State Priorities?

My parents have been fighting with Verizon, to get them to try to fix the landline service.

The customer support is one big runaround. When they call, they say "Use our website!" When we look on the website, it says "Call us!"

I also got one big runaround from Verizon, trying to claim the $100 credit for trading in my old cellphone after my upgrade.

Verizon has a monopoly. The have no incentive to give good customer support.

As I already mentioned, I recently lost my job. I decided to file an unemployment claim. I had to call them for something. (I filed one week late. After I called, they gave me credit for that week.)

Here's something that shocked me completely. The "customer support" for the NY Unemployment office wasn't a clueless twit! She actually knew what she was doing and fixed the fact that I filed one week late. (However, it must be a common error. Their script probably covers that case.)

(Some people say that it's immoral to accept an unemployment claim. I was forced to pay for it via a payroll tax. I might as well claim the partial tax refund now. If I don't do it, then the State will just waste that money on something else. Because my employers had to pay unemployment tax, I got a lower salary.)

Another interesting thing about unemployment claims, is that it enables the State to track workers much better. If you give unemployed people a cash incentive to register with the State, then it's much easier to track things.

That shows where State priorities are. When you need your phone fixed, the State monopoly gives lousy service. The unemployment office is important!

I found that hilarious. Verizon gave me lousy customer support, but the unemployment office was surprisingly competent.