Mind Vomit by the ikss ~ a journal
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�Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead�
-Lucille Ball
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Worship without self-sacrifice."
--Gandhi
"We have not inherited the world from our forfathers -
We have borrowed it from our children."
--Kashmiri, proverb
I order entirely too much Chinese Food.
Last night, upon discovering that my oven doesn�t work (I�ll get back to that), thus negating my attempts at warming up a leftover enchilada (my new kitchen is too small for my huge microwave. I�ll get back to that, too), I ordered some Chinese Food from Old Reliable Chinese Food Place Which Delivers in Less Than Half an Hour and For No Charge.
When the guy on the phone apparently recognized my voice, I was greeted with �Hello, lady!� as is his custom.
I ordered my food (Cashew Chicken and Egg Rolls) and gave him my address. When it came time to give him my apartment number, he volunteered, �Apartment D?�
�No, I�ve moved to apartment F.�
It took a few times of my repeating this information, for it to sink in (we�re talking language barrier here). �Why you move?� he asked.
Forward, yes�but this is a man who let himself in to my last apartment, in order that he could look out the front window.
I explained that I just didn�t need all of that space and that I moved in to the smaller place to save money. Don�t ask me why I felt the need to discuss my personal business with the Old Reliable Chinese Food Delivery Guy, but there you have it.
I swear it was only fifteen minutes and the guy was at my door, smiling gleefully. I can never figure out if this guy has a slight crush on me or just has a crush on the generous tips I always give him.
Last night, he brought me free Egg Drop Soup, as a �Happy New House� gift.
Is that just the sweetest thing ever?
But yeah � I order way too much Chinese food.
And now�yesterday�s entry.
Oh but let me just say: my cable was up and running when I got home last night. You'll understand why I am making that statement, once you read the below.
~~~
Happy Birthday to: Kris Kristofferson 1936
~~~
Good Lord, what a weekend.
As loyal readers may recall, I spent the weekend moving from the Rad Pad, to Rad Pad Jr.
Good Holy Hell, what an experience. Allow me to share�
I left work Friday afternoon, in order to wait for the Gas Man to come hook me up. Kids, you should have seen that apartment when I got there!!!! While the movers were busily ridding it of the fair Darla�s last remaining furniture items, that place was such a horrendous mess I barely had nerve to walk in to it. There were piles of trash and crap everywhere, including all over the stove. Forget about the planned time spent lining shelves with paper that day. I cleared her crap off of the stove and that was about all I could do.
Luckily, the Gas Man arrived relatively early in the time allotted him, so I was free shortly thereafter. I spent Friday night packing and getting things ready to move, as well as moving stuff down to my garage to be stored.
I felt sure Darla wouldn�t have time to finish everything she needed to do before Saturday morning, but she got the apartment ready�almost. She still needs to clean the stove and my lovely �new� fridge had to be defrosted all day Saturday.
Re the refrigerator: My own lovely, clean and rather large fridge is sadly too big to fit in to this apartment. It now resides in my garage, although Linda is going to borrow it soon. Like many with large families, she has a second fridge/freezer in her garage to store the overflow from her real refrigerator. Well, apparently that second fridge is very old and has been leaking. She is therefore going to have SCE pick it up and will be using mine until/unless I want it back some time in the future.
Funny how things work out sometimes.
That said�it�s really good that I still have it plugged in, in my garage, right now.
The fridge supplied by my apartment manager was built sometime during the Depression or something. Would that I were joking about this. The freezer is about as big as a toaster and I�ll be lucky to fit one Lean Cuisine in it at a time. I doubt very much that my water filtration system will fit in the fridge.
And it�s old�oh so old. And a tad stinky, to boot (although I haven�t cleaned it yet so we�ll see how that goes). Oh and a piece is missing from the bottom so you can look underneath and see all the lovely dirt that has collected there over the past several generations, along with various electrical wires and such. It looks really safe, I assure you.
As I mentioned earlier, this fridge had to be defrosted. I am hoping by the amount of ice that had collected in that thing that Darla hadn�t defrosted it in�oh about four years or so. If it collects that much ice on a monthly basis, I will go stark raving mad about as often. Anyway, so it was open and defrosting for a few hours�then I noticed that the whole fridge had flooded and there was a big puddle of water on the floor of my kitchen.
Eyah�so I got to clean that up mid-day Saturday, in addition to everything else I was doing.
After it defrosted and I had mopped up any remaining water, I plugged it in. While the fridge worked throughout Sunday, it stopped working sometime during Sunday night. It started working again yesterday, but I am hoping this new development does not keep the building manager from buying me a new fridge. I haven�t told them about it yet, just as I haven�t told them about the laundry-list of things which need their attention.
Laundry List
1. The smaller window in the living room has been painted shut. It was fine before this most recent paint job � I saw it open only recently. This will have to be fixed, as that apartment gets warm enough without having to live without air flow.
- As a side note, two of the locks on my front door were also painted so as they didn�t work anymore, but John has already fixed those for me. Who the fuck does the painting for this building anyway?
2. There are no window coverings on the bedroom windows, nor on the large living room window. What the fuck is that about? Darla didn�t even say anything about it, before I moved in. Like, do you really think I am not going to want blinds in my fucking bedroom? Yes, I like to parade around nekkid, but in front of completely open windows? Not so much. When I moved in to the Rad Pad, there were some windows which needed coverings. They told me about it before I ever moved in and told me to buy what I wanted and take the cost out of my rent�this time, she didn�t even mention it.
- Further cementing my induction as Certified White Trash, I presently have blankets hanging in front of these windows.
3. Hardware is missing from like four cabinets.
4. I was warned about this one, but there is an absolutely horrendous chandelier hanging from my bedroom ceiling. It actually belongs to Darla and she told me before I moved in that I could use it or, if I didn�t like it, she would take it down. I�m not sure if that means they will pay for a replacement, but I am actually thinking of buying my own ceiling fan and replacing the horrendous chandelier with that (I think I�m gonna need the additional air-flow).
5. Stove remains filthy and frankly it is another appliance I don�t feel very safe using. I had an old one in the Rad Pad, but this one is way worse � probably only because it hasn�t been used in over two years. Darla used it for office storage. Seriously � she�d had the gas turned off for at least 18 months.
6. There are no fire alarms, although I notice they took one down.
7. The shelves placed in my medicine cabinet do not fit there. So she left them in there anyway, all askew and sitting at a diagonal. Am I supposed to be able to use them in this state? Sheesh.
8. The many shelves and closet fixtures are all installed incorrectly and unevenly � almost every single one of them are at a slant. It�s kind of comical and I feel like I�m living in one of those �Mystery Spots� or that house at Calico Ghost Town where everyone has to walk at an angle. Just tilt your head to one side whenever you look at shelves in my new pad, OK?
9. Let�s not even discuss the scary state on the electrical outlets in this joint, OK? Just know that if my manager doesn�t buy me some immediately, I will be buying my own fire alarms post haste.
Aside from this list, my new pad is very cute and cozy and I will be just fine there. Although I have had to make a few adjustments and will be selling more at the next yard sale than I originally anticipated, I have sufficient room for my needs. In fact, even with my fridge and desk and other assorted odds and ends stored there, I even have room to park my car in my garage.
OK, so John and I got a bit of a late start Saturday morning. We didn�t get to sleep until like 3:30 Friday night (Saturday morning) and I didn�t set my alarm, so we didn�t wake up until about 9-ish. Then we had to go to breakfast because John is a man and I have found that men do not �eat� Slim Fast for breakfast. They �eat� it as an appetizer. Anyway, John also had to go to his grandson�s birthday party later that day (he left at about 2:30pm), so I was pretty much left to my own devices on Saturday. I got a lot done, moved about 75% of everything I could move on my own (either to the new pad or to my garage to be stored) and walked up and down stairs about 7 thousand times before collapsing in to a hot bath at about 9:00pm. Oh and I ordered a pizza for dinner.
Yikes.
John got home from the party late and when he walked in he informed me that his tire was flat and had practically fallen off of it�s rim before he noticed. Nice.
We again didn�t set the alarm so we got started at about 9am Sunday morning�or should I say, I got started then. John called some shady �roadside assistance� service he has through his insurance company, in order that he could get his tire changed. He then sat down to read while waiting for them�cut to 90 minutes later, they still hadn�t showed and I had asked John twice if he wouldn�t just rather I call AAA because they would take at most half an hour.
John ended up changing the tire himself.
Then we were off to rent a dolly and move the heavy stuff.
Oh, kids�first of all, my body was already tired and my calves sore from having spent Saturday running up and down flights of stairs with boxes and pieces of furniture in my arms. Now I had to help John move very large and very heavy items.
Ugh.
That�s all I have to say about it - UGH. I�m lucky to have survived and mark my words - I am never moving again, without the assistance of paid movers. Also, just a suggestion � you know that California King Bed you so admire and want to sleep on? Skip it. Just say no.
Poor John was also exhausted. Let�s face it � he shouldered a lot more of the burden than I did, especially after my arms just started to give out and not work anymore. He didn�t leave until almost 9:00 as it was and on his way home, he stopped at a rest stop and slept for four hours. He got home at 5:30am Monday. And had to go to work.
I, on the other hand had to wait for the Cable Guy to show up between 8-10am Monday. He did � he showed at about 9:30. He ran new line and hooked me up and, although he was there for a long time by Cable Guy-standards, my cable was working when he left. It continued to work for about five minutes.
Now�long time readers of this here journal may know my feelings about Charter Communications, after a myriad of problems I have had with them in the past two-and-a-half years (people find this journal often by searching for �Charter Communications Sucks� so my hunch is I am not the only one who suffers such problems).
I got on the phone with the cable company at about 11:00 and was on the phone with them for 45 minutes. Yes, that is a long time. They have this tendency to put people on hold for ten and twenty minutes at a time � no joke. Anyway, this time was actually justified, as the gal on the other end was trying various things (and having me try various things) to make my cable work � all to no avail, in the end. Once it was determined that we would have to have the Cable Guy come back out and fix my box (ba-dum-bum), I was told it would be on Tuesday.
Um�no, it won�t.
I very politely explained that I had already taken time off of work to be there today (meaning Monday) and they needed to get someone back out there today (meaning Monday) because since this happened through no fault of my own, they surely didn�t expect me to be inconvenienced further so that they could fix whatever it was they messed up.
Seriously, I was polite about it.
Shut up.
She arranged for the Cable Guy to come back out, but explained it was an �all day appointment� meaning he would be there any time up until 8:00pm.
So I took a vacation day. I figured it was better to get it all done that day, rather than have to take additional time off on some other day. I also figured I could spend my time waiting either
A) Getting some very much-needed rest
B) Doing some very much-needed laundry
C) Moving even more stuff because the Rad Pad still was not completely emptied of my stuff
Boy, was I wrong.
I did get a lot of rest � that�s one good thing I can say about my Monday. The laundry room, however, was being used by several people (don�t these people work????) one of whom was the inconsiderate Darla who just loves to leave her fucking laundry in the machines for hours on end. I did finally get two loads done, but I wasn�t done until 11:00pm and even then I moved said Darla�s laundry out of the machines myself because I was tired of waiting for her ass to do so.
Although I made a few trips back upstairs to the Rad Pad, I didn�t do as much as I should have. First of all, I just knew that if I spent ten minutes up there, those would be the ten minutes the Cable Guy was knocking at my door and I�d miss him. More importantly � I was exhausted. My calves screamed in pain every time I took a step. The prospect of making a dozen more trips up and down those stairs was seriously daunting.
Well, at about 7:20pm I had still seen neither hide nor hair of the Cable Guy, so I started to become a tad nervous. This would hardly be the first time Charter Communications had fucked things up, so I decided I would call to make sure they hadn�t forgotten about me.
Well, they hadn�t forgotten, exactly�they had just neglected to set up the return service call altogether. So I had waited around my apartment all day, using up a precious vacation day, all for nothing.
Oh and this is just the beginning, my lovelies.
I was initially told that the only thing they could do was set up a new service call. They had one available Tuesday, but it was another �all day appointment� which would require my sitting home on my ass for another entire day, waiting for them to get to me.
Oh no�I told this new gal that since I was calling at 7:20 and they had guys out in the field until 8:00, I wanted someone there now - they could contact a guy out in the field and give him the info. Over and over again, I was told this was impossible, intermittently being put on hold. I explained that these errors were not my fault, but that of Charter Communications and it is completely unreasonable to ask me to take another entire day off of work so that they could fix their error. I repeatedly asked to talk to this gal�s supervisor; I was repeatedly put on hold. Finally, it got to be about 7:50 and while I was transferred to a Supervisor it was now conveniently too late for them to get anyone out to my place that night. So I changed tactics and tried to convince the Supervisor (Aaron) that they should have someone at my door at 8:00am so that I could at least get to work at a decent hour. So he puts me on hold�about ten minutes later, I hear the distinctive beep my phone makes as it is running out of battery juice.
Oh no�
Yes kids, I was disconnected in the middle of that call.
So I got my parents� cell phone which I conveniently still have in my possession. I called back up again, went thru Charter�s amazingly annoying menu and pre-recorded messages and was then greeted by �Monica�. I asked to speak with Aaron�After several minutes of giving her my account information several times and telling her part of my sob story and that Aaron was already working on this but that I was left on hold so long that my phone finally died, she put me on hold to look for Aaron�and came back, unable to find out who Aaron is or how to find him.
So I had to start all over again, thus wasting the forty minutes I had already spent on the damn phone.
Again, I was told all about how they couldn�t help me until the next day. Again I was told I�d have to take additional time off of work while they got their sorry asses out to my house. Again I was put on hold several times for several minutes while they tried to make arrangements for a service call. The only difference this time? This time, �Monica� couldn�t even get hold of anyone from that department, so I was told I needed to call back again Tuesday morning so they could help me then.
I know�say WHAT????
I explained that I had now spent over an hour and fifteen minutes, all told, on this bloody phone, trying to get some actual goddamn customer fucking service which at Charter Communications is akin to trying to wring water from a stone and they�d better get off the pot and start giving me some actual goddamn customer service, by god!
OK, I didn�t use that verbiage, but in essence that is what I was saying. I also demanded to talk to her supervisor � and �Monica� had just hung up on that Supervisor so had to go looking for another one.
After being on hold for another lifetime, during which I seriously just wanted to break down and cry, low and behold Aaron gets back on the phone. Well, I guess she could find him after all! Thanks for wasting another half an hour of my life, �Monica� while you did absolutely nothing for me.
I explained to Aaron that the batteries had died on my phone and I was disconnected. He said that when he came back on the line and I was gone he �had no choice� but to delete my service call ticket entirely.
I told him, �Aaron, frankly I am mystified that you had an irate customer on the line and when I wasn�t there when you came back you didn�t pick up the phone and call me. Now I�ve just wasted yet another half an hour on this mess that was caused entirely by your company!� I explained that they may get put on hold a lot (their reason for leaving me on hold for hours at a fucking time), but they�re actually getting paid to sit there � I am just sitting here, wasting time.
Anyway, here�s the end result: They sent someone out to my house today, to check the outside line, as that is where they think the problem lies. I didn�t have to be at the apartment for this to occur. When I get home tonight, I am to check my television and if it�s still not working, I am supposed to call them to set up a service appointment.
You know what my response was? I said: �Aaron, if my cable isn�t working tomorrow, the only call I will be making will be to Direct TV.�
Aaron tried to blame the firm to which they contract out their cable installs and said their contract is under review just because of things like this.
But see, Aaron failed to see the reality of the problem which is, namely: Piss Poor Customer Service.
My cable was working when the Cable Guy left at 10:30 Monday morning. How was he to know it would stop working five minutes later?
The problem is entirely with Charter Communications, the fact that they have no way of communicating interdepartmentally without putting customers on hold for outrageous amounts of time and the fact that they put no notes on their customers account ever, so that when someone such as I calls in I have to repeat my tales of woe over and over and over and fucking OVER again to person after person, call after call.
The real problem started with the gal I spoke with for forty-five minutes Monday morning, who then neglected to do her job right and schedule the return service call she told me she had scheduled.
The problem was then furthered by the fact that when I called, nobody really wanted to help me. They wanted to schedule a normal service call, complete with my having to take additional time out of my day to accommodate their schedule.
What should have happened is this: The first gal should have scheduled the return service call correctly. Since she didn�t do that, what should have happened was, when I called at 7:20pm (leaving ample time to fix this before the Cable Guys had to be back to work, at 8:00pm) that first chick I talked to should have moved fucking mountains to get a guy out to my apartment RIGHT AWAY and fix their fuck up. All she should have had to do was call their dispatch, explain what they did wrong and fucking fix it right then! There is no justification for my having to sit on the fucking phone for ninety fucking minutes while they STILL didn�t do what I needed to have done.
The thing is, it�s not even really the individuals� fault. It�s the way things are set up there. They have to put people on hold while they call Dispatch and whoever else they have to call and inevitably, they are also put on hold. Then there is just no breathing room - they have set schedules and they make no room for error-correction and emergency calls. When they fuck up (and as I recall they missed two appointments at the Rad Pad since I moved there, also), their customer is screwed.
And there is no one there who seems to feel it necessary to bend the rules a little, to make sure their customers are taken care of. Aaron actually tried to use as an excuse the explanation that drivers aren�t given their schedules until first thing in the morning. So? Is he trying to tell me that there is no way to move me to the top of a driver�s list and tell him he has to be at my house first thing Tuesday morning?
Bullshit.
By this point, I had no energy to be angry, but I certainly let Aaron know why I thought Charter Communications sucks. I went over each problem and how it should have been handled, were they the least bit interested in customer service, and how I was treated instead. I also went over problems I have had with them in the past.
He apologized. This is something they are good at over there at Charter Communications. That�s all they can ever say, �I�m sorry.� They never offer up any other form of compensation at all. Oh and I got a �I understand completely.� He also said, �Hopefully we�ll fix the problem tomorrow (today).� I said, �I hope so too, or you guys have just lost a customer.�
I�m still flabbergasted that they treated me this way. And I can�t believe I let them get away with that shit for ninety minutes.
All told, I still have some items back up in the Rad Pad that I have to get moved, and then I have to vacuum that place. Then I will be done. I hope to finish tonight, but I think it will most likely be tomorrow night before I am finally moved out.
The good news is, I am actually almost done with the UNpacking portion of my move, except that I ran out of shelf paper so I can�t totally finish the kitchen and my linen closet until I line those shelves. Which should be tonight (especially if I still don�t have a television because hey � what else am I gonna do?).
And now it�s time for me to go to my new home and figure out if I need to call Direct TV tomorrow or not.
Oh but before I go I�ll just share this final, tiny bit of fabulous news on the ol� ikss front:
I left my car parked in the street since Saturday. I was moving stuff in to my garage all weekend and actually didn�t think there would be any room left in the garage for my car after all was said and done (turns out there will be room, thank God). Well�this morning, when I went out to my car to come to work�
I found my windshield cracked.
Yay!
Ain�t life just grand sometimes?
Hasta!
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~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Copyright 2002-2005, Howl-at-the-Moon Words
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