For some strange reason I really never spend a lot of time on YouTube, even though I do have a profile there.
I ran across this video, and it’s perfect if you are a Star Wars geek. Just trust me on this one. Credit goes to the excellent College Football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday for that one.
And the next one? Don’t play with fireworks. Just wait for it… Credit goes to Cockney Rebel.
I think as most of you know by now I work in retail as an assistant manager at a convenience store, and am training towards management of my own store. So it really grinds my gears when I get bad customer service when I am shopping.
Thus was the case on my vacation – not once, but TWICE – with Wendy’s.
Backstory: Last week I went on vacation with my parents and my nine year old niece to Hilon Head. A good time was had by all, but let’s continue with the story.
#1. Date: July 22nd. On our way to Hilton Head, we stopped at the Wendy’s in Manning, SC (Store #4956).
One word: Disaster.
My niece ordered a Kids Meal – hamburger with fries and milk, and the rest of us ordered salads. Long story short, it took a grand total of THIRTY minutes for the order to be finished. It took 25 minutes for the Kids Meal to be complete, and a half an hour for my ceasar sald to me put into my hands. Their system for helping customers was so FUBAR’ed, it wasn’t even funny. At one point, they forgot about us until we had to remind them that the order wasn’t finished because I didn’t have my salad yet. And worst of all, no one showed a smile. This is HUGE.
#2. Date: July 28th. On our way back home, we stopped at the Wendy’s in Winfield, WV (Store #2610).
Figuring that the last time was a fluke, we were proven wrong.
It took 15 minutes from the time we ordered to order completion. Like the last time, salads and a Kids Meal was on the order. It appeared that the staff at this Wendy’s was on a Sunday stroll, because NO ONE was in a hurry at all and showed no urgency whatsoever. My mom even commented at one point while waiting, “Remember when fast food was supposed to be fast?” And again, there wasn’t a smile to found among the workers. At one point, no one had ANY CLUE as to who was supposed to be running the registers.
As mentioned, I work in retail and I know how tiring, trying, and thankless the job can be. What we experienced at the two Wendy’s stores can be classified as “poor customer service”, and I just can’t stand for it. I registered my complaints at the Wendy’s website – twice – once each for both locations. The website claimed that I would hear from a representative “within two days”, and I have yet to hear anything.
Mom & dad – and myself – will not be going to Wendy’s in the future, and that’s a shame because I enjoy their salads (and the Frostys). I can only hope that in the future they get their act together and put customer service first… because from the two experiences I mentioned they have a long way to go.
It’s good to be back home after a nine-day break, but then, I didn’t want it to end. So here’s some highlights:
We spent Saturday night (6/22) though Sunday afternoon down in Mt. Olive, NC for our family reunion – and it was my first time going in almost 8 years. Saturday night was Poker night (Texas Hold ‘Em) with some of the relatives, and I got my ass handed on two straight hands. The first hand I had a pair of Kings, and was denied due to a flush. The second hand I had double Queens – and – you guessed it, lost to another freaking flush.
Sunday was Reunion day, and it was great catching up with the family. I saw a ton of people I hadn’t seen in years, so it’s always good to make contact.
We left Sunday late afternoon for Hilton Head, and the rest of the week pretty much followed like this: Got up, ate breakfast, went for a walk on the beach or bike ride, had lunch, went for another walk on the beach, relaxed, had dinner, went for another walk on the beach, and then chilled the rest of the night. This picture describes the week as well.
With that, it’s just a quickie recap. Fun was had by all, and I think we’re ready to get cracking back to business once again.
On vacation. Off to Hilton head for a week. Back on the 29th. Don’t behave yourselves, okay?
Random thought of the day:
You know you’re getting old when you set aside a folder for ‘Obituaries’ in your bookmarks… and there’s links for ten pages already.
Yeesh.
If you’re a fan of Lewis Black, then you certainly know his routine called “The End Of The Universe”, from the album of the same name. For those of you not versed, here’s a snippet:
“…and if you walk to the end of the block, there sits a Starbucks. And directly across the street — in the exact same building as that Starbucks — there is… another Starbucks. There is a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks! And ladies and gentlemen, THAT is the end of the universe.”
Here in lovely Anderson Township (a suburb of Cincinnati), it’s happening. There’s a stand-alone Starbucks that was built last year, and the Target across the street from said Starbucks is being renovated into a Super Target complete with a Pizza Hut (of which there’s another one right down the block) and … a Starbucks.
Alzheimer’s patients will LOVE it (and yes, that’s a joke).
This is mostly of note for you Cincinnati folks, but it’s still cool nonetheless.
I was looking at Google Maps earlier today looking for directions and noticed that they finally have ‘Street Map’ views for locales around the area. They don’t have every single street yet but they are getting close. It’s incredibly weird to be able to look at places I know on a street-level view, including my parents’ home in Oxford (yes, that have that covered too, but not all of Oxford yet).
I imagine if you see a van with cameras on its roof headed your way, be sure to wave. You never know…
For the first time in my 35 years on this planet, I have experienced the ailment known as allergies.
Holy crap on a pogo stick does it ever suck.
Claritin kind of works. I took the generic Tylenol allergy stuff yesterday, and that made me loopier than Courtney Love on a three-day bender… and that’s not good while I’m working. Benadryl’s next if needed.
I can hear you saying it already: “Dude. Go to a freaking doctor!” I would, except I hate doing it. If it gets any worse that’s what I’ll have to do. As of right now I’m fine, but if I use up any more tissues I’ll be buying stock in Kleenex.
Random observation of the the day:
When you politely inform someone that it’s not the Best Idea In The World ™ to smoke while pumping gas, the reaction you’d least expect from said person is to ignore you and take another drag from the cigarette.
Ignorance can’t be cured, unfortunately.
It’s 10:40 on a Friday night, and I am still at work. Actually, let’s backtrack a bit.
Left for work at 1:45 for the standard 2-10pm shift, and then I noticed that on the other side of the street from my store that all of Beechmont Avenue was without power. From what I had heard there was a blown transformer. There was also a blown transformer down by my apartment complex but I don’t know if it was the same one or not. So at about 4 the power came back on across the street, but as of right now I have no juice at home.
I went home after I got off at ten, changed, and grabbed the laptop to come back to work to leech the free wi-fi and reply to emails until the power comes back up.
Someday my dorkiness will kill me, but what else was I going to do – sit in the dark?
I don’t think so, buster.
UPDATE: Went home about 1 am. At 2:50 am, I’ve got power… finally.
