> They influence [...] how long I wait on hold when I call a customer-service line.
say what?!
say what?!
Beyond that, sometimes it's begging that does it, sometimes it's threatening. I've discovered that some companies appear to have a rule where if a customer even utters something along the lines of "I will sue you" they're just obligated to escalate it without trying to waste your time -- bingo!
Thinking back on it, when I heard "calls are answered in the order they are received" I never asked myself "what other order would they be answered in" xD :'<
The lines were not obvious, or there were simply fewer segmentations, when I was a kid.
Now, you see it at the airport with 3 different levels (regular TSA/precheck/clear), based on how much you pay.
You see it at theme parks like Disney world / six flags, and even there, there are multiple levels of priority you can buy.
And I went to my county fair for the first time this year, and I was somehow surprised that you could pay more for skipping ahead on simple carnival rides, even for toddlers.
The rest of us toil to make them happy. This unjust system should be razed to the ground.
It is a state of mind, a man can be free on a jail.
I'd recommend a read to Marcus Aurelius Meditations if you fancy that kinda thing.
Maybe the 8 billionaires you've in mind are less free in their day to day to do whatever the fuck they want than the billions of poor people that barely gets by and survives.
how many rich man have you met which aren't happy?
If you read Discourses, you would recognize your error in believing that a man can be free in jail, for he does not have the ability to choose where or how to exist, those are both limited directly by the existence of the jail. He can tolerate it, but not be free, as a stoic would tolerate a broken arm rather than claiming the broken arm makes them stronger.
Will read Discourses.
And the dozens of people who own most of the wealth in the world can still pretend they're filthy rich after they have been taxed to hell and back. What is the problem?
"Hicks, how come you're not working." / "There's nothing to do." / "Well, you pretend like you're working." / "Well, why don't you pretend I'm working? Yeah, you get paid more than me, you fantasize. Pretend I'm mopping. Knock yourself out. I'll pretend they're buying stuff; we can close up. I'm the boss now, you're fired. How's that?"
-- Bill Hicks
> how many rich man have you met which aren't happy?
So? Tell them it's just in the mind.
How many people who are struggling, who are as happy over a 5€ discount like others would over a new car, do you know? Who will remember the tiniest of gifts and the smallest amount of help for years? Who do what they can to help others, even when nobody is helping them? Who complain so modestly, if at all?
The idea that people people should just accept what isn't fate, but simply being exploited by other people, just so those other people can continue a lifestyle of sociopathy and addiction, is something I could not reject more.
There's my disgust at your trivializing of incarceration. There's the eye-rolling disbelief at being told to read stoicism in response to the naked avarice of the wealthy.
But what really galls me is this:
> Maybe the 8 billionaires you've in mind are less free in their day to day to do whatever the fuck they want than the billions of poor people that barely gets by and survives.
What? What nonsense did you just string together here? You're purporting that the people who have quite literally everything are the ones trapped by the system? So then they can change the fucking system, which is an ability they posses the rest of us do not.
How many poor people have you met who are happy to be poor? Have you actually met and talked to any poor people?
The regular line is self explanatory. Precheck is solely run by the TSA, and they politely ask the airports to set up dedicated lines for precheck. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Until passengers are in the checkpoint though (i.e. beyond the id check), the TSA has fairly limited authority. The airport is ultimately responsible for getting passengers to the security checkpoint, subject to some minor conditions by the TSA. Clear pays the airport/airlines a kickback from the subscriptions to let their agents manage the queues, which includes putting their subscribers in front of the other lines. One thing they can't do is give you special perks inside the checkpoint like precheck does.
So, 3 lines because 2 different parties get revenue from one each.
I assume all the biometrics for Clear aren't just to prove your the person who paid for Clear?
The point is, you pay more, you save life time. The government could have chosen to make it free so everyone can access these time saving measures, but our leaders did not, deeming it acceptable for further tranches of society to be publicly displayed.
Paying is an easy way to select for those who value it the most, which are the frequent fliers. If you’re a business traveler or otherwise someone who travels a lot, the price is small compared to the flights and the time saved is very large. That will be the inverse for those who need it least, the infrequent travelers.
Yes some people who travel infrequently will choose to pay for the faster line, but then they are also subsidizing the extra cost of staff to run the other systems.
The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous.
Knowing a number of people who have to travel a lot for work, I might even say that most of the poor shlubs in the precheck lines who have to travel monthly or more frequently are the real losers in the grand scheme. Traveling in flying sardine cans to make a living is no fun.
Or you can increase staffing.
> The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous.
It may or may not be meant to put it on display, but it shows it for what it is. People who can afford to pay to save time get prioritized through public infrastructure, and people that do not pay have to wait.
Which would increase the cost. You could pay for that by charging everyone more, but many people on their annual trip don't think that the extra $10 on the ticket is worth the 20 minute saving. More importantly they'll choose the airport which is $10 cheaper as they have fewer agents so the peaks aren't smoothed.
Also, security screening is partly and can totally be paid by marginal income taxes, it does not need to come from each passenger.
At my local airport, all security lanes except for one for precheck, are well staffed and move as fast as the passengers allow. The space is already used maximally, however lines are exceedingly long. Switching the precheck lane to regular would have almost no effect on wait times.
Queuing theory is rather complex.
Oh sure, that's great. How many have bought it?
Oh everyone on today's flight, it's such a good deal