Ignornace: Multiple Personality Disorder:

One disorder frequently used in novels and movies is Dissociative Identity Disorder, more frequently called Multiple Personality Disorder.  Typically those with this disorder in stories exhibit a break between reality and their perception of it, typically from some trauma that makes them create alternate personalities to protect themselves and thus the second or other personalities grow and become fully fledged, driving the individual to homicidal actions.  While sometimes those with DID do have other mental disorders which are violent, it is not in and of itself necessarily the cause of said violence and psychiatrists are in agreement on that point about DID...  But on little else.

Some psychiatrists think DID is indeed caused by trauma, usually childhood sexual trauma, but others think people are born with a gene for it that causes the break later in life, and still others think that it is actually caused by the hypnotic state that some psychiatrists put their patients into.  There exists no medically universal agreed definition on what causes DID, its progression, its affect on the mind when separating it from other mental disorders, nor even its symptoms in general.  It has been noted that it was rarely diagnosed before 1980, but overall, DID, among many other disorders, is rare and difficult to study.  One thing most psychiatrists agree upon though, is that it is quite different from schizophrenia when a patient does not have both.  The fragmented identities do not talk to one another and while they may be aware of each other, they do not push one another into taking actions contrary to that identity's nature.  This, among problems with other disorders, is frequently portrayed in films and in novels as being contrary and having the 'personalities' fight with one another either to attack the protagonists or to try to stop their other personalities form achieving something horrid.  Writers, please do not fall prey to this rampant stupidity and research any disorder you intend to include in your works before implementing them.  The one you think it is may not be what you think it is but still exist, or be completely fictional, which is fine, but then you should invent a new name for this new 'rare' disorder.

Ignorance and Insanity: Contractual Rights:

I deal with a lot of customers who purchase contract cell phones on a regular basis.  I also deal with fishing licenses and many other specialty goods requiring their own licensed and contracted equipment.  One of the biggest problems I have with these contracted goods and services is not that the contracts themselves are 'needed' or even exist as a possibility.  No, it's that neither the customer service department for that good or service nor the customer seem to even both reading any of the terms of the contract to which they are agreeing to.  On behalf of the customer, some ignorance is to be expected as they don't typically take the time to read over the full terms prior to making their decision.  With regard to the amount they show, and the amount the customer service departments for those goods and services clearly lacks understanding on, something which they should at least have a rudimentary understanding of, if not a very thorough training on the most common issues it addresses with regard to the service they provide.

If a customer service representative on the phone is in a department of a business that has them contracted to help resolve a problem with phone activation, for example, and they claim to be unable to help beyond one minute, then clearly they do not understand their contract, as it takes more than that amount of time to get through explaining the problem and continuing on to trying more than one solution.  Telling me that their screen does not allow further input past the one minute, but they are still able to read the screen, is not only a waste of both of our time, but if all the information is there, even if unable to edit it after the one minute, then at least they can aid in verifying that said information gets put into the same fields when appropriate.  Which I made a Verizon support tech do over the phone for a total of nine minutes and lo and behold, the information which they 'could not provide me if I wasn't on the right screen yet and I'd have to hang up and dial again once I needed it', which would have taken over five minutes of going through the system to have to then explain all over again and have less than a minute before having to redial again...  That information I needed was all on their screen even while it locked them out of editing anything.  There were six times it took over a minute to go from one step to another through the entire process.  With what he claimed was needed to be done, I would have been on the phone not nine minutes during that process, but over half an hour!  And I had already spent more than that with the first attempt before the terminal froze up and had to be restarted twelve times before functioning properly.  That was something I knew the contractual rights well enough to know he was not allowed to hang up without a mark against his performance there, and that I had a right to help the customers in our store who were buying his employer's service.  Likewise, a different but similar department had the same needed for a direct customer service center, rather than third-party retail customer service center.

That incident, and several others today and others during my time employed where I am show me how much some employees will do to try to avoid work they may feel is unnecessary, but prevents further work from their fellow workers and others involved on the other end.  The Minnesota DNR, as another example, contracts out their license system from other companies that design a framework for their sales.  This system over four years ago was already old, but it worked properly for what it was, only having glitches when the state servers were down, or a power outage made the machine need to be restarted after booting back up, or someone accidentally unplugging one of the cables, or someone forgetting to load one of the rolls of paper, or someone using the wrong code despite there being a guidebook and the code's name on the prompt screen.  All of these problems can be attributed to minor human error that can easily be corrected, or nature and out of the hands of any until another issue is resolved elsewhere.  However, when the state was looking to consider renewing the contract or going with another provider, a different company bid lower...  For a completely new system with newer terminal technology with completely new servers.  Consistency and time-tested reliability was thrown away for the glamor of sophistication...  Which lead to the machines being sent out late, and even once arrived the state servers were not up and running for another two weeks!  All those lost sales state-wide...  Worse, for the month following the system had at least nine problems a day requiring a restart of the terminal and lengthy process to reconnect to the servers.  Sure, it got the bugs mostly, well, slightly worked out after four years, but the contract was in violation of its terms of agreement with regard to when it would be working and its operational status, as well as several other infractions regarding the quality of service.  Still, the state still uses the newer system because they made a contract which the other party violated enough to end said contract...  And yet the state will not end it.

Ignorance and Insanity: You can't always get what you want... And whining doesn't always help:

A wise man once said, "You can't always get what you want...  But if you try, sometimes you get what you need."  This is very true, especially for those who do actually not know what is good for them in a particular situation.  In cases like that, trying for what they feel they want may reveal what they actually need...  If they are willing to stop being ignorant and reconsider what they actually do need.  I work retail.  All my readers should know this by now, and yet it ties strongly to the ignorance and insanity I saw today.  Coming in, within the first half hour I already had two people who left upset that I could not help them with what they wanted, and were disappointed, but respectful.  I immediately knew that today would be a day of disappointments not only for those two people, but because the coincidences or what-have-you of the universe tend to have a pattern for those in retail at times.  If you can get your first few customers happy, the energy of a job well done will sometimes carry through the rest of the day to diminish the annoyances of others, sometimes even making them mellow out.  Other times, anger or in this case, disappointment, can make someone want to try hard to help people who need a LOT of help...  But still be trying not to disappoint the larger percentage of customers wanting help as well.  You can't satisfy everyone completely when the number of customers is beyond a certain threshold in comparison to the number of associates.  Even if an employer has their business fully staffed for a normal day, not all days are normal, and sometimes there just is no helping certain individuals.

The first person simply wanted an item that was out of stock, and unfortunately was out of stock in all the stores within thirty miles except two, which were further than the customer wished to travel.  Sadly for them, we do not have a way for them to pay over the phone, only online, and only if the item is on the website available for pick-up-today if they wish to get it that day.  They couldn't place the order even to have it held because it was listed as being sold out on the website and would not let them place a pick-up-today order.  Another four customers came up wanting help, and the customer wanted us to place the order for them online to have it shipped to a store for pickup.  Both due to needing to help other customers and our policy of helping but not placing orders for customers for the sake of liability, I had to tell the customer that if they started the order I could help them if they needed help after I helped the other customers, but that they would have to type in their own payment information.  They didn't have the time or patience and left.  The second person to get disappointing wanted us to load a pre-paid minutes card onto their smartphone.  Not only do we not do this in general, but on a smartphone it requires going to the service provider's website or calling them, and they had let it lapse a day beyond the payment date.  I told them that they would need to call the service provider and have the account reactivated or start a new one, and add the card after that, but they were almost begging for assistance, saying that they never had that problem before and that usually associates at my store, other Wal-Mart stores, or even other stores carrying the cards would put the minutes onto her phone directly for her.  Not only was that an impossibility as it had no code entry and needed to have it called in or entered online, it needed to be reactivated.  I offered our deskphone to use, but she left disappointed to have her nephew 'figure it out'.

Those two were the most understandingly patient if first to be disappointed, but they were not the last.  Several people wanted products we have never carried.  Several wanted us to sell product not yet available.  Several wanted us to sell age-restricted games to individuals of indeterminate age without identification.  Several complained about our lack of uncensored cds.  Several wanted their photos promptly but technical glitches needed to be resolved by the lone individual available at the time who knew how to fix them (me) who was bogged down with customers at the moment and irritated at having to wait their turn.  Several wanted movies that were too old and not popular enough for us to carry them.  Several wanted to have assistance in other departments promptly that weren't even staffed that day, let alone having their sole associate up cashiering.  Several wanted to have their poor-taste racist, sexist, ageist, otherwise prejudiced or violent undertone joke to be laughed at heartily and were disappointed.  Several managers even wanted more done than was physically possible even with one assisting (much thanks for the needed help though, don't get me wrong!), but at least 70-85% of what was desired was done.  Couldn't do more without more help, and I'm okay with that.

I'm even okay with not being able to help so many.  Because as much as I wanted to help those who actually were patient and polite at first, most of them were ignorant or insane after being told that I couldn't help them with their specific problem.  If I offered an alternative or a suggestion, most were too dumbfounded to even try my instruction while I helped another customer, an action which would have solved their problem, just not in the way they had wanted.  They were ignorant, yes, but unwilling to try alternatives, some becoming insane enough to think that pleading or threatening would get a different response.  It didn't and it doesn't when there isn't another one permitted available.  The squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease, sometimes it gets replaced and set aside until it can be repaired.  You can't always get what you want...  And whining doesn't always help.  You have to be willing to consider what you actually need and try alternatives you or others can come up with.

Ignorance: Watered Down Fairy Tales:

The original story "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" from "Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights" begins, "Aladdin was a little Chinese boy."  In the original "Little Red Riding Hood", the wolf kills Grandmother and serves her to Red before swallowing her, the man gutting him to save her, but it was too late for Granny, and two animals spoke and quite profanely told Red so, though she didn't understand.  Rapunzel's prince lost his eyesight until her tears cured him.  These and many other stories have been around for centuries, and many people have seen the more recent trend of taking fairy tales and making the grittier, more intended for adults than children, denouncing it as perverse and ruining their childhood.  Originally these stories had many details quite different from how most know them today, usually dark and considered too disturbing to be a bedtime story.  The time they were spread around though, The Black Plague and other dangers were in abundance, and life was generally much harsher, children needing strict reminders to keep them from dying early in life.  These tales were fascinating to the imagination, but more intended for their blunt lessons.  The Brothers Grimm and many others took these stories and many others and softened them even further than the corruption that time had done to them, and even those changes were not final as they were softened even more.  Fairy Tales adapt to society as it changes, and now that we are in a more blunt age again with regard to sexuality, violence and other taboo subjects, the tales are darkening despite some resistance, back toward their initial roots.  It is cyclical and they will likely lighten again, but it is not that someone is altering the original story to make it corrupted; The fairy tales were watered down before and now the concepts that alter it, twist it, and deform it echo back to their more concentrated, original form.