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Cliché of the Week: Debbie, the Time Life Operator

Written by

Doug Neff

You’ve known Debbie for years. She’s been there for you since you were a little kid, waiting patiently at the other end of an 800 number to fulfill your most urgent needs: that night when you just had to have the Mysteries of the Unknown collection or that rainy Sunday when you couldn’t live without the comforting sounds of AM Gold or Sounds of the Eighties.

Debbie’s been a constant in your life. You’ve seen her friendly smile in magazine ads, infomercials, even websites.

And now Debbie has migrated to PowerPoint slides.

When I polled our amazing team of Duarte Designers on their favorite clichés, this one scored in the top five. We see pictures of Debbie so often she feels a little like family to us. She even called us on the phone once.

Yeah, really. Debbie called us on the phone. You know what she said?

Debbie: I appreciate all the attention, guys. But I’m really sick of this work. The pay is crappy, and I’m tired of having my teeth whitened. I just want to spend the rest of my life sucking down Piña Coladas on the beach in Cabo. Please let me retire…

And there you have it. She doesn’t want the job any more! So let’s allow Debbie to fade away into the sunset, and find a new way to express the idea of “friendly customer service”.

I gave out the answers last time. How about we hear some alternate ideas from our readers this time?

I’ll even make it interesting: FREE PRIZE!

Here’s the deal:

  1. Add a comment that features an alternate idea to using Debbie in your presentation.
  2. We’ll randomly select three commenters to win a copy of slide:ology (autographed by Nancy).
  3. Contest ends one week from today. We’ll notify the winners via e-mail.

Good luck!

Take the next step

We offer flexible, individual and team training to help build critical communication skills as well as hands-on, one-on-one coaching and full-service strategy, consulting and presentation design support. Learn more below:

Written by

Doug Neff

TOPICS:

Storytelling, Strategy, Visual Thinking

Take the next step

We offer flexible, individual and team training to help build critical communication skills as well as hands-on, one-on-one coaching and full-service strategy, consulting and presentation design support. Learn more below:

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