Cowboy Logic

While we were in Colorado last weekend (Memorial Day weekend), Phillip and I had the opportunity to go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. Not being fancy folk we went to a casual steak house, Salt Grass. It was a relaxing dinner with great company and wonderful food, made even better knowing that our daughter was being tended to by loving family members. (I have an extremely difficult time trusting outsiders "non-family" to tend her. Unless it is at the CDC on base, they are regulated and watched pretty good. Seriously, have you ever walked in to any CDC and seen all the monitors?!)

Anyhoo...back to my topic. I noticed on the wall a great quote that I wrote down because I intend to use it in my email signature.

Cowboy Logic:
"Be sure to taste your words before you SPIT them OUT!"

As a favorite comedian of ours is known to say; "I had to tell you that story to tell you this story."

I really struggled whether or not to share this, but decided that since I am still chewing on this one almost five days later that it would probably help to get it off my chest.

Thursday as I was leaving the aquatic center after a good workout I was red faced and sweat drenched. Walking to my car I passed a young family of four. The little boy asked his overweight father, "Daddy why is her face so red?"

The father responded, "She is so big it was probably a workout just to climb the stairs to get to the treadmills" while laughing and elbowing his overweight spouse.

Some who have known me for years will find it hard to believe that I didn't stop and give this gentleman a tongue lashing. I was too mortified! In the days since I have run the full spectrum of emotions.

After the initial shock wore off I was embarrassed. Yes embarrassed, because I am that fat chick you see in gyms with all the body parts that jiggle like a bowl of jelly with every step. Then I was infuriated! How dare somebody who is in the same boat as me as far as being heavy make such a comment. Surely they must have felt the sting of such comments before! And what kind of example are they setting for their children? In stewing over the situation I have tried to put myself in his shoes. What would I have said to Meghan had she posed such a question? I feel rather confidant that I would have said something along the lines of, "She just had a really great workout." After the anger subsided the self doubt tried to settle in, but as I am proud of my accomplishment it didn't last long. I know that what I am doing today will better my future so I will not stop. Finally the pride set in. I am proud of my reaction. I could have unleashed a fury on that man, but then I would have felt guilty later and would have had to repent of my unChristlike actions. I am proud that even though I jiggle when I wiggle I still put on my workout gear and give it my all. I am proud of the subtle changes I am seeing in my body and in my attitude. Still...there is a bit of anger.....I am working on that....

Cowboy logic to live by...taste those words before spitting them out, if they are bitter or nasty tasting to you, imagine how they feel to the person receiving them....

Stop snowing already!

I survived three Alaskan winters. I like the snow. BUT when we got orders to Hill I asked Hero about the Utah winters. He spent the first 16 years of his life here in the Salt Lake valley. Hero assured me that even though it would snow, and maybe quite a lot, it would quickly melt.

He LIED! Okay, maybe not maliciously. I have had snow on the ground in either my front or back yard for over 2 months now. I am so over all this snow. Snow was expected and you came to understand that it would be a part of your life for over six months of the year in Alaska. It is not what I expected for our new home.

Once again it is snowing today. It is a wet, slushy, sticky snow. The kind that makes for fun snow man building, but not the kind you would let your toddler play in for very long. It is coming down in our area furiously. Today is the first time all winter that I have had to go out and clear off the satellite; twice in the last forty-five minutes alone.

I just wish the snow season would end. Bring it on spring and summer....mama wants to wear capris!

Seething with frustration....

I am convinced that a certain phone company has Satan as it's CEO, and his minions as customer service representatives! Months ago, I started to type out this vent but something happened and I lost it mid post, so I decided best to let sleeping dogs lie. However, today I am spewing steam once again!

When we bought our house in August I called all of the utilities to have them switched over to our names. (To back up a bit, on the morning of our final walk through before we closed the city showed up to shut off the water because the previous owners were delinquent. This gave us a hint that there might be problems.) Each of the utilities; electric, gas, and city(which is our sewer, water, and garbage) told us the accounts were delinquent but that they would just start a whole new account in our names. The phone company set up a new account and made dates to have installation.

The first appointment I decided to cancel because it was to set up internet, and we had yet to unpack or set up the desk and computer. This appointment was for the day after we received household goods. When I called to cancel I was told then that it wasn't going to happen anyway, because they couldn't turn off the old phone number until it was paid for. Sounded like a load of stinky stuff to me, but okay, let's just reschedule. We were okay about not having phone in the house right away because we were staying with Hero's parents until our new kitchen appliances were delivered. The second appointment approaches. No one shows, and no one calls to say the installation rep would not be coming out, they had my cell number. Agitated that I wasted a whole day waiting for them to show up I called. Again I was told that they didn't come out because they couldn't start a new number to the house until the old was turned off, and they wouldn't turn off the old until it was paid for in full. To me this seemed rather odd since all the other companies could and did do it. I set up yet another appointment because the customer service rep told me that since it had been more than 30 days since we requested to have a new number installed the old one would turn off. Third appointment day, no show. At this point Hero and I decided where phone company could go, how they could get there, and what they could do once they got there.

I began calling other phone service providers to seek other options. Once we decided on digital voice and internet with another company and made arrangements with them to have it installed, I called bad phone company and told them to take a flying leap off a short pier. Not really, I am ashamed to say I told them where to go in very unlady like terms. Customer service rep rather rudely told me that without them we couldn't get phone service from anyone! Boy was she WRONG! But amazingly after being told to reside in the depths of hell, the old number was shut off. I know this because the phone immediately went from having a busy tone when picked up to dead silent. I was told they could only turn it off from the house, I knew this was a lie, I knew there was some magical button they could push from their location.

Appointment day with new phone company, really the cable company arrives. They tried to set up phone service when it was discovered that the previous owners had cut the cable at the street. Installation dudes assure me they can still install phone and internet, but they need to wait until their company can come out and reinstall the cable from the street to the house. After a new appointment time was made to install the new cable and for the installation of services they leave. This company kept it's appointments and we have happily had phone and internet since the middle of October.

Now, part of the original order with bad phone company was to bundle our satellite with them. Satellite company came out and installed on the day the phone company was originally supposed to be here. We have been very happily entertained with a gazillion channels ever since.

Month goes by and I am wondering where is our satellite bill. I call satellite company and am informed that phone company has paid bill so we should receive bill from phone company. I am told that until phone company "unbundles" us we will not receive bill from satellite company. Frustrated from lack of customer service from phone company we decide we want nothing to do with them, and call to ask that they unbundle us. I call in November, told no problem it is taken care of, you will not receive another bill from us. Call in December after receiving a bill from them, same story. Guess what I got in the mail today? That's right, another bill from bad phone company. After yet another hour on the phone with them, I have wasted so many hours on the phone with them, I think I finally ran into a customer service rep who might have a few brain cells. Today I was told that the problem is not taken care of, she doesn't know why, but has requested that a supervisor contact me within 24 to 48 hours to have this taken care of.

Now, if we paid our bills the way this company handles their issues, which is never....we would find our happy buns in court, and paying all kinds of fees and fines. I wish I could charge bad phone company for my time wasted on the phone with them, I wish I could charge them fees and fines. But most of all I wish they would just do their job so that we wouldn't have to deal with them ever again!

For those who are curious, the bad phone company starts with a Q and ends with a west. When I managed for a popular fast food chain it was stressed to us that a happy customer tells one person, an angry customer tells at least 10 people. My family has gotten an ear full over this...and now since I have blogged it; guess it is safe to say I told at least 10 people.

Angry

Christmas of 2006 Hero was deployed to Iraq. He wanted to give me something I have wanted for awhile, so he bought me an IPod. We thoroughly enjoyed the IPod. It had almost all of our music on it and was barely half full, I say almost because I refused to put the Star Wars soundtracks and Creedence on it...it was my IPod after all.

We used that IPod on trips and Hero used that IPod when he would go to the gym for PT. Well today while he was at the gym it was stolen. He walked away and forgot it on the treadmill. In the fifteen minutes it took him to stretch out and remember that he had forgotten the IPod behind it was turned into the desk at the gym, and then someone claimed it! Can you believe that?? I am so mad at that person I am sick to my stomach! GRRRRRRRRRRR

I know it is just a material thing, one that we can replace. But it is the fact that some greedy person felt "entitled" to claim something that wasn't rightfully theirs! And on a military base to boot...a place where people are "supposed" to hold high standards of honesty. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I hope that it stops working on them...or better yet that they are somehow caught. I know, probably won't happen, but I can wish can't I?

Car Repairs

Why is it when you need to have automobile repairs the service company has you bring your car in at O'dark-thirty, basically before God gets up, only to let your car sit there all day until they get to it? About a month ago we noticed the Honda making this squealing noise. We were both worried that it would be a major repair, or time to trade her in. With the baby coming we didn't want to add another car payment to our budget. I called the only Honda dealer in town and made an appointment to have the Honda looked at. Since they were already going to be looking at the squealing noise I asked them to also diagnose why my "SRS" light was on. As is the norm with service centers they had me bring the car in early, but I knew they wouldn't get to it until later. Knowing this I had Hero pick me up after his PT that morning. Fortunately, the squealing we were hearing turned out to be a fairly minor repair. After almost 7 years and 90,000 miles the Honda finally needed new brakes. The SRS light was because the sensor in the driver's seat belt was faulty and needed to be replaced. They were able to replace the brakes that day, but had to order the sensor for the seat belt. When we went back to pick up our car that evening they wanted to schedule an appointment to fix the sensor for the 27th of February. They thought but couldn't be sure the part would be in by then. HUH? You want to schedule an appointment without even being sure the part will be in? Anyone see the logic in that one, because I sure didn't! We told them to call us when the part arrived and then we would talk about making an appointment. Two weeks go by and I had forgotten about the part we were waiting on when I get a call on a Friday afternoon from the service center, a friendly reminder of my 7am appointment on Monday. What?!? I am NOT a morning person, and would not have scheduled my cranky morning heiny to be anywhere in public at 7am. Come to find out the part came in, they made us an appointment, but forgot to call us to let us know. As I had an appointment already for later that morning I told them I would need to reschedule. They kindly rescheduled the appointment for a week later at still an early hour, but one that was a bit more conducive to ensuring my morning monster would be under control. When I made the appointment I made it VERY clear that I would be waiting for my vehicle and that I would not stand for sitting there all day for a repair that would take them 30 minutes. The young woman assured me that they could have me in and out in less than 2 hours. Appointment day arrives. I leave the house dark and early to arrive at my appointment on time. I ended up being fifteen minutes early, I am still not used to the lack of commuter traffic here in Alaska. (It exists, but not like I am used to from growing up in Portland, Oregon.) The young woman who checked me in says in a voice that is way too cheerful for 7:30am, "There are six customers ahead of you who have opted to wait for their repairs as well so we should have your car done by 2pm. Okay?" I informed her that when I called I was assured that they would get me in and out within 2 hours and that I made it very clear that I would be waiting at the time I made the appointment, so NO waiting until 2pm would not be okay. That was when she said, "Well, ma'am we had no way of knowing the six people ahead of you would want to wait for their vehicles as well." Wrong answer chica! So, those of you who know me well know that there are times I can keep my cool and then there are times that I can blow my top just like Mt. St. Helens. This would be one of those times I am like old flat top herself. Nothing irritates me more as a consumer than being told one thing and another actually happening. I can feel my face get red and the steam building up to explode out my ears; I try to count to ten before I respond so as not to spew too much frustration at this poor girl. A quick glance in the waiting room shows that it is empty. So where are these other customers waiting on their cars? Is there a potty convention in the one woman bathroom? I think not! Are they hiding under the chairs? Nope. As there are no coffee shops or restaurants in the area I doubt they have gone to breakfast. Want my educated guess? Too bad you are going to get it. They say they are waiting to ensure their vehicle is attended to faster but take the shuttle service out of dodge as soon as possible. I once again make it very clear that waiting until 2pm is not acceptable, not okay. I informed her that I made it VERY clear when I made the appointment that I would be waiting. Somehow I don't find it appropriate that a customer who makes it known they will be waiting when they schedule the appointment be the one whose vehicle is seen last just because other customers decided on a whim to wait. Especially when those other customers are no where to be seen, maybe there is a potty convention after all. After voicing my irritation I trudge to the empty waiting room to wait out my sentence cursing myself the way over for not thinking quick enough to leave the cell phone with Hero so that I can get a hold of him if needed. (Hero moved to a new flight within his squadron and the phone line in his office doesn't work.) After about an hour the young lady apprehensively approaches me to let me know that it should be much longer because they are pulling my car into the shop right now. I smile and thank her. Forty-five minutes later I am driving away with my repaired vehicle. In the almost two hours I was sitting there in the empty waiting room they paged three other customers to tell them their cars were done…not a one responded.