Dr. Doctor

Even if you have been stopping by Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog for a very long time, I doubt that you would know that Older Eyes is Dr. Eyes.  He’s a doctor.  I don’t talk about it much, on my blog or in my life.  It is a title I use only in business, and even then, I prefer to be called Frank once a client is aware of my credentials.   However, I do use my title when making travel and restaurant reservations because I get somewhat better service that way.   Of course, there’s often the question, What kind of doctor are you?  … then a slight disappointment, a sense that I’ve somehow deceived when I say, I have a PhD in electrical engineering.   The academically aware may even say something like, Oh, Piled Higher and Deeper, huh?   Occasionally, someone will ask, What does a doctor in electrical engineering do?    Oh, I develop advanced algorithms for the extraction of weak signals in noise, is usually a conversation killer.  My ego is fine with that.  Earning my doctorate was one of the most interesting experiences of my life, one in which I learned the true meaning of Pogo’s declaration that We have met the enemy and he is us. The degree has opened professional doors and if it gives me some extra respect until people find out I’m not a neurosurgeon, that’s just frosting.

And being Doctor Eyes has never caused me a problem … until this week. A little over a week ago, I received a call from Gigantic Impersonal Credit Company that there had been some peculiar charges on my business MasterCard, requesting that I call their customer service line. Indeed, someone had been having a very nice little vacation in Santo Domingo at my expense. There were $800 in charges at hotels, restaurants and spas. The customer service rep went through my charges with me and removed every one that I said wasn’t mine. Nice. He cancelled my card and told me he would Fedex me a new one which would arrive within 36 hours. During that 36 hours, two autopays that I scheduled on that card bounced but I figured I’d deal with them when I got my new card. Card never came. Not so Nice.  I called back and there were effusive apologies and a promise that my card would arrive in 24 hours. Again, nothing except one more autopay bouncing. Same thing a third time. Finally, on the fourth try, a representative tracked down the problem. My old card showed my name as DR OLDER EYES on the card but Gigantic Impersonal Credit Company has changed their policy …. titles are no longer printed on cards, causing the requests for a new card to be rejected. Why couldn’t someone have figured this out a week ago and called me? We will never know. This time, a supervisor apologized profusely and awarded me 2500 extra airline miles for my trouble … and promised that my card will be here tomorrow.

We’ll see. My Inner Curmudgeon has sworn that he will take over if it isn’t and has already informed me that a crappy 2500 miles won’t make him happy. Do you hear that Gigantic Impersonal Credit Company?

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Tags: business, credit cards, curmudgeonly rants, doctors, humor

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