news of the day

[calimac]

1. I've finally been paid for some work I did in March and April. Months of repeated polite inquiries had had no effect. Finally losing my patience over this got them hopping right to it. There's a lesson in that.

2. For the next week I am car-less. It's in the shop getting its damaged bumper replaced. Yes, this will take a week. As I own the magic car that easily fits my bicycle in the back, I rode that home from the shop.

3. Try not to read the news; it's too depressing. We're running out of fish. We're also running out of dentists.

Comments

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

I think we have a glut of dentists in this area, and they're not all that busy in the current economy. (Mine sure wasn't when I saw him yesterday.) You know our oldest great-niece is currently in Dental School, training to be a dentist.

[benjd.livejournal.com]

Your comment about how your raising a stink got results reminds me of an incident in Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta in 2006. I had been in a line for quite some time to check in with a ticket agent after the automated check-in kiosk kept refusing to recognize my reservation (and those of many others near me as well). The line simply was not moving; the agents at the counter seemed blithely unaware that there were people in line whose flights were scheduled to depart soon. After maybe 30 to 45 minutes of no movement, I walked up to the front to ask if something could be done because my flight was scheduled to leave soon. I was all but ignored, told only to wait my turn in line. I then basically threw a fit and made a scene--raising my voice, cursing the airline, etc., etc. The next thing I know an agent called me over to another spot at the counter, checked me in, and then personally escorted me to the very front of the security line, and directed the security people to take me ahead of everyone else. I was slightly embarrassed (perhaps the ticket agent's goal), but I got what I wanted: to make it onto my flight. There is a similar lesson in my story.