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one should never have to use the word feces at work

First, I received this email form my lovely assistant:

“I’ve decided to place a formal complaint with you. There is smeared feces on the porcelain… again. Obviously someone was sick, or incapable of efficiently handling the toilet paper and squatting method that comes so naturally to all of us. I’m tired of saying feces out loud as I feel dirty by having to occupy my mind with such “matter”. Anyway…… I’m done. My head hurts. I hate feces. “

Once I stopped laughing, I sent it along to tenant services, with whom I have been having an on-going battle over the conditions of the women’s washroom. Interestingly, the condition of the men’s is just fine (at least that’s what I’ve been told, not having first-hand knowledge):

“I placed a call 20 minutes ago to tenant services in the building and we saw that they sent a cleaner to the 16th floor washroom. There is still mess on the porcelain. I have received the following formal complaint from one of my staff:

"I’ve decided to place a formal complaint with you. There is smeared feces on the porcelain… again. Obviously someone was sick, or incapable of efficiently handling the toilet paper and squatting method that comes so naturally to all of us. I’m tired of saying feces out loud as I feel dirty by having to occupy my mind with such “matter”. Anyway…… I’m done. My head hurts. I hate feces."

This is completely unacceptable and we would appreciated having our concerns addressed is a quick and satisfactory manner.”

Unless one works in a hospital or with the sanitation department, one should never, ever have to use the word “feces” in the workplace. Come on, admit it, you’re jealous -- first my dog gets lice and now I have to deal with this, excuse the really bad and obvious pun, crap.

Funnily enough, though, I am still smiling.

everything and nothing

Another chapter in the ongoing saga that is my romantic life:

Last we checked he was doing some personal counselling work and getting some rather important issues, like um, getting divorced, dealt with. This involved lots of alone time which of course resulted in not much us time. That's been a blast as you can imagine.

But whatever, it's not forever and quite frankly I would rather him deal with this stuff now and then we can get on with the business of getting on.

So tonight we actually went out, together, for a couple of hours and it was really nice (though we talk and email on a pretty much daily basis, we have only actually seen each other once since New Years). It was good to see him and whatever counselling, personal work or navel-gazing he's doing seems to be working. This is all very positive.

We talked and talked and talked about pretty much everything under the sun except what I really wanted to talk about, needed to talk about. That is -- where do I fit in when this personal exploration is done? It's not like I am siting home by the phone waiting for him to call, because I'm not. However, I'm also not exactly out there exploring my options either.

What I really need to ask is: is this all worth the wait?

As they say, only time will tell.

Translink/Coast Mountain Bus Lines can bite me!

To whom it may concern at the Translink Bus Place:

I take the XXX to and from work every day. Last night I worked later than usual and planned on taking the last bus home, the one scheduled to be at Granville & Georgia at 6:08 p.m. Imagine my surprise when, by 6:40 it still had not made an appearance! I had not missed it as there were several other people waiting for the same bus. I wound up taking a XXX and when I commented to the driver of the bus that the XXX had never showed, his reply was: “there is a hockey game so traffic's bad".

And that’s my problem because why exactly?

I finally arrived home cold, tired and very, very grumpy a full hour and fifteen minutes later than expected which completely messed up my evening plans --- including missing my yoga class.

To say that I am not impressed would be an understatement.

Also, from what I understand from fellow commuters on this route, this is not an infrequent occurrence. Would you please explain why exactly?

I would appreciate a satisfactory reply to me email.


Dear Ms Casey,

Thank you for your email regarding the incident the missing 605pm XXX trip from downtown Vancouver. Correspondence from customers who take the time to send us their concerns such as yourself are an integral component of our efforts to raise our level of customer service and to rectify our shortcomings. I have reviewed your complaint and regret that the customer level of customer service that we strive to provide for all our customers, on this occasion, was less than what our customers have come to expect. (yeah, whatever)


This matter was investigated and it was discovered that the bus in question did not arrive at its terminus until 643pm. This was due to heavy traffic. I do not know if the hockey game was a direct cause of the traffic volume, but it may have had an effect. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that was caused to you.

Yours truly,

Keith Butterley
A/Supervisor Service Delivery
North Vancouver Transit Centre

I'm sorry, but that in no way shape or form is a satisfactory reply. Ergo:

Mr. Butterly,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my email but I am sure you will also understand that I find your explanation to be less than satisfactory.

Heavy traffic? Shocking being that it was rush hour and coming from the North Shore. That's just simply not a valid excuse.

There are only 4 busses that make that run each evening. Chances are there is going to be a significant amount of traffic coming off of the North Shore. Here's any idea -- why not have all 4 of them already on the downtown side ready for their run?

And yes, the sarcasm is intentional.

From what I understand, and I have experienced it myself, busses are randomly pulled off this route in the evenings with some regularity. Quite frankly that is not acceptable.

Regards

bath, round 2

de-lousing bath number 2
(kinda like anti-biotics -- even if the symptoms are gone, you have to complete the full course of treatment)




by number 3 she'll be able to do it all by herself

10 seconds in my head

I just went down to the drugstore and since I was going that way my assistant asked me to grab her a caramel frappucino thing from Starbucks (hello, about 900 calories!!!!). Anyhow, as I was carrying it up in a relatively full elevator wherein the other passengers were all men, I was really self-conscious of carrying this calorie-laden and nutritionally deficient drink and wanted to tell them all "listen, this isn't mine. It's for my assistant. Do you think I would actually drink this??"

Man, I hate being me sometimes!!!!!!!

random thoughts

I hate when they show you the gifts on television shows and movies but then never open them -- I still haven't gotten over Maria and The Captain returning from their honeymoon, laden with gifts for the kids, and you never got to see what the gifts were

I wish there was a 3 minute delay on emails - that way you could get it back once you hit "send" and then wish for it back --- most relevant in the 21st century phenomenon "drunken email" and generally involves emails sent to exes or potentials or crushes or a combination of all three

books like "He's Not All That Into You" and the Mars and Venus series can really fuck with your mind (and lead you to eat all sorts of chocolate) and shold be avoided at all costs

the sound of Maggie snoring is one of my most favourite ever

Bruce Springsteen still rocks my world