Tomorrow Killed Bambi - And Now The Adventure Continues Rant

[Tomorrow]

I posted this thread http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46386 just to get in a little whine and some humor over an uncontrollable event. This is not only a modest follow-up sequel, but a question about the nature of ... us.

The Fix Is In

On Thursday I received a call from the auto repair shop that our 4Runner was painted and would be put together, front-end aligned and be ready to go on Friday afternoon. I was asked if I'd come in early Friday morning for a final repair blessing before they shipped it off to the tire/wheel business for alignment check. I did as asked and discovered that:

*The front bumper was yet to be installed.
*The promised air conditioner compressor was not replaced.
*The replaced front fender was so out of alignment, by perhaps 3/16ths of an inch, with the rest of the vehicle that I (with no body-work experience) could have put it on better.
*The "ordered" grill was nowhere in evidence.
*At least one temperature sensor had been missing. I was assured that all potential mechanical damage was evaluated and repaired. When I asked about the sensor, I was assured it had been replaced but he didn't know what it was or what it did or where it went.

Nevertheless, the manager said all would be in place and I could pick it up by late afternoon. Well, early afternoon brought a phone call from the manager saying that they had never ordered the bumper (the major piece of damage) or minor supporting parts. It looks like I 'might' have it by Monday afternoon. We'll see.

And By The Way....

"So what?" says you. Things happen like that. Accidents happen. Well, I'm glad you asked.

Here's another complaint. A couple of months ago I upgraded one of my DirecTV receivers to a DVR. When I asked about sending the other back, I was told to just "keep it until you send all the others back". That didn't work out so well, since I was charged for an extra receiver the next month. When I called to complain I was told that they were very sorry, and that they would send out a "Recovery Kit" (RC) and back out the charges. (The Recovery Kit is basically a shipping box for the old receiver with a return, pre-paid mailing label.) Aha...simple. NOT! The RC didn't arrive and they started billing me again...multiple whole months worth of service bills this time. I called and upgraded from customer service, to supervisor, to manager. She said, "Okay, don't worry about the bills. They won't count against your account, and we'll send another RC." By the way, I paid the first bill (they were due for one payment for July/Aug) and was assured there would be no red, non-payment flags on our account for these other two "bills".

As fate would have it, that very evening (1.5 months late), the FIRST recovery kit arrived. I called and told them to put a hold on the second RC sending...the first one came, albeit a month+ late. All fixed? "Sure, thanks. We'll cancel that RC order." Nope. The second RC (that I tried to cancel) came the other day...and what I surmised occurred...we got yet ANOTHER bill...again for the full month charges (these are roughly 75 bucks). Today I've just received my FORTH billing for charges for the month of July/August...and that I'd better pay up OR ELSE!

Want more examples of corporate/personal/governmental incompetence? We bought a Columbia Sportswear jacket for my wife that was defective. We took it back when we discovered it and they wouldn't exchange it. It had to be repaired...it would take only a couple of weeks. Is that right?! Two months later when I called and asked the CS people where the jacket was, they said "what jacket?". The store never sent it. So I had to call the store and they sent it. CS was apologetic and would expedite the repair. One month later, we wait still for the "expedited" repaired jacket.

Or I Could Just Go On And On

Payroll screwups for Mrs. Tomorrow's paycheck.
Tax refund screwups.
Local gas stations putting diesel in regular pumps/tanks.
blahblahblahblahblahblahblah....there are daily stories of incompetence and baloney that we, all of us, have to put up with.

You ALL have stories like this. (Lord knows, some of you may even be the enemy in this cultural trend.)

So here's my real beef...of which the above is just a brief example...and it is admitedly a very broad generalization. But is it just me or has this country become burdened with incompetency, complacency, and filled with people who do not care about others or the quality of the service/product they produce? We've slipped from having the best healthcare, best educated students, best standard of living, longest average lives, etc. to the middle of the pack of the world's ratings. I'm sometimes glad to be gettin' long of tooth, as I am developing a very pessimistic view of the future of the country and our western civilization in general. We are surely becoming more lazy and less responsible. The future will go to those committed to discipline and hard work ethics...traits the American people once had in abundance. Is Asia the next top dawg?

Where did our pride go? What the hell happened?!

 

[Adam]

I hear ya. However, please rest assured that there are still plenty of hard working, conscientious people in this country (and everywhere). Granted, there are also a lot of people who are not. This country has about twice as many people in it as it did fifty years ago, and not everyone is going to be perfect.

All is not lost, although some people tend to think that younger generations are lazier. My boss was worried about a new guy that I'm working with because he's younger and my boss figured that he'd be lazy. Well, the new guy is very laid back, but he's also very diligent and works very hard. Puts me to shame sometimes, truth be told.

BTW, I had a similar experience with a repair shop. Their exterior body work was actually quite good, but their interior repairs were obnoxiously bad. I'd bring it in to have it corrected, it would be there all day, they'd tell me it was all taken care of, and then I'd show up to find out that absolutely nothing was different. Aggravating, for sure, and I feel your pain. It was eventually fixed, but it took several trips. It seemed like I had to ping them enough times for them to figure out that I wasn't just going to go away and that they would be better off just doing their job. There's a poster that fits them perfectly:

That poster reminds me of an experience that I had with an audio dealer (who will remain nameless), too.

 

[Sheep]

Where did you take the 4Runner for repairs?

SheepStar

 

[Tomorrow]

Where did you take the 4Runner for repairs?

SheepStar

Local repair shop.

 

[Tomorrow]

I hear ya. However, please rest assured that there are still plenty of hard working, conscientious people in this country (and everywhere). Granted, there are also a lot of people who are not. This country has about twice as many people in it as it did fifty years ago, and not everyone is going to be perfect.

All is not lost, although some people tend to think that younger generations are lazier. My boss was worried about a new guy that I'm working with because he's younger and my boss figured that he'd be lazy. Well, the new guy is very laid back, but he's also very diligent and works very hard. Puts me to shame sometimes, truth be told.

For sure I was making a generalization, Adam. And for sure it was not the little daily aggravations like the Directv or auto repair shop things that were bothering me. These things just happened to remind me of our general state of affairs. There is no denying that we (the U.S.) have slipped, relative to the rest of the world, in all areas of science and math, medicine, productivity, economy (NO, Joe Schmoe...don't blame it on one guy, GWB), etc. We've become a service economy...servicing ourselves, and not well at that it appears. Our economy is based primarily upon inflating real estate prices (oops!). Other than primary food crops and military craft/weapons, we don't make much anymore.

But then, I've been grumpy all week.....

 

[Adam]

Sorry if I came across wrong. I wasn't trying to trivialize your remarks. Just trying to spark some hope regarding the future, that's all.

 

[Tomorrow]

Sorry if I came across wrong. I wasn't trying to trivialize your remarks. Just trying to spark some hope regarding the future, that's all.

Oh, I didn't feel that at all, Adam. No issues at all. As a matter of fact, I think you're one of the most respectful people on AH.

But I was trying to decide...has the U.S. slipped in these important cultural/economic areas or has the rest of the world improved? I'd guess some of both.

I know we've talked about the youth of our country in a few different threads and about the issue of whether we're in good hands or not so good hands leading to this future. My hope is that our society is talented enough to change this apparent downward slide. But why the slide in the first place? My guess is because of complacency brought on by success. As in sports, it's always tough to repeat as champs. (How's that for a goofy analogy? )

 

[Adam]

Oh, I didn't feel that at all, Adam. No issues at all. As a matter of fact, I think you're one of the most respectful people on AH.

Thanks, RJ! Very kind of you. Luckily, this is such a great forum that I have a LOT of company in that crowd, yourself certainly included.

You make a good point about complacency. Hopefully we'll react (in a positive fashion) to the economic competition that we are facing from other countries. It seems that we have indeed turned from producers into consumers, which is not a sustainable path. Also, today's youth hopefully realizes that an actual war is not as easy to win as it is in a video game - so conflict isn't the quick fix.