Mayhem Makes Me Flip

Have you seen the Allstate Insurance Mayhem commercials?  They are the ones in which “Mayhem”(the condition of chaos, bedlam, and turmoil) is personified in a human male wearing a scruffy suit and a three-day growth.  The actor is seen in a variety of situations in which bad things happen to cars as a result of Mayhem’s presence.  Mayhem, representing a puppy, eats the car’s back seat.  Or Mayhem causes a tree branch to fall and crush a car.  Mayhem is a comely female out for her run.  There are several variations on this theme.

The point of the commercials is that Mayhem can strike any time. Allstate covers these types of accidents where some of their competitors may not.  The ads are effective in that my 84-year old mother, who doesn’t drive, got the message.  I wonder if the demographic Allstate wants also gets it.

I understand the point of the ads.  I got it right away myself.  However, I do not watch these ads.  I hate them.  I cannot grab the remote fast enough. 

I have nothing against Allstate or its insurance.  I like the ad about the hazards of frying the Thanksgiving turkey; I just can’t stand the Mayhem ads.  My aversion to them interested me so I thought about it.  I decided the concept was fine but I just don’t like the character.  (I’m not supposed to like Mayhem - I get that.) 

What it is that repels me?  His appearance?  Mayhem isn’t nice and neat. Mayhem is supposed to be a mess.  Could it be what he does? No. All those accidents would bring mayhem into our lives.  I don’t know.  I haven’t figured it out.  I just know that I click to a different channel the moment one of the Mayhem ads begins. 

I wonder why.  Your thoughts?

No Sale for Black Friday

Black Friday is a black mark on those who promote it.  Let me explain.

The Friday following Thanksgiving is a retail extravaganza that is the official start of the holiday shopping season. The term "black" applies here because stores hope to show profits following the spending spree.  Retailers hope to be "in the black."  The original meaning has conveniently been set aside.  

At first Black Friday denoted the financial crisis of 1869 and then the term was given by law enforcement to the shopping day after Thanksgiving because of the traffic snarls and large crowds.  

There remains nothing good about Black Friday.

Does opening at midnight make any sense at all? Some retailers will even open on Thanksgiving Day.  

  

Obviously Thanksgiving is irrelevant as a holiday.  Perhaps we should ask Congress to abolish it. The retailers move from Halloween directly to Christmas anyway.  We can't blame them.  In fact, we encourage it.  Nothing is more important than a dollar and being thankful does not contribute to the bottom line.  Thanksgiving is just another day off.  So let's keep the day off but we'll call it Black Thursday and make it a national day of uncontrolled spending. 

 

Seriously, what I thought of first when I saw that Carson's would open at 3 AM was the employees.  Black Friday means those who work in the stores cannot enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.  The Target or Best Buy worker has no time for a big meal with family and friends.  No time for chatting or watching football or doing anything that resembles a holiday celebration.  No chance to be thankful. 

Come on, you CEOs of Wal-Mart, Bon-Ton, and all the others.  Are you up at 3 AM and in the stores?  Did you give up Thanksgiving with your families to work?  I'll bet not.

So have your early morning Black Friday deals - online - and open your stores at a reasonable hour.  Happy, well-rested associates make fewer mistakes and better sales.  Stop the mania and we might all get through the day without anyone being injured or killed.  

I dare you to bring sanity back to the holiday shopping season. 

Forms

My parents recently decided that they no longer wanted to handle their routine finances so they turned everything over to me. This is a fairly common occurrence in families and most of the people in my generation have already had this happen to them.

My parents are a progressive pair. All the paperwork for this and future family needs was already in place. I’ve been signing on their checking account since the mid-nineties when they started traveling extensively.

Although I was a signer on the checking account, I wanted online banking access so I took my power of attorney form in and asked that my name be added to the account. What a can of worms that opened. Seems that having power of attorney is not enough. I had to have a Declination to Act form in which my parents said that they were unwilling to do the banking and had, in fact, passed that responsibility to me.

My parents immediately got the necessary forms. Everything is now as they want it. In addition, the attorney is aware that these forms will be required by this particular bank, even though the forms are not required by state law. She will be able to advise other clients who use the same bank. I don’t argue with the bank's special requirements. They are in place to protect its older customers from senior abuse and, sadly, such abuse is a real problem.

Why do I tell this story in a blog about communications? Because I realize again how important it is that we communicate with each other. This incident involved a very large bank. It would be helpful if attorneys had knowledge of this requirement so their clients would be prepared. The bank needs to communicate with the bar associations.

In addition, families must discuss their wishes for their futures. We will all grow older and may not wish or be able to handle things - particularly as life gets more complex. Fading eyesight, trembling hands, or unwillingness to drive in bad weather are all good reasons for passing the banking reins to someone else and have nothing to do with mental capacity. Paperwork should be in place and all family members should be in agreement on what will or should take place.

This is not new advice. I repeat it because I just learned again how important good communication is.