New Pet Peeve
WHY oh WHY would you bring your child along to your hair appointment? It really ruins it for the other moms in the salon who arranged for childcare and intended to use the afternoon as ME TIME (nevermind the people who don't have kids). It's just not okay.
Labels: Mommy Stuff, One of Lindsay's Rants
Toxic
So I'm going to apologize in advance because I feel like this might turn into a kind of rant.
And while I'm at it, I should maybe add an apology for putting a Britney song in your head.
Now that we've got all that out of the way, let's continue on with my post, shall we? Cool.
Um, whatever happened to being NICE, and speaking NICELY to other people? And what's up with all the complaining going on lately? Seriously. (And that was NOT a complaint about complainers, hehe.)
I love the interwebs. I love email, and blogging, and Facebook, and Twitter, and all that fun stuff for what it can do to connect people. I do NOT love how it gives people an instant platform to bitch about their lives.
I cannot believe how many emails I can get in a week that are just not NICE. It's not even the content of the message - it's just not bothering to think about how it's going to come across and not being willing to take the time to either (a) make sure it's worded the way you really truly intended to say it, or (b) pick up the phone or schedule a meeting and have a good old fashioned - friendly - chat about it.
And I cannot believe how many status updates I can scroll through in a day - or even an hour - that are kind of whiny or (worse) just plain passive aggressive. I am NOT innocent of this. But I try. I honestly do.
Way too much of my time is going to avoiding toxic energy. I wish I were popular enough to get other people on board a Facebook Positivity Week, where no one is allowed to share anything that isn't AWESOME. Wouldn't that be amazing?
See? I TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN THIS PRINCESS. Then I could mandate s#!& like this ;)
Labels: One of Lindsay's Rants
Sick Day
My bulletproof positive attitude called in sick today.
Of course, today is also the day that the universe seems to have chosen to MESS WITH ME. And I am going to lose my $#^! here in about twelve seconds unless one measly good thing can happen before something else that's lousy does.
Quick! I want to hear your best joke in the comments section for this post... MAKE ME LAUGH.
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Bitching About Nothing, Happy Thoughts, One of Lindsay's Rants
Frustrated
Consider yourself warned. You may continue reading at your own risk :)
Yesterday brought a HUGE setback in my recovery process, and I am pretty upset about it. I was finally starting to feel more like myself yesterday and actually craved coffee for the first time since surgery (if you know me at all, you know that is HUGE... I pretty much single-handedly keep the entire global Starbucks empire in business). I'm wondering now if that coffee was my undoing or if it was just a coincidence, because I started to feel really awful again last night - and I've been on the couch since 5 pm yesterday, totally sick and in pain again. Like in tears from the pain, curled up in a ball, and struggling to keep down the sip of ginger ale I needed to get some pain and anti-nausea meds into my system. I very nearly made a trip into emerg during the night, but I'm a little better today so I'm trying to just battle it out at home.
This whole gallbladder surgery thing is such an individual experience. I talked to a friend today who had exactly the same experience as I've had after her surgery two years ago - she ended up going back to her surgeon because she was convinced that something had gone wrong in surgery because she still felt so awful even after 2 or 3 weeks. But I've talked with other friends who did much, much better with it - one of them told me that she took a T3 as soon as she got home from the hospital on the day of her surgery and never took another painkiller after that.
I hate that I'm evidently in the category of people who really struggle through the recovery. I hate that I haven't been able to be a mom to Briony for an entire week now. I hate that I haven't been able to work - and I know that tomorrow is the day I need to do some work regardless of how I feel.
We really need to catch a break. SOON.
Labels: Attack of the Gallbladder, One of Lindsay's Rants
Oh, Canada...
It's a little bit painful to watch all of these fourth and fifth place finishes.
It's infinitely more painful to hear people's negative comments about it.
These people made it to the freaking Olympics. They've trained for most of their lives, at a level that you and I can likely not even begin to understand - all to become among the best in the world at what they do and get a chance to represent *us* in the Olympics. After all of that - and with the additional pressure of wanting so badly to win in Canada - they've managed to place fourth among every person in the entire world.
STAND UP AND CHEER. And be freaking proud that we're all Canadian. They deserve every bit of our love and respect. (And you can tell them that
here.)
And let's cheer just a little bit louder for
Joannie Rochette, okay? Whether or not she decides to skate this week. My heart seriously hurts whenever I think about how hard that would be for anyone to deal with - let alone such a young girl competing at the Olympics.
(Steps down from soapbox and goes to make some popcorn for the third period...)
By the way, I'm still trying to decide if my grace will extend to our men's hockey team :)
Labels: One of Lindsay's Rants
SO Much Fun
I just took a call from someone on behalf of the Conservative party, asking if I would consider making a donation.
I took SO MUCH PLEASURE in informing them that my family was unable to give them money because I'm a new mom working freelance - and their government did not follow through on their last campaign promise to extend benefits like maternity leave to freelance workers or EI for people who lose their jobs at the end of their maternity leave.
:)
Yeah. Good luck with that.
Oh, and Mr Harper? Your black quilted Canada jacket at last night's ceremony looked incredibly stupid. Just sayin'.
Labels: Current Events, Mommy Stuff, One of Lindsay's Rants
Why I Hate Ticketmaster, or Woohoo! We're Going To Coldplay!
Okay, so Geoff and I have tickets to go see
Coldplay in Winnipeg on June 15. I'm pretty excited about it... But not as excited as I *could* have been. Let me tell you a little story.
Geoff got up early this morrning and went to purchase Coldplay tickets at the MTS Centre (we've had the best luck getting wicked seats for shows when we do it this way vs pre-sale tickets or ordering online). When he got to the window at 10 am, he asked for two of the best floor seats available - and the agent mistakenly typed in a request for four tickets. The tickets that came up were on the floor in Row 9, but we only wanted two of them... When the agent went to correct her mistake, the best tickets she could offer were in Section 127, Row 14 (for the same ridiculous price as the good seats, of course). We purchased these tickets because we really wanted to see Coldplay, but these are comparatively TERRIBLE seats, right at the back of the arena. It will be frustrating for us to attend the concert knowing that we *should* have been sitting in sweet Row 9 seats.
Anyway. I sent a nasty email to Ticketmaster, just to make myself feel better. And I'm excited that we got tickets at all. I know that I should be feeling zen waves of gratitude that we get to go, that we can afford to go, and all that other good stuff - but for the moment, I'm pretty annoyed.
I think I'm going to go watch Entourage reruns, and brew the very last of my Starbucks Christmas Blend bean stash. That always cheers me up :)
Labels: Concerts, One of Lindsay's Rants
The Case of the Missing Groove
Argh. I cannot seem to find my groove today. My zone. My sweet spot. My happy place where I can plow through a massive to-do list like Godzilla in a trailer park.
Instead, I am sitting here and compiling a list of excuses:
- It's eight degrees and raining outside
- I feel like I'd be doing more good for society at home with my mom
- I have no looming deadlines, so I'm missing my usual adrenaline
- The weather is making me achy and tired
- Geoff's off today, and I'd rather be hanging out with him
- It's Monday
- We have less than three weeks to go until our vacation
- My hair is curly and frizzy and nasty today (see 'rain,' above)
- I'm wondering if Kari-Ann's currently in labour (hehe)
- I'm worrying that, if she is, I'll be forced to hear the details later (ugh)
Oh yeah, and I tried on about seventeen different outfits this morning, and every last one of them made me feel pregnant and disgusting. The pieces that covered my tummy and made me feel slightly less fat in the front are all maternity-length (to cover the ugly elastic at the top of my pants), and hit that magical place in the back that makes my ass resemble a Mac truck. And tailored blazers stop being the solution to all the world's wardrobe-related problems when it becomes painfully obvious that there is not amount of acrobatics in the world that can join those buttons with their matching button holes...
I finally settled on a combination that made me feel only quasi-disgusting, and put on a pair of my Sexy Heels. Hey, some days that's all a girl can do :)
Labels: Baby Talk, Kari-Ann, One of Lindsay's Rants, The Boy
About the Death of Customer Service
On Sunday after lunch, I dropped Geoff off at home to get some more sleep, then I set out for Polo Park - I had decided to tackle our wedding photos (we only have our giant proof book right now, and really - no one loves us enough to pretend that ALL those pics of us are interesting). I had the right attitude going in, and the proper gear: lots of time and a grande skinny cinnamon dolce latte.
Well, friends. All of these good intentions fell to s^!t after 10 minutes in Black's. First off, the store was absolutely empty for the first 30 minutes that I was there. And not one salesperson bothered acknowledging that I was there. In fact, all three of them were behind the counter, discussing which Oscar-nominated movies they'd seen (and their wish that it would stay slow so they could clean up and close early) - rather loudly and obnoxiously.
At that point, a few other people came into the store, and one couple pulled up a stool at the kiosk next to mine. Three kiosks, two stools - another irritation. It was an irritation that became a ginormous pain in my ass when 45 minutes into my visit, one of the salespeople who'd been previously ignoring me came to let me know that she needed my stool for 30 seconds to take someone else's passport picture. Awesome. Her 30 second photo shoot actually took closer to 10 minutes - after which she pushed the stool over to the far empty kiosk and returned to her movie talk. Argh. I retrieved my stool and went back to ordering my prints. Finally, I was done. I checked the clock: 4.50. Sweet. I could still get my one hour photo done before they closed at 6.00.
Except that the couple who'd been at the kiosk beside me finished up 30 seconds before I did and brought their receipt to the counter. They'd never been to Black's before, so the salesperson spent 10 minutes explaining all the different prepaid options, finishing choices, account set-up, and on and on and on... I waited in line behind them while the other two employees kept yakking it up. Finally, I made it to the till. It was now 5.03 and - so sorry - they would no longer be able to offer one hour photo because it was only 57 minutes until close.
Oh. My. God.
The snotty little girl behind the counter declared - quite self-righteously - that I could return at 5.00 on Monday to pick them up. I asked what time they opened. She told me they opened at 10.00. I asked why my one hour photo would take 7 hours and 57 minutes. She looked at me, confused. I tried again... If it's one hour photo, can't I come back at 11.00? Finally, with a promise that they'd TRY for 12.00 on Monday, I took my receipt and left. Particularly irritating, because I go to Black's SPECIFICALLY because they're usually the best at service. Grrr.
On my way out of the mall, I picked up a few things at Safeway. The cashier didn't look up or say hi. She didn't ask for my Club Card or my Airmiles. She didn't thank me by name (which annoys me, but they're SUPPOSED to do it!). She looked absolutely miserable and sullen. I wanted to kick her.
I miss proper customer service. I'm one of those people who straight-up expects it. I go out of my way to shop at places that offer good service. And I'll avoid places that don't. As a person who works in the retail industry, it's pretty much the entire point of your job to make / keep me happy and help me spend my money in your store.
That should be so simple. I don't know why it's so hard.
How about you guys? What places do you frequent or avoid because of service experiences?
Labels: One of Lindsay's Rants
