"Now, as I've said a million times, Americans have gone soft, and no one does a lick of work until they've first gone through all of high school, a "gap year" (new term for "taking a year to bum around"), four years of college, two more gap years, three years of grad school, and five years of living with the parents in the basement while getting in touch with the inner person. Only then, after this long journey, can the young person, now in his or her mid-30s, finally settle down to a nice, stable existence as a faceless widget in the vast and impersonal capitalist machine."
Nell
A few weeks ago, I went walking in Maymont Park, a gem of a park in Richmond, Virginia. There, I saw a little girl drinking water out of a creek. She was about seven years old and didn't appear to be a feral child - no, she was too well dressed for that.
Now I don't know much about parenting, but some things are cut-and-dry. I felt I had a moral obligation to say something to her. It takes a village and whatnot.
"Hey, you shouldn't do that," I said sternly. "The water could have germs in it that will make you sick."
She stared at me blankly. As soon I rounded the bend, I saw her go back for another sip.
What Song are You Feeling Today? Entry 3
Springtime power pop, I'll call it.
ETA: In mourning for WOXY, my most favorite radio station ever ever ever. It was too beautiful for this world.
Blending In
I really wanted a pair of mustard-colored tights and I found some in the bargain bin at Anthro. But now I realize why I wanted them: the mustard-colored wall near my desk at work must've been sending me subliminal messages.
I literally blended in with the wall. That's the definition of a wallflower, but garish yellow tights aren't typical wallflower-wear.
Bartlett's
I want to make it into Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Need to think of something profound. Here is my first attempt:
"Skipping is joy expressed through walking."
Did that just blow your mind?
Is Priceline Better?
I spent at least 6 hours of this past week on the phone with a certain travel agency - I don't want to name names, but oh what the heck it was Travelocity. My flight got canceled and rescheduled to a time that didn't work for me, and I practically had to move heaven and earth to change it. I was on hold for more than an hour at one point - and the "you are on hold" song consisted of about 4 notes. It is burned permanently into my brain.
Being on hold wasn't terrible though, I just put the phone on speaker. I walked down the street, went to a friend's house, went out to eat, all with that darn song playing from my cell phone. It was like my theme music. Or like carrying around a boom box on your shoulder, my friend Lauren joked. Just on a smaller scale.
But yesterday, a breakthrough - the stars aligned and a manager fixed everything for me (supposedly). Is all forgiven? Nah. I'm going to post my rant of a customer satisfaction survey I wrote on Wednesday because I think it is the best bit of writing I've done recently:
No one at the call center even pretended to care about my problem - or perhaps they did pretend, but their acting was terrible. I have had to call 5 times and still no one at Travelocity has contacted my airline to change my flight.
[Boring details and whining here... Let's go to the big ending!]
Hiring people in India might be cheaper for you, but not if you upset customers.
