The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

You know, I talk about the decline of society - the customers I deal with on a daily basis are a prime example of this. They call in all the damn time and they cuss and they yell; and they actually expect abusive behavior to bring results quicker.



Cellular service is really simple. Let's see if you recognize yourself in any of these examples:



YOU, as the customer, choose your rate plan. YOU, as the customer, use your phone. YOU, as the customer, have the ability to monitor said usage. So, this particular carrier even provides cushion with extra minutes if you don't go over your package. YOU, as the customer, receive a bill each month telling you what you used and what you didn't use (therefore, what you got to keep). So, YOU AS THE CUSTOMER receive a bill for overage even though for the past 6 months you've been going over your package minutes and eating away at you cushion minutes and YOU AS THE CUSTOMER think it's okay to call and scream at ME because WE didn't tell you? I'm sorry. Does the GAS company tell you when you accidentally leave the oven on when you're done with it? And don't you DARE tell me this isn't relevant with all the rate increases going on nationwide right now! No, you don't. And you sure as hell don't scream and yell and demand a credit!!! You recognize that YOU, the CONSUMER, used the service and need to pay for it.



What about this:



YOU, as a PARENT, get your TEENAGER a phone - same scenario. Now, we all know TEENAGERS use the phone/computer for talking/chatting/messaging - why would you think that it's OUR fault that they ran YOUR bill up? I'm sorry, I didn't give your 14 year old girl child a cell phone and then not monitor her usage. Why do you deserve a credit? That's right. You don't.



Recognize yourself yet?



How about now:



YOU dropped your phone in water and YOU didn't purchased insurance. YOU just got that phone for $49.99 three months ago because you signed a 2 year contract. And you don't understand why TODAY I would charge you $299.99 for that same phone? Really? I should just give you a phone? Oh, you're willing to sign another contract are you? But we already have you under contract. Perhaps next time you should purchase that insurance we offer you EVERy SINGLE TIME WE SELL YOU A PHONE!



And speaking of phone insurance. DO you know how many people try to tell me they "didn't know" there was an insurance deductible. Here's a little fact: if you have insurance, you have a deductible - auto, phone, health, dental...unless it's life insurance, there's a deductible!!!



I am SO over the spoiled customer. I'm even more over the companies who give these customers everything they ask for which is how they get that way. I try to live my life by treating everyone the same; but I also try to live my life by doing what's right and sometimes it just isn't right.



Sometimes the consumer needs to stop and think before asking the ridiculous of the person on the other end. I know you wouldn't ask the same of your cable or gas provider.

While I was at lunch today, I checked my voice mail. Because I needed to write something down from my message and didn't have a pen, I asked the person sitting closest to me if she had a pen. She looked directly at me and then went right back to eating her lunch.



This leads me to question: was I in the wrong for interrupting her while she was at lunch? Or, has our society slipped so much that it is OK to so blatantly ignore our co-workers?



Is it the way I look (I have a picture here, but: waist length auburn/brown hair, glasses, overweight - fairly average these days)? What I wear (Unlike others, I dress appropriately for my age and size. Today I wore jeans and a striped T-shirt)? Could it be the music I listen to? No wait, I only listen to my I-Pod at work so unless someone is snooping, they wouldn't know my musical tastes. My facial piercings? (Isn't that going a bit too far as they're almost the "norm" in today's Western culture.)



I could go on with various things about myself which could be to blame, but I prefer not to lay bare my soul quite yet. While I understand there are things about me that might make others shun me, they aren't a "Scarlett letter" - there's no neon sign pointing out my sexual fetishes or my Satanist leanings.



I don't even want to lay the blame at her feet; at least not solely at her feet. Perhaps she has heard rumors about me. Perhaps she has been warned against me. Maybe she didn't actually hear me and I just thought she had because she looked DIRECTLY at me before ignoring me. You're right; that's stretching things a bit!



What I DO, however, want to do is discuss the decline of our society with the passing years. Even just in the last Thirty years. Even I am guilty of this occasionally (if you know me personally and doubt this, review my posting on snow). Again, we're not dissecting my faults, but those of society as a whole.



Unless one has blinders on, the decline can't be hard to see. It happens everywhere - on the road, at work, at school, at the store, etc... We don't say "please", we don't say "thank you"...we certainly don't say "you're welcome" on the rare chance someone does say "thank you". People cut in line because obviously they are too important to wait; certainly more important than the people they cut in front of. Driving down the road, people cut you off - or just don't even see you and try to merge into your lane, in the same space you're already occupying.



I could continue this list, but I won't. It's depressing.



Now, a lot of people might say the decline can be blamed specifically on the non-Abrahamic religious sect (that's certainly where they lay the blame for everything else), but I say that isn't so. I am not morally corrupt, but I could be called a theistic Satanist. Plus, we all know one or two Christians who put their entire religion - fundamentalist or otherwise - in a bad light.



This goes beyond religious teachings to just common sense and common courtesy. What happened to waiting your turn, politeness, helping others, and any of the other niceties no longer prevalent in today's society? When did we decide these things were no longer of value to us as a society, as a country, as a people or even as individuals?



I'm interested; if you bothered reading this, what do you think?