Downsides
It was an interesting week, but not for the reasons that you would expect. My work in Texas, about the third time I've gone to a customer site alone went really well. No major problems, I even solved problems that I wasn't really expected to solve. Yeah for me. I did everything I was supposed to plus a bit extra and did it well and in a timely manor. I'm making progress. A good trip like that makes me feel better about the company paying me for doing good work rather than paying me to screw up things. Raising the self-confidence level is good. I do much better work when I'm confident and not second guessing myself all the time.
My flights were horrible though and so was my rental car. My flight out was delayed b/c the crew had gotten in late the night before and they hadn't had enough rest yet. So they delayed the flight three hours and 40 minutes. I ended up getting on another flight, but not in a timely manor. I should have gotten into Houston about 11:30am, instead I got in at about 5pm. Clearly not in enough time to do any work. Then my flight back, between Chicago and Boston got canceled because of the weather, so I ended up having to get a hotel room and fly back Saturday morning, which of course the plane left over an hour late. At least my bags got to Boston, and I got home eventually. For a while I was thinking that I would be able to get home until Sunday or Monday which would have really sucked it up. That's the downside of traveling, you have to plan your life around it.
I would like to first rant about how horrible office depot online is. I ordered a desk chair at the end of January, but it never came. Like a week and a half ago I gave them a call to see what was up b/c they had charged my account, but I hadn't gotten the chair yet. They said that they tried to deliver it but the order had been refused. After about 30 seconds of fact checking I found out that no one in my building had even talked to a delivery man much less refused a package. They said that they had to credit my account then submit a new order - this time shipped to work. When I asked if my account would receive a credit the same day they new order was placed, they assured me that it would. I looked at my account today - and I had two charges for the same damn chair and no credit. WTF? I thought, so I called them again. Apparently whoever put in the credit did it for the wrong amount, so it got caught, and delayed again. WTF is wrong with these people? They can take an order, but they can't deliver the item or charge you correctly. Absolutely ridiculous.
I would like to take a second to rave about Schwab checking account that I just opened. I get refunded for pulling cash from ATM machines that always charge you a fee, CS doesn't charge you anything, they provide free checks - and not just the first time when you get like 20 free checks; you can actually re-order checks for free, you can order deposit envelopes, that they pay the postage on, online and get them for free in the mail (for all those stupid expense checks), and I earn interest on whatever is in the account (it's like 4% APY - more than HSBC online is right now). It's pretty awesome. Like, super awesome. It really makes life a lot simpler. This is how banks should operate in order to ensure customer loyalty and ensure a long term revenue stream. Get people in, treat them well, keep them for a long time. Don't nickel and dime them to make a few extra mill for the quarter, then the next quarter profits dip even further because everyone switches to another bank that doesn't screw them. I've had no problems so far, they've been super accommodating. I would definitely recommend them. You can do everything online, and if you need any help you can call them. (I've never had to yet - though I hear that you actually talk to a real person right away, none of this automated takes 80X longer than it should to get to the right person bullshit.)
My flights were horrible though and so was my rental car. My flight out was delayed b/c the crew had gotten in late the night before and they hadn't had enough rest yet. So they delayed the flight three hours and 40 minutes. I ended up getting on another flight, but not in a timely manor. I should have gotten into Houston about 11:30am, instead I got in at about 5pm. Clearly not in enough time to do any work. Then my flight back, between Chicago and Boston got canceled because of the weather, so I ended up having to get a hotel room and fly back Saturday morning, which of course the plane left over an hour late. At least my bags got to Boston, and I got home eventually. For a while I was thinking that I would be able to get home until Sunday or Monday which would have really sucked it up. That's the downside of traveling, you have to plan your life around it.
I would like to first rant about how horrible office depot online is. I ordered a desk chair at the end of January, but it never came. Like a week and a half ago I gave them a call to see what was up b/c they had charged my account, but I hadn't gotten the chair yet. They said that they tried to deliver it but the order had been refused. After about 30 seconds of fact checking I found out that no one in my building had even talked to a delivery man much less refused a package. They said that they had to credit my account then submit a new order - this time shipped to work. When I asked if my account would receive a credit the same day they new order was placed, they assured me that it would. I looked at my account today - and I had two charges for the same damn chair and no credit. WTF? I thought, so I called them again. Apparently whoever put in the credit did it for the wrong amount, so it got caught, and delayed again. WTF is wrong with these people? They can take an order, but they can't deliver the item or charge you correctly. Absolutely ridiculous.
I would like to take a second to rave about Schwab checking account that I just opened. I get refunded for pulling cash from ATM machines that always charge you a fee, CS doesn't charge you anything, they provide free checks - and not just the first time when you get like 20 free checks; you can actually re-order checks for free, you can order deposit envelopes, that they pay the postage on, online and get them for free in the mail (for all those stupid expense checks), and I earn interest on whatever is in the account (it's like 4% APY - more than HSBC online is right now). It's pretty awesome. Like, super awesome. It really makes life a lot simpler. This is how banks should operate in order to ensure customer loyalty and ensure a long term revenue stream. Get people in, treat them well, keep them for a long time. Don't nickel and dime them to make a few extra mill for the quarter, then the next quarter profits dip even further because everyone switches to another bank that doesn't screw them. I've had no problems so far, they've been super accommodating. I would definitely recommend them. You can do everything online, and if you need any help you can call them. (I've never had to yet - though I hear that you actually talk to a real person right away, none of this automated takes 80X longer than it should to get to the right person bullshit.)
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