Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

[westgrandboulevard]

Perhaps they recognise certain family characteristics.....

[Jerry Oz]

Watch it, now... That's not it. They know as much about me as I let them. And I don't tell them a lot for fear of worrying them.

[westgrandboulevard]

"Please hold. Your call is important to us. Your call may be recorded for training purposes..."

[Jerry Oz]

So you guys get that notice also? I wonder if the training is so they can better serve us or to create our headaches with more guile?

[westgrandboulevard]

I imagine it's universal. It just means 'don't hang up, we'll answer as soon as we can'.

So, in order not to lose attention, I just keep concentrating..and hear the message repeated and repeated....

[Jerry Oz]

...to be soon followed by a voice with an indecipherable Indian accent say "thank you for calling, my name is 'Melvin'. How may I help you today?"

[westgrandboulevard]

Over here in the UK, the general consensus of opinion is we don't mind if we ring the number of a British organisation, and then speak to someone in Mumbai, just as long as their English is not only good, but is also clear, and not spoken with a thick Indian accent.

If that is the case, giving themselves an Anglicised first name just adds fuel to the flame.....

[Jerry Oz]

With my hearing, I can take a heavy accent so long as it is not accompanied by what seems to be a typically soft voice. I feel horrible asking them to repeat themselves.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, that's exactly the problem. When people on the phone have to ask someone to repeat themselves,they begin to feel that it makes them look stupid.

[Jerry Oz]

True. We actually are able to request that they put an American rep on the phone. However, depending upon who gets your call, the attitude and/or lack of functional capability of that person will probably make you wish you had stayed with "Melvin".

[westgrandboulevard]

Sometimes, dealing with a computer has distinct advantages.

[Jerry Oz]

That depends upon who programmed it. Garbage in, garbage out.

[westgrandboulevard]

I can sometimes feel less pressure with a computer offering me options, than another person...as I sometimes feel under pressure to answer quicker in person.

[Jerry Oz]

But don't you hate it when you get seven [[or more) options and none of them is the reason for your call? Especially when the old standby of pressing "zero" does not work.

[westgrandboulevard]

In that situation, I usually go for the nearest, and hope for the best.....

[Jerry Oz]

"Thank you for selecting 'payroll and benefits'. Your call is very important to us, so please hold the line for the next available operator. Average wait time is 35 minutes."

After five minutes of Muzak, the voice returns: "Thank you for waiting. Your call is very important to us, so please hold the line for the next available operator. Average wait time is 35 minutes."

[westgrandboulevard]

"Now, don't get tetchy with us. Your call is free, so we'll take just as much time as we like...and, right now, we're all huddled round the filing cabinets, testing Dorothy's homemade apple cake..."

[Jerry Oz]

It's always a wonderful experience to wait for half an hour, yell at someone who is treating you with the utmost dignity and respect, threaten to call the attorney general about the situation, snort with derision when they ask you to do something that is the most obvious first step to resolving the issue [[like making sure power is turned on for the device that isn't working), and finding out that [[oops!) you forgot to do the most obvious first step before picking up the phone and picking a fight...

[westgrandboulevard]

How embarrassing.....!

[Jerry Oz]

You get used to it after the first few times...

[westgrandboulevard]

Best keep it to just a few...LOL

[Jerry Oz]

Well, it mostly happened at work and now, I don't have to make those calls for everyone. I never found out why it was my specific competency to be able [[or patient enough) to stay with a thorny problem until it was resolved. Even when it wasn't my thorny problem.

[westgrandboulevard]

You did it once, then again...and so, after that, they all left it to you ....

[Jerry Oz]

Suckers... I wonder who is rushing in on holidays to reset the burglar alarms now? And no up the overflowing toilets. And escort the many service vendors who show up out of the blue to handle a maintenance call that the requestor never told anyone else about?

Actually, I don't really wonder about any of it. I'm just grateful that is no longer me.

[westgrandboulevard]

Did your best, and moved on. That's one of my mantras....

[Jerry Oz]

I thought "mantras" were big flat fish. But I flunked Natural Science twice.

[westgrandboulevard]

You probaby had little chants of success.

[Jerry Oz]

I resemble that remark...

[westgrandboulevard]

You don't say!

[Jerry Oz]

Well, not twice...

[westgrandboulevard]

You can say that again....

[Jerry Oz]

Would that be like deja vu all over again?

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, I've both seen it happen, and heard it said before.

[Jerry Oz]

Well believe none of what you hear and half of what you see. I heard that through the grapevine.

[westgrandboulevard]

And just when you think those words have really made their mark, someone else comes along and says them again, to even greater success....

[Jerry Oz]

It's all about context, I guess. But what was true yesterday remains true today.

[westgrandboulevard]

True.There's also perception to take into account. In some contexts [[media news, for example) something being said today can lend added importance to what was already said yesterday. It is then immediately current.

If not, it simply remains a straight repeat of what was said yesterday, and might be regarded by some as non-current, history, or maybe even out-of-date.

[Jerry Oz]

So, "those who forget history are doomed to repeat it"? May I quote you on that?

[westgrandboulevard]

You can...but it does depend on the original circumstances, which may have causes which do not directly apply to more recent events.

For example, people say 'when will people ever learn?!' about wars,but no-one really knows how to avoid them.

[144man]

Maybe that's because war is the natural state of things, especially when a country puts its self-interest above all else. It's easy to distrust a stranger. When peace breaks out, that's what's surprising.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, it is easy to distrust a stranger. A certain distrust and watchfulness is quite understandable. I can't imagine the population of any country initially and wholeheartedly, with open arms, accepting newcomers arriving en masse from other countries.

[Jerry Oz]

Hmm... I suspect that if the heads of states who declare war were at the front of the battle lines, there'd be many fewer wars. So sad that from the dawn of civilization, human life is a tool for the aims of others.

[westgrandboulevard]

Instead of politicians, we need gladiators. We're little better than all the animals around us who simply fight to maintain a balance within their species - with one exception being that we humans do remember and mourn our dead.

[144man]

It's strange to think that if you go back to the dawn of civilisation, one of the great advances would probably have been the concept of "slavery". Up until that time, the conquest of one race by another would have resulted in genocide.

[westgrandboulevard]

Still seems to be ongoing. What a difference there is between powerful domination, and extermination. How can any one race consider that the total extermination of another race fully resolves any ongoing problem ....

[144man]

It is the failure of the evolution of human nature to keep pace with the destructive capabilities of our technological advances that will doom us as a species.

[westgrandboulevard]

Looking at some of the people around me, we're well on our way....

[Jerry Oz]

So, everything has evolved except for the part of the brain that controls basic instinct? Explains a lot, actually... We cannot reason away emotion or what may be considered to be personality flaws by the great social order. Put a madman in control of a nation and you have a nation of madmen.

But, then again, history is written by the victors.

[westgrandboulevard]

That might depend on one's allegiance.

After World War Two, it was generally felt among the Allied Forces that they had been victorious.

Although I would find it hard to understand, there must have been many German supporters of Herr Hitler who might have felt that they, too, had reason to feel proud and victorious.

[Jerry Oz]

If you would be willing to kill or die to show your love for your homeland and countrymen, are you a patriot or a terrorist? The answer is probably "yes", depending upon who's asking the question.