Thursday, July 20, 2006

Inept

I had the pleasure of running into some of the most inept people today. Yes, this is a rant.

My day was shit, right from the start. I sat down in my seat and my eyes started to itch, and I started sneezing. This was odd because that only happened when I was around cats. A few minutes later I heard a long, low growl which sounded like a pissed off cat. I've seen dogs on airplanes, but never a cat. I started looking for the cat, but couldn't see it, and then I heard the girl behind me say, "It's okay Whiskers, mommy will protect you." Yes, I had a cat under my chair. Thankfully I was able to switch to another seat because the plane wasn't full, but I couldn't believe my luck. Little did I know it had just begun.

We pulled into Phoenix earlier than expected and found another plane at our gate. Not a problem, because we were early. Well, that turned into a problem after the plane left and our gate caught on fire (seriously). We had to wait for another gate, which meant more time was wasted. I got off the one plane and stood in line for my flight to San Diego, but I made sure to ask someone at the counter if my bags would make it on the flight. "Yes, of course," said the lying bitch Lana.

We had the same problem when we got into San Diego; someone was at our gate. This time they didn't leave a fire when they pulled away, but it was a long delay before we got off the plane. I waited for my baggage as I watched my fellow passengers pick up their bags and leave. I had a bad feeling from the start, but that lying bitch Lana said everything would be fine. I've tipped you off to something - Lana lied. My bags didn't arrive in San Diego, and I wasn't sure whether I should cry, or laugh when the bags stopped going around and around. I decided to laugh. I went to customer service and spoke with Terry - she seemed nice, but she also lied. "We'll call you later this afternoon sir." The call never came.

I decided to chill in my room for a bit - a room that turned out to be smoking before I had it changed (I know I didn't request a smoking room). Still no call from the airline, so I decided to see about picking up my press badge for Comic Con. I arrived there at 5:00, found the press line and stood....for a hell of a long time. I was already in a pissy mood, but standing in that line at Comic Con made it worse...far worse. People who go to Comic Con every year are reading this and saying to themselves, "Duh...of course there's a line!" They're right, except the press line is much smaller. I had to register on site which ended up being a two part process. Part 1 was to stand in a short line of 4 people (I was number 5) and hand the person my credentials, and then fill out a very short form with my name, address, phone number and the name of the press outlet. The form takes 2 mins to do, maybe less, but the line took 30 mins to get through. I finished that up and stood in the longer line (15 people ahead of me) for 1 hour and 20 mins. The people working this desk had one of two things to do; find the persons name in the computer if they were already registered, or enter it if they aren't there (I wasn't there). Then they print the badge out, put it in the plastic thing, and hand the person two packages. Sounds simple, except they had inept people working! It took some of these people forever to retype the information from the form that took 2 mins to fill out in the first place. Insane! Look, I realize Comic Con is a massive undertaking, but FIND PEOPLE THAT CAN TYPE! I wanted to yank that computer out of her hands and do it myself, but I didn't. I made it out of there just in time to run across the street to meet some people for dinner. I ordered a drink - a double - because I needed it.

The airline still hadn't called back, so I called them and left a message. This whole time I've been thinking about what was in my bag, what I can replace, what will be a pain in the ass, and what I'm going to wear the next day (I could only come up with one thing - what I had on today). We went for dinner, which was good, except it turned into a scene thanks to some inept people working at the restaurant. That's all I'm going to say about that.

So I return to my hotel at 11:30, and still haven't heard from the airline (US Airways/America West). The airport closes at midnight, and I'm close to it, so I head over there to find out where my freakin' bag is since the hotel hadn't received anything. The baggage area is empty, though the door is open (I thought about scrounging for a t-shirt in case my bags didn't show up, then decided against it). I finally got to speak to someone and was told.......my bags were delivered to the hotel! The America West person got someone from the hotel on the phone and they said my bags would be delivered to my room.

I got back to the hotel, went into my room and there was.......nothing there. A few mins later the phone rings and it's the bellman asking me if I had my bag. I felt like screaming at this point, but I simply said, "no." His response was, "Hmm....I'll see where they are." 20 mins later I was reunited with my long-lost bag.

There's a moral to this story:
When you have a shitty day and your girlfriend isn't around to comfort you, just blog about it and you'll feel a little bit better. Oh, and don't believe that lying bitch Lana.

I'm sure I'll wake up tomorrow and forget most of this happened, but right now I wish I was at home with my girlfriend, and not surrounded by inept people.

I'm going to bed after being awake for 22 hours. Good night,
Gord

4 Comments:

At July 20, 2006 3:05 AM, Blogger David Lambert said...

G'night, Gord. Feel better, and enjoy the Comic-Con.

 
At July 20, 2006 7:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

that sucks. I hate incompetant people. A good example is the USPS. You go into any most office and you'll find the most incompetant people in the world.

I hope the rest of your trip is good.

 
At July 20, 2006 7:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i put most instead of post. crazy me. not proofreading, which is one of my pet peeves.

 
At July 21, 2006 2:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your crappy day, Gord. Here's hoping tomorrow goes better for you.

 

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