numskulled? you're hired!

some medical advice from a non-medical professional...never check your blood pressure when calling your isp provider. I just had a 30 minute conversation with a wireless representative at my cable company. I am now truly convinced that i have the dreaded and deadly.... 'cable curse'!! no matter what the problem is, i somehow end up talking with completely incompetent people. then i wonder, is it me? am i not speaking clearly? i thought i was a simpleton when explaining a problem. I've trained many co-workers during my office career and they totally embraced my training methods! so who am i conveying with now? are they even human? did they have training? back in my day, companies would not hire you without the proper skills that would fit the job requirement. and if you didn't have the skills, they made sure they trained you before you were face to face, or voice to voice (phone) with the public! my problems with time warner cable warranted a very long letter to one of the vip's of the company...you know, the ones that sit in a fancy office without a care in the world collecting the big bucks from customers like myself! the cable curse stared when i purchased my HDTV back in January. tell me, how hard can an HD cable box hookup be to an HDTV?? this problem went on for 3 months. one guy came and sat on my floor and watched a basketball game.after about 10 minutes of complete silence, he suddenly blurts out... "oh, yeah, it does look fuzzy". i was beginning to think maybe his brain was fuzzy and not my TV. then his wife calls on his cell phone. still sitting on my floor, they are deep into a martial conversation. he is trying to tell his wife how to put gas in the car. okay, the whole family is fuzzy! the next guy came and told me his favorite brands of HDTV that i should have bought. as i am grinding my teeth, my mind is exploding with the words.. ITS NOT THE TV!!! one guy told me "if you get a dvr, you wouldn't have this trouble". ah,guess what! i have a dvr and guess what! I STILL HAVE THE TROUBLE!...then one sunny day in July, i decide to get wireless. I must be a gluton for punishment! the tech guy that came to fix a computer problem for me, really knew his tech stuff. i was going to buy a wireless router myself at best buy until techno man! told me that if i install a router myself and it blows up my main computer, then, oh well, cable wont come out and fix anything. now was this just a marketing ploy to buy their own wireless router? but, i figured, what the heck, have the very competent, problem free cable company install it for me! i wanted so very much to have techno man! come back and do it for me. but my cable curse kicked in! he was leaving for the same cable company down in Texas. damn. now i had to call fuzzy brains all over again! oh, yes, the cable curse was now full blown! the cable convicts were here for 6 hours! i never thought to serve them lunch and dinner. darn. on the 11Th hour, they sent for the top guns! the top tech supervisor, you know, the one with the cubical just outside the big boss door waiting impatiently for his boss to retire, die or get promoted. this one finally got my laptop hooked up. end of story? no,way..what were you thinking?! which leads me to tonight's phone call with the ever so capable cable company. and guess what? i have another laptop. and guess what? after 30 minutes of this dumb bell of a customer service rep not understanding that i need my lap top connected to my wireless service, i hung up on her. I'm sorry, but i cannot tolerate stupidity at a high level. especially from those who are getting paid to know what the heck they are doing! it was truly unbelievable. she kept asking me if i purchased the wireless router at a store. i reply.."no, its from your company, you installed it back in July". dummy said..."yes, i understand that but did you purchase it from a store?"....cable curse replies..."what are you not understanding? cable came..they installed my wireless router...the router came from you! they brought the router with them"......air head..."mam', i need to know if you purchased the router from a store because if you did, we cannot service you at this time".....click! that was my click, not ignoramus. well, i have the tech supervisors phone number. you know, the one with the fancy cubical. needless to say, i left a pretty powerful message. i need this second laptop hooked up before i leave out of town. and they say life is hard? life is easy! dealing with incompetent cable customer service reps is hard! oh, by the way, know anyone who can perform an exorcism on a cable cursed woman??........no? then I think I will apply for that cardiologist surgeon position at the hospital. I have absolutely no training in that field whatsoever, but what the heck? neither does the cable company!

are you smarter than a neophyte?

the techno world is rapidly changing before my eyes and now i find myself trying to blog. i really don't know why since i feel like it is an open diary to the world and not sure if i am ready to reveal any of my thoughts or opinions and when reading other blogs, i feel like i was either a part of the family or being a peeping tom. very strange. but then i thought, there are subjects, pet peeves, and thoughts i would also like to share and why not join the information high way and get a blog! the first time i learned of the word 'neophyte' was my first day at work at an insurance company back in 1979. fresh out of high school, in fact, it was the very next day after graduation. must have been brain dead not to take the summer off! oh well...too late now! anyway, they introduced the new kid on the block in their monthly insurance flyer, bulletin. or what ever you call it. it was there that i was shockingly referred to as a 'neophyte'. at first glance of the word, my immediate thought was 'oh no! it's the rated x term!'. you know...nympho...then reality set in, and i had to ask a more established co-worker what the heck was a neophyte. i felt like an alien until it was explained to me. so here i am, 27 some odd years later.. the new kid on the blogger block! not very interesting for a first entry, but just like the terminator..."i'll be baack!"..... oh, if anyone does ebay, chime in. i've got an awful lot to say on that subject. not all bad, but as an experienced seller, i've got tons of stories!