Special Snowflake Stories

[CharlieBraun]

Somebody alert the media!  There's a blizzard in Miami, FL!

I remember now why I hate it here so much.  Everyday it's something different.

Today, I drove my mother and sister to the plastic surgeon's office for phase two of "repair lil' sister's eyebrow". The surgeon's office was on the second floor of the building.  When we got off the elevator, there were some guys there with a bunch of Christmas decorations, presumably going up the elevator to put them back into storage.  I got off the elevator and went in the only direction I could, which was the opposite direction of where I needed to go.  I also needed to make sure my sister, my son and my mother had also gotten off the elevator so Christmas Tree guy could get on the elevator and I could go on my way.  At this point the entire hallway is taken up.  I turned to make sure my mother was safely off the elevator and this woman wearing scrubs shoved her way past me, pushing me into my sister and both of us into Christmas Tree Guy.  No codes had been called, so there wasn't an emergency anywhere that I could tell.

Look, someone's filler's might have just completely re-absorbed which is, in the lexicon of South Florida's plastic-surgery-obsessed culture, a complete emergency.

Down here, I can see women walking by and be able to identify her plastic surgeon by his signature tucks on that woman's face.  It's so prevalent that I have to hold myself back from high-fiving anyone who has their original face!

And yes...it *it* completely noticible.  Yes, we can tell.  And yes, we judge you.

My special snowflake of the day was the rooster & hen who stopped city traffic two blocks from my Brickell office to slowly waddle across the median for better pecking....and the bicyclist who felt like circling within the intersection and tapping the car hoods of all to "remind" us not to advance while said rooster was meandering.

[Spring Water on Sundays]

Somebody alert the media!  There's a blizzard in Miami, FL!

I remember now why I hate it here so much.  Everyday it's something different.

Today, I drove my mother and sister to the plastic surgeon's office for phase two of "repair lil' sister's eyebrow". The surgeon's office was on the second floor of the building.  When we got off the elevator, there were some guys there with a bunch of Christmas decorations, presumably going up the elevator to put them back into storage.  I got off the elevator and went in the only direction I could, which was the opposite direction of where I needed to go.  I also needed to make sure my sister, my son and my mother had also gotten off the elevator so Christmas Tree guy could get on the elevator and I could go on my way.  At this point the entire hallway is taken up.  I turned to make sure my mother was safely off the elevator and this woman wearing scrubs shoved her way past me, pushing me into my sister and both of us into Christmas Tree Guy.  No codes had been called, so there wasn't an emergency anywhere that I could tell.

Look, someone's filler's might have just completely re-absorbed which is, in the lexicon of South Florida's plastic-surgery-obsessed culture, a complete emergency.

Down here, I can see women walking by and be able to identify her plastic surgeon by his signature tucks on that woman's face.  It's so prevalent that I have to hold myself back from high-fiving anyone who has their original face!

And yes...it *it* completely noticible.  Yes, we can tell.  And yes, we judge you.

My special snowflake of the day was the rooster & hen who stopped city traffic two blocks from my Brickell office to slowly waddle across the median for better pecking....and the bicyclist who felt like circling within the intersection and tapping the car hoods of all to "remind" us not to advance while said rooster was meandering.

You judge random strangers for getting cosmetic surgery?

[CharlieBraun]

You judge random strangers for getting cosmetic surgery?

As prevalent as it is down here, we can identify the surgeon, the type of procedure, the recentness of the action, and the likely longevity of the fresh-i-tude.  It's practically a scored event, like Olympic diving.

[SiotehCat]

Not all call centres use canned responses.  Where I work, we are given suggestions at times on how to word responses but not asked to sound scripted at the same time.  I notice the canned responses & sounding very scripted from the overseas centres (like in India as an example) a lot more compared to those where I can tell the people are either Americans or Canadians the rare times I must call customer service places for help. 

I did check my ticket and the one done by the person who took over the call.  The customer was given the detail I was attempting to give plus asked other questions from that same person that she did not ask of me.  I still think its both SS & rude  to ask for a supervisor if the person is attempting to provide an answer or possible solution to you, and you do not allow that person to finish what they have to say first then say "I do not like your answer, I want a supervisor" after the agent has finished speaking. 

I do not deny a supervisor request from a customer, but at the same time they must allow the agent to attempt to assist them first.  I know that I must remain professional and calm even if the customer is trying to rile me up at times.

Maybe they've just experienced the same "customer service" I have lately, where the sole purpose of the first people you call seems to be to make you jump through a series of hoops that don't have anything to do with your actual problem and you have to escalate to a manager to get anything accomplished. Companies will train customers that they have to do a certain thing in order to get anything done, then complain when the customers actually do that.

That doesn't mean they get to be rude.  Frustration isn't a pass for rudeness.

I agree with your last sentence, but I disagree that simply asking for a supervisor instead of going through the useless hoops first is rude. It can be done rudely, yes, but it's not inherently rude.

Interrupting someone to do so is, which is what happened in the OP.

Etiquette for dealing with business is different though. I have seen plenty of advice on ehell saying that it's not rude to interrupt telemarketers, salesmen, etc...

I have worked at plenty of call centers in the past and I never considered someone rude for just interrupting.

[TurtleDove]

Etiquette for dealing with business is different though. I have seen plenty of advice on ehell saying that it's not rude to interrupt telemarketers, salesmen, etc...

I have worked at plenty of call centers in the past and I never considered someone rude for just interrupting.

Yeah, I agree. I think you can politely interrupt a telemarketer or ______, and I frequently do.  It does not one any good to waste time on a script that does nothing for the caller or the callee.  Something like this:

Customer Service Rep: I want to tell you about our extra service pl.....
Me: Thanks, but I am not interested.  Thanks for your help fixing issue A.  Have a great day!

[EmmaJ.]

Down here, I can see women walking by and be able to identify her plastic surgeon by his signature tucks on that woman's face.  It's so prevalent that I have to hold myself back from high-fiving anyone who has their original face!

And yes...it *it* completely noticible.  Yes, we can tell.  And yes, we judge you.

My special snowflake of the day was the rooster & hen who stopped city traffic two blocks from my Brickell office to slowly waddle across the median for better pecking....and the bicyclist who felt like circling within the intersection and tapping the car hoods of all to "remind" us not to advance while said rooster was meandering.

<snip>

I've been thinking of getting some work done on my face.  Between almost 50 years of harsh Florida sun resulting in dark spots and fine-line wrinkles and genetics which gave me heavy, baggy eyeslids (which makes me look tired or angry), I'd really like to look nicer.

You are welcome to judge me.  I will never know.

[nalapuppy]

You judge random strangers for getting cosmetic surgery?

As prevalent as it is down here, we can identify the surgeon, the type of procedure, the recentness of the action, and the likely longevity of the fresh-i-tude.  It's practically a scored event, like Olympic diving.

This is wrong in so many ways, especially for an etiquette site.  You come across as being very superficial to be judging other people by their personal decisions. We are all entitled to what we think, but to gleefully admit you are judging people is not right.

[alkira6]

You judge random strangers for getting cosmetic surgery?

As prevalent as it is down here, we can identify the surgeon, the type of procedure, the recentness of the action, and the likely longevity of the fresh-i-tude.  It's practically a scored event, like Olympic diving.

This is wrong in so many ways, especially for an etiquette site.  You come across as being very superficial to be judging other people by their personal decisions. We are all entitled to what we think, but to gleefully admit you are judging people is not right.

Everyone judges. Everyone.  Do they say anything? No. Silently judging is what you do. It's part of life.  What do you think the Special Snowflake thread is about?  Your post was judgemental too.

[perpetua]

You judge random strangers for getting cosmetic surgery?

As prevalent as it is down here, we can identify the surgeon, the type of procedure, the recentness of the action, and the likely longevity of the fresh-i-tude.  It's practically a scored event, like Olympic diving.

This is wrong in so many ways, especially for an etiquette site.  You come across as being very superficial to be judging other people by their personal decisions. We are all entitled to what we think, but to gleefully admit you are judging people is not right.

Judging is fine. Everyone does it. Where it becomes rude is when you impart this to the person you're judging, which is rather what you've just done by calling the PP superficial for her opinions.

[War_Doc]

Get back on track and get off the plastic surgery hijack.

[siamesecat2965]

Etiquette for dealing with business is different though. I have seen plenty of advice on ehell saying that it's not rude to interrupt telemarketers, salesmen, etc...

I have worked at plenty of call centers in the past and I never considered someone rude for just interrupting.

Yeah, I agree. I think you can politely interrupt a telemarketer or ______, and I frequently do.  It does not one any good to waste time on a script that does nothing for the caller or the callee.  Something like this:

Customer Service Rep: I want to tell you about our extra service pl.....
Me: Thanks, but I am not interested.  Thanks for your help fixing issue A.  Have a great day!

I did this the other night. A real, live person called me, wanting me to take some survey about driving habits in my state. I simply said, "Thank you, but I'm not interested" and hung up. Polite, and to th epoint.

[Elfmama]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL-a-r7iJIU

This is a Judge Judy episode.  A young man is being sued for rent he's supposed to be paying to a woman, presumably his girlfriend. 

Notice what he says at 3:18.  "Just her bein' around me is me paying rent.  I don't gotta give her no cash.  That's what she was there for."
 
 So the opportunity to bask in his charming presence is all that she should ask for?  Not only that, but she should give HIM money for the privilege! 

[Mental Magpie]

Etiquette for dealing with business is different though. I have seen plenty of advice on ehell saying that it's not rude to interrupt telemarketers, salesmen, etc...

I have worked at plenty of call centers in the past and I never considered someone rude for just interrupting.

Yeah, I agree. I think you can politely interrupt a telemarketer or ______, and I frequently do.  It does not one any good to waste time on a script that does nothing for the caller or the callee.  Something like this:

Customer Service Rep: I want to tell you about our extra service pl.....
Me: Thanks, but I am not interested.  Thanks for your help fixing issue A.  Have a great day!

I did this the other night. A real, live person called me, wanting me to take some survey about driving habits in my state. I simply said, "Thank you, but I'm not interested" and hung up. Polite, and to th epoint.

That's different than calling someone else, requesting help either passively or actively, then interrupting them when they try to do exactly that.  "Hey, I want your help, but I'm not going to listen to what you say and interrupt you even though I called you for help!" 

[Poppea]

Well, I'm in Canada, for what it's worth.   And we had put our signs on the strips of grass that belonged to the city.

I guess what bothered me the most was not that someone took down the signs, but that they kept them.   My friend worked hard on them, and we'd hoped to reuse them at a future yard sale.    Even just leaving them on the grass with a note that said "HEY, JERK, DON'T PUT SIGNS HERE" would've been preferable.

Did you put them on the strip of grass in front of someone else's house?  Unless you called your town hall and were told that you could stick the signs in, I think you were wrong.  Some places let you put poster or flyers on poles/posts, but sticking a sign in the ground?  I can't imagine it legal anywhere.

Honestly, I would have thrown it out because I know its illegal in my town and I wouldn't want to look at it just lying there - kind of unsightly. 

[TurtleDove]

That's different than calling someone else, requesting help either passively or actively, then interrupting them when they try to do exactly that.  "Hey, I want your help, but I'm not going to listen to what you say and interrupt you even though I called you for help!"

I think it depends on the situation.  When it becomes clear to me that the customer service person and I are not connecting (this happens especially if there is an accent involved - over the phone I often cannot understand accented speech) or when it is clear to me the customer service person is reading from a script.

For example:

Customer Service Person: So you say the yellow wire does not connect to the box?  Thank you for sharing that with me.  Here at ____ we strive to always provide you with the highest level of service.  I am sorry that your yellow wire does not connect to the box.  I will do my best to try to help you to connect the yellow wire to the box, in accordance with the stated policies of _____, which can also be found at our website, www........"

Me:  I'm sorry, but can you please just tell me how to connect the yellow wire to the box?

CSP: So you want me to tell you how to connect the yellow wire to the box?  Thank you for sharing that with me.  Here at ____ we strive to always provide you with the highest level of service.  I am sorry that your yellow wire does not connect to the box.  I will do my best to try to help you to connect the yellow wire to the box, in accordance with the stated policies of _____, which can also be found at our website, www........"


Me:  I'm sorry, is there someone who can help me connect the yellow wire to the box?