Wednesday, April 28, 2010
(Would like to advise for you to play some music for extra blog ambiance, just press the play button on the left!)
So it is official, there is a Refrigerator Thief where I work. I have been at my current office job for about 3+ years and every department has a refrigerator for all the busy workers to store all their food goodies. My department just happens to have me, one of the biggest stock pilers of tasty frozen food goodness in case there is a situation that I can't leave my department. My tasty frozen food goodness consists mostly of after school snacks a mother
would serve her kids and her kids' friend that come over, this cuisine usually consists of but not limited to bagel bites, mini hamburgers, veggie patties, hot pockets, and other frozen food fare. Over the past 2 years, my coworkers and I would be periodically missing random frozen food, drinks, and yogurts. We just overlooked it and just thought perhaps it was just mistaken food owner identity. But now it has escalated in the past 2 months, and my coworkers and I are missing our food! Bagel bites, White Castle hamburgers, corn dogs, Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, lasagna, chicken wings....all disappearing over the weekend. We come back on Monday and my "don't look and stay off me plastic bags" weren't barrier enough. I even took out the food out of boxes so it looked like there wasn't anything. Bastard goes into my bags and LEAVES MY ASS WITH VEGGIE BURGERS ONLY! (I mean really those are for show!) Looks like we have a weekend hamburglar on our hands. But only this hamburglar will need an orthopedic surgeon to remove my foot from his ass. (Thanks I'm Gonna Get Ya Sucka!) Well, since I don't know who this "Refrigerurglar" is, all I can think of is SABOTAGE!Ways to make this bastard regret eating anything....think, think, think.....stayed tuned....
(for inspiration I'll use one of my fave Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson)
I used to be a big gum supplier to not only to myself but to someone who seem to obviously seek out my gum packs that were on my desk and help themselves to them. Normally, I wouldn't care, but it started to be so excessive that I was going through 20 piece packs of gum in 3 days. (I probably have 1 piece a day!)
So to combat this I started my own line of passive aggressive love notes to my "gumurglar."
They started of friendly:
"Hey there! This is not your gum!" (gum taken)
Followed by friendly wonderment:
"Hey! What are you doing? This is NOT YOUR GUM!" (gum taken)
To a polite bossy request:
"I know WHAT YOU are doing! STOP! (gum still taken)
To a tit for tat:
"If you are going to STEAL gum, at least leave me some monetary compensation" (gum still taken)
An eye for an eye:
"I'm going to find you and stab you in the eye!" (gum still taken)
To direct name calling:
"You are an A-hole!" (whole pack taken)
This officially was the last straw, and finally I came up with this concoction.
AND THEY HAVEN'T TOUCHED IT SINCE! It has been on my desk like this for about 2 years. (pardon the sideways angle...trying to fix that)Sorry mom and dad, I know I have a dirty mouth...but THAT'S WHY I'm chewing ORBIT......
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
So a nice lady from Comcast got in contact with us today. But with good and bad news. Oy.
The good: Hey! They seem like they care. The lady I spoke with, Kim P. was quite personable and wanted to help us get our poor number that we have had for 25+ years ported over. Seems like Verizon is having problems with letting us go. I mean I know we are special, fantastic and paid our bills on time....but the reason why we broke with Verizon is because " IT'S YOU not me" type of break up.
The bad: Our appointment we scheduled with Comcast last Wednesday is lost in their system. Kim informed me there is no record of our scheduled appointment. Which means...no porting of the number. You know only for the 3rd freaking time. My dad and I spent about 35 minutes at the dinner table (hey, we were multitasking...and well the hamburgers were getting cold) authorizing and talking to the man at Comcast. Note to everyone: get your name of the person you are talking to. I have no idea what happened to our appointment. I mean the man took 35 of his time to talk to us. (This reminds me of my friend, years ago that had a phone number that was close to a locate Domino's, on occasion for the repeat offenders...he would fake take a pizza order, he even went as far to upsell these poor people...but I digress) . I am sure the man on the other end wouldn't taken 35 minutes of his time talking to us.
So no appointment. No porting over. No new Comcast bundle. Our Comcast bundle is to come with free premium channels (well the one we didn't have which was Cinemax and TMC etc.) and a sports package. Well that was given to us in the first part of the install, and taken away on the 24th. I'm sure it will be reactivated when the bundle is reinstated, but it is always have fun with options. Sad panda!
Well I was told I was to get a call back. So more waiting games...
BUTTSCRATCHERS!!
Monday, April 26, 2010
So my parents are going on a cruise on Princess Cruise lines this May 2010 to Scandinavia. They have a party of 14 people going on the cruise together. Most of them purchased cabins (a little less in a year in advance) with an oceanview and paid in full right away. Soon after Princess Cruises upgraded my parents to a better room since they were two time previous cruisers (I really like that, reward your loyalists! AND it should be this way). I hope what helped as well was that I too, who lives at the same address took a cruise myself last year, and they were rewarding us for being a good family. Granted my parents take at least one cruise every year, but in their hearts, they always state Princess is the best! Anyways, the upgraded room my parents received was one on the Lido deck, is twice as big as most of the cabins, and has a balcony....PARTY ROOM! Well however 70 yr olds party...well at least they can be comfortable when they go to bed early....
But their travel agent gets a call today, about 2.5 weeks before they sail. Princess Cruise lines would like to take the room back and DOWNGRADE them back to their original room. WTF? This does not make any sense at all. I mean do you really think someone would be "SURE! Downgrade me! " Ummm...HELLS TO THE NO!
I think the big obvious question would be: Well was there compensation for the downgrade? I mean it is like a kid who was expecting a princess pony, you give her a princess horse...alright she's excited...and then go to her...well, nevermind....we want you to switch back to a pony. It's like that! That's mean! You big meanies!!! Well the answer from Princess Cruise lines was "no!" Well then, the travel agent equaled that response, and said to suck it, and do not contact my parents either. In the end, I'm hoping my parents don't get screwed. They didn't demand this upgrade...you VOLUNTARILY upgraded them.
As a marketing grad student, this concerns me. I like the fact that rewards are given for loyalty, as they should be. You are supposed to reward your good customers, but what message does this send? Well we thought you were awesome...but we changed our minds. We obviously have found someone more worthy and we would like to throw you back into the peanut gallery even though you booked far in advance and paid up...you know so we can gain interest on YOUR money. I do not understand this "logic." Branding is your power, word of mouth is fast and furious, as a 30 year old, I have lots of friends and we have plenty of potential cruises to be had and you are not the ONLy cruise line. Granted maybe my business is not important...or even my parents...but really...WOULD ANY ONE take a downgrade? And especially with no compensation? I'm sure 100% would say no.
In the end, I hope Princess does my parents right. Because, I'll know and I'm watching you.....
P.S. No ponies were harmed in this blog....scared, perhaps...but not harmed...well maybe emotionally...but only temporarily.
Friday, April 9, 2010
A co-worker and I visited this new place in Cleveland Park in Washington, DC called Cereal Bowl. This place is a new franchise that makes you feel like you still live on campus. Remember those dispensers that had oodles of cereal and you could mix any cereal to your heart's desire? It's there....remember how the though of not having to buy 3 boxes of cereal for 4 bucks each would take away from your pizza and beer budget? This help you satisfy your craving....and in a package price. FTW!
And the real element of feeling like college? The people constructing your cereal sensation are wearing pjs too! ANNNND, they have a menu to choose from if you like. Interesting...cereal mix recipes? And we get to mix our General Mills with Kelloggs and add fruit, chocolate, and candy? SHAZHAM! I think cereal mixing could turn into a real art and I think I would like that job...I'm sure it would turn into an instant Food Network show too...
On the menu you can find:
The Sweetest Thing (TM) - Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, Nilla Wafers and Sprinkles.
Morning Glory (TM) - Frosted Mini Shredded Wheat, Strawberries, Bananas, Almonds and Walnuts
The Dirt Bowl (TM) - Cookie Crisp, Oreo Cookies, Choco Syrup and Gummy Worms
Gimme Smore (TM) Golden Grahams, Coco Puffs, Marshmallows, Graham Bites, and Chocolate Chips.
or you can just make your own mix. Man, only if they gave out lunch plans that your parents could prepay for....
OM NOM NOM.Along with the cereal bowls, they have hot cereal bowls, cereal FroYo, coffee bar drinks, parfaits, and plenty of baked goods. The biggest genius moment they had was taking their cereal and recycling them into marshmallow treats. Rice krispies treats? Got 'em. Fruity Pebbles treats? Got'em. Smores treats? Got 'em. I can only imagine what else they can create that I never thought of. But let's just say I made Smores treats this weekend. Other "adult" additions are their regular coffee house pastries. Biscotti, muffins and cupcakes. Why bother?
When you enter the store, it is an exciting experience. I think that the atmosphere created in this store is little candy store, a touch of any FroYo store, and a brightly decor'ed Starbucks. All of these are family friendly and are surroundings that consumers are familiar with. I would assume that they are hoping to gather the
family crowd as they are next to a 1 theatre movie theatre and close to the zoo. What I find terribly unfotunate for this location is that is does not capitalize on a good target audience....college students. I mean, originally, I am sure that the target audience was the original demographic. American University and UDC are close by but neither of them are in an easy walk. Granted the Cleveland Park location is in a heavily walked area, but with all the food and restaurant competition...does it stand a chance? Only time will tell.
After you get and pay for your cereal you go and get to choose your milk. Just like on campus. My coworker and I decided to get trendy menu mixes, he got the Sweetest Thing and I got Dirt Bowl...hey I'm a sucker for gummy worms. And gummy worms on my cereal? Even better. We both got the large sized portions and were quite satisfied. I think the best part of my cereal bowl is the fact that the choco sauce made my milk choco milk at the end. Let's just say I had jealous eyes from across the table. My review? 4 stars out of 5. I subtracted 1 star based on locations. Yes, it is close to work....but I need to drive there so it doesn't cut into my lunch time. Parking....bad. Being on Connecticut Ave in DC is great for visuals....but for drivers not so good. Food is good, selection is good, for their concept and breakfast being served throughout the day is the new food restaurant trend. I mean if McDonald's is consider serving their breakfast all day, why shouldn't everyone else? I would suggest for everyone to at least try this place once....and then again...and again.
Scheduled my appointment to change everything over to Comcast. It consisted of adding an HD DVR box to one new television and changing over the telephone. Well after much hub-bub of the wire cutting into the new HD hook up connection, the technician was able to splice the cable and fix it to finally get an HD picture.
After that install, he goes to work on the phone. For some reason Comcast was not able to switch over our Verizon telephone service as they were not able to get Verizon turn over the telephone line. Well then, WTF? Why did you schedule my 5 business day to change over appointment 5 EXACT business days to change over? NOT HAPPY. Technician said he couldn't do anything AND took back the HD DVR box as well and was told to reschedule the appointment.
I later called Comcast that afternoon and had to tell them the story in my "calm, angry annoyed tone" and the lady said I had to REAUTHORIZE to turn over the request to Verizon again. Was told to reschedule for 5 business days, new appointment for next Friday.
Not a good start. Should I be regretting my decision now? Starting to feel that way...
As of right now....COMCAST FAIL.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Hey everyone!
FIOS is here in Montgomery County, MD. The question is. Is it worth it? Should I move over from Comcast to FIOS? I'm scared! What to do, what to do....
I spent a whole week researching this, and read other blogs to other reviews giving pros and cons for both services. What a crapshoot. I want to save money, but get the channels I want to watch and have reliable service. Is that so hard to ask for? And the answer is YES.
We currently are Comcast subscribers for internet and cable. We have two HD televisions (we are good Asians) and three digital ready televisions (REALLY good Asians). Our telephone (yes we have had the same telephone number for about 25 years) subscription is through Verizon. Total bill? $114 including tax for Comcast and $70 for Verizon. Losing our shirts for a total of $184.00.
After the FIOS people dug huge ass holes in my front yard, we were called by FIOS, promising a triple bundle package for a mere $159...and not including tax. All installation fees will be waived...you will get your OWN FIOS internet line....blazing speed....it will save you money. BUT....you need to ask the question, what is important to you? Well we are television watchers. And our television package is important. We currently subscribe to HBO and Showtime and it is included in our $114 bill price from Comcast. NOW, to get those channels on FIOS you need to pay an extra $36. What? And my dear old dad likes his MoCo Chinese channels, that come with the basic cable package...on FIOS we like to charge those Chinese people another $15 bucks. You are really not saving my ass money. All this for a 2 year contract? And it is a $20 fee for every month I drop early? Hmmmm. So you are saying it is $210? A month? AND NOT including tax? Buttscrachers! =(
Next move, call Comcast. Let them know that I was approached by Verizon, and they offered me a a triple play package. Phone, internet, cable w/ all premium channels and sports package w/2 HD boxes (one DVR), unlimited digital ready for $174.52, including tax. I like that they add tax....it gives me a bottom line. And the bottom line was to dump Verizon phone, go to Comcast. Install is on Friday. Let's hope this goes well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
