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Corporate Edge Org (CEO) Small Business Consultants in Boston HOME | Contact | About us | Special Projects | Business Writing | Food Writing SHOP TALK Business Class by Kitty Kaufman Uncivil Actions I got a call yesterday. It was from a man with a southern accent who identified himself as Will and he said he was from yellowpages.com. Actually, I don't know why he was calling because I cut him off saying I unlisted because of all the sales calls I was getting from them to buy ad space for Corporate Edge Org (CEO). That I am on at least three do-not-call lists does not matter of course and naturally Will did not care. Here is what Will said: "I can remove your listing. Let me know when you're ready and I'll give you a confirmation number." With my pen and paper handy, I said, "Okay, I'm ready" and this is exactly what he told me: The letter "I" the letter "D" and the number ten and the letter "T." And then he hung up. Of course his caller ID was blocked. If you go to http://www.yellowpages.com which is AT&T's yellow pages, you can find a number for customer service and if you stay on and choose the right buttons, you get to a real person. I reached Lorraine. As we introduced ourselves, I said: "I want this call monitored and I want you to record it." "Oh," she said very politely, "We don't record our calls." Actually, it's not the first time I've asked for a call to be monitored but it might only be the second and I can't remember when the other time was but I'm sure it was the same kind of thing. So calmly, at least calmly for me having been called an idiot, I related what happened and as Will did, I asked her to write down my confirmation as I read it to her. There was a moment of silence and she gasped a little and said, "Wow that's nasty." As it turns out there are solicitors from overseas, she told me, who say they are from the real yellow pages when they are not. "Our colleagues always give their first and last name with their phone number so you can call them back." Remarkably this was not an overseas call, I don't think, and I do want to tell Will to hope for his sake that he doesn't run into me in person any time soon. Lorraine was astonishing. Although it was uncalled for, she apologized and soon I was feeling better. I thought about how little it takes to make a customer. (If you want to call her she is at the yellowpages.com, she pointed out, and not aol or yahoo or google's yellow pages.) She asked me if I wanted my listing removed and of course I said no because well, she was nice. All of which brings me to the subject of bullies. They are simply everywhere. It starts early: those bullies you remember from when you were younger are still around and not only in high school. Little kids are bullied all the time and not just with "your mother wears army boots" type stuff either. Bullies have taken over. They're on television screaming so incessantly that you have to turn it off. Those little tiny bullies in the lower right corner: last night one measured three by three. It was so big it was blocking the program. On cable especially, like FX and TNT and AMC, messages butt in whenever they want and they carry astounding news like what's on next. Now there was something the writers strike should have added to their demands but I suppose they were getting bullied enough by their producers. There's a lot we can commiserate about on the matter of bullies. They demand money for candidates. They're at your credit card company talking to you as if you were ten. They run over your feet in the grocery store pointedly looking the other way as if they didn't know the thing they rolled over with a cart filled with gallons of water and detergent was you. Obviously, they are also deaf. But mostly they are on the road. It is nearly impossible to get anywhere and this is not because there is too much traffic although there is much too much traffic. They drive gigantic vehicles, which get three miles to the gallon and maybe this is why their owners are so aggressive, smoking and chatting on their phones while all you want to do is get to the grocery store so someone can run over your feet. © April 5, 2008 40 St. Paul St | Brookline MA 02446 | 617. 388. 0062 Kitty Kaufman kkaufman@corp-edge.com |