You guys!!

OMG!! You will never guess what just happened to me. I got a text message! Guess who from! GUESS!!

AT&T. I know! Right? Guess what it was about…

A new cell tower just went up in my area that will improve service. Um… Ok. Finally? 

tagged: service wtf sms at&t cell towers

daniel · mid-afternoon · say it · ping it

1. el gato diablo
1. the cat devil
2. nitnelav
do not mess with el gato diablo

And so there we were, in the middle of our “training” session. You see, I had been reading this book that I picked up… “Cat Training in 10 Minutes”. We have had limited success, but enough that I had a bit of hope. I want a well trained cat. One that you just trust. Right? But tonight training was not going well. In fact she was a total rebel in all regards. Richard had told me that she gets like this, but I have never seen it. Little Versace is my baby! She can do no wrong!

But tonight she was terrible. Awful. I was losing my patience! I was… Well *she* was on my last gay nerve and I was gonna explode! She was even unresponsive to her “training”, where usually it goes pretty smooth. She is very smart after all. Anyhoo, so there we were, a soggy chip on the floor and a very naughty kitten. I cleaned up. I scooped up Versace and we went to another room where I could shut the door and eliminate distractions. She still wouldn’t behave. I decided to try a trick Richard taught me. I picked her up and flipped her on her back. I tried to calm her. She fought. I held her in place as best I could and continued. I told her she doesn’t always get her way. did she understand me? No, of course, but in my body language I think yes. After the clawing and fighting she settled at last. I eventually put her down. After a few minutes of pouting (she always pouts!) we had the best training ever and are again BFF’s.

*phew*

In non-cat news I also purposefully pissed off a grocery store clerk today. I know, I am awful. Going straight to hell. Sure. I get it. But the woman was retarded! Look. I was next. All that there was in front of me were these two dudes with like 3 things. Golden. So I waited. Dude #1’s card was declined. He then slowly counted out all the cash in his pockets. Not enough. So then his buddy emptied *his* pockets. After counting, and the recounting (BTW this was the “Express Lane”) they were still 84 cents short. So dude #2 says he’ll go to the car and get the rest. WTF? So Dude one tells the clerk to go ahead and “void” the transaction and let us pay. “Oh no”, she says. “Then I’ll have to get a manager to do the void, and just to re-ring you when you get back. No way. Y’all go ahead.”

Again. WTF? Is this woman for real? So she holds up the (only) express line so dumb and dumber can go dig in their car for nickels. So I say something rude as she “apologizes” even tho we all know she has instigated the whole thing to avoid doing a *void*. “This is why I never shop at Von’s” I say. An honest remark. We have complained all the way to regional level with no results. The SoCal Safeway Co. clearly is way different than NoCal. Anyhoo. She snaps back at me. Rudely, of course, but I was not nice and expected a challenge. I was pissed. “But y’all keep on coming back!” She then told me to gather up my things and wait on check-stand #1 because she had called for back-up. I didn’t move, which was good because as expected no one came up. Even after she herself screeched into the overhead. After like an eternity dumb and dumber had found enough pennies in the car to pay and I was finally rung up. Miss Thing at the register and I bickered some more. Dude. I hate that store. It’s always the same. I am a manager in a customer service field and I cannot, will not tolerate stupidity, poor training, AND rudeness all in one transaction! But I feel bad for being so awful. But she was clearly an idiot! But I have guilt.

Gah!

tagged: work cat service versace wtf kitten siamese bad von's

daniel · early evening · 2 comments · ping it

I trust Fred will get the biggest kick out of this…

It’s official. Daniel and Richard have finally caught up to the Jones’. Well, at least as far as cable service. That’s right, we picked up our new HD-DVR converter box today. We can now pause, fast forward, rewind, and best of all record TV. Finally. (I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it!)

It took a bit of work. First of all our online request wouldn’t go thru. We had to call. Then, the phone guy suggested we just drive over and trade it in. The local store is “easy to get to”. Erm. No. It’s not. We drove for a half an hour, called for directions, drove some more, and called again. I should have MapQuested before we left. Sheesh! But we get the box home and plug him in. Supposedly after a half an hour he’s good to go. Not so much. So I unplug him and plug him back, then I have to leave. I had that work thing, but on the way I call to warn Richard that he has to go home and call tech support. Hours (and I do mean hours…) later I get home. Turns out there was no progress with tech support. We have an appointment on Friday for a guy to come out.

This doesn’t work for me. I mean great that we got the appointment, but I can’t leave it alone. My OCD made me get in behind that TV and try everything. I plug shit in, unplug it, plug it in a new combination. I went crazy. I did succeed tho! I got it to download it’s info and turn on. Wee! But then there was another error. I called tech again. But now it works! And TV is better, crisper, and brighter!! Supposedly we had HDTV before, but I wonder if it was the good stuff. Our TV looks amazing now!

And, I totally paused it when I went pee. Hahahahha! Fun stuff. I kept the appointment for the guy to come out tho. I think there are connection issues based on our Pay Per View experiences with the last box. Better to fix it all now before holiday hours at work start and I miss my shows…

tagged: service idol boys cable dvr hd-dvr jones' jones'

daniel · the wee hours · 3 comments · ping it

Sometimes I like to go to happy hour. I was hoping someone would invite me today, but he got caught up at work. I was bummed. I tried to recreate that happy hour magic at home, but the handful of rice crackers and cheap wine I had here just weren’t the same. Plus, drinking alone isn’t so happy. You see, it was one of those days. It seemed everywhere I turned there was drama and crap. Beh. I hate drama.

Anyhoo, speaking of drama… Yesterday was my last day off for, well more days than I care to count. Of course I had to use it to take my car in for service. The window on the passenger side was having issues. Actually it was loose like a tooth. You could wiggle it when the door was open. Not to mention how it rattled while driving. I think I know when it happened but it doesn’t matter. So we bring it over early in the morning. Super early for a day off! Beh. So after that early wake up call and trip across town we go about our day, totally planning everything so that we’d be back on that side of town when the car was done around 5ish. That’s always when they finish, in my past experience, and I had figured a non-engine issue would be fast. Apparently not so much. We still had heard nothing by 5 so I called to get the status. There was none, as in they hadn’t even touched it yet! So the ‘service advisor’ says he needs to keep it over night and offers me a rental. Ew. I say I’ll try to make other arrangements. So Richard jumps through all these hoops to be able to go into work later so he can drop me off on the way. Nice! Aww! So I call back the car guy, after we were already at home with a whole hors d’oeuvres spread and margaritas on the patio, to let him know I don’t need the rental.

Nope. I wouldn’t have anyway. He told me my car was done. I had until 7:00 PM to get it. So you see what happened there?

You see?

My day was screwed up in the beginning and screwed up at the end. We had to hustle all the food into the house and jet across town. I guess we could have left it anyway, but that was really gonna be a problem. But had Mr. Advisor told me he was getting someone to get on my car, we’d have been ready. I hate crap like that. 

tagged: richard work day off car service margaritas rental   Gwen Stefani - Danger Zone    

daniel · early evening · 1 comment · ping it

Last night was a lot of fun. We started out at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. It is the only sky bar in San Diego, so even though the service is kinda cruddy we like it. cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were had. The server was the worst one in that bar to date. As was the bartender. He shook every drink for at least 5 minutes, and when there were no drinks to make he threw napkins at server station. All of which is in plain sight. But the view was great, and the snacks were really good. We ordered a classic cheese plate, as well as the Bavarian Sausage plate. The sausage was amazing. Slices of bratwurst with sauerkraut, a baguette and spicy mustard, mini pickles… I liked the mini pickles! Every time I bit into one Richard said “Surprise!”. You remember, as in Pickle Surprise. Dork. But I laughed every time he did it! After waiting 10 minutes for our check Richard walked over to fetch our soon to be badly tipped server. We settled up and headed out, but only after seeking out a manager. Someone had to be made aware… The most friendly and efficient service we experienced at the Manchester Grand Hyatt that night came from the parking garage cashier, employed by Ace Parking. We were sure to get his name to send compliments to his bosses. I mean, karmic balance and all… We did just rat out the skeevy staff in the bar.

Then it was off to dinner. There’s a little Mexican place downtown that I love because it was one of the first places we dined at in San Diego. It’s kinda a mix of trendy and traditional. The food is always good and they have this ‘diablo’ salsa that is spicy hot yet delicious! The service there is always great too, but they had this new bartender. She was cute enough and was quite personable. But there was something about her that Richard noticed right away. She was All About Her Titties™. You have heard of good posture making your chest appear bigger? Shoulders back, stand up straight, and all that? Well this girl had her shoulder blades pinched so tightly together I was expecting to hear bone grind. She was contorting her spine as she poured and maneuvered in the tight space behind the bar in ways that I thought would hurt her. I have to admit though, her modest tits did look great at all times. In fact they were the focus. The entire place was All About Her Titties™! Guys went out of there way to order from her! I think her co-workers had noticed what she was doing, because Richard got more than one chuckle as her imitated her extreme ‘chest out’ posture when he pointed it out to me… So anyhoo, it was dinner and a show over there. A free boobie show! Yay!

And that my friends is pretty much the evening. We (and by we I do mean me) wanted to go to the Lamplighter. By the time we got over to Hillcrest it was raining pretty good though. We decided to call it a night.

tagged: booze wine evening service boobies hyatt lamplighter sausage bratwurst mexican food

daniel · early evening · 2 comments · ping it

So here’s the scenario: You’re out at a bar, riding transit, or even just walking down the street, and some bozo who desperately wants into your pants starts up a conversation with you. Rather than make a scene or make them upset, you’re polite and at least nod at the proper times. Then, of course, they ask you for your number. Except this is 2004, so maybe they ask for your email address instead.

Paper Napkin via Waxy.

tagged: email service bozo rejection

daniel · lunch time · 2 comments · ping it