At the New 60, we always try to draw on experience. An experience either one of us has had, or an experience one of our friends has had. Or something we observe in a total stranger. The first comic this week has to do with something that pisses everyone off, regardless of age. Waiting on hold. Especially waiting on hold for a big institution like a credit card company or a bank or, in this case, an insurance company. You know in advance you’re going to have to wait forever. This was the second of a two part comic. We thought it would be fun to have Marv wait from last week’s comic until this week’s. So the germ of the idea came from one of us having to dispute a bank charge. You have to make the decision, is this going to be worth the aggravation I know I’m going to feel? And if you make the decision to go ahead, you tell yourself you won’t get aggravated, at least not this time. Until you do. As Marv stews, so stew we (does that even remotely make sense?).

The second strip (after 4 decades in advertising, we are always tempted to say, the second spot, which is how you refer to a commercial in the biz) deals with one of those occurrences we both have had. When it’s something that happens to us both, we realize we might have an idea that resonates with our audience. In this case, we are talking about the twin phenomena of losing your hearing bit by bit (no, I will not put closed captioning on my tv!!!!) and of a couple communicating with each other by shouting from different rooms. It’s usually the sound of one person’s voice, the hearing of only a few key words, honey, will you, favor, 8? Followed by the mandatory reply, WHAT????

Ain’t love grand? Read ‘em and laugh. And have a wonderful weekend.

The New 60

Social security. Once you hit 60 you start thinking about it. Should I take it as soon as I can? That would be age 62 1/2 (why the half is anyone’s guess), or should I wait as long as I can? That would be age 70 1/2 (there’s that damn half again). If you take it right away, you get less each month. The longer you wait, the more you get. But who knows how long you’re going to last? Gosh, this is getting kind of morbid, but at any rate, it’s a thing John and I discussed. It’s kind of funny because the 70 1/2 thing works only if you plan on being around a long time. I proposed that idea to John and he said, no, what does everyone you know say when you talk about how long you’re gonna be around? They say, “Yeah, but what happens if you get hit by a bus?” And that was the core of our first idea this week.

Our second thought came from having to wait on the phone. Anytime you have to, it’s horrible, and if you’re like us, you dread it even before it happens. It’s the call to dispute an insurance claim, a bank statement, a credit card bill, fun stuff like that. I recently suffered through one of these with Citibank. Now I’m sure it’s a fine institution, but it’s an institution. And my “representative” obviously had a script she was reading from. She was told, when the customer seems to be getting more and more upset (that’d be me) just tell him/her that “I understand the frustration you’re going through.” Trust me, it doesn’t work. I once had an advertising client who, in rejecting my idea said, “I applaud your passion, but…no.” Hey, buddy, applaud this.

One final note, John repeated the opening lyrics to “Brandy, you’re a fine girl,” word for word. I tried to get us to do “Mandy” but I could only get as far as “I remember all my life…” so John won.

See you next week.

The New 60

Blog

Communicating about communicating 5/10/19