Friends,

This may be off topic, but while you're contemplating how bad things
can get with having to deal with patients, running a General Practice,
dealing with budgets and bureaucracy, editing a newspaper column,
trying to get that system to pass accreditation, or worrying about the
spooks looking over your shoulder ("The truth is out there, Scully")
just read how bad your job could really be.

And hopefully this'll make you smile, and then life'll be a little less
serious....

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> >      RESERVATIONS OF AN AIRLINE AGENT
> >      (After Surviving 130,000 Calls From The Travelling Public)
> >      By: Jonathan Lee -- The Washington Post
> >
> > I work in a central reservation office of an airline company.
> > After  more than 130,000 conversations -- all ending with
> > "Have a nice day and thanks for calling" -- I think it's fair
> > to say that I'm a survivor.
> >
> > I've made it through all the calls from adults who didn't know
> > the
> > difference between a.m. and p.m., from mothers of military recruits
> > who didn't trust their little soldiers to get it right, from the
> > woman who called to get advice on how to handle her teenage
> > daughter, from the man who wanted to ride inside the kennel with his
> > dog so he wouldn't have to pay for a seat, from the woman who wanted
> > to know why she had to change clothes on our flight between Chicago
> > and Washington (she was told she'd have to make a change between the
> > two cities) and from the man who asked if I'd like to discuss the
> > existential humanism that emanates from the soul of Habeeb.
> >
> > In five years, I've received more than a boot camp education
> > regarding
> > the astonishing lack of awareness of our American citizenry. This
> > lack of awareness encompasses every region of the country, economic
> > status, ethnic background, and level of education.  My battles have
> > included everything from a man not knowing how to spell the name of
> > the town he was from, to another not recognizing the name of "Iowa"
> > as being a state, to another who thought he had to apply for a
> > foreign passport to fly to West Virginia. They are the enemy and
> > they are everywhere.
> >
> > In the history of the world there has never been as much
> > communication
> > and new things to learn as today. Yet, after asking a woman from New
> > York what city she wanted to go to in Arizona, she asked "Oh...is it
> > a big place?"
> >
> > I talked to a woman in Denver who had never heard of
> > Cincinnati, a  man
> > in Minneapolis who didn't know there was more than one city in the
> > South ("wherever the South is"), a woman in Nashville who asked,
> > "Instead of paying for my ticket, can I just donate the money to the
> > National Cancer Society?", and a man in Dallas who tried to pay for
> > his ticket by sticking quarters in the pay phone he was calling
> > from.
> >
> > I knew a full invasion was on the way when, shortly after
> >  signing on, a
> > man asked if we flew to exit 35 on the New Jersey Turnpike. Then a
> > woman asked if we flew to area code 304. And I knew I had been
> > shipped off to the front when I was asked, "When an airplane comes
> > in, does that mean it's arriving or departing?"  I remembered the
> > strict training we had received -- four weeks of regimented classes
> > on airline codes, computer technology, and telephone behavior -- and
> > it allowed for no means of retaliation.  We were told, "it's real
> > hell out there and ya got no defense. You're going to hear things so
> > silly you can't even make 'em up.  You'll try to explain things to
> > your friends that you don't even believe yourself, and just when you
> > think you've heard it all, someone will ask if they can get a free
> > round-trip ticket to Europe by reciting 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'."
> >
> > It wasn't long before I suffered a direct hit from a woman who
> > wanted
> > to fly to Hippopotamus, NY.  After assuring her that there was no
> > such city, she became irate and said it was a big city with a big
> > airport.  I asked if Hippopotamus was near Albany or Syracuse.  It
> > wasn't.  Then I asked if it was near Buffalo.  "Buffalo!" she said.
> > "I knew it was a big animal!"
> >
> > Then I crawled out of my bunker long enough to be confronted by
> > a man
> > who tried to catch our flight in Maconga.  I told him I'd never
> > heard of Maconga and we certainly didn't fly to it.  But he insisted
> > we did and to prove it he showed me his ticket: Macon, GA.
> >
> > I've done nothing during my conversational confrontations to
> > indicate
> > that I couldn't understand English.  But after quoting the
> > round-trip fare the passenger just asked for, he'll always ask:
> > "...Is that one-way?"  I never understood why they always question
> > if what I just gave them is what they just asked for.
> >
> > But I've survived to direct the lost, correct the wrong,
> > comfort the
> > weary, teach U.S. geography and give tutoring in the spelling and
> > pronunciation of American cities.  I have been told things like: "I
> > can't go stand-by for your flight because I'm in a wheelchair." I've
> > been asked such questions as: "I have a connecting flight to
> > Knoxville. Does that mean the plane sticks to something?"  And once
> > a man wanted to go to Illinois. When I asked what city he wanted to
> > go to in Illinois, he said, "Cleveland, Ohio."
> >
> > After 130,000 little wars of varying degrees, I'm a wise old
> > veteran of
> > the communication conflict and can anticipate with accuracy what the
> > next move by "them" will be. Seventy-five percent won't have
> > anything to write on. Half will not have thought about when they're
> > returning.  A third won't know where they're going; 10 percent won't
> > care where they're going. A few won't care if they get back. And
> > James will be the first name of half the men who call.
> >
> > But even if James doesn't care if he gets to the city he never
> > heard
> > of; even if he thinks he has to change clothes on our plane that may
> > stick to something; even if he can't spell, pronounce, or remember
> > what city he's returning to, he'll get there because I've worked
> > very hard to make sure that he can. Then with a click of the phone,
> > he'll become a part of my past and I'll be hoping the next caller at
> > least knows what day it is.
> >
> > Oh, and James..."Thanks for calling and have a nice day."
> >
> >
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-----------------------------------------------------
Henry Cohen
Windeler Cohen Associates/Health Web Services Limited
Management Consultancy in IT and Telecommunications
Phone: +44 (171) 731 5354    Fax: +44 (171) 731 5764



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