Ahhh, “Praise Choruses”… we call 'em the 7-11 of hymns: seven words repeated eleven times.
I’ve just about had it with Panera. The last couple times I’ve gone there it’s just been ridiculous. A while back I went to order some dinner to take home for my wife and I. There was one woman in line in front of me, but she was taking forever to order, then had some kind of elaborate bakery order that was taking up all of the counter girl’s attention. While standing there waiting for over ten minutes to place my order, a manager walked by twice, saw me standing there, and just kept on walking. (There is another manager at this store who will not hesitate to open another register when she notices people waiting a long time or the line backing up.) Also there seemed to be a couple of people back in the kitchen area wandering around with nothing to do – why not send one of them up to take an order if they’re not busy?
Last night my wife and I met her parents there for dinner. It was unusually busy for a Sunday night, and they may have been a little short-staffed, so I will cut them a little bit of slack. However, the same manager was working last night, and I wonder if maybe he is the problem.
Problem #1: I ordered a coffee with my dinner. (This was about 5:45pm). They have little signs on the coffee pots saying when they were brewed. The decaf, which I had planned on having, was brewed at 10:30 am, and the freshest coffee they had out was apparently brewed at 1:30. So, no coffee less than four hours old. I went ahead and got a cup but it was just barely warm, so I went back to the counter and asked if they could warm it up. The guy behind the counter said he’s brew a fresh pot and bring a cup out for me. Which he did, I will give him points for that. But when I went back a little later for a refill, the pot with the 10:30 sign was still out, and the one with the 5:45 sign was still sitting behind the counter. I would have asked someone at the counter for another cup but by this time the line was backed up to the door, so I just went back to the table.
Problem #2: We had to wait nearly half an hour for our food. Yes it was busy and yes they may have been understaffed but holy crap I have never had to wait that long for my food at Panera. And when I got my soup and salad, there was hardly any salad in my bowl (it was maybe 1/3 full) and the soup, like the seven-hour-old coffee, was also just barely warm.
When we finally left around 7pm, as I was dropping off the trash and the dishes I noticed that the 10:30 am decaf was still sitting out, and the 5:45 decaf was still behind the counter. I’m guessing it sat there until they closed.
I think this just made my day! 
A little late on this one, but as a lifelong resident of the area, I totally feel this one. I believe it’s down to Royal Mail not updating their Postal Address File, which is the origin of many organisations’ databases. It’s particularly good fun when it causes a payment (or credit application) to fail. Apparently 4 years of private ownership has yet to make our postal service any more efficient, at least in this regard.
I am so fucking pissed. On September 24 I ordered a rare VHS tape from Amazon. It was never released on DVD so I was going to take it to a video place and have it converted. It cost $100 plus shipping from Germany. First they gave me a date of October 13, then they inexplicably changed it to November 9. No tracking date and they responded only “We as third party seller are unable to change anything regarding EDD.”
Today I got a package from Poland. It contained a VHS tape of some Japanese anime with a similar title. The description of the movie is correct on the order page. No packing slip, no receipt. I’ve notified the sellers how pissed I am, but that probably will result only in a refund. I want my fucking movie. I cannot find any other copy for sale anywhere, and I once bought a book for my husband from Rangoon.
No, I don’t want to give the name of the movie. No, it’s not porn. I just want to vent.
also tell amazon so they can get nailed for fraud …
So, I just set our kitchen on fire. Again. BUT, it wasn’t my fault this time AND this will be the last time. Or at least I don’t think it was my fault, and it will be the last time at that home.
Just like everyone else in the neighborhood, our home has has been condemned due to shifting, utility pipes breaking, mold and all sorts of other bad things, so we personally are currently in a rental. I don’t know where the other people are living.
We didn’t have water damage to most of the stuff in the house, so we have been taking our time getting things out so we can sort and stuff. Due to that, we still have power to our home. I had thought that the gas had been shut off by the gas company in our area, and I’m not supposed to touch the stove or oven controls.
As we were sorting out the basement storage (the higher boxes and bins were just fine, the bottom ones were a mess), I went to the kitchen to nuke some food. I did notice that the kitchen smelled like something rotten, but not much more than the rest of the house, so I tossed our food into the microwave, turned it on and walked out of the kitchen.
I honestly didn’t even notice anything happen after that except that I noticed that the light had changed.
My BB explained how I managed to start a fast but not long lasting gas fire by using the microwave, but he’s an engineer so the best I got out of it is that while the gas had been shut off at the source, it was still in the pipes and possibly under pressure. When leaks started happening, it would fill the rooms where the leaks were. Microwaves don’t start some cycle or another which might cause a spark until a few seconds which gave me time to walk away and not get hurt.
Or something like that.
My theory is that I just need to remember to leave all kitchen appliances to the experts.
I’ll definitely tell Amazon. I have no idea how much the tape they sent me is worth, but I don’t think it’s my obligation to pay postage to Poland to return it. Unless I get a compelling reason to return it, it’s mine and I’ll take it to the video store and resell it.
What is this video store of which you speak?
There are three very good ones near me. Lots of obscure DVDs.
Yes, I get it. Obsolete. I like backup.
Don’t act like you don’t know. It’s right between the B. Dalton and that arcade where we play Burger Time. Remember after school last Tuesday when Scooter almost made it to the end of Dragon’s Lair?
Every year my wife and I go to the same Halloween party. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of fun. We run into a lot of friends, and there’s a lot of really good costumes. I like to put a lot of work on my costume, not only for the fun, but every year there is a trophy for best costume voted on by attendees.
But I’m starting to notice a pattern of absolute completed fucking stupidity from the fellow party goers.
3 years ago, I came up with a very clever political figure as costume. The winner was this couple who did a silly team costume that won. One of the ladies was dressed as a chicken, the other wore all blue with a cord around her neck: Chicken + Cord on Blue . . … Chicken Cordon Bleu. Get it?:rolleyes:
Last year I spent 40 bucks on a costume, ran out to a fast food restaurant to get one of their props and had to endure the looks of their employees, and came up with a KILLER costume. This chick and her girlfriend put plastic pots on their heads and show up as “Pot Heads”. HAHAHAHAHA!!! HAAAAAARDEEEHSRHAHRHAR. THEY WIN. That took what, 5 minutes?
This year I spent over $60 and killed my self for 3 hours trying to at the last minute gather materials for an AWESOME costume of a famous tv character.
WHO shows up this year with a NEW girlfriend? She wears foam deer horns which took about 5 seconds to figure out and her girlfriend dresses as a pickle, because they are a “Dill-Doe”. Dilldoe. DILDO. GET IT? YUK YUK YUK YUK! And guess who wins first prize?
Now I get it: it doesn’t matter how much effort or thought you put into a timely costume, just as long as you can put together a PUN, you’ll win, no matter how little thought or effort the costume requires.
That’s fine and I’m looking forward to the next party. But guess what? No more costumes for YOU. If the fucktards that show up at this party just think any gimmick that takes advantage of silly word play is better than MY costumes, which by the way get TREMENDOUS reviews on Facebook by friends who think they are great, then let them. I’m not wasting my time, energy or ego dressing up like a clown to try and win votes by a bunch of half wits who can’t appreciate art in favor of a stupid joke.
I’m not the only one. Every year I hear other regular party goers lament it doesn’t matter how good their customers are: this bitch and her girlfriend will just show up with a team costume and two syllables and steal the contest.
Here’s what I SAY: FUCK your costume, FUCK the other voters, and FUCK HALLOWEEN COSTUMES. I’m too old for this retarded bullshit anyway!
Don’t quit just yet. Next year, get an oversized white T-shirt and a mop-top wig, which you’ll comb down over your eyes. Then fashion a large letter “g” out of cardboard and affix it to your partner’s costume (which, other than the “g” will be street clothes).
Clear off space on your mantelpiece for the trophy you’ll win for your HILARIOUS “emo + g” team costume.
GET IT? “Emo + g” = EMOJI! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Another option is a rule that says “that woman and whomever she brings win the costume competition.” It’s just an update on “whomever owns the ball, wins” and “girls are not allowed to beat guys at pool”.
My mother really, really should be moving into an old folks’ home. She spends several hours completely disoriented every morning; doesn’t know what day she lives in; says things that are completely absurd such as tremblingly asking Jay, the Controller (International) who knows the whole family’s finances by heart, to be careful what he does with his savings; expected me to be in her house on Friday by dinner time despite remembering that I was leaving work some 1000km away at 6pm… I just hope that she won’t manage to hurt somebody else if the way she ends up being moved there involves some sort of accident.
Our power has been out since Sunday night. 
We haven’t had a significant power outage since 2012 or so, so I never got a backup generator for the house. I’m now rethinking that decision, especially now that I have a CPAP machine for sleep apnea…which I got just last week. I was just getting used to sleeping with it on, and was sleeping better than I have for years. Now I feel like I haven’t slept in two nights. We’re also going to lose everything in two refrigerators and freezers.
That said, I know people have had it far worse in Texas, Florida, and especially Puerto Rico, so I probably shouldn’t be complaining about something so minor. Blame it on lack of sleep.
Hey, only cos there are little black kids starving in Africa doesn’t mean “I’m hungry, what’s for dinner?” isn’t a valid question 
flatlined, you have the Midas touch–everything transforms into a muffler. :eek:
Did you not get the memo that you were only to use your powers for good?
Or would the insurance payout be better for smoldering debris as opposed to moldy debris?
Ya, Windham County has had 2 power outages in the last 3 weeks … and averages at least 4 short outages every year [thanks to branches and trees coming down in high winds …] we had the power tank Sunday evening and got it back yesterday. We have had a back up genny for 20 years. <shrug> I think out longest outage was after the hurricane back in the early 2000s - power was out for over a month, mrAru and I ended up showering on base in various areas [mainly the gym, the pool and a couple buildings down on lower base - NSSF lower deck mainly.]
Feel free to vent =) Though I have gotten some great coping skills from camping, when we have a winter outage I heated and cooked with the wood stove, heated shower water on the woodstove and filled a Zodi tank to shower with, and used our camp toilet rather than haul water to dump in manually.
Takes an odd sort of woman to be fine with living in primitive conditions, I once conserved my per diem with working an outtage by living in a camp ground near Williamsburg VA, was fun except for when the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo slammed through. But other than that, it was relaxing.
That flying skeleton tied to a tree branch is not about lynching.
