This Week In Rage

I really, really do not understand some of the decisions that get made by corporate types. Take, for example, Starbucks and the remodel of their International District store. The person responsible for that remodel needs to be fired immediately. It is a giant steaming cup of dysfunctional social engineering with an extra shot of effing fail. Why Starbucks thought it would be good idea to consolidate the two sugar/creamer stations into one and then place that station in the same area customers wait for their drinks is beyond me. Before, there was one station near the back of the store and another near the front. That set up worked out just fine. If one was busy, you went to the other. Now, the solitary station is always goddamn busy...and usually out of something. Why? Because some boneheaded sociology major with a minor in marketing at Starbucks corporate office felt that would add to the effing Starbucks communal customer experience. Well, I f*cking hate it. It was a stupid decision and it needs to be reversed post haste! The flow of the store is all c*cked up now because customers are forced to mill around right smack in front of the barista station waiting for their drinks. You have to elbow your way to get to the sugar/cream and then dick around there for a few minutes waiting for room to open up...it sucks, especially if you are in a hurry...which brings me to my next point of rage...

Hey, f*ck face that thinks the sugar/cream station is your own personal counter space...get your cream, add your sugar, and MOVE THE F*CK ON!!!! Seriously, the next person that pulls the add a dash of half & half, stir, take a sip, add some sugar, stir, take a sip, add another splash of half & half, stir, take a sip, is going to get beaten in ways Lifetime hasn't found a way to depict yet. You've been warned.

Oh, and I've stopped tipping at Starbucks when I order drip coffee. I no longer tip for two reasons - one, the barista isn't doing anything I couldn't do for myself if I had to. Two, they leave absolutely no room for cream. At all. Ask for a venti drip with room and your cup will be as full as a venti drip with no room. I've heard some customers go so far as to order a grande drip in a venti cup, but methinks they are partaking in a variation of the ghetto latte. I don't play that game. Instead, I dump about a 1/4 cup of coffee into the trash can. It sucks to be the employee that takes the garbage out and a bag breaks that is full of discarded coffee. Maybe that unfortunate soul can pass on to the baristas pouring the drip coffee that 'with room' means with room. Until then, no tips for drip coffee...and I suppose I'll continue to get sh*tty looks from the Starbucks employees that ring me up. I'd go to Tully's, but the creepy gnome with Civil War reenactment enthusiast facial hair gives me the heebee jeebees. And Tully's coffee blows...

Yes, well....

Specialty's is another place that has been irritating me lately, mainly due to a subtle, yet noticeable, change in the vernacular of their cashiers. About a month ago the cashiers stopped asking 'for here or to go?', changing it to 'for here or take away?'. I'm not really sure why that change pisses me off so much, but it does....to the point where I make it a point to say 'to go' when answering. It's all I can do to not scream 'TO GO' in their unsuspecting faces...I suppose I'm a gentleman that way...take away my arse!

I feel much better now. Thanks for stopping by....!

Hello Kitty and Powerman

Now, the title of this post isn't referring to some new manga...it's a reference to one of my previous posts, the one where I said I fixed my oven with some Hello Kitty post-it notes.

If you own a GE oven made from 1998 to present, I would become familiar with this site. 'Powerman' is the gent that has been posting this very cheap fix for the F7 error codes GE ovens are notorious for....

Slippin' And A Slidin'

I bought the girls a Slip & Slide at the end of the school year. However, since this has been the sh*ttiest summer I can remember since the summer of 1993, it has sat unused in the garage. Something resembling summer finally reared its head last weekend, so we were able to break the thing out.

Now, Slip & Slides have not changed a lot over the years. Gone are the days of metal stakes to keep the thing pinned to the ground, replaced by a reservoir of water at the tail end and two plastic stakes up top. It's still a thick sheet of plastic with water squirting over it. The treachery of the blasted thing remains intact as well. Oh, I remember watching my friend Sean Ash damn near brain himself on our Slip & Slide in Montclair, CA back in 1977. He miscounted his steps on his approach run and his feet flew out from under him, flipping him onto his back and slamming his head into the turf. He was most certainly concussed...and probably never the same again...

Anyhoo, happy memories of internal head injuries and deadly cranial pressure aside, I bought a Slip & Slide for the girls...and they love it. Especially, Madelyn...she's a pro. Unfortunately, the Slip & Slide is absolute murder on the lawn. By the time the girls are finished sliding around they have worn a pretty deep groove in the grass. This is because of the amount of top soil I had to use when putting the lawn in and the poor drainage due to the cement like glacier till underneath said top soil. When I pulled the Slip & Slide up Saturday evening it looked like a meteor slammed into the lawn and dug up a trench. I was kind of expecting to see baby Superman at the end of the ruined stretch of lawn...but no such luck. There was just a puddle of muddy water. Side note - had there been a baby Superman on my lawn you bet your sweet arse I'd have him playing sports when he hit his teens and dominating! He would go pro in EVERYTHING! Baby Superman = license to print money!!!!

Uh, so yeah, where was I? Oh, the lawn...RUINED! Well, no. But it looked bad, so I had to fetch some top soil and grass seed and do some repair work. We'll see how it goes. Next time the girls want to use the Slip & Slide we'll just go the YMCA for family swim. Kidding. Although I was a little irritated that the lawn was trashed, I couldn't get too upset. The girls were crazy happy on that sheet of plastic and grass grows back...there's only a small window of time where my kids are going to be kids and I plan on letting them enjoy their childhood. I am > Joseph Jackson...