phone

My Reply to the Bell Customer Satisfaction Survey

The service rep was very nice, spoke well and so. However, an appointment was made to install the TV service for this morning. I waited home until noon when I phoned to see if the tech was running late. No one phoned me to let me know. I was told I had no appointment for the install. Yet I do have a confirmation # which the rep looked up and apologized for the problem. I was not especially surprised as this is at least the THIRD time Bell has done this to me. I was left on hold to be transferred to someone who would help me today. However, I waited on hold about 10 – 15 minutes and then the call was disconnected. Not by me. At this point I was feeling pretty angry but when I phoned back I did my best to be polite. On this second call I was told I would be phoned by someone TODAY to confirm the order they were supposed to actually be here to install TODAY. I do not have a cell phone so I have waited here all day now for NOTHING!!! Bell has not phoned me about anything, certainly not about confirming the order or apologizing for screwing up. Yes, the Bell reps speak well and are polite. But, I am so extremely tired of the screw ups and so really fed up with platitudes which mean nothing to me. Actions speak louder than words. Bell charges me $2.00 each month just to get a bill from them. This aggravates me, especially when there are ads included. So I am actually paying to get spam from Bell. I doubt an actual human being is reading this. Likely it is just a computer scanning words. Bell does not care about customers obviously. I don’t know why I’m giving Bell more of my time. I will be cancelling the TV order tomorrow when I am less upset and angry. I may cancel everything – it would save me a LOT of stress. No other company I deal with has been this difficult with misleading me, lying to me and all the rest. I like Bell’s actual service. But, having the service is far too much stress and has caused me to lose time at work which puts my job at risk each time Bell makes these non-existent appointments and then expects me to just take another day off for another appointment after they screw up. If an actual human being is reading this would you want to be a Bell customer if this was the day you had today? Not me.

Sorry for the block of text. I could have fixed it when I decided to post it. But, it kind of suits the block format. Like a blockhead in a trap.

It’s almost 4:30 now. Too late to expect a call from Bell. So, just more misinformation or can we just call it a lie because it feels that way to me.

Godzilla Knows I Could Write for SheKnows

My sister-in-law, Miss Karol, sent me the link to write for SheKnows . I think they are looking for the domestic Goddess, Mother blogger types. But, I sent in a note anyway. I’m working on the ‘what can it hurt’ theory.

This is what I sent (image not included):

Tonight I’m listening to Godzilla roar and knock over most of Tokyo (via Roku) while I change WordPress themes. I’m craving a really good, juicy steak or possibly a rich, gooey chocolate cake. I’m almost 50 (December) and I’m trying to lose weight. It’s not easy. But, divorce wasn’t easy. Not having children when I thought I’d have at least 5 of them at one point, was not easy. Looking forward to menopause is not easy – but sometimes I do look forward to it.

I’d like to write for SheKnows because I like to try new things. Also, I’d like to see more women my age, my weight and spinster-like, have a voice. I know I’m not the only woman my age online. Yet most of the blogs and sites I read seem to be written by women who are forever 20-something with high heels and small, adorable children.

That’s 148 words so I will skip right to the links and writing background.

These are my own sites – in various stages of revamping and repair:



http://onlineroadtrip.com
There are more but these four are in better shape. Especially as I have just been ripping up my themes and sidebar clutter tonight.

I have written for other networks, most of which are gone now. I currently write for Squidoo and HubPages (off and on). You can find links to these accounts and my social media in the top navigation bar on my sites. Also, on Word Grrls the About page has details about sites I have written for in my earlier days online (1996 to now).

My name is Laura Brown and I Am Canadian! (I love that video on YouTube). My email is [email protected] or Twitter me @thatgrrl. My phone is not mobile – 705 797 0387 but it is very obedient.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

I really was watching Godzilla tonight too. It gave me the idea for a post which I wrote on Word Grrls.

When Wax Attacks

I don’t know where this came from originally. I wish I did. I’d gladly link back. My Mom posted it on Facebook, that’s how I found it.

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, and play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: ‘Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet.’

So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom. It was one of those ‘cold wax’ kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off.

No mess, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I’m not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. (‘Cold wax,’ yeah…right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works!

OK, so it wasn’t the best feeling, but it wasn’t too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north after checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet.

Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (it was a long strip) ..

I inhale deeply and brace myself…RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I’m blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!….OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!

Vision returning, I notice that I’ve only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP! Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted.

I think I may pass out…must stay conscious…must stay conscious. Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe…OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy – a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!

There’s no hair on it.

Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip…it’s not! I touch. .. I am touching wax!!

I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake…remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

Sealed shut! My butt is sealed shut. Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself ‘Please don’t let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!’
What can I do to melt the wax?

Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I’ll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???

*WRONG!!!!!!!*

I get in the tub – the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment – I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub…in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn’t melt cold wax.

So, now I’m stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It’s a very good conversation starter ‘So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!’

There is a slight pause. She doesn’t know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, ‘Are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo-ha?’

She’s laughing out loud by now…I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else’s night. While we go through various solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!! By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace….the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and … OH MY GAWD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. Its sooo painful, but I really don’t care.
‘IT WORKS!!

It works!!’ I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair…?

THE HAIR IS STILL HERE…….ALL OF IT!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I’m numb by now. Nothing hurts.
I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I’m going to try hair color……

Now share this one and give your friends a good laugh!

Talk to Canadian Call Centres

My Mom sent this to me in email. I think it’s great. I’ve worked in Canadian call centres. The job is not the greatest, no customer service job is. But, it pays well enough and there is no reason for businesses to go outside of Canada for customer service people. I’m going to remember this next time I have to deal with someone in customer service. It’s hard enough trying to accomplish anything – they can at least be Canadian and know what I’m talking about as well as keeping the income in Canada for those jobs.
Call Centres – The law in Canada

Good to know, especially since rumour has that Canada Post Customer service is headed to India before the New Year

A lot of us do not realize this option is open to us.

Any time you call an 800 number (for a credit card, banking, charter communications, health and other insurance, computer help desk, etc. ) and you find that you’re talking to a foreign customer service representative (with an accent, difficult to understand perhaps in India, Philippines, etc), Please consider doing the following:

After you connect and you realize that the Customer Service Representative is not working in Canada (you can always ask, if you are not sure about the accent), please, very politely this is not about trashing other cultures

Say, “I’d like to speak to a Customer Service Representative in Canada.”

The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, But, again, politely say,

“Thank you, but I’d like to speak to a Customer Service Representative in Canada ..”

YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED TO A REP IN CANADA .

That’s the rule and the LAW.

It takes less than one minute to have your call re-directed to Canada .

Tonight when I got redirected to a Canadian Rep, I asked again to make sure – and yes, she was from Calgary ..

Imagine what would happen if every Canadian Citizen insisted on talking to only Canadian phone reps, from this day on.

Imagine how that would ultimately impact the number of Canadian jobs that would need to be created ASAP.

If I tell 10 people to consider this and you tell 10 people to consider doing this – see what I mean…it becomes an exercise in viral marketing 101.

Remember – the goal here is to restore jobs back here at home – not to be abrupt or rude to a foreign phone rep. You will get correct answers, good advice, and solutions to your
problem – in real English.

If you agree, please tell 10 people you know, and ask them to tell 10 people they know….etc…etc.

As We Become the Older Generation…

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning…. Uphill…. Barefoot… BOTH ways…yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!

But now that I’m over the ripe old age of thirty, I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don’t know how good you’ve got it!

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter – with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3’s or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We’d play our favorite tape and “eject” it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that’s how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that’s it!

7) There weren’t any freakin’ cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn’t make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your “friends”. OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror… not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there’s TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent…. you just didn’t know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn’t have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’… Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what’s the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I’m saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

12) And we didn’t have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play… all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside… you were doing chores!

And car seats – oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the “safety arm” across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling “shot gun” in the first place!

See! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

Regards,

The Over 30 Crowd

via (34) If you are 30, or… .

Rev Up your Inspiration

Let Life In: 12 Ways to Rev Up your Inspiration

We thought it important to first learn more about what one needs to do to let life in, to allow oneself to be open to new ideas and new ways of looking at things.

Here’s what we learned about inspiration.

1. To experience inspiration you have to be open to new ideas, flexible and willing to change. You need to quiet the voice that tells you “I can’t, it’s too hard, it won’t work, I’m too old” or any other downer self talk.

2. Don’t be afraid to put it out there. If you are passionate about your inspiration, others will follow your passion. People will want to find out more about why you love something so much.

3. Use adversity as a learning experience. When something doesn’t work for you, think about how it can be made better. What needs to change? Be the inspiration for that change.

4. Get started. Quickly. Before you allow yourself to talk yourself out of it. “I can’t knit, I have two left hands.” “I’m too old to ballroom dance, surfboard, learn karate,” “I don’t have the time.” If you need to, divide a piece of paper down the middle, write down your excuse and on the left side and in the next column dispute it. And reread the right hand column as often as you need to.

5. Turn off the noise. Noise comes in all kinds of packages. The Internet, the family, the job, the bills, the cell phone, all the distractions. Consider it all noise and remove yourself for a period of time. If need be, seek solitude. Solitude enables you to focus on your mind and body and to tune in to your environment. Inspirations that can’t cut through the noise are subtle. In solitude you can experience them.

6. Don’t attach an outcome. What if your inspiration doesn’t fly? The idea doesn’t work. You really do have two left hands? So what? You’ll learn something from the experience no matter what. You’ll learn so much from the effort that the outcome really doesn’t matter. For achievement oriented individuals, not attaching an outcome is particularly challenging. Go for it.

7. Visualize. Generate the emotions of your inspiration by creating a mental picture. When you picture your dream you will begin to attract what you need to accomplish it.

8. Find a support crew. Ignore the naysayers and surround yourself with people who choose to encourage you. They’ll support you and help you achieve your goal.

9. Teach. When you have an inspiration, teach it to others. None of us knows it all. When you teach, you do your best learning.

10. Don’t accept no for an answer. Just because something’s always been done one way, doesn’t mean there aren’t better ways to do it. Many better mousetraps need to be built. Ask questions, question the answers.

11. Take a risk. Learn to live with uncertainty. Maybe you will fail. Or, more than likely, you’ll feel alive instead of bored. And you might still fail.

12. Pay it forward. You’ve reached a stage in life that enables you to allow others to learn from your experiences. Embrace your life stage and be the inspiration you are waiting for.