"Please hold for the next available liar."

YOU ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. That's the message on my computer when Comcast is unable to connect me to the Internet. They apparently prefer to phrase the problem in a way that suggests I am responsible for not being connected. That's not surprising these days when the average person cannot admit when they're wrong, so why would a company? I had an even clearer example of that today. Early this morning when I tried to place my first call of the day on my T-Mobile phone, it read "No Network Coverage." Since I have called from this area a thousand times, I knew there was network coverage. So what T-Mobile meant was "We are unable to provide coverage." If they had sent that message, I would have been mollified. But instead I was infuriated every time I tried to make a call and up popped the lie, No Network Coverage." Eventually I called my initial provider: the Coral Gables T-Mobile store. A sympathetic girl suggested I call the 800 number. The 800 robots were very warm until they discovered I am a prepaid customer, then they immediately switched me to the vast unknown of T-Mobile. Twenty minutes later I found myself in India speaking with a young man who was very sympathetic until I could not provide him with a pin number, because I had never been given one. He insisted I had and was unwilling to indulge me any further. I hung up and called the Gables store again. Now they were willing to admit the phone was faulty and encouraged me to come in. I said it was too far to travel and they gave me the number of a store nearer. When I called, a zonked out guy answered. He was unable, at first, to answer my question:"Is this a T-Mobile store?" He eventually admitted that it was but I was speaking on his personal phone. I decided to go to Coral Gables tomorrow.All this makes me wonder how many people die every year of strokes and heart attacks after or during dealings with any large company. I am sure if one were connected to a blood pressure monitor, you could see the numbers climb with each, "Your call is important to us. Someone will be with you shortly."


Note: At 7 pm, my phone was once again functional confirming my initial suspicion that there was something wrong with their network. So all those phone calls were wasted and if I had gone in to the store, it would have been still more wasted time and effort.So you see the technology gets smarter and smarter and the people who supply it, well, you know.