Contest of the Day:

http://www.mtbireland.com/dodge.html

My best score so far is 29.391, but I’m sure I can do better. Holla!

hotel: “thank you for calling holiday inn express san diego this is Luz how can i help you?”

me:”may i please speak with melvin?”

Luz:”yes may i tell him who is calling”

me:”my name is MahiX2″ (I USED MY REAL NAME, BUT BECAUSE OF THE MAN, I CAN NO LONGER ASSOCIATE MY REAL NAME WITH THIS WEBSITE)

Luz:”ok one second”

Luz:”Melvin is unavailable right now”

me:”What?? what is he doing??”

Luz:”he is very busy may i help you?”

me:”actually yes you can, I called on Friday and was told the Melvin wasn’t in yet, but he would call me back, but he didn’t so I called on Saturday and was told that Melvin was busy and that he would call me back later. Then I started calling you guys about every hour or so because Melvin had already lost all credibility so i figured maybe i could just happen to catch him, then finally someone said they spoke with melvin and they would be able to refund me for the 2nd room which was great unfortunately they were unable to take care of some other problems so i asked that melvin still call me which he didn’t so i called yesterday and was told that melvin wasn’t in yet and that he would call me as soon as he got in and that they were very sorry that this was being dragged out as far as it has been, and of course he didn’t call me, so now you can help me by putting me on hold and walking up to melvin grabbing his hand and bringing him to the phone, put the phone in his hand, push the button to take me off hold, and i will just take over from there.”

Luz:”ok sir unfortunately melvin is busy so he can’t talk to you right now but i would be glad to help you”

me:”ok, Luz, let’s start with the basics, can you tell me what your job responsibilities are?”

Luz:”checking in and checking out customers, and setting up reservations.”

me:”would you say that your position is a customer service positions?”

Luz:”yes i help everyone here at the desk and on the phones”

me:”yeah you sure do, do you ever do things to impress our friend melvin in hopes that one day you might get a raise or a promotion?”

Luz:”sir i am not sure where you are going with this and we are very busy.”

me:”you are busy???? wow, I wonder what that is like. wouldn’t it be a pain if you had to deal with customers like me every single day? because that is what i am going through, i am also busy unfortunately i have to call you every single day because you are not intelligent enough to impress your busy hard working boss by taking care of a customers problem. Your company made a mistake and double charged me leading to $99 in overdraft charges to my account, the room portion was taken care of, now i need you to take care of the $99 of overdraft fees which your company’s mistake caused as well as take care of me in the area of all of the time that I have wasted trying to sort out your company’s inability to solve problems.”

Luz:”ok sir, the best thing that I can do is have Melvin call you back later”

me:”i’ll talk to you tomorrow”

Friday, March 26th, 2004, about 8:30 am California time:

hotel: “thank you for calling holiday inn express san diego this is (impossible to understand name) how can i help you?”

me:”yes i stayed there last week and just realized that you overcharged me and i would like to get that taken care of”

h:”ok, sir what is your name?”

m:”mahix2.” (i really said my name, but because of THE MAN i try to keep my real name off of this site)

h:”and when did you check out?”

m:”last thursday i believe that was the 18th”

h:”ok the 18th and what is your name again?”

m:”haha” (moment of silence) “oh i thought you were kidding…. m-a-h-i-x-2″

h:”oh i see that you had two rooms, 228 and 236″

m:”no, i had one room, 236. my friend had room 228 and that room should have been charged to his credit card which he gave you when we checked in. i think the problem was that you just used the credit card that i used to hold the rooms when i made the original reservation.”

h:”ok sir, I didn’t do anything so don’t accuse me”

m:”oh no im sorry i didn’t mean it like that… i just meant you as in your hotel.”

h:”ok well just go ahead and fax us a copy of the front and back of your friend’s credit card and we will get that fixed.”

m:”what?? i don’t have his credit card, or a fax machine. I just want my money back. He checked in with his phone number and address AND CREDIT CARD so if you want that money you can get it yourself, I just want my card credited to reflect the correct charges.”

h:”ok do you have mr navarro’s phone number?”

m:”no, you do, but I do not have access to it here, I might at my office but I will not have access to it until Monday at the earliest. I need this issue resolved right now”

h:”im sorry sir there is nothing i can do without his credit card”

m:”ok, then could I please speak with your manager?”

h:”he will be in sometime between 9 and 10 this morning can i have him call you as soon as he gets in?”

m:”yes that would be fine have him call me asap at ###-###-####”

h:”ok, i will have my manager melvin call you as soon as he gets in”

I’m not sure whether this sentence is even necessarry, but he did not call me back… leading to further anger.

Friday Five didn’t have anything this week so I pulled this set from this time last year.

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
Seeing Payne jump a fence (from a huge apartment complex to our alley… in broad daylight)…

Interesting stories today. I know this post looks long, but trust me it is worth your time and I promise I won’t use words you don’t understand.

Mike and Gene Holmes visited us yesterday and informed us that a fatty pallet of tiles would be coming and would need to be stored in our garage (the roommates all enjoyed a silent UH OH in their heads). Not to worry we told them, plenty of room in the garage. Basically we got home from school yesterday and put on our spring cleaning act by getting the pool going and cleaning all the junk out of the garage.

Once that finishes we kick back in the living room and try to cool it down a notch. Next thing I know, Pizane is booking it out the back door and diving into the pool. Of course Chris and Brandon are only seconds behind. Swimming gets old quick and Chris decides clothes are not necessarry inside so drops drawers and goes in. Payne proceeds to “drop” Chris’s shorts into the alley, needless to say Chris enjoys sweet revenge as he comes back outside only to find that Payne also found no use of clothes inside so Chris dropped heaved Payne’s shorts over the alley and into the apartment parking lot.

If I’m in this situation I chalk those shorts up as lost, but not Payne and Chris. Furthermore, they prioritize their recon mission above getting redressed and wander into the alley bearing nothing but loosely fitting towels. Needless to say the digital camera made an appearance and Chris may have a solid portfolio for a photographer position with PlayGirl (is that real by the way?). At this point Payne has given me permission to post the pictures however he was slightly intoxicated at the time (more on this later) so I am going to verify tomorrow as an act of brotherhood and friendship.

So everyone becomes somewhat more clothed and we resume our laziness in front of the TV. Payne and Chris are enjoying beverages containing a percentage of a controlled substance, and we are all enjoying Diddy showin Da Band how to handle themselves. Soon enough 5:30 rolls around and we decide to roll over to check out Dell and Ryan’s little league baseball team in their first scrimmage of the year.

I drive Chris’s expedition - nice - we arrive at Dobson, the site of the game - also nice - and sit down in the nice bleachers. Mary Floberg and her roommate are rootin’ on the team so we join em and not 15 minutes later Mr. Umpire walks over to the backstop in front of Payne and says “I won’t tolerate the language, not here, not now”. Payne slurrs out an apology and says “pruhfesshhionallliiiism”. The game soon ends with Dell’s Dirty Lou coming out on top 5-2 thanks to a great team effort over Team Moneyball. Chris, Mary, Mary’s roommate, and I breathe a sigh of relief thinking that we made it without any further trouble - not quite.

Super dad decides we enjoy being lectured by other kids’ dads and blocks our exit saying in his best buddy buddy voice “heeeeyyyyyyyyyyy ASU guys whats up?!” We provide him with a look equivalent to “WTF??” None the less, he proceeds “Thanks for coming out today that’s great of you to show your support, just great… BUT… next time, no swearing, no picking on the umpire… AND you gotta root for both teams.” Some how we manage to bite our tongues and let the reality of failure set in to Super Dad’s oversized golf hat wearing head that we will be ripping on him for quite some time to come.

Chris and I start towards the car as Payne (unsuccesfully) attempts to convince Mary Floberg that he is the lead singer of the band (based on the current hot Eminem song “My Band”). The ride home is going well reliving the sweet victory by the Dirty Lou, and building excitement towards Angie’s “Get the high school kids on spring break plastered” party. Payne mentions that he will Puke and Rally, Chris laughs, I think to myself “that is not the kind of talk I like to hear.” Minutes later Payne is spitting out the back window and Chris is yelling at me to pull over. It is too late, the spitting has turned to spewing and the yelling has subsided to Chris’s inner anger of the puke down the side of his truck.

It is currently 8:45. Payne is passed out, Chris is still coniving a way for him to hitch a ride to Angie’s and there is water in my ear. Should be an interesting evening.