Aram takes the concept of a 'straw man' to a whole new level. Man, I wish we worked at the same place: I do'n't have enough of a sense of humour around the office.
... not that I am there a whole lot. Today I stuck around the house to handle the usual assortment of inept, illiterate, under-informed, tardy, or totally incompetent contractors, sub-contractors, and workmen. The exception was, of course, the cheery carpenter who did not actually finish anything today but managed to put off what he needed to do ("Your parts are on order. We'll 'ave 'em in a few weeks."). I spent hours on the telephone: with customer service; with technical support; with billing; with product support; with premiere technical service; with billing; with customer service; with account activation services; et cetera.
For confirmation, may I please have the last four digits of your Social? your mother's maiden name? your street address? your account number? Please press 1 for English. Do you mind if I put you on hold for a minute?
How do people ever get anything accomplished? I do not trust any of these workers, these distant customer-service people, or these account specialists to actually effect what they claim they are.
On the other hand, I have a better approach to telemarketers now.