It went something like this:

Cashier: You can rest your arms (pointing at the open spot to put down my basket).

Me: Oh, thanks.

Cashier: I like your shirt. (I was wearing my MuteMath concert T-shirt from a few years ago)

Me: Hey thanks!

After the transaction had been processed and the cashier was handing me my bag…

Cashier: Are you enjoying this weather?

Me: I sure am!

Cashier: Well continue to enjoy it…it’s beautiful!

This was a very pleasant conversation. It was nothing out of the ordinary. It was, however, authentic.

Everyone understands that customer service is an important part of doing business—especially in retail. But a trend that is starting to annoy me is when everyone at an establishment says exactly the same thing. For example, if you walk in to a Chick-fil-A, everyone says “how may I serve you” or “my pleasure.” This might seem pleasant at first but after awhile it comes off as artificial and robotic.

The lady at Trader Joe’s was speaking to me as an individual and not going by any script. And for that…I thank her.

In a post today he suggests hiring a professional—”someone who costs a lot but is worth more than they charge” or an amateur—”a talented person willing to trade income for the chance to do what he loves, with freedom rather than to get the job done.” He then goes on to warn against hiring “someone who just thinks it’s a job.”

I wanted to add to that list—consider hiring a freelancer. While freelancers can certainly fall under the professional or amateur categories, I believe they can potentially combine the best of both.

When you hire a freelancer, you typically get a professional who is very passionate about his or her line of work—you have to love what you do to take on the risk of working for yourself. An independent freelancer has their name on the line and they will generally bend over backwards to get a steady flow of work from you. A freelancer also has very little overhead, allowing you to get great value for your money, when compared to hiring an agency. Note that freelancers typically maintain a network with other freelancers that they can plug in when necessary, making them virtually as strategic and versatile as agencies.

On July 22nd I was fired from my full time job (I will probably write more about this topic later).

I immediately set up my portfolio on Cargo. I also set up accounts on various sites like Behance, Elance, Facebook and others. I’m still in the process of updating all my portfolio sites. I can tell already it’s going to be a pain to manage multiple portfolios. I may have to think about which sites I keep updated.

I reached out to some previous clients and some potential new ones. I talked to a lot of family and friends. My mom and dad have been very helpful. I got a lot of support and advice.

By the 26th I was up and running my own freelance business.

I have since landed a few clients and I continue working on a freelance basis with my previous employer. There is still a lot to do and people to call but things really seem to be falling into place.

Today I freshened up the blog with a new look. I downloaded the free theme called Modernist by Rodrigo Galindez. I made a few changes to the color and typography. While it’s not my design, I am very happy with it. I’ll probably keep tweaking it as I learn the ins and outs of a WordPress theme. When I feel I have it figured out I’ll probably create my own.

I plan to make regular updates to this blog. Please stay tuned.

All in all, things are good.

Finder can now “Quick Look” Adobe Illustrator files (as long as they are saved with the default PDF preview turned on). I’m not sure why this didn’t work in 10.5 since Preview.app could already preview similar .ai files. Anyway, this makes me happy.

In screen sharing the thumbnail window is now a live preview. Before it seemed to just be a screen shot from the last moment you were in that window. The live thumbnail is great for several reasons. For example, you can see when a file transfer is completed without having to switch back and forth between local and remote full screens.

This works great for keeping my work iTunes synced up with my home iTunes. I just bring in my laptop every few days and sync it up. I wish they would add the ability to sync play counts and ratings.

I’m curious how it will work with mp3′s that have had the ID3 tags modified from one library to another.

Already rumors of the next version of OS X?

I believe they are simply referring to the majority of market share these companies own but I find the word is being used inappropriately more and more often.

It seems any large company owning a majority of it’s market share gets flagged with the term. But owning a majority of any market is not a monopoly unless it maintains it’s market share exclusively through legal privilege or a sort of outside controlled barrier to entry. Both of the companies mentioned operate in competitive markets. Consumers have multiple alternatives to both large companies.

I do understand the importance of competition and hope that more companies rise to compete against the Microsofts and Googles of the world. Competition almost always provides better experiences for consumers.

I would like to see iTunes incorporate syncing of not only iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs but also mobile devices like laptops and netbooks. The laptop/netbook would still have full blown iTunes installed. I’m thinking that you would set your main iTunes to “master” and your laptop/netbook iTunes to “mobile.” Once set up, your main iTunes would see your mobile devices and allow you to sync similarly to syncing an iPod.

Modifying meta data in the mobile library might require a more robust syncing system like Apple’s MobileMe Sync.

How well could this work? Am I missing anything?

Last night listening to XMU—about the only station I listen to on XM—a killer song came on. Shazam nor I could not identify it. I went to online to XMradio looking for tune info. By the time I found the XMU page the song had ended. The only info they seem to display is the current song—no previous songs list. I decided to hit up XM through their contact page. I filled out the appropriate info including “Programing” from the subject drop down and submitted this message:

I’m looking for a song that just played. It is now 7PM eastern time on Sunday April 5. The song was I believe 2 before Telekinesis – Great Lakes. Do you have a link to previously played songs? All I can find is current song.

Thanks!

Nathan

This morning I received the following email response from Daine (irrelevant info omitted)

Dear Mr. Gross,

Thank you for contacting XM.

We are happy to assist you with your song request. Unfortunately, The Email Team is unable to provide you with the information you requested but we can point you in the right direction. Please contact our Programming Department at programming@xmradio.com and a representative will be happy to assist you.

My response:

Daine,

I selected “Programing” as the subject on your “Email Us” contact page. It seems strange that this would not be sent to the appropriate “Programming” people at XM. If my message did not make it to the appropriate people then it seems that good customer service would simply forward the question to the appropriate people.

Thanks anyway.

Nathan Gross

Dear XM,
Please post a previous songs list.

*Update* Thanks to ~JeZay~ I now have a source for finding songs played on XM/Sirius.