The hunt for the Pandasquatch

All Spun up

2008-11-04T19:50:30Z

Hey all, quick update:

I'm finished certifying to do my job, so tomorrow will end up being my first real day on the job. So far the move to North Dakota hasn't been as smooth as planned, but i'm kind of getting used to the fast pace of the firehose mentality around here. I'm about 95 percent unpacked, just getting my bills in order, and i'm getting used to the weird daily schedules. For instance, imagine a 5 to 6 day work week.... i bet you thought of a week where you have saturday or sunday off... around here it could easily turn into a monday or thursday off. I picked up an exercise routine that requires 6 days of working out a week, so i have to adapt that to what i can actually do and somehow incorporate swimming my 2 miles a week in as well. Thanksgiving is coming up, i luckily have that day off, but i don't imagine anyone will be around, so i'll probably make a meal for 4 people and eat it myself. You know what's funny though is that i have been able to eat entire family size portions, i suppose that means i'll be a fatty if i don't start checking my portion sizes or working out a ton more.

Alright before i go i thought i'd bring up the things that keep me busy in my off time currently: 1. TV- heroes, the office, south park, and it's always sunny in philadelphia. 2. World of Warcraft- the new expansion comes out in a bit, so i have no idea why i'm playing at all really. 3. swimming, 2 miles is 64 laps or 128 lengths if you want to join in on the swimming fun, i swim a mile at a time.

Starting to think about Christmas time frame... no real wish list at the moment, though i am starting to save up money on the side to buy some new clothes, i've noticed my wardrobe is circa freshman year of college, faded, holy, shrunk, and out of date.

home again

2008-08-18T18:06:31Z

I'm asking you which I should be... then again i may throw a few more of these up here since they are so fun. Also check out www.faceyourmanga.com for the fun app thats sweeping the tech community

Create your own FACEinHOLE

I'll admit faceinhole sounds like a dirty site. its not... but if you think having the power to convert average ol me into gandalf is wayyy too much power, then perhaps you should avoid the site.
That is all.

Vegas and beyond

2008-08-13T09:47:01Z

Hey all,

Finished my training near the top of my class. I suppose it was a close race considering they can't hand out first place trophies to more than two people. Normally that many people don't do as well but we were hurt by the rounded down rule, 10 percent of 29 people = 2 awards instead of 3 because one dude dropped out. lame, but alas i'm used to not really being recognized. so i will focus on the next few weeks. mainly moving.

so I'll be in Vegas Saturday... maybe friday and saturday depending on how my move goes. i'll be rolling through colorado for almost a week... i suppose i should make some plans now. then i'll head up to my next base. so before i go i'll share my pic from Santa Monica, or my last trip to LA.

hooray for random obstacle courses/gymnastics rigs on the beach. Those rings out there are rough but fun to try.

okies, i'm heading to lunch then packing some more... maybe i'll keep some sort of travel log of my adventures. who knows.

Before I Go

2008-08-13T09:48:26Z

Alright folks i haven't updated in forever, and i apologize. Here's what's been keeping me busy:
1. Guess what, almost done with Initial Qualification Training, just one more test on Friday and about 5 more rides in the trainer and some evaluations of my job knowledge thus far.
2. With that comes the impending move on the horizon, ah yes, i'm heading for the plains of North Dakota, a state known for its proximity to Hawaii.
3. geeking it out on World of Warcraft. I know... shame shame, but its something to kill the time, something to unwind with at the end of the day, and there really isn't anything else you encounter in your day that can prepare you for a 12 year old calling you names... really WoW is it. I suppose I could play more Call of Duty 4 but I don't smoke weed, never say the N word, and heck I don't lay drunk as often as i would have to in order to be a good clan member.

So, With my last few weeks in California coming to an end i've had some time to think about what i want to get done. I was reminded of Dr. Pausch's speech and watched it again tonight, and aside from all of the wonderful things he taught the world, what i feel is applicable to me most in the next coming weeks is remembering my childhood dreams, what goals did i have, what did I want to accomplish, and most importantly what can I do right now.

At first I had a really hard time trying to remember what I really really wanted as a little kid. I remember that I eventually wanted to live in California and live the life of the people in the songs by bands coming out of the OC. Not the show mind you, I still haven't seen a single episode of that, I'm sticking to my guns that Skin was a better show. No, I'm talking about the bands that really made my childhood awesome like Green Day, No Doubt, and about 20 others. So now that I have lived in California I can say.... i have to be more specific when i dream about living in a state.

So what can I do now that I am here. Well I can think of one thing, I really want to meet my celebricrush from way way back Christine Lakin. Okay, maybe not meet her, but just go see what she's up to, like if she's in a play in LA i'll pay the 60 to 100 bucks to go see it, just to support her career. She's doing well from what IMDB tells me, so if I can't see her, it's not a huge deal, it's just one of those things where you put yourself in a position to be speechless in front of someone you admire. you have to do that once in a while.

Also, I have to try "Freebirds" cause Rich has been raving about it for like the last 6 months, and he does after all know California way better than me. So I have to hit Santa Barbara at least one more time. Hooray for Burritos.

Universal Studios... yeah i know my move is gonna cost a lot, but I think I deserve one big day in an amusement park just to have fun.

So I think these are all within reason, and if I can't meet them, who cares I'll have a good time trying. And if I absolutely can't i'll just put it on my to-do list on leave. I still wanna do the counter terrorism op training from amazing adventures. but thats 4000 dollars into the future.

If you have a suggestion, let me know... i'll keep trying to remember what I wanted from the world when i was young.

economic stimulus

2008-05-18T14:24:06Z

Quick rundown here folks. If you are like me, this week you're receiving a check from the gov't somewhere around the amount of 600 bucks. Now for the average citizen this is a chance to buy stuff you don't need that will only make you happy and distracted while all the bad financial issues in their lives pile on. So here's what i'm gonna say: Pay off your debt. It goes against the intent of the stimulus plan, but when all is said and done, you're not making the same amount you used to due to inflation, and that debt will still be there in a month.

you shouldn't have been counting on this money, so use it to help yourself out, not for a quick burst of happiness.

If you are debt free, throw the money in savings... or if you're good with investing, you probably wanna get some inflation protected bonds, or invest in things that tend to go up as the dollar goes down.

If you must spend it... spend it on christmas gifts. that's right, your christmas spending is typically 800 bucks, and stuff is in stock now. So go buy two wii's and you've got most of your christmas shopping done, no stress, no hassle. Come christmas, you'll be happier, less stressed, and the proud owner of one wii... because you're smart enough to sell the other for 500 so you can buy the rest of your xmas gifts.

that's all i got.

-Jeff

the death of the movie going experience

2008-05-17T22:55:39Z

What has happened to the American Cinematic Experience over the last ten years? I can't STAND going to movies anymore. If it wasn't due to the prices, the lack of quality movies, and the bad seats and sticky floors, it's now because of the people. People with phones, people who go to movies in big groups to now watch the movie but chat, the people who bring babies to rated R movies. I really could go into 5 pages worth of rant, but you know what i am done. I'm boycotting the movie theater experience. Not hard to do considering i have to drive half an hour to go see a movie. But here are my demands before i head back:

1. Charge more money per ticket. That's right, it goes against my logic in paragraph one right? Well here's the logic behind it. If my ticket costs 20 dollars, I know that kids can't pay to go see movies, and that it becomes a small investment. Which means if you're on a date, you just dropped 40 dollars, and you ought to be less inclined to sit and chat on your phone or text the whole movie. The second part of the logic is that if a theater can make more money, they can clean the floors and have better seats, and all sorts of advantages that make the movie experience unique.

2. Get Hollywood to stop making crap. well i might as well just vow to never see a movie again right? okay lets modify this. Get Hollywood to make LESS crap. i don't want to see sequels to every movie ever, I don't want to see remakes of things that made our childhoods unique. I want to see a great twist on original concepts. If the big guys out there would just take a few minutes to think before they approve half the movies they do, they would make more money, and they would be respected. Who approved the first incredible hulk? i don't care, fact is, right now they're starting from scratch because the franchise was so poorly done. Heck you're average movie goer won't go see the new one because they remember the last one. might as well call it "The Incredible Hulk: the good one".

Things I see impeding my trip to the theater: 1. bad movies, bad reviews, bad acting. 2. the availability of movies on DVD several months after being in theaters. It's sad that i have to weigh waiting 4 months against sitting in a theater surrounded by kids and cell phones... it's sadder that waiting for the DVD has been winning more and more. 3. The availability of movies from Asian countries that shall not be named. Hey, if I can get a quieter copy of your movie from out of country a week before it hits theaters here, i might think about taking it. Odds are the movie sucks anyway and i'm out the cost of a movie ticket. If it's a good movie, i'll buy a DVD copy several months later. 4. at the current prices of near 12 dollars to see a movie, i can pay for a month of entertainment from video games, i can eat 2 meals, i can do all sorts of things than see your movie. It costs me about 8 dollars to travel to the theater alone, and if we include having to buy a small popcorn and drink for another 8 bucks and a ticket for the date i'm out 40 something dollars. i'm fine with that... if i get to enjoy my theater experience... which i haven't the last few movies i have seen.

Alright, i think i got my thoughts out there. To summarize: the theater experience is pure crap nowadays for its price. Raise both and maybe i'll rethink going to see a movie, or heck keep the price the same and just regulate in the movie better (an usher wouldn't hurt now and then).

By the way, i liked Iron Man a lot. And i'd go see Prince Caspian, Dark Knight, and about 10 other movies this summer if it weren't for my boycott. I just can't take it anymore, i think i'm well past the point where i should have punched someone for talking on their phone. Not going anymore is the least i can do.

-Jeff (AMC Movie watcher, and visitor of United Artists, Carmike, Edwards, and others)

Huzzah!

2008-05-07T21:00:41Z

So I found out today i have a few entries on Technorati. I have no idea what level of cool that makes me, but i'm sure someone, somewhere is willing to cast a few nerd points in my direction. Building on that, I've slowly started building my following list on Twitter, the social what-is-he-up-to-now website that has about a billion ways to tell the world what you're doing in something around 100 characters or less. All it takes is one higher up person to follow me, and the new readers will trickle in. like pulling the lint off of the dryer lint catcher. once you get a little piece off the grating, the rest just comes right off. But now that i've bored you by bringing up dryer lint, let's talk about stuff going on:

1. My Xbox 360 repair box came in the mail today. i'll be sending that off tomorrow afternoon provided i'm released at a reasonable time.

2. I'm mildly sick, so this week has been not so great, but its slowly fading. I think i'm allergic to my job training binders as i can't stop sneezing around them. Or maybe i'm allergic to knowledge. that must be it, my brain is trying to escape. well i've got news for you brain... we're in this for the long haul.

3. I'm discovering a lot of cool random things online. One of the big things i've taken an interest to lately is remixing or just writing new music for the old school Nintendo Entertainment System. Something nostalgic and very settling about that music. As recently as today i discovered this guy who's dubbed himself the king of nerdcore, check him out at YTCracker. i'm sure you could look up a wikipedia page on the phenomenon that is nintendo music remixing.

4. on the homefront i'm thinking about buying a tea maker. My favorite site for teas is Adagio Teas because they have an enormous selection of teas, and pots, and cups, and brewers, and presents, it's just amazing. If you haven't tried a real green tea i suggest trying one of their sampler packs with 4 or so different teas.

5. I'll work on comic 2 as soon as I can, mainly as retaliation to that guy who won with a panda and technology. I still think i'm more original. and an earlier concept. and people love pandas and they fear sasquatches, surely they'll find humor in a panda with sasquatch tendencies. Pandasquatch. still makes me laugh every time.

6. Training: I'm making a lot of dumb mistakes like circling the wrong answer when i know the right answer. It's probably going to cost me if i don't stop it right now. Alas, i'm in the water, kicking and staying afloat. Just gotta keep it up so i can move outta the apartment, and to the middle of nowhere.

that's all i got folks... except for a heads up to something you might wanna do on your own free time.
Do you like T-shirts? of course you do, the other letter shirts aren't as comfy and welcoming. Do you like to draw, or design things that look good on T-Shirts? Yes... Well then do i have something cool for you to see. It's called Shirt.Woot.Com and every day they pick one artist's design and throw it on a t-shirt. They only sell THAT T-shirt for an entire day, or until their supplies run out. Not only will you get internet famous for being part of the woot legacy, but they also cut you a check for your awesomeness. So even if you don't have the best designs, come up with a clever catch phrase, put it in a colorful font, and submit to the guys at Woot.com

For you drunkards in the crowd, there is always wine.woot.com but i'm not going to be called an enabler... your computer mouse and keyboard are the enabler. i'm just the passive information in the nebulous cloud of the internet.

so says I. you can say it too if you want. but only for a dollar.

-Jeff
feel free to write jeff@pandasquatch.com

What I do for a living

2008-05-06T20:11:01Z

Here's a little look at the USAF Missileer's job. now you know. and knowing is half the battle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/24482119#24482119

Grand Theft Auto 4 or Paperweight?

2008-05-04T09:56:20Z

So, yesterday my Grand theft auto 4 started freezing, and i suppose i'm so used to junk like that happening on the pc and the occasional xbox 360 hiccup that i didn't pay much attention to it. Heck all machines have their bad moments. But then it froze again, only about 5 minutes into what i was doing, the system wouldn't respond to anything short of powering it down.

I went to the forums to see if there was a fix for the game coming. apparently it was due two days ago but Rockstar games hasn't figured out what's going on. I'll give them a hint, severe memory issues. but i suppose they already knew that. So next best solution was to switch games, because i was playing other games before this newfangled thefting of autos game came out. About 5 minutes into those games the system would lockup as well. i could do anything i wanted in dashboard, but no matter what i did, DVD, game, etc... within 5 minutes it would freeze and i'd hate life a bit more.

Then i went to xbox support, and they said to clear the memory i had to insert 3 different game discs. Which at that point i had just inserted my third. So i gave a 4th a try. Yayyyy it worked, and i watched 2 movies with no problem. But this morning feeling so confident, and admittedly it was a retarded move to make, i decided to give GTA 4 a try again. And within 3 minutes, the system locked up in a freeze, and the infamous red ring of death occurred. Powering down had no effect, changing discs had no effect, praying to the xbox gods, no effect.

So that means i get to try xbox support/repair out for real this time. The process to get my xbox repaired seems fairly simple and my xbox is still under warranty... i only bought it about a year ago as my graduation gift to myself from the US Air Force Academy. The best thing about buying this xbox was that it came in a military appreciation pack and it came with a lot of cool stuff. Someone at Xbox is the coolest dude ever. And so hopefully, that guy who created the military appreciation pack is good friends with someone in repair, and they'll help me out quickly and efficiently, so i can give them bigger customer loyalty. I really don't want to get a PS3 yet. i like my xbox.

Also, hopefully someone at xbox is chewing someone at rockstar out for putting out a game with such a huge flaw. I mean yeah not everyone is having the freezing problem, and for certain i am but one of only a few Red Rings as a result, but still if this issue is across all platforms, someone in QA needs to be beaten with a copy of GTA 4, because for those of us that can't play the 60 dollar game, it might as well be used as a weapon... or a paperweight.

-Jeff

Dos De Mayo

2008-05-02T21:09:43Z

Hey all, my birthday was just another day in my world, nothin too fun cause we had a test on Thursday morning. Speaking of that, after all my tests were said and done, i graduated today with a 98% academic achievement. which given the context of how everything worked out was really hard to do, but at the same time shouldn't have ben as hard as it was. Either way i'm done with that portion of my training and moving on to my specific weapon system on monday. awesome times ahead. Finally, i thought i'd leave you guys with a video of a "toy" that you know you would all buy given the opportunity. If this style of gameplay doesn't suit your needs, you could always check out the 301 version with mario kart for the SNES.

Enjoy... im working my way through level 62 in WoW and i'm about 2 hours into GTA IV, or Grand Theft Auto 4 for you non acronym lovers.

Also catch me on pownce and twitter. Pownce is used for daily updates with bigger media files like the one above, and Twitter is more of a where am i and what am i doing right now application. both free, both waiting for you to join.

add me: www.twitter.com/crossmenjeff and www.pownce.com/crossmenjeff

and to the guy who created pandatalkstech.com wtf dude? i hope you wear a panda costume when you vidcast and don't just take ideas for fun. This is why my concept is half panda half sasquatch, a step ahead of the generic panda. enjoy your free year of godaddy service, your thousands of new visitors thanks to patrick and veronica.

The fork in the road

2008-04-27T16:39:53Z

Well folks, i've hit that fork in the road i've been waiting for. well i suppose its more of a fork off a fork. and the more you read the more you'll notice this is like a cheap plastic fork where prongs just break off when you try to eat and all you can do is laugh and use the mutated plastic mini pitchfork that results. Here is whats happened career wise in the last 2 weeks:

1. We received notification of what possible job openings were available around the world. Turns out not a whole lot, so we were given 3 choices, all of them in the career field not many people get too excited about, but hey a job is better than no job right.
2. a week later we find out due to some manning issues our 3 choices became 2. not only that, but the popular choice with the most openings was the one to disappear.
3. of the two choices i didn't get the one i wanted. My philosophy was plan for the "worst" (even though it won't be that bad... i hope), and hope for the "best" which was really my backup if i ended up not getting the one i wanted.

So, as I move on through the summer i'll be preparing for my move to the Northern United States. I'm definitely going to visit Canada, just cause its so friggin close. Hopefully, the rent isn't too bad and i get a lot of house for my money. after all i'm paying a grand a month for a 2 br apartment in Cali right now, it should only be about 600 in the middle of nowhere.

The best news of all of this is that i have some stability built in now. I can A. know what my job is, B. Actually know where i'm going to be doing my job, C. prepare for auxiliary activities, like getting a master's degree or bugging Chipotle enough that they actually build a store out at my next base.

Other updates in my life. My birthday is coming up, i sense someone is planning a small event, nothing too big, but i'm not really one for big events anyway. I figure as long as a copy of Cloverfield finds its way to me i'll be happy.

Also, just hit lvl 61 with the help of Frigi, getting close to 62.

Finally, i'm on pownce, and as of about 2 hours ago i'm on Twitter. So if being updated once a month wasn't good enough for you, you can visit my pownce account and see what i'm up to today, and if for whatever reason you care about what i'm doing this very instant, then by all means add me on Twitter.

April Update

2008-04-08T19:49:59Z

Well folks, I don't update enough. Reason 1.... I'm in school and we have a test pretty much every day which requires memorizing 15 to 45 pages of material every night. Up until this week i've been keeping my 99 and then some percent average going, but this last week i've missed enough questions to bring that average to about a 96, which sounds good but it means i failed a few of the minitests. So I need to study harder for the big tests that are weekly.
Reason 2: In case you haven't heard the last two weeks i've had a very unpleasant case of what I guesstimated to be Tonsillitis, but which turned out to be a "severe case" of Laryngitis. Which means i don't eat so much and i don't drink so much. Now thanks to some happy meds i can eat, and i can drink, but if any of you know how these meds actually work, you know that i might as well not be doing either.

Reason 3: Pownce. That's right i skip using my own site to do miniupdates on another website. Support your friends i say and support them i do. www.pownce.com/crossmenjeff is where you can find my internet findings and quick updates. things like... Turtle Man.

Alrighty so i'm heading back to study. If you want to see more content i (and my sponsors) need to see you care, so click on any of the ads below to help me out a bit.

Podcast theme, or possible gateway back into Audio Engineering?

2008-03-24T20:41:25Z

Alright Folks. It ain't pretty, heck i wouldn't even call it a podcast, but iTunes wants to, so we'll let it be.. Anyway I created a fun little 1 minute clip of a work in progress that I wanted to share with you all. Sure its like when Ross showed his friends his master work on that episode of friends, but hey i like it so far and its far from being done. I might actually remove the Bond-like theme and just use it as the intro for my normal podcast. Me? Popular enough to draw listeners? who knew. Anyway, I gotta get back to studying. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I'm collecting points on these Tests like they were achievement points in some horrible horrible space related xbox game. Week 1 of training finishes tomorrow, and then only 6 more, and then some more.... really its true that it never ends. Wish me luck. Click below for the 58 second sample, just press play.

quick updates

2008-03-21T14:58:29Z

Trying to get our other author to post. but mainly we do all our quick updates on Pownce. that's www.pownce.com
my link is www.pownce.com/crossmenjeff and our other author will post hers when she feels comfortable.

aside from that watch what my friend drew while he was in Bama

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7978890905274100535

Comic 1

2008-03-06T21:04:52Z

So I've been working in my limited free time on a comic. Between the technology involved and the lack of manhours available to accomplish this feat I don't have the number one comic on the web. But with practice, experience, and time i'm sure i'll be number 5 or 6. For right now, I just hope you laugh.... just a little.

Gas? really?

2008-03-04T23:00:21Z

So i was reading through the book "The Coming Economic Collapse" by Dr. Stephen Leeb which was written about two years ago and the predictions he had on oil prices and the absolute collapse of world economies, specifically our own were quite frightening. He makes it very clear he hopes he is dead wrong, but unfortunately all of the signs back in early 2006 and before that were pointing towards some negative trends in our future. He argued that the then 35 dollar a barrell oil would easily hit 100 dollars a barrel before 2010, but was unsure of whether it would reach its 200 dollar a barrel potential. He argues as well that the tech bubble burst of the 90's would be nothing compared to what would happen if situation a, b, and c were to happen.

What scared me most about the book was the accuracy so far, the things that saved us in the 90's from economic catastrophe can not work again, because its just not feasible. The housing market issues combined with a plethora of outside forces, not even addressing the possibility that on any given day a country may notice that their oil supply is running lower than they predicted and cause global panic, would lead to some pretty unpleasant times for your average joe american. How bad could it get? well you have to read the book, honestly some of the talk is above my head, but the fact that the oil companies basically shunned this PhD because of their disbelief that oil would ever go beyond 40 dollars a barrel, let alone hit 100 dollars a barrel 2 years before his predictions, is enough to convince me that maybe i need to prepare for some drastic financial times ahead for us. 1. I'm starting to save and invest more.... i know the solution the government wants is for us to spend more.... but that sounds really really dumb to me, and if thats the best solution they've got, then perhaps its time to board the life rafts. 2. The interest rate versus inflation issue.... they can only do so much to adjust this before its out of their hands, and i don't believe its an issue that can be cured within a year or two, i think we have to roadmap 10 or so years to figure out what we need to do to get back on track individually and nationally. If inflation starts to rise... people, you're going to want to have some stuff stockpiled.... and you're going to want to have extra income set aside to help you alleviate stress as the cost of your minimum standard of living costs slowly rise. An upside, probably even a biased side of the book is that the author speaks to what the normal person can do to actually protect their current investments and make lots of money while everyone else heads to breadlines. Take his advice with a grain of salt if you want to, but I just noticed some things today i'm not pleased with.

Gas is now about 3.75 a gallon here... i filled up 2 weeks ago and it was 3.15, i have no idea whats up, but memorial day is coming up and i'm guessing 4 bucks a gallon is gonna be here wayyyy before that. Also prices for my favorite foods are slowly rising, not o mention that beef recall nearly doubled the price i pay for beef out here. Because the interest rate is as low as it is now, i checked to see if i could throw some money into a CD and hopefully beat inflation... too late, that bus has sailed.... a sail bus if you will. I can get 2% on a CD from my bank, last i checked my savings account almost matches that, and inflation is well over 3%. I'd be losing money either case.... so i'm feeling a little worried. sensationalized by the media "covering" the issue, probably, but i thought the above picture covered my thoughts best. If I saw gas that cheap i'd be right there with that plane.

Alright, thanks for checking in, this week i'm proud to announce we have a new contributor Dana. She'll hopefully be submitting her thoughts and poems and stories as time goes on. Also PandaSquatch comic 1 is under production, i have the sketches in the computer i just have to "ink" and color the thing, throw a few chat bubbles and party when it releases. Alright now to the ads that pay for this site... check them out so this site can keep going for free, possibly even grow as a result.

Portal

2008-02-27T23:41:56Z

So I'm working on getting the audio portion of this site up. I have a couple of people interested in content generation. After some tests and screening i'll pick one or two. I thought i'd throw up the song "Still Alive" to see if it's possible to embed a youtube vid here. Also to let you all know i'm still alive and that Portal is a great game.

World of Warcraft

2008-02-25T19:48:51Z

here's my link

Jeff on Executus

and with permission i'll link to whoever else wants to be linked

Furniture arrives tomorrow. Heading to SF this weekend. No other new news.

profiles in companies that suck 2

2008-02-19T14:10:40Z

In another fine example of a company wasting my time and not caring at all about how much a customer spends at their fine institution i bring you Weatherby's Fine Furniture. Let's start the wayback machine and go to a simpler time... three weeks ago. I picked out some furniture to furnish my apartment, now first of all i was ignored by all sales people right off the bat. forgive me for being a young person, i still have money though, and since you people feed off it with those prices you could have shown a little courtesy. Now, after I picked what i wanted, i saw the prices. I figured that the prices were because they were doing an inventory reduction of some sort, so i figured i'd get the floor model since "Last one left" seemed to be their motto. To my surprise, that's all just a gimmick and they have to get the inventory from a store far far away. And because I too lived in a city that was not their own i would have to wait until Tuesday when they could deliver it. But not that tuesday, not even the one coming up after it, I'd have to wait almost 3 weeks to get my furniture. Since i'm so patient i said okay fine, and a lady beside me from the same city decided she needed hers not only quicker but at a certain time. She too conceded to the argument that their people work on their own schedule so fuck the customer.

So one Tuesday goes by, i'm cool. wasn't expecting anything. sure would be nice to sit on something in my living room. The delivery Tuesday is today... no phone call. mind you i have to ask for permission to take the afternoons off and the boss likes a couple days leeway, and it sort of hurts your average persons paycheck when they miss half a day. So I call them up, i ask when i should be expecting my furniture this afternoon, i get hung up on. Honest mistake i hope, seemed kind of rude though, so i called again and this time they found my order. turns out it just arrived there today and because their delivery guys like to only make one trip... because otherwise they'd be doing their job... i have to wait until next Tuesday. Which means another half day off. Thats one full day off in 2 weeks. Now for you 10 dollar an hour types thats roughly 100 bucks you'll never see. All because Juanito didn't want to drive his ass back the 20 minutes he came and get my furniture. So sorry to inconvenience you they tell me. My job is far more important than furniture salesman or delivery men, so its no surprise they'd take any chance they'd get to give me a swift kick in the nuts whether in store or out .

Thanks for keeping me out of the loop Weatherby's. I'll be sure to return the favor in the future. I'll sit patiently, wait another week for my stuff. take another half day off. I wouldn't be upset if they told me up front, 3 tuesdays from now. I would much rather hear the Absolute delivery date as opposed to, be home every tuesday till it gets there. Oh well... just another case of bad service, yeah it could be worse, but why should that be the fallback argument?

Leave me a comment, submit your company that sucks story. Have troubles with comcast? have troubles with apple? let's hear your story.

-Jeff

Profiles in companies that suck

2008-02-18T14:04:43Z

So, i'm one of the more patient travelers these days. I don't wear a belt, i keep all metal nicely organized in my bag, i don't make sudden movements, i tip the people checking my bags, cause hey it says to for some reason...i guess they don't get a paycheck to do their one and only job, i even show up 2 hours early like i'm supposed to, and i smile and greet the security personnel as if i give a crap about how they are feeling. I try to make the process of me getting somewhere as smooth as possible. And the process is horrible. Despite the numerous security loopholes i've encountered all over the country, i've bit my tongue and just got in the security checkpoint lines like any good cow going to the slaughter. Yeah that's right, there's a loophole there. when the lines at the security checkpoint are several hundred people long, it would be extremely easy to take out more people before you ever see a security guard than you ever could on a plane. and heck its so visible i'm sure you would have some auxiliary incidents surrounding the area. But that's not what i'm complaining about today, though i'm sure i'm on someone's watch list now for thinking the obvious... and i'm sure most of you have thought the same too, and if you haven't then try not to, you'd be scared at how vulnerable we all are in reality even though we throw a ton of money at our supposed security. Today, I'm complaining about United Airlines specifically. I'm taking a potshot at them because i trusted them to make things smooth this trip, and obviously i was retarded, or it is quite possible that the bar for customer service these days is so low across the board that they might still be the cream of the crop... or king of the dung heap as i was once heard.

Remember that the dress code for flying used to be business casual? i stood out like a sore thumb showing up in that... that's partially the fault of your normal travelers i suppose, but still i think the airline industry has adapted their service to the lower standard instead of encouraging the higher standard. it's not hard to wear a pair of slacks for a couple hours. heck putting on a nice shirt actually encourages you to shower and use deodorant before getting on your flight. i'm talking to you 400 lb stinky guy... how you get away with only paying for one ticket and not having to be checked yourself is beyond me... but i guess the airlines have to be nice to you even though you don't seem to be nice to any food that comes into your line of sight...

but let's get to the problems i experienced in my 4 flights (1 roundtrip with a transfer each way). Out of four flights, there were 3 delays. 1 was so crappy that they told me my luggage would be on the next plane out, i wouldn't, and the flight i was supposed to be on was going to get cancelled. Therefore my bag would be somewhere else, i would be stuck there, and would miss all the stuff i had planned for that evening. Why the fuck travel if i'm not going to get there to do the shit i wanted to? And i'm a cautious traveler too, i fully expect the airlines to fuck up. like i said i show up two hours before i am expected to get on a flight. a flight which i book for way too early because i expect it do get delayed, and one that i don't plan anything after landing because i know it takes another half hour to get my luggage, find a car (oh i can smell a future rant on rental cars... actually i got that rant on the flight i got standby'd on from a fellow passenger... he was a nice guy), and then find some way to not get extorted of more money before i leave the airport. So i somehow talked my way onto the plane my luggage was on. so if my flight was actually cancelled, i'm sorry to all of you that got stuck at the airport overnight... there were probably about 40 of you left. overnight? yeah my flight was scheduled for early afternoon and people were being told that they'd be stuck overnight. With the more than 2 hour delay i missed everything i had planned for Friday. No compensation... just lots of time stuck at the airport forced to purchase over priced food and drink and schwag because the terrorists are going to be killing us with food and drink packages and so its only fair that we pay double the actual price outside the airport for the food inside the airport. Yay security! Then right outside the gate, there are people trying to extort more money from us.... you've seen em, the people peddling the united airlines credit card bullshit blankets and t shirts, like you wanna advertise their crappy company and get royally screwed through credit card fees in exchange for a blanket you can use on their flights. luckily most college students have figured out at football games that you can put any crap on their you want and still get the gear... which is great if you have a winning team, and also great if you get the idea in your head that burning a united blanket in front of hundreds of people crosses your mind... you know up until the fact that you have nothing that could possibly start a fire crosses your mind. you'd get two chopsticks and rub those together but they charge 2 dollars for those at the chinese food restaurant a mile down the terminal. So you sit down... hungry.... angry.... frustrated.... and with a smile on your face, cause the baddies win if you give into your evil urges and show your disdain for the process that is getting from point a to point b. It actually ended up being quicker for me to drive to my next location that it was for me to fly... and very much cheaper as well, but it wasn't nearly so when i planned the trip out. I heard my name called to the podium, "yay" i thought. Only when i got to the podium the lady was preoccupied with another woman who didn't have a ticket for this specific flight, but didn't speak a word of english, yay mexico!, and who also had two friends who DID have tickets for this flight...not just a standby like moi, who just loved to explain how she should get on the plane because they knew each other. That's fine by me, if you are in a group, by all means, you should be allowed to travel together. But rationalizing this through the use of a ticket that proves other wise, speaking in a different language, and not conceding once proven wrong, thus making the plane even later, holding up the line, and making several more people furious about everything from airports, to non-english speaking travelers (met some germans too, they were actually nice as well, so i'm not anti foreigner... my disdain for the latino side has grown inch by inch because of the people that live above me.... 8 people in a small 2 bedroom apartment and not one of them grasps the concept of their stomping, music, yelling, and trash in their backyard making my life increasingly miserable, but i'll still wear that smile in public, heck i even learned the language to accomodate y'all. just like i learned italian when i visited italy, so as to not be the friggin person who holds up lines at an airport, or a restaurant, or a theater, or a museum, or anywhere). eventually, the united worker conceded and let the woman take my seat on the plane. yay. which meant that i shouldn't have been on the plane i somehow got on. how did i get to stay on, basically the other guy who was supposed to get the last seat and i calmly and with respect and reason said who would get the last seat. which is scenario that shouldn't have happened in the first place but someone fucked up on united's end. either way i got to my destination... several hours late, missing all appointments and plans i had, and pretty much having wasted my friday.

Let's talk about delay number two... when you break one of the few rules on an airline like tampering with the smoke detectors, raising your voice above a whisper, or having the last name of mohammed (poor fellows, i heard several planes leave without those passengers, i'm sure they were nice people that just got stereotyped and got held up by security, their story may never be told because then the airlines will have reason to stop them from flying. ) it becomes a federal matter. Due to existing laws though, no details are given to the passengers waiting to board the flight you drag the offender, whoever it is, off of a plane. just a nice little delayed sign, and several vague jokes when you actually get to board the plane. Delay number 3 wasn't so bad, the worst part of that flight was that they managed to lose my luggage somewhere, and i stood at that carousel waiting until the guy said i'd have to fill out some form and it would be delivered to me eventually. well specificaly he said 11 am, i said sarcastically more like 3 pm, he said no, 11. i laughed and came home in the middle of the night.

I wake up this morning to a phone call that said i had not filled out their form completely, though i had, and even better its funny because they said i had neglected to put which apartment i was in. odd, cause that was the one thing i made sure to do on the missing form, and the one thing i made sure to do on my luggage tag. Either way, because of this they told me i would have to wait at my house an additional 4 hours and would receive my luggage around 3 pm. I somehow won the argument from the night before... in your face luggage guy!

so the lessons i have learned from this weekend trip include: don't be a foreigner, don't make plans on your travel days (if you leave on a saturday and return on sunday, just don't go on your trip), security is an easily exploitable load of bullshit, you won't get to where you are going with everything you left with, people on flights are very very patient, and we pay way too much for the way we get treated from point a to point b. that being said, i'm no longer flying United. This isn't the only bad trip i've had with them, but it sort of says something about how bad it is that instead of talking about the day i got to spend with my friend i'm talking about the other 2 days i spent traveling the 700 miles home and back. maybe i'll get around to the fun i had tomorrow. Until then i want to know what your Airline experiences have been like. Do you have a company you always use that is fairly reliable? Rumor is Virgin America is doing rounds on the route i'd like to take.

Tell me your story, complain, argue with me, i'd like to see where you stand on current airline travel.