The Myth of Privatization

I've been a Comcast subsriber for 3 years now. My RCA cable modem has always been a bit tempermental about its power cable but just this weekend, it became unbearable. I finally broke down and called their tech support and was told to just take it to my local office and exchange it. I also had the option to buy my own and save $3 per month on my bill, but after scouring the web I deciced that $36 a year is worth the convenience of being able to just take it in and exchange it when it breaks.

Anyway, I got to the local office 10 minutes before they close and it was just like walking into the post office- same counter scheme, same long line, same sense of confusion as to why the 3 people being helped are taking 20 minutes a piece with their transactions. And, get this, there was one employee at her station with a "next desk please" plaque out dutifully doing her paperwork for the day and never looking up at any of us waiting in line. It took 20 minutes of standing there before I was acknowledged or helped.

So, uh, the next time you have to listen to some idiot talk about how government bureaucracies are so inefficient and everything would be better if we started privatizing everything, you can tell them to shut the fuck up. Private industry is no better and certainly no more efficient than any government bureaucracy. Hell, I think they might even be worse. At least at the Post Office these days, you can take a number and find a seat if one is available, if you go to my local Comcast office to exchange your malfunctioning cable modem, you have to stand in line in order to keep your place.