Not long ago, I found myself in line at the airport, ready to show my ID and get my boarding pass. In front of me was an Asian man having a bit of an issue with the gal behind the counter. I missed the beginning of their conversation, but her voice got louder and I heard her ask, “When does your passport expire?” to which he replied, “No understand.” So, of course she repeated the exact same words, only louder, which of course didn’t get her any better response. His computer case sported the logo of a high tech firm, and I thought to myself that when he wasn’t dealing with customer service people who were clueless, he was probably inventing the next great device I’d look forward to using.
It was getting obvious to me that no one was having fun just then, so I stepped up, excused myself, looked the gentleman in the eye, and said, very gently, “Very sorry. When. Passport. No good.” I figured, the same way I’d recognize French or Spanish for simple words, hopefully he’d understand “no good.” He understood immediately, looked down at his passport, smiled, and showed the agent the date. As he pointed, he pronounced, “Expiration Date.” The agent was probably having a bad day, as she just went about her business and gave him his ticket. No apology for shouting at this customer, and not a word of thanks to me when it was my turn after he left. I sometime think about how even speaking the same language we have trouble communicating. Sometimes words are ambiguous, other times, we just aren’t listening. Just my thought for today.
Pretty pathetic. You’d imagine they’d learn how to convey simple ideas in a simple way. It was amazing to watch this play out.
Is it so hard to try a different angle when the same approach but louder almost always fails. Stupid clerk. You’d think dealing with international all day long would help you have a clue. Only in America…
There really should have been an apology offered by this customer service agent. I am sometimes appalled at the fact that now days customer service really is not customer service.
The apology never came. And instead of a bit of thanks to me, she had an attitude, as if I showed her up.
Aloha Joe!
That was very nice of you to help. Unfortunately customer service is not a priority with the TSA, and you did show her up, by being humane to a fellow man.
Just wanted to let you know that I have my own website now!! HonoluluAunty.com – real estate investing and other forms of wealth building from this “old lady”. I have always had so much admiration for you young people who share and keep us educated, I pushed my son to teach me how to blog too!
Any news about the ole United First Financial (was that what they were called?) and the horrible Money Merge Account that was such a sham? I have got all our finances for the past 2 years on Quickbooks, and during my Money Merge months, the tracking of the accounting was madness and totally unnecessary.
Having found you when I google searched for Money Merge reviews was a great relief since you took them apart and provided your fantastic mortgage payoff worksheet.
Hope all is well with you and your family!
Aloha from Hawaii,
Aunty aka Honolulu Sally
Hi Sally! Great to hear from you again. I have a Google search set up to alert me to any new discussion on the Money Merge Scam. It appears all but dead, although these things tend to resurface from time to time.
Aloha Joe! Glad that it is dead, or at least not around anymore. What a sham and rip off it was – especially with their bullshit (pardon my French) refund policy. Acting like they really want to help homeowners eliminate their debt with their fancy algorithm jargon while taking their money to be plugged into their rather limiting system.
Keep on keeping on! You are a beacon for many of us.
Mahalo,
Aunty aka Sally