Customers Suck

Okay, I understand people find the holiday season stressful. I also understand that people find the prospect of being snowed in stressful.

However, this does not mean you can throw a shopping basket at me when I tell you that the Transformers DVD that is on sale today (or, rather, Saturday when this happened) will not be on sale tomorrow, even if you put it on hold at guest services.

Yes, I’m serious. A “guest” threw a shopping basket at me because he was supposedly freaking out whilst trying to find provisions, but apparently had enough time to pick out a Transformers DVD set.

Everybody is freaking out because they think they’re going to lose power. Everybody is foraging for food. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.

After I told him he wouldn’t get the sales price, he started going off and spewing a bunch of nonsensical bullshit:

1. “I’ve been living here for 30 years and…” (So what? My store hasn’t even been there for 35 years.)
2. “I’m ex-military and…” (Is that a threat?)
3. “I’ve been to three stores trying to get provisions and I don’t need this right now!” (Dude, you’re buying ping pong balls. How is that helping your search?)

Then he threw the basket at me. I backed up into the corner of my little register section and he began yelling at me to not freak out on him because he “doesn’t need this right now.”

I informed him he couldn’t attack me and that pissed him off. He said he wasn’t attacking me, to get better customer service skills, and that his generation had to deal with “it” and so I have to as well.

Excuse me? Your generation wasn’t typically known for throwing things at shop girls.

After I give him his receipt and run away, I get sort of freaked out. When someone’s in my face, I don’t really back down. I finally found my manager, who I normally hate, and she went over with security and kicked him out of the store.

This is where it got interesting: He started rambling about being ex-military and war and some incident in Germany and whatnot.

Here’s the thing: he was only about 35, max. There is no way he was ever in a war in Germany. And again I say, so what? What does Germany have to do with throwing a basket at me?

Bastard.

Suffocating is Not Conducive to a Good Night of Sleep

So, I’ve been deathly sick. The cold from hell, to be exact.

Drowning in mucus isn’t a fun way to wake up.

I rarely get colds any more, but when I do I seem to get them for longer and far worse than anyone else who has it. I just get completely wiped out for a week, at least, and generally feel like shit for another week after that.

Worst bit is right now I have a paper route that has me running about and I’m in the middle of looking for another job.

On another note, I’m having a love affair with Nyquil right now.

In gelcap form. I have a general rule to never take anything in syrup form that I could just as easily take as a pill.

Except amoxicillin in pink liquid form. The stuff that they give you when you have ear infections as a kid? That stuff tastes good.

Things on the Brain: Zombies (and Other Stuff)

I’ve been thinking about two things a lot lately.

Number one is I need to get another job. Preferably two more.

In early October I decided to drop my classes at Seattle Central–where I was attending until I transfer to an in-state university due to money–to take care of my mother and earn money for tuition.

Right now I’m just delivering newspapers which, quite frankly, pays shit. I have limited work experience because I was focusing on school and my family before, but now I need a few part-time jobs. The next couple weeks will consist of me applying everywhere that happens to be hiring.

I’m hoping to get one with medical, dental, and optical insurance because I definitely need all three. The fact that I could get really sick at any moment and be totally screwed without insurance scares the hell out of me. Who thought universal health care was a bad idea again?

I’ve also been thinking about zombie attacks and how to escape when one inevitably happens. I have a mental list of things to keep in mind when zombies attack (though a lot of points could go for Maoist rebels or something as well as zombies). Perhaps I’ll make how to guide out of it soon.

Excuse Me, I’m Off to Mourn the Loss of My Baby

On Monday, for the first time ever since I got my sexy MacBook Pro a year and a half ago, I drank something next to it. I didn’t even think of it. I was sick as hell, my head felt cloudy, I couldn’t breathe, and I just needed some sort of beverage.

Said beverage turned out to me milk.

Milk that turned out to be very bad for my computer. Particularly when I didn’t turn it off right away because my cold-medicine-induced stupor made me, well, rather effing stupid. I’m not even computer illiterate. I just wasn’t thinking.

Very, very, very expensive mistake. Expensive mistake that made me cry. Very expensive mistake that made my keyboard act as if it was possessed by Samara¹.

My dad fixes computers for a living. Spilling milk on it voided my warranty anyway (any problems it has can be blamed on aforementioned evil milk) so he popped it open, cleaned it out, cleaned under the trackpad, tried everything.

Keyboard is fried, trackpad is done for, has massive start-up issues (hit the button, wait for a minute before it makes any indication it’s going to start up at all — and sometimes it doesn’t start up at all) and won’t stay in sleep mode properly.

So today I go to the Apple Store at the mall because 1) I need an external keyboard² for now and 2) I’m applying for a job at another store in the mall. I asked for a quote on what a repair would cost.

Turns out said repair would cost about $1,200 USD. When I could just get a brand new iMac or MacBook with 2 GB of RAM, 2.16 GHz processor, and 160 GB of space (as opposed to my current 1 GB of RAM, 2.0 GHz processor, and 100 GB of space) with about the same amount of money with my student discount.

The thought of spending that much money on an item after only a year and a half of having my MacBook Pro makes me want to cry even more. I was planning on having this computer for several more years. I love this computer–I don’t want a new one! This one is the perfect size, sleek, sexy, and exactly what I need. But I’m definitely not putting up the cash for a brand new one either. I’ll live with a new MacBook despite my dislike of glossy screens, assuming I get this job. I’m probably going to wait until Leopard comes out to buy it to save myself US$119 (again, with student discount).

Hey, whatever computer I get it will always be better than what I had before my current love–a third-hand 400 MHz Dell laptop with broken hinges, 256 MB of RAM, and a 20 GB hard drive that only ran when I got it into the mood.

1. Well, perhaps not as much as that one time on a very, very old Dell laptop I had where I was typing and then everything was inserted backwards (siht ekil tsuj) and my then-girlfriend did not help with my fear that I was going to die in seven days. Have I ever mentioned that I went to a Christian summer camp where part of The Ring was filmed? And I’ve been in the cabin? ↩
2. Turns out it’s very difficult to do anything on your computer when 1) you cannot type and 2) it’s in various naked pieces. ↩

Contact. RSS Feed.