Thinning Out the Herd

"Challenge yourself to be a little bit smarter today"

I'm still astounded that I heard this pearl of wisdom from Dean Blundell, Host of The Edge's Morning Show. I only caught a snippit of what he was saying but essentially it was a "cut it out!" speech about stupid people using slurs against someone based on their race, sexual orientation, or religion. Great stuff.

I've been wondering what my first post of 2010 was going to be and hearing this new mantra kind of sealed the deal for me. During my Christmas break from work, I fell in love (even more so) with www.notalwaysright.com. The website just lists conversations that people in the service industry (kiosk handlers, customer service agents, tech support, waiters, hotel workers, retail, etc) have had with customers who are not always right - you see, apparently, the customer is always right. Needless to say hilarity ensues but accompanied by my increasing sense of dred and rage at some pretty stupid people.

Now I'm not saying that all service people know what they are doing, I use to be one, and yes I've made some mistakes while servicing customers (ha!) but in the long run you get into a habit and can usually determine the solution to a customer's problem within a few minutes. And while I think some of these stories on www.notalwaysright.com are made up, some are real because I've dealt with the exact same scenarios. It actually scares me that most of these people are breeding, passing on inadequate genes, and essentially peeing into the genetic pool of humanity.

Most of these customers fall into 3 categories:

1) The Idiot - this customer simply does not listen to the words coming out of the service agent's mouth.

2) The Centre of the Universe - this is a subset of idiot because this customer usually comes up with excuses as to why they acted stupidly which in turn allows them to think they have not acted stupidly.

3) The Gullible - after the service agent has tried explaining (many times) return policies, or menu items, or billing procedures the agent gives up and just allows the customer to believe their own idiotic reasoning to end the call/get on with their job.

To be fair, I should admit there is a 4th kind of customer and that's the one able to admit they were wrong or have a laugh at themselves for what they were thinking or believing the service agent with the information they've provided.

ANNNNNNNYYYYWAAAAAAYS, the reason I'm going on and on about stupid people is with the 21st century the idea that the world will end, and end soon, is such an identifier of my generation you can't help but to think who would survive just in case the worst of the worst happened. Be it an environmental cataclysmic event, or the zombie apocolypse, or just the regular one with Jebus and monsters - is it wrong of me to kind of be relieved that once the event is over, those remaining were smart enough to survive? That essentially we've cut back on those peeing in the pool? Well we have to make sure the zombies don't win people! Challenge yourself today to be a little bit smarter today!!

Happy New Year! And New Decade!