I received so much
comment on my missive about the geographically challenged BoA employee, that I
have to share with you to most blatant incidents of geographic ignorance I have
ever encountered.
I the mid 1990's, I
called the US Postal Service International Information line. I asked the
woman who answered, “Do you have international express mail service to Gibraltar?” She said she would check and I
could hear her furiously rustling through the pages of some obviously large
reference book. After a few minutes, she asked me, “Sir, where is Gibraltar?”. I replied that it was in Europe–it seemed a fair question, after all, The Rock is
a tiny place.
There was more rustling
of papers-seemingly even more furious than before. Finally, she came back
to me and said this: “Sir, what country is Europe
in?” No kidding, that is exactly what she said. I thanked her
and told her that she couldn't help me.
I immediately hit the
redial button and asked for a supervisor. When he came on the line, I
explained what had happened and complained about the incredible ignorance
displayed. His defense was, “She's new at the job…” To
which I replied, “She may be new, but the 6 inhabited continents are
not.”
Unquestionably, this
gains top honors in the ignorance race.
Second place goes to a
Yankee from Utah who sat at a restaurant on the Island of Grenada and insisted
that “we are right next to Spain”, because he saw on a map that we
were near Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad.
Makes you wonder how the US
ever got to the moon, doesn't it?
