Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Some Things Just Piss Me Off

OK, so I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

By nature, I'm a sort of glass-half-empty kind of guy (shocking, I know!) - but today started out rough and just slowly descended into one of those days where I'm convinced I should have just stayed in bed.

Mornings around my house start early and are hectic enough (kids up, clothed, fed, brushed, polished, missing shoes, forgotten homework, lunches packed, etc.) on a normal day. When you're in sort of a "funk" to begin with - it gets even more challenging just to get out the door.

Then, my car decides that it will make a burning smell all the way to work. This is just after I spent $500 on getting it tuned up and new brakes, etc. So, off to the dealer it goes (as opposed to the more convenient shop by the office). Turns out the calipers on one side are stuck - conveniently burning the new brake linings off of the driver's side wheel. Oh, and the other guys also put the wrong kind of brake fluid in - so they have to flush the brake system. Oh, and you need a tire rotation. Oh, and the last oil change - the filter is leaking. Oh, and we can't have it done until tomorrow. That'll be $678.48 - thanks.

After coming in late from the car fiasco we had no Internet connection - and everyone was helpfully waiting for me to come in to fix the damn router. Note to self: print one of those "don't push the red button" signs and put it next to the coffee maker that reads "If there is no Internet - turn off the router and turn it back on again."

Then there was the helpful anti-fraud folks at Bank of America that had helpfully turned off all access to our corporate debit card and caused the automatic payments for various vendors to fail. After a phone call to a very courteous call center in India (good news: the person used my name in every single sentence) - I was assured that after I call another number that all would be well with the world again. Yeah, right. Two more calls later - they agreed (after a verbal strip-searching to verify my identity) to turn back on access to the card. So that I could access MY money. Nice.

Next, we're out of toner for each of the two Dell printers we have. Yeah, and Office Depot, Staples, Office Max, Best Buy, Circuit City, and every other retailed known to man can't help. So I grab paper and pencils for everyone and teach them the art of "writing things down on paper" until the toner can get here - yep, tomorrow.

After a few more of these incidents (and it's just after lunch) - I've come to some enlightened conclusions:
  1. If you're in a funk - don't go to work
  2. Inexpensive and convenient are an oxymoron
  3. Technology sucks when it doesn't work
  4. Banks are inhuman, money-grubbing institutions that just don't care
  5. Buy 250 toner cartridges at a time
  6. It's always 5:00 somewhere

I'd go home... if I had a car...

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