I have asked this question many times in the past, but I have to ask again: Why is Joe Pesaturo the spokesman for anyone or anything? He is so obviously in the wrong line of work.

And it is really to the eternal detriment of the MBTA that he is allowed to speak for the organization. I mean, would you hire some bum with Tourettes to represent you to the public?

He's the very personification of the T's customer-relations problem. The way he addresses customer complaints is precisely the way the T employees being complained about do, which is why they're being complained about in the first place.

What did he have to say about the nearly 13,500 customer complaints from January to April of this year ("almost as many as the total the T received in all of 2002," as The Herald observes)?

"The number of complaints, compared to the number of rides each day...is tiny.”

Now, when that's your organization's spokesman's take on customer dissatisfaction, the message you're sending to your customers and your employees is, "the customer doesn't matter."

Here's what an MBTA spokesperson should have told The Herald: "We take each and every one of our customer's concerns seriously, and are working to address the issues they've raised."

While Pesaturo may have started out with the intention to say something of the sort, I think the local media know that if they press him even a bit he'll get belligerent and say something stupid instead. The news is full of quotes from Pesaturo blaming customers and belittling their concerns.

So while he is the living quintessence of all that is wrong with T customer-relations, is that really what a spokesman's supposed to be? Aren't spokespeople supposed to soothe and reassure customers that their concerns are taken seriously, even when they're not? Or did I sleep through the "Berate and Belittle The Customer" lesson in Spokespersoning 101?

As it is, it would be better for the MBTA to have an automated message than a spokesman. Something like: "You have reached the MBTA. Screw you. Don't bother leaving a message after the beep, because we don't give a fat rat's ass. Go whine to someone else. Oh, and have a great day, sucker."