RV'ing: 3-19-11 Saturday (Don’t Contact Us)

I forgot to mention the office temperature at work. The classrooms seem cool but the vast cubicle work area is very warm. I brought in my desk top clock/temp combo to see and at times it reached 77 degrees. Not wanting to be a whiner (shut up), I’ve complained in a roundabout sorta way. I’d say, “it’s warm in here, my thermometer reads 77”. The response thus far from coworkers has been, “it’s always warm here, I’d suggest you get a fan.” and from management, “yeah, it’s because we’re between seasons.” I’m going to buy a fan but I hope they can make it cooler. I understand that all the desks have computers which radiate heat but c’mon. There… now I mentioned it.

Above: The photo has nothing to do with the text before or after. Just enjoying my new camera. This is Clea.

How’s my diet going? I’m glad you asked. The temperature right now is 74°with a high of 77°. It’s shorts and flip flops time! I had to try on 5 pairs of shorts before finding a size… ahem, that was large enough without resorting to my stretchy shorts.

Jim is on vacation next week. The full week. It’s part of that use it or lose it PTO (Personal Time Off) days that he gets. It’s the last week I’ll have a “normal” schedule, aka banker’s hours. The following week I start my 12:30 – 9 shift, off on Wednesdays and Sundays. Jim and I haven’t quite figured out how this will affect us. We’ll certainly have fewer dinners together. I’m not sure what he’ll eat for dinner. I just assume I should eat lunch before work, and then dinner at work.

In the middle of April, Jim will take some time off again and attend his brothers and sister-in-law’s baby shower in Georgia. I don’t think it will be a good idea to take time off work so soon so I’ve elected to stay home and take care of the pets. I logged onto Babies R’ Us to check out the Baby Registry and make our selections. We made several selections, I checked out with the option to pick it up at the store. Ugh.

We arrived at the store, Jim went on a mission to find a “best uncle” type shirt for his future nephew to adorn. I waited at the baby registry desk. I spotted a few caged and locked bins that I was able to peek into and spotted my name on a bag. I must be in the right place. My pick up email didn’t indicate where in the store I should go. I waited. I asked someone page an employee for help. I waited. Someone showed up and helped the person who was first. The employee spotted my email in hand, asked if I was picking up and directed me to the service desk. Ugh.

I waited in line. Several minutes later, it was my turn. The employee had the personality of a paper clip. I presented my slip, she got a book, filled out some info and asked me to sign. She seemed distracted. Perhaps it was the constant paging for the owner of a red Ford Focus to come to the front. She didn’t talk me through what she was doing and left me wondering if she was helping me or not. She walked over to a computer and typed a bunch of stuff in. She talked to coworkers. The manager was helping what appeared to be a disaster right next to us. I saw the anger building in the customer’s eyes while they stood there to get something resolved. They were there a long, long time. Before me and after me. My clerk walked away. Again, she didn’t communicate with me. Did she think I do this every week or something?

I knew where my merchandise was. No one was getting it. The front end of the store had filled up with more employees than customers. Perhaps it was all about the red Ford Focus customer. We think her car had gotten hit in the lot? I dunno. I waited for my package. Where’d my girl go? I cracked. I was so pissed, I marched over to the baby registry desk and demanded, yes, demanded my merchandise. The employees, there were 3 or more of them at the baby registry, said they needed the manager to unlock it. The manager that was helping the customers at the service desk? I have to wait for them? No one else is trusted by this fine company to hold a frickin’ key? I demanded again. One of the employees walked over to the manager and like magic retrieved the golden key and gave me my stuff. I called Jim and told him to come to the front of the store, leave whatever merchandise he had picked up because we’re leaving.

I’ve determined that the clerk helping me was stalling because she needed a key to unlock the bins. If only she had communicated her actions to me instead of making me feel like I wasn’t worth it.

I’d like to let them know about what happened so I went to their website to find a link and leave them a comment. Apparently they think they do such a fantastic job at customer service and don’t want to hear from me since there’s no option. Here’s their contact us page:

Maybe they have my IP address and know that I complain so they block the option? Sure, I can call their 800 number but I’m done. <end rant>

We stopped into Dollar Tree next door.

Precious. I know it.

Anyway, I also did some eBay bidding today. I decided I wanted a digital photo frame for my cubicle. I won a bid on a used 7” frame for $5.00 + $7.02 shipping = $12.02. It’s coming from someone with a Salvation Army email address. I won another bid on a brand new 7” frame for $25.00 which included shipping. One will come to work with me, and the other will be for the upstairs office or the RV or for Jim to take to work. I’m excited.

Sunday is brunch with Beth and Deanna! Here’s a few more photos just for the hell of it:

Above: It’s a little blurry because we were in a moving vehicle when I snapped the photo. See the gum?