Whenever in the future you’re using AI or encountering automation remember it is only as smart as its training and its user. The more we use certain AI chat bots the more they reflect ourselves back onto us. Maybe that is why mine is so challenging.
Earlier this year I had a customer support issue with Google. I considered the main issue to be that I couldn’t talk to a person. I was caught in an automation loop where I would report an issue, it would be looked at, and then returned stating it was previously addressed. It was maddening and I figured a person would have been able to solve the issue no problem due to their logic and reason.
Then I got caught in a stupidity loop, and just like monsters whenever we end up fighting stupidity too long we risk becoming what we war against. I was beginning to question myself the more Hershypark defended their actions and kept putting the blame on me.
I woke up this morning wondering if I am wrong and misremembering riding rides with one adult and two children. The boys don’t like going on the same rides so I’ve never ridden Pompei with both of them or The Roman Rapids. Then I remembered the Scrambler and Operation Splashdown at Ocean Breeze and a few other rides where it has been either one adult and two children or two adults and three children.
That’s what happens when you fight stupidity. You start gaslighting yourself and thinking you’re the crazy one. Yesterday I decided to apply some of my age old practices of going over and around the person annoying you. I tracked down the email addresses for the Operations Manager I was dealing with at Hersheypark and CC’d them on the email.
Not surprisingly I got a quick response, that while corporate boilerplate, is a far better response than deflection, denial, and blame. It defuses the situation and allows the customer to feel acknowledged and heard. It is also an important reflection as a business owner. Failure comes in many forms. As does stupidity.
David Huzzard Writes 