Or see if a mod has the Christmas spirit yet.
Yeah, the month has just started. Ask a mod to change the thread name. Who knows where we’ll be next year.
Meteorology is a crock. I’d predict weather more reliably if I psychically linked to a soothsayer consulting runes. Seems to me that that standing outside, scratching your head, and saying “might rain later” should not be a real job.
I think I’ve probably raved about Amazon’s speedy delivery and great customer service before. Maybe not so much any more.
I ordered some computer stuff last week, all of it stocked and fulfilled directly by Amazon. First problem: shipping used to be amazingly fast – and free – but ever since they introduced extra-charge “Prime” bullshit it looks like they deliberately hold back shipments that would otherwise get to me “too soon”. One time near Christmas I ordered a gift for someone on Friday night, and it was on my doorstep on Sunday afternoon. Sunday! This time the order status sat on “preparing for delivery” all week – despite those items being eligible for fast ship – then finally one full week later said “arriving today”, but no shipment notice email, and of course it never arrived.
I contacted customer support, and they claimed it was a “system error” and they have escalated it and will try to expedite delivery. What? I order some ordinary stuff from the largest online retailer in the world, and manage to crash their system? Plus, the first response was to ask if I wanted to cancel or wanted them to try to get the items shipped. WTF? I bought them, didn’t I? I was supposed to tell them which I wanted by clicking a link in the email. The link didn’t fucking work!
I’m wondering if it’s all going to hell, or if this was a one-off anomaly. I’ve ordered stuff from Amazon dozens of times and never had a problem like this. I definitely dislike the extortion whereby you will NOT get stuff in one or two days – even if you live a stone’s throw from the main warehouse – because that privilege is reserved for Prime members!
One of my five cousins has died. My cousins are my closest relatives. Well, I will see her brothers at the funeral.
I’m so sorry. 
I live in what may be the quietest apartment complex in the city. Most of my neighbors are either retirees or night-shift workers. It’s great. So I wasn’t expecting to get woken up at 3 a.m. to a loud BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The beeping stopped then started up again. After determining it wasn’t my phone, the smoke detector, or the cable box low battery alarm (I once spent close to an hour tracking that beeping down) I looked outside.
One of my neighbors was trying to back his company truck into a parking spot and every time he put it in reverse the backup warning beeper would come on. It took him about four more tries to get the truck parked, beeping all the way. I’ve never seen him with a company truck before so I’m hoping this is either a one time thing or he learns how to park it real soon.
Look, you should know that when I ring up your purchases, the next step is you have to pay for them So why is it that you don’t have some form of payment ready? No, you have to go through everything in your purse or every pocket to find your wallet or credit card holder, and then do what I have dubbed “the credit card shuffle.” You go through your twenty-five or more credit cards several times, hand me two or three wrong ones, tell me it’s “impossible” that the card was declined, finally give me a working card, them take additional time putting everything away before you sign your slip, all this while I am the other people in the line wait silently.
Have the right card ready, sign, and get moving.
As a customer, I see this all the time in checkout lines, and it makes me nuts! It’s as if they’re surprised that you’re going to expect payment from them.:smack: I always use my credit card now (rewards points, dontcha know), and I always have it out and ready, but back when I used to pay by check, I would have the entire check filled out except for the amount, AND have my I.D. out and ready, too.
Stores that have an express line should also have a slow line for these doofuses.
Who would get in such a line, I wonder…
Yeah… I know… :rolleyes:
Many of the new (here in America) credit machines where you insert (instead of swipe) your card allow the card to be inserted as soon as the clerk starts ringing up your purchases, and just left in there the whole time, until they total up the sale.
Many of the older checkers (who’ve experienced years of the ‘now-where-is-my-wallet’ dance) are starting to ask customers to insert their card as soon as they start ringing up the purchases. That way all the fumbling around is done by the time they are done ringing up the order. Much faster overall.
(Of course, it doesn’t help with those customers who wait till everything is all rung up, and then suddenly realize that they now have to bag up their purchases – what a surprise. But such fools are always around.)
There you go, “accidentally” ram your naked foot into hardwood furniture, and you won’t be able to operate the piano pedals and will be off the hook.
I just had a nasty flashback to many years ago when I shared a piano recital bill with a young Asian prodigy. The best thing I can describe about the experience was that I survived without major humiliation (and I also get to say that I once performed in a recital at Carnegie Hall - and I don’t have to explain that it was in a small suite upstairs before maybe 20 people). 
A nearby school is playing, quite loudly, various Christmas songs on their loudspeaker. Now, I really don’t object to the volume, as they only play during school times, and it’s not that distracting when I’m inside.
Still, it’s strange that they’re playing “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”. Leaving aside that it’s not really a Christmas song, except by acclamation, there’s one other problem.
This is Australia. It’s summertime here. They’re making my brain hurt.
I posed a questionlast year tangential to your comments.
fuck qvc and santas best xmas tree company… and yes some of its my fault…
Ok my aunt has needed an new xmas tree for about 4 years or more So around Oct I was watching qvc just because I do sometimes
Well they had a “special value of the day” and they had said tree on and its a artificial pre lit xmas tree that has something like 900 different light combations possible you can even change the light pattern on each bright
So I bit the bullet and bought it … And said tree arrived thanksgiving week … My mistake was not trying it out when it came here because
1 the tree was untied 2 there were branches that were broken to that part didn’t light at all # there weren’t the end caps that the instructions said it needed called qvc they said called santas best for the warranty called the company and they wanted videos and or pictures of it all and they might be able to replace the parts after xmas So I ran out and found a replacement tree about 40 miles away at home depot
Called qvc back and got a refund but I happened to ask if I could just get a new one and they said no were out for the year … so I flipped on qvc about 1 am last night and guess what they were selling ? …
Everything surrounding Christmas is romanticised nonsense based as far from reality as it possibly can be. The one thing that even matters is the gathering of families to have a large dinner and, possibly, exchange gifts. The rest of it, the snow, trees, decorations, music, the excessive red and green, is all artificial pseudo-Dickensian bullshit perpetuated by Victorian-era mythology. Any attempt to localise Christmas into something appropriate for your region, into a sunny, beach-oriented day out, will never work; it gets lost under the weight of a century of mythical iconography.
Basically, there is nothing we can do but grin and bear it, and make the most of it by enjoying a huge meal and the release of a new Star Wars movie, which is set to be a Christmas tradition equal to the persistent broadcast of The Sound Of Music or The Great Escape on TV.
There’s another option: you can embrace it and enjoy it. For some reason, some people can’t. To me, Christmas recreates childhood, and provides an opportunity to relive it again through new generations.
Well, that’s just crazy talk.
No, I was referring to the juxtaposition of winter iconography during a Southern Hemisphere summer. It really grates.
FWIW, Amazon fixed their problem – over the weekend, yet, and it’s now shipped. True to their word, it seems to be on the fastest available schedule (as if it was Amazon Prime).
Maybe this was a random glitch, and certainly their customer service is still very good.