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Ever Have One of Those Days?

tag1114 | 13 July, 2008 19:20

One of those days where you should have stayed in bed and if you'd of known, you'd never have gotten out of bed?  Yes, today has kind of been one of those days.  Give me a minute and let me vent, complain and then I'll learn to be appreciative!

First, today was the day we were going to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday.  No party, nothing fancy, just my 2 daughters and myself.  We decided to go early because it's less crowded and more enjoyable.  We got up, got ready and everything's going good.  (see, after a bad day, I have a way of going back and trying to figure out exactly WHEN the day went wrong)  We walk into CECs and wait and wait and wait....there's not an employee in sight.  And of course you have to wait to get your hand stamped, you can't just go in.  Finally, an employee walks in from outside carrying his Kroger bag.  Hmmm...were they out of food?  Or was he carrying in his lunch?  I don't know but he throws his bags down and acts like he's been there the whole time.  So I must ask him if he's the only one working.  His reply:  "no, they're back there, I guess".  OK.  So I proceed to explain that we had waited about 10 minutes and no one knew we were there.  I get a blank stare.  OK.  Finally as he unhooks the gate so we can go in, he says "sorry 'bout that".  Not a good start but hey, we're there to have fun and this won't ruin our day.  We get tokens, order pizza(yes for BREAKFAST) and play for quite a while and then eat and play some more.  I decided to buy some more tokens, using a coupon I had printed off of the CEC website.  The cashier tells me that they can't use those because there's not an expiration date on them.  OK.  But I printed them off of your website just a few days ago.  She shrugs her shoulders, looks at the boy putting the salad out and asks him if she should take them.  He shrugs his shoulders(is this a problem that happens after you sniff too much pizza dough?), looks at the girls like "who cares" and she asks him again.  He goes through the entire same motions.  I said "never mind, I won't be buying anything else".  I had already spent almost $50 and all I wanted was a few more tokens without having to take out a second mortgage, you know?  I went back and ask for the manager.  The girl looks at me with a half smile and says "ok but it'll be a minute.  <long pause>  He walked down to Circuit City".  OK.  I laugh because I felt like I had landed at some hillbilly circus.  I sit and wait and wait and wait as my kids play games, finishing up their tokens.  Finally, some sleepy headed younger guy looks at me and walks over to me, no smile, no hello, NOTHING.  I proceed to tell him the same story I just told here.  No one to check us in.  He very hatefully says "what time did you get here because I've been here the whole morning?"  I really thought I would laugh and be a true smart a$$ and say "oh really?  You've been here?  But no you weren't here when you were at Circuit City, right?????"  No, I didn't say anything to him because I knew that would only confuse him.  I told him what time we arrived and that I thought everyone was probably in the kitchen.  To that, do you know what he said?  You want to know?  You ready?  He says "well, yeah, what do you expect we need to get food ready for people to buy".  OK, you are kidding me, right?  Now, I'm getting pissed and say "what I expect is for you to have at least 1 employee out here to check your guests in so that we may buy that food you're back there preparing or at least to have a camera in the kitchen so that you can see the guests coming in and come check them in so that we may give you our business".  He looked at me like I was some witch on Halloween night.  But he gives me no response, which was probably for the best.  I then proceed to complain about my coupon, which he grabs from my hand and says "it has no expiration date, I can't help you".  Again, I make my case that I printed it from the official CEC website.  But it's ok because corporate needs to know about his attitude and inability to manage.  He says "it's a corporate rule so I can't do anything."  I say "good, all the more reason for me to call corporate and tell them that if they're going to provide coupons, they should at least allow the stores to accept them, don't you think".  He looks at me crazy again and I really thought he's probably start growling at me at any moment.  He starts to walk off and I say "oh yeah and you may want to tell your employees that it's rude to stand and talk about a customer as they did while you were at Circuit City".  He shrugs his shoulders(I am NOT kidding you)and says "I know nothing about that".  I said "doesn't matter because their attitudes are just like yours and you don't care so why would they?".  At that point, another lady asks him when this coupon rule started because she said she always uses coupons she prints except today because they would not except them.  I told her not to ask him because he has no good answers and they're all rude there anyway.  She laughs and I gather my kids, their receipts for their tickets and the few tokens they had left and we LEFT.  My kids saw how rude the manager was and they were not interested in staying any longer.  SAD.  You know, CEC's is not a cheap place but it's fun, normally, and considering you get food, drinks, entertainment and prizes, I don't mind going from time to time.  I always use coupons though because it's much more affordable and well, I'm frugal.  I like to get more for my money.  And I would have accepted the coupon rule, never said a word, though I do think it's crazy because those coupons are from the website...but I would have just rolled my eyes and said "oh well".  But the rudeness, the attitudes of the employees and manager, the lack of service and customer service that wasn't...it was all too much.  I hate it for my daughter, it almost ruined her day but she recovered, LOL!

THEN.....I take her to an area mall to Build a Bear to use her gift card she received for her birthday.  On the way there, my car just does not feel right but I thought it was the road, since the roads here are awful.  We were only a couple of miles from the mall when the car acted strange anyway.  So we go along, go to Bath and Body Works for my oldest daughter who had a coupon for free lotion(she's a BBWs addict like me).  We then go to Build a Bear(excellent customer service there) and back to Limited Too for my oldest daughter to use her gift cards from her birthday.  She shopped, shopped and shopped and saved tons of money and bought lots of things.  So here we go, back through to mall carrying, 2 cardboard "houses" for the bears, a bag from BBW and 2 HUGE bags from Limited Too.  We get to the car and what do you know...a flat tire.....yes, that funny feeling was NOT the road but rather my flat tire.  Lovely!  I called a couple of people who were not home and finally relied on dear old dad to bail me out.  My girls and I went back inside to wait for a while and then came back to the car.  The entire time we waited, there was 1 person that offered to help and that was after my dad was there.  But, it was a sincere gesture of kindness and much appreciated.  One man, pulled up before my dad arrived, his wife rolled down the window to ask if I was moving and I said "no, I have a flat tire".  That man left so quickly his tires squealed but he managed to say "oh no, god love ya".  OK.  Maybe he thought I would ask him to help. 

I said when I began this that I would vent, complain and then be appreciative.  Though today had it's bad moments and trying times and times when I felt like I wanted to cry, I came home to a cool home with 2 beautiful girls, water, electricity, food and a home filled with LOVE.  I then began to think about a family I don't even know but have been following their journey on a blog.  The husband was diagnosed with a form of leukemia a few months ago.  He received treatment and after the 2nd round of treatment went into remission.  Though I cannot recall all the details, suffice it to say that he became very ill not so long ago with pneumonia and couldn't go further with treatment until the pneumonia was gone.  He passed away yesterday.  He had a wife and 3 very young kids.  This story broke my heart.  I know there's stories like this every day.  And oddly enough, I don't know them but still feel their pain.  I am human after all and I cannot imagine how his wife and family must be feeling.  It put my minor problems of today into perspective.  It made me thankful to only be facing a flat tire and rude managers.  It made me realize that I can still hug my mom, dad, friends and kids.  It made me think about how quickly life can change and how I need to not let minor problems interfere with my enjoyment of life and love.  So read my story of today, shake your head or laugh or feel my frustrations but most of all just know that it's nothing compared to what many people are dealing with. 

On a positive note:  I'm off to watch Big Brother 10!!! 

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