Gabrielle Bisset

Friday, May 31, 2013

The Trials of Customer Service

I just got off the phone with my bank's internet banking customer service and to say it was an unsatisfactory experience would be an understatement. After wrangling with the squeaky voice young woman over the finer points of internet banking (i.e., why their site is continually locking me out) to which her answer repeatedly was that I was keying in my password wrong (ugh, no, I wasn't), I finally asked in frustration, "So I don't have to do this again, is there anything I can do? Should I use the numbers at the top, are there password lengths that cause problems, is there anything that can help me avoid the hassle of constantly calling you every time I need to use the internet banking?" Her answer? "You should be sure to check that your number lock is on if you use the keypad located on the right side of your keyboard."

No shit, Sherlock.

After hanging up and deciding that this banking relationship isn't going to work (by the way, I REALLY miss the ability to slam a phone down in an idiot's ear), I calmed down and began to think why this is a problem I and everyone I know seems to continually run into these days. I'm in my mid-40s, so I don't really have a lifetime of experience with poor customer service. Many of my friends are younger than I am, so we aren't like a group of old biddies who sit around kvetching about the "old days." However, I think I know what's going on with customer service these days and why it's not going to get any better.

The generation of people who answer our questions on internet banking, why our Amazon account isn't working, how to figure out what's wrong with our many electronic gizmos and gadgets is one which has never really experienced failure. I teach these people every day, and I can assure you that they've never been allowed to fail a thing. (I hear all the time this tragic statement. "But I got all A's in high school. How can I be failing first semester American history?" The answer is simple. You didn't deserve the A's.) They got trophies for showing up, stars for respiration, and applause for meeting the basic requirements. Education and parenting experts told parents that positive affirmation was important, and they went to town on it.

This life of success has created in them a belief that they truly are exceptional. Hell, if you were told all the time that you were special, unique, one of a kind, and wonderful just the way you are, you'd think you're exceptional too. I don't blame the generation talking to me on the phone, to be honest. I blame their parents, their teachers, and their employers.

You may say, "But they're college educated, so they must have experienced failure." Not so quick. That super positive, everyone's a genius at something mentality has oozed up into higher ed, so it's quite likely that the people on the other end of the phone with their bachelor's degrees are no better educated than the high school grads who did similar jobs in the 1980s and before. The difference is that those people understood that they didn't have all the answers. This generation has degrees with lots of great grades that mean about as much as the high school degree meant for most of the 20th century.

And their employers know this. At the university I teach at, we hear from businesses all the time that students aren't prepared for the workplace. They don't know how to do the basics, such as deal with customers, answer questions, and direct inquiries. It's a real mess. Add to that the idea that they're strangely self-centered, and the businessman or woman has a real chore to deal with. But they need employees, so they take what they can get and hope to mold them.

What they run into is what experts have been noting for a few years now. People in their 20s lack an important quality that aids in succeeding in life: empathy. If you doubt this, just take a look at all the instances of bullying. Does it not seem odd that people who have spent a lifetime hearing about how diversity is good and how everyone is special can't seem to understand the feelings of others as generations before them had? Bullying is rampant because the world has told them repeatedly that they're super. The psyche knows when it's being fed bullshit. Deep inside, they know. And they feel like shit about it.

They know that for all the great stuff they've been given, for all the awards they've been presented, for all the wonderful things they've been told they've done, the true fact is just as it was for every other generation of young men and women: You're in your twenties, you don't know shit about life, and the world is a hard place. So they respond with cockiness and I get the number pad answer that makes her sound like a smart ass and makes me hang up on her and leave that bank.

I didn't begin this post with the idea of issuing a clarion call, but as I've typed it's grown to be something I need to do. So here it is. Parents and teachers, stop telling our youth they're so special. They aren't. They're just like us. Human. Full of foibles. Let them fail. It won't kill them, and it just might make their lives happier in the long run, which seems contradictory but has been proven time and again to be true. Failure strengthens us and helps us understand what others are going through. Stop focusing all their assignments on them, which has created a generation of people who can only seem to understand the 1st person POV. Turn their view outward, as it should be. The world outside of the home and school is rarely about I and me, even if much of our culture seems to say it is. The reality is that for the vast majority of us in this world the only way to find any measure of happiness is to understand that what's troubling us is troubling others too. There's a wonderful joy that comes from the solidarity one can find in realizing that it isn't what's different about us that's important. It's what we have in common. 













Tuesday, May 21, 2013

This Writer Is Busy! #PNR #amwriting

I usually wait a little while after a book is released to begin another one. It's just the way I am. My brain (and my heart, to be honest) needs time to let go and decompress. As much as I sometimes wish I could, I don't write fast, so a 90K word book takes me a while and during all that time, I'm invested in the story heart, mind, and soul.

However, Blood Prophecy was just released last week and I'm already writing. I guess I just couldn't wait. To tell the truth, I finished Blood Prophecy months ago and even though that book took a lot out of me, I was pretty much ready to begin again. I just didn't know how ready.

To say that I seem to have hit some fertile writing area would be an understatement. I've begun Blood Craving, the 6th book in the Sons of Navarus series; I've also begun the first book in a Sons spin-off with another type of paranormal creature; I'm plotting out another historical novella set in the Victorian Era; and I'm continuing a contemporary story I began a while back. 

Woohoo! This girl is smokin'! LOL

I hope that this summer is as productive as my summer 2011 was. Wish me luck!



Thursday, May 16, 2013

Bitten By Books Interview and Chat

I'm over at Bitten By Books all day today with an interview, live chat, and giveaway of a $30 Amazon giftcard, so I hope you'll stop over. And you can enter the contest through the Rafflecopter widget below.

Hope to see you there! I'll be talking about Blood Prophecy and all things Sons, so don't miss it!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Sinful Sirens



Welcome to my stop on the Sinful Sirens Giveaway Hop! I'm in the middle of a new release of my latest book in my Sons of Navarus series, Blood Prophecy, so keeping with that theme, I'm giving away a copy of the first book in the series, Blood Avenged.


Here's the blurb:

I am everything you desire. I am vampire.

Powerful and manipulative, Vasilije does as he pleases. A vampire beholden to no one, he takes what he desires, drinking deeply the pleasures this life has to offer.

When one of his own is staked, Vasilije must travel to New Orleans to exact his revenge. There he meets Sasa, a beautiful woman who arouses him like no other has for centuries. Vasilije’s need for vengeance is equaled only by his passion for her, but what he finds in his revenge is just the beginning...


The series has just grown to a 4th novel, 2 short stories, and a novella, so what's better than beginning at where it all began?

So what do you have to do to be entered to win? Leave a comment with your email address and do as many Rafflecopter entries as you choose (the more you do, the better your chance of winning). Two winners will receive an ebook copy of Blood Avenged and the contest is open internationally, so everyone can enter!

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Blood Prophecy Release Party! #newrelease #PNR

Today is the official release date for the 4th novel in the Sons of Navarus series, Blood Prophecy. I'm so excited about this release, so why not have a party? I'm co-partying over at FB, but for those readers who aren't on FB, this is a chance to win some great prizes too.

For readers who've been following the Sons, Blood Prophecy is the turning point in the series. Here's the blurb:

I am everything you fear. I am vampire.

As the two Sons chosen to decipher the Prophecy of Idolas, Ramiel and Thane journey to find the key to defeating the Archons. Together with Noele, a born vampire, they confront their fates as they fulfill their duty to their world. Along the way, they'll find love, but death and betrayal lurk in the shadows, threatening everything dear to them.

Descended from the gods and warriors all, each Son's loyalty will be tested. Every action has consequences, and the choices they make now seal their fates. Alliances as old as the vampire world itself are reforged, and the Sons' duty is clear. Stop the Archons. Or die trying. 


Readers can find the newest Sons book at AMAZON, B&N, AND KOBO! And be sure to email me your receipt to be entered to win three $10 gift cards right before 10pm tonight (May 14). I'll choose three winners at random, so send your receipts to gabriellebisset@gmail.com

And comment below with your email address to be entered into all the giveaways I'm doing today. There are Sons of Navarus mousepads, pens, magnets, bookthongs, bookmarks, travel mugs, and much more to win, so don't miss it! Everything is open internationally, so comment away!

Happy reading! 


Monday, May 13, 2013

Blood Prophecy (Sons of Navarus #4) Available Now! #PNR #newrelease

A day or so early, Blood Prophecy, the fourth novel in the Sons of Navarus series is now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Here's the blurb:

From this point on, nothing will ever be the same...

I am everything you fear. I am vampire.

As the two Sons chosen to decipher the Prophecy of Idolas, Ramiel and Thane journey to find the key to defeating the Archons. Together with Noele, a born vampire, they confront their fates as they fulfill their duty to their world. Along the way, they'll find love, but death and betrayal lurk in the shadows, threatening everything dear to them.

Descended from the gods and warriors all, each Son's loyalty will be tested. Every action has consequences, and the choices they make now seal their fates. Alliances as old as the vampire world itself are reforged, and the Sons' duty is clear. Stop the Archons. Or die trying.

Includes the additional Sons of Navarus short stories His Love and Forbidden Fruit


I'm very proud of this book. It took a long time to write and even longer in edits because of some of the plot points. It's definitely more urban fantasy than some of my other books, and the story is getting pretty dark now. To say Blood Prophecy is a turning point in the series is an understatement.

I think readers who've read the earlier Sons books will enjoy this book. And there are two extra series short stories with the ebook, including a short about Saint and Solenne that give readers a little more about the couple that will be seen a whole lot more in the next book, Blood Craving. Happy reading!

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Paperback

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

And remember that if you live in the US, you can order signed copies of any of my books at my website at http://www.gabriellebisset.com/virtual-book-signing.html