Blogging as Therapy and Customer Service

A friend of mine once told me that blogging was a mode of therapy for her. That really isn't my style but today I am making an exception.
My internet carrier is Verizon. For over a year now we have got along pretty well. But in the last month I have found myself without internet for almost two weeks (at various times). To be fair when I complained they gave me a month free. But truthfully I don't want free internet that only works half the time! It got fixed today and if it stays fixed I will soon forget my angst.

However the whole experience has made me think about the state of customer service in America. With Verizon I talked with Indians. They are very polite but leave the impression of a automaton. Perhaps they are too polite? After watching "Outsourced" I feel bad being rude to them. I try to be polite but that doesn't keep me from getting frustrated.
On my recent vacation I was struck by the different types of customer service we received. By far the people in Ireland were the best. Laid back and cheerful, more like human beings than "service providers". In other places we had, shall we say less positive experiences...
But in America I often think that good customer service is a hard thing to find.
I don't have anything else really. Just some thoughts.