UPDATE: 3/20/12 - Due to some minor health complications (you don't want the details, trust me) there will only be two comics this week. I should be back to normal (or as normal as I get) next week, after this round of antibiotics are done with. New cartoon tomorrow, folks, and thanks for your patience. - Rob
OK, this is a little off topic, but it's what was bouncing around in my head when I wrote this strip. Years of customer service training has conditioned me (like many other people) to say "thank you" when someone thanks me, like so:
- Customer: "Thank you."
- Me: "No, thank you!"
Don't know why I still say that instead of "you're welcome," but I do. Anyway, in most of the U.S. there is an awesome chicken sandwich fast food chain called Chik-fil-A (pronounced chick-fill-Ay, not chick-fill-uh). Every time I order via the drive-thru at CFA (as we "in the know" call it) and I reflexively say "thank you" instead of "you're welcome," the cashier always responds with "My pleasure!" Not "thank you," but "my pleasure." Not that this bothers me, it's just not a phrase you hear very often or when you do hear it, it isn't used sincerely. So, I got curious one day and as the cashier was handing me my food, I asked if they're all told to say that. Turns out, they DO have to say it, it's in their employee training materials and if they get caught not saying it, they can get written up. Makes me glad I am no longer in customer service, and to all of you still in it, man, you have my sympathy. I have felt your pain.
All this made me think of the poor, hapless border guard between Tarokka and Val'Dhar. Not a soul around for weeks at a time and the one time he actually has someone try to cross the border, it's his leader's daughter and her entourage.
Yeah, so, that's what was in my head. :)
See you all next week!
~Rob
I have two words for ya: WAFFLE FRIES!, NUFF SAID!
So they ARE all required to say that! I just noticed it…that phrasing sounds very out of place in Lowcountry South Carolina. It got downright creepy…like those movies where everyone is replaced by pre-programmed robots…
C-F-A Employee 1: Can I take your order?
Me: I’d like a #3, thanks!
C-F-A Employee 1: (big smile) It was my pleasure!
Me: Can I get a refill on a Coke Zero?
C-F-A Employee 2: Certainly!
Me: Thanks…
C-F-A Employee 2: (big smile) It was my pleasure!
C-F-A Employee 3: How was your meal?
Me: Very good, thanks!
C-F-A Employee 3: (big smile) It was my pleasure!
Food chain courtesy or Attack of the Fast Food Pleasure Drones?
Chic-fil-a considers itself a christian company. thus why they arn’t open on sundays (at least around here) or most church holidays. it’s also why their courtesy is a bit different.
I LOVE their food but, as a Texas boy, and a big one at that, when i look at the ticket after eating, i can’t help but think i forgot to eat something (i’m saying i wish the portions were bigger).
On a more relevant note… i have a friend who works as a security guard. he detained a “suspicious person” at his workplace. turned out it was his bosses youngest son. he actually got a promotion (to “systems standards enforcement”, basicly educator), but he just KNEW he was gonna get fired
It becomes pleasure drone-y when they have to say the same thing every time. Trying to simulate friendliness through rules has that effect.
A compromise that might work better could be giving a range of options…
On the comic itself… their rules really should have an exception for elves. Guess they assumed there’d be no elves coming from orc-land.
@Stardrake: That’s true; why would they expect elves coming from the north? There’s nothing but orcs and desert up there.
It’s sure better than “You shall not pass!” (and plants spear butt in the ground).
Guard duty isn’t so bad so long as you have a good book and perhaps someone on duty that has simular intrests. If not then the time at that post gets very long.
Sounds like the perfect borde3r for setting up a smugglers camp to me.
@Stardrake Jaine is a half-elf, so we dont know if they do change the rules for elves vs half elves
@Dragonborn Sorcerer: I was wondering why the guard has longer pointier ears than Jainie, and you answered to that already (half-elf).
Don’t worry random guard. You shouldn’t get fired for doing your job. It’s not like picures of the “royal family” are hung all over the walls.
Naaaah no reason for him to get sacked or “sacked” [which is when you sneak up on someone throw a sack over their head and beat them up,….where they cannot see you to describe the assailants],…. Jaine does not exactly agree with her Dear ol’ Dad’s idea,…. more than likely she will chew out Dad and conveniently forget the guards name,…lol
“You’re welcome” has entirely disappeared, replaced by “no problem.” I hate it. “No problem” is about the speaker — “Your request for a chicken sandwich did not cause ME any problems” — whereas “You’re Welcome” is about the listener: “You are welcome to my services.”
And don’t get me started about Absolutely having replaced Yes.