dragonlady7 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dragonlady7) wrote2007-10-18 03:32 pm
dragonlady7) wrote2007-10-18 03:32 pm
a day in the life
Two work tid-bits.
1) Man on phone. Wife is chemically sensitive. We made her a custom filter some time ago, it was the Super-Special filter with coal-based instead of coconut-based carbon. I am nonplussed by this. I am positive that the Super-Special filter has always been made with coconut shell carbon—I’ve taught myself everything there is to know about the product line, I know this is true. No, he insists, we used to use coal. His wife is terribly sensitive, she cannot tolerate the coconut carbon, she has never been able to abide it and he knows for sure we made her a coal one, but it was in the Super-Special blend not the regular, because the regular isn’t strong enough for her.
I ask around. No, we have always used coconut. He insists, gives me the invoice number from his most recent order. I cannot find it in the system. I look and look and cannot find it. I go ask around again. The VP herself, who does all the ordering, confirms for me: Since we introduced the Super-Special product, it has always, always been coconut. What the hell?
Wait, says the Customer Service girl. I know who you’re talking about. He ordered the coal-based Super-Special unit in May. We put it through, sent the custom order upstairs, and they made it and shipped it out without ever, ever telling us that the Super-Special is not available in coal. So we never told the guy, and he’s been using it ever since.
Well, shit. What the hell do I do now? Either I lie and say Sure, and send him another coconut-based Super Special filter, or I tell him the truth, that his wife has been using this thing all along with no problem, and I’m basically calling her bluff on being sensitive. Chemically sensitive people are crazy and telling her this would be somewhat akin to bitch-slapping a baby bear in front of its mama: in other words, this would be a Bad Idea on the scale of Crystal Pepsi.
Third option is to lie a different way, and that’s what I’m told to do. “Tell him we can’t get that coal-based Super Special shit anymore,” says Production Girl. “We got it from, um, China, and it’s not available.”
“Europe,” says Customer Service girl. “That way if he keeps looking he’ll find out our supplier is European. What? It is.”
“Ok,” says Production. “We can’t get it from Europe and we used up our last stock just after we sold him that one.”
“Jesus,” I say.
Work tidbit #2: Speaking of Jesus. Production Girl’s grandfather was just heeealed by the powah of Jesus. It’s a sweet story, really. We’re all very happy. Apparently he needed his leg amputated and his kidneys were all messed up from this weird vascular condition in his leg. And he was supposed to have surgery yesterday, but his renal function was so bad they had to postpone it or he’d’ve died on the table. So he’s trying to get himself rehydrated, etc., and the doctor goes home. That night the doctor sits up in bed stricken with sudden inspiration that there’s another procedure he must try before amputation. So he comes in today and does whatever this is, and Grandpa is suddenly much improved. Today he is to be released from the hospital, both legs intact, and healthy. “I know I haven’t talked about this much,” says Production Girl, a little diffidently, “but, well, my family’s really religious, and we were all raised in the church and stuff, and we all, like, pray a lot. So we all prayed that he’d get better and I don’t see any other explanation for it. With, you know, the revelation at midnight and all that stuff. It’s kind of a miracle.”
Sweet: Healed by the power of Jesus! I, for one, am not going to question it.
That cheered us up a bit after the whole carbon debacle. They happened more or less simultaneously.
1) Man on phone. Wife is chemically sensitive. We made her a custom filter some time ago, it was the Super-Special filter with coal-based instead of coconut-based carbon. I am nonplussed by this. I am positive that the Super-Special filter has always been made with coconut shell carbon—I’ve taught myself everything there is to know about the product line, I know this is true. No, he insists, we used to use coal. His wife is terribly sensitive, she cannot tolerate the coconut carbon, she has never been able to abide it and he knows for sure we made her a coal one, but it was in the Super-Special blend not the regular, because the regular isn’t strong enough for her.
I ask around. No, we have always used coconut. He insists, gives me the invoice number from his most recent order. I cannot find it in the system. I look and look and cannot find it. I go ask around again. The VP herself, who does all the ordering, confirms for me: Since we introduced the Super-Special product, it has always, always been coconut. What the hell?
Wait, says the Customer Service girl. I know who you’re talking about. He ordered the coal-based Super-Special unit in May. We put it through, sent the custom order upstairs, and they made it and shipped it out without ever, ever telling us that the Super-Special is not available in coal. So we never told the guy, and he’s been using it ever since.
Well, shit. What the hell do I do now? Either I lie and say Sure, and send him another coconut-based Super Special filter, or I tell him the truth, that his wife has been using this thing all along with no problem, and I’m basically calling her bluff on being sensitive. Chemically sensitive people are crazy and telling her this would be somewhat akin to bitch-slapping a baby bear in front of its mama: in other words, this would be a Bad Idea on the scale of Crystal Pepsi.
Third option is to lie a different way, and that’s what I’m told to do. “Tell him we can’t get that coal-based Super Special shit anymore,” says Production Girl. “We got it from, um, China, and it’s not available.”
“Europe,” says Customer Service girl. “That way if he keeps looking he’ll find out our supplier is European. What? It is.”
“Ok,” says Production. “We can’t get it from Europe and we used up our last stock just after we sold him that one.”
“Jesus,” I say.
Work tidbit #2: Speaking of Jesus. Production Girl’s grandfather was just heeealed by the powah of Jesus. It’s a sweet story, really. We’re all very happy. Apparently he needed his leg amputated and his kidneys were all messed up from this weird vascular condition in his leg. And he was supposed to have surgery yesterday, but his renal function was so bad they had to postpone it or he’d’ve died on the table. So he’s trying to get himself rehydrated, etc., and the doctor goes home. That night the doctor sits up in bed stricken with sudden inspiration that there’s another procedure he must try before amputation. So he comes in today and does whatever this is, and Grandpa is suddenly much improved. Today he is to be released from the hospital, both legs intact, and healthy. “I know I haven’t talked about this much,” says Production Girl, a little diffidently, “but, well, my family’s really religious, and we were all raised in the church and stuff, and we all, like, pray a lot. So we all prayed that he’d get better and I don’t see any other explanation for it. With, you know, the revelation at midnight and all that stuff. It’s kind of a miracle.”
Sweet: Healed by the power of Jesus! I, for one, am not going to question it.
That cheered us up a bit after the whole carbon debacle. They happened more or less simultaneously.