in like Flynn...?

I was in the car this afternoon driving to a comcast service center in Cambridge. I went to pick up a DVR and remote to put my TVs plan in motion. I also took the opportunity to FINALLY return my cable modem from my previous address. Heh. It had gotten packed up in the final week's moving push in August and I lost track of it when setting up at the new place. It materialized when my sister set up her old desktop machine and came across the comcast hardware. Anyhow, two months after my final bill from the old address got to me, I returned the modem and closed my account. I probably just got in under the "we've turned over your account to a collection agency" deadline, y'know? No incurred penalties and I wasn't charged the $99 for the hardware as lost/bought/stolen or whatev. Whew!~

So, my comcast service experience started out on a high note. Heh. I have to praise the patience and helpfulness of the woman who was working the window at the comcast center this afternoon. Once I took care of the old cable modem, I asked if I could add a DVR to our service if I wasn't the account holder, and she explained that it could be done if I could provide some personal info/reference for my sister. There were a couple people in line behind me, so I stepped aside to make a call and check in w my sis. I got the info and got back in line. The agent processed the request, handed over the console and paperwork, and sent me on my way. Before heading out the door, I stopped to properly suit up for the actually fall-like weather we were finallly getting and adjust the equipment in my hands for easier carrying to the car, giving her just enough time to call me back to the window. She explained to me that she couldn't process this order because apparently there was a pending request on our account. I told her—That's right, we're supposed to have a technician come to check out our comcast phone connection on Monday. She said that she couldn't make any changes to our account until the pending request had been completed, so I should come back on Tuesday and she could set us up w the hardware then. She apologized for not catching the notation on our account before okaying the DVR. I asked if I could just take the hardware with me, and not expect any added service activation until after the phone whatnot, but she said that she wasn't supposed to do that. The only way I could get the DVR today would be to cancel the Monday appointment. Well, we needed the phone visit to set up a working line upstairs, principally for a fax machine in the office. This falls under In's domain, so I really couldn't make the decision on my own right then. The queue behind me had gotten another couple people longer, so I gave back the equipment, told the agent—Thanks for your help, guess I'll check back on Tuesday—and then stepped aside.

I got my sister on the phone again to explain the sitch and asked if she'd be okay with a delay in fax-enabling our place. She told me it would be fine, just so long as I could get a rescheduled appointment at a convenient date and time. So, I stepped back in line. When I got to the window again, I apologized for the back-and-forth and explained that, yes, I'd be okay with cancelling the comcast phone appointment on Monday, getting the DVR equipment today, and rescheduling the tech visit. She looked over our account on her monitor again, seemed to take stock, did some tapping on the keyboard, and then picked up the phone. From what I heard her say, it sounded like she was calling to talk to a technician, the guy who was scheduled to visit us on Monday. Apparently, he wasn't available. When she put the phone down, a light bulb seemed to click on over her head. She returned to the keyboard, hit it with a flurry of typing, scanned in the codes on the DVR hardware again, and then handed it over along with the paperwork again. She explained that we were all set and could expect the technician to visit on Monday as scheduled. I thanked her for her help and stepped aside again to pack up and leave w the equipment. Mission accomplished!

Fer realz, not ironic-like. Thank you, prezident, for ruining a perfectly good cheeseball exclamation with your deception, greed, tragically shortsighted mismanagement, banner, and flightsuit codpiece. Bleah.

So, DVR tucked under my arm, remote in my hand, the visit ended on a high note, too. It took a roundabout path, true, but it was all good in the end. On my way back to the car, I realized what the agent had figured out and done for us. To get us our DVR, she had to cancel our Monday appointment, add the DVR to our account, then schedule a new appointment for us to have the phone/fax line set up. When she couldn't reach our technician, she realized that all she would be doing is telling him that he had a Monday cancellation, and a couple minutes later, she'd be giving me the option of choosing between a several possible new appointments a week or so off, and our technician would have an empty spot in his schedule come Monday. So, why not just skip the appointment-cancelling and -making and just delete the phone/fax line order in the system, add the DVR order, and then add a new phone/fax line order with the same old time slot? Why not, indeed. Brilliant in its simplicity, no?

I spoke these thoughts out loud to my sister later on and asked if she thought that the agent had gone a bit above and beyond—which I thought she had on my way out of the service center—or just done her job, and maybe not as quickly/directly as she should have—which I considered a little later on, but didn't really feel, y'know? My sister and Rowan both asked about how I felt at the end of the interaction, pointing out that that's typically what matters most when dealing with customer service. Also, the woman's job is likely pretty well defined by protocols that she's instructed to follow, and that are reinforced by the repetitive nature of the typical requests from legions of customers that she deals with. So she was probably doing some of that "thinking outside of the box" that all the kids are talking about. It's just that her employers forced a very small box on her to begin with.

What matters: I left satisfied.

Wack. What I wanted to do several paragraphs ago was explain that I was in my car this afternoon, and so got to listen to NPR for a while. The not-crappy comcast customer service experience had to be shared I guess. Anyhow... NPR.

I only ever listen to the radio these days when I'm in the car, which means not very often. It being Saturday afternoon, I got to catch a few minutes of "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" today, a rerun with Tom Hanks on the phone. There was some banter about Tom Hanks's reputation of being one of the most competitive but well-mannered/easy to work with actors in Hollywood today, so the theme of the questions was something like, "Notorious Hollywood Greats." There was a question about Marlon Brando's appetite pushing MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY way over budget (52 pairs of torn pants!). There was one about... frack, I can't remember who. And there was one about Errol Flynn, notorious ladies' man and philanderer.

It went something like...

How did so-and-so, Errol Flynn's third wife, first meet her future husband?

The possible answers...

1. She was selling refreshments at the courthouse the day that he appeared to stand trial for statutory rape.

2. He fell into her backyard, drunk, out of a neighboring second story window.

3. She was working in the ER the night he came in for treatment of inflammation due to disease of the venereal sort.

Hanks filled a little time with patter...

"Gosh, this is difficult... These are all so reminiscent of my courting or Rita..." And, "Do they even actually SELL refreshments at the courthouse?!"

This got some laughs from the panel and audience, but through the laughter, you hear Paula Poundstone definitively reply, "Yes."

That turned me into a crazy person driving alone and laughing out loud for a minute. =)

Hanks got the question correct, choosing the courthouse scenario. Peter Sagal added that Errol was acquitted of the charges, inspiring the well-known saying, "In... like Flynn..."

Dirty, no? I always thought it was a reference to him swinging in swashbuckler style in a film, or perhaps scaling a wall and climbing in thru a window for a wooing or rescue or a little bit of both. For escaping a conviction for sex with a minor? Well, personally, I don't know that I'd have a lot of opportunities to use that phrase in a fitting way.

Isn't learning fun?

Keep on keepin on~