Also I don't like dealing with people who dither on the phone, "I'm not sure how you can help me and I'm not sure I'm calling the right place. You might be able to help me, this is about the 4 number I've called so I don't know what to do. I just don't know if anyone can help me. But I have a question, well it's more of a problem - you see I went to X , well not at first, I was told by Y I should go to X but I'm not even sure I should have done that."

So I try to politely interrupt and get the details. "I really need to start at the beginning." And then they have a legit complaint but

Which is a great place to start but not if you are going to try and give me a blow by blow of everything that you've had to deal with for the last year.

Me prodding "so you want to make a complaint."

NO! Not really, I mean I don't know if I should, I don't want to get anyone in trouble! But you know this is already cost me $3000 and now I need a replacement and my mouth hurts.

The opposite side of those who don't have a legit complaint and are pissed off because they don't like what happened.

Yeah, in Moldova the cashier may be on a cellphone, and will look at you nasty for interrupting. The concept of customer service is not embraced there. A bunch of us left MD and went to Turkey and I remember my friend Jamie being so excited that the flight attendant would mix cherry and apricot juice for her.

My favorite is a story I once heard from a FoaF who had traveled to East Berlin from West back in the day. They went into a restaurant, desperately trying to spend the money they'd had to change, and waited forever until the dude at the bar smoking came over to their table. The FoaF asked, "what do you suggest?" and the server replied, "I suggest you leave." So they did.

Oh snaaaaap. Wow, I can't wait to go to Berlin!

bonny - didn't mean to leave you hanging - I do not recall any psychological support services. There was minimal job search support.

P-C, that was pre- Wall fall. I've been to Berlin and other places in Germany since with no such experiences.

Peacock tights! [link]

I find if I am polite to folks, they are polite to me. NYers aren't ones to smile and nod hi in passing. They are finding a path, and moving through. WRT the person on phone not completing the transaction, I say, if you are behind them, tell the cashier to add your stuff to his/her bill. When they complain, say you thought that's what they were making the rest of the line wait for. The self check out kiosks suck donkey balls. In order to take stuff out of the cart, I rest a crutch against the machine, which then insists "there is a foreign object in the lane, please remove object and continue scanning." Suck it bitch, it was made in the USA!

The picnic went well. The iTunes was fine, but iphone couldn't connect. I'm guessing a port was blocked in the school wi-fi. Humbug. My brownies were a hit. Seems folks never heard of cinnamon in brownies before.

ION- seems my new workplace is in the news today, and not for pretty reasons: [link] Who knew when I was applying?

A bunch of us left MD and went to Turkey and I remember my friend Jamie being so excited that the flight attendant would mix cherry and apricot juice for her.

This reminds me of taking the bus from Istanbul to Edirne (Turkish city near the border with Bulgaria). During the three-hour bus ride, we were offered juice, cookies, water, candy, and hand sanitizer, each in a separate trip for the poor bus attendant. First, I don't think I'd ever been on a bus that had a bus attendant before, so that was a novely in itself, but then they kept giving us stuff! And with the hand sanitizer, they would just squirt a big glop of it in your cupped hands, way more than you could possibly need, so it dripped everywhere. Weird experience.

Blargle. So Pete is feeling under the weather with a mild-ish version of what I had two weeks ago. I, on the other hand, am still feeling a bit dodgy and am easily tired, which led to Plei telling me I should go see my doctor and get checked out for walking pneumonia. (Not unreasonable, as someone in our vanpool apparently had it.) I AM TIRED OF FEELING SICKLY, DAMMIT. And if I AM going to still feel sickly, I want someone to bring me tea and soup and cupcakes. And laudanum.

The banning of laudanum was a sign of the decline of Western culture and deprived us of the chance to write our own Kubla Khans.

Please forgive the elevator people. There are days I can't face the screaming knee pain from arthritis and the bone spurs on my knee caps and an elevator is a blessed respite.

Midwesterners are the nicest people in the world. Southerners tend to say "y'all come," but never say when. Midwesterners show up at your house with a coffee cake and an invitation for bridge. I think New Yorkers get a bad rap. I've always found them willing to go out of their way to help me, although sometimes they complain about tourists the whole way. There are parts of the country where people very politely don't help you.

I find the people who talk too much in the South are mostly the people who talk too much everywhere, mainly little old ladies with time on their hands. The difference is that in the South people weren't raised to cut them off and are therefore at their rambling mercy.

Publix has always been blessedly free of people who talk to me, but they seem to be having some kind of friendliness drive among their employees and suddenly random employees are asking me if I need any help. I've been shopping there for more than a decade. I don't need help, although it would be nice if they stopped playing "hide the cake flour."