I figure that since my blog is sort of blowing up thanks to a rather, um, unkind message I got on an old blog post, that I would take advantage of the situation to share with some of you readers, both new and old, a bit about the minutiae of my day. So come along!
Tomorrow I am going to New Orleans. Well, let me reword that. Tomorrow I am supposed to go to New Orleans. For those of you who don’t live on the East Coast and/or don’t program the location of some far flung friends into your phone so you can obsessively check their weather and alternate between intense jealousy and a sort of self-righteous belief that you made the superior geographic life decisions, there is a storm a’coming. But didn’t the we just have a storm, you might ask? Yes, yes we did. It was yesterday. Starting this evening we are supposed to have a sleet and snow extravaganza. I decided that, given the forecast, I should probably go on the Jet Blue website and check the status of my flight.
Canceled.
Damnit.
So I poked around the website and since at that point I had not received any information about how I might get to New Orleans as soon as possible, I decided to call them up. I was informed by the prerecorded lady that it was going to be at least a 30 minute wait.
Damnit again.
So I did what any other reasonable person who lives in this technological world but is also tied to the phone and its accompanying hold music: I took to Twitter. What happened amused the hell out of me and made me come to the following three conclusions: (1) Twitter is an incredible source of entertainment; (2) I want to become friends with the person who runs the Jet Blue Twitter account because that person is hilarious; and (3) I will make even more of an effort to fly Jet Blue because clearly they know a little something about staffing. Like I always say (or, well, like I am going to start saying now): make me laugh and you’ve got a customer for life. So this is what went down:
@franklyrebekah (that’s me!): Stuck on hold with @JetBlue. Seriously, “The Power of Love?” Please do something about this hold music.
@franklyrebekah: AND now it’s Benny and the Jets. Talk about instant gratification. Thanks @JetBlue #onhold #sobored #canceledflights #travel
(At this point my old high school friend, Seth, asked if it was Huey Lewis, Marty McFly, or Jimi Hendrix. Unfortunately, it was Celine Dion. I hashtagged that my ears were bleeding)
@JetBlue: @franklyrebekah Sorry about that one…
@JetBlue: @franklyrebekah… but we’re glad it got better so quickly! Thanks for hanging in there. Someone will be with you as soon as possible.
Anyway, blah blah blah, then I told them that I talked to someone and she was really nice. Then they told me to send along my confirmation number and they would pass the compliment along. Then I admitted that I don’t understand how to use Twitter properly. Then they managed to not mock me. Also they sent funny hashtags like #NoMoreHoldMusic and, in regards to my flight actually taking off on Thursday AM (I got on a new one!) #FingersCrossed #ToesToo.
You know, this all seemed a lot funnier when it was actually happening. But I guess here is the actual thing. Sometimes it is easy to forget that on the other side of the computer is a real person. I guess it was a nice thing to know that I (potentially) amused the person in charge of the Jet Blue Twitter account and that they, in turn, decided to amuse me right back. In a world overrun by anonymity, it is nice to know that there are people out there that, even though they are anonymous in that they are the voice of a company and have to represent and promote a specific image and message, they still find the space to express a little good humor. Also, and this is sort of an unrelated lesson that I learned this week, we should always assume that the person we are talking about online could potentially read the words that we type. So we should be aware of whose feelings might get hurt and decide whether or not we care. I know that, going forward, I will continue to write my posts with my opinions and observations and I will continue to put my name on it, but I will take a step back and really think about the impact my words might have on the person I am discussing. With some people, honestly, I could give a shit. But there are some who I don’t think I have necessarily been fair to. So, I will work on that.
Anyway, thanks to the person who is in charge of the Jet Blue Twitter account for amusing me in the midst of an otherwise disappointing situation. Keeping my fingers crossed for a Thursday departure. New Orleans, here I come.
franklyrebekah 