Black Friday

Don't you hate those Robot Voices that you get way too often these days whenever you call any Big Corporation?

Our Sears washing machine just got cranky and refuses to do its job. Something's wrong with the cycle. It takes in water for hours if you let it, and the motor runs but it doesn't swoosh the clothes. So I called Sears. Got a Robot. Stupid Robot doesn't understand clear, perfect English. Asked for Sales. Robot says, "Sorry, I didn't understand your request." I end up yelling at the stupid Robot, and it retaliates by sending me to a dead end phone number, one that rings and rings with no answer and finally ends up with another Robot that instructs, "If you'd like to make a call..." ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

You know, this stupid Robot at Sears replaces a Real Human Being. One they don't have to pay or provide health insurance. Sears is such a cheapass organization they replace real people with a machine. Now I can understand it to some extend in the auto industry. where they use robots to make cars. I don't like it; the Robots there replace real people, union workers. but those Robots are not in contact with the public. You would think that your initial contact with a company should be friendly and pleasant. It is anything but friendly and pleasant when you are talking to a stupid Robot. I would just about bet that the ill-will a stupid Robot generates far outweighs the savings Sears gets by choosing not to hire a real person at the switchboard.

Henry Ford had it right. He hired people and paid them a wage decent enough to allow his workers to buy the cars they produced. Today's short-sighted mean spirited corporate managers don't think that way. They look to how they can save a buck here or there and the public be damned. If possible they ship the job to India or
Sri Lanka where they can pay a worker twenty five cents an hour.

No wonder the economy is in the trash bin. Corporations displaying contempt for their customers. Cutting back on service to save a few bucks. Dropping health insurance for their workers. Union busting. It's all part of the bottom line, make as much money as possible as fast as possible to make the shareholders happy. And screw the customer. What are they going to do, stop shopping?

And it works. Look at the mobs of screaming consumers busting down doors today to get those Black Friday bargains. Lots of American Consumers don't care how they're treated as long as they can get a great deal on that brand new forty inch flat screen TV at a great price.

Of course the thing is made in China. Where they pay the workers a dollar a day.

Happy Black Friday.