In Salisbury, Putting Christmas On The Line

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SALISBURY, MD. -- Santa Claus is coming to town. Or at least some of his helpers are. 

When holiday shoppers phone in their Christmas gift lists to Santa's helpers at companies like Macy's, the Sharper Image, Frederick's of Hollywood and Saks Fifth Avenue, they're really calling operators at a former steakhouse here.

For more than a year, operators at CallCenter Services, a Cresskill, N.J.-based telemarketing company, have answered phones here for catalogue orders from across the nation. Each day, two facilities in Salisbury handle about 10,000 phone calls for catalogue orders and customer service. Each call takes about three minutes to process in the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week facilities.

CallCenter employees consider themselves a high-tech answering service that takes and processes orders to central warehouses across the nation, and neither rain nor snow nor dark of night stops the operation.

Companies like Macy's and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are joining a growing list of firms that use the services of the 20 companies similar to CallCenter.

CallCenter Executive Vice President Douglas Comfort says mid-sized companies that cannot afford to staff multiple phone lines or buy expensive computers can have their work done for them. CallCenter charges its customers on a per-phone-call basis.

CallCenter began operation in 1986 and moved to Salisbury almost two years ago. Salisbury was chosen, according to Comfort, because it is a point-of-presence city, meaning that it is a drop-off point for long-distance carriers American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and MCI Communications Corp. The city also boasted an ample and competent labor supply, Comfort said.

"We liked the quality of people we saw here," said Comfort. "We've been very pleased so far with the caliber of people who've worked for us."

Comfort said CallCenter makes most of its promotions and managerial choices in the area. "We have lots of talent right here," said Salisbury division director Steve Groom. "We make our additions to management from within."

Operators begin by learning the Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue and merchandise line and move on to other sales. Some experienced operators know as many as 10 companies' products. A computer tells operators which company a person is calling and the operator can immediately access a computerized order form.

Once the order is complete, it is electronically sent to the company's distribution center, from which the order is shipped. The entire process can take as little as a couple of days.

But with the extensive technology needed to run the operation, what happens when power fails or computers break down? CallCenter has battery-operated back-up power supplies and soon will get a generator. Each computer program is written in-house and tested before it is used, Comfort said. A technician also stands by to take care of any problems.

Despite the recession and a decline in catalogue mailings because of high postage and shipping costs, Groom and Comfort say CallCenter's business is growing.

"We've grown about 30 percent and that has helped us get through the recession," said Comfort. Groom said CallCenter expects to employ almost 300 people by Christmas.

- Look what I dug up! 

For Your Enjoyment #38, Race to the White House 2016 Ed. (Part 2)

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- DARTH TRUMP (video above)

So this is the state of Ted Cruz less than a week before Super Tuesday. Hated by his party, incapable of getting anyone to like him. The GOP establishment has even made it clear that as much as they hate Trump, they would still prefer him as the party nominee. That alone must be galling to Ted Cruz, who has spent his entire life planning and plotting and gearing up for this run, only to see it swamped by a walking billionaire troll doll who has made a mockery of all the voter-fooling conservative arguments he was counting on to carry the day for him. You might even feel a tinge of sympathy for him, if he wasn’t such a galactically shitty jerk.

- Welp, some things never change - everyone still hates Ted Cruz

Look, all of this speculation can end. All you have to do is say "I am not the Zodiac Killer." What are you hiding [?]

- The Internets just cracks me up sometimes

Trump’s wager was simple: Pretend to be stupid and angry because that’s what stupid and angry people like. He’s held up a mirror to the country, shown us how blind and apish we are. He knew how undiscerning the populace would be, how little they cared about details and facts. In Nevada, for instance, 70 percent of Trump voters said they preferred an “anti-establishment” candidate to one with any “experience in politics.” Essentially, that means they don’t care if he understands how government works or if he has the requisite skills to do the job. It’s a protest vote, born of rage, not deliberation...Debate after debate, speech after speech, Trump has personified the anti-intellectualism percolating in this country for decades. Is there any doubt it’s working? He may be cynical, but he isn’t wrong...The people are getting what they want, and what they want is to have their idiocies and their discontent beamed back at them. Trump is clearly more than a media construction. He’s everything dumb and regressive about our political culture distilled into a single candidate. And he exists only because a sufficient number of Americans want him to – that’s the problem.

- We're a nation of idiots. 

What we call right-wing and liberal media in this country are really just two different strategies of the same kind of nihilistic lizard-brain sensationalism. The ideal CNN story is a baby down a well, while the ideal Fox story is probably a baby thrown down a well by a Muslim terrorist or an ACORN activist. Both companies offer the same service, it's just that the Fox version is a little kinkier. It's our fault. We in the media have spent decades turning the news into a consumer business that's basically indistinguishable from selling cheeseburgers or video games. You want bigger margins, you just cram the product full of more fat and sugar and violence and wait for your obese, over-stimulated customer to come waddling forth.

- Has the sensationalism of mainstream media gotten out of control?

There’s no official definition of the “establishment” but it presumably includes all of the people and institutions that have wielded significant power over the American political economy, and are therefore deemed complicit...The establishment doesn’t get that most Americans couldn’t care less about economic growth because for years they’ve got few of its benefits, while suffering most of its burdens in the forms of lost jobs and lower wages. Most people are more concerned about economic security and a fair chance to make it. The establishment doesn’t see what’s happening because it has cut itself off from the lives of most Americans. It also doesn’t wish to understand, because that would mean acknowledging its role in bringing all this on. Yet regardless of the political fates of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the rebellion against the establishment will continue.  Eventually, those with significant economic and political power in America will have to either commit to fundamental reform, or relinquish their power.

-  Robert Reich optimistically predicts the end of the establishment

Indeed, the uncomfortable truth, for the pundits and fellow Republicans who turned their noses up at Trump, is that his appeal has spread over seven months so far beyond a rabble-rousing, anti-establishment rump to encompass the very elements of the American electorate the GOP has been eager to reach. And while it’s no majority, it’s a bigger group than anything the rest of the fragmented Republican field has galvanized. 

- Donald J. Trump's fans aren't all just angry, uneducated white men

"THAT'S the Black Experience? Get the f*ck out of here, Ben Carson. And take your pebble with you."

- Trevor Noah questions Ben Carson: What makes you the arbiter of black?

We — the undersigned artists, musicians, and cultural leaders of America — are excited to endorse a new vision for our country. It’s a vision that pushes for a progressive economic agenda. It’s a vision that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment, and gets big money out of politics. We endorse Bernie Sanders to become the 2016 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States of America.

- Travis Birkenstock is Feeling the Bern

Achy Breaky Heart

Oh, God, no. No X-Files, no. I’ve been a sturdy defender of Chris Carter for weeks now, ready to take to the mat any criticism levied at his totally satisfying 10th-season premiere, ready to apologize for his humdrum direction and lack of any discernible grace — and this is how I’m rewarded? This is what my loyalty and steadfastness deserves? The Lumineers? Ho hey: This episode got real bad in a hurry... “Babylon” is an ultimately clumsy stumble from greatness. You are my struggle, Chris Carter. Stop doing this to me.

 

I couldn't have said it any better myself. DM and I just watched this past week's episode of the new X-Files reboot (Season 10, Episode 5), and I can honestly say that it was quite possibly one of the worst things I've ever seen. (Note that this is coming from someone who is a self-admitted Lover of Horrible Movies.) I'm not even going to post a link for anyone to watch the damn episode because it was that bad. X-Files, what were you thinking?? How can a show go from SO, SO good to THE WORST THING EVER in two episodes? Chris Carter, you're breaking my heart. GAH.

See also: "Seven Things About Last Night's X-Files, 'Babylon'" (h/t DM)