Delaying Everyone’s Lives Through Atlanta
Posted on July 25, 2007 by Brian under Family, Life, Travel.
I really have no idea where to begin with this story. I either try to compose myself and write a really long but not as entertaining article about our return trip from Atlanta or I get mad and write an incoherent rambling that will be slightly more entertaining but will make me look like a complete idiot. So I will attempt to try to balance this 2 in this little adventure.
I guess I should start our story in Jamaica! We arrive at the airport and immediately get placed in line to wait for the Delta ticket window, so that we can get our flight and gate information. After what seemed like an eternity we finally get through that ordeal (passing the time by making fun of the first class passengers) and move on to our next line, Security. We wait for our chance to dump all of our metal belongings into a big tub and walk through the metal detector and then immediately get placed in yet another line. This line is for Immigration and is a very long yet steadily moving snake of people that are all hot and aggravated. Once we got through Immigration it was pretty smooth. However, I suggest never buying food at a Jamaican airport. A dammed hotdog cost 5 dollars, a personal pizza was 9 dollars and a 20oz bottle of Pepsi that normally cost you 1dollar out of the vending machine cost me a whopping 4 dollars. I wanted to ask if they offered KY before they took our money and fucked us. After sitting for a while waiting on our flight we learn that it’s delayed. This concerns us because we have a connecting flight. Then at the last minute we get to move to another gate on the other end of the terminal. After more waiting we finally get to board the plane and get to take off. Then the true nightmare begins. We get to Atlanta and make our way to yet another line in Immigration. We move pretty quickly through there and get to make fun of some teenagers that thought they would be slick and jump in front of some people when they saw there friends. But Security was on top of it and made them go to the back of the line. Once through Immigration we moved on to an almost 2 hour wait at the baggage claim for our luggage. Yes, I said almost 2 hours. It was absolutely unacceptable. We had people around us missing there flights, everyone was getting increasingly aggravated it was awful. Finally we get our luggage and we move on to the biggest joke of all, Customs. Customs is nothing more than people piling there luggage into a big mound for the airport people to place on the plane (they called this the baggage transition). We then went through the regular security stuff of getting practically naked and then running to the plane. Once we got through security we literally ran to our gate. We found out once we got there that the plane was delayed and we would have had plenty of time to simply walk to the gate instead of running like a bunch of idiots. Once loaded on the plane and on our way home all we can think about is food and our own bed. However, Delta had other plans for us. We depart the plane and head towards baggage claim. Once there we watch person after person get there luggage and happily move on. We do not receive our luggage. We wait and wait and still nothing. We finally go to the Delta ticket window to be told by a man that obviously did not like his job that we would not receive our luggage till 10a, the next morning. So my plans to sleep late are ruined by Delta. 10am the next morning, we receive one item of luggage. Again, a trip to the ticket window, We are then told by a very rude lady that these things happen and I will have to wait till the next flight comes in to see if it’s on that one. We decide to go to lunch and then come back. When we come back we learn the flight is delayed, so we wait and wait and finally it arrives, But still no luggage. I go to the window again to be told that they don’t even have it off the plane yet. The plane had been on the ground for an hour and its still not unloaded. This is getting out of hand. I am trying to remain calm; no one is offering any excuses or apologies. No one can seem to locate my luggage and I was told that if I wanted it delivered that it could be 7 days before I got it. Finally a man came to look for the luggage because even he felt that it had been too long. Finally the luggage comes out and I move on my way. Again, with no apology, no compensation for my time nothing to show that they had any remorse for what they had done. Only the lingering foul taste of that woman’s words “these things happenâ€.
Needless to say, we will not be flying Delta again if we can at all help it. If we learned anything from this trip, it’s that baggage claim is the great equalizer. No matter if you travel, coach, executive or first class. You are all going to sit and wait for your dammed luggage to get spit out of the machine. We also learned to pack light, make sure it’s a carry on and if you have to take any liquids, go to the dollar store and buy the little 3oz plastic bottles and fill them yourself. Place them in a one quart Ziploc bag and you should be golden. No matter who I fly through, I don’t think I will ever check my luggage ever again.
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Quick Recap
Posted on July 22, 2007 by Ching under Travel.
Today has been hectic so I have not had the opportunity to actually write about our recent trip. In the meantime, here is a quick recap..
14 July 2007, Saturday:
Brian and I were at the airport by 5:30 AM, two hours before our flight is scheduled to leave as recommended. That was way too much time, actually. I think even if we got to the airport only an hour early we would have had plenty of time.
The flight from ICT to ATL to MBJ went pretty smoothly, all on-time departures. When we arrived to the designated gate in ATL, the flight was already boarding so we didn’t really have time to dilly dally. There was a line to go through immigration and customs in Jamaica, but we were through soon enough and found our way to the Couples lounge.
They offered Brian and I a beverage but we weren’t really thirsty. At first they told us the next shuttle bus wouldn’t arrive for 20 minutes, but as it turns out the previous shuttle hadn’t left yet so they quickly took us to the shuttle for transfer to the resort. We only had time for a couple of pictures at the lounge.
The bus ride to the resort was scenic and entertaining and, at times, scary. Jamaicans drive on the left side of the street and the driver’s seat is on the right. Besides driving on the opposite side of the road than we Americans are accustomed to, they also very freely pass other vehicles by going on the lane of the oncoming traffic. I believe the trip took was about 2 to 2.5 hours but it really didn’t seem that long. We might have been driving beyond the speed limit. Although, I don’t think such a thing exists. I never saw any speed limit signs.
Dalton, our bus driver, told us several Jamaican jokes. These mostly involved sex, smoking weed, and “gettin’ junk” (whenever he says “drunk” it sounds like he is saying “junk”). He also gave us a crash course on driving: “The left side is right; the right side is suicide.” He must have been suicidal because we went on the right side to pass other vehicles on several occasions.
Amazingly enough, after a couple of stops (rest area stop for a pee/stretch break and stop at Couples Sans Souci to drop off a couple who will be staying there) we all safely arrive at Couples Ocho Rios (COR for short).
We were all offered cold towels and beverages upon arrival. I drank my first rum punch. Check in went pretty smoothly. We got our key and proceeded to our room in timbuktu. We were assigned to the older section of the hotel. Dorenda, one of the repeaters we met during our stay (this is their sixth visit to COR), says that we have to pay our dues. When we come back, we can have one of the newly renovated rooms. Our room wasn’t too bad really because the exit to the beach was only a few paces away. This was actually convenient for us on several occasions when we had to go back and forth from the beach to our room to pick up neglected items such as cameras, etc. But I digress.. Our bags were delivered to our room by one of the bellmen shortly after. We caught part of the resort orientation Suzanie conducted. Then Brian went down to beach grill to grab a cheeseburger. His first meal for that day. I was smart enough to have a chocolate milk prior to departure in Wichita so I wasn’t as starved but I took the opportunity to try jerk chicken for the first time. That stuff is spicy!
Afterwards we went back to our room to take a shower, clean up, and get ready for the poolside gala buffet. I think there was a show on the patio, followed by dancing/disco, followed by sing-a-long in the piano bar, but Brian and I just played a game of lawn chess where we met a couple playing shuffle board and then turned in early as we were tired from the trip.
This was a pretty beneficial chance encounter because they ended up telling us that we would be eligible for a $200 passport credit for use at the resort salon or spa. I knew about this, but the offer had expired. Apparently, they’re still honoring it.
These next few, I’ll just do quick summaries and elaborate on later because I’m getting really sleepy.
15 July 2007, Sunday:
Breakfast at the patio
Took our passports to guest services to claim our credit
Went to Dunns River Falls
Lunch at the patio
Spent the afternoon at Tower Island
Dinner at Verandah
Showtime at the Patio
Beach Movie (John Tucker Must Die)
16 July 2007, Monday:
Had breakfast delivered to our room
Morning horseback riding tour at Prospect Plantation
Lunch at the patio
Sailing
Spent the afternoon at Tower Island
Manager’s Cocktail Party
Beach Party/Buffet
Crab races on the beach
Showtime on the beach (dance performances by a local dance group)
Prince Bob did his balancing act and fire dancing
17 July 2007, Tuesday:
Had breakfast delivered to the lobby (long story, tell you later)
Chukka Zip-line Canopy Tour
Lunch at the patio
Spent the afternoon at Tower Island
Dinner at Le Gourmet
Showtime at the Patio
18 July 2007, Wednesday:
Breakfast at the patio
Glass-bottom Boat Tour
Was going to go snorkelling on this day but Brian felt sea sick
Lunch at the patio
Went on a catamaran cruise (aka booze cruise)
Dinner at Verandah
Showtime at the Patio
Casino night followed by blind auction (can’t remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday)
19 July 2007, Thursday:
Breakfast at the patio
Snorkelling
Lunch at the patio
Salsa dancing
Shopping at Island Village
Dinner at The Bayside
Showtime at the Patio
Disco at the Patio
20 July 2007, Friday:
Breakfast at the patio
Pretty much all day at Tower Island
with brief break to have lunch at the patio
Left the island early for our couples massage
Dinner at Le Gourmet
Went to the piano bar after dinner
Turned in early on our final night so we could pack
21 July 2007, Saturday:
Had breakfast delivered to our room
Luggage out the door at 8:15 AM
Checked out shortly after
Boarded shuttle to the airport at 9:15 AM
Crazy trip back to US begins (long story, will elaborate on this next time)
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The Death of your Satisfaction!
Posted on June 28, 2007 by Brian under Life, News.
Customer Care is dead. That’s right; Customer Care and Customer Satisfaction are dead. They have ceased to be an important part of today’s corporate philosophy and are quickly being replaced with a “we don’t care what you think, give us your money, you have no choice” attitude. Let me detail for you the events that have happened in the last few months that have given me my current perspective on Customer Care.
First there are the Fast Food, Movie Theater, Gas Station Attendant, Grocery Store, Bank Teller, type of reps. We’ll call them “Standersâ€! These “Standers†have never been trained in Customer Service, never been trained on how to make a customer happy or deal with an escalated situation or even how to present them selves to the customer on a face to face basis. No, they are simply given a uniform and told to stand in one place and do Job-A or Job-B, nothing more! I understand the difficulty of providing the people that come in with, what I would consider as Adequate Customer Service Training, due to the increasing amount of turnover with the young people of today. However, the supervisors of these establishments should be taking more pride in where they work (weather they like where they work or not). This means that they should be giving there new employees a simple run through on Customer Service Skills, Ways of Communicating, proper Presentation of One’s Self in a public atmosphere and above all, How to handle a difficult customer. Some other points that should be trained are Appearance and Pride in your Work-Place. All of these skills are being pushed to the wayside. As I see it the only reason is that the corporations are more interested in making the all-mighty dollar instead of building solid relationships with its customer base. What they are failing to realize is that if you build that customer relationship up you will gain more revenue. This is because the happier the customer is to come to the establishment the more they will come and the more money they will be willing to spend. You may have to make a few short term sacrifices to gain long term goals but so what. So you have to give a few tickets away to a few customers, comp a few meals or return a few over draft fees. If this is handled correctly the customer will walk away feeling refreshed that his concern was met, his situation was resolved and he was compensated for the inconvenience. What is happening instead is that the customer is walking away more aggravated and more irritated than when he first filed the complaint! This is in part due to the supervisors thinking that if they make this persons experience unpleasant they will A.) Never return and they wont have to face them again or B.) If they return, they will never complain because they will not want to re-live the previous unpleasant experience. Sooner or later these companies are going to experience a decrease in there customer base, this will be directly due to the customers that they have driven away. With Blogs and personal websites becoming more and more popular and Pod-casts becoming the next generation in evolving news and gossip, you run into a situation where you get a disgruntled customer that voices his opinion over the web and it is relayed to several others that have had similar experiences, then they voice there opinions and so on and so on. Then you have Forums telling people where to go and where not to go. This is all something that Corporate America is overlooking. If anything with the ease of Web base complaints and the flow of information from the customer base these corporations should be ramping up there Customer Service Training and trying harder to gain that customer base and keep the flow of customers coming. But, enough on the “Standers†for now! Lets move to the worst Customer Service industry of all and the one that will be the most difficult to train. That would be the Medical profession. We’ll call these folks “Sittersâ€! These people have nothing to loose because we are always in need of Doctors, Optometrist and Dental professionals. They can treat you like crap because they know that they will continue to have a customer base regardless of the amount of people that they piss off. The worst part is you can’t train these people. Most of them have been doing this for so long that they will refuse to be trained no matter how hard you try. And to make matters worse, they will train a whole new generation of people that will be taking over there job to handle customers in the same way. These “Sitters†have no fear of you not returning and in some cases are happy if you choose to never visit them again. There employment is not based on customer satisfaction, they don’t hand out surveys that say “How am I doing†and allow you to drop it in a box for there management to see. They simply exist to process the information for the Office’s and Insurance companies. The thought of calling a patient to tell them that there appointment was canceled over a week ago never crosses there mind. They will let you take time off of work, drive all the way out there and then tell you at that point your appointment has been canceled. The people have been conditioned by the years of service in this industry to have no remorse for there actions. They are devoid of any and all emotion when they encounter an upset patient. I really feel for some of the older or more handicapped individuals that plan for these appointments. They have a hard enough time getting around there own home much less driving across town to a doctors office. To be told at the last second as you walk in that your appointment has been canceled is just outrageous. However, you will not see any change in this field. They will continue to treat each and every person like crap because that’s all they know how to do.
So as you see, the world of Customer care and Customer Satisfaction are truly dead. At least from my perspective! Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that EVERY place on the planet is like this. I have run into some very friendly places and when I do I take a moment and let them know how good of a job they did. Then I make sure to tell as many people as I know how good the Customer Service was at that place. I do the same for the bad places. This way word of mouth spreads the information like it has for years and the customer base hopefully goes to the correct (good) places and away from those that do not deserve it. I hope that the people from Corporate America read this, and feel free to give me your comments about your feelings toward the Customer Service of today. I have a feeling that I will find several people that have the same thoughts as me.
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Warren Theaters Pisses me off AGAIN!
Posted on June 27, 2007 by Brian under Family, Life, Movies, News.
Warren Theaters has a knack of pissing me off. Below is an e-mail I sent to there coperate office. I think the e-mail explains everything.
Just for the record this will be the third time that the event that I will lay out to you has happened and the 2nd time that I have filed a complaint about it.Â
I am very disappointed in the way that your theater is currently conducting business. As I stated before this is the third time that I have had this problem. I’ll start by telling you that I am an avid movie watcher and probably visit your theater about 5 to 6 times a month, and most of that is balcony seating. Each time I call and ask your customer service when the tickets will be on sale. Lately I call several times a week because each time I call I get a different answer. The first time I called it was about the last “Pirates of the Caribbeanâ€. I stopped by after work on Wednesday the week before the movie was to start and was told that the tickets would be on sale the following Tuesday. I show up on Tuesday and find out that Tickets had been on sale since the previous Thursday, the day AFTER I came up and inquired about when the tickets would be sold. Needless to say I was very upset and almost did not get any seats. The second time was with the second “Fantastic 4â€. Again, I called on Wednesday and asked when the tickets will be sold. They advised me on the phone that it would be on Tuesday. This time I stop by the next day and see if the tickets are on sale (Just in case they are sold in advance again). And I was told Tuesday again by the man at the counter. So I figure that Tuesday is good and show up after work on Tuesday and ask for tickets. This time I’m told that tickets would not be sold until Wednesday or Thursday. Again, I was frustrated at the misinformation that I was told. My wife was frustrated enough that she filed a complaint on this web site and provided my number for the contact. I was called by a very rude supervisor that told me that they have never sold tickets on a Tuesday (Which is incorrect because I have been coming to this theater for years and have purchased tickets on ranging from the week before to the Tuesday of) and that I was mistaken in the information that I heard. Not that I was misinformed but that I heard the information incorrectly. This infuriated me that this supervisor would treat me in this manor. Now the current issue, I had called On Thursday again and asked when the tickets would be on Sale for the 4th of July. They stated on the phone that it would be Wednesday. So I call today before I get off work and was told by a lady that the tickets for “Transformers†were on sale. I specifically asked if they were on sale for the 4th of July and was told yes. I looked at your website and saw that the show times were available for the 3rd, 4th and 5th of July for “Transformersâ€. So I go to the 13th ave Warren (this is where all this happens if I didn’t mention it before) and go to the counter and ask for tickets. This time I am told that the tickets are not on sale until Friday, maybe Thursday “If I’m Luckyâ€. At this point I think maybe he was not aware of the web site displaying the tickets being on sale and pointed that out. He said that it didn’t matter what the web site said, he could only sell tickets for the 2nd (a special showing). I immediately asked for a Supervisor. About 10 minutes later a Supervisor showed up and I explained that I had called today 15 min before I drove up there and asked if they were selling tickets specifically for the 4th of July and was told yes and that when I got here I was told no. She tried to tell me that it’s not in the system and they didn’t have any Showtime’s available. I explained to her that the web site showed all times for the 3rd 4th and 5th. She had to take a min and go downstairs and check the computer for herself. She then came back up with a series of printouts and could not explain why the Showtime’s were there and not available in the system. She just told me that they didn’t know what they were going to drop yet and that this was the proposed times for the movie. She took my name and number and stated that she would call me when the tickets became available for sale (I’m not holding my breath for a return call).
Needless to say I found that this is a form of false advertising. You are claiming that you have something for sale that is truly not for sale. I will purchase tickets for “Transformersâ€, to be exact I will be purchasing 8 balcony tickets (this is pretty standard, I have several family and friends that go to the movies with me). However, this will be the last time I purchase tickets from your theater. The turnaround time from theater to DVD is fast enough now that I can patiently wait for it to come out on DVD and enjoy it in my home with out the hassle and frustration that I am currently going through. If you want to call me about this then I would be happy to discuss it with a member of your corporate office. If you are going to have one of your supervisors from the 13th ave Warren call me then save it. I have already talked to them and it has yet to be a pleasant experience.
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Dinner and Bowling
Posted on June 23, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr.
Dinner and bowling tonight was a lot of fun. It turned out better than I expected.
Last month, Brian and I received a free dinner certificate from Kobe. It was addressed to Brian for his birthday. Neither of us could figure out how they got his information. I mean, they knew his name, date of birth, and our address — that’s a lot of detail considering that it has been a few years since we’ve been there.
When Jen was over picking up some clothes last weekend, I mentioned to her that Brian and I would be dining at Kobe’s sometime to redeem his free birthday dinner certificate. She thought it would be a great opportunity for everyone to get together. Mom had mentioned getting together for some bowling so we all agreed to do it on the same night.
Before we knew it, there was twelve of us going to dinner. Brian’s parents came, Chad, Ray, Jen, Jan, Carla, Paul, mom, and dad all came. I was actually amazed that we got dad to come out. He usually doesn’t ever leave the house. Dinner was great. The food was pretty good and our chef wasn’t bad either. Probably the only thing that could’ve made it better was if I were able to drink. 😉
Jan didn’t go to the Alley with the rest of us because one of the puppy buyers was potentially coming over that evening to get Tips and Walnut. Donna and Carla decided not to bowl, but the rest of us did. I was actually surprised that dad decided to bowl. He gave up bowling a couple of years ago. I guess he couldn’t just sit and watch. He rented shoes and found himself a house ball. It was fun. Dad had the highest score on the first game (amazing considering he was using a house ball), and Ray had the highest score on the second game. Ray almost bowled a 200, but even though he didn’t (he ended up scoring a 184) he still smoked everyone.
I didn’t do too badly considering it has been at least three years since I bowled last. My first game was a 134 and my second game was a 154, so I bowled about my average. Mom is right, you don’t really lose it. It’s just like riding a bike.
I think I’d like to get into bowling again. When I get out of school and I have more spare time, maybe. It would be fun to join a league… Or maybe just bowl for fun more often than once every three years. I probably won’t be going to the Alley for bowling, though. Their rates are much higher than everyone else’s.
Anyway, it’s a thought.
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