Month: September 2018

You’re Being Lied To…..part 2

Lie #2 – “5 pence for a carrier bag. It’s to save the environment.”

Bullcrap! The only place I ever see that money go, is into the retailers till. But surely, you want to save the turtles don’t you, I hear you cry. Of course I do, but how does paying for plastic carrier bags help save the ocean’s wildlife. Are the retailers obliged to pass this money onto the government or donate it to a relevant charitable organisation? Of course not. It goes straight out of your pocket and into their bank accounts.

When you consider, that to make a plastic carrier bag costs a fraction of a penny, this must make it the most profitable item, in terms of percentage, that supermarkets sell. I’m sure if they could, they would ditch all their other products and only sell carrier bags! Well, maybe I’m being a little ridiculous, but it does seem that way.

For us, the general public, having to pay for carrier bags, is just another example of us having to sort out the problems that general industry and large corporations are causing. The companies that make these things are still churning them out in their millions and the chemical companies are still making huge profits by selling on the raw ingredients. Surely, it is these companies that should be paying for the ocean’s clean up. An environmental tax perhaps, based on the quantity of material that they produce or sell. Larger retailers that are responsible for selling huge quantities of carrier bags could also be taxed, and that would also go towards environmental issues.

Would this work? In theory, yes. In practice no. Why not? Because these companies would just pass on these costs and one way or another, we would be left to pick up the bill.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue in paying for carrier bags. I just want to see the money go to the right people. Next time you are in a supermarket and you need to buy a carrier bag, when they say, “that will be 5 pence, is that okay?”, just reply, “of course, where’s the charity tin for me to put the money in?”

It’s about time that the people that are screwing up this beautiful planet of ours, start sorting it out. Or, at least start to pay for it!

 

You’re Being Lied To…..part 1

This is not a strange concept and most of us realise this on some level. What worries me is the frequency with which it happens now. We get bombarded with these lies and untruths on such a regular basis, we are becoming anaesthetised to it. So much so, we are in danger of accepting some of them as being the truth.

I have many examples that I would like to convey and I am sure that you are aware of many of the same issues. At the very least, I hope you share my opinion and in some cases, I hope you might look at some of these issues in a new light. As I have so many of these examples, I’ve decided to break them down into small bite-size chunks.

Lie #1 – “This call may be recorded for training purposes……….”

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah! I was on hold to one of the many service providers that I have the displeasure to call on a regular basis and this same message was droning on in my ear. We’ve all had to listen to it. And then it dawned on me. If these companies use these calls for “training purposes”, then why are most of the people that I speak to so incompetent. It appears that the only training they might have received is on how to use the phone system and how to read from the scripts in front of them. If your query is even slightly off from the list of things on their cheat-sheet, you might as well be talking to a trained parrot. Hell, at least the parrot would be entertaining!

If these calls were used for training, then these companies would see how ineffectual their call teams were. Such is the frustration at dealing with these individuals, normal, polite, self-effacing people are reduced to snarling, foul-mouthed animals, spewing expletives and profanities.

No, don’t be fooled. These calls aren’t used for training, for that would imply that they actually care about you, their customer. No, these calls are used to defend themselves should an issue arise that could be escalated. They can dredge up every word that you have uttered and use them against you. Prove that you are some unreasonable, quarrelsome time-waster who uses language that would embarrass even a fishwife.

Of course, this is only my opinion. If you are someone that manages to keep your cool in the face of overwhelming incompetence and obstinate ignorance, then I applaud you. If you are a company that does actually use this information for the betterment and training of your employees, then you are to be commended, a gold star for you.

Personally, my experience tells me otherwise. You’ve only got to trawl through the many corporate websites for these service providers to see the truth. What can you never find? A telephone number, that’s what! No, I don’t believe they use your call to train their staff, because they don’t want to talk to you in the first place!