Re: Does Verzon Still Love Me

in any case, the moment you inform VZW that you're officially not renewing
and joining AT&T or Cingular, they will vigoursly show their love for you
and drag you back with incentives. it happened to me about 5 years ago when
i was so pissed off at how i was treated at one of their stores (waiting to
be helped for an hour because there was no order or system as to who was
being helped, rude personnel and a store Rep that was unbelievably rude and
could not care less if I cancelled), marched into AT&T and joined up. when
i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department where
an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW. This was no easy
feat as I was steaming mad, but he basically said that he'd do anything to
get me back; so i gave him a list of 6 things i wanted (and never expected
to get all of them) and he said no problem. he also wanted to know exactly
what pissed me off, including the precise location of the store. AT&T was
not pleased to see me back the next day to cancel my brief tenure with them.
and the next time I dropped by the same VZW store that pissed me off they
had instituted a new policy of having someone greet all customers entering
the store and tracking the order of customers waiting to be helped (so we
were effectively in queue).


"vagabond" <public@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9A7DD661F6295vagabond@140.99.99.130...
> Well, after 5 years, I'm finally off contract. Haven't heard a thing
> from Verizon. Are they happy to see me go? Always paid my bill on
> time, never used too many minutes, never called to complain.
>
> iPhone in my future?

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:52:08 -0400, "tigercat"
<a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> you wrote:

>in any case, the moment you inform VZW that you're officially not renewing
>and joining AT&T or Cingular, they will vigoursly show their love for you
>and drag you back with incentives. it happened to me about 5 years ago when
>i was so pissed off at how i was treated at one of their stores (waiting to
>be helped for an hour because there was no order or system as to who was
>being helped, rude personnel and a store Rep that was unbelievably rude and
>could not care less if I cancelled), marched into AT&T and joined up. when
>i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department where
>an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW. This was no easy
>feat as I was steaming mad, but he basically said that he'd do anything to
>get me back; so i gave him a list of 6 things i wanted (and never expected
>to get all of them) and he said no problem. he also wanted to know exactly
>what pissed me off, including the precise location of the store. AT&T was
>not pleased to see me back the next day to cancel my brief tenure with them.
>and the next time I dropped by the same VZW store that pissed me off they
>had instituted a new policy of having someone greet all customers entering
>the store and tracking the order of customers waiting to be helped (so we
>were effectively in queue).
>


...out of curiosity, what were your six conditions to return? I might
use that next month when my contract is up for renewal. :-)

"tigercat" <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:TsudnUOMU4cXI53VnZ2dnUVZ_rKtnZ2d@comcast.com. ..

> in any case, the moment you inform VZW that you're officially not renewing
> and joining AT&T or Cingular, they will vigoursly show their love for you
> and drag you back with incentives. it happened to me about 5 years ago
> when i was so pissed off at how i was treated at one of their stores
> (waiting to be helped for an hour because there was no order or system as
> to who was being helped, rude personnel and a store Rep that was
> unbelievably rude and could not care less if I cancelled), marched into
> AT&T and joined up. when i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to
> some other department where an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me
> back to VZW. This was no easy feat as I was steaming mad, but he
> basically said that he'd do anything to get me back; so i gave him a list
> of 6 things i wanted (and never expected to get all of them) and he said
> no problem.

You must be a much bigger user or much smoother talker than I am.

I tried something similar a few years ago-- after specifically asking to
talk to the Retention Department. Best they offered me was a few hundred
extra one-time minutes (BFD- I never get near my allowance anyway) and 6
months of text messages (BFD, I don't text) --- all contingent on my signing
into another two year incarceration with them.

I said no thanks and the guy basically said don't let the door hit you in
the ass as you leave. Nonetheless, I've stayed month to month with them
since then.

I'd like to change carriers and could save about $25-30 per month-- but
unfortunately VZW has the best coverage where I travel. Also, my kids'
companies both issue them VZW phones so we do talk for free during the day
there.

"tigercat" <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:TsudnUOMU4cXI53VnZ2dnUVZ_rKtnZ2d@comcast.com:

> when
> i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department
> where an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW.

That would be the Retention Department. I still get snailmail to my PO
Box from them after years of being on Alltel...who's stores have nicely
padded CUSTOMER chairs to sit in while you do business with them.

My best day with Verizon was when there was this poor little old lady
standing in line waiting for her turn with the service
bureaucrats...leaning distraughtly against her cane. I found an
unguarded EMPLOYEE chair and obsconded with it when the clones were
distracted, dragged it over to her and asked her if she'd like to sit
down. She thanked me, profusely.

A manager walked by and scowled at her being seated in one of the
heavily guarded CSR chairs. I leaned out of line long enough to say, "I
DARE you to take it away from her. I bet it will cost you at LEAST the
20 accounts that have been standing here nearly an hour waiting for
someone back there to get off their asses and wait on us. I can,
probably, make it cost you many more accounts online."

He stalked off without comment. The people in line smiled. I thought a
round of applause would have been more appropriate, like I got for
getting on the WalMart paging system someone left unguarded and saying
VERY loud, "ALL CASHIERS TO THE FRONT, NOW! ALL CASHIERS TO THE
FRONT!" to help us get our stuff paid for. Walmart - 24 checkout
counters, 4 of them manned by idiots who don't know how to make change.

I wanted to get a case of waiting room chairs from Sams Club, paint:
CUSTOMER OWNED CHAIRS - DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE OR WE WILL SUE
across the back of them and arrange them on the BLANK CARPET in the
middle of the store. Every time you went in there, you were STANDING
and WAITING for something. They took the customer lounge Cellular One
provided away from us first. That didn't keep us from demanding
service, so all chairs soon vanished shortly after. There was a desk to
write checks on in line for the cashiers and they noted everyone was
slouching, leaning on them to take the pressure off their weary feet, so
they took the desk out and didn't replace it. All that was left was a
large, blank, poorly carpeted area with no carpet pad on the concrete
with nothing to lean on.

When the Churning department asked why I left, this "feature" was one of
my bullet points, duly noted.

Assholes.....how awful.

"01dyna" <01dyna@noplace.com> wrote in message
news:uvg1049n5cuasm19pmhgk0roja41ddbtp1@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:52:08 -0400, "tigercat"
> <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> you wrote:
>
>>in any case, the moment you inform VZW that you're officially not renewing
>>and joining AT&T or Cingular, they will vigoursly show their love for you
>>and drag you back with incentives. it happened to me about 5 years ago
>>when
>>i was so pissed off at how i was treated at one of their stores (waiting
>>to
>>be helped for an hour because there was no order or system as to who was
>>being helped, rude personnel and a store Rep that was unbelievably rude
>>and
>>could not care less if I cancelled), marched into AT&T and joined up.
>>when
>>i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department
>>where
>>an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW. This was no easy
>>feat as I was steaming mad, but he basically said that he'd do anything to
>>get me back; so i gave him a list of 6 things i wanted (and never expected
>>to get all of them) and he said no problem. he also wanted to know
>>exactly
>>what pissed me off, including the precise location of the store. AT&T was
>>not pleased to see me back the next day to cancel my brief tenure with
>>them.
>>and the next time I dropped by the same VZW store that pissed me off they
>>had instituted a new policy of having someone greet all customers entering
>>the store and tracking the order of customers waiting to be helped (so we
>>were effectively in queue).
>>
>
>
> ..out of curiosity, what were your six conditions to return? I might
> use that next month when my contract is up for renewal. :-)

I honestly do not remember, it was at least 5 years ago, and I don't even
know what I ate for breakfast this morning <G>.
I know one of the conditions was that I keep my same number and this
predated the time when carriers did this.
Also, I think that I actually did terminate my VZW before going to AT&T and
then I called VZW again either because I had one more issue to straighten
out or just to vent some more, and that's when they connected me to the
Customer Rentention Dept. In my heart of hearts, as mad as I was, I really
didn't want to leave VZW, but sometimes when you feel so mistreated and
unappreciated it inspires action. I think in my case, I was just lucky to
reach a VZW person who simply cared and had the authority to agree to all my
requests. It reminds me of when I left MCI (home phone service) a while
back, because they were charging me literally a nickle and a dime here and
there for calls made all over the world. I told an MCI Rep that I wasn't
even home when these supposed calls were made, no one else was home either,
and I don't know anyone in the parts of the world these calls were made.
This guy was one cold fish and did not care. I said to him, sir, I do not
want to leave your service but out of principle, I won't be charged for
calls that I know I didn't make, and he let me terminate over literally a
couple of nickle and dime charges.

Tigercat, that is becoming a more common experience you describe. Most of a
customer's contact with a company will be with "customer no-service". When
you threaten to walk away, or after you walk away, the CSR ships you over to
Customer Retention who has the power and goal of doing everything possible
to keep you as a customer. Generally, if you want anything from your credit
card company, cell company, or most any other non-monopoly service, you may
want to go directly to Customer Retention. Customer Service is measured on
how quickly they answer the phone and hang up the phone. Customer Retention
is measured by how many customers they make happy.

--

Scott

Who better to unite the political and racial divides of America than
a corrupt, racist radical? Obama '08

"tscottme" <blahblah@blah.net> wrote in message
news:7P-dnTpuvOilj5zVnZ2dnUVZ_uCinZ2d@comcast.com...
> Tigercat, that is becoming a more common experience you describe. Most of
> a customer's contact with a company will be with "customer no-service".
> When you threaten to walk away, or after you walk away, the CSR ships you
> over to Customer Retention who has the power and goal of doing everything
> possible to keep you as a customer. Generally, if you want anything from
> your credit card company, cell company, or most any other non-monopoly
> service, you may want to go directly to Customer Retention. Customer
> Service is measured on how quickly they answer the phone and hang up the
> phone. Customer Retention is measured by how many customers they make
> happy.
>
seems kind of sad, but am i missing something, if customer service treated
people more like customer retention there'd be less need for the CR
department.

tigercat wrote:
> "tscottme" <blahblah@blah.net> wrote in message
> news:7P-dnTpuvOilj5zVnZ2dnUVZ_uCinZ2d@comcast.com...
>> Tigercat, that is becoming a more common experience you describe. Most of
>> a customer's contact with a company will be with "customer no-service".
>> When you threaten to walk away, or after you walk away, the CSR ships you
>> over to Customer Retention who has the power and goal of doing everything
>> possible to keep you as a customer. Generally, if you want anything from
>> your credit card company, cell company, or most any other non-monopoly
>> service, you may want to go directly to Customer Retention. Customer
>> Service is measured on how quickly they answer the phone and hang up the
>> phone. Customer Retention is measured by how many customers they make
>> happy.
>>
> seems kind of sad, but am i missing something, if customer service treated
> people more like customer retention there'd be less need for the CR
> department.
>
>

Just remember that "Dilbert" is largely taken from real life! Also
remember my favorite statistic: more than 40% of the population has
subnormal intelligence!

Larry wrote :
> "tigercat" <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> wrote in
> news:TsudnUOMU4cXI53VnZ2dnUVZ_rKtnZ2d@comcast.com:
>
>> when
>> i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department
>> where an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW.
>
> That would be the Retention Department. I still get snailmail to my PO
> Box from them after years of being on Alltel...who's stores have nicely
> padded CUSTOMER chairs to sit in while you do business with them.
>
> My best day with Verizon was when there was this poor little old lady
> standing in line waiting for her turn with the service
> bureaucrats...leaning distraughtly against her cane. I found an
> unguarded EMPLOYEE chair and obsconded with it when the clones were
> distracted, dragged it over to her and asked her if she'd like to sit
> down. She thanked me, profusely.
>
> A manager walked by and scowled at her being seated in one of the
> heavily guarded CSR chairs. I leaned out of line long enough to say, "I
> DARE you to take it away from her. I bet it will cost you at LEAST the
> 20 accounts that have been standing here nearly an hour waiting for
> someone back there to get off their asses and wait on us. I can,
> probably, make it cost you many more accounts online."
>
> He stalked off without comment. The people in line smiled. I thought a
> round of applause would have been more appropriate, like I got for
> getting on the WalMart paging system someone left unguarded and saying
> VERY loud, "ALL CASHIERS TO THE FRONT, NOW! ALL CASHIERS TO THE
> FRONT!" to help us get our stuff paid for. Walmart - 24 checkout
> counters, 4 of them manned by idiots who don't know how to make change.
>
> I wanted to get a case of waiting room chairs from Sams Club, paint:
> CUSTOMER OWNED CHAIRS - DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE OR WE WILL SUE
> across the back of them and arrange them on the BLANK CARPET in the
> middle of the store. Every time you went in there, you were STANDING
> and WAITING for something. They took the customer lounge Cellular One
> provided away from us first. That didn't keep us from demanding
> service, so all chairs soon vanished shortly after. There was a desk to
> write checks on in line for the cashiers and they noted everyone was
> slouching, leaning on them to take the pressure off their weary feet, so
> they took the desk out and didn't replace it. All that was left was a
> large, blank, poorly carpeted area with no carpet pad on the concrete
> with nothing to lean on.
>
> When the Churning department asked why I left, this "feature" was one of
> my bullet points, duly noted.
>
> Assholes.....how awful.

Do you keep these old stories in a file somewhere on your hard drive or
do you have them in memory and just retype them?

You bored us with this one several years ago.

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> tigercat wrote:
>> "tscottme" <blahblah@blah.net> wrote in message
>> news:7P-dnTpuvOilj5zVnZ2dnUVZ_uCinZ2d@comcast.com...
>>> Tigercat, that is becoming a more common experience you describe.
>>> Most of a customer's contact with a company will be with "customer
>>> no-service". When you threaten to walk away, or after you walk away,
>>> the CSR ships you over to Customer Retention who has the power and
>>> goal of doing everything possible to keep you as a customer.
>>> Generally, if you want anything from your credit card company, cell
>>> company, or most any other non-monopoly service, you may want to go
>>> directly to Customer Retention. Customer Service is measured on how
>>> quickly they answer the phone and hang up the phone. Customer
>>> Retention is measured by how many customers they make happy.
>>>
>> seems kind of sad, but am i missing something, if customer service
>> treated people more like customer retention there'd be less need for
>> the CR department.
>>
>>
>
> Just remember that "Dilbert" is largely taken from real life! Also
> remember my favorite statistic: more than 40% of the population has
> subnormal intelligence!

A quote from J.R. "Bob" Dobbs of the Church of the SubGenius:

"You know how smart the average person is? Well, half of them are dumber
than that!"

Seriously, I wish customer service in general would improve a lot and be
close to Customer Retention today.
--
Curtis R. Anderson, Co-creator of "Gleepy the Hen", still
Email not munged, SpamAssassin [tm] in effect.
http://www.gleepy.net/ mailto:gleepy@intelligencia.com
mailto:gleepy@gleepy.net (and others) Yahoo!: gleepythehen

"TeddeLI" <Spam@nospam.neat> wrote in message news:mn.6a097d8421180e67.69402@nospam.neat...
> Larry wrote :
>> "tigercat" <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> wrote in
>> news:TsudnUOMU4cXI53VnZ2dnUVZ_rKtnZ2d@comcast.com:
>>
>>> when
>>> i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department
>>> where an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW.
>>
>> That would be the Retention Department. I still get snailmail to my PO
>> Box from them after years of being on Alltel...who's stores have nicely
>> padded CUSTOMER chairs to sit in while you do business with them.
>>
>> My best day with Verizon was when there was this poor little old lady
>> standing in line waiting for her turn with the service
>> bureaucrats...leaning distraughtly against her cane. I found an
>> unguarded EMPLOYEE chair and obsconded with it when the clones were
>> distracted, dragged it over to her and asked her if she'd like to sit
>> down. She thanked me, profusely.
>>
>> A manager walked by and scowled at her being seated in one of the
>> heavily guarded CSR chairs. I leaned out of line long enough to say, "I
>> DARE you to take it away from her. I bet it will cost you at LEAST the
>> 20 accounts that have been standing here nearly an hour waiting for
>> someone back there to get off their asses and wait on us. I can,
>> probably, make it cost you many more accounts online."
>>
>> He stalked off without comment. The people in line smiled. I thought a
>> round of applause would have been more appropriate, like I got for
>> getting on the WalMart paging system someone left unguarded and saying
>> VERY loud, "ALL CASHIERS TO THE FRONT, NOW! ALL CASHIERS TO THE
>> FRONT!" to help us get our stuff paid for. Walmart - 24 checkout
>> counters, 4 of them manned by idiots who don't know how to make change.
>>
>> I wanted to get a case of waiting room chairs from Sams Club, paint:
>> CUSTOMER OWNED CHAIRS - DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE OR WE WILL SUE
>> across the back of them and arrange them on the BLANK CARPET in the
>> middle of the store. Every time you went in there, you were STANDING
>> and WAITING for something. They took the customer lounge Cellular One
>> provided away from us first. That didn't keep us from demanding
>> service, so all chairs soon vanished shortly after. There was a desk to
>> write checks on in line for the cashiers and they noted everyone was
>> slouching, leaning on them to take the pressure off their weary feet, so
>> they took the desk out and didn't replace it. All that was left was a
>> large, blank, poorly carpeted area with no carpet pad on the concrete
>> with nothing to lean on.
>>
>> When the Churning department asked why I left, this "feature" was one of
>> my bullet points, duly noted.
>>
>> Assholes.....how awful.
>
> Do you keep these old stories in a file somewhere on your hard drive or
> do you have them in memory and just retype them?
>
> You bored us with this one several years ago.
>
>

I'd say more like several times - in the past year or so...
Like a chronic broken record.

Butch Haynes wrote:
> "tigercat" <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:TsudnUOMU4cXI53VnZ2dnUVZ_rKtnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>
>> in any case, the moment you inform VZW that you're officially not
>> renewing and joining AT&T or Cingular, they will vigoursly show
>> their love for you and drag you back with incentives. it happened
>> to me about 5 years ago when i was so pissed off at how i was
>> treated at one of their stores (waiting to be helped for an hour
>> because there was no order or system as to who was being helped,
>> rude personnel and a store Rep that was unbelievably rude and could
>> not care less if I cancelled), marched into AT&T and joined up. when i
>> called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other
>> department where an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to
>> VZW. This was no easy feat as I was steaming mad, but he basically
>> said that he'd do anything to get me back; so i gave him a list of 6
>> things i wanted (and never expected to get all of them) and he said
>> no problem.
>
> You must be a much bigger user or much smoother talker than I am.
>
> I tried something similar a few years ago-- after specifically asking
> to talk to the Retention Department. Best they offered me was a few
> hundred extra one-time minutes (BFD- I never get near my allowance
> anyway) and 6 months of text messages (BFD, I don't text) --- all
> contingent on my signing into another two year incarceration with
> them.
> I said no thanks and the guy basically said don't let the door hit
> you in the ass as you leave. Nonetheless, I've stayed month to month
> with them since then.
>
Don't feel inadequate. This has been my experience as well. However the door
has grazed my ass a couple of times. Meanwhile, they have called me several
times with incentives for me to re-sign for two, but the incentives are
petty (ie. 100 free minutes a month- hey, I don't use the minutes I have
now, dopey- look at my statement before calling me...). The first month I
was off contract they offered me a motorazr for $29. I told them I didn't
want a motorazr and asked for one of the BBs, which, of course, they
wouldn't do. I told them I'd remain on a month-to-month until iPhone
included PDA functionality. That door grazed my ass again.

Larry wrote:
> "tigercat" <a1$markd3a1$@yahoo.com> wrote in
> news:TsudnUOMU4cXI53VnZ2dnUVZ_rKtnZ2d@comcast.com:
>
>> when
>> i called VZW to terminate, they connected me to some other department
>> where an exceptionally nice guy smooth talked me back to VZW.
>
> That would be the Retention Department. I still get snailmail to my
> PO Box from them after years of being on Alltel...who's stores have
> nicely padded CUSTOMER chairs to sit in while you do business with
> them.
>
> My best day with Verizon was when there was this poor little old lady
> standing in line waiting for her turn with the service
> bureaucrats...leaning distraughtly against her cane. I found an
> unguarded EMPLOYEE chair and obsconded with it when the clones were
> distracted, dragged it over to her and asked her if she'd like to sit
> down. She thanked me, profusely.
>
> A manager walked by and scowled at her being seated in one of the
> heavily guarded CSR chairs. I leaned out of line long enough to say,
> "I DARE you to take it away from her. I bet it will cost you at
> LEAST the 20 accounts that have been standing here nearly an hour
> waiting for someone back there to get off their asses and wait on us.
> I can, probably, make it cost you many more accounts online."
>
> He stalked off without comment. The people in line smiled. I
> thought a round of applause would have been more appropriate, like I
> got for getting on the WalMart paging system someone left unguarded
> and saying VERY loud, "ALL CASHIERS TO THE FRONT, NOW! ALL CASHIERS
> TO THE FRONT!" to help us get our stuff paid for. Walmart - 24
> checkout counters, 4 of them manned by idiots who don't know how to
> make change.
>
> I wanted to get a case of waiting room chairs from Sams Club, paint:
> CUSTOMER OWNED CHAIRS - DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE OR WE WILL SUE
> across the back of them and arrange them on the BLANK CARPET in the
> middle of the store. Every time you went in there, you were STANDING
> and WAITING for something. They took the customer lounge Cellular One
> provided away from us first. That didn't keep us from demanding
> service, so all chairs soon vanished shortly after. There was a desk
> to write checks on in line for the cashiers and they noted everyone
> was slouching, leaning on them to take the pressure off their weary
> feet, so they took the desk out and didn't replace it. All that was
> left was a large, blank, poorly carpeted area with no carpet pad on
> the concrete with nothing to lean on.
>
> When the Churning department asked why I left, this "feature" was one
> of my bullet points, duly noted.
>
> Assholes.....how awful.
>
I couldn't help but notice the partial list of stores you shop at Larry,
which included Sams and Walmart, two major discounters which have been
instrumental in putting full-service stores out of business for years and
years. So, let me see if I get it. Now that you've helped in their demise,
you want the cheapest PRICE AND good SERVICE. Hmmm, is it possible to do:
provide good service at a dirt-cheap price? Let me think about this for a
moment...................NO IT'S NOT! Service actually costs money, Larry,
which in turn has to be reflected back in a higher price. Economics dictates
those rules, not the underpaid store managers at Walmart, nor wise-guy
customers who grab a microphone and get everyone to jump around for 1
minute.

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> tigercat wrote:
>> "tscottme" <blahblah@blah.net> wrote in message
>> news:7P-dnTpuvOilj5zVnZ2dnUVZ_uCinZ2d@comcast.com...
>>> Tigercat, that is becoming a more common experience you describe. Most
>>> of a customer's contact with a company will be with "customer
>>> no-service". When you threaten to walk away, or after you walk
>>> away, the CSR ships you over to Customer Retention who has the
>>> power and goal of doing everything possible to keep you as a
>>> customer. Generally, if you want anything from your credit card
>>> company, cell company, or most any other non-monopoly service, you
>>> may want to go directly to Customer Retention. Customer Service is
>>> measured on how quickly they answer the phone and hang up the
>>> phone. Customer Retention is measured by how many customers they
>>> make happy.
>> seems kind of sad, but am i missing something, if customer service
>> treated people more like customer retention there'd be less need for
>> the CR department.
>>
>>
>
> Just remember that "Dilbert" is largely taken from real life! Also
> remember my favorite statistic: more than 40% of the population has
> subnormal intelligence!
>
I know the above was meant as humor, so don't label me as being too tightly
wrapped, but I thought I'd shed some light on that figure of yours. Not that
I'm an expert either, but I think this information is reasonably accurate:

In actuality, according to a bell curve with a standard deviation of 15,
you'd find the population of people that fall within an IQ range between
90-110 (considered by many to be the 'normal' range) to be 50%. That leaves
only 25% who fall 'below normal'.

If you extend the 'normal' range of IQ to 85-115, as is often done nowadays,
I believe you'll find 65% fall within that range, leaving only 17.5% 'below
normal'.

Whether you believe the 'below normal' range is 17.5% or 25%, I believe
you'll find that almost all of them live in 'small towns' according to
Obama. :-)

Carl wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>> tigercat wrote:
>>> "tscottme" <blahblah@blah.net> wrote in message
>>> news:7P-dnTpuvOilj5zVnZ2dnUVZ_uCinZ2d@comcast.com...
>>>> Tigercat, that is becoming a more common experience you describe. Most
>>>> of a customer's contact with a company will be with "customer
>>>> no-service". When you threaten to walk away, or after you walk
>>>> away, the CSR ships you over to Customer Retention who has the
>>>> power and goal of doing everything possible to keep you as a
>>>> customer. Generally, if you want anything from your credit card
>>>> company, cell company, or most any other non-monopoly service, you
>>>> may want to go directly to Customer Retention. Customer Service is
>>>> measured on how quickly they answer the phone and hang up the
>>>> phone. Customer Retention is measured by how many customers they
>>>> make happy.
>>> seems kind of sad, but am i missing something, if customer service
>>> treated people more like customer retention there'd be less need for
>>> the CR department.
>>>
>>>
>> Just remember that "Dilbert" is largely taken from real life! Also
>> remember my favorite statistic: more than 40% of the population has
>> subnormal intelligence!
>>
> I know the above was meant as humor, so don't label me as being too tightly
> wrapped, but I thought I'd shed some light on that figure of yours. Not that
> I'm an expert either, but I think this information is reasonably accurate:
>
> In actuality, according to a bell curve with a standard deviation of 15,
> you'd find the population of people that fall within an IQ range between
> 90-110 (considered by many to be the 'normal' range) to be 50%. That leaves
> only 25% who fall 'below normal'.
>
> If you extend the 'normal' range of IQ to 85-115, as is often done nowadays,
> I believe you'll find 65% fall within that range, leaving only 17.5% 'below
> normal'.
>
> Whether you believe the 'below normal' range is 17.5% or 25%, I believe
> you'll find that almost all of them live in 'small towns' according to
> Obama. :-)
>
>

If you line everyone up from dumbest to smartest, the guy/girl in the
middle is "normal". I realize that you would have to select people a
million or two on either side of "normal" in order to find a noticeable
difference! I just like the "shock value" of "more than forty percent"!