My house was getting a little crowded with art projects and perfect spelling test from my children. My mother in law had an old file cabinet she was no longer using. Now it is mine. Anyway, she cleaned it out, and sent it over to me. There were some folders still in there and I came across a newspaper clipping that I find amusing. I am not sure of the exact date, probably 12-13 years ago judging by the info in it. Here it is.
"Albuquerque, NM- What's just below Colorado and between Arizona and Texas?
The answer, New Mexico, wasn't easy for the Atlanta-based Olympics ticket office, which insisted the state wasn't even part of the country.
Wade Miller encountered the geography gaffe Tuesday when he tried to buy Olympic volleyball tickets by phone and gave the agent his address in Santa Fe.
"She put me on hold, then came back and said she couldn't sell tickets to someone who lives outside the United States. She said I needed to call my own national committee." Miller said.
Half and hour later, Miller was still trying to prove New Mexico has been a state since 1912.
"I asked them, 'You've never heard of Los Alamos, where they did all the atomic testing? It's right next to Arizona, underneath Colorado, next to Texas and Oklahoma, there is a state called New Mexico,'"Miller said."'We have a big city called Albuquerque.'"
The woman's supervisor was equally clueless.
"She told me, 'Sir, New Mexico, old Mexico, it doesn't matter I understand it's a territory, but you still have to go through your nation's Olympic committee.'"
Not until Miller asked for the tickets to be mailed to Phoenix where he also has a home, did he get some satisfaction.
Scott Anderson, managing director to games services for the Summer Olympics, promised yesterday that the mix-up won't happen again.
"Obviously we made a mistake,"Anderson said, " and we want to apologize the everybody out in New Mexico."
There are many thoughts that come to mind after reading this story. I find it funny and disturbing at the same time. What has our educational system come to? No wonder we can't compete with the rest of the world.
