9/11 MEMORIAL TRASHED

I know that I'm a day late on this story, but I just can't get over the stupidity of some kids today. Eleven years ago, one of the most tragic events happened on our home soil. Last year, a memorial was opened to remember that tragic day, and some Brooklyn Junior High School students chose to desecrate it throwing trash into the sacred fountain because they were bored. Are you kidding me? As someone who lost a family member in the Towers, those kids deserve a severe punishment.

It turns out; on a school trip to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, these Brooklyn students were kicked out of the hallowed site after they callously hurled trash into the Memorial's fountain. The vandals, who were said to be from Junior High School 292 in East New York, treated the memorial and its reflecting pools, honoring the nearly 3000 people killed in the terror attacks, like a garbage dump. Witnesses saw the kids throwing baseballs, empty plastic soda bottles, among other refuse into the water last Thursday. One student on the trip stated that the kids were making jokes and throwing things into the fountain like it wasn't a big deal. 

Department of Education officials have launched an investigation into the shenanigans. Tourists who visited the site over the weekend were disgusted by the antics. One school teacher was quoted as saying, "This is an absolute disgrace. I don't care if these children were too young to remember the events of that day. They need to be taught to be respectful!" Even fellow students were embarrassed and offended. Another unidentified student said, "No one was disrespecting. It wasn't nothing like that. No one was being serious. Everyone was kind of bored and it was just something to do." Well, if they wanted something to do, they should've picked up an English text book and learned how to use the English language correctly for starters! He speaks like that? It wasn't nothing like that? 

Now, that you know that story, here's what I have to say! This was absolutely disgusting! These kids were disrespectful and deserve a severe punishment for acting like animals. Whether it's the 9/11 Memorial or the Vietnam Vet War Memorial or any memorial for that matter, they are there for a reason! They are there for us to remember! Have some respect! You can't just blame these kids; you can blame their parents too! A good kid with knowledge about what happened that day would never have disrespected the Memorial like that. I'm still blown away that it even happened and would love to see the punishment these kids get!      

OUTSOURCING AMERICA

I need to apologize in advance for this tirade. I know that I've been writing about news stories, and the basis of this blog is just mindless ramblings of me. So here is one for you; one of our big problems today is our unemployment rate. Could the problem be blamed on the fact that our companies are outsourcing? Meaning, are they hiring in India to handle all of their customer service needs and paying them a lot less than the average American will make in that department? For example, I recently called Comcast because there was something wrong with our Internet. At first, I had to deal with an automated system, which is a whole other story. Then, when the automated system couldn't help me, I had to hold for the next available representative. Are you kidding me?

I finally get a representative, and the guy could not even speak English! The gentleman was clearly Hindu Indian. If he was Chinese or something, I would have been shocked! So, he was clearly Indian, and it's no secret they have strong accents. Why would you hire someone for customer service that the majority of your customers simply won't understand? I just don't get it. Customer service is about serving the customer, and not aggravating them because they can't understand a word they are saying. Then when you outsmart them, which I try not to do but I need because they are so cocky, they start stuttering and stammering. This is not someone that you want handling your customer service! Companies need to smarten up and hire unemployed Americans because trust me, you can get them cheap now too! At least, you can understand Americans, and it you screen them right, you can even find the smart ones. 

The automated operators are the worst too! Companies, I am sure, are spending top dollar to replace human reps with computerized ones. Is that right? I can't count how many times I got angry because I couldn't speak to a human. I've even caught myself saying, "What? Nobody wants to work anymore?" In some cases that may be true, but when you really need to talk to somebody they're never there anymore more because the automation has taken over. I mean, if you're checking your bank account or something, automation is fine, but when you’re calling about a service? Oh, my God! 

I guess what I'm saying, America, is that you have a high unemployment rate here at home. Quit the outsourcing and hire Americans to handle your phone customer service. The keyword here is "customer". If the customer is not happy, you will lose them and your front line of defense is your customer service, so I would think that would be most important! Just a thought!

I'm off to Argentina, so blogs may be scarce next week or you may get a blog everyday, almost like a diary of my trip! We'll see what kind of Internet service they have!