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I live in a relatively small city where only a few years ago it was still respectable to go out in public with socks and a pair of Birkenstocks (see an example here). Lately around town, I’ve noticed another fashion statement starting arise in the business community, which sent shivers down my spine. At first I thought it was just our city, but after traveling to Seattle last week, I realized it’s a much bigger issue than I had expected. What I’m talking about is wearing a backpack with business attire (i.e. suits). My thoughts are, if you want to be taken seriously in the business world (listen up soon to be college graduates), ditch the backpack, grow up and buy yourself a big boy bag, like a briefcase. I’m not talking about something like your father’s briefcase, but something a bit more with the times. Take a look at Overstock.com, they’ve got a pretty good selection.

I’m well aware that the backpack is much better for your physical health than a briefcase, since the weight is evenly distributed, but sometimes style has to be at the forefront, especially when a first impression is a stake.

Usually, I let business fashion mistakes (i.e. dress shoes with white socks etc.) by recent college graduates slide, but now the cat is out of the bag, there is no excuse for me to catch anyone in a business suit with a backpack.

But hell, what do I know about business attire? After all, we are the poster boys for casual dress at the office.

I wrote a blog post a few weeks back entitled Cash Is King, and I wanted to elaborate on what was said. In the blog post I explained the need for leasing, but I didn’t help my readers with a recommendation for a company once you’re ready to start leasing. There’s one company in particular that I’d like to recommend by the name of InteliLease. They’ve been excellent on all fields, if you have a need to lease, be sure to contact them.

* Have you had a good leasing company that you can recommend? If so, please note in the comments.

KFC had an amazing promotion going on, even getting the support of Oprah. The promotion was offering two free pieces of grilled chicken, two sides and a biscuit to anyone who downloaded a coupon within a two-day period. Instead, it turned into an unmitigated disaster when the company was unable to execute and actually had to rescind the offer.

Blogs began reporting “riots” at New York City KFCs and local news crews interviewed fuming customers getting turned away in other markets, including Chicago. Consumers complained about rude service, and media complained about a PR team that seemed asleep at the wheel. See the video below:

Even though they completely screwed up this promotion, they did something right. When shit started to hit the fan, their CEO got in-front of the camera and apologized (see video below). Such a small action, but so powerful in the mind of the consumer. When shit hits the fan, don’t hide behind a press release, man up, get in front of the camera and let people know what is going on.

I think I’m a pretty nice guy, so I’m always amazed at some of the emails I get. I have embedded one of the emails I received this week to give you an example.

Now in my opinion there are two types of negative emails, 1) constructive criticism emails i.e. “I can’t believe you removed that feature, you made a huge mistake” and 2) unconstructive criticism i.e. “You all suck”. Here at Tatango, we make sure that every constructive criticism email is given adequate thought and responded to. However, when it comes to unconstructive emails, you have to fight the urge to respond, as it’s not worth your time and never results in anything positive. This is easy to preach, but when that email shows up in your inbox, I recommend you go through the four steps below to refrain yourself from giving in and responding.

1. Get a second opinion - When someone attacks me personally (especially when they mention my family, like they did in the email above) my natural reaction is to attack them back 100X worse. Before doing anything though, get a second opinion. At Tatango, my second opinion comes from Alex, our VP of Marketing. Since these emails aren’t directed at him personally, he usually sees things from a more logical standpoint as he can remove himself emotionally from the situation, which makes him better at making a decision on wether to respond or not.

2. Give it a little time - Never respond right away to a message like the one above. Trust me, if you give it a little bit of time, most likely you will forget about it.

2. Put yourself in their shoes - Try to get in the mind of the sender and figure out why they took the time to contact you and why they said what they did. If you really look at one of these emails, you will see they scream of hatred, jealousy and anger. As a personal safety issue, you don’t want to compound these emotions in the sender by responding.

3. What positive things will come out of responding? - NOTHING. I’ve actually tried responding to a few of these emails to see what happens. Usually you feel good for a few hours after responding and then the person responds with even more hate and anger. Congratulations, you are now back where you started and have wasted a few minutes of your day in dealing with this. Don’t you have bigger and better things to worry about?

4. Believe in yourself - These emails never bother me, even the real personal attacks. Why? I believe in myself! I know none of what he saying is true and I have no respect for this person, so why should I care what he says or let it get to me?