There’s too much about the last 3 days to put in one post.
The focus of this post is: customer service.
I just got off an hour long phone call with United Airlines, and spoke with two people who barely spoke English (Artificial Intelligence YAY – when’s that coming?). The first gentleman was yanking my chain, the second one basically told me a bunch of bullshit …
Here’s the situation: my brother in order to help me escape Denver after Greyhound abandoned me there, to the streets … (hey Denver, why don’t you look into Greyhound’s liabilities for your street person problem?) any who … my brother did me a favor. He upgraded the ticket believing it would include at least ONE checked bag – but this is not the case according to United Airlines.
I don’t know, specifically, the details of what my brother did when he reserved the seat to Newark – but the key point is: he did nothing wrong. He was trying to help me, he believed, based on the additional upgrade charge, that this would include ONE CHECKED BAG, but no. So I thought “hey, people still want to treat their customers well, right? – why not just refund me the 35 bucks I paid for the additional bag” … that was incorrect thinking.
You might think this is a petty issue, but for those of us who CAN’T print money, like the Federal Reserve and most banks print money, every dollar counts. I am not alone … during my brief but painful experience on the Greyhound bus this week, I’ve come to realize, talking to many people, that a few dollars here and there is a big deal, and not something to be taken lightly. I had a few conversations on that bus with random travelers, all reporting the same thing: money is tight, jobs that allow you to live are hard to find, everyone is doing their best to hang on. And this, as President Biden touts how “strong the economy is”? – what sideways crap to spew … “strong” … if being near death is strong.
I studied the collapse of the USSR in grad school. Studying how the Soviet Union collapsed has given me some insights into the last couple decades of American history. But it’s one thing to be academic or abstract about “collapse”, it’s another to live through its initial birth pains. My experiences with United Airlines, and ESPECIALLY Greyhound, this week has given me pause to remember that STUDYING SOMETHING is not the same as living through it. Well – we’re in it now.
How fast the collapse happens is unknown, all I know is this: it will be non-linear, discontinuous, cascading and brutal. Once it really takes off and gets going? – it will be as I said: like having someone punch your teeth out.
I lost a few teeth this week.
I need to remember, this is still the slow part.
As for this $35 fee? – I intend to waste their time, United Airlines, once a week for the next few months. I’ll get that money back one way or another … and even at low cost rates of Indian telephone support, the money adds up for them too.