2nd 30 Day Letter Challenge--Day 16: Letter to the Last Person who Complimented You

Dear Greeter Lady at the Zimmerli Art Museum,

Way back in a time that seems like eons ago but was really probably less than a month and a half ago, while I was at home trying to come up with summer goals because my then-boyfriend had asked me about mine, I made note of the fact that your museum was free on the first Sunday of the month. I evidently even had the foresight to make an event on my Google Calendar for the hours the museum is open on the first Sunday of July and of August. And thus, today when I was recovering from a relapse in okay-status, I decided to put on a push-up bra and a low-cut dress and do my makeup and my hair and take myself on a date to visit the museum. I hadn't yet embraced doing things by myself in New Brunswick like I did in Chicago last year, and as I have to get used to being on my own again generally, now seemed like high time.
I walked the 8 minutes from my house to the museum and came inside. I knew today was a free day, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to just stroll on in, and you weren't at the desk when I got there. But I was only confused for a moment or two, because then you walked out of the little back room, cheery as ever, and welcomed me to the museum. You told me I looked "so pretty" and asked me to please check my [make-rainy-days-fun! sunflower] umbrella because they weren't allowed in the galleries. Then you put a sticker on my hand and said today was a free day, and told me to enjoy. I realize you're a customer service employee and it is actually your job to be nice to me [been there, done that], but I want you to know you made me smile today. I wanted to treat myself to something and take care of myself, and you noticed, and that just...felt nice. 

So thank you for your sunny disposition on a grey and drizzly day. You made my mood less grey and drizzly.


Maya

I thought I looked cute too. :)

There are few things in this world I hate more

than automated customer service robots. I would like to gather a baseball-bat-armed legion to go forth and find the computers that give them such acoustically pleasant voices and smash them to pieces. Better yet, I'd like to go around the country (world?) under the cover of night and do it myself. You can't ARGUE with a robot. You tell a robot how frustrating it's being, and it just says, "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Your options are...". When that frustrates you even further, the robot begins suggesting that you hang up. When you ask to speak to customer fucking service, the robot tells you that the information it gave you is up to date, and customer service is not an option at this time. When you yell at the robot asking WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU LET ME SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING?!?, the robot says, "If you're done, please hang up." 

Insolent fucking piece of machinery. I had to call you four times before I finally figured out how to get you to let me speak to an actual person.


GIVE PEOPLE THEIR JOBS BACK SO I CAN TALK TO THEM WHEN I'M HAVING PROBLEMS. I wouldn't yell so much if the voice on the other end of the phone could understand what I'm saying, rather than just recognize the words.