The Merrill Dubrow Blog

There are so many dating shows on TV. From Love Connection, Blind Date, elimiDate, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Temptation Island and many others.

Most of us have funny dating stories. Most of us didn’t meet Mr/Mrs right in high school like my sister was lucky enough to do. Therefore we have probably gone on our fair share of dates. It is safe to say that most dates don’t work out. I am not suggesting that they are a disaster, but clearly finding that someone special takes time, effort and unfortunately many dates.

I have a number of single friends who share their dating stories and I must admit some of them are hysterical. Since most–if not all of us–have had bad dates or funny dates, I think it’s time we should share them. Feel free to change the names to protect the innocent.

And of course I will go first:

One of the funniest dates I ever had was way back in 1986 when I was living in Massachusetts. My travel agent (remember when we all had one) had a new employee that was moving in from out of town and asked if I would take her out and show her around. We decided to go out and actually play tennis at the house she was staying at which was located in Sudbury, MA. And yes they had their own tennis court, pool and hot tub – gorgeous house. Anyway after playing tennis we had decided to have a BBQ. But of course I forgot something at the store and needed to run out quickly. As I left the house it started to pour and as I walked to my car I could barely see three feet in front of me. I got in my car and instead of continuing around the circular driveway (like a normal individual) I decided to back up. Not a smart move, since it was pouring and I couldn’t see a thing. The next thing I know I hit a beautiful and expensive light post which came crashing down and shattered in the driveway.

So let’s regroup and see where we are at this point.

• I am with a total stranger
   
• It is pouring out
   
• I just left huge marks on their nicely manicured lawn

And I hit and shattered a light post!

Not a great start to a relationship. Anyway the end result was after I returned from the store I apologized and offered to pay for the light post.

No there wasn’t a second date.

I hope you enjoyed my story and I really look forward to hearing yours! 

AND WHO KNOWS…THERE MIGHT BE A PRIZE FOR THE FUNNIEST STORY!

During the course of a week I get hundreds of emails. A fair number of them have great ideas for blog topics, upcoming presentations and keeping me up to date on industry happenings.

Anyone in the research industry knows that respondent cooperation is a hot topic, a burning issue–probably the biggest issue this great industry is currently facing.

I recently saw a video that I thought was extremely clever. The video involves a thumbs up/down campaign.

I LOVED the video. I enjoy the music, the people, the thumbs up/down concept. I found myself watching very intently every part of the video wondering what’s next? Will it be thumbs up or thumbs down? For me I really enjoyed how they mixed in the text into the entire concept.

My favorite part was the girl running past the little boy and having him mimic her by running after her. The message I got out of it is respondents following respondents and conducting more interviews–a concept that all researchers would benefit from.

THUMBS UP to Roseanne Luth and the Luth Research team. I really enjoyed your creativity and message. Keep up the good work!

I hope you enjoyed watching the video.

• What did you get out of the video?
   
• Thumbs up or down?

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Since it is Friday, I thought a quick, fun, short thought-provoking blog might be appropriate on a summer day:

• Should it really take me thirty-five minutes to iron a shirt or am I doing something wrong?
   
• When your flight gets diverted to another city (happened to me twice in the last month), why don’t you get extra frequent flyer miles and extra segments flown?
   
• Other than size, is there really a difference between bath soap and face soap in a hotel?
   
• Why does it take companies one second to charge your credit card for a purchase but a week to issue you a credit!
   
• Is there any other response than “yes” when your spouse asks you, “would you like to go to have dinner with my family”?
   
• I thought I would never say this but I am more excited about seeing G-rated movies these days than R movies! Am I alone?
   
• I wish I had a dollar for every time I said I would clean the dinner table and forgot…..
   
• For some reason I really get a chuckle when my kids say “Dad, come quick! We found a snail and he’s getting away.”

I hope you enjoyed these thoughts and look forward to hearing yours!

It’s hard for me to believe there was a time I wasn’t sure what a blog was or frankly cared. At times they were mentioned on the radio, but rarely was it in my everyday discussion. After having numerous discussions with Joan, Frank and Randy, they convinced me that it was a great idea to start a blog. I finally said yes and contacted industry friend and blog guru Toby Bloomberg. She flew in and gave a company presentation. The rest is somewhat history. 

Over the past year we have been highlighted on a tremendous number of websites. We are averaging 900 visitors a week and have almost 1200 comments. Yes I am surprised, in fact very surprised. I guess we are doing something right and clearly our internal team makes me look good.

My hope is that I would make a little bit of a difference in people’s lives. I try and look at things a little differently and write about things I see that don’t make sense to me. It has been an honor to write the blog for over a year. I must admit I have had a lot of fun writing it and enjoy hearing from Christopher D when he says “I am still shocked you are doing this”.

Over the past year I have heard from so many people who enjoy reading the blog and suggesting topics to write about. Please keep them coming!

Our goal is too try and appeal to a wide variety of readers. Our topic range could be about research, TV, sports and some kind of business issue that irks me.

What’s next? More of the same mixed in with:

• Guest writers
   
• Videos

And yes more contests!

This past year has been a whirlwind tour. I have learned so much. I want to say thank you to all of the readers, commenters and especially a big thank you to the internal M/A/R/C Blog team!

I really look forward to hearing:

• What was your favorite blog?
   
• What would you like to read more of?
   
• What doesn’t interest you?
   
• What can we do better and different in the next year and beyond?

Thanks again! Your support means a tremendous amount to me.

Happy Birthday to The Merrill Dubrow Blog!