Applying for work

I applied to one of those big, storied Seattle establishments today.
I applied directly as I can't seem to find a recruiter who knows anybody at this company.
The reaction my friends have to this company is generally a soft moan.
After I completed the on-line application process, I don't want to work there.

I suck.

Customer Service and Efficiency

I am formulating a new theory. It seems as though you can either have good, friendly customer service, or you can have efficient, rude service. It’s not always the case, but usually that’s what you get. Following are some recent experiences I have had.

Sometimes you get a cross of rude inefficient service (Hello-o-o fast food anyone?). And once in a great while you get pleasant efficient service. When you find the latter hold on to it tight! I can’t think of any really great service right this second, but I’m certain I have experienced somewhere. Anyway, I would like to cite my friends at USPS as inefficient and rude. I shipped my Christmas presents from my mom and dad’s house in Ohio to my own in Seattle. USPS has this great website for tracking the packages. In fact that website says that I signed for my missing package. I sent email to USPS explaining my issue, but now, 4 working days later, I still have no answer.

Washington Mutual is the bank I chose for a business account I have. WAMU is the most personable, friendly, pleasant experience I have had, in terms of customer service. They always smile and they’re always ready to help. They never make me feel like I am burdening them, even when I have a dozen really silly questions. That said they are 0 for 4 in terms of banking rules and questions. I asked 4 separate questions in regard to my business account. Because they were literally wrong on each and every question, I had extra delays and headaches and 2 wasted trips to Bellevue from my home. God bless’em, they are nice folks, but they could be more competent.

Conversely, the worst organization I have dealt with lately, the worst organization on the planet, the company I would most like to see fold is Group Health. These money grubbing putrid swine intercoursers, are very efficient. They never miss deducting their cut of the paycheck. But man, they have made every single interaction I have had with them super painful. They will not fill a prescription unless you have seen one of their physicians. In fact, the pill nazi at their pharmacy in Lynnwood smugly told me that, “they don’t even carry the medication I requested and if I had seen one of their physicians, this would not happen.” Nice customer service. Do you think this company even knows that I pay their salaries directly? I hate them.

So, in closing: WAMU is nice and not to be hated, but be prepared to have to rectify many errors that are not your fault. Group Health is a godless soul sucking organization that should be driven out of Washington as Chris Gregoire’s first official act as governor. She's good at that.

Watching TV (again)

I saw a brilliant piece of reality television last night, Nanny 911.

This poor, hapless family has a “professional nanny” live with them for 1 week to help improve their family relationships. Basically to help the mother see what a terrible parent she is and embarrasses her (on national TV) into changing her imperfect ways.

Wow.

This has got to be one of the most degrading experiences a human can put themselves through. We’re all imperfect parents. I know (usually about an hour later) when I have made a parenting error. That’s bad enough, but if there were a TV camera there to put my idiocy on display for all to see….

Literally the nanny comes into this woman’s home and actually does an immediate and obvious better job of parenting this woman’s children. The screeching stops, the hitting stops, all the tension disappears. All of us watching can only think, “What a god-awful mom!”

This has given me my reality TV idea of the week: Mommy Backlash. I think we allow the insulted mother to confront the nanny that “fixed” her family. We pick mothers that were really insulted by the nanny. Maybe we could give the mother a bat or a board with a nail in it, a chance to do some real physical harm. That’s what makes really great television.

Coming next week: Monkey Knife Fights

Back to Blogging

It’s been a while. In my own defense I was traveling to the wilds of south central Ohio. I.e. there was no cell phone coverage and no internet access. 26K is NOT a reasonable connection.

I traveled back to Ohio to see my parents and catch up with some old friends during the holidays. This is the best benefit of being unemployed, nobody owns my time but me! While there we were pounded with snow and frigid temperatures. Southern and central Ohio cities do not expect that much snow. I got to experience true rustic living conditions and re-bond with mom and dad. It was a very full vacation.

While I was there I got to experience the “snow storm of ’04.” It was impressive. Between 15” – 25” fell on a diagonal path between Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. I was in Ripley which is about 50 miles due east of Cincinnati. We only had an inch or so, however, we had rain all day the day before and ended up with about 2 inches of ice under a dusting of snow.

The snow caused obvious difficulties for the cities mentioned above. The cities had to shut down until the snow stopped falling. They could not keep up. Meanwhile out in Ripley, the ice added so much weight (how much weight?), so much weight, that numerous trees fell against the powerlines and electricity was lost for 3 days.

Without electricity on the farm, we had no heat. So, mom, dad, and I spent ALL that time in front of the fireplace in the living room to keep warm. When I was a kid we experienced the isolation this during the blizzards of ’77 and ’78. But, now at age 38 with a wife and family of my own, this was… different. Mom and dad and I all still get along just fine, there are no issues, we did not fight or anything silly like that. However…
The drama actually ended on Friday afternoon. Since my sister was hosting Christmas at her house in Cincinnati and my wife and daughter flew into the Cincinnati airport on Friday night, we spent Friday night in a hotel. Truly this was a memorable Christmas. Now I’m ready to work.