Who Ya Gonna Cuss??

[PegLeg45]

Apparently, if you are from Ohio, everyone.....    

Solus??
Richard??

Congratulations, Ohio! You Are the Sweariest State in the Union

There's a relatively long tradition, in the field of data visualization, of tracking the way we swear. This makes sense. Not only is it fun to track, but cursing is also conveniently specific as a data set; you've got your f-bombs and your double hockey sticks and your bodily functions, and, factoring in their permutations, you're good to go. Plus, you don't need much sophisticated sentiment analysis to ensure that your data are accurate: An f-bomb is pretty much an f-bomb, regardless of the contextual subtleties. As a result of all this, we, the public, get treated to sweary heat maps. And more sweary heat maps. And sweary interactive maps. There's just something about big data and sailor-cursing that complement each other—like peanut butter and mothereffing jelly.

Traditionally, those maps are based on text—on swears that are typed into Facebook or, even more publicly, Twitter. Making a map of the sweariest states requires simply gathering geocoded posts, isolating the swears, and going from there.

A new map, though, takes a more complicated approach. Instead of using text, it uses data gathered from ... phone calls. You know how, when you call a customer service rep for your ISP or your bank or what have you, you're informed that your call will be recorded? Marchex Institute, the data and research arm of the ad firm Marchex, got ahold of the data that resulted from some recordings, examining more than 600,000 phone calls from the past 12 months—calls placed by consumers to businesses across 30 different industries. It then used call mining technology to isolate the curses therein, cross-referencing them against the state the calls were placed from.

The findings?

People in Ohio cursed the most as compared to every other state in the Union: They swore in one out of about every 150 phone conversations. Ohio was followed, respectively, by Maryland, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Illinois.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/congratulations-ohio-you-are-the-sweariest-state-in-the-union/281988/

For more:

http://jezebel.com/5743784/mapping-the-sweariest-states-in-the-union

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/how-america-swears-heres-a-heatmap-tracking-twitter-profanity/261438/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/11/06/where-people-swear-most-on-twitter-in-one-interactive-map/

[brushmore]

Really shocked that anyplace actually beat New Jersey.

[jaybet]

Really shocked that anyplace actually beat New Jersey.

What the f*** are you talking about?

[ellis4538]

I try to be very diplomatic during phone calls to CS reps.  Damn wetbacks and IE's need a job too!  What bugs me the most is when you find out you have been talking to someone in some far off distant land and they talk more clearly than SR that seem to be from the good ol' USA!

Richard

PS:  I knew we were good but had no damn idea we were the best!!!!!

[Solus]

Puzzles me why folks cuss at and insult CS workers. 

Yeah, it can be frustrating to no end, but you are talking to a person who you want to help you with a problem and I doubt you will receive their wholehearted efforts if you call them names and swear at them.

[Sponsor]

[jaybet]

When I was a younger (and not as wise) man, I cussed out a few CS workers, not realizing that they were only doing their job and I was not helping myself. These days I use a method I learned from listening to my wife on the phone. Whatever the subject of the call, I pick three points I want to make, and I say nothing BUT those 3 points over and over. I'm not belligerent, but not pandering either. After a short time the CS person realizes that they have a "not-too-bright" but very persistent person on the line and they start trying their tricks. At that point I add, "I realize that you are just reading from your cards in response to my quesitons, so is there someone there who can discuss this with me?"
The other tactic for those with a foreign accent (actually I've used it successfully on some who speak perfect English), is I say few times, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" and "I'm sorry I can't understand what you are saying".  Then I ask to speak to someone else.
It takes time but about 8 times out of 10 I eventually get someone on the line who does what I ask. AND, it's actually more fun than just getting pissed and cussing at them.

[BAC]

When I was a younger (and not as wise) man, I cussed out a few CS workers, not realizing that they were only doing their job and I was not helping myself. These days I use a method I learned from listening to my wife on the phone. Whatever the subject of the call, I pick three points I want to make, and I say nothing BUT those 3 points over and over. I'm not belligerent, but not pandering either. After a short time the CS person realizes that they have a "not-too-bright" but very persistent person on the line and they start trying their tricks. At that point I add, "I realize that you are just reading from your cards in response to my quesitons, so is there someone there who can discuss this with me?"
The other tactic for those with a foreign accent (actually I've used it successfully on some who speak perfect English), is I say few times, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" and "I'm sorry I can't understand what you are saying".  Then I ask to speak to someone else.
It takes time but about 8 times out of 10 I eventually get someone on the line who does what I ask. AND, it's actually more fun than just getting pissed and cussing at them.

Did anyone understand any of that?   

[jaybet]

I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

[TAB]

Basicly what he said was, give the chain of command a chance, if it does not work, don't get mad.  Just go up as high as you can and let the shit roll down hill.

[lhprop1]

Puzzles me why folks cuss at and insult CS workers. 

Yeah, it can be frustrating to no end, but you are talking to a person who you want to help you with a problem and I doubt you will receive their wholehearted efforts if you call them names and swear at them.

I only give them the business if they're condescending to me or are intentionally not being helpful.  Hell, I once had a 90 minute conversation with a T-Mobile CSR about absolutely nothing concerning my phone plan.  It ended up with her greatly reducing my rate and adding minutes to my plan.