Motorola and AT&T Customer Service Experience

Last night and this morning I had the chance to deal with both Motorola and AT&T customer services.  It’s an interesting comparison.

My wife’s new phone wasn’t functioning properly when we got it via UPS, so we did our due diligence with it before calling Motorola.  This included using the instructions that came with the phone and using various online sites to no avail.

I called Motorola last night from a land line an hour and a half before their closing time.  Four dropped calls in an hour and I finally gave up for the night.  One even lasted 18.5 minutes.  What a waste of time.

This morning I got through on the second call, but it wasn’t all good.  I had difficulty understanding her.  It wasn’t her accent that was so bad, I mean ever try listening to someone from New Orleans or Boston?  The problem was the volume her voice came through.  I cranked the handset volume all the way up and I just continued to struggle hearing her.  Low volume international accent ridden calls just suck.  “Excuse me”, “huh”, “what was that”, ” could you repeat that”.  Sheeze, what a pain.

Plus the lady was robotic.  There was nothing in her voice to indicate anything what-so-ever.

Eventually the lady on the other end of the phone had me jump through some hoops with the phone and came to the realization she couldn’t help me.

In the end Motorola told me to contact AT&T.  So I called them and lo-and-behold the gal was in Oklahoma City!  I could hear her fine and better yet, we could understand each other.  Heck, I had a real person on the phone in just a couple of minutes.  Customer service nirvana.

I told her the problem and my experience with Motorola and she set me right up.  She could send me a new phone or I could stop by the store and pick one up.  I picked one up at the Virginia Beach Blvd location near Princess Anne High School.  Todd was very helpful, even downloading an app for me to check out.

Oh yeah, the AT&T phone rep even did me one better.  I told her since I’ve been such a loyal customer I should get a free phone.  Guess what, I’m getting one!  Exactly what I wanted, too.

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but being able to understand and hear the person you’re talking to really does make a difference.  While talking to the Motorola rep I was in pain, but it was a pleasure speaking to the AT&T rep.

You Might Be A Liberal

The number one Trending Topic on Twitter this evening was “you might be a liberal”.  Some are funny, some are stupid and here’s a few I’m just going to copy off the top in no particular order.   And for my more liberal friends, yes, they go both ways.

YouMightBeALiberal if you prefer to give a fish instead of teaching a man how to fish.

YouMightBeALiberal if your only defense is to blame Bush or play the race card

YouMightBeALiberal if you make millions of dollars on a movie demonizing capitalism.

YouMightBeALiberal If you vote 4 a president who endorses Blago and Kwame Kilpatrick

YouMightBeALiberal if you have a functioning brain AND use it.

youmightbealiberal if you love peace….Peace

YouMightBeALiberal if You begin sentences with the words “I feel.”

YouMightBeALiberal if you think society is to blame for Hasan’s killings at Ft. Hood.

youmightbealiberal – if one day you come to realize that you usually prefer the company of gay men over straight men.

YouMightBeALiberal if you laughed when you heard the RNC member health plan covers abortions.

YouMightBeALiberal if you give none of your own money to charity, but feel entitled to give away everyone else’s.

YouMightBeALiberal if you think Islam is a peaceful religion.

YouMightBeALiberal if you believe in civil rights But not civility. Heck, that’s generally both sides.

youmightbealiberal if u believe BO having regular private meetings w/ liberal journalists is just 2 swap recipes.

youmightbealiberal If you think profits are evil, but government seizing private property is honorable

YouMightBeALiberal if you think Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is misunderstood

YouMightBeALiberal if cigars are a sex toy….

YouMIghtBeALiberal If you think Obama has united this country rather than divide it further

YouMightBeALiberal if u bash FOX News needlessly, and then sit down to watch MSNBC – barf!

YouMightBeALiberal if you think the Christmas tree needs to be called something other than what it is

If you’re tolerant of those kewl exotic foreigners but can’t tolerate your conservative neighbor,

If you think that Ameirican President should apologize for all of the World’s ills.

See?  Some funny, some stupid.  But I really prefer the lib bashing ones.

Don’t Be A Distraction

Some people can be such a distraction they’re actually being rude.  And if you’ve been reading this for any time, you know I can’t stand stupid, rude people.  It’s even worse when they’re totally oblivious to what they’re doing.  How obtuse can some people be?

Here’s the setup, I was at a meeting this evening with about 20 people.  Seated to my left was a very nice woman I’ve known for a while.  A woman I’ve sat next to many times with no problems, but this time… this time she really pissed me off!

She started by grinding her teeth and being very fidgety, just moving around in her seat smashing those gnashers together for every one of 612 seconds, not that I was counting or anything.

Then she started drinking her Coke.  OMG this really busted on me.  She drank it by lifting it up very quickly beyond vertical so it made all kinds of gargling noises.  Then she GULPED it down.  Loud!  Not just once, but several at a time, wait and repeat.  Over and over again and again and agai…  Oh, don’t forget the required carbonated ”internal” burps that weren’t all that “internal”!  Sheeze…

I was going nuts and began to think it was a Limited Edition Bottomless Coke when the vessel finally relented and gave up its last drop of caffeine.  Thank goodness the pain in my ears, the pain in my frontal was over.

But no!  It wasn’t over.  With the sugar-water gone it was time to feed that belly some Oreo’s!  I’m not freaking kidding.  Cow Bell got up, grabbed what must have been two dozen cookies and began to plow through them.  One painful crunch at a time.  I actually had to put a finger in my ear closest to her just so I could concentrate.  A friend sitting three seats from her actually spun his head around to see who was chomping on concrete.

Let me tell you, this was an amazingly painful meeting that was supposed to be fun.  “Hey, come on out for a good time and heck, we’ll torture you while we’re at it.”

 Come on people, you’re killing me here!

Britney Spears Lip-synch Debacle Down Under

Just when you may have thought Britney Spears was finally getting her act together, news of sloppy, off-beat dancing and poor lip-synching is sinking her Circus tour.

The story came to a head in Australia, where Circus’s 14-date Down Under leg has been met with widespread media derision, calls by politicians for laws forcing prominently placed disclaimers in the case of a lip-synched performance, and even fan walkouts. Word spread that dozens of disgruntled concert-goers—most of whom paid from $97 to $1500 AUS per ticket—left the pop superstar’s Friday-night show in Perth, spurred by Spears’ “crap” performance and repeated miming of lyrics…

“We were led to believe the lip-syncing was necessary because her dancing was so good, so rigorous, she couldn’t possibly sing,” writes entertainment journalist Rebekah Devlin, who gathered the testimonials of disappointed fans. “But her moves were sloppy and stiff, as well as out of time.”

Spears’ Australian promoter vehemently denied the claims, saying,”Britney is aware of all this and she’s extremely upset by it. She’s a human being. I’m embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting.”

Even John Mayer, in Australia to promote his new album, joined the fray, tweeting, “If you’re shocked that Britney was lip-syncing at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you.”

Read the full article from EW, with video, here.

FWIW, this is one of my favorite Britney lip-synch vids.

Gross Insensitivity From Obama Following Shootings

President Barack Hussein Obama showed extreme insensitivity in his first remarks regarding the Ft. Hood shootings on Thursday.  You know it’s bad when an NBC affiliate calls him “insensitive, “frightening”, and ”wildy disconnected and inappropriately light”.  He’s such a flippant ass this just can’t be ignored, even by the liberals.

This article is so good I’ll just take bits and pieces from it.

Obama’s Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting

A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama.

 President Obama didn’t wait long after Tuesday’s devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership…

… instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks

…the president thanked various staffers and offered a “shout-out” to “Dr. Joe Medicine Crow — that Congressional Medal of Honor winner.”

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That’s the least that should occur. 

…an argument could be made that Obama should have canceled the Indian event, out of respect for people having been murdered at an Army post…

The disconnect between what Americans at home knew had been going on — and the initial words coming out of their president’s mouth was jolting, if not disturbing.

It must have been disappointing for many politically aware Democrats, still reeling from the election two days before. The New Jersey gubernatorial vote had already demonstrated that the president and his political team couldn’t produce a winning outcome in a state very friendly to Democrats (and where the president won by 15 points one year ago). And now this?

If the president’s communications apparatus can’t inform — and protect — their boss during tense moments when the country needs to see a focused commander-in-chief and a compassionate head of state, it has disastrous consequences for that president’s party and supporters.

All the president’s men (and women) fell down on the job Thursday.  And Democrats across the country have real reason to panic.

Read about the disconnected president here.

NASCAR Twitter Rankings

Jeff Gluck just came out with the top NASCAR Twitter rankings this morning.  Here they are with Jeff’s commentary:

1. Juan Pablo Montoya (Jpmontoya): 37,593 – Had the biggest gain in followers, more than 11,000 in a month
2. Kevin Harvick (Kevinharvick): 19,373 – Trying to hold off Michael Waltrip for the No. 2 spot
3. Michael Waltrip (Mw55): 19,080 – Perhaps the funniest NASCAR tweeter has become more interactive lately
4. Kenny Wallace (Kenny_Wallace): 15,356 – Often reminds followers he’s a driver first, but his TV stardom got him to No. 4
5. Elliott Sadler (Elliott_sadler): 13,249 – Passed DeLana Harvick for the No. 5 spot
6. DeLana Harvick (DeLanaHarvick): 13,012 – The No. 1 team owner on Twitter
7. Kasey Kahne (Kaseykahne): 12,132 – Gain of 3,500 followers helped him pass Bobby Labonte on this list
8. Bobby Labonte (Bobby_labonte): 10,694 – Having more than 10k followers can’t hurt his search for a ride next year
9. Ricky Carmichael (Rickycarmichael): 6,822 – Newcomer to the list used to be “RC_Racer” but took over his account from a fake
10. Max Papis (Maxpapis): 6,812 – Papis still proud of his “Twitter tribe”
11. Denny Hamlin (Dennyhamlin): 6,530 – After Martinsville win, he tweeted a picture of the congratulatory banner across his driveway
12. Brian Vickers (Brianvickers83): 5,222 – Moved up a position to 12th, the same spot he’s in for the Chase
13. Joey Logano (jlogano): 5,212 – Dropped two places, but not bad for a guy who hasn’t tweeted since August
14. Steve Wallace (Stevewallace66): 3,247 – Has a solid following as the No. 2 Nationwide Series driver on Twitter
15. T.J. Majors (tjmajors): 2,403 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s spotter gains two spots, which won’t sit well with No. 16 on this list
16. Brett Griffin (19spotter): 2,319 – Sadler’s spotter up one position, but gets passed by buddy Majors
17. Michael McDowell (Mc_Driver): 2,273 – Drops two spots, but still overachieving – just like on the track
18. Max Siegel (Max_siegel): 2,132 – Qualifies for this list now thanks to his involvement with Revolution Racing (diversity program)
19. David Ragan (david_ragan): 1,999 – Another Twitter rankings newcomer, Ragan has had spurts of communication
20. Kelly Bires (Kellybires): 1,921 – Up one spot this month and expected to climb thanks to his new ride at JR Motorsports
21. Brad Coleman (bradccoleman): 1,718 – Hasn’t been on the track much lately and dropped a spot here
22. Landon Cassill (Landoncassill): 1,462 – Maintains his position after first start of the year, still lots of followers for a guy with no ride
23. Justin Allgaier (J_Allgaier12): 1,380 – Perhaps will move up once people figure out how to spell his last name
24. Joe Nemechek (FrontRowJoe87): 1,085 – New to the list but is high up because he follows so many people
25. Aric Almirola (Aric_almirola): 1,034 – Almost got a big boost in exposure with Talladega truck race
26. Colin Braun (Colinbraun): 894 – Puzzling why Braun doesn’t have more followers. He’ll be in the Nationwide Series next year
27. Marc Davis (Nascarmdavis): 797 – Going to class for now, still trying to make it as a driver
28. Mike Calinoff (MikeCalinoff): 556 – Matt Kenseth’s spotter tweeted pics of his new tattoo
29. Keith Rodden (KMRodden): 530 – As engineer for Kahne’s team, interacts with fans and answers technical questions
30. Regan Smith (Regan_Smith_): 523 – When he goes full-time in Sprint Cup again next season, should get more followers
31. Rocky Ryan (Rocky_Ryan): 438 – Jeff Burton’s spotter got passed by Rodden and Smith
32. Chris Lambert (3widemiddle): 260 – New to the list, Lambert is the spotter for Brian Vickers
33. Kyle Busch (kylebusch): 166 – Busch says he won’t do Twitter because it’s a fad, but his account is set up if he changes his mind
34. Jeffrey Earnhardt (SlickEarnhardt): 149 – Shouldn’t take long to get followers once people hear an Earnhardt is tweeting
35. T.J. Bell (Racingwithtj): 126 – Twitter account for the Truck series driver needs more followers to stay on the list

Read Jeff’s article here.