I Hereby Would Like to Announce...

...that the concept of customer service is dead as a doornail.

I've been trying to book a two-way flight from Regina to Edmonton and back again, so I can visit certain grandchildren. But, noooo.

I wanted to used Westjet, because they have provided excellent service in the past, so I called their toll-free number. And guess what I got. A machine asking me to respond to various questions. The voice on the machine gave a range of options for answering each question, and, apparently it used voice recognition software.

To make a long story short, I gave up and was steaming mad by the time I did, so I called another number and booked the flights by speaking to a real human being. (Poor guy had to deal with one very-unset-mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore customer.) Turns out they charge an arm and a leg for every little thing under the sun they can think of to exploit and further anger the customer.

I was sorely tempted to hurl my cell phone across the room, but I constrained myself.

It would have been far simpler to just drive, but that's a very long way from here and I'm not crazy about driving long distances much of which is empty roads.  I'm too old and so is my car.

But I'm too old for this shit, too. Long ago I quit using Air Canada because their service was so lousy. There seems to be very little in the way of other options, other than one or two American airlines, which, if there is a next time, is what I think I will do. American Airlines and Delta used to service both cities. I hope they still do.  I prefer to use Canadian airlines out of loyalty and patriotism, but if you suck, it ain't my fault.

And Westjet. You suck!!