The New Media Diva

Dear Swisscom,

I’ve just spent close to an hour waiting at the your store at Bahnhofplatz 12 (I believe) to pick up my iPhone only to be told that I’d had three days to pick it up from the time you called me. The phone had been given to someone else.

Apparently, you tried to call me “many times” (according to your employee), but only left one actual mailbox message, which was the day before I went on vacation. I’m sorry, but if I see an unfamiliar number, and the person doesn’t leave a message, I do not call that number to see who it was.

In the message your employee finally left, she did not say that if I did not pick up my iPhone in three days, that my iPhone would be given to another person and I’d have to wait on the next shipment.

Even though a shipment should be coming soon (tomorrow or Wednesday), the fact that I spent close to an hour waiting, combined with the fact that whoever called me did not inform me that I had a specified number of days to pick up the phone or it would be given to someone else, is bad business practice.

I’ve just switched from sunrise to Swisscom. I hope I haven’t made a bad decision.

Best regards,
Rashunda Tramble

I’ve just returned from AbdesSalam Attar’s natural perfumery course in Italy.

I’ve found my calling. I’m turning in my resignation at the shop Monday.

Boss, I’m joking.:-)

The session was held at the beautiful Il Germano Reale, which is ringed by a botanical festival: cypress trees, lavender and rosemary bushes. Salam even snagged a peach for me off a tree and introduced me to giuggiole (jujubes), which were hanging low from their trees.

We discussed ‘perfumetherapy,’ olfactory psychology and ‘the way of scent (japanese kodo).’ We also worked on categorizing scents, smelling each one and applying characteristics to it.

If you have even just a passing interest in perfume and psychology, or natural perfume in general, you must absolutely get a cup of tea, sit in front of your computer, and spend a few hours on Salam’s site. It’s huge, but it is a must.

Another task was to make a perfume for a fellow attendee. If you make perfume only for yourself, you will wind up making what’s basically the same scent over and over again.

I gave my ‘customer’ a selection of scents and told her to smell each one. I grouped the ones she liked, and then had her select from those for the main accord (bergamot, ylang ylang, rosewood). Then I went from there.

Making a scent for another person forces you to drop your ego (at least that’s what it did for me). It forces you to get over feeling hurt if the person doesn’t like the way a scent is going. You don’t have time to feel hurt. You must focus on getting it right.

This is a life lesson.

The perfume made for me contained rose absolute, ylang ylang and cedarwood. (I hope my office mates won’t mind.:-))

I’m beat. But inspired.

Now if I could just get going on making that perfumer’s organ.

I posted this on Facebook in reply to a post that the entire MTV VMA event was staged:

“At first I thought it was staged. Then I thought, ‘What’s so hard to believe that that dude is just a straight up a$$hole?’

We (black folks) need to get out of the habit of always thinking something is a conspiracy or staged. In doing so, we actually condone and accept the stereotypical behavior that West demonstrated.

This is the same cat that cried on stage (and I cried with him) when he performed not long after his mother died.

This is the same cat that recorded ‘Jesus Walks.’

This is the same cat that spoke for millions of folks when he stood up for the victims of Katrina.

I’m sorry. Even if it was a plan, he shouldn’t have taken part.”

I’m done.

Update: The post that started my rant is here.