---
title: "The100: Phone etiquette, Frazzles and the problem with you (yes you)"
description: Thank your critics No-one likes it when their work is criticised – well, maybe not everyone. But usually it’s hard to take. It feels personal. They obviously don’t understand.  So this is a handy list of 5 things to run through when someone has a go at you. With that said… The problem with all of …
---

[Watch Me Think Blog](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog)

# [The100: Phone etiquette, Frazzles and the problem with you (yes you)](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-phone-etiquette-frazzles-and-the-problem-with-you-yes-you)

 Written by [Alistair Vince](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/author/alistair-vince) | Sep 7, 2018, 1:29:15 PM

### Thank your critics

No-one likes it when their work is criticised – well, maybe not everyone. But usually it’s hard to take. It feels personal. They *obviously* don’t understand.  So this is a handy list of [5 things to run through when someone has a go at you](http://fortheinterested.com/how-to-handle-criticism/).

With that said…

### The problem with all of us

Here’s a brilliant piece from an utterly spellbinding author whom I’ve known all my life on [why we’ve all become empathy deficient](https://www.marketingsociety.com/the-library/mad-hell-stop-making-decisions-%E2%80%98gut-instinct%E2%80%99-name-%E2%80%98efficiency%E2%80%99).

> *We’ve never known more about people (like us), but we’ve also never understood less about people unlike us.*

He’s sending out autographed printouts if you’re interested 😉

One is already on the way to the excellent Marketing Director of Henkel, Nikki Vadera, who agrees that *Consumers aren’t just mums from Surrey*:

> *In all our adverts we were showing a white housewife in her mid-40s cleaning the toilet with her Marigolds on. That’s not the consumer these days.*

[Henkel’s new campaign features a female football playing scientist and a lawyer who moonlights as a drag queen](https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/08/23/henkel-disrupt-laundry-sector/).

### There’s a reason it was a called a cradle

> *Hang up gently.*

So goes the advice to telephone users back in 1950. And as I really like speaking to people on the phone – I think it’s efficient, you can gauge how people are feeling, you can form a rapport –  I found this half-century old guide [to phone etiquette](https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-1950s-guide-to-proper-telephone-etiquette-1828386485?) delightful.

Though, as the author says, there was something quite satisfying about slamming a receiver down – perhaps someone should invent an app for that 🙂

### The UK’s Golden Triangle of Warehousing

Our demands have consequences, and the shift to online purchasing has helped [give rise to a clustering of architectural behemoths](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/apr/15/shed-the-size-of-town-what-britains-giant-distribution-centres-tell-us-about-modern-life) located a maximum 4.5hrs from 85% of the UK population.

This segues nicely into this piece on [old school retailers](https://www.retail.albion.co/article-list/2018/6/26/old-school-retail-stores-are-just-bad-warehouses) who have basically transferred the warehouse to the high street (hence why they are now failing):

> *The big retail locations that are failing are just places to get stuff, not places to do stuff. They’re bad warehouses.*

Customer demand. Customer experience. Same balls, different games.

### Words and pictures

Not completely sure how I feel about this, but the New York Public Library is publishing classic novels such as *Alice in Wonderland* on Instagram. Teeth grindingly, they are called *[Insta Novels](https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/22/17768448/new-york-public-library-classic-novels-instagram-stories-alice-in-wonderland)*. I will say no more.

So for the people like me at the other end of the spectrum to Instagram, this [history of Lorem Ipsum](https://priceonomics.com/the-history-of-lorem-ipsum/) is fascinating.

### …and finally

I’m a Frazzles man myself, but don’t judge me. If you have a few minutes and want a laugh then have a read about [what your choice of crisp says about you](https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/594d5k/what-your-choice-of-crisps-says-about-you).

 

 

[View full post](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-phone-etiquette-frazzles-and-the-problem-with-you-yes-you)

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