Thursday, April 26, 2012

Am I the only one?

I watch a fair bit of TV.  But don't have very many shows that I "follow".  That is, there's really only one or two that I make an effort to see when a new episode is coming on. 

I also watch alot of movies.

so my questions is, am I the only one who takes quotes/lines from tv or movies to heart and apply them to my life?

A couple of examples....
"Rule #9, always carry a knife."  I don't always follow this, but I try.  And I quote it all the time.

or my new favorite... it's a tad longer...

"Decide to be fine 'til the end of the week. Make yourself smile because you're alive and that's your job. And do it again the next week. Do it right. With a smile. Or don't do it."

And that, sums up how I've been getting through work lately...

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Life at work, satellite edition

I'm at work today, but at our new branch.

And I keep laughing... cause all I ever hear from the manager here is how busy it is here.
I've been answering the phones all by myself, with zero problem... never had more than one phone call at a time.
The guys are out in the shop, working... doing their thing.  I keep wandering out, cause I'm bored.  Part of that is that I can't access 99% of my files from here.  All of my paperwork is at the other office.... all of the things that keep me busy all day are at the other office.
So I'm here... blogging for the fun of it.
Beats spending the day at the other office where I'd have to deal with people who piss me off just by breathing.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Life at work

for the past.... month or so, work has been... hellacious, to say the least.
I've repeatedly asked for a job description, to no avail.
I've asked for clarification on several issues here and all I get are vague, we'll figure it outs....
None of which is new... it's pretty much the party line around here.
Balanced against all that bullshit, is the freedom I have here.
I know how to do more than damn near everyone, if not everyone in fact.
I've spent the last couple of days pointing out to my boss, the owner, all manner of things he just doesn't know how or what to do.

I'm not sure the scales still balance...

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Pretty

I was on the phone with my sister the other day.
We were talking about our respective jobs. 
How, in general, the physical places are dreary.
And how we sort of insist on things being "pretty"
She's going on about making some manual pretty, in the Martha Stewart sense.
I'm looking at this photo on my screen.

I think I like this pretty better than the Martha Stewart version.  (Although, I don't think I'd use it for a manual)


Thursday, March 15, 2012

Still undecided....

What to do with this blog...
I was quite frankly amazed to see it still sitting here, waiting on me.

I need to figure out what I can post here, what I can post on my other blog....
And what to do with each...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

A lesson in how to not do customer service: Staples, are you listening?

If you're a deal follower (as I am), or you'd signed up with Staples to get their emails, you heard about an awesome deal on toilet paper that they had this past Saturday.

If, like me, you placed an order (or two) for that toilet paper, then you've had the experience of Staples lack of customer service.

I placed my first order Saturday, around ten.  It went through fine, and I even got a confirmation email from them, with a ship date.  I thought about it for a while, and decided that I wanted to order some for myself.  So I placed a second order.  Again, it went through with no bells, no errors, and I got a confirmation with a ship date.

Monday, I checked my email, and found that my second order had been cancelled.  I was not happy.  But decided that as long as the larger first order was still coming, I would be satisfied.

Tuesday morning, I checked my email, and found a second email, sent at seven o'clock the previous night that was the cancellation of my first order.

To say the least, I was not pleased.  I called Staples "customer service" and all I got was, "I'm sorry".  Which I know, from working customer service in a call center translates into "you're screwed, and we're not going to do a damn thing about it".

I asked to speak to a supervisor, and told her in no uncertain terms how displeased I was.  And how, this really is making me question whether or not I want to remain being a customer of Staples.

She offered me a $25.00 emailed coupon off my next order ( I have yet to see it, so we'll have to wait on that.) 

I did some research, and it seems that people who ordered at three in the morning had their orders cancelled!  This tells me that their system was accepting orders for more than twelve hours after they "ran out of stock".  This is unacceptable. Especially for a national corporation.

Allow me to offer Staples some advice.
1. Don't make an offer that you're unwilling to abide by.  If quantities are so limited that you can't manage to fill orders even when they're placed in the beginning of a daily deal, you should mention exactly how limited quantities are. eg: quantities limited to the first 1000.
2. Disclose, Disclose, DISCLOSE.  I'm not upset that they didn't fill my order.  I'm upset that they mislead me, took my order, sent me a ship date and a confirmation, then cancelled.  Had they disclosed how limited the quantity was (see #1 above), or that they were limiting quantities per person, I would've chalked it up to another deal I missed out on.
3. Impress upon your customer service staff to be polite at all costs.  And EMPOWER them to do something.  I shouldn't have to speak to a supervisor to have gotten some sort of concession.
4. Plan ahead.  I don't know what Staples pays their IT people, but I'm guessing it would've cost less to pay one of them to hang around all night Friday night into Saturday morning to make sure this went smoothly.  Also, if you're offering a smoking deal (we're talking about an item that is normally 18.99 that was "sale" priced at 2.99, and is an everyday necessity), why not test out your system before it goes live?  Again, I don't know how much this would've cost, but I'm guessing less than the concessions pissed off customers are demanding, plus all the terrible publicity.
5. Any publicity is good publicity only works for celebrities.  For a national corporation like Staples, this sort of mess is nothing but bad.  And the repercussions of which will be felt for years.
6. The Internet is your customer's friend, but it can be your enemy.  Yes, the Internet is great for emailing your customers about your sales.  And yes, it's great for having an online store.  But it's sort of like keeping a leopard as a pet.  The good stuff is really good.  But you need to keep your eye on it at all times.  You never know when it's going to turn on you and bite you.  There are TONS of sites out there that help consumers get the best deal.  They will work it out to the penny.  I can't tell you how many places I saw this deal.  And most places had worked it out to the cost per sheet or the cost per square foot.  Deal seekers are a savvy, chatty bunch.  And they won't soon forget this.  Years from now,  when Staples has a good deal, someone will chime in with, "yeah, but remember in '10 they screwed up on the toilet paper?"
7.  Honesty goes a long, long way.  Especially with this hard core group of deal seekers.  Had Staples just said, look... "we screwed the pooch.  We should have limited the deal to one per person/account.  We should have made sure our system worked and here's what we're gonna do to make it right..."  They would've gained immeasurable respect in the deal seeking community.  And they would've gotten a ton of good publicity out of this.

But Staples hasn't done any of this.  They're blaming it all on a "glitch".  
A glitch... that they allowed to go on, for a day.  That they didn't address until two days later.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Shopping

Is it wrong that I'm actually considering taking  time off from work to go shopping?

I've become somewhat of a master at it, and the way I figure it, I can make more money shopping than I can being at work.  And if the shopping trip goes well, less aggravation.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Daylight Savings

We just switched over to daylight savings time.  And quite frankly I'm getting more than a little sick and  tired of this switching.  I say, we're on daylight savings, let's stay there.  It solves so many problems.  No more switching, but we still get the benefits of "more sun".  And we'd get those benefits through the winter, when we need more daylight.  That is of course assuming you fall for that.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

what to do....

I've been mulling over just deleting this blog and giving up.
But I hate to be a quitter.
The question remains... what to do with this blog.  I don't have any clear cut idea for this.
I suppose I could post about my fairly new found hobby of pillaging.  But there's tons of blogs out there that do a much better job of breaking down the deals.  And really... does anyone want to hear about how I went to the store and bought 275 cans of soup for less than $5.00 out of my pocket?

I often fantasize about having a blog like Julie and Julia... where I commit to doing a project.  Post on a regular basis... and actually get something done.

But that's just not going to happen.  I'm not one of those people.  I blog when I feel the need to get something out.  Or when I'm bored... like right now.

When I have a project, I get involved in the project and don't have time to blog about it.  For instance... lately I've been on a bit of a mission to clear out some of the clutter in the house.  Have I blogged about it?  nope.... not one sentence.  Why?  because I've been busy bagging up clutter and disposing of it.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

An Open Letter to vrylmkt

If your intention, with this coupon fiasco, was to get your name out there, you've done a tremendous job. However, I don't think you've gotten your name out the way you wanted to. Couponers are a large group, and yet they're tight knit. Word of your coupons got around like wildfire, well guess what, word of how you've made all couponers look like frauds is getting around faster than your coupons did. Had anyone at your company done ANY research, they would've known about the couponing community, and what safe guards to put in place. Instead, you’ve not only made the couponing community look bad, you’ve given yourselves a black eye that will linger for a very long time. Couponers have shown themselves to have long memories, and will retell the saga of this fiasco for a long, long time. Worst of all, for your company, couponers spans all ages, races, and socioeconomic strata, the repercussions of this will linger for quite some time.

I find it ironic that a company called vyrlmkt has fallen “victim” to the very thing they’re trying to sell. I wonder how your customers will feel about hiring a company that purports to provide them with viral marketing, but who has fallen victim to it, and hangs the consumer out to dry?

Only time will tell.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Look who's come for lunch!

It always amazes me the people that show up where I work. Part of dealing with the public, I'm sure.

We deal with all sorts..... from people who are working poor, but the sweetest, nicest possible customers. To the ultra-ultra rich who expect to be catered to completely, expect us to be grateful for the opportunity to cater to them, and expect us to do it for free. Today.... we had a different sort in the office. I can't really call him a customer as he wasn't buying anything.
Here's a hint......





no, we didn't have the cast of CSI come by, although, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me if they did.

We had a member of the major case squad stop by and see if we could help him. We spent quite a bit of time with him... I'm not sure we really helped him, but it's nice to think we did.

So that's our excitement for the day...

p.s. I didn't write much about him, or what he's looking for because it's (obviously) an open and active case. And while I doubt seriously that the criminals are reading this blog, they might be googling key words about the crime, and I'm not gonna help them. If I hear it's been solved, I might come back and add more info.

What can I say?

I suck at blogging. At least, I suck at regular blogging.

I wish I had the time, and the schedule to blog regularly, really I do.
I like the whole idea of taking time every day and writing something. What I lack, is the time, the self discpline.... that whole thing.

However, I'll be in and out blogging as time and creativity permit.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I'm learning to love CVS

Before I found Crystal's blog, I would only go to CVS when I had no other choice. But now, now I go to CVS a minimum of three times a week.

Why the change you may ask? Crystal has shown me how to have CVS pay me to go to their store. And if they'll pay me to take stuff out of their store, I'm willing to do so.

So how have I done lately? Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Let me see if I can remember some of my better deals.

This month, I've managed to stock us up on approximately a years supply of coffee, which we use quite a bit of. I also managed to score 10 cans of tuna for free! Then there's the M&M's... I scored about twenty-six bags of M&M's. I've got enough shampoo to last me several months (and I don't use a quarter sized dollop, I use a lot, I've got long, thick hair.) I've managed to add to my baby gift for one of my co-workers. I think I now have six packages of diapers and eight or nine packages of wipes.

All of this for an out of pocket of maybe ten dollars; total. The best part? I still have over $100.00 in ECB's to spend on future trips.

The problem I'm running into now is, I don't wanna buy anything that they don't pay me to take. And I'm fast becoming stocked on most things I'd want from there. Oh well.... if it comes down to it, I'll go on a shopping spree and donate everything I buy.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Trash pickin'

I was reading this blog, and she was writing about some trash picking she did this week. I have to say, I was impressed with her haul for the week. Two tables is pretty good.

And it made me think about my nephew's best lot of trash picking. When J was 12 he and some friends were out and decided to do some trash picking. They found "the motherload" in the form of several years worth of Playboys. Now, to a 12 year old, that has to seem like manna from heaven. Not wanting to question their luck, they grabbed the magazines, and left. Not really checking them out until they were safely home.

Imagine their horror to discover that all of their "motherload" haul was braille. Not a single picture other than the cover. Luckily, their horror was changed to delight when they checked ebay, and found out that they can be worth some money.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

What can you get for $.61??

Well, if you read here, and use your head a little, you can get
2 Hershey's Pot of gold (like these)

2 bags of jelly beans


2 bags of plastic eggs



oh, and one of these, for the ride.


all for $.61 cents. Not too bad. And I got a total of 11.96 in ECB's to spend next time.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Now I've really got a dilemma.

Not really, but I am working on a balancing act.
As I've said before, I've been inspired by Chris to clear out some of the clutter and scale back on some of my shopping.

But then I stumbled upon this site . And while some of the people there aren't exactly the type I would chose to hang out with. There's some really good information on how to save money.

Here comes the balancing act... one of the girls I work with is pregnant, with her third child. My thoughts on this not withstanding, I need to give her some sort of gift for the baby. But quite frankly, I'm really not feeling the love or the desire to spend the money on this. So, I thought I'd play this CVS game and see if I couldn't get some free or really cheap diapers, wipes etc. So now, I'm balancing doing deals that make me money and not wanting more clutter. So far, I've been reasonably successful. I've stocked up on razors, because while, technically they could be considered clutter, they will eventually be used. I've also stocked up on soap, which, again, I didn't need right away, but will be used. I've also given away about six bars of soap, some toothpaste, toothbrushes, and cheese (lots and lots of cheese). I've stocked, and restocked work with candy. And this week I plan on stocking work up with air fresheners. Oh... and I managed to get myself some of those flameless candles and got paid to take them out of the store.

It should prove to be an interesting experiment, balancing my desire for a cleaner, less cluttered life with my packrattedness.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Quandary

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I've been reading this blog . Chris has really inspired me. I've really cut back on my shopping. Not completely cut it out, the way she has. But I've cut waaaayyyy back. And I now think long and hard about whether I want a particular item cluttering up my house.

I've also begun purging the house of extraneous crap. One of the major obstacles I face, is when people hear I'm purging, they all tell me not to throw anything away. That they'll take it and use it, or donate it. The problem with this is, people have terrific intentions, and not so good follow up. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone. But it makes the current purge a tug of war between my emotions. On the one hand, I just want the crap outta my house. On the other hand, I have a lot of stuff that other people could put to use.

My solution so far has been to toss the real garbage, and put the "good crap" in a pile to be sorted. I'm just about ready to start sorting through the "good crap". But I'm undecided on what I'll actually do with the crap I don't want. I could pack it up and send it to Jibii. But I don't think she'd appreciate it. I could throw it all away, but then I'd have to deal with feeling guilty about throwing away good stuff.

Any suggestions?

Friday, October 26, 2007

I hit Michael's again

And I'd advise anyone who hasn't gotten all of their Halloween stuff to do the same.

I found these stamps from Martha Stewart
Regularly $9.99 for the set, they're 50% off making them a very affordable $4.99
Of course, who can't use another set of alphabet stamps? huh Jibii????

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Labels anyone?

I found these at the local Staples. $.50 each. Now, I wish I could tell you to run there and get yours, but if you live near my local Staples, don't bother. I cleaned them out.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Rockstar!!!!

I found this "Rockstar" paper from DCWV at a local Michael's.
They'd marked it down to $15.00. I had a 40% off coupon, which they applied to the paper, bringing it down to $9.00 for the full pack.
For anyone who's interested, they also had individual sheets for $.25 a sheet.
This is gorgeous paper that IMHO would go well with alot of the pirate themed stuff I've seen out.