The sign at Hyundai West Allis reads:

“Your opinion is very important to us.

You may receive a survey in your email.

Your service advisor is the only one accountable for ALL of your responses.

If you have any issues preventing you from exceptional responses, please contact us.”

Accountability, adj,

(of a person, organization, or institution) required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible

I like to believe, reasonably, that I am accountable for the words I use to express myself in any medium. I derive some comfort with a, perhaps irrational, belief that I am in control of myself. But I should be epistemically humble.

Perhaps I don’t own what I think I own. Perhaps these words you read now are yours and not mine. Maybe my thoughts and ideas are not my own. Perhaps they belong to a universal consciousness that we’re all a part of. What if — I am you and these words are yours and I’m channeling you to output these words to you now!? What does that say about you?!

Hyundai West Allis is the every day philosopher of mind that I need. Overpriced car repairs coupled with ontological shock, quite a deal.

Of course I asked the service manager if it’s true: “does the service advisor who helped me, Keith, own all of my words? If I wrote, ‘Keith is fat’, does he have to own and justify those words?”

I should know that people don’t like those questions. But, perhaps I was channeling the collective consciousness.

Last modified on 2026-02-05