political nuts

[NoodleBoy]

this quote reminded me of something that happened to me once:

One old whacko used to call me (this during the Gulf War) at WOLO to rail and scream about what a lousy president Bush Sr. was. (Cuz, you know, the president gets most of his council from master control operators in leaky, two-bit local television stations.)

last summer I interned at the state Democratic Party office, and maybe twice a month the building would basically explode with a frenzy of in-person visits and calls going both in and out, and since my job often entailed calling out, I would once in a while pick up the phone to hear a conversation going on, someone else in the office picking up the phone at the same time, or accidentally answering an incoming call. since it's a political gig, we get a few nutjobs. here's my favorite:

Me, picking up the phone, hearing nothing, immediately jumping into call-taking mode.

Me: Arizona Democratic Party, how can I help you?

Caller: My that was fast.

Me: We try.

C: You know that Janet Napolitano? I really like her.

Me: Yeah, she's doing some great things for this state.

C: She should run for President.

Me: Well, I think she has her eyes set on other jobs for now, we'll see what she decides.

C: I saw her on TV the other day, she was really good.

Me, getting really annoyed: Yeah, she's pretty good with the cameras. You know, I was really impressed with the way she handled the pipeline breakage, no dithering, she just went on TV and told people exactly what was going on, why it happened, and what they should do about it.

(I started saying that because few political nutjobs can handle anything relating to a real policy discussion)

C: Yeah... Do you know she supports letting women get abortions???

(In my head, I'm thinking, do you remember who you're talking to?)

Me: What a woman does with her own body is between herself, her partner, her doctor, and her God, not between her judge, her congress, or her president.

C: But...

(Now I'm really getting bored and I'd rather get back to working)

C: I saw Robert Kennedy Jr. on TV the other day, he should really run for President.

Me: Well, I heard he was considering running for Attorney General of New York State.

C: Well he should run for president, he's so smart, and he's so handsome.

Me: Would you like to get more involved? I can transfer you over to someone in the building who could help you out.

C: Well, I'm in Gila County.

Me: Ok, I can give you the website for the Gila County party, would you like that?

C: Well, uh, I don't have a computer.

Me: Well, I could get you the phone number of your Legislative Distirct chair.

C: Um, I'm kind of confined to my house.

Me: Well, you could do some phone banking from your house, would you like to do that?

(Please, do anything except talk to me)

C: Ok.

(Ok, so, I was frustrated enough with the lady that I just gave her the number of the Gila County Recorder)

(Caller begins to say something)

Me: Ok, I have lots of work to do now, but it's been nice talking with you.

C: Oh, ok, thank you.

Me: No problem.

C: And next time you talk to Robert Kennedy Jr., tell him to run for President.

Me: Ok, I sure will. Bye.

[AFpheonix]

Well, on the bright side, at least they're just on the phone. I had a few during the last election (republicans all) who'd come in with party and election pins, handing out campaign crap while ordering refills, and slamming the other party. My pharmacist and I would just sit there and do the occasional "mmmhmm. Hm? Ah. No, that dress doesn't make you look fat." Until they went away. >

Like I care what your politics are. Go away. Better yet, call Lars Larson, he'll dig it. (local bombastic radio talk show host)

[NoodleBoy]

well with most of these people, they don't even know we have an office, and are extremely suprised to find out.

"no, look, we don't have an office, the phone number on the website and every piece of lit is my personal home phone number."

[csdrone]

Well, on the bright side, at least they're just on the phone. I had a few during the last election (republicans all) who'd come in with party and election pins, handing out campaign crap while ordering refills, and slamming the other party. My pharmacist and I would just sit there and do the occasional "mmmhmm. Hm? Ah. No, that dress doesn't make you look fat." Until they went away. >

Like I care what your politics are. Go away. Better yet, call Lars Larson, he'll dig it. (local bombastic radio talk show host)

We get both sides in from time to time. Umm Hmm! Yes sir/ma'am! (thinking please please go away)

[MystyGlyttyr]

I get those meandering types up here. I found a pretty good way to get rid of/scare them.

Person: "What do you think about the war in Iraq?" (WHY is this always the opener??)
Me: *looking person dead in the eye, speaking with total seriousness and almost reverence* "All things that are wrong should be burned away by the almighty power of the Dark Phoenix."

...hey, if they kept up with their X-Men trivia, it wouldn't be weird at all...

(P.S., make sure the person you say this to isn't a friend of your boss. Eep.)

[kerrisan]

And next time you talk to Robert Kennedy Jr., tell him to run for President.

Wow, that's like people who call for tech support thinking you control the Internet! ("Hi, is this The Internet?" or "Can you fix it so The Internet knows what websites I want?")

There's a great website with some great Tech Support conversations that I would love to share, but I don't think I'm allowed to post it.

[Antisocial_Worker]

I was once cornered by a guest who wanted to discuss, in detail, the Fairtax proposal. Thankfully it didn't take too long to get him to go away. Also in the political realm, I got into an argument with a guest once over conservation and the mechanics of suburban sprawl -- he was against the former and all in favor of the latter. A few weeks later he came back for another stay and was distraught at check-in because he'd just learned that a developer had bought the house and land where he (the guest) had grown up, and had levelled the house and clearcut the land in prepration to build a subdivision.

I giggled for hours afterward.

[Pagan]

I had some guy try to draw me into a debate on whether or not Dubya is a good president or not. Kept going on and on and....on. I fianlly looked at him and said, "Sir, I will not have this conversation with you. I keep my own council on politics and do not share it with strangers."

I started doing this after having some old guy railing about not being able to get a recording of what the Dixie Chicks (or, as co-worker called them, the Chixie Dicks!) said about Bush and how horrible he is, blah, blah, blah.

Why do they think we want to hear this? Do they think that just because we're basically a captive audience that they're going to change our minds?