A Brand New Home!

WordPress.com has been really good to me. (Not ‘friends with benefits’ good, but you know what I mean…) I’ve gotten a lot of views over the time I’ve been here, but it’s time I broke-out into my own home. The new address is:

YouShouldConvert.com

From this point-forward, any new personal blog will be posted there. For now, I’m going to leave this blog intact, as-is. In the future, it will probably be taken down, as all of my old content is in its new home. I especially want to give thanks to WordPress.com for really inspiring me to write as much as I do!

Just Because You Want It Doesn’t Mean I’ll Give It

It never ceases to amaze me at what customers ask for sometimes. Here’s a recent conversation I had:

Customer: “I didn’t get your bill.”
(I check the address to make sure it was right, and made sure an invoice went out.)

Me: “I’m sorry you didn’t get your bill, I’ll have another one sent out right away.”

Customer: “What happened to my other bill? Can’t you track it?”

Me (Flabberghasted): “Err, no, everything is sent out regular mail. I have no way of know where it is in the mail.”

Customer: “In the future, I want tracking numbers on all of my mail.”

We spent a good 15 minutes or so arguing over why his request was not possible. The expense would be astronomical, and would require the company to raise prices for everyone. Yet, the customer felt like he was entitled to such a request, since he was such a ‘valued’ customer of the company. Y..e..a..h.. OK…

Hey, I’m all about asking companies for things you don’t normally get. Sometimes, you’ll be surprised at services/products that are available that aren’t always ‘advertised.’ That doesn’t mean you should argue with a rep over what isn’t feasible. Sometimes, what you want just isn’t offered.

I know I’ve stated this before, but it bears repeating: A rep has no control over company policy. Hell, you can many times go further and say the supervisor, nor their supervisor, nor their supervisor has control over company policy. You could even talk to the very manager of the entire customer service division of the company, and still get the same answer.

If you’re unhappy with company policy, or want something that’s currently not available, write-in a complaint. True, a company may not listen to one-two complaints, but if many people are wanting the same thing, then every voice counts.

 

Unseen Angst

Sometimes, you wonder if you make someone unhappy by how the act around you. Someone could be in a great mood, acting just fine. In the next moment, it’s like they’re a totally different person. When you ask them about it, they have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, and think you’re the one with the problem. Actions speak much more loudly though, even if I’m the only one that sees it.

If I’m doing something wrong, I would much prefer someone talk to me about it, then penting it up all inside. True enough, I may or may not feel that my actions deserve corrections, but at least it’s out there in the open instead of being all pent-up inside. Then again, maybe someone’s just ‘on the rag’ and having a bad day? Who knows sometimes…

I Am A Recording, I Am A Recording, I Am A Recording

I good portion of the calls I get everyday, are people just wanting reassurance that what they’re doing is correct. Whether it’s to fill out a form, know what their balance is, or what the paid-to date is. Whatever they may be calling about, some people don’t seem to have a very good memory. They’ll either repeat themselves over and over again, or have me repeat the same information over and over again.

Still Wanna Quote Leviticus To Say Being Gay Is Wrong?

Sometimes, you stumble upon something that’s truly, truly amazing…

Many Christians/Jews love to quote Leviticus to justify that homosexuality is wrong. Well, I go the following from a friend, and I thought I’d re-post it here…

Feeling Better And Thinking About Christmas

So, I feel better than yesterday. I’m kinda sleepy this morning, but I’m not as ‘cranky/moody’ as I was last night. (YAY!)

You know, years-past, I would just be moving along with the season, not really thinking about the other up-coming holidays. This year is a bit different. Hell, I’m actually starting to think about what Allen and I are going to do for Thanksgiving, which is something I don’t normally do. (Mmmm…. turkey…. *drools*)

Part of the reason why I’m thinking about it more this year, ahead of time, is because of money. I don’t want to spend everything I have, and be left with nothing after New Year’s. I want to be able to get a few nice gifts, a couple nice dinners, be able to enjoy the various holidays, and still have money in the bank this year. So, I’m trying to be a bit more careful and actually plan-out how I want to do things. (Gee, isn’t THAT a concept for me!)

People

I’m not ‘anti-social’ by nature, though there are times like today when I wish I could just be alone, and not have to deal with people. My job demands interaction. (Being in a customer service call center and all…) Who do I interact with the most? The stupid, ignorant and just plain jerks. You can shrug them off for the most part, but sometimes there are days, again like today, when it just gets to you that there are so many people out there who couldn’t solve a simple math problem to save their lives.

There’s also that nagging feeling you’re alone. (No, not that, “I’m depressed and nobody loves me” alone.) It’s the kind of ‘alone’ where you realize that you’re surrounded by people who couldn’t possibly begin to understand how you think. They call you ‘weird, strange, or abnormal,’ because in their boxed-in life, they have never experienced anything that’s not on any given network television show.

(OK, so maybe that does sound a bit depressed. I’ve been craving chocolate, so maybe it’s just that special time of the month for me?)

I guess a big reason why you won’t see me interacting with people on a regular basis, is the simple fact that people, in general, can be very much only interested in themselves. It’s very rare indeed to be in a setting where everyone is there for reasons outside of their wants and covets.

OK, enough rambling from me for one day

I Apologise Way Too Much

You know, it’s true. I’ve worked in a customer service call center of one kind or another for the last seven years or so, and the mantra is always the same: Apologise, feel empathy, be overly-nice and don’t argue. Damn, I was thinking today just how much that has permeated my every-day life. Outside of work, I often carry that mantra in what I do every day, whether I really want to or not.

Even though I don’t neccesarily carry the stress with home with me after work, I obviously carry some of the corporate BS with me…

A Mother Threatens To Post Pics Of Her Daughter’s 13 Year Old Ex Boyfriend

THIS little gem from CNN is really kind of funny and yet incredibly scary at the same time. Apparently a mother of a 13 year old girl has sent a ton of text messages and emails to the girls ex-boyfriend, threatening him to get back with her daughter or she’ll post the naked pictures he sent to her daughter. (Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought too! If that’s not a story for Jerry Springer, I don’t know what is!)

I think what made me giggle the most, is that if the mother did indeed post the pictures of the boy, she’d be facing all kind of child pornography charges. You would think it would have been easier for her to just tell her taughter to find another boyfriend!

Could You Live With Ads On YouTube?

So, YouTube has added‘Click To Buy’ ads to their videos. Lifehacker askswhat kinds of ads could we all live with? Personally, I like that Google added this to the videos. There have been times when I’d stumble-across a video where I’d love to have the music that goes along with it, but I wouldn’t necessarily know where to look for it. It would be nice if Google had a way to ‘detect’ the music someone might add to their video automatically so people could download it from their music store of choice.

In terms of ‘ads’ though, I’m a bit torn. Advertisements like you have on TV might get a bit annoying for video clips typically less than five minutes. BUT, I’d be willing to live with those advertisements IF they were (a) interesting and/or (b) relevant to my interests. I know other video hosting sites have small ‘pop-ups’ that sometimes appear during video playback. While usually slightly annoying, one quick click and they’re gone. Hell, I probably wouldn’t even mine some sort of text-scrolling ad somewhere, so long as it doesn’t actually interrupt the video itself.