Secrets to Getting Great Customer Service & The Curious Story of Remote Controls
Evaluation and Summary
This episode of Something You Should Know covers three distinct topics. The first segment explores the science of smell and memory, examining why certain scents can vividly transport us to specific moments in time and trigger emotional responses more powerfully than visual cues. The second and longest segment features consumer advocate Christopher Elliott discussing practical strategies for getting effective customer service. Elliott, who runs a nationally syndicated advice column and newsletter, shares what actually works when dealing with unresponsive companies, common mistakes that backfire, and how some businesses excel at customer service while others fail. The third segment covers the surprisingly rich history and cultural impact of remote controls, told by Georgetown professor Caetlin Benson-Allott, author of "Remote Control." This segment explores how remote controls evolved, how they changed human behavior and media consumption, and where the technology may be headed. A brief fourth segment addresses the biological reason why fingers and toes wrinkle in water—revealing it's not simple water absorption but an intentional bodily response with evolutionary advantages. The episode is bookended by sponsor reads for Ka'Chava, Trees.com, Monarch, Vinted, Wayfair, Quince, Dell, and Indeed.
Verdict: A typical Something You Should Know episode with interesting but surface-level coverage of disparate topics, hampered by heavy advertising and lack of focus.
Science rubric
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Scientific accuracy 3/5 20%
Topics appear grounded in legitimate science (Harvard Medical School source on smell-memory, Cleveland Clinic on pruning), but show notes provide no detail on accuracy of explanations or nuance in claims.
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Clarity for non-experts 3/5 20%
The show notes suggest accessible topics (customer service tips, remote control history) but without hearing the actual episode, clarity cannot be fully assessed; the topics themselves are inherently explainable.
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Sense of discovery 3/5 15%
The remote control history and smell-memory connection offer some fresh perspective, but customer service advice is practical rather than novel; mix of familiar and moderately interesting material.
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Substance 2/5 15%
Four disparate topics crammed into 49 minutes with eight sponsor reads suggests thin coverage per topic; likely padding and rapid topic-switching rather than deep exploration.
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Delivers on its title 2/5 15%
Title promises 'Secrets to Getting Great Customer Service & The Curious Story of Remote Controls' but episode also includes unrelated segments on smell-memory and water pruning, diluting focus.
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Value for time 2/5 15%
49 minutes covering four unrelated topics with heavy sponsor integration suggests rushed pacing; listeners seeking depth on any single topic will find it shallow.
Worth it if you enjoy bite-sized explorations of random curiosities and don't mind frequent ad breaks interrupting the flow.
Content flags
- Ad-heavy Eight sponsor reads (Ka'Chava, Trees.com, Monarch, Vinted, Wayfair, Quince, Dell, Indeed) in a 49-minute episode represents substantial ad load relative to content.
Based on the episode description. AI-generated; it can be wrong.
Show notes
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