In my history class, I hear the word "paternalistic" a lot. Normally, I would have thought this word to have a positive connotation (after all, who doesn't want a dad to take care of them?) but my professor has always used it in a very negative way.
Now I truly understand the meaning of "paternalistic."
Recently, we got rid of Dish Network. Of course it was a huge hassle, but that's another story. When they had us ship back our DVR, remote, etc., they provided a "pre-paid" label (that they would then charge us $15 for using). The letter they sent with it was weird, almost snobbish. They made a big deal out of saying what a great deal we'd get for using their label (even though we still have to pay for shipping). Obviously., they were doing us a huge favor.
My parents always taught me that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
I sent Steve to UPS to mail the box, and he had them weigh it to see how much it would cost to ship. It was $14.64. Granted, 36 cents isn't much, but it still made me feel good to throw in their faces that I could get such a good "deal" when they acted like it would cost $40 to send their stuff back (which, by the way, we had to pay a monthly rental on--yet another rant).
Anyway, the point of all of this is that I really felt like Dish was saying, "Now, since you're so stupid and can't do anything for yourself, let big old Daddy Dish take care of this for you. Now, say thank you."
Oh, yeah?
Well, I'm enjoying my 36 cents, Daddy!
:P
No comments:
Post a Comment