|
It's +22°C, sunny and warm.
I know what you're thinking -
it's May 15, where's the new e-store!? Yeah, I hear ya. She's ready for
launching, just awaiting the payment gateway setup, then we'll be testing
for several days. So, next week looks more realistic. If you think you're
anxious, put yourselves in our shoes! We've been working towards this for
years, and we're so close.
Need a little
patience...Just a little patience...Some more patience, yeah...(Guns
'n' Roses song playing in my head). Can't rush technology to get the job
done properly. Every step has to implemented and tested before launch day.
Hey, NASA has had its share of delays over the years.
This upcoming weekend is a
long weekend for us. Monday the 22nd is Victoria Day.
|
"After the death of Queen Victoria in
1901, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a
legal holiday on May 24 in each year (or May 25 if May 24 fell on a
Sunday) under the name Victoria Day." - Canadian Heritage |
For everyone else it means a
day off work and school, for us it's just another day. We'll still be
doing something work-related on that day anyway, but that's the life of an
Atomic Zombie and Kat. Not complaining, though, just stating the facts.
Wouldn't want to live any other way.
I guess you're wondering about
the meatballs and pasta heading. This is typical for me. I want to do
something that everyone else in the civilized world does, but for some
reason, the simplest things turn out to be annoying, frustrating and
complicated.
A week ago I decided to go to
a local hall that was having a spaghetti supper and get some take-out in
the afternoon. I normally go to another hall when they have their
spaghetti dinner/take-out, but decided to try this one out for the first
time. So, I told the woman at the door selling tickets that I wanted
spaghetti and 10 meatballs. It was $7.50. While conversing with her
friends and co-worker at the table, she handed me a ticket, and I entered
the hall to wait in line with my pot (your bring your own container) with
a dozen other people.
Then, a lady who was part of
the group organizing the take-out, told some of us to go to another line
to get meatballs and sauce. "Okey doke," I said and stood in that line for
about 10 minutes. A lady counted 10 meatballs, put them in my pot, then
another lady added about 1/2 cup of sauce into my pot (you read that right
- one whopping HALF CUP of sauce). My mouth was watering as the Sauce Lady
handed me my pot. A little cheap on the sauce, I thought. She actually
measured it before pouring the sauce into my pot!
"Uh, where's the spaghetti?" I
asked the Sauce Lady. "You go in that line," she said pointing toward the
line that I had previously been in. Of course, there were alot more people
in it now.
"But, I was already in that
line and was told to come here for meatballs. You only have gnocchi here."
"You go to that line now for
spaghetti," she said with a smile and proceeded to help another customer.
Okay, so now I'm getting confused. Ever heard the term "spaghetti AND
meatballs"? Why separate them in two lines? They go together like peanut
butter and jam. Something wasn't quite right about this.
I took my pot of 10 meatballs
and 1/2 cup of sauce and stood at the end of the line, you know, the one I
was originally in, and waited another 10 minutes. I finally got to the
front after chatting with a nice gentleman ahead of me and the spaghetti
had run out. Another 7 minutes passed while they made a fresh batch. It's
finally my turn!
Another lady asked me for my
ticket. "I gave it to the lady over there," I said pointing to the
Meatball Lady.
"Why did you give your ticket
to her?" the Ticket Lady asked.
"Because she asked me for it.
Someone told some of us to go there and get meatballs and the Meatball
Lady took my ticket," I replied cheerfully. I was REALLY looking forward
to getting some of that spaghetti.
"You're supposed to be in THIS
line," the Ticket Lady stressed, guiding me out of the line so everyone
else behind me could get their spaghetti.
I glanced into the kitchen on
my right, and lo and behold, there were meatballs, and sauce and
spaghetti! Huh? The Ticket Lady walked over to the Meatball Lady and
rummaged through her pile of collected tickets, they mumbled something
between them in their Mother Tongue language, and she returned to me with
the collected tickets in hand.
"You don't have a ticket for
spaghetti?" Ticket Lady announced to me and everyone else in the line.
"You need a ticket."
"I only had one ticket. It was
purple, I think. I paid $7.50"
"You need a ticket for
spaghetti - it's yellow."
"She didn't give me a yellow
ticket."
"Who?"
"The lady at the front, you
know, the one selling the tickets. She gave me a purple ticket."
"That's just for meatballs."
"How much is the spaghetti
then?"
"I don't know, you have to buy
it at the front door."
"Do I get sauce with the
spaghetti? There's not much here," I said tilting my pot toward her so she
could see my 1/2 cup of sauce.
"If you want extra sauce, you
buy extra sauce."
"Extra sauce? I hardly have
any to begin with!"
"There's no sauce with the
spaghetti. You have to buy extra sauce. Do you have a ticket for
spaghetti?"
Suddenly, it dawned on me.
THIS was the same lady who told us to go in the meatball line to begin
with! Could there be a language barrier at play here, or some hidden
agenda to reduce meatball exploitation? My head was swirling. What was
this all about? Some strange conspiracy? Spaghetti with no sauce, no
meatballs, but there they all were in front of my eyes, just feet from my
reach, yet still out of my reach because of some elusive ticket?
"I told the woman at the front
where I bought the ticket that I wanted spaghetti AND 10 meatballs. She
gave me a ticket," I said, pronouncing each word clearly so that she would
hear and understand every word.
"You need a ticket for
spaghetti," Ticket Lady said impatiently. "You can't have spaghetti and 10
meatballs. You can only have spaghetti and 5 meatballs."
"But, now if I go and buy a
ticket for spaghetti will you ACTUALLY give me spaghetti because I have 10
meatballs already, even though it's not allowed? If I wait in line again
with my spaghetti ticket will I be told when I get to the front that I
can't have spaghetti because I already have 10 meatballs?"
"It's okay. You can have
spaghetti, but you need the ticket."
"And a bit more sauce?" I
asked, just to clarify the fact that one needed a ticket for everything -
meatballs, sauce and spaghetti - all separately. Actually, I was hoping
that she would realize the absurdity of having to buy tickets for each
individual item. How about one price for spaghetti, with sauce and 5 or 10
meatballs? Am I the only person in the universe who has ever asked for
this? I guess so.
"You have to buy a ticket for
sauce."
Oy vay! Apparently, there WAS
some kind of 10 meatball embargo when it comes to this particular
spaghetti dinner/take-out system. Even if one wants 10 meatballs and is
willing to pay for 10, one cannot have 10 meatballs along with one's
spaghetti, which seems to be elusive, too. I've heard of conserving
electricity, gas and water, but conserving meatballs was a new one for me.
Despite the wacky rules, I must have slipped through a meatball embargo loophole and WOULD be
allowed to have spaghetti to merge with my contraband meatballs. The
Take-Out gods were finally smiling down on me.
Note to self: contact Canadian
Beef honchos to find out what's going on. Shortage of beef these days? Is
the meatball shortage Canada-wide or just in our city?
"So, the woman at the front
didn't listen to what I asked her, then? She's too busy socializing with
her friends, rather than paying attention to her job," I said, raising my
voice a bit since everyone in line could hear everything that SHE was
saying to me. "Just so I'm clear, what did I pay $7.50 for?"
"You bought meatballs. Go buy
a ticket for spaghetti and go to the end of this line," she said pointing
to the line that I had just been in TWICE, then finally made my way to the
front, carrying my pot of 10 meatballs and 1/2 cup of sauce. There were
now a couple of dozen more people in that line.
"I've been in this line TWICE
in the past half an hour! I don't have time to stand here again and wait
for spaghetti just because the ticket lady at the front isn't paying
attention. I paid $7.50 for 10 meatballs and half a cup of sauce! This is
very weird," I said, shaking my head as I strolled toward the door and out
into the main foyer where the original ticket lady was yakking it up with
friends, not paying attention to the anxious customer wanting to buy a
ticket. Lucky for her there was a line up of people wanting to buy tickets
and I decided not to wait again!
After 30 minutes of waiting in
line, being redirected to another line, told that I exceeded the allowable
meatball limit, that spaghetti doesn't come with sauce and that
spaghetti requires a special ticket, I left the building with my
contraband booty and headed home. Why do some people have to make things
so complicated? Such a simple concept - buying spaghetti with sauce and
meatballs - turned into such a complicated scene.
Ticket Lady #1 and #2 had no
sense of Customer Service. I don't believe that the customer is always
right, but I do believe that mistakes happen and a little bit of common
sense and courtesy go a long way to make a positive impression. Ticket
Lady #2 could have said something like, "I'm sorry there was a mix-up. Go
buy your spaghetti ticket and come see me since you've already been in
line twice." Nope, guess that was too much to ask. Instead, my first time
going to that event will be my last. I'll stick to the regular hall that
I've been to for many years.
I made my own spaghetti,
unthawed some of my own homemade spaghetti sauce (2 cups worth) and
combined everything with the 10 meatballs (@ $.75 each) which tasted okay,
but nothing to brag about. Was it worth the $7.50? Absolutely not, but it
did give me something to blog about on an otherwise uneventful week. I can
laugh about it now, but I was pretty disappointed about experiencing
another example of poor Customer Service. Some people just choose not to
care, and that's probably what bothers me the most. End of rant. |
We hope to do some long rides this summer and fall in our region to test
our bikes and our endurance. Maybe we'll meet up with some of you on the
road some time.
Spent
the weekend camping for the first time this "summer". It was pretty cold
at
night, well below 0°C. Nothing worse
than trying to sleep with a cold nose and wearing a touque, thick socks and
two layers of clothes to bed! Even with a heater in the trailer, it was
pretty chilly. Saturday was windy and weird. Rain, then sunshine, then
snow, then sunshine, then rain, then sunshine...then again, it's still
only May so anything can happen. 
We
survived, heck, we're Northerners. We still would have had a good time
relaxing, no matter what the weather was like. The campground wasn't very
busy which suited us just fine. We pretty much relaxed and took it easy,
talked about our future plans, figure out priorities for this year, and so
on. 
Some
of the best bike and project designs are concocted around the campfire.
It's +16°C, sunny and warm.
The weather forecast looks good for the next few days, even up to +17°C!
Well,
we're still working on the download service. Nothing ever seems to be
easy when it comes to technology. Bear with us while we muddle through
this to get it right. We'd rather do it right the first time.
Instant
download will be coming soon - I promise!!
