Thursday, August 22, 2013

An Interesting Story - Never Underestimate Your Clients' Complaint, No Matter How Funny It Might Seem !!!

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. (as has been communicated to me)

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night,but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.
You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds'
"What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.


The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.


The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes:


He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup.
All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor. Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!!


The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapour lock".
 


It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate. 

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

My Culinary Favorites...

As the year comes to an end, I thought it is a good idea to list down my culinary favorites.


Fish: Salmon (pan seared fillet on a bed of garlic spinach)
Meat: Grilled Steak (medium well)
Poultry: Rotisserie Chicken
Poultry, Boneless: Grilled Chicken
Eggs: Sunny-side Up
Kebabs: Chicken Malai Tikka
Non-Veg Curry: Mutton Roganjosh
Veg Curry: Methi Matar Malai (Fenugreek, Peas and Cream)
Dal: Yellow Dal Tadka (Pigeon Peas)
Beans: Red Kidney Beans
Breads: Garlic Naan
Parantha, Non-stuffed: Methi (Fenugreek Leaves)
Parantha, Stuffed: Paneer Parantha
Rice: Jeera Rice (Cumin)
Noodles: Maggi (Plain)
Pasta: Penne (with Pesto Sauce)
Curd: Bathua Raita (Lamb's Quarters)
Sweet: Moong Dal Halwa
Ice-cream: Butterscotch
Wine: Merlot
Cocktail: Bloody Mary
Liquor: Chivas on-the-rocks
Coffee: Espresso (arabica, medium roast)


Please do comment and add your favorites to the list and do mention where should I try these...

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Finally found an old whitepaper written by me...

Those were days when Internet wasn't common and email was rare. The speed was measured into single digit kbps (as in 4 kbps)...

Wondering where to upload that...

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Article...

I have co-authored an article on how IT can play a significant role in achieving business cost optimization and increased agility and have listed down few things CIOs should embark upon. If you find it interesting, discuss it here...

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Learn from Melbourne...


Melbourne is doing something that really excited me. They are putting up bicycle stands for people to take the bike for short to medium distance travel. See one stand above... It is a great idea for people that come to office in car or public transport to use these for small distances. You can leave it at next stand. There is a fee for use and longer usage plans are available.

One thing that I think should be included is helmet rental. I wanted to try out one but was told by a passerby that helmets are required for usage. I am a visitor. Why would I roam around with a helmet around my back?