I work at a place that has a call center. This is the 2nd place I’ve worked at which had one. As such, I often hear agents complain about what a bitch so and so customer was or how unreasonable they were or how they were just rude. And you know what, most of the time, I’m on the agent’s side because I’ve listened in on some of these calls before. Customers are just plain rude many times. I think that they sometimes forget another human being is on the phone and just want to yell at someone, so might as well be someone they don’t know or can’t see. Granted my last job was at a mortgage company and the agents were calling delinquent borrowers to collect money, but still.
However, there is one complaint that I’ve heard my co-workers complain about that I just have to side with the customers. And that is when they complain that the agent has a strong accent and so cannot understand them. Yes, the customers could definitely be nicer about it, and yes they do not have to personally insult the agent for having an accent. But, being as how I’ve called customer service from various companies many times in the past, the one thing I really hate outside of the stupid long wait and computer picking up the phone is when I get connected to someone whose English is suspect at best.
I know outsourcing is popular and it saves the company money, I totally get that. But is having a customer service agent who speaks English too much to ask for? If I go through your stupid computer system and finally connect with a person, I want to be able to communicate with them! Its happened so many times when I call my credit card company for whatever reason and just have a hard time understanding the person I finally connect with. How hard is it to hire someone whose job it is to speak English clearly to actually speak English clearly!! If my company wants to hire a programmer, they hire someone who can program. Why can’t the same basic requirement exist for a customer service rep?????
So, my watch is broken, as you can tell by the title. Its a Guess watch I got for Christmas many years ago from my cousin. For the last few weeks, every single day I had to move the time up, so I figured my battery was low. So, I bought a new battery, and it still does the same thing. Upon closer inspection, its very odd what it does. If I move the clock forward, it won’t go past 11:00. As the minute hand hits the 12, the hour hand snaps back to 9. So, my clock basically only tells time between 9 and 11. Is this common among watches that are broken?
I googled broken watches and saw that most “good” watch repair places charge between 50 and 70 bucks. Honestly, I don’t know how much my watch cost, but I can’t imagine it cost more than 100 bucks. So, is it really worth fixing it or should I just buy a new one? I do have another Polo watch that I got as a gift many years ago that has just been sitting in my closet, never once been used and the battery has since died. I guess I could just use that one, but that watch doesn’t tell the date, which is something I like.
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to pay to get this watch repaired. And knowing how cheap I am, I think I’m just going to get a new battery for this Polo watch and use that one. I have to remove some links because its way too big, but it should be fine.
But, this actually got me thinking about why anyone would ever repair anything when buying the product new costs pretty much the same amount or less. I guess you can always throw out the sentimental value reason. But outside of that….Look at all the electronics out there-dvd players, tv’s (although I think big flat screen tv’s are an exception since they cost so much more), clocks, cell phones, mp3 players, video game systems, shoes, clothing. We live in a very throw away society nowadays.
I think though, its exactly what corporate America wants. They’ve purposefully kept prices on new products low by building them overseas with cheap, (slave) labor, only to sell them here. Labor here is much higher, and since labor probably makes up most of a repair cost, its only logical that repairs cost so much. And because corporate America is not in the repair business, they get $0 dollars for anything thats repaired. Makes you wonder sometimes if these companies actually care to build quality products that last huh?
I saw Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay last night with a couple friends. Basically, the movie takes place right after the first one ends. Harold and Kumar are going to fly to Amsterdam so that Harold can meet up with his crush Maria. They get on the plane, but get accused of being terrorists because Kumar has concocted a bong that is mistaken for a bomb. Hence they are taken to Guantanamo Bay, and spend the rest of the movie trying to escape and clear their names.
I did not think it was terrible, but I didn’t think it was good either. Sure, it had its funny moments, as all comedies should. But, there were just too many scenes that I thought were just not funny, and that’s never a good sign when the point of the movie is to be funny, right? I think part of the reason was the fact that this movie just became too outrageous, with the main guy from the government trying to capture Harold and Kumar as a prime example. By outrageous, I mean it just seemed more like Naked Gun or Scary Movie type humor, where everything is just way over the top. The first one had similar humor, but just not to this degree, if I remember it correctly.
Like I said, I laughed at a few scenes, but that’s about it. If you want to watch a funny movie, go watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I think that is tons better and funnier.
I think this will be a very fun and interesting match up. An older, experienced championship team versus the new upstart of the league. Chris Paul vs Tony Parker will be very fun to watch. I still think that in the playoffs, the Spurs are the best defensive team in the league, which the Suns found out in the last series. Even though the Spurs win in 5, I felt that series was much closer than the results indicate. The Suns very easily could of won a couple of those games. I think that hard fought first round will only help the Spurs against the Hornets. The Hornets will find that it will be much tougher to score against this team than it was against the Mavericks and that Tony Parker is not an old Jason Kidd. Spurs in 6.
This is similar to the Spurs and Hornets series, with old vs new. Dwight Howard was a freaking monster in the first round. I haven’t seen a big man dominate inside in the playoffs like that since Shaq. I don’t see him putting up quite the same numbers against a bigger and better Pistons team. They’ll still be nice, just not out of this world. Jameer Nelson actually stepped up as well in the last series. The Pistons seemed to sleepwalk through their first round matchup, winning big in most of the games that they did win. That same effort they used against the 76ers will not work against this much better Magic team. I think they realize that and will pull this one out. Pistons in 6.
The Lakers dominated the Nuggets in the first round, pulling off the only sweep. However, they will find that the Jazz actually play as a team and so will be much harder to defend than the Iso oriented Nuggets. They will no longer be able to stack the strong side of the court since the Jazz players are consistently setting picks and cutting, playing the same offense they have for the last 25 years. The Jazz finally dispensed of the Rockets, but they will also find that they need to step up their defense as well. This Lakers offense has much more firepower than the Rockets. Both coaches are great and have faced each other in the Finals before. Boozer will be a tough matchup for the Lakers, who will discover what its like to face a big man who can actually shoot and score, not like Camby. And Deron Williams will give the Lakers fits, like any fast point guard always does to them. However, I think in the end, Kobe Bryant will have his way and the Lakers just have too many other scoring options for the Jazz to overcome. Lakers in 6.
*Spoiler Alert*
Smallville is limping to the finish line with its 3rd to last episode of the 7th season. I say that because I did not like the last 2 episodes. This one was not as bad, but I still don’t think it was great. It used a gimmick that has been used in many, many different shows in the past. The “what would the world be like if I was never in it” episode. Yes, Jor-El sends Clark back to a world in which he never existed because Clark refuses to go back in time to save his baby self. No, I did not make that up.
In this world, Lana is happily married, Chloe is happily engaged, Jimmy and Lois are both working at the Daily Planet, and Lex is the President of the United States. (And for yet another episode there is no Lana, except for a stupid picture). Braniac is his top aide and Kara is his “sister”, whom Lionel rescued from her ship back in the day. Apparently the world is about to be destroyed because of Lex, which makes Clark realize that yes, he does have to go back in time to his home world to save himself. The whole scene where he somehow just reappears back in time in Krypton was kind of lame. A cheesy fight scene that takes place on a set that looked just like his Fortress of Solitude, but with different colors. At the end, he of course saves himself and sends his ship off to earth. He comes back and all is right in the world except Lana is still in her coma.
Lex appears near the end to talk to Clark about saving Lana, which I thought was a weird scene. He seemed hell bent in the past about discovering the secrets of Veritas, and so I thought he’d still be trying to figure out what it was that he found in the safe deposit box, and not trying to ask Clark for anything that he remembers that might help Lana. I’m wondering if Lex knows something, or needs something with respect to Lana to further his quest. And also, apparently, in the very last scene, something is up with Kara, he collapses in pain in the middle of the night. Brainiac again? Was not a bad episode overall.
It was also announced this week and made official that Lex Luthor will not be back for an 8th season. I think we all speculated this, along with Lana. So, I’m wondering what they will do for next season. Is Brainiac now going to be the full time bad guy? Or are they going to dredge up someone else from the Superman mythos? I’m curious as to how the final 2 episodes of the coming season will turn out.
*Spoiler Alert*
As they foretold in the last episode, something is up with Jack medically. We find out that he has appendicitis and so Juliet must operate on him. She sends Sun and Jin, along with Daniel and Charlotte to get supplies at the medical station that Sun has been to before. When they return with the supplies, Jin stops Charlotte and starts talking to her in Korean, telling her he knows that she understands. He makes her promise to take Sun off the Island when she leaves, so it looks like this is how Sun will be getting off the Island.
The surgery is obviously a success since Jack is alive in the flash forwards. But, the surgery also makes Juliet realize that Jack is in love with Kate. This also seems the case in the episode’s flash forward, which is about Jack. Jack is now with both Kate and baby Aaron, happily being a father to him. He even proposes to her and she accepts. Jack seems to be living a happy life until he meets with Hurley, and then things just go down hill from there. He starts seeing his dad, and become extremely jealous of Kate when its revealed that she is doing something because she promised Sawyer. Apparently it seems that Sawyer made a conscious decision to stay on the Island. This episode’s flash forward seems to be the beginning of Jack’s spiral downward, which we saw at the end of the last season where it looked like he wanted to commit suicide. It seems in that episode, when Kate says I have to get back to him, that she was now referring to baby Aaron.
Meanwhile back on the Island away from the beach, Sawyer, Claire and Miles are making their way toward the beach. In the middle of the night Claire sees her dad and wanders off. Day comes and Sawyer can’t find her, only the baby crying. Who knows what happened to her. Maybe the Island has plans for her too? Or those bad guys who tried to kill them have her?
I thought that this episode was only ok. I usually like Jack centric episodes, but was not overly impressed with this one. I still have no clue as to where this show is headed. Is there any significance to the fact that Jack got sick, when Rose says no one on this Island gets sick? Even though its not true, since Ben was sick and needed Jack to operate right? There are still so many episodes left of the show, so I’m wondering if next season or the one after that is going to take place primarily off the Island, which is kind of weird since the show is titled Lost.
Saw this last night with a couple buddies. Before the movie started, when I first saw the trailer, I was not really excited about watching this movie. I’ve never really been a huge Iron Man comic book fan, and the trailer did not really change my mind. However, I watch pretty much every movie in the summer and so when a couple of my friends wanted to go last night, I was game.
So, what did I think? I thought it was a pretty good movie. The movie is an origins story for how Tony Stark became the Iron Man. As such, there are, IMO, not as many action sequences as there are in a typical superhero flick. However, the movie did not seem slow to me. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job playing the playboy/ladies’ man Tony Stark. He just seemed a perfect fit for the character. Gwyneth Paltrow was just another pretty face in the movie, with not many lines to work with. She had some funny ones though, and she was not miscast for the role, as many actresses are in superhero movies, although I’m no expert on the Iron Man comic book series and don’t really know how her character, Pepper Potts, is supposed to act.
The special effects and CG in this movie I thought were very good. It was not over the top like some movies. And I felt that they did look realistic. While watching it, I was never thinking, that looks so fake. I thought it was fairly easy to predict who the bad guy in the movie was going to be. The final fight scene between the two was fun to watch, but I will not say more then that, not wanting to reveal anything for those who have not seen it.
Overall, I think if you like action movies, you should go and watch this film. I had fun watching it, and will probably watch the inevitable sequel when it comes out eventually.
The Celtics finally dispatched of the Hawks. However, that series made me wonder if the Celtics really are title contenders or not. I’m a firm a believer that teams do not win championships in the first year that they are created, and this for the most part is the first time the Celtics with this team have played together. However, during the regular season, the Celtics made me waiver a bit on that theory. After this first round with the Hawks, I’m once again thinking I was right all along. Championship teams have to be able to win on the road, and if you can’t do that against the Hawks, how are you going to do that against a quality team? True, they have home court throughout, but more then likely they will not go undefeated at home. That being said, I still think they beat the Cavs. Lebron James is the man, and they beat a less than healthy Wizards team. But, the Celtics are a much better one than the Wizards. Celtics struggled against Joe Johnson, and will do so even more against James. But, Cavs just do not have enough support to win this series. Celtics in 7.
I’ve worked at 4 different jobs since graduating college, and every single one of them has been a typical 8-5 Office Space type job, though in different industries. Thus, here are common terms or things you will always hear in EVERY Office Space job. If you don’t like it, well, too bad. People are going to say them anyway.
1. “Monday’s suck.” There are many variations of this…”Freaking Monday’s”, “Damn I hate Monday’s”, etc.
2. “How was your weekend?” After answering this, inevitably it leads to saying #1 above.
3. The cousin to #1, “Thank goodness its Friday.”
4. “Crackberry”, referring to the oh so evil Blackberry.
5. “We have to have a meeting to talk plan a meeting,” followed by the requisite laugh. This joke is not funny. It never was, so stop telling it.
6. “How was the interview?”, often told whenever someone dresses nicer than usual, or comes into work late, or takes a sick day…
7. “Are you working hard or hardly working?” I’ve actually said this before too. I don’t know why. Its not even funny. And of course the answer is always hardly working!
8. “You need to open a ticket.” I think this is more for the bigger companies than the smaller ones. Gotta do so to get anything fix, or to make any requests whatsoever. Guess its the company’s way of keeping track of all the stuff that’s messed up and needs fixing.
9. “Clients are coming, clean up your work stations and put away private documents.” Does anyone ever listen to this? I know I don’t…
10. “As long as they pay me I don’t care…” Ummmmm, quite true.
11. “Freaking taxes take all my money.” I think this one is universal for pretty much any job, as well as both inside and outside of work.
12. “Can we find a convention in Hawaii?” or Florida, or Vegas, or any other nice weather place.
Didn’t really mean for this to be humorous or anything. I just find it funny that I always hear these same jokes, terms, sayings, etc. no matter what job I work at. The worst is that you have always laugh every single time you hear one of these just to be polite. You guys hear the same?
I like to play cards, poker in particular, but all card games in general. When I go to a casino, I gamble. Its fun, I like to do it. I don’t really enjoy it as much as I used to, but that’s besides the point. I don’t go to Vegas very often, so when I go, I might as well do something I like, right? Anyway, I hate it when people accuse me of having a gambling problem. I don’t really mind the actual fact that they accuse me, cuz inside I know its not true and so can give a damn what they think, but they give me these looks as if I’m beneath them or that I’m sick or something. Umm, whatever. If it makes you feel better to think you are better than me, then you have problems yourself.
Not that I have to justify or defend myself because I could give a damn what people think if I don’t think the same, but I do not gamble very often. But, just because I like to I have a problem? I never gamble more than I’m willing to lose. One of the worst parts of being accused of having a gambling problem, and I guess this is similar to those being accused of alcoholism, is that you cannot defend against it.
What’s the first thing people say after you say, “No, I don’t have a problem.” Then they inevitably use the freaking crap line that denial is the first step. Fock that shit! So, basically I have to admit to something that’s not true or they just continue to persist that I am “denying” that I have a problem. Are you kidding me? That’s so stupid. When AA developed these steps, did they purposely make this the first step to force people to admit something that may not even be true? What is the point of this? I can say, no I don’t have a problem, I just like to gamble and they will just tell me I’m denying my problem. Or, I can just tell them, yeah you are right, and then they either let it drop or tell me I need to get help. Well F that.
I’ve developed a 3rd choice now. Ignore them, and let them think whatever the fock they want. Seriously, if I know I don’t have a problem and I don’t care what they think, then this is the only logical choice. Whenever someone accuses me of anything now, I just look at them and say sarcastically “Okay.” I do not feel the desire to waste my breath defending myself in something that is not true. If you want to think it, then you go ahead and have a blast. See if I care.
I definitely know people who have problems, but I don’t stick my nose in their business. Its not like they are losing their rent money or anything, so leave them be. If it actually starts to affect their lives in a negative way, then MAYBE I’ll say something if its a friend or family member. And spare me the it only starts as a little problem first before becoming a big one argument. I’ve heard it before. Mind your own business because you will not get any reaction from me. I’m not in denial and I’m not going to lie just to make you feel better about yourself.
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