A Sort of Progress

To my faithful reader(s),





Yesterday, I promised a real blog. A serious blog. I had a feeling that today would be interesting.


What I knew then, but you were still unsuspecting, was that Maya and I would apply for our marriage license today.


Well, we did. And we got it. At first we went to the wrong building - I assumed that it was done at the passport offices at Sheppard and Yonge. The real place to get the license is at the North York Civic centre where the city formerly known as North York used to place its mayor, the honorable(?), the mighty, Mel Lastman.


I moved my mother's car up a few blocks and within 20 minutes and $130, Maya and I had government permission to join in legal matrimony. Civil matrimony.


An extra $70 got us a spot in the York Civic Centre chapel this upcoming Sunday at 3pm. If enough of you come out and it's a standing-room-only type scene, I may decide to charge admission. Only 20 can sit. We're saving the theatrics for our Jewish affair sometime in the next 10-15 months.


On the way home, I stopped by the local Rogers store and picked up five tickets for tomorrow night's Jays' game. It will be my first game in attendance since returning and it should be fun. We (Maya and I, younger brother Tal and his girlfriend, Caroline and my father - a belated gift for his recent birthday) are sitting in the first row of the bleachers. Right by the right field foul pole. I've never sat in that section before and am interested in the experience.


And before I leave you for the night, a word on call-centres in the Indian Subcontinent. I understand why they're there. I am not opposed to speaking with someone half a world away about basic technological problems. More power to them. To us. But problems can arise. And they will. Maya had to call travelocity about a recent billing problem and was sent to a call-centre in (most likely) India. Not only did she have to work at comprehending the words through the accent, but their phone line was also weak. Sound was very muted and it was very difficult to understand what was being said.


If the key to good customer service is effective communication between service provider and consumer, (and it is) once the suppporting technology fails, the service is poor at best.





Until next time.