on customer service

To those whom I adore,

Ok so I have not finished writing my super update yet. But I am writing it. For those of you who did not know because I am pretty sure I dreamt of writing this but did not actually do so, I was planning on writing a super update. After reading some of my last few entrees since being here I came to the realization that they suck and are not informative on what is going on in my life. So if you are now expecting a super update do not worry it will come soon. Unfortunately this blog will not be one; instead it will be more of my increasingly southern rambling.

I have come to the conclusion the south is contagious. I use the word contagious instead of a phrase "grows on you" because the south is something I do not want. If you read between the lines in the bible you will see that in when the end of days comes it will start in the south. Yes the south is not enjoyable for me; however I am slowly starting to speak redneck slang not by choice either. This form of dialect is just not civilized. Kailey has caught be a few times. My subconscious is cheating me out of sounding educated. I am starting to not talk as much in public for fear of picking up more southern dialect. Constantly I am surrounded by words and strange accents like being in a leprosy colony. I do not want to touch anything for fear of picking up this disease that makes even the smartest of people appear stupid.

Aside from the how stupid people sound I have been exploring this concept of southern hospitality and yet to find it. People are far ruder here than anywhere I have been, well maybe not as rude as the gentlemen of London. I was expecting there to be a lot of old people sitting on their porches drinking sweet tea and playing banjos. Instead there are people driving 100 mph and deciding they do not need break lights or blinkers. It is amazing that people are allowed to drive in this state.

Now I would like to take you on an adventure of trying to buy something in the south. Before I start I just wanted to say the stories my parents told me about the south are all true. So to begin if you are trying to order food or get any types of customer service do not expect it to be on your time. No, no, no, people here may be getting paid by the hour, but what they do in an hour’s time here would be ten minutes of work back west.

So take for example Kailey and I go to McDonalds and want to get lunch. We are waiting, no not in drive through, no wrong again not in line, we are waiting at the counter. About ten feet away from us is four employees having a conversation. They keep talking and laughing all while our stomachs moan for that sweet greasy food. One of them looks at us up and down smirking, judging, and mocking with their beady little eyes.

Finally, one of them, a manager no less sees us and our hungry faces and orders one of his minions to take our order, it was the beady eyed one. So slowly like a kid dragging their feet in protest “mozies” on over to us. Slams both her hands on the counter hangs her head down slumping almost as if she was about to pass out from exhaustion. I think she is reading something when all of the sudden I hear something, it was a whisper or so I thought. I tell her “I am sorry but I didn’t hear you” she replies, “Watchawansi”. I did not know this word and after a second of replaying what she said in my mind I realized that in some way she was communicating to us that she wanted us to order. We proceed to order with her interrupting every now and then to ask us to repeat that, “A number 2 with a coke”, “A what?”, “A, number, 2, with, a, coke” I repeat. The entire ordeal took about 10 minutes from the time we got to the counter until we finished ordering.

We have run into more and more situations such as the one I just described. This weekend we will see other parts of NC, we are heading to the coast tomorrow for the day. I am not sure where we are going yet maybe to where the Wright Brother’s first flew, or maybe Wilmington. I am not sure; I may go check out Cape Fear as well. I am looking forward to seeing the ocean again and I know Kailey has been looking forward to getting out. It will be fun I hope.

Sorry I did not post any pictures but this site can be wierd sometimes and likes to not upload the pictures onto the blog in a timely manner. I had a sweet picture of a redneck limo that I have seen around here lately. It is a pickup truck with a super extended cab, it is absolutely ridiculous.

Love,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
~Socrates

It may say North Carolina but make no mistake it's the south!

To everyone I adore, sorry it has been so long since I wrote last. I have not been terribly busy; I just have not been around the internet. I still have not got the net at my apartment so everything has to be done at school and well I do not like to be at school any longer than I have to be. School is ok, I ended up dropping one class because I spent about 30 hours on the first homework set and only got 1 of 5 questions done and it was incorrect. It made my brain pop so I just dropped the class and called it quits on that class and took up research credits instead. So far the research has been reading a paper that was a senior design project of last year’s seniors. I finished a long time ago and I have been waiting since to do something worth while.

Kailey and I are doing good. She got a job at Kroger's, they own Fred Meyer's on the west coast, but here they are just a grocery store. Her job really sucked so she kept applying to other places, which is a good thing because I didn't think that job was going to be good for her. Pretty much there she had to stand in one place all day long and not move. So the only people she had conversations with were customers, some of them angry. Anyways she got a job at a baby/little kid store called Gymboree (not sure of spelling) she likes it there and she gets to interact with her co-workers and friendlier customers for the most part. She then got another job at a place called Limited Too which is about a minute walk from Gymboree. That is good because she can work both jobs and get a full 40-50 hours a week. I am very grateful now she can quit Kroger's. So as of right now she technically has 3 jobs, soon to be 2 though. I am really proud of her.

Let's see what else is going on, hmmm my Dad just finished our deck. For those of you who know about the french doors going to nowhere, well now they have a home.

As you can see it looks awesome. I am very proud to say that I had nothing to do with this project what-so-ever! It is good being away sometimes but I do miss home a lot. Now I guess my parents can spend that extra cash on themselves that they had previously been forking over for the ehancement of my brain. They are currently in Mexico on a marlin fishing trip with my aunt and uncle. Below you can see the first "marlin" my dad has caught.

No need to worry, there were professonals around to help him reel that big guy in. Oh I make myself giggle. I just thought that was a funny picture so I put it up here. I think that their actual trip will be awesome. I would love to go marlin fishing. I am no fan of fish but I love fishing. Could you imagine reeling in a 150-300 lb fish. Wow, I know I can't

As far as any vacation plans go for me, I want to go to the beach the next day that Kailey and I have off together. I hear it is really beautiful here, but so far I have not seen it. I miss home a lot. I miss mountains. I miss Oregonians. I miss people who know how to drive. I miss customer service. Things really are different here, and sometimes it has been a hard adjustment. Anyways, if you are reading this then I probably miss you, since only family and friends have this blog address. Anyways everyone should keep in touch. I have to head off to seminar now, and then catch a bus home.

Hugs and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it."
~Abraham Lincoln