The outsourcing blues

I consider myself a citizen of the world, and I really make an effort to understand the global economy. I want to be tolerant, and I want to receive satisfactory customer service for products that I buy and use. So, I have a considerable amount of angst about outsourced call centers. I know that their existence is often made light of and joked about by comedians, pundits, popular culture. I also understand the economic reason for their existence to better the company's bottom line. I must admit that actually dealing with them on a pretty regular basis has been somewhat of a wash for me.


I have a way I prefer to communicate with phone contacts of companies. I usually start out being as polite and sweet as apple pie, but then when my issue is not resolved within, say 15 to 20 minutes of waiting, talking to a computer voice, being put on hold, I start to lose my polite voice. It is my weakness and character flaw, and I have come pretty close to blowing a gasket on several different occasions. I have even worked a phone switchboard as a temporary job, so I guess I know a little about what I'm complaining about. Problem solving skills and initiative to find a solution are two skills that most employees need, and especially customer service personnel. Obtuse denial that there even IS a problem is not a good starting point for me with a phone operator.

Anyway, my major hideous billing issue with a certain cell phone company that loves the color pink was FINALLY resolved today after nearly 2 days straight on the phone. I wish I had kept my cool through it all, but sadly, I did not, and I will have to live with that.

Summertime, and the living is. . .

I usually relish August. There is a laziness about it; a careless expectation of finishing summer projects, MAYBE. The weather may be stifling, as it has been many summers, or gorgeous, as it has been so far this summer. For some reason, this year, though I have never noticed it before, cicadas buzz incessantly in the atmosphere here in southern Minnesota, a sound I had previously associated only with hotter, more southern areas I have lived. It is comforting and almost hypnotic.


This summer has been difficult, too. My cat, Charlie had been injured and euthanized, and several weeks later, my other older cat, Rufie, disappeared as well. Assuming, but never really KNOWING, that she was dead, I had to just go on, without closure. This had happened to two other felines, previously, as well, since we have lived here in this location. Not wanting to believe that a strange, mentally ill neighbor would actually do something to harm my pets, I have had to quell my desire to confront his elderly parents about it.

My two new kittens, Louie and Lily, will have to be mostly indoor cats, I guess, since I can't live with the regret that something I did contributed to their safety. I love the idea that cats can explore and roam in the yard, but I guess in OUR yard, that will have to end.

 
Anyway, the summer is coasting to a beautiful close, as my dear Nathan readies himself for his second year of college. There is the expectation for a new school year, hope for new adventures, meeting new people, expanding both our horizons. The house will seem so empty and quiet, no murmurs from the basement, and I will have to busy myself with school and reading.