NOVA SCOTIA MAPPER'S BORING SHOP TALK ABOUT A CALL FROM ALLSTATE POST
Char - I hope you did have a good trip to Nova Scotia - sorry I bothered you when you were oot and aboot
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Warning - this post contains non-sequiter random thoughts and only remotely has anything to do with Nova Scotia and hence little to none to do with the thread - so
its ok to skip right on over....if trivia and a little map thinking is fascinating to you read away..... LOL I've just had too much caffeine......(Jangle eeeerrr aaaaaahhhg zzZapp!)
Note - one last chance - he** i just read it and i skipped it....
Just thought I'd warn you. This... is how strange cartographers think sometimes....begging the pardon of the 4 or so other mappers in corfid.
OK, so the other day ( on the way to the forum...)LOL, I am at my desk pretending to do something important, when in fact I am just about to log into corfid, when (allegedly) ALLSTATE calls. the gist: "Hello this is Joe sajflfjl (muffled last name so you'll never remember) calling FOR Allstate, I notice your next monthly payment is coming up due and just wondered if you would like a free month of blabberyblabbeyblabberty(not letting me get a word in edgewise like NOOOOOO)....so on so on,,,,,,,then.....
having worked in a phone sales room when I was eighteen and was a starving young handsome man with dreams and ideals but quickly sold out so I could eat by calling people and doing what he was doing on the phone.(j/k I did not sell out - I actually confronted them on the alleged "magic show tickets for handicapped children to the high school auditorium" - when i realized they could not fit over 4000 tickets sold in an auditorium with seating for 900 - I called the school... confronted my boss, and got fired
the next day even though I had star sales and was promoted to sales mgr in 3 weeks.....so ignorant i was what a schmuck,,,,anyway) - THEN..... I said "hold on a second... what is your name again.... can you spell that..and you are "with" Allstate, or you are calling "for" them - which is it ? - blabberty blabberty... WAIT... "OK you are not with allstate. you don't even know when my next bill is. And you want to sell me one free month of autoclub ? I allready am
*Cliff notes highlight here down is the mappy stuff alittle:
a member of the roadside autoclub..... you idiots....(i thought) - heres the mapper stuff - i asked "what time did you say it was there where you are ?" for no intelligent reason.... and Joe a;sogha;uh responded ( a time that was three hours later than here in mtn std in colorado) and I said...wait a minute..... that would put you in....lesseee here... threee hours times 15 degrees longitude per hour on the map... 45 degrees or so east of me.... did you say you wer up north or down south (trick question a hahah) and he said -oh uhmm i am sorta up north... and i said "aha ! that means, by virtue of what HAS TO BE ATLANTIC TIMEZONE, VERY FEW PLACES ARE IN ATLANTIC ZONE ON THE MAINLAND" - not ENTIRELY true, but he swallowed and said OKEEEEE, I continued -
so if you are in ATLANTIC TIME,, and YOU ARE UP NORTH..... mmmm you've almost got to be in the maritime provinces like say Newfoundland or Nova Scotia, right ? AAnd ALLSTATE does not mail me from there ! ha ! - and he said, deflated "OK you're right - I am actually calling from Nova Scotia, and I do not work for Allstate. We are a phone room like you asked, and
* Cliff notes highlight again - the only mappy talk ends here the rest is total drivel....
are selling upgrades to your Allstate policy for platinum roadside service. I then realized, OK i don't want to be an a**ho**, so i said "OK... but you don't have access to my account if you are not with Allstate right? Soooooo how can you upgrade for free what I already have...?" . He said he'd have to call back. Schyeaaa, and monkeys 'll fly out of my...."
So I tried to ease up more on him, and said " Look, I used to have to do similar to what you are doing... I know its tough. But tell people up front who you are an employee of..... because the phonerooms are largely scams... did you know that even the legal ones get up to 90% of gross sales from whomever hired them, including charitable causes sadly, and pure sales calls ?",- instead of the magic show tickets, or in his case - the net cost of the allstate road club upgrade, and 10% commonly is whats left GROSS to go to the "policemans memorial fund" or what have you.
* Cliff notes - geo steve here gets the dodge from HIS OWN INSURANCE AGENT....
Of course there are far more legit ones, but even police now are saying do not give money to the police over the phone.....Well, I asked my agent about it, and he said - its a scam by (company name that is 3 letters long all the same letter and its not the last... letter of the alphabet...ahem... aaahemmmm) they hired a phone room in Canada (I said "actually, Bob, - its in the maritime provinces - thats about 45 degrees east of us you know Bob...)" . He eyes possible exits, shoots his cuff to check his watch, and says "Uhm say Steve, I have to call a guy right back/go to lunch/theres a fire/gotta go/ just dont give em money you are in our road club allready....."
*Cliff notes: after Steve gets blown off, he figures out a tuff one to guess, but....
Highlight for attentive readers - a little more mappy stuff, and historical Scottish stuff,
a wee bit lad, and maybe a little bit morrrrre
Somehow, I was sensing inately, being fortunate enough to have discerning social interpretive skills of body language and quite often for some reason - signs of boredom....subtly, that he did not wish to talk about the geography of the Maritime Provinces and HOW I KNEW THEY HAD TO BE UP THERE OUT IN THE RAGING ATLANTIC COAST NORTHEAST OF HUDSONS BAY AND IN NOVA SCOTIA THAT MEANS NEW SCOTLAND THAT IS WHERE MY GRANDFATHER CAME FROM AND I HAVE RED HAIR COMING IN UP FRONT ON MY HEAD CAUSE MY GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS FROM SCOTLAND AND THEY HAVE RED HAIR AND RUDDY BEARDS LIKE MINE,...AND DID YOU SEE BRAVEHEART AND SIR WILLIAM WALLACE / AND THERE IS A TOWN IN SCOTLAND ABOUT 28 MILES EASTERLY OF EDINBURGH NAMED AFTER MY FAMILYS LAST NAME AND THAT IS WHERE WE ARE FROM. AND WHAT? YOU SAID YOU HAVE TO GO OR THERE IS A FIRE OR ITS LUNCHTIME ? OK WELL I'LL CATCH UP WITH YOU NEXT TIME BOB WHEN YOU........(sound of door closing and then car driving away, me standing there like *I* had the app't, shot my cuff, looked at my watch, and clucked about the time and an app't... said good by to his staff and asked them if they knew of Nova Scotia.... LOL not everyone, sadly, is absolutely fascinated by maps, places,longitude and latitude, and forensic maply interrogation results...... lol....well at lest no one argued that my field should use the word geodesic not geodetic,or vice versa whichever i say first lol.....
*Cliff notes - end of any material you may be responsible for, and an attempt by the author to remember why in the he** he posted this.......
OK well then yes Nova Scotia thats up there, and hope you had a good trip Char, and
NightinGale I hope you get to go beyond the edge of the map of Indiana up to the Maritime Provinces - you know my great-great grandfather was from........ LOL
later ~geo Steve may the Lord help you if you read all that w/o pity