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The disabled can still have a mighty impact
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The disabled can still have a mighty impact
  Susan mentioned in her column recently that I have been put on Social Security disability. Not only are my knees and back ready for the scrap heap (from old photography-related injuries), my mind, though not nearly as worrisome as Alzheimers, is sometimes a bit off track. Specifically, I have problems collating information immediately as it comes in. This week I think I might have brought a retail giant nearly to its knees by simply misunderstanding the instructions given me for a telephone survey dealing with a recent purchase.  It was simple enough. Rate the product, the sales person, and the installers on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being the worst and five being the best. How could they know I hadn't yet had enough caffeine to bring me back into the 21st Century from wherever it was that I had been in a relatively sound sleep less than 30 minutes previously? Naturally I inverted my answers, even though I was more than happy with all of the personnel and the product. I cheerfully gave them a glowing review of 1 on each question asked.  A couple of days later the first follow-up call came in and I could tell the caller didn't know how to frame the question. Did I really think it was that bad? I could almost imagine tears running down his cheeks as he wondered how he was going to put his kids through college. Of course I let him off the hook and explained what had happened. A couple of days later someone higher up the food chain called, presumably to verify the other person's explanation, and I assured him that the information relayed to him by his subordinate was indeed correct. You'd think that would be the end of it, but a couple of days later the manager of the district called and was almost pleading with me to give them a rating of 5 or 10, or whatever the highest number there was going to be on another survey I would be receiving soon.  He said simply anything lower could be disastrous. I imagined heads rolling throughout their corporate universe, from the bottom to the top. At this point I'm rather concerned.  What if the robot call comes in and I do it right, but the telephone sends out the wrong tone? Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people could end up unemployed. The stock of the retail giant could plummet, dragging others retail stores along with it. Another recession could begin and the administration would have to practically give away household appliances to stem the tide. If any administration officials happen to read this, we need a new refrigerator. ###  |
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