Yelp helps?

Obviously, the advent of Yelp has revamped the power of the consumer. The smart businesses are taking a piece of that power back with Yelp stickers in storefront windows, "Our customers love us on Yelp" and offering discounts, as at one particular fondue spot, with a printout of the businesses Yelp page. The barriers between buyer and seller have really been broken in an effective and somewhat scary way.

If you know that every customer has the ability to dis your biz in a format that reaches millions of customers faster than you can say phonebook, won't that help revive the mythical creature we call "Customer Service"?

Unfortunately, the average American does not live in a major city where Yelping is so instant and widespread. Instead, the average American lives in a town with a population under 20,000, has hungry kids and lives within 10 miles of a really crappy Pizza Hut. Settling happens. (In my particular neck of the woods, we have a rogue Pizza Hut that has successfully seceded from the franchise. I'll tell you about that later.)

Additionally, even with all the valuable feedback tools our wifi can sling, what is a small town business owner to do with bad employee attitudes? Sure in a college community, you can fire and re-hire in one day, but again, in a smaller town such as my own, excess labor isn't an option, even as the unemployed lines grow. Everyone is either overqualified or too proud.

Theladder.com has piqued my interest (Who doesn't want $100K/year?), but perhaps there is more of a need for a Bottomrung.com for good-natured folks who don't necessarily want it all but want to make a positive impression on the rest of the world with the simplicity of a smile.

It can be done, I've seen it here in Chicago, from janitors to doormen, cab drivers, elevator operators, salespeople and passersby. I wish I could Yelp the whole city with five stars or a fat thumbs up. But maybe it's all environmental-- where you are happy to be, you will be happy to host others.