Thursday Rant: Being Late

Running late for the airport... ahhhh!!! Ok so I know it's a day late for my Thursday rant. We went flying on a jet plane yesterday to visit our families in Michigan. It was a long day of travel on only an hour of sleep and no real nap for Mister. But we're here!

Also, this will be the only post until we get back. No Thursday rant next week either. Yes I have my laptop and I know other bloggers post while on vacation but I'm just not that hard core.

See you next week

What Weekend?

What a busy weekend. And it’s only 9am on Saturday. The dog made it to the groomer, I made it to the produce market, the commissary and Wal-Mart (I hate that store). My hair got cut, the laundry is completely caught up (folded and put away too!), but there is still so much left to do.

As I type I am on call for the hospital and then Mister is going to a photo shoot. That’s right, he’s officially a model! Ok, maybe not so officially, it’s not a paid gig. But it is for a very real catalog done by a very real professional photographer who also happens to be my brother-in-law. He called last night and said he needed a kid for a bicycle ad. I hope it’s not a disaster.

Thursday Rant: Dog Groomers (the long story)

I had an appointment for my dog at the groomer this morning at 9:00am. I also had other appointments and errands that HAD to get done today. I changed one of my other appointments to accommodate the groomer. I had my whole day planned out to maximize efficiency while toting around a 2 year old.

I got to the groomer right on time and mentioned that he needed to be muzzled for the nail trim because he hates it. Last time they didn’t even do his nails because he got snarly. So she pulls my file card and there is a big yellow sticky note on it. “Yes, I wrote down that he was a problem last time. Actually, he was a problem the whole time.” Really? Because last time you told me he was fine for the bath and brush, just the nails were a problem. “Ok, if you need to then just muzzle him for the whole thing.”

She basically told me that he was just too difficult and refused to groom him. At all. I understand the liability and blah blah blah but she wouldn’t even TRY to muzzle him, or let me muzzle him. So I told her I really wish someone would have told me that on the phone when I made my appointment. I’m seriously limited on time since we are going out of town next week and he needs to be groomed before going to the dog sitter. TODAY was when I had time for this. I had a schedule, remember?

“Oh you don’t have an appointment.” What? Yes. I called last week and made an appointment for 9:00am. “Oh I guess I forgot to write it down.” So if someone had been paying attention and pulled my card on the phone I would have had time to call around to other places and go somewhere else. Instead you lead me to believe everything was fine until I showed up this morning and now I’m stuck.

I left beyond pissed off, loaded the dog and Mister back into the truck (not an easy task) and went to Petco down the street. I hate them but I figured they could get him in on short notice. Yes, but they need a copy of his rabies vaccine. Called the old vet, no answer. I went home to get it, can’t find it. I called the vet, he’s past due by 2 months. Arg! Called a local vet and made an appointment for a rabies shot for tomorrow morning. Called Petco, they need 48 hours after the shot before they’ll see him. I DON’T HAVE 48 HOURS. I have today and tomorrow to get a bazillion things done and now Im ADDING a vet visit.

No time now, I’ve got to get Mister to the sitter’s house so I can make my hair appointment. In the end I found a completely new groomer that I’ve never been to and have no real reviews for. But they are reasonably priced, they don’t require a vaccine and they can get me in tomorrow morning. Plus, they are right next to two other stores that are on my list. Winner.

Thursday Rant: Customer Service Representatives

First of all, when I call your customer service number it’s because I need customer service. Not because I want to listen to your list of prompts. Obviously I need assistance or I wouldn’t have called so, yes, I would like to speak to a representative. Can’t that just be prompt 1 instead of listening to 8,736 other options and then pressing zero?

I recently purchased an item online and was waiting by the door for the UPS man (who is terrified of my dog and always says “I’ll just leave it right here,” leaves it on the front porch and runs back to his truck). I opened the package full of giddy anticipation and was quickly shot through the heart when I saw that they had shipped the wrong item.

To the store I went to return the item. Apologies were made, a refund for the total including shipping was given, and since the online price was less than the in-store price I even got a raincheck. Great. Skipping some details because it’s not part of my rant I could not get the item in-store. As it turns out the item number doesn’t match the item pictured online. So how do I get the one pictured? Call customer service.

I called and was assured that they had been notified (who is ‘they’?) and the error was corrected. “Go ahead and order the item again, Ma’am.” Are you sure? Because I’m looking at it online right now and the item pictured (that I want) still has the same item number that it did before (wrong). Again, I was told that it was fine. I had my doubts about this representative and was convinced he didn’t understand my problem. I tried asking my questions several different ways and he kept telling me that if I placed a new order I would get the item pictured.

Order placed.

A week of anxiety goes by.

UPS Man!! “I’ll leave it right here for ya.”

I could not open that package fast enough. What do ya know, it’s the same stinking WRONG ITEM that they sent the FIRST time.

I’m completely convinced that the customer service representative that I talked to really had no interest in helping me. He didn’t care about my problem or it’s resolution and probably just made up the whole thing about the issue being resolved. Clearly it wasn’t. All he did was look at the same web page that I was looking at and said “yep, you’re good.” Please tell me how much you get paid because that sounds like a pretty easy job that I should consider.

They're Heeeeerrrrrreeeee!

My sister comes into town today!! She has this weird tradition where she brings each of her kids (she has 4) out to California when they turn 14. Why 14? Who knows. It’s not a milestone. I think she just had an idea to come visit our dad aka grandpa when her oldest was 14 and then it “wasn’t fair” according to each of her other children. So the tradition began.

This year her youngest son turns 14, man that makes me feel old. They fly in today and will be staying at my dad’s house for a week. Unfortunately I have to work every single day that she is here. I couldn’t afford to take any more time off since we will be going back to Michigan in 2 weeks. I’m excited for them to be here but sad that I won’t get to spend much time with them.

Enjoy Your Milk

It’s a small but significant life lesson: Enjoy your milk.

I recently attended a class at work based on the book Crucial Conversations (Kerry Patterson, et al). It seems like we always have some sort of education or training seminar to go to. Usually it’s annoying and there are never any snacks. My employer really does make a good effort, though, to make sure that the company’s standards of excellence for patient care are never compromised. This particular class was actually interesting.

It was taught by one of our staff psychologists and she was a ball of hilarity and entertainment while also informative. At one point in her presentation she drew a line on the white board with three ‘Xs’ on it. She wrote her birth day on the first one, the current date on the middle one, and a question mark on the third one. You see where I’m going with this.

Her whole point was that you have no idea what to write on that third X. It could be fifty years from now. You might have to slide it a little closer to that middle X and put tomorrow’s date on it. You just don’t know. Here’s where the profound part comes in.

One day she saw her 10 year old daughter standing in front of the fridge just staring. (The Captain does this, drives me nuts). She, like me and every other mom, griped at her “get what you want and close the door!” Her daughter replied, “I’m thinking.” Ok. Think with the door closed.

She went on to say she was thinking about the expiration date on the milk. Mom was confused because she knew that milk was still good, she just bought it. What was there to think about? But then she, at ten years old, looked at her mom and said that people should have expiration dates on their foreheads. At first this seems really morbid. Do you really want to know exactly when you’re going to die? Or when your loved ones will? “Why?” she asked her daughter. “So people can enjoy their milk.”

What would you do differently if you knew your “expiration date?” How would you treat people differently if you knew theirs? And is it a sell by date or a use by date? Does the smell test still work?

Thursday Rant: Toddler Naps

Ok. I know it’s Friday. I’m not a perfect person.

I took Mister grocery shopping which I thought was going to be a disaster. He didn’t nap until we got in the car to go to the store and he woke up as soon as we got there. Fail. Good thing there is a Starbucks right next to the commissary. Coffee for me and chocolate milk for Mister (which he rarely gets). He was so stinking happy. But he sucked it down so fast that it didn’t even last through the produce department and he was crabby again. I broke down and gave him a binkie. Sometimes you need to break your own rules in order to keep your sanity.

I was sure he would take a nap when we got home. No dice. He didn’t fall asleep again until we got back in the car to go to my parent’s house for dinner. He promptly woke up when I tried to lay him down inside.

Now, if I am overly tired I just want to take out my contacts and crawl into bed. All I want is my pillow and a maybe a blanket to curl up with. My eyes close and I’m done. Toddlers? No. The more tired they are the more they fight to sleep. Mister can take a solid 3 hour nap during the day and go to bed with ease that night. If he misses a nap I can expect bedtime to involve nuclear missile threats. I don’t get it.

Where’s my nap?

It Isn't Even Grass

We got a letter in the mail today from our property management company stating that they had done a drive by assessment of the property. They said our lawn was dry and we have two weeks to make it better. The Captain was livid. Let’s discuss this.

He called to inquire what they suggest we do about the dry lawn since we live in a near desert climate. He explained that our sprinkler system goes off automatically and regularly and we’ve used fertilizers and weed-n-feed but nothing seems to help. I’m not sure what else we can do. Their response? “Well you need to get it back to the condition it was in when you moved in.” Oh you mean thigh high weeds? He actually said that.

They offered to contact a landscaper for us, at our expense. No thanks. The Captain went on to explain that the problem isn’t that the grass is dry. It’s that we’ve tried to kill the weeds and the whole yard is weeds.

This house was trash when we moved in and the yard was literally thigh high weeds and hadn’t been taken care of in probably months. We’ve done so much to make the whole property better and all they care about is dry grass. Screw you American Heritage Properties. You want it watered more? You pay the outrageous water bill. You want new sod? You hire a landscaper. This is your house, I’m just borrowing it. If you don’t like that Southern California summers are hot, dry, and brutal on vegetation perhaps you shouldn’t rent property here.