#Voice-activated support

[marketxcel]

Top Customer Service and Customer Experience Predictions/Trends for 2024

Explore the future of customer service and experience in 2024. Discover trends shaping interactions, from AI personalization to sustainability. With visionary leaps bestowed upon customer experience, we at Market Xcel stand equipped with all the right expertise and tools for you to navigate the unforeseen dynamics of 2024.

[sofiaruelle]

Sooooo the last few days i’ve been seeing stars and suddenly i’m juggling 6 sorcerer boyfriends. Whats a polar bear to do?

Also this is my MC, 🍨✨ Sorbetes ✨🍨.

Context why my MC is a sentient polar bear.

The MC doesn't have a set appearance and then there was this dialogue. And the emotes are polar bear themed 😂😂😂 is also literally its own spoiler

[kristiliqua]

by the way ,

if you do not support palestine , get the fuck out .

/srs . you cannot be neutral on a genocide , and i’m sure as hell not going to let any pro-israel motherfuckers in here . get the fuck out . i don’t want you here , ever . thanks :)

[rudnitskaia]

White Chrysanths for the Swallow

Rocky was waiting for her at the table at the Little Daisy, but this time he was especially eager. Even Ivy had stopped teasing him about the way he lighted up and hummed to himself as he waited for Mau to show up at the door of the café, and just smiled, refilling his coffee whenever it ran out. He almost daydreamed of handing Maura two tickets to tomorrow's musical: of her eyes sparkling, of her taking his hand and telling him he was the best in the world.

But time passed, and Mau wasn't coming.

In those few hours, Rocky had replayed the fantasy in his head hundreds of times, changing the lines and the scenery. At first, imaginary Maura was beaming with happiness, calling him affectionate names, melting in his arms like all those heroines on the stage of a musical theater in the arms of their beloved ones, but every time the fantasy became darker and darker. More disturbing. Mau no longer rejoiced, no longer smiled. Her bright lively figure was becoming more and more dim, and she more often sighed, frowned, did not accept the gift. She asked him to return the tickets, scolded him for wasting his money carelessly, told him some news, one worse than the other, and finally said she didn’t want to see him again. Never again.

It was getting unbearable to sit still, and Rocky abruptly moved away from the table, threw on his coat, and headed for the exit. Maybe a walk would clear his head a little…

“Miss Pepper, I have a very urgent task to attend to. If she shows up on the doorstep, don't let her out of here on any pretext. Lock the doors, board up the windows, show her every fashion magazine you can find, but don't let her leave here until I get back. I'm counting on your wit and exceptional charm.”

The way he looked intently into Ivy's eyes before he left looked almost threatening. He wasn't even aware of the desperation hiding behind that look. But Ivy saw it.

“Don't worry, I'm an expert at this,” she winked at him encouragingly.

The cold air blew across Rocky's face, and he shivered, pulling his scarf over his nose, the same funny skewed scarf Mau had knitted for him last Christmas. Sometimes, like now, Rocky thought he could still smell on it the very same scent of coffee and pastries that wafted from the Venza family's eatery. It didn't help distract him, though. Quite the opposite. After walking a few blocks in an attempt to escape his doubts, he spotted a small flower shop — Rocky's imagination immediately conjured up a lovely picture of Maura cradling a fresh spring bouquet on this cold, cloudy evening and he didn't notice himself stepping over the store’s doorstep. The frail old woman behind the counter put aside the newspaper and immediately chirped, offering him different flowers, and finally convinced him to take a few white chrysanthemums. She tied the flowers with a delicate pink ribbon and also wrapped them tightly in the newspaper she had read before.

“They mustn't be overfrozen. Or they won't last long,” she explained sternly.

Rocky walked back much more briskly. He was warmed by the thought that now he would be able to give Mau not one surprise, but two. Hiding the bouquet from a gust of cold wind, Rocky lowered his gaze to it and pressed the flowers closer to himself… when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the headline of one of the newspaper articles.

“Shootout at the small Italian eatery Casa di Rondine shocked the residents… a bloody showdown in the neighborhood… occurred on the night… police identified the bodies of two…”

Rocky couldn't remember how he reached the familiar alleyway. How he threw the bouquet to the ground, swung over the barrier tape, and rushed to the entrance — a gaping hole instead of a small blue door. Shards of glass littered the floor, the formerly cozy, cramped hall was a real mess, the furniture was riddled with gunshots. Even the old tabletop radio was now on the floor, shattered to pieces.

“Stop right there!” a panting policeman grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. “What the hell are you doing breaking into a crime scene?”

“I… uh…” in his panic Rocky couldn't think straight, but nonetheless he blurted out: “I'm from a newspaper. Wanted to visit the crime scene myself.”

“A lousy reporter you are, then. Your buddies sniffed everything around here a long time ago.”

“I was just hired today and immediately assigned to this very intriguing case. So…”

“There's nothing intriguing about it. This Bianchi guy…”

“Who?”

“The renter, Augusto Bianchi, if that's his real name at all, apparently had a huge debt to pay someone. And for that, he got pinned down. There was a scuffle in the night, at least four assailants. The two guys we found here have a couple priors, but they're not in a condition to tell us who hired them. The amount of such cold cases we have…” the man hummed and passed his hand above his head. “We've already explained it all to your fellow scribblers this morning. And I highly doubt the landlord would want to tell the same story tenth times over to another newspaper weasel. The only thing he's interested in right now is getting money from the insurance company.”

“And the girl?”

“What girl?”

“The waitress. Who worked here. What about her?”

“Considering how much blood there is, they're probably both either in a ditch, scattered in pieces, or feeding fishes somewhere at the bottom of the Mississippi… both father and daughter, if you meant her,” boredly remarked the other officer, who had quietly approached them, lighting a cigarette. “There's nothing for you to do here, boy. Henry's right — there's absolutely nothing of interest in this case. People might have chattered about it in the morning, but the very next day they'll forget all about it. Go home, don't add to our workload. And quit the paper that sent you here. If your editor doesn't realize that news like this must be broken in the heat of the moment, believe me, their business will burn out faster than a short match.”

Rocky tried to get anything else out of them, at least a little bit, to look in the kitchen of the eatery, to slip upstairs to Mau’s and Augusto's apartment, but the policemen were adamant. On unsteady legs he made it to the nearest bench and collapsed on it, staring blankly into the dark November sky. He could have screamed, could have destroyed everything around him on a single painful impulse, but the emptiness that engulfed him was far more frightening.

His silence was more frightening.

Years would pass. Would flow, as before, from night to night. The world won’t notice his loss. The world won't notice any loss at all. In the place of his beloved swallow house, other birds will build a nest. Freckle and Ivy will eventually stop opening that wound with their questions. And one day, perhaps, he will stop gazing into the crowd, hoping to find among the unfamiliar faces the features dear to his heart, and stop flinching when he hears someone say amore mio. He knows how it happens — it was not the first time. All he has to do is smile and everything will work out. It'll wear off, getting back to the way it was. One day.

But the bouquet of chrysanths will still remain rotting on the cold ground.

[spacedocmom]

Doctor Beverly Crusher @SpaceDocMom Anyone who tries to silence your self-advocacy about your disability/chronic illnesses with "TMI!" is not your friend and should be excluded from your social space as fast as possible. emojis: black heart, blue heart, masked 3:13 PM · Dec 29, 2023

[agentfascinateur]

Brilliant minds think alike on Gaza

... both Jewish and non-Jewish students, inspired by anti-Apartheid protests in Beinecke Plaza decades earlier, had gathered for a week-long sit-in to demand that Yale divest the portion of its endowment invested in the stocks of military contractors, which make the weapons Israel is currently using in its war with Hamas in Gaza. The students were protesting under the Occupy Beinecke coalition, which includes Yale Jews for Ceasefire, a group of Jewish students dedicated to fighting for a ceasefire in Gaza as well as sustainable peace and equality within the region.

The lesson will be to reject the abuses of force; the abuses of authority; to embrace respect for people's differences and hopefully, a retreat from politicizing or pitting against each other what are ultimately universal values of peace and the betterment of all for all, and get to enjoy them instead. One hopes. There is an awful lot of pain and hatred trying to be implanted at the moment, and it's going to take a superhuman effort to forgive after the madness passes. We will have to rally around the positives and focus towards the future.

🕊��

[spacedadsupport]

Jean-Luc Picard @SpaceDadSupport There is nothing more terrifying to a bully trying to scare you into silence than for you to keep speaking. 2:31 PM · Nov 7, 2023

[dreamlogic]

aye can i get a fuckin uuuhhhh

break. on my burger

[queerasian]

since we’re on this topic, jeremy strong, sarah snook, and brian cox are the main succession cast members who publicly called for a ceasefire in gaza last year (along with a painfully short list of others in the industry). here's brian cox reading "If I Must Die" by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer who was killed Dec 7.

so if we must spend time on celebrities’ voices (+ disproportionate cultural influence) on the current crisis we should at least elevate the right ones.

[vaxxildamn]

very happy Matt decided to clarify his stance on the genocide of the Palestinian people rn. Pretty unhappy with the way he worded it, who he centered in his video, and disappointed to see the responses to it on Twitter.

kinda scared to even post about it bc CR fans can get so defensive about their favorite white people that they can often leave little room for criticism or nuance. but man I have thoughts.

[weatherwaxironboots]

I'm combing through the palestine tags looking for you, if you post often, if you care deeply, if you have the time. Message me, I'm building a network of people like you.

We can make bigger waves when we move together

🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸

[buginateacup]

For the love of everything you hold dear vote Yes tomorrow if you're in Australia. Support the Voice to Parliament and tell Peter Dutton to get fucked.

[kyoupann]

Listening to TotK's OST makes me wish the actual game had made me so mentally ill about it. Like, I listen it to and I want to legit cry because it is so beautiful, the ending bit is *so* beautiful and probably one of my favourite arrangements. But then I remember. Everything. This soundtrack is a for a game that could give me brain worms and not whatever it did. And I'm like... welln, that was that and I really hope we can move on from this iteration of Zelda and Link. Love the soundtrack tho lmao

[anti-ao3]

saw way too many accounts sharing the AI generated rafah picture on instagram....

[hotgluegunflower]

Can people stop being cruel to Liam Payne there’s only so much a person can take and he doesn’t deserve this

[sneefsnorf]

crazy how next year i am legally an adult and every single decision about my life, my finances, everything, is made by me. but i still have teachers that treat me like im 10 years old because they read im autistic