Common Sense is a Rare Commodity Now Days.

I'm sure we've all experience the phone calls where you find yourself wondering if the person on the other end of the line has taken their brain out to play with and forgotten to put it back or if they just were absent the day they handed out common sense. Now, I have to admit that I simply have little patience when it comes to dealing with people who seemingly have no ability to think, so maybe I need to take some responsibility for my lack of patience, but it just infuriates me when you cannot get a person to think. Any of us can and will make mistakes, so I'm not talking about that. I'm referring to folks who simply refuse to engage the brain to think beyond that capability to breathe, eat and sleep. I had one of those people on the phone a couple of hours ago, and I'm still sitting here in absolute unbelief of this person's inability to think constructively.
Before I go into this conversation, allow me to set the stage for you.

My family and I find ourselves in Florida fairly regularly and as anyone down there (or in the Chicago area) can tell you, the toll roads will drive you nuts having to stop every few miles to pay toll. At times there are long lines waiting to pay and on a hot day that is the last thing you want to do. One of our good friends and church members, Matt Anderson allowed us to use his Sun Pass on one of our trips and and we decided we needed to purchase one of these for ourselves. For those who don't know, a Sun Pass is an electronic device that you stick in your windshield and your prepay your tolls so that when you get to the toll booths, rather than get off in the line to pay cash, you can simply slow down and go through the Sun Pass gates and they electronically deduct your toll. It is a great time saver and stress reliever.  So, this past week, we did in fact purchase a Sun Pass and activated it before our trip home. Unfortunately the thing was not working.  So, today I finally had time to call the folks in Florida to talk with them about this. First, I was on hold for nearly 10 minutes before I ever got to a person. Then when I got to the person and told them that my Sun Pass was not working, the woman said to me, "Sir, when you purchase a Sun Pass it must be activated." I told her that I had done that and had funded it. She looked it up and agreed that I had done that, but then she told me that when you activate one it takes 24 to 48 hours before it becomes active.  I read the box to her which says it is is instantly activated. She replied, "but it takes 24 to 48 hours to activate." I told her that instant activation means... INSTANT. She said that I simply did not understand. I responded that not only did the box read this way, but that my confirmation email said that my Sun Pass was now activated and ready for use. She said, "Sir, you are not understanding that it takes 24 to 48 hours for your activation to take place. After that you can use it. I said, "Ma'am, I don't think you understand the way your system works. I again read the email to her and it clearly says: "your Sun Pass is now activated and funded and ready for use." She added, "In 24 to 48 hours sir." I said, "Ma'am, do you understand what "ready for use" means? She said, "Yes sir, I do, but apparently you don't understand that you must wait 24 to 48 hours."  I asked her if she could show me this anywhere or if this was her interpretation? She said, "Sir, I work here. I think I know how it works."  So I said, "Let me get this straight. You sell these things to us, tell us that they are ready to use as soon as we activate them and fund them, but in reality we must wait one to two days? Is that what you are saying?" She told me that I had it all wrong, that as soon as I activated it and funded it, it was ready to be used. I told her that this was exactly what I was saying, and then she replied... "but you have to wait 24 to 48 hours."  By now I'm thinking I'm in the Twilight Zone.  

I backed up and tried again. I told her I'd purchased it on Saturday morning and activated it at 9:08 AM. She said, "yes sir, I see that in the computer." So I asked her, so when should I have been able to use it? She said, "Right away sir." I told her that I had done this, that I had gone through 2 toll booths and it did not seem to be working and when I got home I checked my account and no money had been deducted. She said, "Oh, it's working, but it sometimes takes 24 to 48 hours for funds to be deducted from your account." I said, "Ma'am, this is Friday. I drove through those toll booths last Saturday, so the money should be deducted by now if this thing was working."  Yep, like a broken record she said, "but it takes 24 to 48 hours for your account to be debited."  I said, "Ma'am, I'm trying to be patient, but again, this is Friday and I drove through those toll booths last Saturday, so if you are correct, I most certainly should see debits by now. I don't think this Sun Pass is working correctly." She said, "Sir, how can I get you to understand that it takes 24 to 48 hours for your account to be debited? Be patient and check your account after 48 hours." By this time I realized that I had an absolute moron on the phone and decided to hang up and call another day and hope that I could get a person with some intelligence on the phone. But I asked her that since I'd gone through these booths and I my Sun Pass was not working, if I got a ticket, how would I handle it. She said, "Oh you won't get a ticket. That's what a Sun Pass does. See, it pays your toll for you and you won't get a ticket."  
Doh!!!!

I said thank you for your time and hung up and here I sit more than 2 hours later asking myself if this conversation really took place.