It’s been pretty serious around her the last couple of days, what with me slamming The Star’s baseball reporting one day and then reporting Steve Vockrodt’s switch from The Star to NPR the next. So, today, I’m going to lighten up and go with some random stuff that I know you’ll be interested in. (How do I know? I just do.)
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Have you noticed — leading question here — how difficult it is to get through to many businesses and organizations on the phone these days?
Two examples. Today, I got the name of a guy at Bank of America that I need to talk with about a City of Fountains Foundation matter. The person who gave me the guy’s name didn’t have his number, but I thought, “How hard could it be to reach a guy at one of the most prominent banks in town?”
Doing a Google search, I discovered that the downtown office of Bank of America had closed. So, I started calling branches of the bank, thinking, surely, whoever answered would be able to direct me to the guy I wanted to reach.
I called three branches, and at each number the phone rang several times before flipping to a voice message that started out, “Everyone is currently assisting customers…”
Oh, yeah, assisting customers. You know what they were doing…Most were either texting or surfing the web. And why should they bother to pick up that telephone that was ringing or buzzing nearby?
With some more Googling, I came across a document the guy had written, and at the bottom was his phone number and email address. I promptly called the number. You know what it went to…
He sounded kind of tired and beat down in his message, like he’d been assisting a lot of customers. I’ve been waiting by my phone all day, but nothing yet.
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Another blogger in town, Tony Botello, yesterday wrote a lead-in to a linked story about Main Street congestion, and his headline was “Kansas City Hates Poorly Planned Main Street Traffic Cone Maze.”
Now, I’ve heard a lot of comments about the Main Street work but very few complaints. That’s because the vast majority of KC residents understand this is short-term pain before we get a major civic and commercial improvement — the new streetcar line that will extend from Union Station to the western edge of the UMKC campus at 52nd and Brookside.
The current line, from Union Station to the River Market, has been phenomenally successful, and there’s no reason to think the extension will be any different. Will people want to ride from the River Market to the Plaza or even farther south? Well, hell yes! This is going to spur businesses along the extension and make Midtown streets safer, partly because many people will drink and ride instead of drink and drive.
Tony needs to get out of his mother’s basement, which last I heard was blog HQ, and look down the horizon.
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A few weeks ago, I did a photo post on the section of State Line Road between 75th Street and about 39th Street. The part between 75th and 71st has been particularly troublesome the last several years. It’s been humpty-bumpy, pot-holey and closed for maintenance quite frequently. It’s the main road I take to and from home because I try to avoid Ward Speedway.
Yesterday, it was closed again at 75th Street northbound, and I could see that the pavement had been stripped. Today it was open and the pavement had been stripped all the way to 71st. That means one thing: Repaving is going to be happening soon…Damn, life is good!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Where do I start about Streetcar!!!
Hell, Jack, you can go out the front door of your condo, walk a block or so to Main Street and get on board…You’re gonna love it. I guarantee it!
KC streetcar is a national success story. KCATA fare free is being copied around the nation. Lots of credit to go around. Jim you should profile Robbie Makinen, KCATA gm. Remarkable story.
I think you’ve got it right, Tom — a national success story.
Banksters of AmeriKa has become a particularly sore point for me. Tried to deposit a check last month at the Belton branch, mid-week, midday. Closed. Went to the Martin City branch at State Line and 135th. Closed. Finally found an open one on State Line just south of I-435. The bank’s only useful function is it is ubiquitous – except when it isn’t. Tried to deposit a check today at 9:15 at that same location, but the opening hour was 10 a.m. on a piece of paper taped to the door over the hours painted on the door (9-5). Checked the hours posted online for that location, which were 9-5. There’s a new definition of “bankers’ hours,” which is whenever the hell they want to open the doors, or not at all. You also won’t find any drive-through windows at their banks. So if you are semi-ambulatory in any way, or its raining, storming or snowing, they want you to get out of your car, come to their locked doors and find that they aren’t open.
Nice account, Steve. Jibes perfectly with my less-frustrating but equally inexplicable experience. What a pathetic operation. And to think B of A is the successor to First National Bank, with that beautiful marble interior down at 10th and Main (now the central library). Now that was a bank…
The Star is promoting some kind of “next day” sports section for local teams. Thought you might like to know.
It won’t be printed.
I’ll have to pass your uplifting updates to the fellow who had his right front wheel torn off his car yesterday by a pot hole on the stripped pavement on State Line just south from 71st. When I drove past it looked like a water main had broken hiding the hole he unwittingly drove into.
And a USBank branch we frequent had their only ATM down for over a week. No posted signage or apologies ….we foolishly kept going back. All these things must be caused by the semiconductor shortage or Covid or something cause things just don’t work any more.
Hey Fitz, Where are you going to park to pick up the streetcar at 51st & Brookside? https://kcstreetcar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SystemMap_20May2021-scaled.jpg
There’s plenty of street parking south of 52nd between Brookside Blvd. and Oak. There’s also the big UMKC parking garage on Oak. I don’t know how restricted that is, but I would think that, at least at night, it would be open to visitors.
There is also walking. :)
Exactly.
Oh, this touched a nerve. I have learned that if you deal with a half-way big company, plan on going through “Automated Phone Hell” before you EVER talk to a real human, sending you from choice to choice, each choice accompanied by an extended wait on hold while you listen to really bad music. When you finally do get a live human, chances are it is someone for whom English is a second or third language; the conversations are frequently unproductive. Occasionally, the call will be dropped and you can start ALL OVER AGAIN. There are a few exceptions–American Express, Capital One, Hilton, but it is becoming rarer and rarer to get someone who can actually answer your question.
I thought this would touch a nerve…Today, I told a friend one reason I bank at Country Club Bank, which is locally owned, is they have excellent customer service. During business hours, you can always get through to a customer service agents, and usually you can reach someone at a specific branch. Only once, recently, did a rep say he was going to get back with me on a matter and failed to do so…I’m not necessarily promoting CC, and I don’t like everything about them; my point is local ownership is often the difference between getting through and left frustrated.
I’ve always felt good about Country Club bank. Similar good experiences. Plus, they gave a very young homebuyer a ($14,000, it was a while ago) loan to buy my home east of Troost! I’m credit union board member now and love their nonprofit status, but there are still a few good community banks as well.