I have something to share.  This "something" is a shocking experience in my world.  Some small bit of my worldly foundation has been rocked and cracks have appeared.  What could this shocking experience could have been?  

On Monday of this past week, CIBC called me.  Not some random sales call.  It was "the CIBC".  I am sure you'll know what they may have called me about.  If not, read here.

Yah.  They did.

Early on Monday morning, my phone rang.  I reached over to grab my handset but paused when I saw "CIBC" on the caller ID.  I thought for a moment:

"Why would the CIBC be calling me?"  

A moment paused and, somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain, a penny (or perhaps a few thousand pennies) dropped.  My "red alert" alarm went off.  My internal DEFCON level zoomed to the hightest setting.  Shields went up and the battlements were manned.  Somewhere a group of elven archers notched a few hundred arrows.  I was a little surprised at the level of anger that rose inside me.  My fight or flight decision went instantly to raging fight and I was ready to give whomever was on the other end a piece of my mind.

Of course, all of this happened in an instant.  I picked up the receiver.

"Left Right Minds.  Shane speaking." I said.

"Hello, Mr. Birley.  This is so-and-so.  I am calling you from the CIBC customer service department and I would like to talk to you about your experince with CIBC."

For the first few moments of the conversation, I thought they were out to "get me".  I was waiting to hear words like "slander" or "defamation".  I was expecting to hear phrases like "break your kneecaps", "cement shoes", or a "pair of pliers and a blowtorch".

But I did not get these words nor the phrases.

In a very positive and upbeat tone I heard words like "unacceptable" and phrases like "ashamed about the poor levels of service".  

I didn't know what to say.  "Was this really happening?", I thought. Was this bank that I had been demonizing for years actually calling me to ask about my experience?  Never in a thousand phone calls had I thought CIBC would respond to me - and in such a personal way.

According to what the lady on the other end of the phone said, here is what happened on their end.

Apparently, someone at CIBC had found my blog and had reported it to the customer service department.  They read my postings and checked out some of the comments and then they sought me out.  They called me at my day job number (the only number I post publically on the Internet) to apologize for my experience.

I was shocked and a little humbled.  In my mind, I had painted this bank as being an uncaring corporation that was blind to the front lines.  I had concluded that CIBC hired nothing but robotic space monkeys from Iscandar and reaped the profits their army of numbskulls acquired.

We had a pleasant conversation (once my hackles settled down) and she seemed genuinely upset that I had such experiences with CIBC.

Here is what the conversation boiled down to:

• CIBC has a problem.

• CIBC needs to train their "trench staff" better.  (My words.)

• CIBC should review how they share information from the top.

• CIBC needs to rethink how their branch managers deal with training tellers and their office staff.  It is obvious (to me) that the training standards of CIBC are very poor.

• CIBC staff should "know" the system they use every day and should be able to have process and procedure information at their fingertips.  They should not have to seek out other staff for simple procedures such as the closure of accounts on weekends.

• CIBC should think about how to solve PST and EST issues so that PST time zone clients are not penalized for living on the West coast of Canada.  

She pointed out that the PST/EST issue is eluded to in the terms of service (as being 6PM EST) but I said that this was stupid to expect clients of banks to read every little detail in their terms of service.  In today's world, most individuals will read the big print and walk away thinking they know everything.  Writing such an important detail is not clear enough.  Expectations like this will create can arise.  And before those of you out there start commenting that "it is the clients responsibility to read every detail" - let me stop you before you start.  Why?  Well, simply put: I don't care.  What I do care about is a company needs to assume that their clients are NOT going to read things like a terms of service.  Details as important as:

"Hey, buddy, by the way - if you pay at 3:01pm in your time zone, you'll get a penalty because you don't live in Toronto." 

To me, putting those kinds of details out for all to see is important (and no, terms don't count) enough to invest in a little more paper and ink.  They should also make their services more obvious.  Terms of service are written to cover a whole lot of issues that a typical business needs to struggle with.  But they are not a solution.

Anyway, in regards to the call, that was about it.

I hung up the phone and didn't know what to think.  This call had put a human face on CIBC.  I won't publish her name but the person on the other end of the phone wasn't some vampiric character from a Poe (or Rice) novel.  She was sorry.  She didn't fight with me or try to tell me I had just missed some small type here or there.  She listened and responded to my typical commentary.  There weren't tears or anything like that but she was genuinely interested in how CIBC could learn from my experience and how they could do better.  I know CIBC won't be able to solve such issues overnight but, wow, the fact that someone - a human voice - took the time to call me about my online blathering was shocking.  (Have I said "shocking" enough for one post?)

Does this change my mind about CIBC?  It does a little bit.  I still think the CIBC has some head office to branch issues and I still think that such a large bank should launch themselves into the 2010s and use some of that online juice to let their employees know what is what. Their clients base is changing.  People are more connected and "choosy" than ever.  Those who used banks and accepted how banks did business is changing.  In this economy, maybe banks should be a little more active in their outreach as well.

Anyway.  There you go.  A little heavy for a Saturday night but I have to give CIBC a few kudos for trying.  They came far to late but I can't ignore that they didn't try.  Will they take my comments to heart or, at the very least, read them. I hope so.  It won't bring me back to CIBC but - dammit - I can't say they are 100% demon spawn either.  

Damn.  I was hoping CIBC was ruling the legion of the undead.

Ack! There is no excuse. I haven't been blogging at all these past few weeks and months. I am not entirely sure why. I suppose I have fallen into that trap so many other bloggers find themselves. Periods of self-loathing take over and beliefs are inserted that tell our internal critics that anything they create is either no good or is simply garbage. There is never a silver lining in any of these situations. Nothing is ever any good. Some go so far as deciding they are themselves no good. I could be only speaking of myself but I have a hunch that there are many of you out there going through what I am going through - blocked blog syndrome. In truth, such thoughts are rubbish. Here I am in the trenches, one who has "proven" himself by being involved in the creation of a manual that helps people start this bizarre career of "blogging". Yet, I find myself lost in a cavern of creativity. I have written hundreds of blog posts all over the Internet and I can't seem to get one finished for my own website. How cruel is that? I guess there is some comfort I can offer. It is a well known fact that writers of all levels will star blankly at a page (either on a computer screen or a piece of paper) for days before putting down a single word. They can get blocked up just like the average blogger. It is a natural part of being a writer. (Sorry, what was that?) I am here to tell all of you that the act of blogging is an art. Plain and simple. Your ability to write is what makes blogging possible. So, how do you break the blockage? By doing something I haven't done in a while. You sit down, look at the screen with a little bit of defiance and you start typing or you start writing away from the computer. Write by hand (yes, you can do that!) and then type in your thoughts later. And, please, don't feel bad in the slightest if you don't have anything to say. You can always follow a standard blogging formula and write a list of some kind. Fill out a meme about yourself. Offer advice (as I am right now) and keep that chin up. I have been reading also a disturbing theory running around the Internet that is claiming that the days of blogging are over. I hear them say: "Who blogs anymore? It is all about micro-blogging now." Horse hockey! As cool as micro-blogging is, it isn't the full kind of writitng that people enjoy the most. Sure, you can "tweet" a story out but the act of writing can't be touched by these technologies. Don't feel "afraid" or "less of a writer" if you are told that blogs are "not where it is at". I don't subscribe to such theories. Blogging is writing! To claim that the days of writing are over is such nonsense. Maybe we're in a collective slump but blogging or writing is not a dead art and I would guess that it is here for some time. You can change the technologies and the format but you can't change the truth. Human beings love stories. We love writing. Micro-blogging may be here for a while or it may be a flash in the pan. Who cares. Writing doesn't change. We change and get lost once in a while but we always come back to what we love. There you have it. A blog post. How about that? No preparation and no cause for celebration. I just sat down to do a bit of research and look at what I created. It isn't Shakespeare but I think I can use it.

A number of months ago, I experienced a very low point in my life.  I don't think I had ever experienced something quite like it before and I was glad for it to be over.  

I gave up.

I didn't give up on my life.  I gave up on the world's life.  I gave up on you, gentle reader, and I hope you can find the wisdom to forgive me.  I was weak and unable to cope for several hours.

I do offer some context.  What started me down this path of utter dispair in regards to the current status of the world was I had read too many articles about how the world and how it is going to "Hell In An X-Wing Fighter" and I decided that it was time for me to just wash my hands of the world.  I didn't mean it.

I do remember having a brief conversation with myself.

"That's it!  We'll never learn.  It won't matter anyway.  The world will just buck us off the sadle when it feels like it.  The universe will unfold as it should and if that means we're not part of that then so be it."

That night, the universe fought back and kicked me in the ass.  It was one of those nights where you catch yourself reading or watching something that you wouldn't normally do.  You may even pause to ask yourself why you're doing it.  This particular evening, I found myself watching The Hour and who should appear but David Suzuki.

The interview was typical of that show.  There was gentle conversation about what Mr. Suzuki was doing and, of course, there was talk about the environment.  I was feeling quite self justified that Suzuki was telling stories about how he had been drinking out of a plastic cup and some onlooker said that he shouldn't be considering who he was and what he stood for. 

Ha!  I thought.  You jerk!  You drink from bottled water too!  You dime store hood!  It was then that a question was asked about what people should do if they are feeling tremendous apathy about the universe and the world.  I was expecting some kind of: "Come join us.  You can help heal the world."

Nope.

Suzuki became very serious and said: "Go be that way.  Do what you need to do but get the hell out of my way.  I am not perfect but I am doing my part.  If you don't want to help, then stand aside and let me by."

Thank the world for David Suzuki.  If it were not for him, I would proably be still feeling the way I did all those months ago.  Have a great Earth Day and, Mr. Suzuki, I am sorry.  I am doing my part too.