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True Stories

IF I HAD A HAMMER

st_shawSeventy-five-year-old Mona Shaw is destined to become immortalized as an American folk hero:

After a week of getting jerked around by a cable service provider, Mona had enough, according to the Washington Post story Taking a Whack Against Comcast:
The insulting idea that, as Shaw puts it, “they thought just because we’re old enough to get Social Security that we lack both brains and backbone.”

So, after stewing over it all weekend, on the following Monday, she went downstairs, got Don’s claw hammer and said: “C’mon, honey, we’re going to Comcast.”

Did you try to stop her, Mr. Shaw?

“Oh no, no,” he says.

Hammer time: Shaw storms in the company’s office. BAM! She whacks the keyboard of the customer service rep. BAM! Down goes the monitor. BAM! She totals the telephone. People scatter, scream, cops show up and what does she do? POW! A parting shot to the phone!

“They cuffed me right then,” she says.

Her take on Comcast: “What a bunch of sub-moronic imbeciles.”

The quality of customer service in the United States has been declining for years. All of us have been subjected to maddeningly inefficient automated help lines, warranty loopholes, surly, self-important clerks and clueless account managers. It was only a matter of time before someone reacted appropriately.

I’m surprised that hordes of people are not out in the streets protesting the militarism of their country, the commercialism of their lives, and a host of other indications that corporations come first, humanity second. I heartily aplaud Mona Shaw’s decision to take matters into her own hands. We need more of this!

The best part is that Mona is not looking to be anyone’s hero. As quoted in Florida’s Sun Sentinel
She said many people have called her a hero. “But no, I’m just an old lady who got mad. I had a hissy fit,” she said.

By Camille Armantrout

Camille lives with her soul mate Bob in the back woods of central North Carolina where she hikes, gardens, cooks, and writes.