Tech Support in India

Really, I have nothing against the guy in India who's trying to help me.

It's...

The phone tree which is now voice recognition, but not really, so you have to repeat yourself, or make sure you say one of the words in their vocabulary, because if you don't, you'll be talking to a machine for awhile before it gives up and transfers you.

Oh sure, maybe 99% of calls are in the categories stated, and SERVICE OUTAGE is so rare that SYSTEM STATUS is not something people ever call about. But if you can't look it up on the internet because your service is out, wouldn't you... Call?? You can't say they don't have a sense of humor, asking you if you have a dial tone when you just told them you're calling from the phone number on the account.

I had a bit of an epiphany with this phone call. "How can I help you today?" is not really a query of "how they can help you," it is merely a computer prompt, where they're listening intently for ONE WORD that matches one of the words on their computer screen. I'm not sure why that function hasn't been replaced by a machine.

But I realized, as the guy goes through his layers of screens searching for how he can help you that I didn't really have to rephrase my inquiry 50 different ways, in case there was some nuance he didn't quite understand. All I had to do was repeat my initial inquiry 4 times, each time becoming more machine-like in my voice, until "Ray" finally found the screen that answered the question. No service outages anywhere in California. Which I find truly amazing, but thanks Ray, I'll check my crappy extension cable and call you back.

"Ray? Is that the name you were born with?"

"Of course."

I didn't say it, but if parents are naming their children "Ray" in India, I feel like there's something a bit sad about that. After all, Ray has probably attended some diction classes, and is doing an incredible job of hiding his Indian accent. I myself, upon leaving Indiana (oddly named after his country) was teased mercilessly about my accent, and worked on getting rid of it. But just as anyone who knows accents immediately knows I'm from the Midwest, pretty much anyone in the United States would detect that Ray is probably in the number one country for outsourcing.

And since we're all aware of that, and since we're both former colonies of England, why not a real name? Americans could do with a little more familiarity with their sister colonies.

Kid gone wrong

Bad parents, bad society, bad kids, bad genes? Maybe all of the above? In other cultures, these children might be working steady jobs, and we would look down our noses at their child labor but otherwise maybe productive lifestyles? Or maybe in those cultures, these children would be in prison and having their organs removed for high-paying transplant patients?

SF Gate - abandoned children in SF as in Nebraska

Water testing eliminated??

At 11:59 AM 10/21/2008, Suzie D wrote:
Perhaps on saturday we could all sign a petition to reinstate the water quality testing???

My local chapter of Surfrider alerted me to this. Pleas email the
governator.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut all funding (approximately $1 million per year) for beach water quality monitoring throughout the state. This sudden and unexpected action has gutted the country’s most extensive and progressive beach water quality monitoring and public health notification program. As a result, San Diego County (who received the biggest share of the state funds) has already suspended their monitoring program and other coastal counties may soon follow suit.

Without regular beach monitoring, surfers, swimmers and other beach-goers will be completely in the dark about water quality at their beach. Essentially, a “swim or surf at your own risk” sign just went up all along the California coast.
--------------------------
From: James Lamb
Subject: Re: [dolphinclubsf] beach/water quality testing ELIMINATED

At the national level, believing "sympathy for the impoverished" falls into the rubric of religion, the government still felt there should be a transitory period, where instead of just cutting programs, they should dole out some cash to beef up religious programs before jettisoning the entire notion of social justice to the church.

It appears, however, that on the state level, there will be no transitory period? No period where state funds go to the religious who are of the conviction that clean water is a social necessity? Well, o.k., perhaps some lobbying, but in this era of government bankruptcy, let me know how much extra each member should contribute towards the testing of local waters -- would this be an existing club member taking over the task? I will consider volunteering two days a week in lieu of cash contributions; I have some laboratory backgound, and have actually tested water samples, though in a different setting, I'm willing to learn. Of course, if we post the data, I feel there should be advertising on the web site with the information, to help defray costs.

Proposition F flyer

An Ah-Ha! moment on Proposition F came about only by reading every word of a political flyer received in the mail.

Prop. F would reduce San Francisco elections to EVEN years, rather than having elections for purely local issues on odd years. The arguments for and against in the voter's guide say, well, voters need some elections to focus on local issues without being sidetracked by the national issues. Lousy argument, even if it's true that significantly fewer voters come out for local elections.

But a phrase in the flyer, funded by the SF Association of Realtors says "It would stifle the initiative process and prevent issues from being acted on in a timely manner." Buried in that sentence I think is the big one... initiatives get placed on the ballot on the basis of the number of signatures required -- and the number of signatures required is based on the number of people who voted in a prior election. This means, that if the only elections are the ones combined with national ones, there will always be more voters, and it will be more difficult to place initiatives on the ballot because more signatures will be required.

True, but I don't think that really hampers our current form of democracy. Why? Because even with the reduced number of signatures, the only people who get stuff on the ballot are people with money to pay for signature gathering and a handful of activists with lots of connections. I think those people are still going to do what it takes to get things on the ballot (but it will cost more money for people like the Association of Realtors, who would always pay for signatures ?? Still, I can't see why it concerns them so much. There must be another reason.

Panhandler Franklin & Lombard

So I'm on my motorcycle, stoplight at the corner of Franklin and Lombard. The pandhandler is a polite guy -- just stands at the side of the road with his sign, "hungry, please help" or something of that nature. He's wearing what look like second-hand clothes, but they're clean, so he seems down-and-out, but not homeless.

After a few seconds, the guy in front of me rolls down his window and hands him a bill. Then the lady in a van next lane over, opens her window and hands him a sandwich bag half full of coins. As he walks back to the curb with a slight limp, yes, polite, doesn't hang out in the lanes, I say, "Wow -- are those all coins?"

He glances at me with a friendly expression, "ah, just pennies... a few silver though..."

I reply, "well, coupla bucks maybe."

"Ya."

It all just seems like nice polite conversation with a stranger. No tugging at the heartstrings, sad-sack story, whatever, just a civil exchange.

Paranoid Wimp ?

So I get off the train. I see the next Fillmore bus is FORTY-FIVE minutes. Crap. I'm studying the map to see night owl options, and decide to head for Market when I hear this "Hey Buddy!" There's a guy striding towards me, but he's far enough away that I can turn around and keep walking, as I notice the entire block has suddenly become deserted except for me and this fairly young (20's?), physically fit-looking guy who's more rapidly striding towards me, and I'm carrying a heavy backpack with some books and a computer, "Hey Buddy!" as he gets closer crap, I don't really want to be close to him, so I veer into the street, get honked at by a slow-moving car, but I'd rather be in their headlights than on the dark sidewalk with my new found "friend."

I keep going and he keeps following me, so I head towards the Safeway, which I'm pretty sure is open, and as I veer that direction, he says, "Don't go there." What, like I'm going to listen to somebody who is stalking me on the street?!

I get in the entry way, where it's light, and I see a security guard just inside, so I stop, and this guy is still approaching me, so I say, "What's the problem?" He's getting closer and I notice what seems like he's clinching his fist, crap, I'm not going to stand any closer to a guy clinching his fists, so I step inside the door, and say to the Security Guard, this guy's following me (sorta feeling like a timid wimp). Anyway, the Security Guard confronts him, and he's still standing there, looking sorta innocent, but also still clenching his fist, and I say, look, he's clinching his fist... so the guy opens his hand and he's got two quarters in it. So did he want a quarter, or my backpack? Hell, I dunno, but he walks into the store with the security guard and I'm glad to be rid of him, and thankful to get out on Market where there are more lights and people.

Maybe the security guard can give him advice on how to appear more kindly rather than intimidating when panhandling. ...and, does anyone really use the phrase "Hey Buddy..." in a genuinely congenial sense?

Travelling alone

The upside of traveling alone is I tend to talk to strangers more. Like the kid working at Jimboy's Tacos in Fairfield, who commutes all the way from Sacramento, because his uncle, who lives in L.A. owns the business. Isn't it good to work for a family business? "Not necessarily. You can't call in sick, because your family knows if you're sick!" ...and who would commute from Sacramento to Fairfield to work for a fast food restaurant?? Well, his uncle is paying for his college (in Sacramento), so I guess that makes it worth it. Then there's the couple in Truckee, who were thrilled to see a Zipcar. They wish there were zipcars in Truckee.

My old 'hood.

Do I miss the friendly folks in my old neighborhood ??

Fake-crack deal led to Tenderloin slaying, police say