Bonanza Social Media or How Many Times Can You Fumble the Ball

This is in reference to the newly hired social media person for Bonanza and the way he recently responded to a friend request on Facebook.

First let me say to sofy... I know this was between you and him.. but, you brought it out into the public and rightfully so... what happens with  Bonanza and it's employees affects us all who sell there. You requested that when Jeremy apologized on your FB thread that no one comment after that about his apology. I went along with your request, however,  even though you probably didn't mean it this way ... the way it made me think was 


>>>I want you to be nice, cause, when he finally drags himself here for an apology he is too much of a coward to be able to handle any criticism and we should all just accept what he says<<<<


again, I am sure you didn't mean it that way .. but that was what it made me feel like... I said I would not have my say on your thread.. so here it is.

Not only was what this young did outrageous but the way it was handled after the fact is as bad if not worse IMO.

I find it astounding that Bill and Mark can find the time to read our blogs and post to them at will yet when a serious issue arises and they are asked and expected to comment they are no where. IMO this was up to them to say something. Instead they sent in Alex. I sure hope Alex, that you are comfortable in the role of sacrificial lamb as I am sure this will not be the last time. It seems no one wanted to step up to the plate.  I can understand Bill not wanting Bonanza's dirty laundry hanging out on his FB wall and his deleting comments. However, there was no response to FB comments, emails, bmail or anything else to Bill, Mark or Jeremy... at least the only one I know of is the one from Mark to sofy about her forum thread and finally the apology to her from Jeremy.

I have no idea why this surprises me, as Bonz has increasingly not taken responsibility for things for awhile now. From glitches to anything else. Things are always our fault, our computers fault, and if you do finally prove it was them there is no apology. So, this behavior should not surprise me. Disappointing though, yes, it is.

HIRING JEREMY

this was for the social media positon
here is his intro to Bonanza
http://www.bonanza.com/blog/main/Introducing_Jeremy

His website page .. he calls himself a "specialist"
http://www.jeremiahmattocks.com/

= online media specialist
+ super cool guy

Now we may ask, just what qualifies someone to be a media specialist?  These days with cell phones, texting, twitter and Facebook,  I guess that could be anyone over the age of 12.

the young man writes an online comic book.. if you take a look at the context of this... one may ask .. is he a good fit for an online shopping venue???
http://itgetsworser.com/

two things I see are obvious, he has a youthful quirky, not always professional or appropriate,  sense of humor and likes computer games.... that may be a good fit for Bill, but, is it a good fit for Bonanza or for this specific position?

You might say it isn't my business who they hire. It is a concern and should be to all of us that management hire the right people for the right jobs. Their choices, good or bad,  affect us all and our businesses. 

THE APOLOGY

OK, yes, I know some of you will say that I'm a real "B" and should not pick apart someones apology .. after all, they did apologize and we should forgive.. yada yada, yeah, ah huh... but... it's how an apology is given and the way, and what is said and how.. and it is only human nature that we take those things and it's those things that instantly put a feeling in us as to how we handle this (or any) apology. Do we forgive instantly, do we accept it but not feel good about it, do we feel it is sincere.

Granted we all apologize differently and accept and forgive differently .. that being said... this is my personal take on the apology. Granted good mostly for my own opinion only.

I think what we have here is a generational issue.... this was  a typical apology of the young

"I just wanted to sleep on it first."

WTH was there to sleep on ... get in there and say you are sorry ... how tough is that to figure out

first 2 paragraphs

"For all the anger, hurt, frustration, and loss of trust I’ve caused, I am very sorry. Your anger with me is expected. But the thing I’m most ashamed of is how I’ve damaged your relationship with Bonanza. Not content to hold me personally responsible for my own private, stupid actions, I’ve seen Bonanza’s name dragged through the mud; I couldn’t feel more terrible about this than I already do.

When Bonanza hired me, they did so not because I was an expert, but because they saw potential. I’ll be the first to say I’m not an expert. I’m learning, I’m human, and I made a big mistake. This is, without a doubt, the biggest and stupidest mistake I’ve made. But that is exactly what it was: a mistake. This was not me being malicious or callous or knowingly disrespecting a Bonanza seller. This was an honest, albeit idiotic, mistake. But I promise you this: I won’t make this mistake again. No matter where I find myself in the future, I’ve learned a valuable lesson that I’ll never forget."

I don't see this about sofy, or us or Bonanza.. I see this as me me me. I see >>my butt is in a bind and I need to cover it. Since my job may be in danger let me go their first. Let me tell the boss how sorry I am I did this to his company.<<

now, lets see "expert" "specialist" ....hummmm

then he moves on

"Since my message has already been made public, I owe you all more than just an apology—I owe you an explanation."   (and then the explanation that I wont bother to post here)

again, we needed the apology way more than the reason.... but, here is the generation thing again... let me put my excuse out there first instead of sucking it up, saying I'm sorry and I hope I can make it up to you.

and it's funny cause he ends that part with "This is not intended to be an excuse at all. I accept full responsibility for the mess I made. This is just an explanation."  But it was so important to get his excuse...sorry, explanation out there that he put it between covering his butt with the boss and the apology.

Oh, yeah that came next.. again I will not waste space here .. if you want to read it in it's entirety here is the link   http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=180531435300228&comments

and if you are interested in listening to Phaedra and Colderice discuss this  http://soundcloud.com/colderice/john-and-pheadra-talk-social-media-mistep-at-bonaza


And finally

It is not so much that I do not accept his apology, I am quite certain he is very sorry, if he really understands and if the sorry is for the right reasons ... who is to say. I personally think the young man had no alternative at the point he posted that.

I think we have a huge generation gap .... in the way we see professionalism, how companies should be run, how people should "man up", in humor, in those we would hire for what positions, in how apologies are given.


This may also be me as the older generation looking at it but, those who represent a site should have a public persona that is friendly but professional. How can we expect more from an employee than what we see from the top, both of which have made some very unprofessional comments on and off site. ... .. that however, is enough to do another blog on LOL


I can always hope that they have all learned something about public perception.


thanks for reading :)