Ad agencies (with social media departments) are popping like mushroom in the region. Competition is healthy, don’t get me wrong but few are getting it right. That’s not the issue though.

I’ve been asked quite some few times to review sites, products, places, devices. The agencies/individuals/companies sometimes give me the green light to post it online or share my opinion for the public some times and others want it to remain private.

Now, what’s really bothering me. I heard a few times between bloggers that X agency is inviting us to these places or whatsoever so that we review it and give a positive one about the whole experience.

1. DUH! They are inviting us to review it. PERIOD! This is how it happens sometimes in the social media sphere.
2. Positive review? They never EVER even hinted to give a good review mais au contraire! They specifically ask us to talk about what’s bothering us, what can be improved.
3. They are not inviting you/me/us for lack of friends. They are interested in your ideas and reviews, it’s a fact. So you didn’t discover Coca Cola’s secret recipe yet.
4. Social media, that’s how it works, embrace it.

Now, some tips:

1. When you are invited/asked to review a place/something, they want you to review, you can do it or not, it’s up to you, free choice, BUT, if you do:
2. Give an honest review, most of the reviews I read online are a bloody Ad copy. They don’t need another copywriter, they need an honest review.
3. If your review is another Ad copy or some telemarketing script or just a hype generator, you are hurting yourself and the reviewed subject.
4. ALWAYS mention that you’ve been invited/asked to review, you don’t want to lose your credibility as an honest blogger.
5. For the love of God, try to remain objective. (see #3)
6. It doesn’t hurt you or your “reputation” if you post a “paid” review (paid could be just an invitation, see #4)
7. If you can think of something else just drop me a line.

blah! Leo Burnett and two other dudes/companies who wish to remain anonymous, kudos!

So we decided to try out Grillia at City Mall.Big mistake!

1. Table was not clean, we stood 15 minutes (timed) for them to clean it.
2. We waited for 10 minutes (timed too) to get the menus.
3. Another 10 minutes to get an ashtray
4. Asked for a “well done” rib eye steak, it was borderline raw. sent it back and waited.
5. Asked for salt. waited 10 minutes (yes ladies and gents, COUNT!)
6. A friend joined us, asked for the menus again. I think the guy went to some different country to get us the menu again.
7. Meat filet, colder than Alaska.
8. Ordered a fruit salad, no fruits, no salad but it still ended up on the bill.
9. 12, yes TWELVE times persons sat on tables and left just because a waiter wouldn’t drop by.
10. Waiters were playing god. nowhere to be found.

I was sitting there with tears in my eyes looking, gazing, drooling over Roadster’s perfect food that was a few meters away. NEVER EVER AGAIN!

and don’t go smart ass on me, all restaurants were full and couldn’t go somewhere else.

This is not the issue here. Anyways, according to Wikipedia :

The origin of the term vuvuzela is disputed but was first used in South Africa from the Zulu language or Nguni dialect meaning to make a vuvu sound (directly translated: vuvu-ing). Controversies over the invention arose in early 2010. South African kaizer chiefs fan Freddie “Saddam” Maake claimed the invention of the vuvuzela by fabricating an aluminium version in 1965 from a bicycle horn and has photographic evidence of himself holding the aluminium vuvuzela in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Well, ladies and gents, it doesn’t take a lot to really know where the vuvuzela came from, please check the pictures, it explains it all (Thank you Clement!)

“So next time you blow your vuvuzela, remember where it came from!”

The team is REALLY of ONE person.

let the competition begin.

“Alfa Telecom” (managed by Orascom) have different payment options for post paid phones, which is totally great: automatic withdrawal from bank, paying at accredited points, bill collectors passing by…

Now I’ve been afraid to have the automatic withdrawal from bank for the sole reason that I can name 8 persons who had trouble with automatic withdrawal from the bank (in other words, being ripped off and having more money withdrawn) so I decided to go with the bill collectors “jibayat”.

It was one of the biggest mistakes I EVER made.  Here’s the deal, you have to call them up to designate an address where they pass by monthly to collect the money. Simple right? well not in my case. I called up the first month, asked the lady who answered the phone to write down my address so they can collect the money.

Jibayat Lady : yiiiiiiiiyyyy the bill collector already passed by that region, next month for sure he’ll pass by you

Me: el 7al? (the solution?)

Jibayat Lady: pay it at Alfa and next month the guy will pass by

Me: Ok, thank you

Next month…

Me:  Hello, I am calling concerning my bill…

Jibayat Lady: yes mOOsieur, what’s your number and address

Me: xxxxx blah blah yada yada

Jibayat Lady: ok the guy will pass by in 5 minutes to collect…

Me: ummm I am sorry I am at work, I work! I don’t have a money tree to pay Alfa’s over expensive bills, change the address and let him pass by XX

Jibayat Lady: yiiiiiiiy we don’t cover that region, listen, go pay it at Alfa and next month the guy will pass by khalas I have your address

Me: are you suuuuuuuuuuurrrrrreee?? it takes him 2 minutes to collect the money from where I am

Jibayat Lady: khalas khalas (don’t worry don’t worry) next month, I have the address.

Me:  *sigh* oook

Next month…

Me: Bonjooooouuuuuurrrrr, the bill, the effin’ bill, I am begging you to collect the money, where is the guy?

Jibayat Lady: Hold on let me call him and get back to you.

Me: ok.

15 minutes later…

Jibayat Lady: he’s passing by now.

Me: ok, thank you!

3 days later

Me: Good morning, where’s the DUDE?

Jibayat Lady: he passed by and no one was home.

Me: are you dead sure that he passed by? cuz there is ALWAYS someone at home?

Jibayat Lady: walaw mOOsieur?! he definitely passed by.

Me: solution?

Jibayat Lady: Call me tomorrow.

Me: ooook.

Next morning…

Me: eeeeh I am at home, is he passing by today?

Jibayat Lady: no the guy who collects your region won’t pass by today, he finished the region.

Me: He didn’t finish if he didn’t collect my bill! so listen, I am begging you to pass by and collect the money, you can pick it up from X, Y or Z, I am leaving X in 15 minutes, please tell me ASAP when/where he will pass by.

Jibayat Lady: ok mOOsieur, I’ll call you in 5 minutes and let you know.

Me: I am leaving X in 15 minutes, so hurry!

4 hours later…

Jibayat Lady: bonjour mOOsieur, he’s passing by X now.

Me: I told you 4 hours ago that I am leaving in 15 minutes.

Jibayat Lady: yiiiiiiiiiy let me put you through to him and talk with him guys and you can coordinate.

Bill collector guy thing…: eh monsieur, I passed by the last time, no one was home.

Me: there is no way, maybe you have the wrong address!

Bill collector guy thing…: no walaw, you live at xyz 123 def, A floor.

Me: it’s floor Y! floor Y!

Bill collector guy thing…: she gave me the wrong address…

Jibayat Lady: (3 way conference) yiiiiiiiy sorry mOOsieur.

Me: El 7al? (the solution?)

Bill collector guy thing…: I’ll pass by on Friday for sure.

Me: I have to pay before Saturday…

Bill collector guy thing…: don’t worry.

Me: errrmmm ok.

Friday comes and goes…no Jibayat…Saturday morning:

*tweeleeleep tweeleeleep tweeleeleep* (intercom tone)

Me: yes?

Guy: Jibayat monsieur.

Me: come up *evil grin on my face*

The guy came up, he was EXTREMELY polite, I just wanted to go all Bruce Banner on him, he was the politest guy I ever met, my anger went away. I told him I am sorry but I already paid my bill and from now on I won’t be using Jibayat’s service anymore…

Jibayat, you STINK! I am not gonna leave money at gazillion places to check where you can pick the money and when! my money, my bill, I decide where you collect the bloody thing!

the bill collector guy thing is nice though…

My problem is with double standards. I was parking the car (you don’t expect me to park a yacht…) and this girl passes by with a guy, she was veiled…BUT she had the tightest clothes ever, her ass sticking out 10 miles behind her, you could easily discern if she waxes/shaves or has a furburger, and her tits were half out (yeah I checked her out) BUT she’s wearing a veil…

Now ladies and gents, I know that double standards are some people’s daily bread, but for FUCK’S SAKE, don’t go that far with double standards! the DS is becoming BS.

You want to wear a veil, fine! It’s your choice and I respect that, but wear it properly! next thing what? going topless on Nissi beach and wearing a veil? either respect whatever religion you follow or don’t at all, I am sorry for what’s coming next, but it’s like taking it in the other hole and saying you are still a virgin!

R E S P E C T.

If you ask me, it’s a big step not seeing the fail whale today, and still everyone can update their status…still….FIX IT PLEASE or release a post explaining what’s going on.

So don’t worry folks, everyone is still active on twitter, it’s not showing on the timeline.

as for you dear twitter, it would be nice of you to tell us what’s happening and how long will it take to restore it back. Customer service anyone?

Update 1: Apparently it’s hitting few accounts, others are just functional, @juhde‘s timeline is functioning normally apparently

Update 2: It is not the first time that this happens, found an old post on the blog dating from 8th of October 2009…pffff twitter is getting on my nerves lately. can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

Update 3: Over six hours and not one clarification from the folks at twitter to what’s happening. Folks, if you run a business, any kind of business and people are complaining or inquiring about something, make sure that you notify that you are at least aware of the problem and working on it. That’s primordial for ANY business.

Update 4: This is straight from twitter’s status : “Some users are experiencing no new updates to their timeline. We are aware of the issue and investigating.” finally some response!

Update 5: “We have pinpointed and resolved the issue.” Welcome back folks!

So, you are waiting your turn at ABC, and the guy passes by with a radio antenna and nods with his head that your car is clear and you can go and park.

Your car is clear of any explosive material. Well it turns out that you can have a bloody nuke in the car and they wouldn’t even know.

Start sharing the link folks, a whole report on BBC News Night  about it. It was a whole scam (it’s nothing but a RFID tag). We need to pressure ABC and every mall to get a working device. We live in unstable Beirut with terrorists threatening our security every single minute of the day (If you don’t believe so, you need to slap yourself really hard and wake up and get out of the bubble you live in).

The whole article and video on CrunchGear

Stay safe folks.

To everyone’s surprise, Alfa announced today that the Blackberry service is (back to) for 40USD with no additional charges (subject to F.U.P. 500MB).

Two theories here:

1. They actually responded to our demands (had endless referrals from webmail clients and a certain domain teehee, no the domain is NOT alfa.com.lb)
2. I heard a few times that MTC Touch will be releasing a new pricing/service for BB, 400MB at the same price instead of the usual 100MB.

Whatever the reason is, it felt good. I do hope that companies start listening to our demands, to offer real services, and just be closer to the consumers, it’s a simple rule, consumer happy=more business, business 101.

For the time being, thank you Alfa Telecom (managed by Orascom).

and for the reference,

the original post