Customer Service is a Zombieland

I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I've been considering embedding a Blogger account in the site, and also redoing the look and feel but haven't had time.

Things that have happened since the last time I blogged. Well, I'm married. Thanks to eHarmony I met a great girl. We honeymooned in the Western Caribbean, awesome time on a Carnival Cruise on Carnival Valor. We were supposed to go on a Mexican Riviera cruise, but the swine flu put a damper on that when they rerouted Carnival Splendor to Canada (we wanted Sun and Fun!). Carnival did a great job switching us over and their customer service was awesome.

Since then though I've had some customer service experiences which have been nightmares. Things which just won't go away. It's like Zombieland in customer service at some places it seems.

Number 1. American Airlines

They promised me vouchers for the flights to LA we couldn't use due to the changes to our honeymoon related to the swine flu. Well, been six months, I've called back over and over and they haven't helped. I spoke to someone at corporate who seemed competent, and promised to email them to me but they never arrived, and weren't blocked by any Spam filters. Further inquiries, no response, no help. In short, American Airlines doesn't care about their customers, or at least me as a customer.

Number 2. Verizon Wireless

For six months I've been dealing with the fallout from a rep in May telling me they wouldn't charge me an ETF (early termination fee) if I left early. In July when I decided to leave, they told me the rep had misled me, but they would make it right and waive the fee. For three months now they have billed it to me, I call, they correct it, then they re bill me. Each rep is different, some are helpful, some are neutral, but the issue never gets resolved. I get angry, go through stress and anxiety, and they just don't seem to care. Every time they tell me not to worry, it's taken care of and I won't be billed again, I get billed again. There seems to be no way to resolve the issue in a manner which is satisfactory, it's like nobody there cares as well. It's like they don't want there to even be the possibility I might want to be their customer again in the future.

I'm not sure what is happening to customer service in this country. It used to be that the customer was always right, but these days the customer is always wrong. The customer isn't appreciated, the customer is reviled almost. To me, as a customer, it is very sad to see things grow so dim and dire. With the economy in such sad shape, you'd think companies would be working hard to impress and make their customers happy. But it seems every store I go into is short staffed, not anyone to help, or there are only two registers open (Wal-mart) and 8 carts in each line, or equipment is broken (Valero gas pumps anyone?), or something, or something.

Zombieland

There are two places I've been that haven't been that way. One is O'Reilly's Auto parts can you say service? Fast? for an oil filter and oil so I could service one of our vehicles. The other, Regal Cinemas Breckenridge, great customer service and staff, and the funniest movie I've seen in years. Zombieland. That movie has me thinking that Zombie movies appeal to everyone so much because there are no bills to pay, no customer service to deal with. Yeah, you gotta survive the zombies, but it's a self-service world, the customer is always right, and even if the zombies catch you they don't ever charge you an ETF.

Life

I haven't blogged in a LONG time. It seems life gets busy, and you don't always have time for a blog entry. Twitter is good for those times, I have a twitter account now. In the last week I have spent 3 days at the hospital. My dad is diabetic, and he developed cellulitus (spelling?) and went to the hospital ER on Sunday, then on Monday he had to go back for a follow up Thursday he started seeing things from the pain killers they gave him. I took Friday off so I could do Spring planting, and ended up spending the entire day and most of the evening at the hospital. He checked in to the ER on Friday, and ended up in the Geriatric Psych unit. I visited him twice yesterday, and will again today. They're evaluating all his medication, doing a full round of tests, and trying to see if they can get him back to normal. He is still seeing things, and having issues.

I did plant my Good Friday pole beans, but on Saturday along with some onion sets. I'll have to plant the rest of the garden vegetables here and there as I just don't have a lot of time. I've got to manage dad's bills and accounts as well as my own until they decide what needs to be done and that won't be anytime soon.

Economic Slinky

The economy continues to roll down stairs. Businesses continue to announce layoffs, and a friend of mine sent me a funny picture of a guy digging a hole and 10 or 12 guys around him. The guy in the whole was labeled "Andre", the rest were labeled with titles like Marketing Director, IT Management, Chief Executive, etc... The caption read: "The economy is in trouble, we may have to let Andre go". People like to joke about companies being management heavy, but something is only funny if there is a bit of truth to it.

Oil prices are supposed to hit $25.00 a barrel this summer. Wait, what? I mean, $200.00 a barrel last summer, and now $25.00. So will gas hit less than a buck?

Retailers are failing, faltering, etc... Makes me sad that Circuit City went under, I have fond and some not so fond memories of shopping there... Best Buy used to FRUSTRATE me, but their customer service has soared so high in the last five years or so I understand why they took the top spot. I myself went from hating to shop at Best Buy to enjoying the experience.

Dillards based in Little Rock topped the TOP 10 least liked/respected companies in the US today in an article I read. They ranked top on the worst in quality, customer service, etc. This doesn't bode well for Dillards. I hope they take notice, and work to fix that. In a bad economy like right now that could easily prove fatal.

I remember Montgomery Wards, Service Merchandise, Woolworths, Alco, tons of stores that existed when I was a kid to a teen that have gone under. I remember loving to go to Monkey Wards to look at the computers. The economy needs a shot in the arm. I hope recovery will come soon. I think it will, I saw tons of people looking at homes in Maumelle this weekend, if people are looking to buy homes here then maybe things might begin to look up.

Back to the drawing board

So much to do, so little time.

I have two Pelican Viper Kayaks for sale, their Sit-On-Top Kayaks. I will take $300 for them both (includes paddles, an extra skeg, and some extra parts), or $160 each. They're light blue, and lots of fun. I've gotten a canoe though to replace them, and need the space in the garage. :-) I'll also be listing them on craigslist btw.

I need to finish the garden, and will need to start my tomato plants soon. Likely going to plant my new dwarf trees this weekend and cover them with plastic.

I am back to drawing. I drew a bookmark for myself today with my new prismacolor markers. I had 13 from college, which dried out, and I had a few other art markers which suffered the same fate. So I replaced them with a 48 set that I would have died for in college. It didn't include ANY gray markers though, so I will have to get some of those, some vellum, and some other supplies (like a decent eraser). I also need to locate my sharpies, I have a big set of thick and fine line ones. While not as good as the prismacolors, they are versatile for some projects.

I'm planning to do some watercolor illustration as well, just have to do some preliminary sketches of what I have been thinking of.

My dad's health is continuing to decline, he needs prayers. I am very heartsick and worried about him. I am hoping for the best. But he said today he is having vision problems, and experiencing dizziness. He won't go to the doctor, and his next appointment is next month. I have to help him with his taxes this weekend. So I am going to talk to him about trying to move that up.

I also need to get serious about my diet again, and to begin exercising. My Achilles is healed and I am regaining strength in the leg, I just need to walk the dogs some and ride my bicycle to get it back up to par and shed all the weight I gained since last years back and Achilles injuries.

Oh, and my webhost fixed the issues. :-)

Augh

Still having issues uploading blog entries to my webhost.

Posting in the wind...

I haven't posted an entry in a while. This will be SHORT.

• Considering redoing the blog, new template, focusing on my art and perhaps selling drawings, paintings, etc... if I decide to.
• Am wanting to trade my kayaks for an aluminum alloy canoe
• Still working on getting the garden ready for spring
• Love the warm weather we've been having
• Watching gas prices stabilize as the economy tanks
• Depressed by all the layoffs in Arkansas by Target, Walmart, Alltel, Molex, etc... you name it, it's very sad to see jobs leaving the area so quickly and so many of my friends being out of work
• Deleted my MySpace profile, focusing on Facebook for Social and LinkedIn for professional
• Frankly got tired of the lame layouts on MySpace, and like the consistent interface on Facebook more
• Filed my taxes and got my refunds back already

That's about it. I'll try and post more often, these lulls seem to happen when I get super busy, and that's how things have been for the last few months.

Don't be a grouch

You ever encounter people who are in such a bad mood that they try to run you off the road in the morning? They just want everyone out of their way? They're the coffee drinkers who don't want to face their coworkers their boss, or their employees in the morning until they've had at least two cups of coffee. They expect others to live life by the rules, but don't think they necessarily apply in their case. You can't ask them a question without getting back some sort of response which is snarky, has some tinge of negativity, or something to bring you down.

They're grumps, grouches, road ragers, angry at life, angry at their families, angry at the people around them at work, in the line at the store, waiting in line for the redbox, for their combo meal at McDonald's, just angry and unhappy.

I have had some good mentors in life who have told me that you cannot be happy at work unless you're happy at home, and you can't be happy at home unless you're happy at work. I believe in the golden rule, treat others like you want to be treated. I treat others generously, I laugh a lot, I smile a lot, I try to be positive, to be happy, and to share that with others. I think it's wrong for someone in a funk, having a bad day at work, home, on the road, etc... to try and drag others down, be it intentionally... or letting their funk, their bad mood rub off on others or in how they treat others.

When someone cuts in front of me dangerously I might signal with a flash of my lights, or honking my horn to let them know they are behaving dangerously. If they then behave aggressively, rather than realizing they are putting themselves and others in danger of having a bad day at the least and at the least hurting themselves and others. The same goes with being in a bad mood, why lower the morale of your friends, family, coworkers just because your mood is down? Do you want to make them unhappy too, to ruin their day, drag down their mood, lower their productivity?

What if it turns into a chain reaction, and your mood affects how they interact with someone else. Their kids, their parents, their fiancee, their wife, their coworkers their boss, their employees? It can snowball and drag down more than just others. So if you're in a bad mood, having issues... talk to someone about it, get it off your chest, work through it, but don't take it out on others.

Don't be a grump, a grouch, or in a funk. Life is too short to go through it with a chip on your shoulder and trying to drag others down. Count your blessings, and be happy!

Also, don't be a killjoy. If someone is happy, loves life, and it drives you nuts, or you can't stand it... Go see a therapist, because there is something wrong with someone who can't stand to see others happy!

"Bah Humbug" said the consumer

I haven't written in a while. I've got to apologize for that.

I normally do not post too many opinions of mine on here, it's mostly internal reflection, things I am working on, etc... but the economy is on the mind of most people in the world as the US and the rest of the world are in recession. Job losses and layoffs are in the news daily, as companies decide rather than riding out the recession with the people they have, they'll let some of them go. Unfortunately as a lot of people are observing, this is happening in all industries. This causes those unemployed to lose their homes, tighten their belts, and to just try and survive. That means less spending on nonessentials like cable or satellite TV (some of my friends are cutting those out right now), keeping only Internet and telephone (either cell or land line People are cutting back on utilities, buying generic brands at stores, hitting discount and dollar stores more. It's not just those out of work that are cutting. Part of me wonders if this is natural, consumers are not consuming... and neither are companies. Companies in the news are cutting costs, tightening their budgets, and doing everything to control spending. While that is good to maintain a profitable business, it tightens things down the supply chain, which in turn makes other companies have to do the same... and the people working at companies doing this take these lessons home, and begin tightening their belts and stop spending where they can.

Someone told me this is a vicious cycle. That if consumers aren't confident they will have a job, that if their wages are frozen, that if they see cost cutting everywhere... that they will not spend and will cut those services they can do without. Less eating out, less laundry being done, less optional utilities, no cable or satellite TV, etc. We've already begun modifying our driving. Gasoline usage is DOWN. I paid $1.33 for gas in town yesterday. $1.33! Yet I still drive less, plan my trips, and do the same things I did when I had to pa $4.00 a gallon. Why? I got used to it. The same with cost cutting. If people see it being done by businesses, then they will do it themselves and businesses will have less revenue as people cut back.

They say that consumers need to keep spending to dig us out of this hole... Consumers can't be the only ones. I think we as consumers watch and follow businesses, and businesses need to keep spending, and to invest in growing and innovating just as a consumer needs to spend and plan for the future and the economy will recover. Consumers, people, they have no choice but to ride out a recession, and companies should try and do the same. Things are going to get better, but business has to do it's part to inspire the consumers to be confident. Consumers are employees somewhere, and just as one person touches the lives of many others... Businesses interact with one another in a similar manner. For the economy to be healthy, businesses, employees, and consumers all need to be confident.

That's just my opinion.

You know what, I worry. When I go to Target the day after Christmas, and the store is basically empty. Kohl's was the same. 80 to 90% off sales, and nobody is shopping. But I have hope, today, Academy Sports was packed with shoppers. Not people returning things, but actually shopping. We've gotta be brave and live, but so do those companies which employ people, and which provide services. They have to be brave, they have to live, because it's all related.

Again, just my opinion.

Have a happy New Year.

Long time no post...

I haven't posted a blog entry in quite a while it seems. There has been a lot going on.

• My ankle - I visited the doctor after injuring it almost two months ago, I've got a torn Achilles Partial, but still torn. For the last two months I have been limping around. My doctor said he was shocked I hadn't injured it even worse, or torn it completely. An x-ray showed no broken bones. Now I have a follow up with Ortho Arkansas to have an MRI. I borrowed a walking boot, and am wearing it as my doctor recommended it. I'll find out later how long this will take to heal I guess, if I am gonna need surgery, and I am sure I'll have to have rehab. Frankly I'm worried, I'm coming up on 35, and my back injury and then this, it makes me feel like I'm falling apart. I hope I don't have to have surgery, I have insurance, but still there is some cost involved.
• My motorcycle - My Vulcan 750 is still leaking from a seal at the rear drive shaft. I had to take it back to the dealer, and they're supposed to be working on it. I really hope the cost isn't expensive, this will be the second time I brought it in for the same problem and they said it was nothing last time. It's been leaking SLOWLY on the garage floor and soaking into the tire. So I had to put down oil dry to prevent it from doing that as it slipped in a curve slightly because of it. I love the bike, it's paid for and I can't afford to replace it with a new one just because a seal failed. So I hope they get it fixed, and they're supposed to re-moly the rear splines while they're at it.
• My dad - His health isn't much better, he has his good days and his bad days. He's starting to get very forgetful, he lost his winter coat the other day because he left it somewhere, and then he lost his wallet in the couch and couldn't find it. It's worrying me. I love him, and don't want to lose him. He justed turned 70.
• My grandma - I m starting to really miss her worse than normal, the holidays really make me miss her more. I was out today and looking at Hallmark ornaments, and there was a remembrance ornament which reminded me of her. It said something about those who are no longer with us. I'm sappy, yes, but I miss my grandma. As I seem to get older I seem to reflect a lot on the past. I'm starting to understand why my dad and other people do that.
• Gas prices and the economy - $1.89 in Maumelle at Kroger the other day for regular, ALMOST back to pre-Katrina prices. Never mind that the stock market is going to hell, unemployment is at record levels (6.5%), and people are tightening their belts. Companies are laying off like crazy, no wonder consumers are getting stingy, when you don't have a job Christmas gifts are the least of your worries. I've got friends who have lost their jobs, and are going through this stuff right now. It's actually quite ridiculous how many friends I have. In my circle of friends it's almost like 50% unemployment! I'm trying to control my spending, to rein in costs, but it's hard with the motorcycle repair hitting this month, and now medical bills for my injuries... Toss in trying to figure out how to afford Christmas gifts, and it's shaping up to be a bleak holiday season. It really seems like it needs to rain on Christmas day. I'm really wondering if the Black Friday sales will help retailers, or if they're all gonna still be in the red.
• Garden - I built a garden gate, and sectioned off part of my backyard for a formal garden finally. Dad was good enough to donate scrap wood, wire, etc... so I could build it. It turned out nice, I just need to fill the beds with more soil (free from Maumelle), and get another muscedine vine for the other side of the trellis gate (I've got to dig one up at Dad's house, I already planted one from there, black or dark red muscedine off the old family farm from 100+ years ago). I'm trying to do my garden on the cheap, free soil and using found materials. I'll still need to buy some more dwarf tree twigs, and seeds for watermelon, squash, tomatoes and other stuff for the garden... but I am hoping I can do that cheaply. If I could have fresh vegetables and fruit from my own garden, and maybe muscedine, pear, cherry, and nectarine preserves someday that would be nice.
• Netbook - Still using it, good little device. I have a cordless mouse for it now, and a nice case that wraps it. I installed GIMP instead of photoshop, since I don't really want Photoshop running on it and GIMP runs lighter than Photoshop. Should be fine for what I need, which is cropping photos for my blog.

That's it for now, I'm signing off. Keep me in your prayers, those of you who have been.

I'm on YouTube!

I posted a video we shot at work from our cleanup effort on Saturday the 27th at Lake Willastein, pretty nifty. Check it out.

Gas Shortages and the Credit Crisis, Cleaning up the lake

Gas Shortages and the Credit Crisis

I've been riding my motorcycle to work now for the last two weeks. This has stretched my gas budget quite a bit. The weather has been great. Since the hurricanes hit the East coast and the Gulf coast there have been reports of gas shortages. If you do a Google search at this time, you'll see pumps are running dry in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and parts of Tennessee. The issue seems to be that refineries were cutting production prior to the storm, so they could switch blends. This forced a shortage at the time the credit crisis is building to a head. Here in Central AR some stations only have regular, no premium or mid-grade.

The credit crisis has me wondering what the heck is going on. There needs to be some sort of solution. I hope we're not looking at the new milenniums version of the Great Depression. I realize with fossil fuels in short supply, and a need to move to new energy that a change is coming... but it's a very uncertain time, or seems that way.

Lake Cleanup

My team at work did some volunteer work at Lake Willastein in Maumelle today. I brought my Kayak and cleaned the shoreline and picked up stuff in the water. It was VERY nasty. It seems fishermen have no respect for the lake they enjoy fishing in. They dump beer bottles, beer cans, skoal cans, etc... in the lake. I found a gun case in the lake, and a bunch of other nasty stuff. Filled three 30 gallon bags with trash from the 1/2 of the lake I was able to clean in 3 hours. I saw a crane, a copperhead sunning itself on a board, turtles, ducks, etc. Several people thanked us for cleaning up. It's a great park. Some of the stuff in the lake were energy drinks, and health supplements. So joggers and runners and bicyclists also throw their stuff in the water. Pretty sad, they work so hard to keep their bodies fit but make the lake itself unfit. Hopefully people will not be such pigs, but cleanups like this will have to continue to just keep things decent.

BTW. This blog entry is written on my new Acer Aspire One netbook, with 1 gig of memory, and a 160 gig hard drive... from my couch. :-)

Update

A few weeks back I started riding to work again. I joined an adult kickball team, the Repeat Offenders, part of the Little Rock Kickball Association. I've gained about twenty pounds since I injured my back, some of it has been poor eating and the other limited mobility. My back had been feeling pretty good, and I was looking forward to Kickball, being able to ride my bike again, and all of that and then I injured my ankle. So over this weekend I've had it with a compression bandage on it, and the swelling is finally gone for the moment. It swelled up pretty bad yesterday when I mowed, and edged the yard but it's better today. I went grocery shopping, and will be planning my meals out now and working to drop the weight. If I am diligent, it'll take me 2 or 3 months to drop it, less if I can motivate myself to do some paddling at Lake Willastein. I want to get back to riding my bike, and riding my motorcycles. I think this week my ankle will be back up to the motorcycles. My dad is doing somewhat better, he's lost a lot of water on his legs thanks to the prescriptions the doctors have him on... and hopefully he'll continue to improve.

Tired, but can't sleep.

Haven't posted in a while. Quick summary of random thoughts:

• New patio furniture (on clearance!)
• Patio storage box (on clearance!) for the patio furniture cushions.
• Bought dogfood/Dog bones. Gotta submit this great photo for the Milkbones Model Dog contest I have!
• Had an excellent weekend.
• Miss our intern at work who was so awesome (Good luck Rebecca, you're gonna go places!).
• Dad got his A/C fixed, and they upped his meds dosage again.
• Need to clean the house (seriously).
• Need to mow (we had over 3 inches of rain last week).
• Been riding the bikes. Vulcan is fixed.
• Lastly... Going to bed.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I gotta go to bed, but I've been staying busy with friends, and tonight was the first night I've been able to actually clean house in a week it seems.

• The Vulcan goes to the dealership for servicing and to have that seal replaced. They said it might be two to three weeks before I get it back since it's the busy season.
• Dad goes to the hospital tomorrow, there is the real possibility they may hospitalize him. Thanks for all your prayers, I appreciate it.
• I tried tinting my own windows, hah. You warned me Rob that I should get extra tinting material, and I figured it out that I should have bought two rolls. Nevermind, the one I bought wasn't dark enough for my taste. So I'll be buying another couple rolls on the way home tomorrow and hopefully installing it tomorrow night!
• Got my truck serviced by a friend of my dad's, they did a great job. Oil and filter, and Lucas Oil engine treatment. (I provided the materials, normally do that myself), transmission fluid change (with Lucas Oil Transmission treatment added), checked the brake pads, belts, hoses, installed an anti-theft bracket on my tailgate I had bought (sweet), new fuel filter, and the truck drives really good. No hard shifts, etc... There were no metal shavings or anything in the transmission pan. We're thinking it may have shifted rough due to the fuel filter needing replacing. I'll be tracking the mileage to see if it improves.

Online Personals

I'm in the process of deleting my online personal ads. I've decided that I need some time to think, to contemplate the events of this week. I'm disabling my OkCupid.com account, it took me a while to set up and I went through the process of fixing it so it won't send me any matches anymore. My plentyoffish.com account, I'm deleting that tomorrow. I have only met a few good people on there, made a couple of friends in the past and had one slip away that I really wish I'd not.

My dad and I are going to dinner with my sister, and her family. Tomorrow I'm gonna mow the yard again, and plant the plants from eBurgess.com and do some work in my flowerbeds that needs to be done. My church is having it's opening celebration with our new building. I'm gonna try to make that. I've been doing laundry all day, and using my iRock to push music to the stereo in the living room from my office.

Books

I bought a small sketchbook with perforated pages, Watership Down (never read it), Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (My friend Ann recommended I read this), and The Field Guide to Cocktails. I won't be shopping at Amazon.com as much.

Music

I decided to add some music I've been listening to recently... Been listening to a lot of ELO, the playlist site I use doesn't have any RENCH dagnabit! :-) Music is VERY important to me, it tends to suit my mood, and reflect how I feel. Lyrics mean a lot to me, certain songs are a good sign of how I'm feeling at times.

Slow Friday night...

Been a rough week, and it's been a slow Friday night for a change.

This has been an oddball week. Seems like a few weeks back, but more like maybe a couple of months ago, I found an artist on Podsafe Audio named Rench, he's a country/folk singer. I added a song of his to my MySpace profile tonight. I go through stages where I lock my profile, and then open it up. Anyway, it's called Just Crazy. If you've never heard of this guy, and you like country, or at least rockabilly I'd recommend you check him out. The song sort of fits with the last few weeks, and how I am feeling. Ever have something stuck in your mind, and you can't shake it? Well, that's how I am right now.

I appreciate everyone's prayers... They mean a lot to me.

Update: Check out http://www.renchaudio.com, you can download a bunch of his tracks for free and his latest album for free. Awesome music, if you like it, buy it when you can!

Can Opener

I just realized I lost my can opener on Sunday and didn't realize it until tonight, opening a can of spinach isn't easy without one. I've got to go to the Dollar Tree soon I guess.

Home

I got home today. So here's a status update.

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• My dad's health is declining rapidly. His doctor put him on some new medication, and warned him if it didn't work they were going to have to hospitalize him soon. I'm afraid things are really going south with my dad. He told me the other day he has paid for his funeral plot, and paid for his tombstone already. He is going to the funeral home to make arrangements for his casket, vault, etc... He's paying for it, and everything associated with his funeral now so we won't have to worry about it. He seems in good spirits, which worries me. He usually is very grim when his health is a matter. I think he is hiding how serious things are and doesn't want to worry me or my sister. I am really afraid my father isn't long for this world.
  
  
• Confetti, it's been in my mind all this week. Monday I did a special thing with Confetti for a project at work. Then I stopped at Popeyes Chicken and picked up lunch on the way back from getting my hair cut today. I swear they added extra gray for no charge. The chicken came with Confetti sauce. Then I got back to work and had to call Confetti's Party Rentals to order their prize drum.
  
  
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