Here goes nothing.... (World Reaction part 5 ?)

[jaguar]

Understandable enough.
There seem to be alot of wankers in the world, and they mostly seem to be at one or the other end of help desks or customer service. The foxtel(cabel tv here) wanker who phoned up 4 times, in the middle of dinner, whne i aksed him not to comes to mind.

[lisa]

Originally posted by sycamore
Having been in the customer service industry for over a decade now, I have learned to handle customers rather well. But for some reason, the comment that this bastard child made stirred up what could best be described as primal rage.

My God! That is quite an understandable reaction no matter what kind of person you are. For someone to wish death upon you just for having some administrative red tape that he doesn't care for.

I suppose that he may be pretty high-stressed himself right now -- may have lost someone in the distaster that he cares for. But, even if that is true, it's sad that he would express it in that way.

Syc, if you said those words calmly, I'd say that your response was quite understandable -- no, restrained. Just hanging up OR yelling would have been understandable.

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by lisa
My God! That is quite an understandable reaction no matter what kind of person you are. For someone to wish death upon you just for having some administrative red tape that he doesn't care for.

I made sure I told my supervisor about it, to cover my ass. As a supervisor, we have some leeway in handling irate customers, but I'm not one to abuse something like that.

As I mentioned, I've been in customer service for over 10 years now--in person, on the phone, and online. I've been called a lot of different names. I've had customers threaten to meet me on parking lots after closing time. As a whole, I've always handled myself well, even though I can have a temper. I've always tried to handle customers in the most professional way. But in the past 2 months at this god-forsaken job of mine, I have heard some of the meanest, most spiteful comments ever. I have my posits as to why (such as the fact that many people have become too dependent on their wireless phones), but that is neither here nor there. In the span of 8 hours yesterday:

--One customer that told me I better watch my back b/c I denied his claim.
--One customer who wished I had been in the World Trade Center.
--Another customer who began cussing at me b/c of his error in delaying the filing of his claim.

F**k that...I've had enough of the world of customer service. 10 years is more than enough.

I suppose that he may be pretty high-stressed himself right now -- may have lost someone in the distaster that he cares for. But, even if that is true, it's sad that he would express it in that way.

This could tie in to why this thread was originally started.

The guy I was on the phone with was from Seattle. Certainly, he could have had someone involved in what happened, but I would suspect no. Who knows?

But given that this customer is 3000 miles away from what happened, maybe he does not feel as sensitive to it as I or others do. I don't doubt that people around the world felt the sadness or pain of what occurred...but as Undertoad said, "If you're not connected to the situation, plenty of time has passed."

I personally feel a moderate connection to what happened. New York City is a mere 90 miles away from Philadelphia. Washington, DC is 120 miles away. The original reports had suggested that one of the hijacked planes was headed for Philadelphia. My fiance works in University City and rides the El to and from work. And, although it was all the way across the state, one of those planes went down in Pennsylvania. Not to mention, a friend of mine works near the WTC. Lastly, although I try to use logic as much as possible, I tend to be more emotional. Therefore, (using some of that psychology education I have), I would deduce that your reaction to what happened is based on where you were, the depth of involvement (friends or family that were at Ground Zero), and your own emotions. Perhaps I could use this as some sort of hypothesis for an experiment.

When I left CVS, I tried desperately to find a job away from the world of customer service, but none were to be had at the time. But I've been there, done that now...and it wouldn't surprise me if it was contributing to my current health problems. I would love to be a consultant, where I could advise a) Companies on how to make customer service, and b) Common folk on how to control their "I want it and want it now!" urges. But it figures, I'm looking for a job in a city with slim pickings and a national economy that is slowing down.

[Undertoad]

From a weblog that sometimes finds the bizarre and unusual. And just before this image was the one CZ found.

And this was linked to a rather raw address - and the image file size was 120K. I've optimized it so now it's 20K.

[Pripp]

Just got this in the mail... Amidst all this tragedy - am I the only one looking at this picture who gets reminded of a bottle opener?

-pripp

[sapienza]

I haven't been able to find anything along those lines on CNN.com ... I would bet it's a joke. Besides, an airliner could just fly down a few floors and still run into it.

Anyways, a pair of giant bottle openers would make the NY skyline pretty damned silly looking.

[Undertoad]

blowmetheclown sends this along, entitled simply "Osama Found":

[Joe]

I wonder what kind of sound those towers would emit if the wind hit them just right?

I could just see crowds of NYC desk jockeys on the streets of Manhattan, all with their heads tilted to one side and clenching their teeth, dogs whining, birds scared away...

Of course the photo's a joke, but I will be very interested to see what they build there. Terrorism or not, that's some very pricey real estate. Once they finish picking up the mess (a few more months, tops) they'll start.

I've thought about this for a while, and I want exact replicas, only tougher to destroy.

[dynamo]

Originally posted by Joe
I've thought about this for a while, and I want exact replicas, only tougher to destroy.

You know Joe, that was my feeling for a while too, show our resiliency, put those buildings right back up. My fiancee changed my mind though, she said that's a grave now, and it should be memorialized like one. I think I have to agree...

[Joe]

True enough, the buildings will be seen as something very frightening to some now. These feelings will ease with time, but we'll always remember.

I know that if my house were destroyed, I would not build it back the same way, I'd make it better. I'd design a new one with all the good things of the old version, eliminate what I didn't like, and I'd add new cool stuff.

Part of me is in denial about this whole indident. The Twin Towers *gone*? Impossible! Building them back the same would in some way make it as if this whole thing had never happened. There's a comfort in the familiar, and people resist change.

It's cowardly, I know.

[sapienza]

dynamo, despite the fact that those towers are a grave, there's no chance that the towers <i>won't</i> be rebuilt. I heard reports that said that the towers had 25% of the office space of lower manhattan, and besides that it's some of the most valuable real estate on the planet, and won't be used solely for a grave.

Look at London, Dresden, Nagasaki. These were cities with hundreds of buildings destroyed and thousands and thousands killed and they didn't turn into memorial sites, only.

True, a memorial is needed, but they'll find a way to integrate it into the design of the next buildings to go there. Don't worry, folks won't forget.

sapienza

[dynamo]

Well...I'm skeptical. I'm skeptical because there's another reason why they may not be rebuilt, a reason that none of us want to admit. "Terrorism" didn't get that name on accident. Since that building has proven to be a target TWICE now, perhaps companies aren't gonna want to rent space there.

The country is still reeling from this and probably will be for a while. Those bastards got us, and they're probably gonna get us again before this is over.

[Joe]

I think the question here is the purpose we have in mind when we rebuild.

If we want to do the most practical thing, then a super-highrise is out. From what I've been reading lately, building higher than 60 floors isn't profitable, any floors higher than that take so much extra work to build and maintain that the rents they generate don't pay their expenses. Companies still do it for the prestige factor, but that's what they're buying.

A new Corvette isn't practical or cheap, but guess what? Your neighbor doesn't have one.

I'm not on the design committee, so I'll just sit back and watch what goes up. What do we build on the WTC site? That's quite a decision for someone to make, and the structure will no doubt be controversial and full of graft and corruption when it is built. People will hate it when it goes up, then adopt it as their very own. It's the New York way.

[Count Zero]

If Taliban Wins...








Try to keep this from happening : http://www.uzinagaz.com/index.php?entry_point=wtc

[jaguar]

oh i *love* that middle one of the statue..