PHONE TUTORIAL FOR BUSINESS OWNERS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES
When leaving a voice mail, call from the actual phone that you would like me to call you back on. This way, instead of pulling out a pen, and writing the number you gave me on the VM, then manually entering that phone number to call you back, I can just click on that number on my screen-----MUCH easier to do while driving. Unless you want to wait an hour for me to call you back.
If you must leave me a different number, please say it slowly and repeat it. Otherwise, its bad enough I’m now have to write your fucking number down, I have to rewind the message 2-3 times so I can the number you said only once, in about 2 seconds.
If you are not a proficient English speaker, please understand your message may be difficult to understand. If its from a crappy cell phone signal, its even worse. Consider spelling your name on the voice mail.
Have an option for a live person to answer the phone. I don’t want to dial the first three letters of the persons name to get to their extension, which doesn’t work half the time anyway (“Did-you-want-Carol, Carolina, or Carl?”). And I don’t have time to listen to all 34 employees extension numbers so I can hit the Whack-A-Mole “#” button when it gets to the right person name. Oh, and that “0” that gets me to warm body? ESPECIALLY helpful if the person I’m trying to call isn’t listed on the “extension library”. Which isn’t a surprise if you are dumb enough to make the Extension Library the only option for a caller----who JUST MIGHT be an important customer—your only option.
You would not believe how many allegedly prestigious businesses have these issues. Make it harder to do business with, GREEEAT way to generate sales.
People who don’t get my common English language name; this group seems to include 100% of call center CSRs and at least half of all cashiers at fast food restaurants and coffeeshops.
Here’s how it seems to go, every time:
Phone variation, basically the same except:
JIM!
[/quote]
And if I go by James it seems to be almost as difficult
Seriously, I don’t get it. I know that my name, which was the third most popular boy’s name in the year of my birth has slipped down the rankings in recent decades, edged out by trendy choices like Jaden and Liam. But it’s still not rare. It’s not like my name is Gengulphus or Lemuel.
I’d consider changing my name but I don’t really care for any of the more popular ones, or at least not enough to bother.
Science Channel has this new show called “What on Earth”. The concept is that it’s about anomalous things detected by satellite and attempts to explain them. So, that’s OK. But the execution is dreadful. They’ll ramp the drama to eleven via overwrought narration and explore utterly ridiculous alternative explanations as if they were seriously possible before (sometimes) revealing the correct explanation.
The one that really ground my gears was the discovery of large concrete arrows in satellite images of the US. The alternative explanations were utter bullshit – no, there’s no way that the 49’ers carried tons of concrete across the prairie to help guide other gold miners. The actual explanation, obvious to anyone with access to the internet, is that the arrows were intended as guides to early aviators.
Last night they had an episode on Sodom and Gomorrah and the narrator breathless essayed (something like) “this porcelain was melted by something with the heat of 20 atomic bombs.” WTF?
Really, it’s just awful. And, as I said, the concept is interesting and they could have done a lot with it.
It wasn’t as bad as it could have been-- the choir loft ended up more packed than I expected, but all the ringers showed up, so I got to just sing and not ring. And the bell tables got put back in the Sanctuary before I got there (though I was early). I did end up doing a lot of the other bell set up stuff-- and was a little irked by at least one early arriving ringer who was too busy talking (mostly complaining) to help with set-up.
Still, the big choir pieces went off well, at least as far as I could tell.
We did sing 6 verses of Christ the Lord has Risen Today, which is overkill, at the first service-- which went well, until we hit verse 5 and 6-- the words of which were not in the computer program used to provide words to screens at the front of the church.
But listening to the same sermon three times? It’s at least a time and a half too many.
I’ve been trying like hell to avoid that show based on the promo where they show an apparently stained dock while some “expert” is going on and on about how CLEARLY we’re looking at a body being dragged. >.< Anyone who’s been online in the past few years knows what a stir that image caused when it first showed up on Google Earth…and they’ve likely either seen the Snopes post or read the interview with the guy whose dog caused the huge, muddy mess.
I have empathy for the person suffering so much they feel compelled to do this, nonetheless I feel the need to point out it’s a really objectively awful position to put you in. You are well within reason to refuse to play games with someone who reacts that self-destructively to losing.
The thing I always remember most about you is the hell you went through with your ex and how very much I can relate to that mental fuckery on account of my childhood. Finding out you have this struggle with your father is just another piece of the puzzle. Know you’ve got at least one person in your corner should you finally feel the need to walk away (either for now, or forever – you don’t have to decide anything other than what is healthy for you right this minute.)
I always feel like an ungrateful asshat in mini-rants, but I think I’ve got a legit one this week. Monday I was sitting at my desk at work and the next thing I knew I woke up on the goddamn floor feeling like I was going to puke and not having a goddamn clue who I was or what was going on. It took about 30 minutes for me to recover my memory. Turned out to be a grand mal seizure - apparently the second in my life, as I had a similar experience on a hike in the woods in 2013 but the ER doctors then were careful not to call it a seizure given my lack of history up to that point.
Well, this time they called it epilepsy. They sent me home and I was on the phone with the pharmacy over coverage of my new anti-convulsant meds when I had another goddamned seizure and had to go back to a different hospital. This time they kept me in outpatient observation for two days, and told me I can’t drive for six months.
That part sucks because – shit, I have epilepsy? That’s so fucking random. But the part that sucks the most, to me, is that my miracle depression drug, Wellbutrin, is contraindicated for seizure disorders, so I had to quit taking that cold turkey. So I am going through withdrawal of the only depression med that ever worked for me while I am adjusting to an anti-convulsant medication that fucks with my short term memory and also has a side effect of depression. :mad: I’m not gonna lie, so far my mood is fine, I’m not mad at the Keppra, it actually keeps me kinda chill even though it’s at the expense of being able to brain effectively. I’m pretty sure without it though I’d be in a constant state of panic.
Nonetheless, I’m kind of pissing myself, both in fear that I’m going to have another seizure while I am home alone (in the shower? while I’m cooking?) and fear that my mood is going to crash spectacularly, especially since I can’t fucking drive to work now and it’s looking like I’ll be working from home a lot (I have to meet with HR Tuesday to get it all straightened out.) Working from home is the worst possible option for someone who desperately needs structure in order to avoid existential despair.
So yeah, I’m fucking stressed. Consider my rant submitted. I’ll stand behind it. This sucks. Epilepsy does not play well with depression.
The part that doesn’t suck, I gotta admit, is that people are being awesome to me and trying to make my life as easy as possible. I’ve had a few offers to drive to work and other commitments and my work even sent me flowers. Shit, I’m so lucky. But this still sucks.
I sympathize more than you can know: I got diagnosed a little over a year ago, out of the blue – no earlier indications at all, no family history. Just, Bang! Two hospital stays a couple months apart – the first time they didn’t come to any diagnosis, the second told the tale, I guess.
If it helps at all, Keppra has been great for me. Since I went on it I’ve had just a handful of quite brief sessions of visual auras and no seizures, or migraine pain, or confusion. It’s sometimes challenging to concentrate on tricky tasks but not beyond managing. I do find myself rather mellower than I used to be, but I know some people who would tell you that’s a plus.
And I just found out I had three, not two seizures Monday as I originally thought.
This is some out of control freaky bullshit. StarvingButStrong thank you for sharing your experience. I’m sure it’s survivable. I’m just not managing the greatest at this moment.
So sorry to hear about epilepsy. A gamer bud of mine is prone to seizures, but fortunately has not had any in several years. I know he’s always very careful with what he eats and what drugs his docs give him, as he says that if he has a seizure, he’s not allowed to drive for 6 months (which would pretty much be the end of having a real job).
Wishing you the best and hope they find something that works for you. Depression is a bitch demon that I don’t wish on anyone. Having that and Epilepsy together, one reinforcing the other, is… I dunno. What words could I possibly have for that?
I am lucky my job is willing to work with me, including some working from home flexibility. But truth, I cannot drive for six months or swim.
I am optimistic about the meds. I think right now my rational mind is struggling with my tendency toward sheer panic any time weird and unexpected things happen. I don’t do so well with the unknown, and this is basically just a shit ton of unknowns.
The lease expires on the day that is stated on the lease, not at the end of the month. I repeatedly told you, former(!!!) roommate, that we had to move out by the end of the 20th, and you said you’d come by to clean your room and take care of anything left.
Of course, instead of doing that, you and your worthless boyfriend spent the day drinking and posting about it on Facebook.
So, when you send me an e-mail last week, informing me that they’d changed the locks at our old place, that is why you didn’t receive a sympathetic response.
Granted, I was actually glad you weren’t around, since your empty (but filthy) room was a great place for me to put the boxes for the movers to load into their truck. I’m just glad that a friend came by earlier that week and wanted to see the condition of how you left your room, because that allowed me to see the cat feces in your room and bedroom closet, and text you to tell you to clean that up ASAP, before I stored my things in there.
Now, I just need you to respond to my e-mail asking for your forwarding address as our complex has sent a letter, addressed to you, but sent to my new address. I have no doubt that it’s the bill for all the damage your cats, your boyfriend, and you did to your room and our common areas, including the cost of replacing the carpet. (Yeah, dropping an iron onto your bedroom carpet is gonna leave a big, noticeable mark, and going to cause the entire carpet to have to be replaced.)
I’m just extremely thankful that one of my best (and one of your former) friends used to work at our complex and still has connections there, so that the complex knows that you are responsible for all the filth / damage, and not me, and will be collecting reimbursement accordingly.
Okay, dipshits: when you stop at a stoplight and are planning to make a left turn, do NOT wait until the light turns green to turn on your turn signal. See, I only pulled up that close to you because you made no indication you were going to turn; otherwise, I would have left myself enough space to go around on your right. I know that the turn signal noise is somewhere around 300dB and is just unbearable for you, but have some fucking road courtesy. Also, you are clearly not aware that the law allows you to pull out into the intersection to wait for traffic to clear. This allows you to do more than just sit through four cycles of light, waiting to make your fucking turn.
