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| OPEN: JANUS FILE #0334
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that my laptop had been experiencing some power problems, which eventually resulted in it not powering up at all. At the recommendation of my friend Grant, I took it to Computer Outlet. They thought they had taken care of the problem, because it did power up when I hit the power switch.
It did for three days, anyway. It then refused to do anything when I tried to turn it on.
A few days later, when I had a day off again, I took it back to Computer Outlet. I told them what had happened, and the technician seemed to be just as mystified as I was over the recurrence. I left the laptop with them again, and they said that they would try to get it working again. And since I had just left it with them, there would not be any charge for this visit.
As soon as I had a free day again, I went back, and my laptop was ready again. (And despite what someone suggested in a comment in a previous entry, I did not name my laptop "Duncan." I named it "Riddler1," just in case you are interested.) The technician reset the motherboard again, and this time, he updated the BIOS. He said that the BIOS upgrade should do the trick, and if the power problem happens again, it may be a case of the motherboard going bad.
So far, so good. It's working. It seems to be working normally. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue to do so.
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0334 | | |
| OPEN: JANUS FILE #0333
I'm sure that you have all had one of those moments. A moment where you just look at someone, and it takes every bit of will power to keep from saying to that person, "What the hell were you thinking?"
Unfortunately, I seem to get way too many of those moments at work.
Take Sunday afternoon, for instance. It was supposed to be my day off, but I ended up filling in for G when he called in sick. Not too much of a problem, and hey, it happens. But the paranoid part of me has concluded that some of the customers were trying to see how far they could push the envelope.
The winner had to be one guy whose only purchase was a 99 cent Little Debbie Danish. He tries to pay me with a $100 bill. I inform him as politely as I can that I had just recently made a safe drop, and that I don't have enough money in my register to give him change. He starts going off on how "That's bullshit!", and "What do you mean, you don't have $100 in your register?" Trying to be as polite as possible, I inform him that we're only supposed to have $75 in the register. He keeps going on, but I don't take the C-note. If for no other reason, there were several customers behind him, and I would have been unable to take care of them if I had done what he wanted. Which, if you think about it, all he wanted was for me to break his $100 bill. (Some of those other customers were just a little amazed at what he tried to do.)
And then, there was last night. After Saturday and Sunday, last night was relatively sane. Toward the end of the night, I even had fairly long stretches of time alone where I could do various parts of the job that can't be done when there are customers around. But earlier, there was one incident that, once again, left me more than a little surprised.
It started with a customer pumping gas. He came in to tell me that the auto shutoff on the pump handle had not shut off as it was supposed to, and gas had spilled on his car and on the ground. Just to be certain it was stopped, I hit the stop sequence for that pump. I then called my manager, because this is one of those things that is serious enough to bring to her attention RIGHT AWAY.
As I was telling her what had happened, the customer came back into the store. When he realized that I was talking to my manager, he wanted to talk to her as well. I handed him the phone, and I only heard part of the conversation from that point. He had walked away from the pump when the spill occurred. He had been pumping gas for 40 years, and this was the first time something like this had ever happened to him. And most importantly, "This is not your grandmother's Buick; this is a Porsche." He also left a note for my manager with his phone number, and from what I read, he seemed to think that he should be repaid for damage to his wax job, if not the car itself.
Most of the time, the auto shutoff works as designed. But whoever is pumping the gas is supposed to stay with the pump, just in case of the rare occasion when it doesn't. If I see someone walking away from the pump, I am supposed to first tell them to please go back to the pump, and if they don't, I'm supposed to stop the pump.
Common sense should tell you that paying for a 99-cent item with a $100 bill is not a particularly good idea.
Common sense should tell you that you need to stay with the pump when you're pumping gas.
Unfortunately, I have reached the conclusion that with more than a few people, common sense is as about as common as a pair of panties in Lindsay Lohan's wardrobe.
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0333 | | |
| OPEN: JANUS FILE #0332
As I mentioned last time, yesterday was Friday The 13th. The day wasn't that bad for me. About the only bit of bad luck I had was having to deal with one customer who, to be rather blunt, is a giant douchebag. Well, at least Emma was present, and I'm pretty certain she doesn't think that much of the guy, either.
Things were a bit on the crazy side. The sort of crazy that usually happens around the full moon. But the full moon was two weeks ago. I remember that, because the moon was either full or pretty damn close to full on Halloween.
It was right around sunset when things really started going crazy outside. I didn't see what had happened; I had been dealing with a customer. I happened to look out the window, and I noticed a number of people rushing toward Shelbyville Road. One of my other co-workes, "Hale," had come in not long before that, and he was outside sweeping the parking lot. He suddenly appeared at the window, and while I couldn't hear him through the glass, he quite definitely said, "Call 911."
I motioned Hale to the door, and when he poked his head inside, I asked, "What's going on?" He said that a pedestrian had been hit by a car, and repeated the statement to call 911.
By this time, I was already dialing. When the operator came on, I told her that EMS was needed, and where I was. She then asked for details on what had happened. Since I hadn't seen what had happened, I was a little hampered when it came to giving the details.
At the same time, another customer walked up to the register. I asked the operator to wait for a moment, then asked the customer, "Did you see what happened?"
He said that he had, and I asked him to tell the 911 operator the details. I then said to the operator, "Ma'am, I have a customer who did see what happened. I'm going to let him tell you the details." I handed the phone to the customer, and let him tell the operator what had happened.
Based on what I saw out the window, I had not been the only one to call 911. Even as the customer was on the phone, I saw EMS and the first St. Matthews police cruiser arrive at our parking lot. The first of at least three cruisers, and they stayed for quite some time. Unfortunately, I didn't have a clear view of what really was happening.
Eventually, I did learn what happened, from Hale and a number of customers who came in during and after the excitement. A girl had been crossing Shelbyville Road -- right in front of the store, instead of walking another 20 meters or so to the crosswalk.. She made it about halfway across before being hit by a car. As one customer described it, she did a cartwheel in midair when she was hit.
Ouch. I'm guessing that she is going to be feeling that for a while.
Maybe there really is something to Friday The 13th being a day of bad luck. It certainly was for that girl.
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0332 | | |
| OPEN: JANUS FILE #0331
Friends, today are you not feeling frisky because you are friggatrisky?
Friggatriskadekaphobic, that is. The fear of Friday The 13th.
Look at it this way -- this is the last Friday The 13th of the year. And in 2010, the only Friday The 13th will be in August. Doesn't that make you feel a little better?
While I was trying to think of what I would be writing in this entry, I did a little research. I was a little surprised by something that I read about the Friday The 13th movies. For some reason, I had been under the impression that all of them had been released on a Friday The 13th. I mean, it would seem to be the obvious choice, right?
Well, I was just a little mistaken. As it turns out, only four of the 12 movies have been released on a Friday The 13th. This includes the most recent, which as I understand it, was something of a reboot of the movie series. And the next installment in the series is scheduled for release on Friday, August 13, 2010.
In any case, enjoy the day!
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0331 | | |
| OPEN: JANUS FILE #0331
Today is Veteran's Day. If by any chance there are any members or veterans of the US military reading this, whatever branch you served, I hope that you are being given the respect and honor that you so truly deserve.
Yesterday at work, I had one customer who was wearing a baseball cap indicating that he was retired Army. Since I didn't have anyone waiting in line behind him, after ringing up his purchases, I asked him what he had done when he was in the Army. He gave me a brief rundown of his career. I'm pretty certain that he was at least a 20-year man, because he said that he retired as a master sergeant.
He told me that he had started as a cook, then after a couple of years, he had gone into chemical warfare.
Never one to resist anything resembling a straight line, I interjected, "Are you sure you didn't get your start in chemical warfare while you were a cook?"
Fortunately for me, the retired sergeant found my comment as funny as I did. And after he gave me a brief history of his Army career, I made sure to wish him a Happy Veteran's Day as he was walking out the door.
And as I said (or at least implied) at the beginning, Happy Veteran's Day to all members of the US military, past and present.
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0331 | | |
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