For those who work in customer service or in retail, I’m sure you’ll understand the gravity of the title. While I haven’t held a job as customer service as immersed as a cashier, a waitperson or a call center operator,  I can still sympathize with the experiences shared on this site. No working experience is without their interesting situations similar to the eye-brow raising, head-scratching, laugh-behind-their-back moments like these.

While customer satisfaction is the priority of every business and service out there, customers themselves can often forget that those who cater to them are human beings also. I’ve previously featured a rant site that caters to the irate and hostile customers, Not Always Right tends to show the more humorously aggravating side of customer relations. Look at it this way, I Hate Bad Service deals with the customer’s story and Not Always Right deals with the employee/business’ story. Now you have an arena to air whatever grievance you had regardless of what side you stand.

The folks running Not Always Right are based in both the US and the UK and have managed their way through their own unique customer service experiences in every position on the field. There is also a book out for those who can’t seem to get enough. On Sunday’s, a hired comic artist transforms one of the popular posts into a visual experience for those who like their world in comic form. I highly suggest you visit the site. I’d post a fav but to be honest, there are so many funny ones I wouldn’t know what to pick. It’s comical and the kind of situations and sayings that you just can’t make up. If you need a humorous break, check this site out!

“IfItWereMyHome.com is your gateway to understanding life outside your home. Use our country comparison tool to compare living conditions in your own country to those of another. Start by selecting a region to compare on the map to the right, and begin your exploration.

You can also use our visualization tool to help understand the impact of a disaster. The Pakistan Flood and BP Oil Spill are currently featured. Check out the individual pages to gain some perspective on these awful tragedies.

If you’re not sure where to begin, try this week’s featured country, Canada”

Have you ever wondered whether life was better on the other side of the fence? Very few of us are fortunate enough to lead lives that have us taking flight to a new destination, to travel the world and call various countries our home. Therefore it’s not uncommon to find yourself fantasizing about living somewhere else, perhaps more tropical, more rural or even picturing yourself in one of the world’s biggest cities. While I will always love my home and the city I grew up in, as a young adult with very little ties to my present location, I often wonder where would be the next best place to settle in. Perhaps there’s even a better place to live than where I am now that would be more beneficial for the family or lifestyle I hope to have someday.

Well wonder no more. A site called If It Were My Home allows you to size up countries based on several general facts regarding lifestyle, well-being and overall quality of life. These categories include possible employment, earning potential, potential to have children, life expectancy, free time and the likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS. While all of the comparisons should be taken with a word of caution and added investigation, it allows the general person insight on what light might be like elsewhere.

While the site takes a more closer look at the comparison of the United States and other countries, there is the option of comparing other countries against each other. This is certainly what I did first and compared my home of Canada with my future prospects for homes in the future. Each comparison gives a brief description of the country that you’ve stacked it up against, readings on the country and allows user to make their comments and weigh their opinion on which country really reigns supreme.

It is easy to use the site for other reasons than its original purpose; making it a battleground on which country is better than others but this shouldn’t be the case. It’s merely a tool to help bring our world a little closer and should be seen as such. When you compare wealthier developed countries to those in the third world, it becomes quite clear what many of us should be grateful for.

Have a try and see for yourself what you find out.

Privacy please? You wish. There’s nothing left for the imagination on this one. The design behind this unique doorknob was the collaborative work of companies and individuals over in Japan, most notably the architect Hideyuki Nakayama. Basically when you look at the doorknob it gives you and fish eye view of what’s on the other side.

Pretty cool concept though I have no real life application for this. I have no desire to look at the other side. If I was really that interested, wouldn’t I just open the door? Just saying :)

Source: A room in the Glass Globe

While going through my regular sites of random articles, I came across this interesting chart showing the similarities of three different professions. It’s a pretty interesting diagram if you ask me considering its eerie ring of truth. Anyways, I followed its source and it lead me to an interesting site: Chart Porn.

“A collection of interesting examples of charts, graphs, maps, and interactive data visualization toys — with a focus on economics and graphic design.”

For those who thrive on the visuals, this is a great site showcasing data in visual forms whether they be diagrams, photos, charts or videos. The blog is run by washington DC based economist/artist Dustin Smith which started from his own general love for the visual effects. The types of posts featured on the site come under every category and provide an occasional dose of knowledge that’s pleasing to the eye. So if you ever find yourself bored and needing something to pass the time, check out the site!

Time lapses are some of the most beautiful photography/videography out there. As with my other things in life, there’s a distinct beauty that comes from seeing what time can do to help evolve and change the world around us. An annual project by Eirik Solheim brings that concept to centre stage.

This isn’t the first year time lapse project from Eirik but it is the first true time lapse. He set up a camera system that took a photo every half an hour for an entire year outside of one of window frames. Not counting some technical glitches, he was left with roughly 16 000 photos at the year end to combine together and transform into art.

His first project was stitching the photos together to create an image of a year. Information on that endeavour alone is found here: A year in one image. It is a beautiful shot of Norway scenery where Eirik lives. Creating this photo included some technical script in order to take one line from each image to combine altogether. The photo makes a clear distinction between the seasons. It depicts fairly short spring and fall seasons, a relatively decent summer and a not too surprising long winter.

His second task was to create a true time lapse video, combining all of the photos together. The specific on its creation can be found on his website.

I’m sure Eirik has moved on to his 2011 project and I’ll be more than interested to see how that one turns out.

For the full story on the process for this project please visit: eirikso.com