Sometimes I miss working in the radio industry, and at times I also miss being a receptionist/customer care associate. The following exchange occurred while I was volunteering at a public radio station earlier today. A few minutes after an associate fielded a similar question, I was reminded of the flipside to working the phones:
Me: (normal, neutral tone of voice) Good afternoon, [call letters redacted], how may I help you?
Caller: Hi, I want to listen to the station on my iPhone but I don't want to download the TuneIn app.
Me: Okay. Did you call a few minutes ago?
Caller: No, I want to listen to [call letters redacted] on my iPhone, but I don't want to download TuneIn.
Me: Sure. Did you visit--
Caller: (interrupts, mumbles something unintelligible)
Me: I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said.
Caller: Clearly, you don't speak English. Forget it.
Me: I didn't hear what you said--
*CLICK*
On a less exasperating note, I'm going to close February with some assorted musings:
+ Told you so. Growing disdain for Rahm Emanuel's aloof approach to running the city of Chicago has forced the first run-off mayoral election in the city's history. (Since the rules were changed in 1995, if no candidate gets 50% of the vote on election day, a vote is held six weeks later.) This throws a relative unknown named Jesus "Chuy" Garcia into the regional spotlight, a grass-roots guy faced with the task of defeating a known name with national political support. Some political wonks are calling this a defeat for Emanuel, but early polls suggest it's more neck-to-neck then one might initally assume. Ultimately, it comes down to the size of Rahm's war chest versus the coalition of alienated voters (a pretty disparate group) that are willing to back Garcia. In short, for the first time since the 1983 three-way showdown between incumbent Jane Bryne, Richard M. Daley, and eventual winner Harold Washington, Chicago has a real mayoral race.
+ In the wake of the Derrick Rose and Patrick Kane injuries, Spring Training couldn't have come soon enough. (Expect my annual baseball haiku in late March.)
Family Update: My mother's condition is improving slowly but steadily; rehab from bypass surgery usually takes a few weeks. My sincere thanks to anyone reading this for the kind thoughts.
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Showing posts with label Rahm Emanuel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rahm Emanuel. Show all posts
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Random Notes, January 2015
I've got politics on the mind:
+ I'm not that keen on Bruce Rauner, at least not yet. He still comes across as an out-of-touch millionaire who promises more than he can seemingly deliver. Either way, the first Republican Governor of Illinois in 12 years has his work cut for him, a bipartisan mess that dates back to the turn of the 21st century. Corruption has become an assumption in his office, and even though Rauner beat a weak, doddering incumbent he still needs to win Illinois' trust. The bar has been set fairly low.
+ Speaking of Illinois, we're about two months away from the next Chicago mayoral election. Rahm Emanuel has his detractors and rightfully so --especially given his inability to reduce street violence-- but his opponents for reelection are a hodgepodge. He's currently polling at 50%, and depending on whether any of his three challengers gain any momentum, the odds of him winning a second term are fittingly about 50/50.
+ Meanwhile, on a national level, this year's State of the Union was probably the most tangential address to Congress in recent memory. If you looked at it at face value, the speech was President Obama discussing job growth and domestic security while also defending his still-controversial overhaul of health care. If you read between the lines, Obama was discussing the next four years, and the long-term impact of his administration. With less than two years to go and a GOP-controlled ready to nix anything he puts in front of them, this might be the closest this president might ever get to another victory speech. The Obama years might seem like a mixed bag (or worse) but he doesn't seem to be giving up just yet.
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+ I'm not that keen on Bruce Rauner, at least not yet. He still comes across as an out-of-touch millionaire who promises more than he can seemingly deliver. Either way, the first Republican Governor of Illinois in 12 years has his work cut for him, a bipartisan mess that dates back to the turn of the 21st century. Corruption has become an assumption in his office, and even though Rauner beat a weak, doddering incumbent he still needs to win Illinois' trust. The bar has been set fairly low.
+ Speaking of Illinois, we're about two months away from the next Chicago mayoral election. Rahm Emanuel has his detractors and rightfully so --especially given his inability to reduce street violence-- but his opponents for reelection are a hodgepodge. He's currently polling at 50%, and depending on whether any of his three challengers gain any momentum, the odds of him winning a second term are fittingly about 50/50.
+ Meanwhile, on a national level, this year's State of the Union was probably the most tangential address to Congress in recent memory. If you looked at it at face value, the speech was President Obama discussing job growth and domestic security while also defending his still-controversial overhaul of health care. If you read between the lines, Obama was discussing the next four years, and the long-term impact of his administration. With less than two years to go and a GOP-controlled ready to nix anything he puts in front of them, this might be the closest this president might ever get to another victory speech. The Obama years might seem like a mixed bag (or worse) but he doesn't seem to be giving up just yet.
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Rahm Like the Wind?
After months of buildup, it's finally over. With 55% of the vote, Rahm Emanuel not only trounced his competitors for Chicago mayor but rejected the need for a run-off vote in March. Whoever expected this to be a close four-way race --cough cough, the local media-- must've been humbled when Gery Chico, Miguel Del Valle, and former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun combined for 43% of all ballots counted. On the other hand, it's not like people were voting in droves to put Rahm in the mayor's chair; less than half of all registered voters in the city turned out on Election Day. If you think Emanuel bought the election, I'd suggest having a conversation with Michael Bloomberg first.
Mary Mitchell, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times who is notorious for turning every news story into a racial issue, declared the election a death call for the black voting bloc. What she seems to ignore was how weak Carol Moseley-Braun was as a candidate; the "crack addict" remark I mentioned a few weeks ago was only the tip of her malapropism iceberg. Granted, Braun wasn't the only African-American woman on the ballot, but she fumbled whatever momentum she had from the very get-go. CMB was the only other nationally-known name on the ballot and she never used that recognition to her benefit.
As for the future of Chicago, my outsider, suburban hiney will watch with baited breath. Maybe Emanuel will trigger a city renaissance, or maybe he'll do nothing and get spanked in 2015. Either way, we're stuck with the little fella.
Other notes:
+ An old Illinois State buddy of mine works for the CBS affiliate in Madison, WI, and over the weekend I texted him to ask for his take on the fracas up there. He's a libertarian and a social moderate, and chances are he voted for Scott Walker last November, but he shared the setiments that several of us bloggers and editorists have arrived upon: the media is totally playing the conflict wrong. It's easy to say that between the teachers' unions and Gov. Walker, no winners will come out of the protests and partisan hubris, but it's more complicated than that. In the end, the negative publicity will create some Democratic gains in the state senate come 2012, and collective bargaining will be restored while nobody's paying attention. In the long run, nothing will change.
+ A new term has begun at IO, and therefore a new schedule. For the first time in almost two years I'll have Sundays off; I'm taking Improv Level 5 on Saturday afternoons, and a Scenic Improv elective at Second City on Tuesdays. To compensate financially I'm taking a breather from the IO writing program, though I intend to finish that later this year.
+ Finally, I'm so relieved to know that CBS has figured out a way to write out Charlie Sheen from "Two and a Half Men." I don't think there could've been a more fitting ending.
Mary Mitchell, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times who is notorious for turning every news story into a racial issue, declared the election a death call for the black voting bloc. What she seems to ignore was how weak Carol Moseley-Braun was as a candidate; the "crack addict" remark I mentioned a few weeks ago was only the tip of her malapropism iceberg. Granted, Braun wasn't the only African-American woman on the ballot, but she fumbled whatever momentum she had from the very get-go. CMB was the only other nationally-known name on the ballot and she never used that recognition to her benefit.
As for the future of Chicago, my outsider, suburban hiney will watch with baited breath. Maybe Emanuel will trigger a city renaissance, or maybe he'll do nothing and get spanked in 2015. Either way, we're stuck with the little fella.
Other notes:
+ An old Illinois State buddy of mine works for the CBS affiliate in Madison, WI, and over the weekend I texted him to ask for his take on the fracas up there. He's a libertarian and a social moderate, and chances are he voted for Scott Walker last November, but he shared the setiments that several of us bloggers and editorists have arrived upon: the media is totally playing the conflict wrong. It's easy to say that between the teachers' unions and Gov. Walker, no winners will come out of the protests and partisan hubris, but it's more complicated than that. In the end, the negative publicity will create some Democratic gains in the state senate come 2012, and collective bargaining will be restored while nobody's paying attention. In the long run, nothing will change.
+ A new term has begun at IO, and therefore a new schedule. For the first time in almost two years I'll have Sundays off; I'm taking Improv Level 5 on Saturday afternoons, and a Scenic Improv elective at Second City on Tuesdays. To compensate financially I'm taking a breather from the IO writing program, though I intend to finish that later this year.
+ Finally, I'm so relieved to know that CBS has figured out a way to write out Charlie Sheen from "Two and a Half Men." I don't think there could've been a more fitting ending.
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