Politically incorrect incompetence

Ever notice how the simplest things today become
complicated? Call someone for a simple answer at work and no one can provide
help but instead transfer you back and forth between the same departments as no
one seems to know the answer to your question. Call your mobile phone company
because every month the same bogus charge appears on your bill but the customer
service representative isn’t trained to actually answer a question if it’s not
posed EXACTLY as it’s stated on the training guide. If customer asks ‘this,’
answer ‘this way.’ It’s too bad customers aren’t provided with a list of
questions exactly as they appear on those training guides because wording the
question in any other way seems to completely confuse the representative. Banks
are also a great joy but they like to blame incompetence on ‘the system’ rather
than the cheap help they hire to fill seats in a call center.

Call a government office for help & you’re really asking
for it. Not only will you probably be transferred from place to place to place
to original place back to 10 other places but each person creatively gives you
a different answer. What always amazes me is the variation of answers you can
receive over a very basic question that has a very definite yes or no answer.
Say you need to know how many months you may stay in a particular foreign
country without a visa. You ring the local embassy, state you’re a US citizen & ask if you need a visa & if
not, ask the duration of stay you are allowed without a visa & as a US passport
holder. Now, for fun, call back at different times of the day & get a
different person & odds are: you’ll get a different answer each time OR a
very simple ‘I don’t know.’ I get thoroughly annoyed when my question is
regarding something for which there is plainly stated policy, law, or
regulation and for which there is only one correct answer. Just ONE concrete
answer with NO room for interpretation. Therefore, how are 15 different answers
possible? I wonder how something so simple can become SO complex but it seems
to happen more often than not these days in a world dominated by incompetence.

I attribute today’s rampant incompetence to this
‘politically correct’ movement in which we dare not tell anyone they’re wrong
or stupid or screwing something up royally because we just *might* hurt their
feelings. Ahhhhhhhhh. We can’t possibly risk hurting someone’s feelings even if
their stupidity may one day hurt or kill someone. I can see not rubbing
someone’s nose in a mistake but what is this nonsense? How can a person know
they’re doing something incorrectly or obviously stupid if someone doesn’t pull
them aside & say: “Hey, Bob, you really shouldn’t smoke cigarettes while
you’re pumping gas there. See, gasoline is flammable & that lit cigarette is
a flame & together, it can go boom!” No, we don’t want to hurt Bob’s
feelings if Bob’s too stupid to realize gas + cigarette might equal disaster
for Bob & many other people. Hurting Bob’s feelings is not politically
correct but it’s ok if Bob & his stupidity cause a major explosion. At
least his feelings won’t be hurt.

I love too how no one seems to know anything and/or lacks
basic common sense. Most of the time it’s due to the fact they’re either
incredibly stupid, not listening, or don’t read. I’ve interviewed for jobs when
the recruiter is HOLDING my resume & then will ask me if I’ve ever done
this or that when it’s plainly stated or missing from the piece of paper in
their hand. Please don’t ask me if I’ve ever worked as an investment banker
when there is no reference to such on my resume if you’re going to interview
me. I’m sorry but you can’t read & you’re going to determine if I’m
qualified to do a job? I can read; therefore I’m already one step ahead of you
but you’re evaluating me? Ironic. Maybe this is why we have incompetent people
doing bad jobs………….because those that hired them were also incompetent.