The lie: Southern Hospitality
Southern Hospitality is about as real as Obama’s birth certificate. I have lived here for a year and would get better customer service in Milwaukee. Those of you who have been there, you know that’s saying a lot. The people are rude and just ignorant to a customer and their needs. You are disturbing employees if you attempt to make any sort of contact. Now add a complete disdain for other people along with still intertwined racism and you have the makings for real potential. Now I’m not saying people are necessarily racist towards me, but some are. No, the south is making its way past the racism toward the negro and onto racism toward the yellow. Maybe I’m more in tuned to this now, but I see it every week. I will not name names or even say which job, just suffice to say it happens. It’s been a little disheartening. You grow up believing the south is one big happy community where they’d give you the shirt off their back if you needed it only to find out you’d be lucky to have them give you the shirt that you paid for. I am not sure how this pretence of “Southern Hospitality” stays alive. Maybe it’s because the south is stereotyped in movies to be hillbilly rednecks and really they’re just dumb, not rude. I just wanted to get this out there because my eyes were opened and the rest of the country is still sleeping.
Now I am not saying there aren’t any good southern people around. There are plenty, but they are a dying breed. The older folks tend to have more “Southern Hospitality” then the new generation while also harboring more racism. It seems an oxymoron but it’s true. The new generation while having made its way past the hardcore racism sucks at hospitality. I have had good customer service experiences (go to Wing Stop off of Markham IN WLR on weekend evening) I have had more bad. If you would like to become close to blowing your brains out, try renting a car from Enterprise off of Rodney Parham in WLR. Ask for the tall incompetent witch, they’ll know who you’re talking about.
“Sir your card won’t read do you have another one?”
“No, that’s my only one.”
“There’s a crack in it and it won’t read. Do you have another one?”
“No, still don’t.”
“Are there any other cards you have that you could use that are not this one?”
“THAT IS MY ONLY CARD. DO YOUR JOB AND TYPE IN THE NUMBERS.”
While those are in quotation marks they are not exact quotes. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, but she did finally (after making our trip start over an hour late) do her job and call and enter the numbers manually. It’s still irritating to think about. Don’t get me started on our local Comcast customer service either, and yes it is local. 501 area code and everything. Let’s just say I turned in my equipment in February, after they doubled my rates, and cancelled my subscription but still get bills with new charges and past due amounts. Now, I haven’t just hoped it would go away magically, I’ve called at least 7 times to fix things. With that being said, going back to Wing Stop, love the customer service there. Always a pleasure. Now the thing is, while I did have at least one good customer service experience in Milwaukee (Didn’t we Jon? Or is my memory corrupted?) there is no such thing as good ol’ “Wisconsin Hospitality.” No “Northern Hospitality” although you’d get much better overall service in Minneapolis then say Dallas.
Let me put it this way in the movie adaptation of Noah, he had a better chance in Sodom and Gomorrah then he would have of finding the hospitable in the south. Maybe that’s a bit harsh.
In the end “Southern Hospitality” has become the exception to the rule that the whole area is judged by.
