Last weekend I read the special political section devoted to
the upcoming Aug. 3 primary election in the Huron Tribune.
I was puzzled as I read responses to questions asked by persons
hoping to represent my area. One or two of the individuals
sounded like they did not understand the questions.
Most
of the candidates running for commissioner seats responded
with concerns regarding our beaches; the odor, muck and repeated
closures of our beaches resulting from high E-Coli test results.
I have a question regarding their answers and statements.
If we the people are to believe we have scientist who can
tell
us what is in our food and water, why after years of testing
can’t we determine what is causing problems on our shoreline
and where it is coming from? Perhaps those that know don’t
wish to go out on a limb and tell us.
Some
people have claimed phosphates are the cause but they have
been around the past 50 years. Why would someone want
us to believe our problems are caused by something that
has been around that long? I don’t claim to be a chemist
but I do recall 50 years back when washing machines had parts
that were dissolving. Chemist told us it was the result of
using phosphates. I owned an appliance repair company at the
time so I didn’t have to be a scientist to recognize
the problems.
As I see it, if you take a ride around our beautiful county,
the probable cause of muck along the shoreline can be
seen all around. It can also be observed in what once
was our
wonderful fresh air. I would like to ask the present — and
future commissioners to find the cause of our ongoing beach
problems
and take action to resolve them.
The
newspaper requested reader’s opinions about their
presentation of political information. My opinion is;
folks at the paper made good choices in the past and I believe
this change may confuse many people. I liked the old
way
better.
I
know I keep talking about the phone but I want to comment
on automatic answering systems — again. I’m
old fashioned I guess, when I call someone it is
because I want
to talk to them. I never thought of this as being
unusual or odd, I actually recall hearing it told that was
what phones were designed to do, allow us talk to
each
other.
Answering
messages on phones can be disturbing. I have a number I call
frequently, when no one is in
I get
a response that
declares; “blank & blank are not in now but you know
the drill.” The couple with this message
has used it for years and I guess I do know the
drill
because they
always
call back. Here is my question; if their automatic
answering machine gets a call from an automatic
calling machine,
do they expect the machine calling to know the
drill? Does the
calling
machine leave a message with the answering machine
and if so what does the answering machine tell
the people when
they
return?
Then there is the automated answering system that
does not allow you to talk to a human. A few
days ago I
called my
AAA insurance company to renew my membership.
The answering machine
asked for my member number which I provided then
told me to push two if I wanted to renew. It
then told me
to push
four
if I wanted to pay with a credit card. I pushed
four and the machine said enter the card number,
which
I did and
the machine
repeated the number back and told me to push
two if the number was right, which I did. The machine
then
asked
for my card’s
expiration date and told me to enter that date,
which they repeated followed by the request that
I push
two if they
got it right. Then it asked for my three digit
code number on the
back of my card and follow that action by pushing
the star on my phone.
I was simply trying to renew an extra insurance
I carried for road service. I already have
two other
policies
and I get those
renewals without wearing out my finger or my
phone. Since most card issuers advise you to
refrain from
giving your
security
code number to avoid identity theft, I chose
to not follow the last prompt from the machine.
The
machine
then asked
me to hold, which I did, and they actually
found a human to answer
my call. When asked how they could help me,
in an irritated, don’t bother me sounding voice,
I told them to cancel my insurance. I explained
I had carried their
card since
1956 and each year or so the cost went up so I
was not renewing.
This time I determined a good thing resulted
from the use of an automatic answering system — it
saved me money.
Hereafter, if I can’t talk to someone other
than a machine, I am just going to hang up. That
will take
care of a small
part of my aggravation with the phone automation
problem.
I also do not like the poor messages placed
on machines such as; “I’m either out of my office of away from my
desk.” Wouldn’t “I’m away from the
phone” make more sense? Or perhaps, “I’m
sorry I am away from my phone, please leave a message and I
will return your call.” And if you know when you will
return, such as the next day, say so on your message so the
person expecting your return call will know when to expect
it. If you say you’ll return a call — do it or
leave a message saying, “I am not expecting a call from
you so I won’t call you back.” You may hurt their
feelings but at least they won’t be hanging
around waiting for your call.
There are a lot more of those messages
I don’t
care for but that will have to be another column.
Remember — Vote August 3rd!