to the editor: Cultural critic Mary McNamara's latest article goes back to an idea maybe first articulate by Calvin Coolidge — America's business is business — and how we're all now dealing with the long-term consequences of that reality (“The nightmare of my trip made me realize that self-service culture is capitalism's biggest scam.” January 19).
Before Coolidge made this observation, the government established the civil service about 150 years ago. Their purpose was to gain patronage (and political loyalty) from the federal government. He developed a system that made possible the aspirations of the Preamble of the Constitution to “ensure internal tranquility” and “promote the general welfare.”
The mandate of the civil service is to provide services that benefit the public, as well as services that support businesses, but are not their responsibility. The balance of these public/private models was intended to give the United States a structure that would foster our growth as a nation, improving our entrepreneurial capabilities and our ability to use its benefits.
McNamara speaks directly to Coolidge's observation in lamenting the destruction of the service aspect of the model (admittedly refined by the Department of Government Efficiency). The current policy seems to be to “give the appearance of providing a service without actually providing a service.” Companies make big, handsome profits, the public gets nothing.
Bridget Tucker, Laguna Woods
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to the editor: McNamara described my biggest concern; no, my quickest rage trigger. Every time I hit an online roadblock (which is almost every day) and find myself yelling “agent” into the void of a soulless computer, I start thinking about how much more money the corporation in question is making thanks to my vulnerability to their greed.
Is there nothing these horrible institutions won't do to make more and more profits? How much money is needed? Self-service culture has nothing to do with providing service but with making more money. Service is simply a byproduct, if you are lucky enough to get it.
I long for the days when I could ask for help and a human being would respond. Unfortunately, humans are too expensive, but robots are infuriating.
To keep my balance, I'm slowly and deliberately removing everything I can that requires an app with no way to talk to a human being. And I am the richest for it!
Sara R. Nichols, Los Angeles
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to the editor: McNamara's column about poor customer service and sending human interaction to devices struck a chord. I spent almost half the day it was posted on three different websites: a banking site, MyChart (for medical services), and DROP, California's new site for requesting data deletion, to perform minor tasks. None were a success. They all made me angry.
Last spring I traveled abroad and encountered a situation similar to what McNamara described. My 11pm flight to Australia was canceled at 2am, shortly after two other jumbo jets full of passengers also canceled their flights. Hundreds of people sought care and accommodation in the middle of the night. I lost a day of my vacation and was still rerouted through New Zealand. That forced me to get a digital-only visa for a country I hadn't planned to visit and was only transiting through. I don't have a cozy relationship with devices.
I would like to say that misery loves company, but the current business model based on the last customer separates us more and more from the community, from humanity. I have no hope that things will change this decline of civilization.
Ellen Alperstein, Palm Desert
