I tried to login to Fidelity’s 401k.com website yesterday to setup my plan contributions. The site said I already had an account on their system and I’d need to speak with a customer support person before gaining access. The page that told me this didn’t link to the contact page, include a phone number, email address or provide any help whatsoever. It was clear from the start that although they were making me call them to activate my account they were not going to make it easy to find their phone number.

I navigated back to the 401.com homepage and clicked on the “Contact Us” link. A few things you’ll notice:

1. No clear sign of phone number

2. No clear sign of an email

3. The first four links are just FAQs.

4. The comments and suggestions link is of no help. It links to a page that gives topics (in red even) I am not allowed to ask using the form.

5. Notice where the smaller font starts. You’ll see they finally list a phone number. I called and was told I’d need to call back between normal business hours.

Why does Fidelity try to make it difficult to contact them? For those of you who have a business click over to your site and count the number of clicks it takes a customer to locate your phone number. Do you decrease the font size like Fidelity making it more likely your customers will miss it and just give up? I just tried this at Amazon.com and never was able to locate a phone number.

Fidelity is a large business who should know better. When I’m having a problem with a financial matter I want to talk to a person. I don’t want to go on a treasure hunt for your phone number or be forced to send email to a general email box. When I click on a companies “Contact Us” link I expect to see at least an address, phone number and email address. Is that so hard?

I probably didn’t need yet another reminder of how valuable Google has become but I got one this week.

I’ve been having a problem with the CD ROM drive on my kids computer. It would work right after a clean boot up, but would crap out shortly after. I tried troubleshooting the drive as best I could by checking to see if I had a conflict under device manager and making sure that Windows recognized it at boot-up.

When I’d try to view the properties of the drive a cryptic error message popped up. The first couple of times I just canceled out of the error and went looking for a solution elsewhere. Finally, nearing wits end, I decided to type the error message into Google and shouldn’t have been surprised to see a link to a forum that provided the fix. An older version of Nero was conflicting with a newer version and I had to remove two registry entries. I was up and running in under 2 minutes.

This is one thing that’s so great about Google. It helps me fix my computer, even when presented with cryptic error messages that only a programmer could understand. I wish Windows were smart enough to give me a message that says something like, “Uninstall older version of Nero” instead of an error code full of numbers. But Google took those numbers and linked me to a solution.

I’m to the point now that if Google can’t find the solution to a computer problem, I would just replace the part, assuming no fix existed.

Giving myself 15 minutes every morning can make the difference between having a good or bad day. I used to figure out exactly how much time I needed each morning to get showed, grab a quick breakfast and be out the door to work giving me just enough time to catch the train. Most days things were OK. But even a small problem like having to iron a shirt or lost keys would slow me down enough that my day started off bad and I inevitably had to make a mad dash to my car. This would then cause a chain reaction as I’d be in such a hurry that I’d forget my wallet or iPod or sunglasses.

So I’ve started giving myself an extra 15 minute so matter how prepared I feel. It doesn’t sound like much but that extra time allows me to handle problems as they arise without getting stressed out. I no longer forget things as often because my head is clear and I’m not stressing out over the time.

But the best thing about having an extra 15 minutes is the time it gives me to go into the kids rooms and kiss each of them on the forehead while they are still asleep. They are so warm and peaceful in the mornings.

I start a new job tomorrow. Actually it’s an old job in a way since I’m going back to work for a company and position I left in 2004. I’m sure many faces have changed but the job is essentially the same, only now with a few more people on staff.

This weekend I thought about how hard companies work to attract talent. Yet once they have the talent in house, they let off the accelerator and coast into business as usual territory. This new job will require attracting talented people and then doing everything I can to keep them on board. That will be a big challenge given the nature of the work, the long hours and the competitive job market. One benefit of the job will be that I’ll know daily how I’m doing and can make corrections in a timely fashion when I notice a problem. Because I know that if I don’t take care of my best people someone else will.

What do you do to keep your best employees? Do you tend to treat everyone the same? Does your intern have a flat panel monitor while your developers or designers get by with a clunky CRT?

I know it’s not a fair comparison because WordPress was created a smallish group of young developers while Microsoft tossed an army of developers at Vista, not to mentioned a multi-million dollar ad campaign.

But I don’t care. Here we go!

WordPress is easy to install. Vista requires a ton of patience, many driver downloads and a speedy machine before you can do much of anything.

WordPress was designed with the end user in mind. Vista was designed so that it wouldn’t piss off the MPAA and RIAA.

WordPress has two versions. One you install yourself and a hosted version, both of which work. Vista comes in six confusing editions and you’d better choose carefully or be prepared to open your wallet a little wider.

WordPress doesn’t treat me like a first time computer user. Vista includes the annoying User Account Control.

WordPress has many useful plug-ins that add advanced functionality. Vista includes several dozen memory hogging widgets.

WordPress presents its features and then gets out of the way. Vista constantly reminds you that you’re not doing things the way Microsoft wants you to do them.

WordPress is fast and a joy to run. Vista is a sluggish, buggy and depressing piece of software.

In short, WordPress makes me feel smarter than I am. Vista makes me feel stupid.

Clever ad.

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I have to admit, I was one of the skeptics who said NBC couldn’t pull off the The Office. The BBC version is my all-time favorite show and I felt it would be dumbed down in order to reach a larger American audience. I nearly stopped watching after the first episode.

But after last Thursday’s season finale, capping season 3, I’m thrilled to say that I was dead wrong. NBC should be applauded for allowing this quirky comedy to grow into one of the best shows on TV.

Take last weeks episode for example. Near the end of the show Jim walks in on Pam while she says she hopes Jim gets the job at corporate while making it clear she still has feelings for him. Jim asks her out to dinner and is gone as quickly as he arrived. Here’s where things could have gone wrong but didn’t. The camera moves into closely so we can see the emotion in Pam’s eyes. She’s obviously moved. But the pause and close-up nail the moment and capture the scene perfectly.

Were you aware of the unwritten rule that says it’s ok to purchase unpractical items when using a gift certificate? If not, consider yourself enlightened because it’s true.

Several coworkers have been hassling me about a sweet water bottle I purchased (with an Amazon GC) a few weeks back. I think they actually like the bottle but question the $20 price tag for a bottle. If Pininfarina created a water bottle it would look like this. The bottle is made by Sigg Switzerland. I think it might even make the water taste better. Ha!

We took our kids to see Shrek the Third this afternoon. We arrived early to purchase tickets for a later show. The ticket counter was quite busy with 10 or so people lined up behind each of the six counters. I walked past the crowd and up to the automated, Fandango branded, ticket machine. I purchased our tickets in less than 60 seconds. No mess, no surcharge, no waiting in line. Anyone could have done the same thing. I just happened to know it was there as there’s not a single sign to point it out which it needs since it’s around the corner from where the lines form. At the very least, the theater could have someone stand out front and direct people to it.

After we took our seats inside, I decided to grab some popcorn for the kids. The concession stand was packed. I was surprised at how slow the lines moved until I was near the counter and could see the problem. The person taking the money was same person filling the drinks, grabbing popcorn, scooping cheese for the nachos, etc. A second person to assist would have made the line go much faster. I noticed a number of people approach the concession line, hesitate and then return to their seats which is a huge loss to the theater given the markup on the food and drink.

As I stood in line I noticed large signs promoting “combo meals”. There were four different combo meals, one of which was a medium drink and medium popcorn which is what I was after. But none of the combo meals had a visible price attached. Not that I’m expecting to get a deal at the theater, but it would be nice to know if there’s a savings in buying the combo vs. individual items. The answer to that was “no” when my order totaled $10.50.

On second thought, maybe the theater leaves the prices off the combo meals for a reason.

I came across a quote from John Lennon.

After McCartney penned “Hey Jude“, Beatles producer, George Martin objected to the length saying DJs won’t play a 7-minute song.

John Lennon shot back: “They will if it’s us”