Rudeness...

...so I don't know what it is, but I think I attract rude people. Yesterday I had to call a Customer Service Department on an issue. This lady answers the call and sounds like she's absolutely annoyed and hates her job. Anyways, I ignored her not so pleasant tone and gave her my information. Normally this would be the time for her to say, "How can I help you?" but no...not her...she says "What did you want?" Wow...alright, so hesitated to answer as she kinda caught me off guard, but continued on. She continued to be very abrupt and rude and I continued being nice as apple pie. After I was done with that issue, I told her I had another question on another account and after I rambled off that account information she then said "What did you want on this one?" in a snarky voice. Ok so now I'm getting a little annoyed...really, there's no need, who the heck peed in your Corn Flakes this morning??? I took the high road and again was the nicest ever. She was very short with me so finally I said, "I'm sorry, but am I bothering you?" She then said "Excuse me ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about!" I then said "oh I'm sorry, it's just that you sound frustrated with me, that's all"....again, me still talking very nicely...then here it comes...the rudeness at it's max....she answers very loudly and harshly "Do YOU have ANY other questions regarding YOUR ACCOUNTS ONLY?!!" I was speechless...how could she be so rude...I'm calling her to ask VALID questions and she wasn't nice to me right from the start. I couldn't believe it. I answered no and hung up immediately. I'm not going to be spoken to like that. I emailed my complaint to her boss and urged them to listen to our conversation as it said in the message before you get to Customer Service that the calls are being recorded. Man, if you don't like your job then find a new one...no need to make other miserable just cause you're miserable. Fiew...learn some manners.

"I hate the world today, your so good to me, I know but I can't change"- Meredith Brooks

Pop...

...so I was doing the dishes last night and got real annoyed. My hubby drinks pop and he puts the empty bottles in the sink to dry out before placing them in the recycle bag. I know he has the best intentions, but I always have to put them in the recycle bag....he never seems to make that last step. So I go to do the dishes and need to move the empty bottle from the sink to the drying rack...well now there's no room...so the pop bottle goes on the counter...any movement makes the darn thing fall so there is goes boing, bing, bang on the floor...now I pick it up, only to drop it again cause my hand are soapy...boing, bing, bang again on the floor, but now there's soap everywhere too...this process repeats itself every time I do the dishes AWWW! Last night I'm doing the dishes while hubby and the little one are still eating. All of a sudden, there it goes, pop bottle right across the room. I took the darn thing and biffed across the room. Hubby yells, "What are you doing?" I answered . "Doing the dishes." Seconds later, there goes another one, smack, hits the wall across the room. At this point he yells "Are you mad?" To that I answer, in the most calm and pleasant voice, "No, not mad at all, just can't stand these ..........................pop bottles and I would like to finish the...............dishes." Hubby looked puzzled and didn't say anymore...probably for fear of death by pop bottle. I went out for work and when I returned the pop bottles were in the recycle bag.

"Pop goes the world..." - Men Without Hats

Observation...

...so in the Outpatient department there's a sign by the Triage Window that gives helpful hints on how to not to spread germs. It advises you to wash your hands with the pump stuff beside the poster, wear a mask and/or wash your hands in the washroom. This is all very useful information...I'm just not sure why a Sumo Wrestler needs to tell me this? I kid you not, the poster has illustrations for each bit of advice and it shows the pic of a Sumo Wrestler. One with a Sumo washing his hands, another with a mask over his face, etc... I didn't realize that Sumo Wrestlers cared so much about germs. They walk around almost bare naked...hello germs! Very odd. One would think that in a hospital, they would use a doctor or a nurse or maybe even a baby to illustrate these helpful tips...I could even handle a hockey player or something...but a Sumo Wrestler...do we even have Sumo Wrestlers in Canada? Hum....odd poster...very odd.

"I saw the sign...and it opened up my eyes..." - Ace of Base

Hockey...

...so we took the little one to a hockey game last night. We stayed for the first period, but left after that as it was wayyyy past his bedtime. I think he enjoyed it. He was lovin' the Zamboni and when he was done cleaning the ice, the little one looked up at me and said "Where d'he go?" and shrugged his shoulders. I think he thought that was what we were there to see. Once the hockey game started he got into again, but said "uh oh!" every time someone lost the puck. I was impressed cause at least this meant he understood that the puck was the thing you wanted to have and not let others take it from you...not a bad observation for a small child! Towards the end of the period he was getting the hang of things and after hearing everyone around him yell and scream, he started too...yelling "GO GO GO!!!" many times over. All in all it was a good experience...fiew!

"The good ol' hockey game..."

Rambling...

...so this is a pic of my Mom and Dad sailing by the Statue of Liberty in NY. For those of you who don't know, my parents retired in June and left in August on a sailing adventure - Destination: The Bahamas. They'll be back in May or so. This pic was taken by the Doc and his wife who are sailing with them. I think this is pretty neat as many people don't get to see the Statue of Liberty, let alone sail right on by it. I miss them a lot and today, for some reason, I miss them even more. Oh well...only 7 more months to go... :(

Let's move on to the bestest muffin I've ever tasted. This time it's not from my favorite bakery, although I've told him to chop chop and make one...no this one is from Timmies. It's the Pumpkin Muffin they have on special this month....YUMMY! It tastes like the best carrot cake you've ever had, without crunchy carrot pieces! There are even these crunchy, toasted, pumpkin seeds on the top to garnish it. I tell you...the absolute best muffin I've ever had...and I've had a fair amount of muffins in my lifetime!

Speaking on Timmies, I went to the one in Sheldot on my way to Hdot on Tuesday. I suffered from my house all the way there as it's like an hour away, but I managed to deal with it by singing along to Journey "Just a small town girl...livin' in a lonely world...she took the midnight train going anywhere...." all the way there. Anyways, got there and the Timmies is right off the highway. The traffic is a mess there. You turn off the highway and the first right is Timmies so people stay in line on the main road. This worked for me this time as I was going there, but the guy behind me clearly was not and wasn't pleased with the 5 cars in his way. I could tell that he was unhappy by the way he continuously honked his horn...it was a dead giveaway. I couldn't help him out as I had pulled over more to the side of the road, but I was stuck and couldn't move any further. He lost patience and pulled out to pass us all, nearly hitting the oncoming traffic...again, I don't think he cared by the way his finger was waving in the air as he drove by...another big hint. Once I got in the parking lot I was going to park and go in, but I noticed that the people were lined up to the door and some in the little entryway so I opted to stay in my warm car with my Journey songs...now it was "and now I come, to you, with open armsssss..." A good song so I didn't want to get out. To my surprise the traffic moved real fast cause by the time the song was nearing the end, I was at the window getting my coffee! Keep in mind, the song started when I was still on the road...pretty good, eh?! I was so impressed that I told the lady at the window that it was the fastest Timmies I'd ever been through...making it seem like I was a Timmies connoisseur...which I am kinda, after all, I wrote the blog on Timmies Etiquette in an earlier post! I got my coffee and got back on the road to suddenly be disappointed...the Sheldot Timmies went from the fastest to the worst coffee house ever in that first sip. My long awaited coffee tasted like the bottom of an ashtray. How on earth could this be? They were selling coffee like it was going out of style...how could this pot of been old? I was so mad that I almost turned around, but then I came to my senses as yet my CD must of went around again and we continue with "Just a city boy...born and raised in South Detroit...He took the Midnight Train going anywhere..." For some reason, these songs were great driving and singing tunes...I drank the coffee anyways and went on my merry way. So, all this to say that I was going to tell you all to stop at that Timmies cause it was super efficient, but now I can assure you they have an inferior coffee brewing process so I'd rather wait somewhere else to get a good cup. Oh and another lesson...listen to Journey the next time you drive somewhere...they have great tunes!

"Lying beside you...here in the dark...feeling your heart beat with mine." - Journey

Some things I've noticed...

...so I've been away for a few days in meetings. I headed up to Hdot on Tuesday morning and then ended up in the Valley on Tuesday night...then meetings in the Valley all day Wednesday. I had the chance to watch some of the election coverage...kinda predictable, I think. I met the MP that won his riding in the Valley at Breakfast yesterday morning. Not hard to pick him out, wearing a bright red sweater and with an entourage congratulating him every minute of his meal. Apparently, he had been out holding a "Thank You" sign by the Highway earlier that morning...thought that was pretty cool of him.

One thing I noticed was that the price of gas changed as I made my loop around half the province. Started out as a $112/litre was about $109/litre in Hdot then slowly creeped back up to $112/litre the closer I got to home. Hardly seems fair when we all have cars, we all use gas, we all drive in the same places...know what I mean? If the price is regulated, then wouldn't you think they'd regulate it to be the same all over the place? Seems like simple logic to me.

Last night when I got home I caught up on my favorite soap opera. Some things struck me as odd and I don't know if I'll already mentioned this before...if so too bad, we're talking about it again...anyways, there was a scene where this couple, who's madly in love by the way...they all seem to be...so they wake up and instantly start making out. How do they have such fresh breath in the am? I don't want to be kissing no one as soon as I open my eyes. I mean, it's bad enough they have perfect hair and perfect make up, please give them morning breath! I want, just once, for one of them to say..."here's a mint...now let's go back to our madly in love state and make out". Another thing is that none of them have regular work hours, they rarely spend time with their children cause they can always run out the door when there's a crisis. It's almost like they all have live-in Nanny's. The real big thing for me is that they never take off their shoes, yet their floors are always so clean. How does that happen? Don't get me wrong, I love to watch and get sucked into their fake lives, but I wish the writers would make some things a little more realistic. Give them breath mints...make them take their shoes off when visiting someone...give them eye crusties or drool tracks...something! I'm sure if I've noticed these things, others have as well.

"Notice you, noticing me..." - Kardinall Official

Ring Ring!!!....

...so the Do Not Call Registry is now in effect. Canadians can register their phone numbers so that telemarketers are not permitted BY LAW to phone them. There are some exclusions, but basically any of those annoying ones won't be allowed to call if your name is on the list. If they do call and you report the incident, there is a major fine for the company. Having said all that, I've received more telemarketers call in the last week than ever before. They call in the morning, they called last night at 8:45 pm, they call me at work CONSTANTLY and they call just as I put my fork to my mouth at suppertime. The thing is that they can still call till the end of October because they have to wait to get a list of people on the registry...that takes a month. So this means that they can still call allllll this month and apparently they're going full out to get their time in! Another thing is that they don't ever seem to know who they're calling for! I have one word for them...PRACTICE. "Hello, would Mrs. Lee-a-see New-wellee be home?" Of course she's not home...who the heck is that? Last night they asked for a Jen...are you just randomly calling people for fun or what? Is there a Jen at my house cause if there is then I need to have a conversation with my hubby...seriously! I've had the same phone number for about 5 years...learn my freakin name! And really, is it that hard to pronounce? My first name only has one syllable...not two...very simple...so don't over complicate things...and since when is there a ghost "e" at the end of a name? Geesh...my last name even has two L's to end it so that if you miss your cue to stop at the first L, you have a whole other L to remind you! How much more obvious do we need to get here? If you can't say my name then don't even bother. I'm getting a little annoyed. Try to regulate and just makes it worse. I guess it's kinda like the gas prices...regulation comes in effect and we have the highest gas prices ever...glad their helping us out...geesh!

Talking about gas brings me to my oil bill. I got filled up for the first time since May and boy was I ever shocked at the bill. I'm used to a $500 ish bill so when I saw this one, I just about fell off my chair. It was over $700!!! That's just absolutely ridiculous! How on earth is a person suppose to pay that, pay $1.20 something/litre or more for gas, pay more for fresh veggies and fruits to stay slim all while watching all the economic turmoil all over the news? Plllllease...gotta be a better way.

Ok so now that I got that off my chest, lets talk about Sunday night. We took a family trip to Hdot over the weekend and made it home on time for the little one to have his nap in his own bed. While he napped, I took advantage and dozed off too. I woke up just on time to go to a baby shower for a friend....but I was in a pickle.....my face looked like I come out of a waffle iron! The pillow on the couch has grooves and the whole side of my face was nothing but grooves...big problem! Did you know that make-up cannot hide pillow face? Well, take my word for it...I tried and used up almost all of my cover-up and foundation and still no luck...so now what do I do? Well, I put my hair down so that it covered my cheek and when I got there I sat so that there was no one on my left side! How embarrassing is that? Note to self: Nap on back if need to go somewhere real soon after nap!

Oh you should also know that my little one peed on the potty for the first time last night!! This is exciting stuff for a parent! I bribed him with Smarties and luckily enough he takes after his mom with his love of all things chocolate so he took the bait and went right to the potty! Now he knows that a #1 or #2 gets him a handful of Smarties...let's hope the trend continues!

"Hello!......Is it me you're looking for?" - Lionel Richie

Saturday Afternoon funny...

...my new favorite knock knock joke:

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Ya.

Ya who?

Why you so excited??

Say What?...

...so the Prime Minister is in the news these days over a speech he copied off of the Australian Prime Minister. Ok...who cares really...it was in 2003...we're 2008 now...people are dying, the economy is going through a rough time, the weather is awful, the price of gas is ridiculous and we're worried about a speech in 2003?? Is there a need, really?! News Flash: ALL POLITICIANS PLAGIARIZE because they NEVER write their own speeches! Someone writes it so if you asked me, they're plagiarizing by reading it to the public. It's not their thoughts...it's the thoughts of the person who wrote the speech. I don't care that the Prime Minister said the same thing the Australian one did...the US Presidents and Candidates all say the same thing day in and day out...part of politics...lets get over it. There's only so much you can say about the same topics year after year....geesh, enough already!

I love listening to the Comedians during these election times. I especially love the actual quotes people say...just don't think before they say it.

Here's a few:

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." Dan Quayle

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls." George W Bush

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'." George W Bush

"The single most important two things we can do...." Tony Blair

Here's another George W Bush one...sorry George, but this one is quite funny!

"What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society. So I don't know how that fits into what everybody else is saying, their relative positions, but that's my position."

Hehehehe...see, this is what happens when they simply talk off the top of their heads! Please bring back the speech writers.

"Say what you need to say..." - John Mayer