IncompetenSe
I figure I should start the new year out right by writing a post to my blog that it probably appeared I’d abandoned. I’m going to blame my absence on the Facebook status update, which is really a much easier way to vent my frustrations.
In the time since my last post, the four year anniversary of my blog came and past. One thing that hasn’t changed in four years is that I still think people are idiots. In fact, they seem to be getting better at it.
One annoyance I’ve been dealing with involves my phone. I had to buy a new one a couple months ago and it’s been one hassle after another ever since. Just to give you an idea of what I’ve been dealing with, the first time I attempted to call the store where I bought it, the line was busy for half an hour. I didn’t even know the busy signal still existed but I was particularly surprised that a phone store lacked the technology to avoid it.
I later had to go into my local Verizon store and endured the opposite problem. The phone kept ringing and ringing. On the third extended ringing session, another customer and I exchanged annoyed glances so I knew I wasn’t the only one bothered by it. I went near the service desk and asked, “Does anybody hear that ringing?” Nothing. They clerks didn’t even look up at me. So I decided to take advantage of my apparent stealth status and picked up the receiver and then hung it up. I figured a pissed off customer on the phone was better than 10 in the store.
I don’t expect everybody to excel at their job but is it asking to much that people exhibit a minimal level of competence? You don’t have to be the pilot that can make a perfect water landing but you should at least be paying enough attention that you don’t overshoot your destination by a couple hundred miles. You don’t have to be the secret service agent who jumps in front of a bullet but you shouldn’t allow entry to the White House to be easier than entry to the corner dive bar.
My hope for 2010 isn’t that people work harder or longer, just better.
