I was Pimping the Cart at Meijer

As you know, I shattered my ankle a couple weeks ago. Last week we needed some groceries, so I headed out to the local MEIJER to pimp the electric cart. Above is how it looked; Hunter came along for the ride.

AT&T Trouble

As I documented last week, AT&T has a horrible phone system. Since my internet has been down, last week I called to request service. When I called then, the guy was cool and said he couldn't see that my service is connected so he sent someone out. When the guy came out, we were gone b/c we had something come up and he left a service tag reference # for us to call back and reschedule.

Yesterday I called back to reschedule and gave the lady from overseas my reference # and she said she couldn't find it in the system. There actually was no log of my call last week in the system at all. After 5 mins of her trying to find the reference #, I said, forget it, let's just put in a new order for service. Big Mistake.

She said she was going to run a few quick diagnostic tests before she could send out a techy. We proceeded to go through 41 minutes of turning my modem on and off before I said I've had enough and I know the service isn't coming to my house for the love of God send someone out.

Then finally she said someone would come Saturday and I asked for a reference number. Would you believe she gave me the same number? The same Damn number the guy left us on the service tag from last week! I confronted her on this and all should would say is , the technition will be there Saturday from 8-12....

I was very upset, needless to say. 41 minutes on the phone to confirm that I know I don't have service, and she gives me the same number that she couln't find when I initially called! WTF!

Jeff's Shortcuts to Internet Millions Sucks

Over the holiday weekend I was on the boat which has traditional cable and the "TV Guide" channel. I was unfamiliar with the channels so I was watching the tv guide for a few mins trying to figure out what to watch. On the top half of the screen was an info-mercial about "Jeff's Shortcuts."

I watched for about 5 mins and all they showed were testimonial after testimonial about how much money people made "doing absolutely nothing at all."

There were quotes like -

"I really don't like to bragg, but I've made millions and millions thanks to Jeff"

"In the first 72 hours I made $4,000!"

"Now I'm making $10,000 per month and I only work an hour a day! Thanks Jeff!"

These went on and on the entire time I was watching. Normall these infomercials go back and forth between testimonials and a sneak peak about what they are trying to sell. Not this one - it was ALL TESTIMONIALS.

So I thought it might be fund to Google "Jeff's Shortcuts" and all I found were dozens of sites claiming Jeff's Shortcuts was a scam (big surprise) but at the bottom of each post saying it was a scam was another sales pitch about that guy's scheme. It is truly amazing what I have discovered.

What's next for me?

Forget the day job. I'm with Jeff....

More On-Hold Observations

All day long I am calling large companies trying to get answers to questions. Every company answers and says...

" Thank you for calling xyz company. Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed...."

Since this message is ALWAYS there, I interpret this to mean one of the following:

1. they are constantly changing their menu options
2. for some unknown reason this has worked its way into the call system culture
3. they are lazy and forget to change the greeting?
4. they enjoy pissing me off.

Long Voicemail Greetings

How long does it freaking take to leave a voicemail these days?

I mean, you have to wait for the 4-5 rings first. Then you have the stupid Greeting "you've reached Nick's voicemail, please leave a message" (like I so desperately want you to leave a message).

Then you have some Verizon lady saying an hour long speech about how to leave the message.

Lets evaluate:

"Your call has been transferred to an automatic voice messaging system. "- no shit

"The person you are trying to reach is unavailable." - no shit

"Please leave your message after the tone." - no shit

"When finished, press # for more options."- what other options could I possibly need?

"To leave a callback number, press 5." - they already have my number, I just called

"To hear this message in Espanol, please press 6." - No!

I want to know who figured out that we need to listen to all the damn messages. Then once someone decided we needed it, all the carriers came up with their own variation and it seems like they are in a competition to see who has the longest.

Fortunately for folks who are calling me, I have Sprint, who actually allows me to choose not to have any of the garbage besides my own message. This is available as an option when you are setting up your voicemail. As another helpful hint, if you are calling someone who has Sprint, you can simply press 1 and it skips through all the bullshit.

Call Center Aggrevation

ATT may have the worst phone system EVER. However, I may be saying that because that is the company I had to call today.

When you call, the auto prompt asks for the phone number associated with your account. Then someone picks up they immediately ask for the same number again. I've had it. With ATT I was transferred all over Asia speaking to different departments trying to get my Uverse internet fixed. So I only had to enter my phone number 4 times and subsequently told my phone number to the rep 4 times. On the 4th try I said, "you already have the number, I just entered it" then he said "I don't see that number, but I need it to access your account" and then I said "STOP ASKING ME TO ENTER MY PHONE NUMBER IN IF YOU ARE GOING TO IGNORE IT AND ASK FOR IT AGAIN"

As a small business owner, I guarantee my firm will always have a live person picking up the phone.

I Survived the Pig Flu

The worst weekend of my life goes something like this...

Thursday morning raquetball - 3rd degree ankle sprain - on crutches all weekend.

All day Saturday I was in bed and puked several times. I woke up 3am Sunday and was feeling OK, so I got up and went downstairs to get something to eat since it had been 36 hours since I had eaten anything.

At about 7am, the boy woke up and wouldn't stop crying. He had the Pig Flu Tuesday through Friday, so we were worried. But the Flu symptoms were gone, so we couldn't figure out why he was crying. They say in these types of situations it could be anything, so the family headed off to the Urgent Care clinic. We arrived at 9:30am.

At the clinic they couldn't figure it out, so they sent us to the ER. We arrived there at 11:45. For an hour they went through the same questions we already answered at the Urgent Care clinic. Then they did a catheter (ouch) to test his urine. Wait a half hour for those results, then they decide to do an ultra-sound to see his stomach. Wait 15 minutes for the "tech" to become available then do the test for 15 minutes which consisted of him screaming bloody murder the entire time. Then wait an hour for those results and find out nothing is wrong. We got sent home around 3pm.

I predicted when we left for the urgent care nothing was "wrong" but it was confirmed 6 hours later....

I predict the bill will be no less than $2,000.

I was so tired last night I went to bed at 8pm.

Netflix Rules

Blockbuster has no late fees but charge $4.50 per movie. They have limited selection in their stores. Their customer service is the worst.

Last month we joined NetFlix since there are no other movie stores around us besides Blockbuster. In South Lyon I rented from Family Video which had great service and rented new released for $2.65 per night.

Since we joined I have been more than pleased with the service. The time for them to send movies and accept movies and send another one is amazing. More importantly, the website is great. I consider myself as having seen most good movies out there. But I have over 50 movies in my queue that I found by browsing through Netflix.

Not only is the subscription fee much less than blockbuster, I have found dozens of movies I'm sure I will enjoy that I never would've found at the retail store.

Dairy Queen?

For years we've been going to DQ for nice ice cream treats. Lately I've been questioning why for the following reasons:

1. low quality
2. high prices

Usually I would order a Blizzard with oreo or peanut butter cup or something to that effect. I really like the candy mixed in with the dish, but the ice cream is just 'there.' It has no flavor and definitely is not super premium or even premium. I would call it the lowest grade. So basically I'm paying $4 for 4 broken up oreo cookies.

Usually the old lady orders a Peanut Buster Parfait. This consists of the same crappy ice cream with chocolate fudge and some peanuts all for $4. The only good part is the fudge.

Recently I ordered the $1 McDonalds Sundae with fudge and peanuts and found that, while smaller than the peanut buster parfait, it was of equal lower quality. All for $1. And for me, knowing that I am essentially saving $3, makes it even better.

I am officially recommeding McDonalds launch more products and a marketing campaign to compete with DQ. Just like they did with coffee and Starbucks. I seriosly think they can do it better for cheaper and put DQ out of biz.