Bittersweet Symphony
2004-09-18 at 3:18 p.m.
My optimism is alive
I'm going to back to training so I have a temporary relief from the phone. I forgot to say that my overwhelming impression from answering customer service calls is that, surprisingly for me, most people are really good and really nice. I've always thought I was really good because I've always been overly nice on the phone, and come to find out I've been puffing myself up for nothing-- most people are the same.So I've been tweeking my, eh, let's say "attitude" for phone calls. I started out with sweet, above average speaking speed. It works OK. Probably 75% respond well and don't say, "I can't understand you. Can you slow down?" But I decided to switch to mellow sweet, and I'm getting a much better response. The only people who don't like that are about half of people who are in a hurry, and there aren't many of those anyway. It's much easier to sound sympathetic in that attitude. You might ask why I don't switch according to the customer. But I have to really get into it, it's like role-playing. No, in real life I wouldn't really be that patient about explaining the difference between mail delivery and newspaper delivery. Or repeat myself more than once, maybe twice.
You mean...? Yes
So...? Yes
So, you mean...?
Yes.
Yes. and Yes.
Oh really. So...?
I don't mind stupid people though. I mean, at least it gives you something to talk about. Mean people are far, far worse. But I like my job. It's not so bad. My friend Mulu, fate unknown, Ethopian maid of my grandmother-in-law, would do almost anything for my job. And millions of other people. How to get upset over it?
I know that that last sentence doesn't make any sense. And I hate it when people use incorrect English to sound cute. But how to get mad at me?
I wish I had a scanner so you could see these pictures of my family in Lebanon. Maybe I will take a picture of it with my digital camera. Hold on.
OK, never buy cheap ass batteries. Apparently "Heavy Duty," is a code word for "will not even work the very first time you use them." I want. My money back. Maybe later. Dammit.
Oh, and Michael Moore is coming to a nearby college, and I realize my liberal isolation even more greatly because people are furious about it, for some reason. I am in the reddest county in the reddest state. God help me. But not the Mormon god, please.
Oh, and, I get to see Michael Moore. Yeah!!
Oh, my idiot of the week award goes to the girl on my row who claimed that Farenheit 9/11's main contention was that there was "no terrorist influence" on... "the terrorist attacks." OK. When you're going to make shit up and stuff... And then not make sense. Could I get a worthy foe up in here? Oh yeah, there isn't one. HA!
Edit: I just realized that might sound conceited. I meant, not that I am the only worthy person, but that my beliefs are the only worthy ones, overall. The only people who could disagree with me are bad and purposfully avoid painful truths, stupid, and/or misinformed. So, no worthies there.
Or just religious. And religious fervor can make a lot of bad stuff seem OK. And how do you argue with it?
Current Terror Alert Level: