Why is Product Packaging So Deceiving?

When a package says “easy open” I end up using scissors, knife, hammer, gun and a light saber.

Thedailyquotes.com

I have a cranky knee that’s been behaving like a petulant child as of late. In light of the fact that I can’t use painkillers, I’ve been forced to seek alternatives. There are a myriad of topical creams and gels on the market that all promise to do the same thing and it’s just a matter of trial and error to see which one does or doesn’t work for you. After my very unscientific “clinical trials” I’ve settled on one that’s better than the rest (for me). I recently saw an advertisement for a new version of this topical painkiller saying that it was for “joint pain”, when all the while I thought it was for joint pain. And in fact on this new version, “For Join Pain” is emblazoned on the tube. When I was out shopping on Saturday I investigated this new “for joint pain” version. Upon reading the ingredients I discovered, much to my disgust, that the ingredients were IDENTICAL! In reality there are two versions of the same product in different packaging – one version says Original and the other says For Joint Pain. There is no reason for this other than to dupe the unsuspecting public and increase market share.

How many products have you seen with big advertising campaigns promoting “New and Improved”? I’d be willing to bet if you checked out the ingredients you’d find that in the vast majority of cases only the packaging is new and improved. I realize that advertising is fantasy but doesn’t there have to be some truth in product promotion? Why isn’t there a watchdog group monitoring these blatant attempts to mislead the public? And if there is such a group, they are certainly not doing their jobs.

If dogs don’t like your dog food the packaging doesn’t matter.

Stephen Denny

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Why Aren’t We Hiring the Best People for the Job Anymore?

If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.

Red Adair

We now live in a world that has bent itself out of shape embracing diversity. In a bid to overcompensate for discriminatory hiring practices we've done a complete turnaround. In many cases we’re no longer hiring the best person for the job, but the person that best suits a diversity profile.

I don’t know how many of you are aware of four questions that appear at the bottom of almost every major corporation’s job application form. They ask if you are:

1. Aboriginal
2. Part of a Visible Minority
3. Disabled
4. Female or Male

The questions are optional and of course you can refuse to answer. However, the questions are there. These diversity hiring practices are no different than “affirmative action” in the 1960s, which was meant to be a temporary measure to level the playing field. Affirmative action didn’t work and neither do diversity hires. As a nation we should be concentrating on equality hiring practices. Hire the best person for the job. If the playing field isn’t level then make the changes in the education system to give everyone access to good education and therefore to equal opportunity. Hiring an Aboriginal, visible minority, disabled person, female or any combination thereof to prove that your company embraces diversity is no more than reverse discrimination. Let’s start embracing equality instead.

I love working for myself from home. I get along with everyone in the office, I can show up in pajamas and I always win Employee of the Month.

Someecards

Make someone smile today.

Geri

It’s Time To End Price Fixing at the Pumps

Oil prices have fallen lately. We include this news for the benefit of gas stations, which otherwise wouldn't learn of it for six months.

William D. Tammeus

This blog isn’t a complaint about the price of gas. In fact gas prices are lower than they’ve been in a long time. What frosts me is price fixing at the pumps. Who decides the price of gas and on what basis do they make that determination?

I live in Toronto and last weekend I went to Kingston for the weekend to visit friends. Kingston is a nice 2.5 hour drive due east of Toronto. One would assume that the gas prices would be the same. When I left Toronto the gas prices were 90.9/litre. The bandits on the highway were cheaper than Toronto at 89.9/litre. When I arrived in Kingston the prices were 82.9/litre and 80.0/litre at the “no name” stations.

Would someone please explain to me how two cities in close proximity to each other have an 8 – 10 cent difference per litre in the price of gas! How do they come up with these prices? The price per barrel doesn’t change. Both cities are in Ontario so the tax doesn’t change. What on earth accounts for such a huge price discrepancy?

We have government people who do nothing but track gas prices, so why aren’t they doing something about this? We’re all getting screwed by price fixing at the pumps. Isn’t price fixing illegal? I guess if it’s the government who’s screwing us, it doesn’t count.

A pedestrian is someone who thought there were a couple of gallons left in the tank. 

Author Unknown

Make someone smile today.

Geri

The Zen of Subway Travel

A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat.

Proverb Quotes

For the first time in many years I’m commuting to work on the subway. I could drive but I work in the heart of the financial district and if you think that I’m going to sit in gridlock and pay the equivalent of rent in monthly parking, you’re nuts!

I learned that if I want a pleasant commuter experience I leave early (and go home early). Once the 8am madness begins it’s every man (or woman) for themselves and damn the torpedoes. It doesn’t matter if there isn’t enough room for a cockroach in the subway car, there are a few idiots who will leap through a crack in the door as it’s closing and hurl themselves upon the rest of the unsuspecting passengers like a heat seeking missile.

At 7:30am civility still rules – most of the time. I get a seat most days and on occasion I’ve even been offered a seat. That always shocks me into reality as I frequently forget that I’m an old fart. I suppose that grey hair and saggy jowls has its advantages. At the earlier hour people seem to be calmer and happier (some even smile), making for quite a pleasant experience. I must confess that although I could read a book on my Kobo, I find people watching infinitely more pleasurable.

There are people of all shapes and sizes wearing some very interesting clothes (or being in various stages of undress, depending on your point of view). Some people read, some sleep and others eat breakfast. I on the other hand find amusement observing the Petri dish of life.

My colleague Frank had an interesting observation on subway travel and he’s absolutely right (as he is about most things). He said that the seats are too small for anyone wearing a winter coat. Clearly the dimensions of the seats were decided upon in the tropics where people don’t bundle up like the Michelin Tire Man. One of my pet peeves is people who don’t take off their backpacks, taking up space for two and squashing everyone in range. Another is men who sit with their legs spread so far apart that they essentially take up two seats. How much space does one penis and two testicles need?

Subway travel isn’t perfect but neither am I.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Oscar Wilde

Make someone smile today.

Geri