Waiting for Westy

by Andy Oram

August 3, 2000

rawcrude:

signon

frac-tiled:

Just u-n-i

rawcrude:

Wheres Westy?

frac-tiled:

Wherever

rawcrude:

not here yet huh

frac-tiled:

Offline like *Forever*

rawcrude:

I want to hear her on the Verizon strike

frac-tiled:

Think theyll strike?

rawcrude:

dunno. where u today?

frac-tiled:

days dun thangdog

Lord the enterprise was dull today

served the same drink 46 times

a bookstore cafe they callit

but folks would pay 4 bucks for frothin latte

not 1 hour on something that makes a mind

one real book we saw go out

and that some Oprah choice, and not bad either

but the buyer was just to read the parts her friends had told her to

no curiosity, no initiative, no reason but inertia to keep on going

I feel I won’t last long there

deafnull:

nooz doodz?

frac-tiled:

i’m not repeating. go ahead rawcrude

rawcrude:

thought i’d get a clue today

found i got no chance instead

tried and couldn’t find anyone who knew where Westafrican rock got its chords

so i asked if i could make it a semester project

teacher chilled me right away

said to stick to standard tested topics

so now i’m down twice

can’t see much future, and that not worth waitn for

deafnull:

speakn of west

rawcrude:

no Westy on yet

frac-tiled:

havent heard of her since *thurs*

rawcrude:

couldnt be she got a LIFE

frac-tiled:

if so its not like ours thangdog

rawcrude:

and shes so hep on telephones

deafnull:

think the bellheads will walk?

frac-tiled:

no can say. what you gotto say.

deafnull:

spent all day tryn to get my benefits

clerks treat u worse than a child predator who says no to treatment

at least the social worker friendly, tho did nothing

had to go home twice to get more papers and the papers all backed me up

but they said come back and do it all again

2 months from now

2 months without the doh to fix the chicks car

so its 2 hrs to work and 2 hrs back

frac-tiled:

like that everywhere. I feel your payin

rawcrude:

snzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

cliPP:

hay

rawcrude:

if you got something new to say come on in

cliPP:

wont believe this drove out to Westys pad today wont believe this

rawcrude:

shes there? why not here?

cliPP:

DSL fucked since Thurs night

frac-tiled:

knew it! knew it!

cliPP:

three uswest techs in a row couldnt do nothing for her

they know their stuff but keep asking for an upgrade and getting nowhere

used to have more staff per customer but usw grew customer base while shrinking staff

really sold her a line

now the isp loads so high she cant get out by modem eether

isp cant get new lines from usw in a timely manner thats why

isp yells at usw all the time they dont care

westy wants to switch phone companies

but the one she chose couldnt get colocation, so no go

rawcrude:

whats she about rite now?

cliPP:

out at some consumer group, helping push the verizon workers case

deafnull:

whats heatn them?

cliPP:

like forced overtime, up to 4 hrs a day

meanwhile u got to offer new services but u get no training

company trying to contract out wireless and internet

less pay, less benefits, less job security

traditional services are shrinking so wireless is the wave of the future

a stinking wave you ask me

rawcrude:

and that companys gonna get into long distance too?

frac-tiled:

man their lives sound like ours

cliPP:

their pains our poor service dont you see

frac-tiled:

then lets give them all the support we can

rawcrude:

STRIKE!

deafnull:

STRIKE!

cliPP:

STRIKE!

frac-tiled:

STRIKE!


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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Andy Oram is an editor at O’Reilly & Associates. This article represents his views only. It was originally published in the online magazine Web Review.