benson@odi.com (09/05/89)
Well, here I am in the heart on Nynex, in the middle of a strike, and my phone sounds like the line runs through the middle of a stadium of rice crispies. For the first week or two, I figured, "why call it in, they're on strike?" Then I thought better of it. I'm still paying, so they owe me service. And the busier we keep the management, the more incentive they will have to settle. So, last week, I called it in. Got the usual rigamarole. "Well, we checked it, and the line checks fine." (me) "Then what's all that static?" (them) "Gee, that's awful, I'll put in a call so send someone out." The appointed day passes. No visit. No improvement. Call again. "We show that someone went out and cleared the problem." (me) "Then what's all this static?" (them) "Gee, that's awful, I'll put in another call." Labor Day morning arrives, and what drives up at my door but a telco person to fix the telephone! I sure wouldn't want to be him. As a professional member of the management, he feels a duty to get out there and take care of people like me, whether or not he sympathises with the union. He gets harrassed. I found it impossible to think of ` him as a scab. Its not like he's some bum off the street hired to take the union's place. It not like striking the Ace Widgit plant, where a failure to manufacture widgits for a few weeks hurts no one but the management. A nonworking telephone is a real pain. Personally, I think that the governments that give Nynex a monopoly should pressure them on my behalf. I can't move to another telco in disgust at the poor service during the strike. And by the way, the man fixed my phone in a jiffy (a bad pair problem), and installed a network interface for me while he was at it. As I'm sure the usual unionized person would have.