So I got a letter from Security National Bank with a new letter of garnishment from Discover card. They said my account had $37 in it and they gave them $30. My account got closed after the first garnishment. The lady said she would close it and send me a cashier's check for the remaining balance of $2, which was sent to me about a week following that conversation. So as far as them taking more money out of that account?
But aside from all that, they say I still owe just short of $6,000. So they decide to jack me of $30. It may be time to close my account here. I don't think they'll track me down to here, but we'll see about that. Unless they read my blog...then I'm fucked!
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Bored
Here I sit in this empty apartment on a typical Saturday at Paramount Limousine. It's Saturday, so I am given a ton of stuff to do. The reason I get a ton of stuff to do is because "Saturday's are slow." It may have been a long time ago, but since I've been here, it's been hectic. So what happens when I come in is I sit and wait for the next run to come up. About 20 minutes prior, I'll sit and wait for the phone to ring, which it always does. It's always one thing or another. Confirmation, traffice, drivers being dumb, customers being dumb, or whatever the most unnecessary thing that could happen to be happens.
My sister, Crystal, should be coming to LA with her boyfriend today or tomorrow. Don't have money to do much, and I've got to do laundry and stuff so I hope they don't mind doing that.
I was thinking of fixing my bike this weekend, but I had this really horrible dream last night that included my bike falling apart and stopping by a bike shop to get a pump and an adapter for my tube. The owner of this shop was that older fellow at Olympia Cycle in Omaha. While I'm trying to find an adapter, he gets shot somehow. I don't remember how.
My sister, Crystal, should be coming to LA with her boyfriend today or tomorrow. Don't have money to do much, and I've got to do laundry and stuff so I hope they don't mind doing that.
I was thinking of fixing my bike this weekend, but I had this really horrible dream last night that included my bike falling apart and stopping by a bike shop to get a pump and an adapter for my tube. The owner of this shop was that older fellow at Olympia Cycle in Omaha. While I'm trying to find an adapter, he gets shot somehow. I don't remember how.
Stupid
I watched Walk the Line on Thursday evening. It was funny because I walked up to the booth and said, "I'll have two for the 6:55 showing," and pulled a twenty out from my pocket and proceeded to hand it to the cashier. As I was about to lay it on the counter he said, "Okay, that'll be $24."
I stopped and starred at him for a second, thinking that he was going to tell me that he's joking, it's only $15 or something. Nothing. Fucking $12 for a movie ticket. I'm going to start downloading movies. I could just wait six months and buy the movie on DVD.
I went into this movie knowing that I was going to hate this movie. For one, a superficial reason was that it was being said to be the "next" Ray in a lot of ads for it. I can say now that there's no comparison with Ray, because Ray sucked and I enjoyed Walk the Line. But that didn't matter if it was or was not better than Ray, because the only reason it could be compared to Ray is because it's a bio-pic. No other reason. That's a pretty fucking weak way to review a movie.
A second reason would be that studio bio-pics tend to be really dumb. They dramatically changed events and do so in a stupid way. It's all just stupid.
I thought this movie was really greatly done. I read a review by one of Cash's daughters saying that it unfairly portrayed her mother, Vivian. It went on and on and talked about other stuff that didn't really matter much. First off, I didn't think her mother was portrayed that badly. It was extreme, but she really was just showing how she wanted Johnny to know that he had a family and he should care about them as well as his career. Secondly, it's a fucking movie and it's done in someone's point of view. It's not as if it's concrete. This was in the movie, that's how it happened. Although there are people who think that way, but they're dumb and their opinions shouldn't matter anyway. You don't read editorials and totally agree with everything you read in there. But the main point of the movie was the love story between Johnny and June. The juxtaposition of his wife's meanness and June's caring and understanding was to accentuate his love for June.
Whatever!
So the dumb thing happened at the end of the film. I don't remember this ever happenning at theaters as a kid or teenager, but more so in recent years it's happenning more and more often. It's when the film's over and everyone starts clapping. It's not a fucking premiere. The director or actors aren't there. Clap all you want, no one fucking feels it. It's just dumb. Stop it! After this film finished, Someone tried to start an ovation three times but it didn't catch on. I hope that person felt dumb.
I couldn't stop laughing at the scene where Johnny got pissed and started destroying his dressing room. He started smashing and throwing everything and stared lifting the sink and broke it off. I started rolling. I was hoping that he would run outside and start flipping cars over.
Twelve dollars for a fucking ticket. Twenty four for two. I couldn't bought the DVD and a six pack of goog beer.
I stopped and starred at him for a second, thinking that he was going to tell me that he's joking, it's only $15 or something. Nothing. Fucking $12 for a movie ticket. I'm going to start downloading movies. I could just wait six months and buy the movie on DVD.
I went into this movie knowing that I was going to hate this movie. For one, a superficial reason was that it was being said to be the "next" Ray in a lot of ads for it. I can say now that there's no comparison with Ray, because Ray sucked and I enjoyed Walk the Line. But that didn't matter if it was or was not better than Ray, because the only reason it could be compared to Ray is because it's a bio-pic. No other reason. That's a pretty fucking weak way to review a movie.
A second reason would be that studio bio-pics tend to be really dumb. They dramatically changed events and do so in a stupid way. It's all just stupid.
I thought this movie was really greatly done. I read a review by one of Cash's daughters saying that it unfairly portrayed her mother, Vivian. It went on and on and talked about other stuff that didn't really matter much. First off, I didn't think her mother was portrayed that badly. It was extreme, but she really was just showing how she wanted Johnny to know that he had a family and he should care about them as well as his career. Secondly, it's a fucking movie and it's done in someone's point of view. It's not as if it's concrete. This was in the movie, that's how it happened. Although there are people who think that way, but they're dumb and their opinions shouldn't matter anyway. You don't read editorials and totally agree with everything you read in there. But the main point of the movie was the love story between Johnny and June. The juxtaposition of his wife's meanness and June's caring and understanding was to accentuate his love for June.
Whatever!
So the dumb thing happened at the end of the film. I don't remember this ever happenning at theaters as a kid or teenager, but more so in recent years it's happenning more and more often. It's when the film's over and everyone starts clapping. It's not a fucking premiere. The director or actors aren't there. Clap all you want, no one fucking feels it. It's just dumb. Stop it! After this film finished, Someone tried to start an ovation three times but it didn't catch on. I hope that person felt dumb.
I couldn't stop laughing at the scene where Johnny got pissed and started destroying his dressing room. He started smashing and throwing everything and stared lifting the sink and broke it off. I started rolling. I was hoping that he would run outside and start flipping cars over.
Twelve dollars for a fucking ticket. Twenty four for two. I couldn't bought the DVD and a six pack of goog beer.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Great Phone Call
Awesome. I just hung up on a lady who kept getting hysterical over everything I asked or told her. She kept saying, "I just want to know what it means that your rates are negotiable." And I kept asking her information about what she's looking for and she kept getting upset, and I kept saying, "Ma'am. I can give you a general quote, but that depends on many other factors like what day, what time, what city, how many stops, number of..."
"It's just an airport pick-up!!"
"All right. Now is it an international or domestic flight?" Keep in mind, since the very first questions I asked her she's been bitchy, rude, and yelling.
"WHAT DOES THAT MATTER IF IT'S INTERNATIONAL OR DOMESTIC?!!"
"BECAUSE DOMESTIC FLIGHTS DON'T GO THROUGH CUSTOMS AND FROM THE TIME THE FLIGHT ARRIVES, IT COULD TAKE 10 MINUTES TO A HALF HOUR TILL THEY GET THEIR BAGS. IF IT'S INTERNATIONAL, IT COULD TAKE AN HOUR OR MORE. THAT'S WHY WE ASK. THERE ARE DIFFERENT CHARGES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF PICK-UPS. THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU QUESTIONS. I'M NOT TRYING TO BE...There are many factors that go into our rates and being negotiable, I need to first find out what you are looking for and then I can give you a more accurate quote."
"I'm just looking for a pick-up from LAX, going to North Hollywood."
"Okay," I say as I'm calculating the rate.
"North Hollywood is by Universal Studios; it's not that far."
"I know where it is, I'm calculating the rates. All right, we can do two types of pick-ups. For baggage area meet, it will be ninety-"
"Wait! That's wrong. That's for a round trip price!"
"No it's not!"
"I talked to someone earlier today and he said it was $50."
"Well you probably didn't tell him what you needed it for."
"He said it was for a curbside pick-up!"
"Well, first of all, I was getting to the curbside price. Secondly, that's not the rate, you probably didn't hear him right. AND YOU DON'T WANT TO GIVE ME ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU NEED OR WHAT I CAN GIVE YOU SO I CAN'T ANSWER YOU ANY OTHER WAY THAN JUST GO THROUGH A LIST A MANY DIFFERENT PRICES!!!"
Hang up!
It was great!
"It's just an airport pick-up!!"
"All right. Now is it an international or domestic flight?" Keep in mind, since the very first questions I asked her she's been bitchy, rude, and yelling.
"WHAT DOES THAT MATTER IF IT'S INTERNATIONAL OR DOMESTIC?!!"
"BECAUSE DOMESTIC FLIGHTS DON'T GO THROUGH CUSTOMS AND FROM THE TIME THE FLIGHT ARRIVES, IT COULD TAKE 10 MINUTES TO A HALF HOUR TILL THEY GET THEIR BAGS. IF IT'S INTERNATIONAL, IT COULD TAKE AN HOUR OR MORE. THAT'S WHY WE ASK. THERE ARE DIFFERENT CHARGES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF PICK-UPS. THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU QUESTIONS. I'M NOT TRYING TO BE...There are many factors that go into our rates and being negotiable, I need to first find out what you are looking for and then I can give you a more accurate quote."
"I'm just looking for a pick-up from LAX, going to North Hollywood."
"Okay," I say as I'm calculating the rate.
"North Hollywood is by Universal Studios; it's not that far."
"I know where it is, I'm calculating the rates. All right, we can do two types of pick-ups. For baggage area meet, it will be ninety-"
"Wait! That's wrong. That's for a round trip price!"
"No it's not!"
"I talked to someone earlier today and he said it was $50."
"Well you probably didn't tell him what you needed it for."
"He said it was for a curbside pick-up!"
"Well, first of all, I was getting to the curbside price. Secondly, that's not the rate, you probably didn't hear him right. AND YOU DON'T WANT TO GIVE ME ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU NEED OR WHAT I CAN GIVE YOU SO I CAN'T ANSWER YOU ANY OTHER WAY THAN JUST GO THROUGH A LIST A MANY DIFFERENT PRICES!!!"
Hang up!
It was great!
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Celebration!
Gobble-Gobble.
I decided to come into work today for two reasons. One, we don't have a coffee maker at home. Two, although we have internet at home, I tend to not use it there. Three, today is going to be slow as hell and Sean is not coming in today. Four, it's just for three hours. Five, "Ah-ah!"
So after dropping Jeanne of at work last night, I had an idea. I was craving fried chicken and decided to stop by KFC before going home. KFC has this special that's $7.99 for 10 pieces legs & thighs. So I get there and the drive-thru line is backed up. I pull up to the end of it and wait....and wait...and wait....
The car up front ordering has no cars in front of him but he's at the order speaker for five minutes. He finally pulls up. The next car is sitting there for five minutes. He pulls up. Next, the SUV in front of me pulls up for five seconds and pulls up. I pull up and get ready to order and the voice on the other end says, "Thank you for choosing Taco Bell/KFC. Sorry we're closed. You can come back again tomorrow..."
What the fuck? I guess they were on holiday hours, since places usually observe Thanksgiving on the eve. While I was in line, I noticed a guy park his SUV and walk to the entrance. This place is usually open till like 3am and the dining area is usually open until 12 or 1 or somewhere around that time. I was immediately reminded of working at California Tacos, Ted & Wally's, & Jane's when the fellow walked to the door and tried it. The door was locked and he looked in for a few seconds. When driving through the drive-thru, defeated, I looked in the dining room and noticed that all the chairs were up.
That would bug me to no end. All those places I've worked at, you're closing up and putting up chairs and sweeping and mopping up the place and people walk in right past everything and go right up to the counter. There are many ridiculous senarios that fit into that category of stupidness, so I won't bore you with them. If that's not irritating enough, some of them actually sit down to dine in. Some of them, when you tell them that they need to finish up because "we're all done in the back and we're just waiting for you to finish up," take about 10-15 more minutes. It's like, "Let me finish up this awesome story about how cool I am first."
So I started thinking of other places to go to but everywhere is closed. Man, even in Omaha places stay open later. What the fuck? Everyone always thinks of Omaha like this ass-backward cowboy place that has nothing to do. Oh, there's way more things to do there than here, especially on the eve of Thanksgiving. If anything, Baker's is open. Over here we have Ralphs. They can't even get the possesive apostrophe correct. I go to the Jack in the Box on Sepulveda in Culver City and there's a van at the window. They're open. I go to the speakerbox (the love below) and wait..and wait...and wait...I'm waiting for fucking five minutes. Another car pulls up behind me and one behind that person. So there's a van at the window and two cars behind me, that I can see. I start wondering if they are, in fact, open. Maybe that van at the window is someone's ride? I'm trapped either way, so I wait. 10 minutes go by and the voice comes on to take my order. I go home and watch Planes, Trains, & Automobiles while I eat. I've never seen this movie before, so I wasn't watching it to get into the Thanksgiving spirit. I had no clue. I cracked open a beer and passed out.
I've been really exhausted recently, due to my new schedule and my refusal to sleep early. I need time to watch a movie, read the paper, and read part of my book, which, by the way, I need to get back to Grant when I'm done. Maybe I'll go take a six-pack to the Beach Boys memorial.
Speaking of awesome stuff that happen, Jeanne was confronted by an angry lady last night. The lady was trying to check in the hotel but they didn't have the reservation. Jeanne hasn't been fully trained yet, but they left her on her own and did not tell her that there's a central number to call that has all the reservations of all their hotels, so she doesn't know what to do. There's no one there to help her, as it's the 11pm-7am shift. The lady is being ridiculous and the only thing Jeanne can think of is that she'll comp her a room. Later, she finds out that the lady is at the wrong hotel. So, this bitch of a lady is getting charge double. That's what happens when people are fucking stupid and play the "customer's always right" card and don't try to relent any to see if the person may or may not be able figure this out.
"Here's a best of Sting record, go retire your ears. 'Let your soul be your pilot.'"
-Henry Rollins
Tonight we're going to go somewhere to eat and then watch a movie.
I decided to come into work today for two reasons. One, we don't have a coffee maker at home. Two, although we have internet at home, I tend to not use it there. Three, today is going to be slow as hell and Sean is not coming in today. Four, it's just for three hours. Five, "Ah-ah!"
So after dropping Jeanne of at work last night, I had an idea. I was craving fried chicken and decided to stop by KFC before going home. KFC has this special that's $7.99 for 10 pieces legs & thighs. So I get there and the drive-thru line is backed up. I pull up to the end of it and wait....and wait...and wait....
The car up front ordering has no cars in front of him but he's at the order speaker for five minutes. He finally pulls up. The next car is sitting there for five minutes. He pulls up. Next, the SUV in front of me pulls up for five seconds and pulls up. I pull up and get ready to order and the voice on the other end says, "Thank you for choosing Taco Bell/KFC. Sorry we're closed. You can come back again tomorrow..."
What the fuck? I guess they were on holiday hours, since places usually observe Thanksgiving on the eve. While I was in line, I noticed a guy park his SUV and walk to the entrance. This place is usually open till like 3am and the dining area is usually open until 12 or 1 or somewhere around that time. I was immediately reminded of working at California Tacos, Ted & Wally's, & Jane's when the fellow walked to the door and tried it. The door was locked and he looked in for a few seconds. When driving through the drive-thru, defeated, I looked in the dining room and noticed that all the chairs were up.
That would bug me to no end. All those places I've worked at, you're closing up and putting up chairs and sweeping and mopping up the place and people walk in right past everything and go right up to the counter. There are many ridiculous senarios that fit into that category of stupidness, so I won't bore you with them. If that's not irritating enough, some of them actually sit down to dine in. Some of them, when you tell them that they need to finish up because "we're all done in the back and we're just waiting for you to finish up," take about 10-15 more minutes. It's like, "Let me finish up this awesome story about how cool I am first."
So I started thinking of other places to go to but everywhere is closed. Man, even in Omaha places stay open later. What the fuck? Everyone always thinks of Omaha like this ass-backward cowboy place that has nothing to do. Oh, there's way more things to do there than here, especially on the eve of Thanksgiving. If anything, Baker's is open. Over here we have Ralphs. They can't even get the possesive apostrophe correct. I go to the Jack in the Box on Sepulveda in Culver City and there's a van at the window. They're open. I go to the speakerbox (the love below) and wait..and wait...and wait...I'm waiting for fucking five minutes. Another car pulls up behind me and one behind that person. So there's a van at the window and two cars behind me, that I can see. I start wondering if they are, in fact, open. Maybe that van at the window is someone's ride? I'm trapped either way, so I wait. 10 minutes go by and the voice comes on to take my order. I go home and watch Planes, Trains, & Automobiles while I eat. I've never seen this movie before, so I wasn't watching it to get into the Thanksgiving spirit. I had no clue. I cracked open a beer and passed out.
I've been really exhausted recently, due to my new schedule and my refusal to sleep early. I need time to watch a movie, read the paper, and read part of my book, which, by the way, I need to get back to Grant when I'm done. Maybe I'll go take a six-pack to the Beach Boys memorial.
Speaking of awesome stuff that happen, Jeanne was confronted by an angry lady last night. The lady was trying to check in the hotel but they didn't have the reservation. Jeanne hasn't been fully trained yet, but they left her on her own and did not tell her that there's a central number to call that has all the reservations of all their hotels, so she doesn't know what to do. There's no one there to help her, as it's the 11pm-7am shift. The lady is being ridiculous and the only thing Jeanne can think of is that she'll comp her a room. Later, she finds out that the lady is at the wrong hotel. So, this bitch of a lady is getting charge double. That's what happens when people are fucking stupid and play the "customer's always right" card and don't try to relent any to see if the person may or may not be able figure this out.
"Here's a best of Sting record, go retire your ears. 'Let your soul be your pilot.'"
-Henry Rollins
Tonight we're going to go somewhere to eat and then watch a movie.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Boring Day
I'm currently brewing a pot of coffee. This is probably the most trouble I've ever had making coffee. First off, I spooned the grounds in to the filter holder without a filter in it. So I cleaned that up and then went for another scoop, which I pushed in too hard and the grounds went flying all over the floor. Who am I? Headley? ROFL!!
There's a regional diner here called Norm's. We ate there last night and I had their special which was an 8 oz. steak with fried shrimp, fries, salad, soup, and a dessert. All for $8.99. I haven't had a steak for a while, and instead of getting a patty melt, which I originally wanted, I opted for the special: medium rare.
Worst steak ever. It was like eating salted, shredded beef. Medium rare? More like, medium stupid. It was the worst thing I've ever eaten. It was like eating a black corned beef. The only other worst steak I've eaten was at Earwax in Wicker Park. Though they specialize in vegetarian shit, so that's a valid enough reason and actually, that is in no way their fault. I knew what kind of place it was, and I decided to order it. I should've known that a bunch of fucking hipster hippies wouldn't know what to do with a steak.
I woke up this morning really wishing that I was leaving town. Then I came to work and really wished I was anywhere besides work. I have the choice of not working tomorrow and I don't even know why I contemplated working. Money, yes, but I would like to spend the day with Jeanne. It's also her first day off in like nine days. We get a couple of Netflix movies tonight and tomorrow we get the Henry Rollins one.
Speaking of, I need to deposit money into my account today. Earlier today, I wished that two cars would've spun out and flew off the interchange ramp going south from the west bound 10 interstate to the 405. There was a cement truck and a bigrig right behind each other and the bigrig decided to switch lanes to pass the cement truck. These two other cars, that we driving like 70 mph, also decided to and had to go back to their original lane to avoid hitting the bigrig. I felt that my thoughts were justified because who the fuck drives 70 on and interchange?!!! I'm not saying that traffic validates stupid driving, because it doesn't, but I'm just using it now to illustrate how ridiculous they were. There was no traffic at all. Meaning that they could've settled going 50 mph for the quarter of a mile that the interchange ramp is and then switched lanes safely.
I've recently been thinking about being a traffic vigilante. Like when I see someone driving dumb and see that they're using a cell phone, I'll drive behind them and hit them from behind. Then, while we're exchanging information just say something like, "I don't know what happened. I saw there were no cars ahead and the light was green so I accelerated. Why did you slow down? Oh, you were on your phone trying to switch lanes?!"
Or in situations where I'm going to turn left at an intersection and the cars coming in the opposite direction that is in the go-straight-or-also-turn-left-lane doesn't have their blinkers on, I'm going to assume that means they're going straight. So when the light turns green, I'm going to pull into the intersection enough that if they actually were turning, there would be no room to turn, forcing them to go straight or wait.
I do this fun thing at the moment, when I'm at an intersection turning left but there's too many cars coming and there's no way that I can make the turn until the light turns red. I pull enough into the intersection so the car behind me that's also turning pulls far enough into the intersection that they have no other choice but to go if the light turns red. That way, when we both need to run the red light to make the turn and there's a cop there, they get pulled over. Hehehe.
Have you seen the previews for Narnia? Are we to believe that the lion can actually talk? Someone was smoking something on that day. Talking lion.
There's a regional diner here called Norm's. We ate there last night and I had their special which was an 8 oz. steak with fried shrimp, fries, salad, soup, and a dessert. All for $8.99. I haven't had a steak for a while, and instead of getting a patty melt, which I originally wanted, I opted for the special: medium rare.
Worst steak ever. It was like eating salted, shredded beef. Medium rare? More like, medium stupid. It was the worst thing I've ever eaten. It was like eating a black corned beef. The only other worst steak I've eaten was at Earwax in Wicker Park. Though they specialize in vegetarian shit, so that's a valid enough reason and actually, that is in no way their fault. I knew what kind of place it was, and I decided to order it. I should've known that a bunch of fucking hipster hippies wouldn't know what to do with a steak.
I woke up this morning really wishing that I was leaving town. Then I came to work and really wished I was anywhere besides work. I have the choice of not working tomorrow and I don't even know why I contemplated working. Money, yes, but I would like to spend the day with Jeanne. It's also her first day off in like nine days. We get a couple of Netflix movies tonight and tomorrow we get the Henry Rollins one.
Speaking of, I need to deposit money into my account today. Earlier today, I wished that two cars would've spun out and flew off the interchange ramp going south from the west bound 10 interstate to the 405. There was a cement truck and a bigrig right behind each other and the bigrig decided to switch lanes to pass the cement truck. These two other cars, that we driving like 70 mph, also decided to and had to go back to their original lane to avoid hitting the bigrig. I felt that my thoughts were justified because who the fuck drives 70 on and interchange?!!! I'm not saying that traffic validates stupid driving, because it doesn't, but I'm just using it now to illustrate how ridiculous they were. There was no traffic at all. Meaning that they could've settled going 50 mph for the quarter of a mile that the interchange ramp is and then switched lanes safely.
I've recently been thinking about being a traffic vigilante. Like when I see someone driving dumb and see that they're using a cell phone, I'll drive behind them and hit them from behind. Then, while we're exchanging information just say something like, "I don't know what happened. I saw there were no cars ahead and the light was green so I accelerated. Why did you slow down? Oh, you were on your phone trying to switch lanes?!"
Or in situations where I'm going to turn left at an intersection and the cars coming in the opposite direction that is in the go-straight-or-also-turn-left-lane doesn't have their blinkers on, I'm going to assume that means they're going straight. So when the light turns green, I'm going to pull into the intersection enough that if they actually were turning, there would be no room to turn, forcing them to go straight or wait.
I do this fun thing at the moment, when I'm at an intersection turning left but there's too many cars coming and there's no way that I can make the turn until the light turns red. I pull enough into the intersection so the car behind me that's also turning pulls far enough into the intersection that they have no other choice but to go if the light turns red. That way, when we both need to run the red light to make the turn and there's a cop there, they get pulled over. Hehehe.
Have you seen the previews for Narnia? Are we to believe that the lion can actually talk? Someone was smoking something on that day. Talking lion.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
New Order
I booked a car and these were some of the questions that the person asked:
1. "You guys are a big company, right? I mean, you're not a mom & pop company?"
2. "How many cars do you have?"
3. "How many drivers do you have?"
4. "What color are your limos?"
5. "What color is the inside?"
There were other stupid comments and questions he made like, "What comes in your bars?" To which I replied, "Whiskey, Vodka..." He then told me to hold and asked the other people what kind of Vodka they wanted, because, "It's included." I was hoping they would've asked for some ridiculous vodka, so I could've told them that we are going to charge them for that. I wonder what makes him think that a complimentary bar in a limo would include any type of drinks they request, especially for $60 an hour.
So aside from those things, the questions he asked are pretty stupid as well. As if being a mom & pop limo company means that we can't afford nice cars. Or if that's not it, then it's stupid that he would only support big huge companies. What makes a difference on how many cars or drivers we have? We're provided the service he's requesting, the number of cars or drivers is irrevellant to anything. Besides, I just made up a huge amount of cars and drivers.
Asking the color of the limo is an alright question, so I'll let him go on that one. But the inside? Unless the car itself was outrageous, no limo company would make the inside hot pink, or purple, or any other stupid color. Everything would be just as you would expect it to be. This fucking idiot's investigative skills needs a kick to the head.
Oh, and before I sent him to our website to view the vehicles there, he asked if we were a "legit company." What type of answer was he expecting on that one? Even if we weren't, you think we'd tell him that? "You seem a decent fellow, so I'm going to let you in on a secret. We don't even have limos. When you order it, we just send you a picture."
1. "You guys are a big company, right? I mean, you're not a mom & pop company?"
2. "How many cars do you have?"
3. "How many drivers do you have?"
4. "What color are your limos?"
5. "What color is the inside?"
There were other stupid comments and questions he made like, "What comes in your bars?" To which I replied, "Whiskey, Vodka..." He then told me to hold and asked the other people what kind of Vodka they wanted, because, "It's included." I was hoping they would've asked for some ridiculous vodka, so I could've told them that we are going to charge them for that. I wonder what makes him think that a complimentary bar in a limo would include any type of drinks they request, especially for $60 an hour.
So aside from those things, the questions he asked are pretty stupid as well. As if being a mom & pop limo company means that we can't afford nice cars. Or if that's not it, then it's stupid that he would only support big huge companies. What makes a difference on how many cars or drivers we have? We're provided the service he's requesting, the number of cars or drivers is irrevellant to anything. Besides, I just made up a huge amount of cars and drivers.
Asking the color of the limo is an alright question, so I'll let him go on that one. But the inside? Unless the car itself was outrageous, no limo company would make the inside hot pink, or purple, or any other stupid color. Everything would be just as you would expect it to be. This fucking idiot's investigative skills needs a kick to the head.
Oh, and before I sent him to our website to view the vehicles there, he asked if we were a "legit company." What type of answer was he expecting on that one? Even if we weren't, you think we'd tell him that? "You seem a decent fellow, so I'm going to let you in on a secret. We don't even have limos. When you order it, we just send you a picture."
House of Fun
So Jeanne's friend Olga from Russia told her of this three year old kid up there. His parents came to pick him up but he did not want to go with them. He kept running away and putting up a fuss. The parents are good parents and they weren't expecting like abuse or anything of the sort. Eventually, the mother told her that, like everyone who lives in Kazan, they live in a two room apartment. The kid was asleep and they were having sex in the other room but were really loud. During the most appropriate time, the kid walked in the room and from what a three year old kid could make of the situation, he thought his father was attacking his mother. So the kid is now extremely scared of his father. How do you explain to a three year old about sex?
Sunday, November 20, 2005
I Totally Forgot Justin Pearson Was In Struggle
I just found another interview with JP on SanDiegoPunk.com. Sounds like he had a pretty tortured young adulthood. Uh...I think The Locust has a deal with Epitaph or something. That's dumb. Plus, it's stupid.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Arrested Development
Head,
I'm not sure if you knew or not, but Arrested Development got cancelled. Great! I was worried that well-written, non-formulaic, avant TV shows were going to take over the stupid reality shows and dumbass sitcoms that plague every television station. How dare they try and break the mold of predictable comedy shows. Who do they think they are?
I'm not sure if you knew or not, but Arrested Development got cancelled. Great! I was worried that well-written, non-formulaic, avant TV shows were going to take over the stupid reality shows and dumbass sitcoms that plague every television station. How dare they try and break the mold of predictable comedy shows. Who do they think they are?
Friday, November 18, 2005
Give Me A Break
Arnold Schwarzeneggar is in China doing stuff. One of which is teaming up with Jackie Chan on an anti-pirating campaign. They are telling Chinese people, poor Chinese people, "Please don't pirate our movies. Our millions of dollars are at stake here."
They were talking about this commercial they did where he and Jackie are clad in leather riding motorcycles talking riding through explosions and other "extreme" stuff while talking about anti-piracy. Then the last line, Arnold says, "Let's terminate piracy."
They were talking about this commercial they did where he and Jackie are clad in leather riding motorcycles talking riding through explosions and other "extreme" stuff while talking about anti-piracy. Then the last line, Arnold says, "Let's terminate piracy."
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Help?!!
The current issue I've been having at work is getting these phone calls that I either can't help the person out at the moment or I can't help them at all. No matter how much I tell them I can't help them, they continue to talk and talk and I say, "I'll have someone call you back." They keep going on and on. I've been trying many different things to try and limit the time I spend on those calls by being assertive and tell them someone will get back to them or send us an email and someone will get back to you or, "I've already told you I can't help you with that. I have no idea how to help you. Someone will get back to you!" Even, "Ma'am, I've got other lines to tend to. Someone will call you back."
"Well, do you know why they wouldn't have reversed the charges yet?"
"NO! I told you I don't handle accounting issues. I have no idea what they do there. I have no idea what the procedures are for reversals!"
"Because we were at the airport. I did not see a driver..."
"What do you want me to do Ma'am? I told you I can't do anything. I cannot help you in any other way other than have someone else get back to you. It doesn't matter what you say to me. It means nothing to me. I can't help you. I have other things to do and I can't waste my time talking to you," and then hang up on them.
It's gotten to the point that the only other way is to be rude and just hang up on them. I don't know what else to do. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
"Well, do you know why they wouldn't have reversed the charges yet?"
"NO! I told you I don't handle accounting issues. I have no idea what they do there. I have no idea what the procedures are for reversals!"
"Because we were at the airport. I did not see a driver..."
"What do you want me to do Ma'am? I told you I can't do anything. I cannot help you in any other way other than have someone else get back to you. It doesn't matter what you say to me. It means nothing to me. I can't help you. I have other things to do and I can't waste my time talking to you," and then hang up on them.
It's gotten to the point that the only other way is to be rude and just hang up on them. I don't know what else to do. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
I'll Be Here All Week
Jukebox: Screeching Weasel - "Claude Monet"
I made a couple of jokes up last night. One of which is:
One of the Three Little Pigs goes to the Flea Market. He's browsing through different vendors and finds one that's selling a dresser made of straws. He thinks it's interesting so he purchases it.
When he takes it home, he finds that it fell apart and takes it back. The man apologizes and says, "Here, take this one. It's made of sticks." He does and takes it home only to find that it broke again. Angrily, he takes it back and wants a refund.
The man tells him that he can't give him a refund, but he could give him a new dresser; this one made of bricks. He takes him to it and the pig says, "I can't carry that. It's too heavy!"
(rim shot!)
Is this thing on?
The other is far too long. I might put it up later if I'm bored. I watched Outbreak last night. That movie is dumb on many levels. I'm wondering if this movie was based on the book the Hot Zone, because it never mentions that. It came out around the same time as each other, and the story in the movie is somewhat similar to each other on many levels except the bad Hollywood touch they threw on it.
I used to be able to tolerate some studio movies to a certain degree, but I'm thinking of never watching one again. It's the same bullshit over and over again and all the rest of my complaints are the obvious ones.
I made a couple of jokes up last night. One of which is:
One of the Three Little Pigs goes to the Flea Market. He's browsing through different vendors and finds one that's selling a dresser made of straws. He thinks it's interesting so he purchases it.
When he takes it home, he finds that it fell apart and takes it back. The man apologizes and says, "Here, take this one. It's made of sticks." He does and takes it home only to find that it broke again. Angrily, he takes it back and wants a refund.
The man tells him that he can't give him a refund, but he could give him a new dresser; this one made of bricks. He takes him to it and the pig says, "I can't carry that. It's too heavy!"
(rim shot!)
Is this thing on?
The other is far too long. I might put it up later if I'm bored. I watched Outbreak last night. That movie is dumb on many levels. I'm wondering if this movie was based on the book the Hot Zone, because it never mentions that. It came out around the same time as each other, and the story in the movie is somewhat similar to each other on many levels except the bad Hollywood touch they threw on it.
I used to be able to tolerate some studio movies to a certain degree, but I'm thinking of never watching one again. It's the same bullshit over and over again and all the rest of my complaints are the obvious ones.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Up Yours!
I've got a very exciting, not really so exciting, evening ahead of me. Once I leave this place, anything is exciting. Like clockwork, I leave the office and forget to tell the people here that so and so driver won't be available during this time, but I figure nothing's going to happen. I get back and there are two jobs during that time and no drivers for them.
Anyway, tonight I get off and I go to pick Jeanne up from work. I've got Bill Hoover's Baby Don't Be Messing With Those Arabs in My Head in the tape deck to make the ride a whole lot better. Then, we've got this for tonight, via our Netflix order: Crash, Outbreak, and some other documentary.
Have you ever been in a situation where you have no idea what you want to do? I'm about 19 pages till the end of my book and I was looking at the shelf last night and deciding what I want to read next. It's impossible. I look at one and I'm all, "Yeah. This is the next one. But look at that one. I've been wanting to read this one." And it just goes on and on and it's crazy. It's the same way to me with films and book. The High Fidelity categories. Argh! I want to rip my face
off sometimes.
I just put a whole bunch of new things on my Netflix queue. All TV shows. All "Simpsons" and "King of the Hill."
I need to get out of here soon.
I'm hungry.
I have no cash until Monday. I've got food at home, but
I just don't have money for anything else. Tomorrow I'll actually have a somewhat normal type of day.
On the way to drop Jeanne off at work, I drive by the "Nakatomi Plaza" from Die Hard. It's not called that. I think it's called the Fox Plaza. It's on Olympic & Avenue of the Stars.
Anyway, tonight I get off and I go to pick Jeanne up from work. I've got Bill Hoover's Baby Don't Be Messing With Those Arabs in My Head in the tape deck to make the ride a whole lot better. Then, we've got this for tonight, via our Netflix order: Crash, Outbreak, and some other documentary.
Have you ever been in a situation where you have no idea what you want to do? I'm about 19 pages till the end of my book and I was looking at the shelf last night and deciding what I want to read next. It's impossible. I look at one and I'm all, "Yeah. This is the next one. But look at that one. I've been wanting to read this one." And it just goes on and on and it's crazy. It's the same way to me with films and book. The High Fidelity categories. Argh! I want to rip my face
off sometimes.
I just put a whole bunch of new things on my Netflix queue. All TV shows. All "Simpsons" and "King of the Hill."
I need to get out of here soon.
I'm hungry.
I have no cash until Monday. I've got food at home, but
I just don't have money for anything else. Tomorrow I'll actually have a somewhat normal type of day.
On the way to drop Jeanne off at work, I drive by the "Nakatomi Plaza" from Die Hard. It's not called that. I think it's called the Fox Plaza. It's on Olympic & Avenue of the Stars.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Hot as Fuck Day
Jukebox: Screeching Weasel - "Planet of the Apes"
This is just a total coincidence that I'm listening to this song. I'm almost done reading The Hot Zone. This book is great on so many levels. It's very interesting and well put together. I've been reading it for the past month. And that's not because the book was boring or hard to read; it's the exact opposite. I've just not had much time to read.
But the reason I thought it to be a bit eerie that I was about to blog about this book and that song came on is that earlier today I put Outbreak at the top of my Netflix queue. This movie is apparently based on the book in some ways. The Clerks Animated episode definitely was about it. I've never seen it before, but I remember being at the Bangkok restaurant in Omaha with Jeff, Mario, Kathy, and Jeanne right before going off to Nate's wedding.
In the background at the place, Outbreak was playing on the TV. You couldn't hear it from where we were sitting, but we could see just fine. Every once in a while I would just glance back at it. I think at one point Jeff might've said something about it. But one scene was the showed Dustin Hoffman, in the movie, on TV and he was talking about the monkey, apparently. The lady watching the TV got this ghastly look on her face and she looked at her fridge and saw the drawing her daughter made of her and a monkey that looked nothing like the monkey on TV at all and freaked out.
I think that day this guy came in and asked Jeff to help his wife in. He thought Jeff worked there. For those who may not know, we were at a Thai restaurant. Jeff's Chinese.
Aside from all that, I just dropped Jeanne off at work. We were surrounded by semis the whole time with their exhaust blowing right into the car so we had to roll up our windows. The bad thing about that is that the air conditioning in the car not only doesn't work, it blows out HOT air. It was so unbearable. Then I go to the post office to pick up a package for Jeanne. This lady spends about 5-7 minutes looking for it. Then she comes back and is about to hand it to me and says, "Can I see your ID? You're not Jeanne. I can't give this to you. You see this part of the card? She needs to sign there and then we have you sign here."
I hate when people don't do determining things at the very beginning. Like me handing the package receipt to her and her checking at that time what it is that she's looking for or what I'm handing to her. This happens a lot online while filling out forms. You'd think that they'd do the demographic things at the beginning to see if you should fill out the rest of it.
This is just a total coincidence that I'm listening to this song. I'm almost done reading The Hot Zone. This book is great on so many levels. It's very interesting and well put together. I've been reading it for the past month. And that's not because the book was boring or hard to read; it's the exact opposite. I've just not had much time to read.
But the reason I thought it to be a bit eerie that I was about to blog about this book and that song came on is that earlier today I put Outbreak at the top of my Netflix queue. This movie is apparently based on the book in some ways. The Clerks Animated episode definitely was about it. I've never seen it before, but I remember being at the Bangkok restaurant in Omaha with Jeff, Mario, Kathy, and Jeanne right before going off to Nate's wedding.
In the background at the place, Outbreak was playing on the TV. You couldn't hear it from where we were sitting, but we could see just fine. Every once in a while I would just glance back at it. I think at one point Jeff might've said something about it. But one scene was the showed Dustin Hoffman, in the movie, on TV and he was talking about the monkey, apparently. The lady watching the TV got this ghastly look on her face and she looked at her fridge and saw the drawing her daughter made of her and a monkey that looked nothing like the monkey on TV at all and freaked out.
I think that day this guy came in and asked Jeff to help his wife in. He thought Jeff worked there. For those who may not know, we were at a Thai restaurant. Jeff's Chinese.
Aside from all that, I just dropped Jeanne off at work. We were surrounded by semis the whole time with their exhaust blowing right into the car so we had to roll up our windows. The bad thing about that is that the air conditioning in the car not only doesn't work, it blows out HOT air. It was so unbearable. Then I go to the post office to pick up a package for Jeanne. This lady spends about 5-7 minutes looking for it. Then she comes back and is about to hand it to me and says, "Can I see your ID? You're not Jeanne. I can't give this to you. You see this part of the card? She needs to sign there and then we have you sign here."
I hate when people don't do determining things at the very beginning. Like me handing the package receipt to her and her checking at that time what it is that she's looking for or what I'm handing to her. This happens a lot online while filling out forms. You'd think that they'd do the demographic things at the beginning to see if you should fill out the rest of it.
R.I.P.
It looks as if Eddie Guerrero died this past weekend. No dice.
We got our Netflix going again. We had a little situation but we took care of it. Speaking of taking care of it, I was thinking of a plan being that we drive a black 96' Lincoln Town Car. I should find four Italian dude to dress in suits and slick back their hair and go driving around and screech to a halt by some people and get out and pretend they're about to beat them. Then, one of the guys will say, "It's not him." Then they'll all get back in and drive away. I think that's too much.
I took Jeanne to a job interveiw yesterday at the Marriott in Beverly Hills. So, while I waited, I sat at the Coffee Bean (Starbuck's with a mustache) and read. It was so LA it was kind of dumb: drinking cappuccinos (though I had just a regular coffee. Black.) and hanging out at a corporate coffee shop.
One other thing that is so LA that I forgot about until we drove by it, is there's this gym on Sepulveda by Santa Monica Blvd. I guess it's a high class gym. Anyway, they have valets. The gym has valets. "I just ran on a treadmill for one hour. I ain't walking down a flight of stairs to my car. Jose! Bring my BMW around."
We got our Netflix going again. We had a little situation but we took care of it. Speaking of taking care of it, I was thinking of a plan being that we drive a black 96' Lincoln Town Car. I should find four Italian dude to dress in suits and slick back their hair and go driving around and screech to a halt by some people and get out and pretend they're about to beat them. Then, one of the guys will say, "It's not him." Then they'll all get back in and drive away. I think that's too much.
I took Jeanne to a job interveiw yesterday at the Marriott in Beverly Hills. So, while I waited, I sat at the Coffee Bean (Starbuck's with a mustache) and read. It was so LA it was kind of dumb: drinking cappuccinos (though I had just a regular coffee. Black.) and hanging out at a corporate coffee shop.
One other thing that is so LA that I forgot about until we drove by it, is there's this gym on Sepulveda by Santa Monica Blvd. I guess it's a high class gym. Anyway, they have valets. The gym has valets. "I just ran on a treadmill for one hour. I ain't walking down a flight of stairs to my car. Jose! Bring my BMW around."
Monday, November 14, 2005
...the storm
Jukebox: the Riverdales - "Back To You"
I just found out something that I've not known all these years. I was looking at the back of one of my Fastbacks record last night and noticed one of the guitarist as Kurt Bloch. I thought the name sounded familiar. I looked through my other records. While going through my 7"s I found the Sicko one and, yes, Mr. Kurt Bloch is in Sicko.
I just found out something that I've not known all these years. I was looking at the back of one of my Fastbacks record last night and noticed one of the guitarist as Kurt Bloch. I thought the name sounded familiar. I looked through my other records. While going through my 7"s I found the Sicko one and, yes, Mr. Kurt Bloch is in Sicko.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Sam Adams
While making my breakfast and getting my lunch together this morning, I looked at the bottles of Sam Adams and thought about bringin one or two to work. Then decided not to. I'm going to start listening to my intuition.
Moral of the story: Beer is always good.
Moral of the story: Beer is always good.
Saturdays
What could go wrong on a Saturday? Well, during the week, a lot of things go wrong, but it pales in comparison to the amount of shit that goes wrong on Saturdays. I have no idea how the hell it can only happen on Saturdays. What the fuck happened to the law of odds? We have these Hummers on the road during the week and nothing ever happens to them then. Even if we did, we'd have another one to back it up if something did arise. But every Saturday, the electrical system in the Hummers go out leaving the back a dark mess with no air-conditioning, radio, or lights.
Personally, I would'nt be too opposed to that. I mean, you've got drinks and your friends, and if the weather's great, you could just open the window. But the customers we cater to, most aren't that simple. They are the type of people who request ridiculous things in order to feel special for the evening. Like red carpets.
But aside from that typical weekend-Hummer fiasco, the phone calls that people usually should make on a weekday, comes on the weekend. Like people calling about accounting information. And every situation that you come across you think to yourself, "Ah, I'll just deal with that on Monday. I've got way too many things to do right now." Sometime within the next hour (sometimes it actually happens right after that thought passes through my head) the phone will ring and it will be that person asking about that thing.
Then you've got the drivers calling about all these things because of all the things going wrong out there. It's just this never-ending cycle of things going wrong. It happens every weekend.
Personally, I would'nt be too opposed to that. I mean, you've got drinks and your friends, and if the weather's great, you could just open the window. But the customers we cater to, most aren't that simple. They are the type of people who request ridiculous things in order to feel special for the evening. Like red carpets.
But aside from that typical weekend-Hummer fiasco, the phone calls that people usually should make on a weekday, comes on the weekend. Like people calling about accounting information. And every situation that you come across you think to yourself, "Ah, I'll just deal with that on Monday. I've got way too many things to do right now." Sometime within the next hour (sometimes it actually happens right after that thought passes through my head) the phone will ring and it will be that person asking about that thing.
Then you've got the drivers calling about all these things because of all the things going wrong out there. It's just this never-ending cycle of things going wrong. It happens every weekend.
The Game
This is that game that Grant was telling me about and I just laughed my ass off. I need to get this game.
Oops!
Last night I think I went over. I got into a heated argument with a customer who, after I cooled down and thought about it, thought we were another company. It was his fault. Everything we did, like emailing him and him emailing us back with his flight information and me calling him the night before to reconfirm everything with him, was everything on our part to assume that we were picking him up from the airport last night.
He ended up being with another company so I called and asked him why and he said he'd never even heard of us except for the internet site he initially went to. I explained the emails and phone conversations up until last night when I reconfirmed everything with him over the phone.
He kept denying and I started getting upset and I should have ended it there, but being me, I couldn't let him get the upper hand. So after a while of back and forth said really loud, "Aw, FUCK!!!"
"Excuse me! What was that? Did you just swear at me?"
"I'M NOT SWEARING AT YOU, I'M SWEARING AT THE SITUATION. YOU'RE RESERVATION REALLY FUCKED OUR SCHEDULE UP TONIGHT AND I'VE GOT THE FIRST EMAIL YOU SENT, THEN THE ONE I SENT SAYING THAT I TALKED TO A SUPERVISOR AND WE CAN DO THE TRIP FOR YOU. THEN THE ONE YOU SENT BACK SAYING CALL MY CELL PHONE. THEN THE ONE YOU SENT BACK WITH ALL YOUR INFORMATION. THEN I FAXED YOU A CONFIRMATION. THEN I CALLED YOU LAST NIGHT TO RE-CONFIRM EVERYTHING FOR YOUR PICK-UP AND EVEN MADE SURE YOU HAD OUR 800 NUMBER TO CALL ONCE YOU WERE READY AND YOU SAID THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T HAVE BAGS BUT IT DEPENDED ON YOUR WIFE!!!!"
"I remember talking to you and you gave me a wrong quote and I went online and posted that."
"I KNOW WE MIS-QUOTED YOU. I TOLD YOU WE WERE SORRY. IT'S A SIMPLE MISTAKE. IT WAS A NON-BINDING ESTIMATE!"
"You're ruining my trip, you know!"
"YOU'RE RUINING MY NIGHT. YOU FUCKED UP OUR WHOLE SCHEDULE WITH YOUR PICK-UP. I HOPE I'M RUINING YOU'RE TRIP. I'M GOING TO KEEP CALLING YOU ALL WEEKEND!"
"That would be harassment. Everything is done. I'm with these guys and you're ruining my trip."
"I hope I ruin more than that."
Then I hung up.
He ended up being with another company so I called and asked him why and he said he'd never even heard of us except for the internet site he initially went to. I explained the emails and phone conversations up until last night when I reconfirmed everything with him over the phone.
He kept denying and I started getting upset and I should have ended it there, but being me, I couldn't let him get the upper hand. So after a while of back and forth said really loud, "Aw, FUCK!!!"
"Excuse me! What was that? Did you just swear at me?"
"I'M NOT SWEARING AT YOU, I'M SWEARING AT THE SITUATION. YOU'RE RESERVATION REALLY FUCKED OUR SCHEDULE UP TONIGHT AND I'VE GOT THE FIRST EMAIL YOU SENT, THEN THE ONE I SENT SAYING THAT I TALKED TO A SUPERVISOR AND WE CAN DO THE TRIP FOR YOU. THEN THE ONE YOU SENT BACK SAYING CALL MY CELL PHONE. THEN THE ONE YOU SENT BACK WITH ALL YOUR INFORMATION. THEN I FAXED YOU A CONFIRMATION. THEN I CALLED YOU LAST NIGHT TO RE-CONFIRM EVERYTHING FOR YOUR PICK-UP AND EVEN MADE SURE YOU HAD OUR 800 NUMBER TO CALL ONCE YOU WERE READY AND YOU SAID THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T HAVE BAGS BUT IT DEPENDED ON YOUR WIFE!!!!"
"I remember talking to you and you gave me a wrong quote and I went online and posted that."
"I KNOW WE MIS-QUOTED YOU. I TOLD YOU WE WERE SORRY. IT'S A SIMPLE MISTAKE. IT WAS A NON-BINDING ESTIMATE!"
"You're ruining my trip, you know!"
"YOU'RE RUINING MY NIGHT. YOU FUCKED UP OUR WHOLE SCHEDULE WITH YOUR PICK-UP. I HOPE I'M RUINING YOU'RE TRIP. I'M GOING TO KEEP CALLING YOU ALL WEEKEND!"
"That would be harassment. Everything is done. I'm with these guys and you're ruining my trip."
"I hope I ruin more than that."
Then I hung up.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Call Number 1
I just got off the phone with a lady who wanted to check on her reservation because of a mistake. She said her after booking the reservation and receiving the confirmation, her husband sent an email saying that the rate is wrong and cancel the order.
I haven't seen that email but I told the lady what I had on the reservation and the price came out right. So she wanted to keep the reservation. I wanted to tell her to put her husband on the phone and tell him that the reason that we do confirmations is to take care of discrepancies! When you receive your new checks, it says to review the information to make sure it's all correct. If you got them and something is wrong, would you cancel your account?
There's fucking room for error anywhere for anything that's why you do things like confirmations and re-confirmations and other things to make sure everything is right. It's not like it's fucking concrete, like, "It's too bad, it's in the email, it sticks!"
I haven't seen that email but I told the lady what I had on the reservation and the price came out right. So she wanted to keep the reservation. I wanted to tell her to put her husband on the phone and tell him that the reason that we do confirmations is to take care of discrepancies! When you receive your new checks, it says to review the information to make sure it's all correct. If you got them and something is wrong, would you cancel your account?
There's fucking room for error anywhere for anything that's why you do things like confirmations and re-confirmations and other things to make sure everything is right. It's not like it's fucking concrete, like, "It's too bad, it's in the email, it sticks!"
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Furthermore...
So Arnold held a press conference today before heading to China. He said he was sorry for fucking everyone over without apologizing. He said he's been doing somethings wrong and he needs to fix that.
Then he said, "It's like a movie. If it flops, someone has to be blamed." All right. Not only is that a stupid analogy, but Arnold needs to fucking stop with the movie fucking parallels. Is that what he thinks everything is now? "I ate a taco last night. It's like that movie 'Walter's Taco.'" What the fuck, is this guy stuck in Cable Guy world?
Either that or he thinks everyone is stupid and will fall for the movie approach all the time. "I'm sorry I bankrupted California and made everybody homeless. It's like that movie 'Independence Day' where the aliens attacked earth. We were unprepared for it."
"That was a great movie. Remember Will Smith? 'I could've been at a bar-b-que!'"
"He just gambled all of California's money on an Angels game!"
"Remember Jeff Goldblum? 'Oops.'"
Arnold, "It worked! I can't believe it worked again. Uh, also, fuck all the immigrants. You guys are making me look bad...like that movie '40 Year Old Virgin.'"
Or he thinks everyone is stupid and must need a movie analogy to help massage the information through their brains, which is probably the case.
Oh, did I mention about his campaign? He was calling it the "sequel to the re-call election." Seriously.
Then he said, "It's like a movie. If it flops, someone has to be blamed." All right. Not only is that a stupid analogy, but Arnold needs to fucking stop with the movie fucking parallels. Is that what he thinks everything is now? "I ate a taco last night. It's like that movie 'Walter's Taco.'" What the fuck, is this guy stuck in Cable Guy world?
Either that or he thinks everyone is stupid and will fall for the movie approach all the time. "I'm sorry I bankrupted California and made everybody homeless. It's like that movie 'Independence Day' where the aliens attacked earth. We were unprepared for it."
"That was a great movie. Remember Will Smith? 'I could've been at a bar-b-que!'"
"He just gambled all of California's money on an Angels game!"
"Remember Jeff Goldblum? 'Oops.'"
Arnold, "It worked! I can't believe it worked again. Uh, also, fuck all the immigrants. You guys are making me look bad...like that movie '40 Year Old Virgin.'"
Or he thinks everyone is stupid and must need a movie analogy to help massage the information through their brains, which is probably the case.
Oh, did I mention about his campaign? He was calling it the "sequel to the re-call election." Seriously.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Toast of the Town
Jukebox: Henry Rollins - Shock & Awe
I just checked my bank account and I have $3.50. I'm fucking stoked. I'm going to buy a big beer tonight. Or for that price, I could go to a bar for a small beer and go for the ambience so I can pretend I'm actually out on the town.
I just checked my bank account and I have $3.50. I'm fucking stoked. I'm going to buy a big beer tonight. Or for that price, I could go to a bar for a small beer and go for the ambience so I can pretend I'm actually out on the town.
Fuckin' Roight!!
Jukebox: Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion II
As shitty as this day started, it's great now. I haven't been this happy in days. I got everything set up for tomorrow and the boss isn't here and I'm listening to GNR. Headley, I can make you a copy of this album as soon as you want it. I know you're salivating.
I'm thinking of what to do tonight. I'm also thinking of whether or not I'm going to Vegas next week or not. I don't want to drive up there in our car, but my brother's offering to get a rental for us and pay for gas. My next paycheck is finally going to get us settled in and have some extra money. That means Henry Rollins. I wish I still had my Minidisc mic.
What to do tonight? What I've been doing recently is just watching movies every night and then reading the paper. It needs to vary some, I think. I'm not really motivated to do much when I get home, though. We're working on getting a new employee here soon, so I don't have to work much. I'd love to get home while the sun's still up and be able to do some stuff.
I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I'm going to eat so much food. Tryptophan.
"Pretty tied up, hangin upside down."
As shitty as this day started, it's great now. I haven't been this happy in days. I got everything set up for tomorrow and the boss isn't here and I'm listening to GNR. Headley, I can make you a copy of this album as soon as you want it. I know you're salivating.
I'm thinking of what to do tonight. I'm also thinking of whether or not I'm going to Vegas next week or not. I don't want to drive up there in our car, but my brother's offering to get a rental for us and pay for gas. My next paycheck is finally going to get us settled in and have some extra money. That means Henry Rollins. I wish I still had my Minidisc mic.
What to do tonight? What I've been doing recently is just watching movies every night and then reading the paper. It needs to vary some, I think. I'm not really motivated to do much when I get home, though. We're working on getting a new employee here soon, so I don't have to work much. I'd love to get home while the sun's still up and be able to do some stuff.
I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I'm going to eat so much food. Tryptophan.
"Pretty tied up, hangin upside down."
Harbingers of the Devil
Remember how David Cross was talking about John Ashcroft believing that Calico Cats are harbingers of the devil? There was a thing on NPR news this morning from, I think, Ohio. She said that a calico cat jumped out of a truck on a busy interstate and ran across through traffic and jumped off the bridge and fell like 70 feet into a river and swam this ridiculous distance to shore and survived it all and is in a kennel somewhere "eating ravenously."
Arnold Out of Office
So none of Arnold's things got voted in in that fake election that wasted millions of our dollars. It still gets to me that Arnold's response to why he's having this special election that will cost so many millions of dollars, rather than wait a few more months till the primaries, was, "To not vote is a waste of democracy."
Great. That explains everything. I see now. But that's how it is a Republican rallies. It's just a slogan fest. They say things to the effect of "Knibb High Football Rules!!!"
Anyway, I'm going to register to vote for the first time ever, to get this ass-clown out of office.
I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a guy on there talking about the election and how Arnold's ratings are at an all-time low. But "he has a year to turn all that around, so we'll see how he does."
I know it's been said before, but it just bugs me when a politician is viewed in the same way as a sports team or athlete. Like, "Their past few games, they've been in a slump, but we'll see how they do today. If they win the next two games, they still have a chance to make it to the playoffs."
I can't see a politician like that. If they fuck me over, I'm going to remember that. I'm going to remember that he promised this and that and never pulled through. I'm going to remember how he lied about same-sex marriage. I'm going to remember him vetoing the bill to raise the minimum wage get it to the point where people can actually make a living in expensive-as-hell-to-live Los Angeles. I'm going to remember him using his immigrant history to win over the immigrants here and a year later, fucking them over.
It doesn't matter what he does from now till the election. I can't just eat up his new campaign and say, "Hey, maybe I had this guy wrong?" Or just take in his new promises and my mind erases the last years. Total amnesia. "Hey, who's this new guy running for office?"
Great. That explains everything. I see now. But that's how it is a Republican rallies. It's just a slogan fest. They say things to the effect of "Knibb High Football Rules!!!"
Anyway, I'm going to register to vote for the first time ever, to get this ass-clown out of office.
I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a guy on there talking about the election and how Arnold's ratings are at an all-time low. But "he has a year to turn all that around, so we'll see how he does."
I know it's been said before, but it just bugs me when a politician is viewed in the same way as a sports team or athlete. Like, "Their past few games, they've been in a slump, but we'll see how they do today. If they win the next two games, they still have a chance to make it to the playoffs."
I can't see a politician like that. If they fuck me over, I'm going to remember that. I'm going to remember that he promised this and that and never pulled through. I'm going to remember how he lied about same-sex marriage. I'm going to remember him vetoing the bill to raise the minimum wage get it to the point where people can actually make a living in expensive-as-hell-to-live Los Angeles. I'm going to remember him using his immigrant history to win over the immigrants here and a year later, fucking them over.
It doesn't matter what he does from now till the election. I can't just eat up his new campaign and say, "Hey, maybe I had this guy wrong?" Or just take in his new promises and my mind erases the last years. Total amnesia. "Hey, who's this new guy running for office?"
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Shitty Day.
I guess since today is the special election day here in California, it's only logical that it be dreary and overcast today.
I really don't want to be at work today.
I really don't want to be at work today.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Dialogue
I was talking to the boss on the phone and the other line lit up. I put him on hold and answered it. I hung up and switched back over:
"Who was that?"
"Kieth, from Ace Limo. I told him I'd call him back."
"Why is he calling?"
"He told me his driver is coming in today and he's going to ask him about Monday's run and tell him what the passengers said and see what he says about that."
"Is he on the other line?"
"No, I told him I'd call him back."
"What did he want?"
"He wants to tell me what his driver had to say about the run that he did for us on Monday."
If you noticed, two of the things I told him was the two things that he asked about. This is what makes it frustrating at times to work here. It's as if he doesn't even listen.
"Who was that?"
"Kieth, from Ace Limo. I told him I'd call him back."
"Why is he calling?"
"He told me his driver is coming in today and he's going to ask him about Monday's run and tell him what the passengers said and see what he says about that."
"Is he on the other line?"
"No, I told him I'd call him back."
"What did he want?"
"He wants to tell me what his driver had to say about the run that he did for us on Monday."
If you noticed, two of the things I told him was the two things that he asked about. This is what makes it frustrating at times to work here. It's as if he doesn't even listen.
Being Dumb
One thing that really gets to me, being in the transportation industry, is people who try to tell us the distance between places. As if we either do not know the area or are dumb enough not to check for ourselves the distance between places. And even if we do know the distance between the place, we can't just charge based on that, because we can't send a car 20 miles away to just take you down the street and then have the car drive back and only charge for five minutes of service.
So we get calls like, "I'm looking for a car from Hollywood to Downtown; it's only 15 minutes away." Hollywood and Downtown are probably the places we take people to or pick up from the most. You don't think that we'd know how far apart they are? But the reason they do this is to, I don't know, trick us into charging them $5 or something? It's just the type of thing that what you should do is call and say, "I'm going to need a transportation from Hollywood to Downtown for 8 passengers on this day and this time. How much would that be? Or How much do you charge for that?
But the funniest is this email that I just got from a person wanting a car from Santa Monica to Las Vegas. Then a return at a later date. We do do these types of runs, but that's not what was funny. What's funny is that he requested the car for three hours. For those not in the know, from the very eastern edge of LA county to Las Vegas, it takes three hours at the very least. Santa Monica is at the western edge of LA county, which is by the ocean. To get from Santa Monica to Riverside, which is the eastern part of LA county by the Interstate 15 that goes straight to Las Vegas, is about one and a half to two hours unless traffic is really bad then it could be three or four hours. So this guy is either stupid, or he's trying to trick someone in the transporation industry who, I guess, he feels has no geographical knowledge of the town the service to.
So we get calls like, "I'm looking for a car from Hollywood to Downtown; it's only 15 minutes away." Hollywood and Downtown are probably the places we take people to or pick up from the most. You don't think that we'd know how far apart they are? But the reason they do this is to, I don't know, trick us into charging them $5 or something? It's just the type of thing that what you should do is call and say, "I'm going to need a transportation from Hollywood to Downtown for 8 passengers on this day and this time. How much would that be? Or How much do you charge for that?
But the funniest is this email that I just got from a person wanting a car from Santa Monica to Las Vegas. Then a return at a later date. We do do these types of runs, but that's not what was funny. What's funny is that he requested the car for three hours. For those not in the know, from the very eastern edge of LA county to Las Vegas, it takes three hours at the very least. Santa Monica is at the western edge of LA county, which is by the ocean. To get from Santa Monica to Riverside, which is the eastern part of LA county by the Interstate 15 that goes straight to Las Vegas, is about one and a half to two hours unless traffic is really bad then it could be three or four hours. So this guy is either stupid, or he's trying to trick someone in the transporation industry who, I guess, he feels has no geographical knowledge of the town the service to.
Blogmania
The Blogger wasn't working earlier, so I had to save these to blog later:
We do laundry every Sunday at this laundromat by work. That place is awesome, because the washers are double load-sized and cost $2. It usually takes two washers. The drying, however, takes a quarter for 20 minutes of hot fucking air. It's so hot, you could probably roast a turkey in there.
So usually it takes $.50 to dry the loads. We use two dryers and a quarter each, so it's all loose in there and getting hot as fuck and dries very quickly. Sometimes the towels are a little damp, but by the time we get home they're dry.
The reason I mention this is that the other week, there were this girl and her mom drying clothes and they stuffed all their laundry in to two dryers and put them in there for an hour.
First of all, it's a quarter for 20 minutes which is way more time than most places. Secondly, any dryer takes about 40 minutes to an hour for a decently sized load. Loading the entire thing just short of being packed tight is just ridiculous. You could stay there for days. It just doesn't logically make sense. When we go to do laundry, the whole process takes an hour.
So this Tuesday we have a job from a client that I do not particularly like, nor do I want to deal with them ever again. They always swear up a storm for a simple mistake like sending the confirmation to her husband's email rather than hers. Just simple things. She called the other day swearing at me because of that and I snapped back and told her it's a simple mistake and don't talk like that to me or I'll hang up. Then she got all polite, kind of like she recoiled like a puppy being scolded.
Anyway, I have this urge to just purposely fuck up her job coming up, just so she doesn't use us again. The thing is, she's a long time client. She's also a lawyer. And I don't hate all lawyers. Just the ones who are asses and always come out and tell you they're lawyers. Those are the assholes. I just don't want to deal with those people. If they're pretentious like that, they are the ones who will try to fuck you over small things that go wrong.
Today is starting to suck. All the people I don't want to talk to are calling. And this one lady, the first mess up today, I didn't want to call till later called. And she was on the line with me for five minutes talking to me about the same thing over and over. She was nice and everything, but I had to hear six or seven times in different variations of how she had come from Tokyo and went through customs and didn't see the driver. Then she was so tired and didn't have her cell phone charger and didn't think to call us. She took a cab home and called from there.
And then when you think she can't go on any further, she starts telling you about details on how "there were so many people, mostly Asian. I came from Japan, so there were a lot of Japanese people there."
1:03pm: Driver calling in hysterics because there had been two different accidents and the exit he needed to take another exit. In East LA if you miss an exit, the next one is further away and the streets are all fucked up. He left his map book at home, but is driving anyway, so it would hard for him to look it up while driving.
We do laundry every Sunday at this laundromat by work. That place is awesome, because the washers are double load-sized and cost $2. It usually takes two washers. The drying, however, takes a quarter for 20 minutes of hot fucking air. It's so hot, you could probably roast a turkey in there.
So usually it takes $.50 to dry the loads. We use two dryers and a quarter each, so it's all loose in there and getting hot as fuck and dries very quickly. Sometimes the towels are a little damp, but by the time we get home they're dry.
The reason I mention this is that the other week, there were this girl and her mom drying clothes and they stuffed all their laundry in to two dryers and put them in there for an hour.
First of all, it's a quarter for 20 minutes which is way more time than most places. Secondly, any dryer takes about 40 minutes to an hour for a decently sized load. Loading the entire thing just short of being packed tight is just ridiculous. You could stay there for days. It just doesn't logically make sense. When we go to do laundry, the whole process takes an hour.
So this Tuesday we have a job from a client that I do not particularly like, nor do I want to deal with them ever again. They always swear up a storm for a simple mistake like sending the confirmation to her husband's email rather than hers. Just simple things. She called the other day swearing at me because of that and I snapped back and told her it's a simple mistake and don't talk like that to me or I'll hang up. Then she got all polite, kind of like she recoiled like a puppy being scolded.
Anyway, I have this urge to just purposely fuck up her job coming up, just so she doesn't use us again. The thing is, she's a long time client. She's also a lawyer. And I don't hate all lawyers. Just the ones who are asses and always come out and tell you they're lawyers. Those are the assholes. I just don't want to deal with those people. If they're pretentious like that, they are the ones who will try to fuck you over small things that go wrong.
Today is starting to suck. All the people I don't want to talk to are calling. And this one lady, the first mess up today, I didn't want to call till later called. And she was on the line with me for five minutes talking to me about the same thing over and over. She was nice and everything, but I had to hear six or seven times in different variations of how she had come from Tokyo and went through customs and didn't see the driver. Then she was so tired and didn't have her cell phone charger and didn't think to call us. She took a cab home and called from there.
And then when you think she can't go on any further, she starts telling you about details on how "there were so many people, mostly Asian. I came from Japan, so there were a lot of Japanese people there."
1:03pm: Driver calling in hysterics because there had been two different accidents and the exit he needed to take another exit. In East LA if you miss an exit, the next one is further away and the streets are all fucked up. He left his map book at home, but is driving anyway, so it would hard for him to look it up while driving.
webbles
I watched Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy last night. I've put this off for a long time because I don't like Will Ferrel. Added to that, that chump Steve Carrell was in it too, and I can barely stand that guy.
I remember seeing previews for the 40 Year Old Virgin and knowing that movie's going to be stupid. Very predictable. I've still not watched it, but I remember almost as if it was yesterday, "We're almost there. Why are we walking like this?" The day I lost all respect for Chris Headly. Chris told me, with a straight face, "I can't wait for 40 Year Old Virgin." And he even tried to defend it. Then I was like, "I thought you liked good movies?"
Then Chris said, "I'm gay!" Then started crying. I'm pretty sure that was what happened. Hehehe.
Back to Anchorman, nothing that guy said or did in the movie was funny. Actually, there were a few. The very first thing was, "Where did you get your clothes from, the toilet store?"
This movie was ridiculous funny and awesome. Though I've been told I'd like it, the fight scene with all the TV stations wasn't that funny. The build up was funny as fuck and I couldn't stop laughing. But the fight itself was dumb.
"I'm sorry. I don't speak Spanish."
Jack Black was funny as hell. That entire scene I couldn't stop laughing and it just escalated. From just him being a biker and then getting hit by the burrito and then falling. "You just wrecked the only thing I love. What do you love?"
"I love poetry..."
Man, today sucks. First thing in the morning everyday this week was stupid. I understand sometimes we'll make mistakes here taking reservation or dispatching, but I don't think that it should be our fault if they don't actually read the routing instructions.
I remember seeing previews for the 40 Year Old Virgin and knowing that movie's going to be stupid. Very predictable. I've still not watched it, but I remember almost as if it was yesterday, "We're almost there. Why are we walking like this?" The day I lost all respect for Chris Headly. Chris told me, with a straight face, "I can't wait for 40 Year Old Virgin." And he even tried to defend it. Then I was like, "I thought you liked good movies?"
Then Chris said, "I'm gay!" Then started crying. I'm pretty sure that was what happened. Hehehe.
Back to Anchorman, nothing that guy said or did in the movie was funny. Actually, there were a few. The very first thing was, "Where did you get your clothes from, the toilet store?"
This movie was ridiculous funny and awesome. Though I've been told I'd like it, the fight scene with all the TV stations wasn't that funny. The build up was funny as fuck and I couldn't stop laughing. But the fight itself was dumb.
"I'm sorry. I don't speak Spanish."
Jack Black was funny as hell. That entire scene I couldn't stop laughing and it just escalated. From just him being a biker and then getting hit by the burrito and then falling. "You just wrecked the only thing I love. What do you love?"
"I love poetry..."
Man, today sucks. First thing in the morning everyday this week was stupid. I understand sometimes we'll make mistakes here taking reservation or dispatching, but I don't think that it should be our fault if they don't actually read the routing instructions.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Cameron Diaz
I remember once in my life thinking that Cameron Diaz was hot. This was while I was in high school. I haven't viewed any of her films from back then since back then. I never really thought anything else about her much. Then she started becoming more and more famous and being all over the place.
I started noticing that she wasn't that attractive at all. Then I watched There's Something About Mary and thinking that she wasn't worth all those guys in the movie falling head-over-heels for her. Her stupid grin started bothering me. And her unattractiveness just creeping me out.
Then she started doing those stupid Charlie's Angels movies. I started to down right loathe her. I remember thinking to myself, "I wonder why I used to think she was hot?"
But then last night I watched Head Above Water for the first time since, I think, it came out. I was watching it and finding myself attracted to her and realized that the reason I don't like her now is because she's dating Justin Timberlake. Just kidding. Well, not really. The Timberlake factor is just adding fuel to the fire. It's just that she's so skinny now. She looked better with more meat on her bones. Don't just her looks in the movie by the cover, because the cover shot is not that great.
If you look at her now, she looks so stupid with her anorexic, bony, fucking, Joker-looking face. "I'm Cameron Diaz. I'm stupid and ugly!"
I started noticing that she wasn't that attractive at all. Then I watched There's Something About Mary and thinking that she wasn't worth all those guys in the movie falling head-over-heels for her. Her stupid grin started bothering me. And her unattractiveness just creeping me out.
Then she started doing those stupid Charlie's Angels movies. I started to down right loathe her. I remember thinking to myself, "I wonder why I used to think she was hot?"
But then last night I watched Head Above Water for the first time since, I think, it came out. I was watching it and finding myself attracted to her and realized that the reason I don't like her now is because she's dating Justin Timberlake. Just kidding. Well, not really. The Timberlake factor is just adding fuel to the fire. It's just that she's so skinny now. She looked better with more meat on her bones. Don't just her looks in the movie by the cover, because the cover shot is not that great.
If you look at her now, she looks so stupid with her anorexic, bony, fucking, Joker-looking face. "I'm Cameron Diaz. I'm stupid and ugly!"
Almost Forgot
I almost forgot. I watched Swing Kids again last night. I haven't seen this in years. The movie in itself is great all around. All around, that is, except at the end when Peter's little brother kept yelling, "Swing Heil!" That entire movie was ruined by that scene. They should've just had him get shot or something.
Friday, again.
Jukebox: the Beach Boys - "Vegetables"
Had the worst omen ever. First call of the morning is a secretary confirming her boss' pick-up because past companies have screwed up ther pick-ups. I said that I just got in but everything should be in order.
I called the driver to make sure that he was on his way as the pick-up's in a half hour. He doesn't answer his cell phone, so I call his house which is a ways away. He answers that phone saying he's on his way. That gives him 25 minutes to drive from West Hollywood to Santa Monica, which Mapquest says 21 minutes, but those instructions are always with no traffic and all green lights. Not during morning rush hour.
We watched Cane Toads the other night. It's pretty cool documentary showing them having problems with Cane grub so they got the Cane Toads from Hawai'i to take care of the problems and it backfired. They ate everything except the grub. They also are doing damage to the ecosystem that can only escalate. For instance, they eat anything that is smaller than they are, but anything that eats them dies from the poison.
If, say, a dog bites the toad, it's sack from behind the eyes squirts a poison that's deadly to animals, but euphoric to Hippies. That's gross, too. They kill a toad and boil it in water and drink it to get high. Thats' like having toad tea.
I was pretty grossed out the entire film because I think toads are fucking gross. I couldn't bare to see people touching them or sitting down in a lawn chair and toads hopping by them. It freaked me out more than any horror movie I've seen. Which doesn't count since there aren't any good ones.
The best part was the dude in the VW Bus swerving on the road to run the toads over. He goes out of his way to do that.
As an added bonus to this, they had a short called Signing Off. That was sort of ridiculously awesome. It's this old DJ who's told that his ratings stink and he has his last show on Sunday. He goes on air and says that and "if anyone has a request for something [he's] played in the past years, call [him] up."
So his boss calls to tell him that it doesn't matter if everyone calls up, he's finished. Then a lady calls to say that her husband died twenty-something years ago and he played his favorite song and she's been listening to it ever since. So she requested it. He grabs it and places it on deck. While he's talking, he notices a spider crawling on the record and he covers it with a glass.
Upon completion of the call he carries the record with the glass to the window to drop the spider off and while doing that the record falls out of the sleeve. It flips ever southward but bounces off an awning and lands flatly on the ground. He looks, and a street cleaner's heading towards it, so he runs down to save the record.
The whole rest of it is him going through ridiculous stuff to save the record including falling in the sewers and high does this super-jump from the water to the ladder to above ground. Then a fire in the building, trips and the record flies out of his hand and land directly on the turntable. He goes, all in his underwear and dirty and wet and dedicates the song.
They show the lady, panning from the feet upward and she's sleeping. It sucked. I wish she was dead.
Had the worst omen ever. First call of the morning is a secretary confirming her boss' pick-up because past companies have screwed up ther pick-ups. I said that I just got in but everything should be in order.
I called the driver to make sure that he was on his way as the pick-up's in a half hour. He doesn't answer his cell phone, so I call his house which is a ways away. He answers that phone saying he's on his way. That gives him 25 minutes to drive from West Hollywood to Santa Monica, which Mapquest says 21 minutes, but those instructions are always with no traffic and all green lights. Not during morning rush hour.
We watched Cane Toads the other night. It's pretty cool documentary showing them having problems with Cane grub so they got the Cane Toads from Hawai'i to take care of the problems and it backfired. They ate everything except the grub. They also are doing damage to the ecosystem that can only escalate. For instance, they eat anything that is smaller than they are, but anything that eats them dies from the poison.
If, say, a dog bites the toad, it's sack from behind the eyes squirts a poison that's deadly to animals, but euphoric to Hippies. That's gross, too. They kill a toad and boil it in water and drink it to get high. Thats' like having toad tea.
I was pretty grossed out the entire film because I think toads are fucking gross. I couldn't bare to see people touching them or sitting down in a lawn chair and toads hopping by them. It freaked me out more than any horror movie I've seen. Which doesn't count since there aren't any good ones.
The best part was the dude in the VW Bus swerving on the road to run the toads over. He goes out of his way to do that.
As an added bonus to this, they had a short called Signing Off. That was sort of ridiculously awesome. It's this old DJ who's told that his ratings stink and he has his last show on Sunday. He goes on air and says that and "if anyone has a request for something [he's] played in the past years, call [him] up."
So his boss calls to tell him that it doesn't matter if everyone calls up, he's finished. Then a lady calls to say that her husband died twenty-something years ago and he played his favorite song and she's been listening to it ever since. So she requested it. He grabs it and places it on deck. While he's talking, he notices a spider crawling on the record and he covers it with a glass.
Upon completion of the call he carries the record with the glass to the window to drop the spider off and while doing that the record falls out of the sleeve. It flips ever southward but bounces off an awning and lands flatly on the ground. He looks, and a street cleaner's heading towards it, so he runs down to save the record.
The whole rest of it is him going through ridiculous stuff to save the record including falling in the sewers and high does this super-jump from the water to the ladder to above ground. Then a fire in the building, trips and the record flies out of his hand and land directly on the turntable. He goes, all in his underwear and dirty and wet and dedicates the song.
They show the lady, panning from the feet upward and she's sleeping. It sucked. I wish she was dead.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Oh, Darn.
I lost a really great blog from this morning. It was about that guy with the saw. He was clocked in again. Today he had help from the leaf-blower guy of many aforementioned blogs.
Great story.
Great story.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
I don't have to take this shit...
So far I've been on the receiving end of two belligerent assholes. Both of whom are just assholes who can't understand anything. One was sort of our fault, but he was just not being understanding about it. Fuck him. I explained the situation to him and he was just being all, "I'm a regular customer and I don't need this. I've been on a 14 hour flight..."
And I'm all, "Sir, it's not like we did this on purpose. We didn't think you'd clear customs that quickly."
"I sent an email yesterday and told you what time I was coming in."
He did. I checked it and it said that he was arriving at 4:45pm but probably wouldn't be ready until 5:45pm. That doesn't matter. We're there from when the plane arrives and wait until they call for their pick-up. Our mistake was we set up the driver to pick up someone at 5:15pm from just outside the airport. This was because international flights go through customs and it takes usually 20 minutes to a half hour. This guy came through in like 10 minutes. I have no idea. Maybe he's first class?
Anyway, it shouldn't matter how long it took him to go through customs, because we're supposed to be there. We made that assumption and got fucked. So back to the phone call, he said that he sent the email about what time he was coming in and I remembered it and I said, "Yeah, I remember that email and it said you land at 4:45 and you'd probably be out by 5:45pm and we didn't expect you to get out so quickly and set your driver up with a run going in, but they delayed us."
"That doesn't matter and, besides, it's after 5:45."
Me, sarcastically-matter-of-factly, "It's 5:47!"
"Well I need my car!"
"He just dropped off he's heading right down!"
Hang up on him.
This is all I've been dealing with since I've been back in from my break.
And I'm all, "Sir, it's not like we did this on purpose. We didn't think you'd clear customs that quickly."
"I sent an email yesterday and told you what time I was coming in."
He did. I checked it and it said that he was arriving at 4:45pm but probably wouldn't be ready until 5:45pm. That doesn't matter. We're there from when the plane arrives and wait until they call for their pick-up. Our mistake was we set up the driver to pick up someone at 5:15pm from just outside the airport. This was because international flights go through customs and it takes usually 20 minutes to a half hour. This guy came through in like 10 minutes. I have no idea. Maybe he's first class?
Anyway, it shouldn't matter how long it took him to go through customs, because we're supposed to be there. We made that assumption and got fucked. So back to the phone call, he said that he sent the email about what time he was coming in and I remembered it and I said, "Yeah, I remember that email and it said you land at 4:45 and you'd probably be out by 5:45pm and we didn't expect you to get out so quickly and set your driver up with a run going in, but they delayed us."
"That doesn't matter and, besides, it's after 5:45."
Me, sarcastically-matter-of-factly, "It's 5:47!"
"Well I need my car!"
"He just dropped off he's heading right down!"
Hang up on him.
This is all I've been dealing with since I've been back in from my break.
Aggh!!!
There's a saw that's been on for about five minutes so far. Either this guy died while sawing or he's sawing a 300 mile piece of wood.
Got distracted and now it's over ten minutes later and he's still sawing. At this point, I hope he sawed his head off.
I think that California sucks. Bureacracy is stupid in itself, but here, it's a whole new story. So much, in fact, that it could take a year for some stuff. It's fucking stupid.
Saw stopped. Maybe his wife came home.
Like that David Cross bit about the line for the beer and the line to get tickets to get the beer. That's California for everything. And they may have their reasons for it, but it's things that need to be done during regular work hours, and also things that need to get done at different places. This means that you can take a day to get part of something done. Which is probably why they give you a month long temporary permit.
So I guess they compromise it somehow, but it still doesn't make it better.
Today, almost every job that happened went wrong. Dumb reasons like customers being stupid. Which it's alright; I can handle the situation. I just don't like being the one who handles all of them. It's that everytime something happens, I'm the one who takes the call. All the lines could be ringing, but the one I pick up will be a situation.
Argh!
Got distracted and now it's over ten minutes later and he's still sawing. At this point, I hope he sawed his head off.
I think that California sucks. Bureacracy is stupid in itself, but here, it's a whole new story. So much, in fact, that it could take a year for some stuff. It's fucking stupid.
Saw stopped. Maybe his wife came home.
Like that David Cross bit about the line for the beer and the line to get tickets to get the beer. That's California for everything. And they may have their reasons for it, but it's things that need to be done during regular work hours, and also things that need to get done at different places. This means that you can take a day to get part of something done. Which is probably why they give you a month long temporary permit.
So I guess they compromise it somehow, but it still doesn't make it better.
Today, almost every job that happened went wrong. Dumb reasons like customers being stupid. Which it's alright; I can handle the situation. I just don't like being the one who handles all of them. It's that everytime something happens, I'm the one who takes the call. All the lines could be ringing, but the one I pick up will be a situation.
Argh!
Jeesus!!
So this guy calls up to complain about something from a job a couple weeks ago. The initial situation starts like this: Our driver went to pick them up and along the way, the electrical goes out in the car so they're in complete darkness and no radio and air conditioning. Inconvenience: yes. Reconciling to take place: yes, definitely.
The next day, I talked to the driver who told me that the electrical did go out, but it was for an hour and he dropped them off and went to a store and got a tool and fixed it. Problem solved. But, he told me, they broke several glasses, and left the car a complete mess, and they were completely out of control. "One guy even fell and hit his head."
So I noted all that on the work order.
Back to the guy complaining. He feels that he shouldn't be charged that cleanup fee, and he should receive a discount. I told him, "Sir. I don't know what happened, but I see here in the notes about the electrical which was fixed after an hour. Passengers out of control. One person fell and hit his head. Broken glasses and car is a mess."
"I'm the one who fell and it wasn't even in the limo."
"I think they put that on here just to illustrate the condition of the passengers."
"I don't remember any broken glasses."
Alright. So we've a guy disputing the broken glasses fact and the messiness of the limo. A drunken guy who fell over and hit his head and his defense about it is, "I don't remember the broken glasses."
The next day, I talked to the driver who told me that the electrical did go out, but it was for an hour and he dropped them off and went to a store and got a tool and fixed it. Problem solved. But, he told me, they broke several glasses, and left the car a complete mess, and they were completely out of control. "One guy even fell and hit his head."
So I noted all that on the work order.
Back to the guy complaining. He feels that he shouldn't be charged that cleanup fee, and he should receive a discount. I told him, "Sir. I don't know what happened, but I see here in the notes about the electrical which was fixed after an hour. Passengers out of control. One person fell and hit his head. Broken glasses and car is a mess."
"I'm the one who fell and it wasn't even in the limo."
"I think they put that on here just to illustrate the condition of the passengers."
"I don't remember any broken glasses."
Alright. So we've a guy disputing the broken glasses fact and the messiness of the limo. A drunken guy who fell over and hit his head and his defense about it is, "I don't remember the broken glasses."
Here We Go
First call of the day asks if limos are allowed to park on the grass at the Rose Bowl. I tell him I don't know. I don't think so. Why don't you call the Rose Bowl and ask them.
Second call is, "I called and left a message last night and I still haven't gotten a call back."
Our office hours are 9am to 9pm. It's 9:18am when she calls me. If she left a message last night, that means that she called after the office closed. I hate people thinking that automatically we did something wrong for anything.
"What was this regarding?"
"I need a car tonight."
"Hold one second."
Place on hold while the two other lines light up. I take those and help them and come back to the first lady.
"Alright, sorry about that."
Very rudely, "What's the problem?"
Very sarcastic and slow, "Be-cause I had two other calls and I helped them quickly and now I'm able to help you!"
"Oh....," she tells me what she needs and I quote her a rate. She tells me that we did it for $45 last time. I look through her account and there are two other jobs. One from February and one from last August. None of which fits the description of the current run she's trying to set up. She tells me she's going to call another company. I tell her thank you. I also mentioned that even if we did something at a rate one time, obviously it was a special rate or our rates have gone up, or else I would've quoted her the same rate.
Second call is, "I called and left a message last night and I still haven't gotten a call back."
Our office hours are 9am to 9pm. It's 9:18am when she calls me. If she left a message last night, that means that she called after the office closed. I hate people thinking that automatically we did something wrong for anything.
"What was this regarding?"
"I need a car tonight."
"Hold one second."
Place on hold while the two other lines light up. I take those and help them and come back to the first lady.
"Alright, sorry about that."
Very rudely, "What's the problem?"
Very sarcastic and slow, "Be-cause I had two other calls and I helped them quickly and now I'm able to help you!"
"Oh....," she tells me what she needs and I quote her a rate. She tells me that we did it for $45 last time. I look through her account and there are two other jobs. One from February and one from last August. None of which fits the description of the current run she's trying to set up. She tells me she's going to call another company. I tell her thank you. I also mentioned that even if we did something at a rate one time, obviously it was a special rate or our rates have gone up, or else I would've quoted her the same rate.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Boo-ya!
Brian Wilson - Smile
It's going to be a wierd day today from what I can see. It's super slow here and we just lost a driver. He quit, he didn't die. Someone threw a pumpkin at one of the Hummer stretch limo and dented it. My boss thinks that it's someone with a vendetta towards our company personally. I told him that people do things like that all the time. He said that there were mercedes around and other nice cars. I told him that being me, if I were doing something like throwing pumpkins at cars and had an array of vehicles to choose from, one of them being a Hummer Stretch, I'd throw it at the Hummer.
It just reminded me of Drew in Omaha throwing snowballs at those things. Sean would be in Hell if Drew lived around here. "Two dollars!"
My car had to get smog checked yesterday. Now I have to get it registered. It's supposed to have been registered by yesterday. I hope they don't tow it.
El Scorcho!
It's going to be 81 degrees today. Yesterday was just as, if not more, ridiculous. It's already Fall. What's the deal?
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