When I worked at the toy store, a lady called from Upstate New York who wanted us to send her a special scooter that only our store had in the entire country. We sent it to her, since it was still in the box it was shipped in, it was easy to slap a new label on it and send it on it's way.
The next Monday, she called again. The handle bars weren't in the box. O.K., no problem, we told her, we'll call the company and they'll send some to you.
We called the company later that day, and they said the lady had already called three times about the shortage by calling the number on the warranty card. They said it's taken care of and it was going out on 2 day air today and it should be there from California by Wednesday. In summery, everyone did everything they said they'd do to correct this problem.
On Thursday, the lady called again, despite our best efforts the handlebars didn't make it to her, and someone was going to hear her yell about it. .
Maybe I should tell you a little more about this story, that Monday when the handles got shipped was September 10th, 2001. The next day, as you may have heard, the United States suffered the worst terrorist attack in the nation's history. The air traffic above the entire United States was limited to Air Force One and fighter planes, stranding people and handlebars alike in airports and freight distribution centers.
"You ruined my daughter's birthday!", she had told the poor soul that had answered the phone. I don't remember what my co-worker said in response. But I do know what I would have.
"Ma'am, I'm only going to apologize if you've recently come out a coma, but Tuesday something real fucked up happened and the Air Force aren't letting anything or anybody into the air right now, under threat of being shot out of the sky. I'm afraid the threat of certain flaming death outweighed any duty to get the handle bars to you on time. No, I'm not the person who ruined your daughter's birthday. That would be Osama bin Laden, and I dont have his extension.
That's what I think of whenever anyone likes to talk about how we've changed since 9/11.
2 comments:
Man, people suck.
Osama Bin Laden, You Ruined My Birthday ... courtesy of PudgeTunes.
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