Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Forgive me if I come off as sounding like a grumpy old man with nothing
better to do than complain about the trivial things in life . . .like,
for instance, trash in my front yard. Coke cans, candy bar wrappers, a
half eaten bag of popcorn, a wrapper from a Big Mac. Where does it all
come from? And it obviously migrates from the sidewalk, into my yard,
and then finally all the way to--GASP--my front door.
I know it's not me. I know it's not my wife.
Well,
when you add up the evidence (soda, candy . . .basically junk food
remnants), it points to one, and only one, type of culprit . .
.kids/teenagers. Yes, there I said it. Kids are junking up my yard,
likely on the walks to and from each other's homes (summer) or the bus
stop (fall, winter, spring). It's a year-round problem, these pesky
teens and their high-calorie containers littering my yard.
And this, my friends, really burns my biscuits.
Have
common courtesies been left at the front door of one's home when they
step afoot into society? I would find it hard to believe these kids
(okay, and likely some adults) toss their trash in their own front
yards. Maybe I'm wrong, but the notion of "well, if it ain't my yard, I
don't have to worry about it" seems to be in play more often than not.
Even worse is that I live in a nice, simple neighborhood in which it
would seem the bounds of proper etiquette would rarely be broken. So
why trash in my yard? Or in my neighbors? Kids, can you please find the
trash can. Otherwise, I'm going to stakeout the streets and catch ya.
And when I do, why I oughtta . . .
Seriously, l'm tired of sounding like Mr. Wilson.
Read the full story...
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Usually when you call for a taxi cab to service you, it's for a pretty good reason, like "I don't have a car and need a ride." Usually when you call for a taxi cab, it's not because you don't have better things to do than annoy the person at the other end of the line. Well apparently one employee of Yellow & Checker Cab Company, based in Annapolis, thought exactly that.
Last weekend, my brother's girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter where staying over at my house with my wife and I to kill some time while my brother performed a concert in Annapolis at the Whiskey 1803. Upon her calling Yellow & Checker Cab Co. for a cab ride back into Annapolis from Arnold at about 10:30 p.m., the employee who answered the call had apparently responded with "We don't have cabs tonight, fu** off."
Shocked, she called back, confused that perhaps she dialed the wrong number. Again, said employee answered the phone and apparently told her to "fu** off", yet again, then hung up on her.
At this, I decided to call Yellow & Checker Cab Co. to see if the employee might react favorably to a different caller. Here's the brief conversation:
Me: Hello, do you have any cabs available right now for a ride from Arnold to Annapolis?
Employee: We don't have anything right now!
Me: Um, okay, will you have anything available within an hour?
Employee: No.
Me: Did you moments ago just curse out a potential customer?
Employee: Yeah, so what.
Me: Do you usually curse at women when they call for a cab?
Employee: Yeah, all the time, who cares.
Me: Well I care and I'm with that woman you just cursed out right now and that's not cool.
Employee: Yeah, well who the fu** are you? Like I care. Come on. Like I'd really sit here and curse out people.
Me: Well yeah, you just did. So you're lying to me right now.
Click . . . . he hangs up on me.
So is this what a business which advertises in the Yellow Book with a 1/6 of a page ad claiming "#1 Choice for Prompt and Professional Service" and "Over 40 Years Experience" has come to? Maybe they've been in business too long if they get annoyed when someone calls them for a cab ride home.
This type of behavior really burns my biscuits.
Note to Yellow & Checker Cab Co.: you might want to screen your employees because this type of behavior is unacceptable. And it just proves that you never know who is at the other end of the line--in this case, an editor for What's Up? Annapolis magazine with a forum to expose an awful encounter with a "professional" company.
Read the full story...