Way cool … on several levels.

I mean, really … it’s not that difficult to provide the most basic customer service, is it?

Dumb question.

So here’s the thing: I’m looking to get a new battery for my Galaxy S that I purchased at a T-Mobile store.

Except T-Mobile stores evidently don’t carry batteries for the phones they sell. At least not the ones I tried in Manhattan and here in the suburbs north of Philly.

“Sorry, we don’t carry batteries” has to be in the top five most absurd things any cell phone retail store worker says.

The T-Mobile retail stores are beautiful. They’re stylish, bright and roomy. There’s plenty of room as far as I can tell for some sort of free-standing carousel of batteries. But hey, if it’s gonna mess up your feng shui, just keep ’em behind the counter or in the back somewhere.

But do you really have to put a customer looking for a battery through such a wringer? Instead of aggravating someone by sending them from store to store to face negative response after negative response, why not just stock the damn things? You’re looking for new revenue streams all the time, aren’t you? Why not service desperate phone customers who need a battery now, not when some online retailer can ship it to them.

Oh, and by the way: Your 611 service sucks even harder. I tried calling to register a complaint, and the voice prompt delivers nothing but absolute and total frustration. You’re better off shutting this “customer service” channel down entirely: The absence of creating anger among your customers has to be viewed as a net plus against any miniscule satisfaction collectively gained by telling customers who dial 611 how much they owe and then giving us a series of barely useful voice prompts.

How do you support an executive who keeps hearing about social media but hasn’t gotten his or her feet wet yet? Maria Ogneva has some answers over on Mashable, but one element is missing:

Be authentic.

Executives should not be getting involved in social media if they’re trying to create some sort of PR-dept.-scrubbed image of themselves as opposed to trying to create genuine conversations that address customer concerns with straight answers.

In related news: That infographic up there was created last year and can be seen over here.

AP writer Michelle Conlin explains why.

SAN JOSE, CA—With funding from dozens of news outlets and media companies, the groundbreaking Outkube.com launched this week, providing an online destination where pandering and incendiary content is used to lure moronic Internet commenters away from all other websites.

The story continues over on The Onion.