vindication

So part of my job is to answer my boss's phone calls when she's at lunch, which involves some customer complaints. I'm ok with customer service, but it's not my favorite. Anyway, yesterday, I took a call from this person who immediately let into me for rotten figs that she bought from Costco. I said, "Ma'am, did you say you bought them at Costco?" "Yes!" "Well, you've called The Fresh Market." Pause. "But the sticker on the package says Fresh Market." I said, "They must be a vendor. We don't actually grow the figs and distribute them. We're a grocery store." Pause. "Ohhhh." Pause. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Costco wouldn't take my call because I didn't have a receipt. So I tried to contact the manufacturer, and I don't think I should have to do that!" "Ma'am, I don't think you should have to do that either. But good luck with your hunt for the right people."

Good grief, Charlie Brown. I felt vindicated when it finally dawned on her she had the wrong person and made an ass out of herself for chewing me out right off the bat.

The end.

I am a domestic goddess.

I've learned to maximize my time because, wonder of wonders, I don't have to grade stinkin' papers any more or plan lessons. I've also learned to appreciate things that most people take for granted - an hour for lunch, in which I can leave the building and do whatever I want, the ability to leave my work at the office and not think twice about it, time to take up a hobby or go see a ball game or just read for fun. This life rocks!

Anyway, back to the domestic goddess bit. So I definitely went to Target on my lunch break and restocked on a few household cleaning items, not that I put them to use tonight. Instead, I went grocery shopping, made dinner (and lunch for the rest of the week), and did laundry. Lots of laundry. Four loads of laundry that took about three hours to do. I was only three weeks behind. I know my daily goings on must sound horribly monotonous, but I have the time to enjoy them. And I felt productive tonight, and I always like that feeling of accomplishment.

So work is still going really well. Today, I had a two-hour meeting with Expedia Corporate Travel, where they presented their program in hopes that we'll buy it. I'm all for it. It's an intuitive process, flexible, and has amazing reporting features. I don't think it's too terribly expensive, either, for the value. The problem is that my company has a long-established relationship with a small travel agency based out of Naples, Florida. The owners of my company and the agency are friends, and it's virtually impossible to sever ties completely. There's really no point in using the agency to book our travel, though, because it would essentially entail two travel agents talking to each other - me and the other agent. They can't give us any better prices than I can find on Expedia; they can only give us comparable prices, and that's done by waiving their agent fees, which means they make no money. Waste of time, if you ask me. I feel like I'm kicking a puppy, though. These people are trying so hard to keep our business, but with $15 per flight that we book and no competitive prices, it's just not a sound business decision. And I really am all about protecting the little man, the mom 'n' pop organizations. Blah.

In other news, I've seen the new Harry Potter movie. I'm conflicted about it. If you're even remotely interested in picking it apart intelligently, be careful of asking me because you'll get more than an earful. I also talked to my post lady today, and she promised to leave my book on my doorstep if I wasn't home on Saturday to collect book 7. As if I'd miss it! It's only been on order since February! I'm reserving the weekend for marathon reading. I read HP6 in 12 hours last time, only moving from my sofa to pay the pizza delivery man. I waited a week to read it again, that time more slowly, so I could savor the details. Gah, it's kind of limiting being this emotionally involved in a book, but also exciting!