What happened to Kindness & Consideration..?

What to write, what to write... it's not that there isn't anything happening, I just am not quite functional yet. But I feel a need to post here, as I have been somewhat neglectful of my poor little blog. In my defense, I have had a lot going on, what with the broken arm and all, but still.

A lot of my writing here is done from work, but the phones have been ringing off the hook for the last week, and the people calling have been all kindsa nutsos...One of the most common calls I've gotten in the last week goes like this:

Me:"Thank you for calling (da da dum) The Cable Company, this is Jodi"                

Caller: "I pusht da buttons but nuttin is happenin. The box says bypass, and there's no picture in my tv. It's a bran new tv, I know dey ain't nuttin wrong wit it, but da cable inn't wurkin"

Me: *trying to turn what I just hear into understandable English:"Ummm, so your box says bypass, and you don't have a picture on your television..?" *Please note "Bypass" means the box has been turned off..."

Caller: "Yeah"

Me: "Could you please walk up to your box and press the "Power" button for me and tell me what happens?"

Caller: "The button on da box...dere's buttons on da box..?"

Me: "Yes, there's a button that is labeled "power" Could you push that please?"

Silence while the caller goes to investigate the box.

Caller:" Dis button here? Da one dat says "Power"?

Me: "Yes, please press it."
Silence while caller presses button. Extended silence.

Me: *after about a full minute "Sir..? Could you tell me what's on your tv now please?"
Caller: "Huh..? Oh yeah, it's working now, I got a picture and everything. Why wasn't it working.."
Me: *stifling the urge to say Because you didn't turn it on* :"So it's working ok for you now? Are you having any other issues..?"

Caller: "Naw, it's good"

Me: "Ok, thank you for call-..." and that's about as far as I get before they hang up. And what's with that anyways? What happened to manners and common courtesy..? The number of people who call us, with a nasty attitude right off the bat, expecting us to work magic and fix whatever ails them is astounding. But even when you do fix it, there's no thank you, not even so much as a Good-bye. They just hang up. It's rather irritating. Ok, it's a lot irritating. If I have just spent 10 minutes working to get your services back on line, the least you could do is be civil, and have the decency to say Good-bye before you hang up.

We schedule visits from technicians in either a 2 or 4 hour window. When we schedule the appointment, we make it clear that it will be somewhere within that window, and that we don't have any more specific timeframe. Is it a pain in the ass to have to sit home for that period? Yup. But if you want your stuff fixed, that's what you've gotta do. Just like I have to, and everyone else has to....

I had a man call me to "confirm" that he was to have someone out that day. I confirmed that indeed he was scheduled for 2-4 (this was at about 2:45ish) he then asked me when the tech would arrive. I told him it would be sometime before 4. Now, this was an older man, someone who (supposedly) was raised in an era of politeness and consideration.

Caller: "Well, can't you find out when he'll be here?"
Me: "No sir, I'm sorry, we don't have a way of contacting the techs to narrow the arrival time."
Caller:"You can't just call him and find out when he'll be here? I gave up my whole Saturday for this! I've had to sit here all day waiting for this! Can't you find out what time he'll get here?"
Me: *Note: this man was upgrading, adding additional service, not having something fixed. "No sir, I apologize, but we aren't able to contact the technicians. Someone will be there between now and 4."

Caller:*Sarcasm in full measure "You can't call them? Well how do you contact them? You mean to tell me if one of their wives died you couldn't get ahold of them"
Me: *Huh? how is this even remotely the same situation..? "Sir, I am sure there is a policy in place to address that sort of situation, but this is entirely different, and I am unable to contact a technician to determine an arrival time"

The guy hung up. There are so many things wrong with this - Let's start with, based on this conversation, if I could contact a tech and get an estimated arrival time, and I did offer it to this man, you can bet your ass, if the tech got hung up and was 2 minutes beyond that arrival time, this man would be on the phone bitching that the tech was supposed to be here, and he's not here, and why do I have to waste a whole day for this..? And calling back every 5 minutes until said tech arrived. And I can only imagine what the poor tech would have to listen to. And where does he get off saying something like that..? About a techs wife dying..? That is just malicious & wrong.

Apparently, as an employee of (da da dum) The Cable Company, a person is required to become something more, There is no room allowed for unexpected circumstances, and never is something more complicated that it should be. Therefore, you must arrive exactly when you say, do it perfect the first time (oh, yeah, but if it's my stuff, you have to deal with the unexpected, take as much time as is needed, and damn any other people who are waiting for their stuff to be done).

It doesn't work that way people, so how about some human decency and consideration..? You're not the only person on the planet, you're not the only person waiting for something, and dammit, sometimes SHIT HAPPENS.

Now if you can say you never f*ck up, are never late, and you are perfect, then I guess this doesn't apply to you. But since no one can claim those things, get over it and wait your turn.

Hmmmm, where did that come from..? I don't think that was where I meant to go with this, but there it is :)

Gotta take the boy to Mamaw & Papaw's so they can sign the cast...

See ya laterzzzzzzzzz!