent again, except this time to the sun and spices of Morocco.

I applied to speak up the World Environmental Education Congress back in the fall, not knowing if they would actually accept my application or not. In fact, I submitted two papers, in hopes that one would be accepted. Well I should?ve known? Murphy?s Law. Both were excepted! And so in a couple weeks I amoff on a whirlwind one-week trip to Marrakesh.

It?s been 16 years since I was last in Morocco. The last time I was staying in three dollar a night hotels, with questionable locations and the occasional bedbug. Not that I?ve become so fancying any year since, however I think that I will for myself at least $50 a night this time.

Morocco, to my recollection, was one of the most wonderful places I visited in the world. I can?t wait to go back.

The design! All the amazing Islamic architecture with the repeated patterns and tile work. The leatherwork, the fabrics, the carpets! And of course? The best part is the food. I have never been anywhere in the world that is as fragrant and exotic has Morocco. Of course I haven?t been to India! But, the smell of the souks in the spice markets are forever emblazoned on my brain. I?m looking forward to eating pigeon and tangine and pistachios and all sorts of delicacies. Although I actually lost several pounds in Ethiopia, I can guarantee that I will be coming home for Morocco a little bit rounder. Which is unfortunate, because I have to fit into a ball gown at the very end of the week.

Super cool! I get to have dinner with the real African princess: Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco. She is the chair of the prince?s environmental charity, and is hosting a formal evening in ancient Moroccan ruins outside that I get to attend into splendid formal attire. Dinner with the real African princess? It doesn?t get better than that.

Of course it goes without saying that I am looking forward to learning in hearing some of the amazing speakers as well. Some people I?ve only met through videotape will be there in person. And I expect, and I will meet some old acquaintances from other conferences as well.

In case you?re interested, I?m presenting on two topics?

Communities of Practice for Green Economy Entrepreneurs: Learning Together and Building a Subculture?s Identity

Sometimes it isn?t easy making a living by being green; however with informal learning communities, eco-minded entrepreneurs interact and improve their business practices. This presentation identifies the learning roles entrepreneurs can play in a green economy, the community?s collective benefits and ways to strengthen the interactions between community participants. Real-life examples from a small Canadian city highlight aspects of knowledge creation, shared values, tribal communications and practical acumen.

Integrating Sustainability Across the Higher Education Curriculum: A Systems Approach for Institutional Deep Change

This session explores the barriers to educational reform within higher education institutions, why traditional organizational change models don?t work, and best practice workarounds from inside and outside the sector. Barriers include traditional discipline silos, missing fundamental sustainability knowledge, a lack of social connectivity and norms between instructors and the power dynamics of the academic system. A whole system approach is suggested to address the decision making processes and communication flows unique to higher education.

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Source: http://rowanfamilytree.com/2013/05/17/dinner-with-a-real-african-princess/

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Wine Drinkers of the World, Unite

The other night, I was having dinner with some friends in a fairly decent restaurant and was at the very peak of my form as a wit and raconteur. But just as, with infinite and exquisite tantalizations, I was approaching my punch line, the most incredible thing happened. A waiter appeared from nowhere, leaned right over my shoulder and into the middle of the conversation, seized my knife and fork, and started to cut up my food for me. Not content with this bizarre behavior, and without so much as a by-your-leave, he proceeded to distribute pieces of my entree onto the plates of the other diners.

No, he didn't, actually. What he did instead was to interrupt the feast of reason and flow of soul that was our chat, lean across me, pick up the bottle of wine that was in the middle of the table, and pour it into everyone's glass. And what I want to know is this: How did such a barbaric custom get itself established, and why on earth do we put up with it?

There are two main ways in which a restaurant can inflict bad service on a customer. The first is to keep you hanging about and make it hard to catch the eye of the staff. ("Why are they called waiters?" inquired my son when he was about 5. "It's we who are doing all the waiting.") The second way is to be too intrusive, with overlong recitations of the "specials" and too many oversolicitous inquiries. A cartoon in TheNew Yorker once showed a couple getting ready for bed, with the husband taking a call and keeping his hand over the receiver. "It's the maitre d' from the place we had dinner. He wants to know if everything is still all right."

The vile practice of butting in and pouring wine without being asked is the very height of the second kind of bad manners. Not only is it a breathtaking act of rudeness in itself, but it conveys a none-too-subtle and mercenary message: Hurry up and order another bottle. Indeed, so dulled have we become to the shame and disgrace of all this that I have actually seen waiters, having broken into the private conversation and emptied the flagon, ask insolently whether they should now bring another one. Again, imagine this same tactic being applied to the food.

Not everybody likes wine as much as I do. Many females, for example, confine themselves to one glass per meal or even half a glass. It pains me to see good wine being sloshed into the glasses of those who have not asked for it and may not want it and then be left standing there barely tasted when the dinner is over. Mr. Coleman, it was said, made his fortune not from the mustard that was consumed but from the mustard that was left on the plate. Restaurants ought not to inflict waste and extravagance on their patrons for the sake of padding out the bill. This, too, is a very extreme form of rudeness.

The expense of the thing, in other words, is only an aspect of the presumption of it. It completely usurps my prerogative if I am a host. ("Can I refill your glass? Try this wine?I think you may care for it.") It also tends to undermine me as a guest, since at any moment when I try to sing for my supper, I may find an unwanted person lunging carelessly into the middle of my sentence. If this person fills glasses unasked, he is a boor as described above. If he asks permission of each guest in turn?as he really ought to do, when you think about it?then he might as well pull up a chair and join the party. The nerve of it!

To return to the question of why we endure this: I think it must have something to do with the snobbery and insecurity that frequently accompany the wine business. A wine waiter is or can be a bit of a grandee, putting on considerable airs that may intimidate those who know little of the subject. If you go into a liquor store in a poor part of town, you will quite often notice that the wine is surprisingly expensive, because it is vaguely assumed that somehow it ought to cost more. And then there is simple force of custom and habit?people somehow grant restaurants the right to push their customers around in this outrageous way.

Well, all it takes is a bit of resistance. Until relatively recently in Washington, it was the custom at diplomatic and Georgetown dinners for the hostess to invite the ladies to withdraw, leaving the men to port and cigars and high matters of state. And then one evening in the 1970s, at the British Embassy, the late Katharine Graham refused to get up and go. There was nobody who felt like making her, and within a day, the news was all over town. Within a very short time, everybody had abandoned the silly practice. I am perfectly well aware that there are many graver problems facing civilization, and many grosser violations of human rights being perpetrated as we speak. But this is something that we can all change at a stroke. Next time anyone offers to interrupt your conversation and assist in the digestion of your meal and the inflation of your check, be very polite but very firm and say that you would really rather not.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=bab5b2495fcc4e309f17fd5073ce9ed3

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GOP Lawmakers Criticize IRS as Hearing Opens (WSJ)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/306466454?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Satellite sees Tropical Storm Alvin's life end quickly

Public release date: 17-May-2013
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Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The first tropical storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season was short-lived. Satellite imagery revealed that Tropical Storm Alvin became a remnant low pressure area 36 hours after it was named.

NASA's GOES Project created an image of Alvin's remnants using infrared data from NOAA's GOES-15 satellite on May 17 at 1200 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). NASA's GOES Project is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Alvin became a named tropical storm on May 15 at 5 p.m. EDT and weakened into a trough (elongated area) of low pressure by 5 a.m. EDT on May 17.

The GOES-15 satellite image showed that the system has become elongated and did not have a well-defined center. The National Hurricane Center also noted that Alvin's remnant low pressure area had become further embedded within the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone and is no longer a tropical cyclone.

The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone is a broad area of low atmospheric pressure located in the equatorial region where the northeasterly and southeasterly trade winds converge, extending approximately 10 north and south of the equator.

At 5 a.m. EDT, May 17, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued its final advisory on Alvin and does not expect regeneration because of strong wind shear affecting the low pressure area. Alvin's last location was near 10.3 north and 112.0 west, about 790 miles (1,275 km) southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Maximum sustained winds at that time were near 35 mph (55 kph) and weakening quickly. Alvin's remnants were moving to the west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph), and the minimum central pressure was near 1007 millibars. The NHC expects Alvin's winds should gradually diminish and is not expected to regenerate.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 17-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The first tropical storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season was short-lived. Satellite imagery revealed that Tropical Storm Alvin became a remnant low pressure area 36 hours after it was named.

NASA's GOES Project created an image of Alvin's remnants using infrared data from NOAA's GOES-15 satellite on May 17 at 1200 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). NASA's GOES Project is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Alvin became a named tropical storm on May 15 at 5 p.m. EDT and weakened into a trough (elongated area) of low pressure by 5 a.m. EDT on May 17.

The GOES-15 satellite image showed that the system has become elongated and did not have a well-defined center. The National Hurricane Center also noted that Alvin's remnant low pressure area had become further embedded within the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone and is no longer a tropical cyclone.

The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone is a broad area of low atmospheric pressure located in the equatorial region where the northeasterly and southeasterly trade winds converge, extending approximately 10 north and south of the equator.

At 5 a.m. EDT, May 17, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued its final advisory on Alvin and does not expect regeneration because of strong wind shear affecting the low pressure area. Alvin's last location was near 10.3 north and 112.0 west, about 790 miles (1,275 km) southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Maximum sustained winds at that time were near 35 mph (55 kph) and weakening quickly. Alvin's remnants were moving to the west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph), and the minimum central pressure was near 1007 millibars. The NHC expects Alvin's winds should gradually diminish and is not expected to regenerate.

###

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/nsfc-sst051713.php

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After tough week, Obama tries to change the subject to jobs

By Roberta Rampton and Mark Felsenthal

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday sought to turn the spotlight from controversies threatening to swamp his agenda back to his top priority - the economy - and announced he will try to cut in half the time it takes to get federal approval for large job-creating projects.

Obama traveled to Baltimore, a short helicopter ride from the White House, to talk about steps he is taking to streamline permits for infrastructure, early childhood education, and positive signs in the economy.

He did not mention the trio of storms that have beset his administration in the past week and that some believe could overrun his second-term agenda.

Speaking in front of heavy equipment at Ellicott Dredges, a company that helped dredge the Panama Canal over 100 years ago, Obama took a swipe at the distractions of Washington politics.

"I know it can seem frustrating sometimes when it seems like Washington's priorities aren't the same as your priorities," Obama said in his upbeat speech.

"Others may get distracted by chasing every fleeting issue that passes by. But the middle class will always be my number-one focus, period," he said.

Obama's Baltimore trip is a good idea and a productive change of scene for him, said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who specialized in damage control for the Clinton White House.

"It gets you out of the bunker," Lehane said.

Meanwhile, Washington was fixated on Friday on a Republican-led House of Representatives hearing where the now-fired head of the Internal Revenue Service was grilled about how agents targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny.

The IRS scandal was one of three that forced Obama on the defensive in the past week.

The White House was also doing damage control on what it said in the wake of last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, and the Justice Department's seizure of phone logs of journalists at the Associated Press as it looked for leaks of classified information.

In his speech, Obama recalled advice he received as a young senator from longtime former Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes.

"I asked him, 'What's your advice?' He says, 'Just keep in mind the people who sent you.' Because here in Washington, sometimes people get distracted," Obama said.

CONTROVERSY NOT FAR AWAY

Obama was warmly received in Baltimore, first visiting an elementary school where he saw 4- and 5-year-olds learning how to spell and describe their favorite zoo animals in a pre-kindergarten class - the type of program he has said should be available to all American children so they get a good start.

Later, he talked about how to get through the rocky times in life at a roundtable with a group of people at the Center for Urban Families, a non-profit that helps people find jobs and training.

He walked through the century-old factory floor of Ellicott Dredges, where men in steel-toed boots were working on a giant corkscrew excavation tool destined for a Bangladesh shipyard.

But even on this friendly tour, political controversy was near at hand.

His tour guide was Peter Bowe, the company's chief executive, who on Thursday told a House of Representatives hearing that his company has been hurt by the protracted federal approval process for the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from the oil sands fields in Canada.

"For us, it's all about jobs," Bowe said on Thursday, urging speedy approval of TransCanada's pipeline. The company first applied for project approval in 2008.

Obama delayed the project last year, saying it needed further review. A decision is unlikely until late this year or even early 2014.

The pipeline has been championed by Republicans, who blame Obama for the delay, and pilloried by environmental groups who argue Obama's credibility on his vow to address climate change hinges on rejecting the project.

Obama did not mention pipelines in his speech about delays for infrastructure projects.

But he said he had drawn inspiration from someone he met at the plant - Myrna LaBarre, who had worked for the company for 50 years and who described her secret for success.

"She said, 'Be honest, be helpful, accept your mistakes and improve upon them, be good to people, keep a good sense of humor, have the best work ethic possible, and handle the good times and get over the bad,'" Obama said.

"If we keep that in mind, if we just all keep Myrna's advice in mind, keep plugging away, keep fighting, we'll build an even better America than we've got right now," he said.

(Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Jackie Frank and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-shifts-focus-jobs-eases-building-permit-process-101033758.html

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