My Zen Arcade

Me: we’ve been calling two weeks for our mailbox key
Her: sorry, we don’t have one.
Me: well, that’s not my problem
Her: I could easily that since we don’t have a key that it isn’t our problem either.

I think I may have actually sputtered

Threatening legal action got results finally.
And an email from them saying threats don’t work.
Two cases of denying obvious reality.

Jon Stewart made a remark a couple nights ago about how silly the subprime mentality is.  You take people who can’t pay their bills but want a house.  Then, instead of making it easier for them to pay for the house, you actually make it harder.

This makes sense in that the bank is taking a greater risk with these folks so they have to get more profit, hence the higher rates.  While I believe that this is the system shooting itself in the foot (as the crash has proven), it does make sense in a controlled setting.

However, Mr. Stewart is leaving something out.  There are millions of people out there with good jobs and good income and lousy credit because of stupid mistakes in the part.  Like me.  We got caught up in the subprime storm as well.  Now, many of us got out in time, but many didn’t.  And these people got screwed, too, when their rates skyrocketted.  Its amazing how close even we are to serious financial troubles.

So, one of the things that comes up again and again is whether or not atheists can be moral.  Some theists say no, others say yes.  But given the polling data, I think we have to say that even the ‘yes’ people aren’t completely truthful.

I’ve always wondered about that.  I can understand how, maybe, some of the nay-sayers have never met an atheist and so they have zero data outside of their own lives to work with, but I don’t believe all of them have that issue.  Further, if a person can and is moral, why would you have issue with him to the level present in this country because of his lack of faith?

It seems reasonable to judge whether a person is moral or not based on their history of action.  Obviously, sometimes you don’t know a person very well so you use other factors if you need to make such a call.  You might look at the fact that they share the same religion, served in the military, or what political party they are in, etc.

Now, if you are a theist meeting an atheist, and you believe strongly that morality comes from god, you might believe that an atheist is leading a moral life, but ultimately that they are much closer to someone like Dexter than yourself.  For those of you who have never watched the show, the title character is an orphan raised by a policeman father.  Early on, the father recognizes that Dexter is a sociopath, almost completely amoral and has almost no ability to empathize.  In short, his adopted son is almost destined to become a serial killer.  He understands that the boy has no moral context and few, if any, significant bonds with other people.  To try and save his son (and his future victims), the father convinces and teaches the boy to ‘fake it’.  He trains him to appear to live a normal life and act appropriately with other people (like smiling in photographs, for example).  This ends up being insufficient, but it works together with Dexter being a serial killer of criminals.

My point is, Dexter appears to live a moral life but, in fact, has no morals (this is a shallow interpretation of the show but…).  And I think that is how many theists see us, as fakers.  Oh, sure, they know I won’t steal their wallet because, in the past, I haven’t, and maybe they believe that this pattern of behavior will continue.  But what if I am in a totally new situation, like raising my first child, sitting on a jury, or leading the country?  These are new experiences and who know how I’ll react if, in fact, I’m just faking my way through it all?

Strangely, I feel similarly towards religious people who follow a particular text (as opposed to those who just have an amorphous belief in god).  No one follows their text completely, in part because it would simply become paralyzing.  But the bits they do follow seem random to me.  Lots of people ready to comdemn others for being sinful, even though the bible says you shouldn’t do that.  Lots of people yelling about gays being abominations before god, but how many of them help the poor (which the bible talks about MUCH more)?  If you claim to get your morality from a text, but you also take that morality at random, how can I trust you?  Yes, I know you’ll do A in situation B because I’ve seen you do that before.  But what if you are in a totally new situation, like raising your first child, sitting on a jury, or leading the country?

(Yeah, I’m talking to you, John Edwards)

Non-committally:

Thank you for writing back and I appreciate the additional information you provided.

Please be assured that your experience is communicated to our local leaders for evaluation. We will work on the situation and ensure all issues are addressed.

So that we may look further into this, will you please provide your best contact number and the phone number associated with the account?

We appreciate the opportunity to assist!

Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.

take a look

And here is a copy of the email I just sent.

Dear Mark

You recently commented on my posting at my blog myzenarcade.com.  You asked if I could provide more information and if there was anything you could do to help.  I have a followup post on the topic, but here is the gist of what occurred.

My wife and I were living at location X and moving to location Y.  I rely on Comcast’s high-speed internet to work from home so we called Comcast in advance to find out what needed to happen to make sure down-time was kept to a minimum.  We were assured by the Comcast representative that nothing was required.  All we had to do was show up at the new house with a cable modem and we would be good-to-go.

Of course, that’s not what happened.

I began setting up our computers on Sunday 7/20.  The cable modem I’d purchased wasn’t connecting to the internet.  I called Comcast technical support.  I worked with a very nice lady there for a while, but nothing came of it.  In the end, she said that I’d need a tech sent out to troubleshoot the issue.  I asked when I could expect his visit.  She said the soonest she could get someone out there was Tuesday.  I replied that I require Comcast’s service so that I can work.  I reminded her that we has called Comcast to confirm that no such outside help would be required.  I did this to emphasize that Comcast had dropped the ball on this issue and that perhaps they should be expediting the service call.  This got no result.

I then explained that this was exactly why we left Comcast’s cable TV service, and why we would, as soon as possible, be leaving their high-speed internet service.  I also explained that this was a perfect example of why everyone I know has strong, negative feelings towards Comcast.

On your website, you say: “Here at Comcast, providing excellent customer service to you is our #1 priority.”.  My experience with Comcast has made it very difficult to believe that statement.

Thank You

Anyhow…here’s two situations I was in recently.

1. Comcast: We had called Comcast before moving and asked them if we needed to do anything to get our high speed internet in our new house.  They said the house is already wired fine, so we should just be able to hook up a cable modem and be good to go.

2. Empire Carpet: We made an appointment with Empire Carpet at our previous residence, about 90 minutes away.  The window was 1-3pm.  At 2:42, I missed a call from Empire and when I called back (2:47pm), I was told my appointment had been cancelled.

Results:

Comcast: They apologized, said they were obviously wrong, and when I asked about them getting someone out here to fix the problem, it was going to be two days.  Which cost me a day of work.  I explained that this would cost me a day of work, but that didn’t seem to help.

Empire: These folks actually seemed to care that the total time I’d spent on this was going to be upwards of 5 hours, plus another 3+ hours for the next appointment.  I explained to them that I’d taken a day off from work for this as well.  They put me on hold and a few minutes later they had a new guy coming out to see me.

Do you see the difference?

In both cases, some amount of mistake/misjudgement/error or whatever had occured.  In both cases, it was the responsibility of the service provider.

Empire seems to understand that.  Comcast doesn’t.

Every time I deal with a Comcast rep, I explain to them that the only reason we are still with them for high-speed internet is because they are CURRENTLY the only game in town.  The moment we can get away from them, we will.  Of course, the people I talk to don’t make policy, and the people that do don’t take my calls, so its all vaguely pointless.  But still I try.

world stunned as man loses 2 days of work due to Comcast lie.
Film at 11

Oh, yeah…

best thing about iPhone 2.0 release: “I like to think that my bricked phone gave me access to a cool new app
that helps me learn to say “emergency” in 10 different languages.”

worst thing about the iPhone 2.0 release: the 2.0 firmware.  Jeez.

OK, been kind of strange working from home so I’ve really let this blog go.

But I’m working on boundaries and here’s just the crap I haven’t been talking about.

1. All the moronic flack General Clark has been getting makes me even more disappointed in the MSM (which is saying something).  Even Jon Stewart took a poke at him.  Never mind that Clark himself is a soldier, and a general, no less.  Never mind that he didn’t actually say anything bad about McCain.  Never mind that what he did say is fucking true.  He was an idiot to say it because he should have learned by now that McCain’s military service is sacred ground and qualifies him to be anything from pool boy to brain sugeon.

If McCain’s military service never came up as part of the campaign, then perhaps Clark would have been out of line, but when you say “X means Y”, that makes “X” fair game.  Of course, the only thing McCain has going for him is “X” so…

2. Metal Gear Solid 4: I think they made a mistake not using save points.  I used to hate those things, but they can be very useful for building tension and being able to save every step of the way makes nothing matter much.  Still a great game.

3. I must have SingStar2.  A ton of, yes, its true, Duran Duran (or, as we fans call them, ‘Double Duran’) tracks!!  DA DA DA DA THE REFLEX!!

4. Sometimes, all at once, I remember just how much I love my wife.

5. Sony’s E3 presentation: Upside: Using Little Big Planet as part of the business presentation.  Downside: Not enough game stuff, too service oriented

6. John Rogers has a great piece on why some people out there should stop being pissed at Obama for not doing something about the misogynistic tone of the campaign and the media.

7. Moving still sucks.

8. The Anglican Church is making me laugh.  Of course allowing homosexuals be ordained is nuts.  The Bible is pretty clear on how sinful homosexuality is.  Of course, the book is pretty clear on some other items too, like lying, covetting, keeping the Sabbath.  Oh, yeah, and helping the poor, and a whole bunch of other sins that, apparently, are forgivable even if they are in the Top 10.  On the plus side, maybe there’ll be a big old schism.  Divide and, well, you know.

9.  Its true.  Batman is a badass.

First, this joke is pretty damn old and hardly bernies.
Second, of course he shouldn’t have told the joke
Third, what, exactly, do you call a woman who has sex for money?

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time - Blogs from CNN.com

“My little nephew came to me and he said, ‘Uncle, what’s the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question?”‘ Mac said toward the end of his routine. “I said, I don’t know, but I said, ‘Go upstairs and ask your mother if she’d make love to the mailman for $50,000.”‘

“Hypothetically speaking, we should have $100,000. But realistically speaking we live with two hos,” Mac said, delivering the joke’s punchline.