Never thought I’d see the day when one of the biggest topics in the country was what is, or is not, torture.
I have a suggestion…
If you really want people to spill their guts, put them in a middle seat in economy class on any airline. Then fly them back and forth between New York, say, and any city on the left coast. Tell them they can get off whenever they start talking. I doubt they can stand more than two round trips.
Can you tell that I have just flown the airlines across the continent? Nothing went drastically wrong, except that the westbound leg took off with no—repeat no—potable water. That meant no coffee, no tea, and no real washing of hands. This came while the whole world was talking of swine flu, so washing hands seemed important. Fortunately, I had a little bottle of sanitary hand cleaner, so was better off than most.
Other than that, it was just same old, same old, and that means it was more or less awful, starting with trying to get the airline on the phone in the first place. How in the world can anyone survive treating customers that way?
I live in Erwin, a very small town in the mountains of east Tennessee, and my friends in cities tease me about living in a hick town. Humpf!
If you have tried to phone any large company lately—say a phone company, airline, insurance company or large bank—then you know it is a miserable, painful, and insulting experience. Let me tell you how it works in Erwin.
I needed to get our riding lawn mower—which will not fit into the back of my little pickup truck—prepared for the summer. In a city that would require research, big bucks, a long delay, and other indignities.
In Erwin I asked fellow Kiwanis members. They recommended Keesecker Appliance. I asked Sammy Keesecker, also a Kiwanian, and he said sure. Within a few days, men from Keesecker picked up my lawn mower, took it to the shop and changed the oil, sharpened the blades, aired up the tires, replaced filters, checked it out, cleaned it up, and brought it back.
The total charge? $42.86. And that’s typical of business in Erwin. Eat your heart out, city folk.
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