patience

Patience tried

Posted on by backuphill

Photo by Ju00c9SHOOTS on Pexels.com

Ya, know? Waiting sucks. Having patience sometimes can be very difficult.

Had a relative have a pretty major, serious surgery today. The person getting having the surgery has had a difficult decade, it seems, and is rather frail so there was some definite risk involved with this surgery. Information about what was happening was slow, and when it finally came time to hear the results it became unbearably silent.

Like, so silent that when the results of the surgery were supposed to be given there was an hour where no one knew what was going on at all. Everyone waiting for word one way or the other….

Thankfully, the relative made it through and the surgery and is now recovering. There is still some danger, but on the road to hopefully being better.

Silence. Patience. Unknown.

It’s hard to handle at times.

Must endure

Posted on by backuphill

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Pexels.com

The next three days will be a slog…gotta admit. Why? Well, there is a vacation on the horizon and not checking into work for the better part of nearly two weeks has got me excited.

Thus, I must endure the next several days.

This will be the first real vacation for me in quite some time. The last week of February this year, in fact. There have been days off here and there in between, but this will be the first extended time since then.

Anyway, just thought I would put out there that I am feeling a little “short-timer’s disease” and looking forward to some time off.

Anyone else taking time off during the holidays?

**Interesting note: when you type in “vacation” for the free pictures in Pexel, nearly all the pictures come up as tropical, sunny, and sandy…I must be doing my vacations wrong…**

A tool story

Posted on by backuphill

Technology in today’s day and age allows companies and customers to better interact.

That could mean that customers have better access to product information and new offerings from a company. It could mean that companies provide better support and customer care when issues arise with it’s products. It could mean that customers are able to communicate with the company their needs for tools and features they need.

Regardless of what could happen, customers should have a good experience with the product and the company. It’s what keeps them coming back to the company and it’s what also has them recommend the company’s products to people they know.

A little over a year ago, I decided it was time to update my power tools so I decided that having something with lots of tools and one battery system would be the best since they are all interchangeable. The answer was…

Ryobi.

In general, I like the tools. They 18v One+ system is a great idea because of the variety of tools that will work off one battery system. No need to have a bunch of different battery sizes and no need to have to buy new and newer tools since other companies keep changing their batteries all the time.

So, I invested. I bought a multiple tool set and over the last year I have added several more tools and a new set of extra batteries with a quick charger (30 minutes to be exact). It’s been a little less than a year since I did this and everything has worked as expected until now.

That 30 minute charger just up and died…used it two weeks ago and it work and then went to use it last week and it didn’t. Nothing. No power.

So, I wanted to find out what now. It is less than a year old and is probably under warranty. I logged into their website, ryobitools.com, and navigation is PAINFULLY SLOW! It takes minutes just to get their page to load, let alone navigate from one place to another once you actually get there.

All I could think as I wait and wait and wait is, “Really?” With a company this large with that kind of budget, they can’t get a website that is zippity-do-dah fast? Kind of not really great customer service, ya know?

When I finally get to the “Contact” page I called the Power Tools phone number for support, 800-525-2579, and their navigation system is garbled and hard to understand…and the number they say to push for help sounds like “8” but when you push that number is says it is invalid. I called several times and finally pushed “2” (sounds nothing like “8”) and got through. WTH? Seriously. I am not joking. Call it yourself.

So, besides having a painfully slow website, they also have a call system that is garbled and hard to understand. Makes total sense for a company trying to get and keep customers, right?

Oh, and after I talked with someone I have to call another department (East coast times, mind you) to get warranty help. I’ll let you know how that goes…

The line cutter

Posted on by backuphill

group of people walking near clear glass window with a view of white airplane parked during daytime

Photo by Tim Gouw on Pexels.com

Yo, dude, never mind me. I wasn’t standing here, in line, waiting my turn like a civilized person.

Ever had that happen to you? Of course you have. I am sure it happens way more often than you’d like, in fact. Because, you know, the people who read this blog are all rational and intelligent people who like order.

In the last week, it has happened at Starbucks and Home Depot. Minding my own business, waiting patiently for my turn in line, when some jackwagon walks up and jumps in line without looking to see if there were people in line. Yes, lady, we’re all just standing here for our health.

Confession time…about a month ago, I was that jackwagon. It was totally not on purpose though and I apologized PROFUSELY when I discovered that I had jumped in line in front of people who were waiting. It was at the grocery store and they were standing in an aisle waiting for the register to open up (in my defense, they were more than 8 feet away). I looked. It didn’t appear at first glance that people were waiting, so I jumped in line. Only as I got started on the self-checkout that the lady standing in the front of the line in the aisle came to start her self-checkout did I realize that there had been a line. She was gracious and didn’t curse me out, but good grief did I feel bad.

The Starbucks lady? She didn’t feel bad at all. I guess her overwhelming need for that frappe just overrode her sense of common decency and humanity. The guy at Home Depot? Yeah, no such remorse from him either. He just dragged the store associate to another aisle and took his sweet time asking questions while the rest of us waited for the associate to come back.

So, in conclusion, let’s all slow down a little today and take it easy. Nothing is really that important. Be courteous. Be kind. Be patient. Be polite.

Be in line.

Slow fast food

Posted on by backuphill

mcdonald store at nigh time

Photo by Mikechie Esparagoza on Pexels.com

I know we have gotten rather spoiled these days in society and the modern comforts we often take for granted only seem to make us appreciate less and less. There is no lack of gratefulness these days.

BUT, I gotta tell ya, there is nothing more frustrating than slow “fast” food.

Time is short. You have a schedule to keep. You’re a mover and a shaker and you gotta get stuff done. People to see, places to be.

So you stop at a “fast” food restaurant thinking you can get in and out in less the 7 minutes and you can still maintain your fast paced agenda.

Screeching halt. 13 minutes later. 22 minutes later. Doesn’t matter how long really, as long as it isn’t “fast” it gets frustrating fast. You can feel your anxiety rising and you start “chomping at the bit”.

As an example just this morning even, I was running a little behind and there was no coffee ready at home. I stopped at a place where the golden arches beckon (don’t judge the coffee, it is passable) in hopes that I could get in and out quickly. Seven minutes from ordering, I am still waiting…for coffee. This, waiting at a place where the literally push a button after the put the cup under the spigot because the coffee is made in one of those dispenser things. That is not fast.

So, fast food. Not.

Anyone else frustrated in/with places like this?

Zip it!

Posted on by backuphill

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NOT a zipper merge, but an example of how it feels when it is done wrong.

One thing I is for sure, Americans don’t like to merge on to highways. What’s worse is that we apparently also have no manners when it comes to merging, which stresses people out about merging even more. Thus, it becomes a never ending cycle.

One thing is also for sure, if the zipper merge was done correctly we’d all spend less time sitting in traffic. Look at the example below:

zipper20merge

Or better yet, take a look at the video below!

Come on, people, get with the program and we’ll all get to where we wanna go faster and more safely. Oh, and have a little patience already!