Word: carly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Harry Hapless, it was a rough day in the service economy. His car, a Fiasco 400, started sputtering on the highway, so Harry pulled into a gas station for help. "Sorry, no mechanics, only gas!" shouted the attendant. "How can you call this a service station?" yelled Harry. He went to the bank to get some emergency cash for a tow truck, only to find the automatic teller machine out of order, again. "Real nice service!" he muttered. Then Harry decided to use a credit card to buy a tool kit at the Cheapo discount store, but he couldn...
Among consumers, swapping horror stories about their confrontations with poor service has become a cathartic exercise. Many have never obtained satisfaction for their gripes, despite exhausting efforts. Kevin Kinnear, a Chicago software engineer, became increasingly angry with each of four trips to his car dealer to get the cruise control repaired on his 1985 Buick Century. Finally, he gave up when the mechanics made it clear that they no longer wanted to deal with his problem. Jane Ullman, a Santa Monica, Calif., sculptor, thought her refrigerator problems were over when deliverymen installed a new deluxe model in her kitchen...
...other cases, workers spoil an otherwise fine job with an almost creatively bad gesture. A Manhattan woman who bought carpet from a tony department store was pleased that the two installers were so friendly and efficient, but puzzled about why they left "like two robbers in a getaway car." Later she discovered the reason: they had used her bathroom as a Dumpster for a three-foot pile of carpet clippings and packing material...
...audiences with a scene in which Michael J. Fox's character, who has traveled back in time, walks past a 1950s-era filling station and is flabbergasted to see four cheery attendants in neatly pressed coveralls. Like a pit crew at the Indianapolis 500, they dash up to a car and proceed to fill the gas tank, check the oil, clean the windows and polish the chrome...
...middle, rather than at the top and bottom, and clean animal-skin rugs with a whisk broom rather than a vacuum cleaner. Sums up Ackerly: "The homeowner does not have to feed us, pick us up, give directions. We don't give a song and dance about our car breaking down as a reason for not showing up. We are successful because we have learned the hard...