I had to set up an account today with a new bank. While waiting in the junior account manager's cubical, I overheard one of the bank tellers respond to a customers question by saying "it's because of Bush's Patriot Act" The customer, an actual little old lady, responded by saying "I hate that man." The two then went into a back in forth about everything that was wrong, from the air and water to the economy to of course the war. I was smiling broadly at the conversation, it was like overhearing two seven-year olds talking about where babies come from. (That may be too young for the analogy, but I think my point is clear). The person waiting on me saw my reaction and rolled her eyes, saying the teller has been warned about discussing politics, she'll bash Bush or Republicans every chance she gets and other customers have walked out or complained.
I just thought it was funny but now I'm wondering how others see it. I took a class in customer relations last week. While commiserating about bad weather or something good a customer said was encouraged, stating opinions outside the business transaction can be detrimental. (And I'm saying this both ways, if the teller was stating that Clinton had people killed or Governor Rendell is a cross-dresser it'd be just as outside the pale.)(Of course, a small group on the list will say, 'everything they say about Bush is true!')
Semi-related: I had a flat tire Saturday night (actually, it went flat AFTER emitting a rather loud *BOOM!* which set off the alarm of the car parked next to it on the other side, leaving a gash at least 8" long (for Alberto: 21 cm, or 1420 megaHertz) which was fortunately on the inside so all I felt was a little puff of air) and while standing around this afternoon at the tire place waiting for them to mount the new one I happened to look at the display on the counter for a tire company credit card. I noticed that a number of the spaces on the form had an asterisk beside the information to be filled in the space, e.g., "LAST NAME*", "FIRST NAME*", "STREET ADDRESS*", etc. At the bottom of the form in tiny type was the footnote:
*INFORMATION REQUIRED BY USA PATRIOT ACT.
We Want To Know Where You Live Maru
-- Ronn! :)
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