I've decided that there is a large group of people in America that have made it their life's work to become the most incredibly pathetic wusses on the planet.

Let me give you an example...

Because my company provides financial services for some credit card companies and many different kinds of businesses, I frequently take calls from very confused people, who think I can do everything. Some companies provide free road service to their customers, such as a jump start, or changing a tire or unlocking a car.

One of the confused lost souls called me today.

"Anonymous Investments, This is AC, how can I help you?"
"Oh...I needed someone to unlock my car, Is this the right number?"
"Do you have the Platinum Card through Bank of Offshore Investments?"
"Yes, Yes I do."
"Yeah, I'm afraid you dialed the wrong number, here, left me give you their main number..."
"You're going to make me call another number? I'm in a really dangerous part of town. Can't you help me?"
"I'm an investment counselor. I don't know anything about locksmiths."
"I'm going to be late for my appointment, and I'm lost, can't you help me? This is the second call center I have called and I've been on hold for a long time"
"Alright, I'm not supposed to do this. What city are you in?"
"I'm in Detroit."
I typed in "locksmith" and "Detroit,Mi" into Superpages, and found a locksmith.
"Here, write this phone number down and give them a call."
"I don't have pen or paper!"
Was there no end to the whining and crying?
"Oh, I figured out how to put in into my phone."
"Ok, call Tony's locksmith at 317-555-1212."
"That will be free, right?"
"Only if you call the other call center. I am an investment counselor. I can't pay them with mutual funds..."
"But...I have no money...."
"YOU'VE GOT A PLATINUM CREDIT CARD! That's how you called me!"
"But..Well...it's maxed out!"
"ma'am, I suggest at this point that you call 911. Have a nice day."
[CLICK!]
What I really wanted to say was, "Are you too dumb to breathe? Is your aunt your mom? What are you doing in a city like Detroit with no money, no keys, no friends, no functioning credit card, and not a functioning brain? Did your Mom put lead paint chips in your oatmeal? What the F--- is your problem!?!"
But once again, terminal niceness and the fine socializing work of my Mother holds true against the prevailing storm of stupid that continues to blow upon my tender psyche. It's people like this that destroy what little kindness I have. You break the rules for them, you go the extra mile, and it's never enough. "I need, I want, I can't, I don't know how, blah, blah, blah..."

We have become a society that can't be responsible for our own lives, unable to help ourselves do anything. Self-sufficiency is as foreign a concept to many North Americans as cultural relativism is to the Taliban. We are a society of consumers. We demand everything be done for us, no matter if we are wrong or not. Grown people attain the ripe age of 30 and can't come to grips with the mental complexities of something being their own fault, and sucking it up and fixing it themselves. I just want to reach through the phone and shake them like a trailer park in a tornado.

OK......

I feel better now.

Just have had a week full of whiners, and needed to rant some.

I'm better now.

Thanks for reading,

AC