While browsing through the news feed on my Google Reader I came across this lovely piece from cnn.com
Granted, the article goes on to say they are exaggerating, if only slightly. Still, I think it’s safe to say that the people in this country are pretty terrified.
Man upset over lack of alcohol punches officer
I’ve done a lot of stupid things when I’ve had too much to drink, but I think stabbing yourself because you’ve run out of alcohol really takes the cake. I guess it would have been too difficult to simply get more alcohol. Clearly, I’ve been doing something wrong all these years. I think what confuses me most though, is why the title of the article isn’t “Man upset over lack of alcohol stabs self.” Clearly that seems more odd then the fact that a belligerent person assaulted a police officer. What do I know?
While surfing around slate.com this afternoon, waiting for our server to come back on line, I came across this article. One of the things I simultaneously love and loath about the English language is it’s ability to be manipulated. Simply changing around a word or phrase can alter the meaning and intention drastically. While this fascinates me because it means our language is so amazingly malleable, it also scares me, because it seems that so few people recognize this. Instead of being able to dissect what is being said or written, many times we just accept it as is. What worries me about this case, is that it makes it so easy for a state to simply ignore the laws that are currently in place, and by co-oping a word and attaching its own meaning, use the law to push a “moral” agenda.
I certainly believe that proper medical information should be available and provided to all patients regardless of procedure they are wishing to have performed. I think it is a patient’s right to correct and unbiased facts to help her make a decision that is right for her. I do not believe that a doctor should EVER make a patient feel guilty for anything. This law clearly makes it OK for doctors to essentially become moral judges and to use guilt as a means to prevent women from making a choice that is legally theirs to make. Not only that, but this law will require some doctors to tell their patients things they do not believe. How is this right?
A big thumbs down to South Dakota.
Ok, so I’m just as sad as anyone to admit that I found this interesting tid-bit from none other than PerezHilton. I was quite intrigued by the headline, and as someone who appreciates a good stupid criminal story, I had to read it. I think my favorite part of this story is this line, “The burglar said he entered the home because he was on the run from the government, according to police. The barbecue sauce, he said, was an “urban disguise.”
I wonder if other condiments qualify as “urban disguises.”
Autistic Toddler Kicked off Flight
A majority of my job involves customer service. This is mostly a fancy term for the fact that no matter what a customer says to me (within reason), I have to smile, grit my teeth and fix their problem (real or imagined). It is certainly not a field that everyone is cut out for, and good customer service is as far as I’m concerned an art. I like to think I do pretty well on the customer service end of things, but I understand, even as a consumer, it isn’t always easy to be super, duper nice to customers. Sometimes it takes all my stregnth not to swear at someone. However, I’ve been noticing lately a huge decline in quality customer service. I don’t know what happened or when certain companies started to hire people who are complete assholes, but clearly customer service ain’t what it used to be.
When I read the above article my heart went out to that mother. While I too have been on planes with screaming children, and I understand we live in a post 9/11 world, I think the heart of the matter is that this woman feels she was mistreated. I can also attest to some horrific customer service stories from American Airlines, so in this case I’m tempted to lean toward the mother. My aunt and uncle worked for AA for years, and when my aunt passed away earlier this year all of her sibilngs were guaranteed flights on American. This was great, the customer service some of my cousins ran into while attempting to book their own flights on American to get them to the funeral however, not great. One attendant told my cousin he “didn’t care,” what was going on with our family, and that he couldn’t help her. Aside from a customer service issue, who the hell responds to someone, clearly upset by the death of a family member with that?!
Anyway, I guess my point is, I don’t know what happened to “The Customer is Always Right,” but even without that phrase, what happened to simply being nice?
