Duncan's Blog

We live in a world in which we generally expect product and service to go hand-in-hand. We look for it when we go to a salon (or a saloon), when we shop for clothing and when we seek medical attention.
There are so many times when I feel as if I am alone in my fight against the big, cold, heartless industrial giant. The giant will put up a front or a face and say, "We care what you think about us," but in reality the action taken is, "We're huge and we can do whatever the heck we want. If a competitor tries to tangle with us, we will crush it like a bug!"
This came to mind recently when I had a run-in with UNITED AIRLINES. First of all, any contact that I tried to make with this corporation was subdivided into to unpleasant options; I could either go online and deal with a website (offering me frequently asked questions... none of which was my question), or I could have my telephone call diverted to India, Pakistan or the Philippines where I would communicate with someone who was trained to be cloyingly sweet and dismissive of my stress.
My problem arose when I bought my ticket online from PriceLine. I was never told that I wouldn't get flight mileage credit. They added my mileage number to the reservation and it wasn't until after I had finished my trip that the news was given to me. I don't know why. It wasn't a free ticket. And add to that the airline had my funds MONTHS in advance.
On the way home I was trying to get to my seat. The stewardess had blocked it from me. I fought with her, begging three times. She crossed her arms in front of her. Turns out (when I ran to the toilet) that she had spread her stewardess ass out onto my assigned seat and the one next to it. Hmmmm....
So when I landed in Chicago I skirted over to a long line at customer service. Someone was going to hear from me, boy howdy! When I finally reached the desk, the clerk told me to go online to file a complaint.
I lost it. Losing it in Chicago is not pretty. "I DON'T USE COMPUTERS! I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH GETTING EMAILS THAT START OFF WITH THE SENTENCE 'DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL'. I WANT TO WRITE A LETTER TO A REAL LIVE AMERICAN HUMAN BEING AND TELL YOUR COMPANY WHY THE SERVICE I HAVE RECEIVED SO FAR IS HORRIBLE." The clerk searched frantically and found me a self-addressed postage free post card. "Give me two," I said, "My complaint certainly is not going to fit on a single post card!"
To date I have only gotten back DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL emails stating that the big, cold, heartless industrial giant was glad I had written and would investigate my claim. Have YOU heard from them? I sure haven't.
I have since told them to purge my account. I told them that I didn't want ANY TRACE of my ever having been there. I didn't want to donate my miles anywhere else. Every other day I go on line and every other day I see the mileage. I even wrote a letter to their so called service center in the metropolis of Rapid City, SD. No reply.
It's my day off from work, time to see if I can get an American online.

I float in the hospital pool and was sent today to the psych ward. I never understood why someone would spend two years in nursing school to end up there. The real nursing skills just seem to disappear over time. Try to find an RN who can find a vein !
But enough of this... I'm looking at graduate school and think I may just end up there. My hospital will pay for my education. How cool is that?

I lead a life that's somewhat different than the mainstream. I work as a nurse. To a select few I speak in military time. It throws some folks off when they see the 24-hour time on my cell phone. Without conscious effort, I manage to rouse myself at 4:20 in the morning. It wasn't for several months of doing this that I realized that 4:20 is the magical term for... well... we know <wink, wink, nudge, nudge>
Oddly enough, toking weed has never been a strong factor in my life. I've grown marijuana from time to time, but I have never felt the need or urge to ingest it. It's nothing snooty... just never had any interest in it.
The morning hour on a work day is a busy one for me. I feed and water my chickens, make breakfast, brown bag lunch, shower, shave, dress and then drive off for an hour to work. I'm pretty happy with this arrangement for now. Now I've gotta find a maid

I found my end-stub checks over which I was obsessing yesterday. I didn't know what they were called and the check printer opted not to put a picture of them on the website. So know the check is literally in the mail.
I think my latest pet peeve are the 800-toll free numbers that are computer driven only. The ads say that your problems will be answered 24/7 by calling this number. Ya think? If I can't speak to a human being as an option then I don't want to contact an 800#. About the only thing a computer can do to satisfy me is to give me my balance.
Now the biggest pressures going on are (a) maintaining enough "steam" to get me through the semester without making a plummeting spiral into the void, (b) holding to the promise I made myself to brown-bag lunch on work days and (c) raising day-old chicks with no casualties.
As sister-in-law Mary Lee would say, "Time will tell!"

More folks than not in my so-called circles shop on line. They've joined the point-and-click circuit of people who don't go into shops, stores, warehouses, marts, or tents. They sit at their screens (some with a mouse smack dab in the keyboard between the G-B-H keys) and shop away to the hearts content. No money in the wallet? No problemo! Pull out the VISA charge plate with its magical three digit number on the back.
For the past week or so I have been on the look out for the perfect check. I'm looking for a wallet check that has a side register on each check. I had them in the 70s. Now they have vanished. Not only are they not around, but anyone I speak to has this bewildered look on his/her face or speaks with that voice of uncertainty. You know the sound. It's the sound of a salesperson who is DESPERATE for that commission, but hasn't got a clue as to what the buyer is saying.
Well I've decided to not order my next set of checks until I have found exactly what I am looking for.
These days I have no money in the wallet. I brown bag my meal to work. I buy groceries with the credit card. I pay most of the bills on line and write about a half dozen checks a month. Money transfers within the bank are done on the computer or via the branch's ATM. I've taken to only saving copper pennies and state commemorative quarters.
The only thing I've ordered lately on the computer is two dozen chicks. I'm getting a small flock from Ohio. My local vendor doesn't stock some of the more exotic varieties I want (as if a buckeye hen from Ohio would ever be considered "exotic" in Cleveland!).
I'd love to type away some more, but I've got studying to get to.