cranky pixels

We had a wee bit of “extra” money this month, so I hit the discount stores and managed to find not only a pair of jeans ($5.50! Marked down from $44!) but also some shoes. Allow me to have a moment of silence for my formerly glorious shoe collection; I now own one – count them, one – pair of shoes in the proper size. What is that size, you ask? Why, 9 1/2! A full size larger than the “on the large side” shoes I wore before my pregnancy. A half size larger than what I thought my feet were before spending the day trying things on and thinking “How odd…they still pinch.”

Having shoes that fit has sparked a renewed interest in walking. Funny thing: pinched toes? Not so good for the motivation. But I am all about the walking now. Unfortunately the umbrella stroller is exactly the wrong height for long walks. I’m hunched over just enough to jack not only my lower back but my shoulders and neck as well. We trekked all over downtown the other day and last night my neck hurt so much I could barely sleep. Is a jogging stroller too much to ask? Nothing fancy; I don’t need a Bob (although, dude, if I were in the mood to covet? They are almost as covet-worthy as a Bugaboo. Which I also do not need, as I am forced to remind myself on an almost daily basis). In fact, the one I want is relatively inexpensive (especially at Baby Depot, although apparently they don’t carry it online). Perhaps I will abjectly beg ask for one for Christmas. Or the baby’s birthday. Because the baby totally wants a jogging stroller.

We went out today to look at office stuff today, and I wore my new shoes and my new pants. (It’s too bad I don’t have a new midsection to go with them; that would really be nice.) The office is coming along, slowly. The desk was finally delivered (yay!) and we’re in the process of getting liability insurance and then internet access, at which point we’ll set up the computer on the new desk and be good to go. Which is probably a horribly backward way of doing things, but what are you going to do, right? I’ve got so many ideas for making the space look pretty and I’m antsy to start making some money. This staying home with the baby thing? It’s nice, but I miss getting a paycheck. And having more than one pair of shoes.

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After months of near-solitude, I find myself with not one but two mama meet-ups in the month of August. Neat!

The first (and possibly most daunting) is a meeting with Portland Mamas Inc., an organization of professional women in the PDX area. The August meeting is kid-friendly (always a plus – not just for the obvious childcare reasons but because I like meeting other people’s babies) and sounds like a good way to get to know some other moms and gather business advice – both of which I need.

The second is a meeting (sans baby) of some of the alt.life mamas at Pix Patisserie:

Dim Sum Yum Yum Extravaganza ~ Choose bite size desserts and chocolate from the rolling cart while enjoying a Belgian beer or dessert wine. $15 includes 6 desserts of your choice. More info about Pix and other events at:
http://www.pixpatisserie.com/index.htm

So, yay. And go me.

technorati tags:portland mamas inc, pix patisserie

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So we ordered a desk for the new office from Best Buy at the end of June. It’s an oversize item, so delivery was scheduled through the Best Buy home delivery service. We’ve dealt with them before (when we got the massive TV of doom in 2003) and I remembered the service as being prompt and easy to deal with.

A lot can change in three years, apparently.

First, we got a call two days before the confirmed delivery date (the 17th of July) from the warehouse. “It’s weird,” said the delivery guy, “but it’s just not here. We’ll call you in a couple of days to reschedule.”

Okay. Well…okay. So we waited a couple of days. No one called. I finally called the customer service line. “I’m just wondering where my desk is,” I said.

“I show that it’s scheduled for delivery for the 19th of August,” said the rep.

I think I may have managed something more articulate than “WHAT?!?” but I can’t guarantee it. “That’s – that’s ridiculous. I didn’t authorize that. No one’s even called me.”

“It looks like I can schedule you for the 25th of July, if that would work better.”

Since this month is sooner than a month from now I said yes, it would work better, and the delivery was rescheduled. I had my reservations, but the day before the delivery date we got a call saying the desk was in and would be delivered on schedule, between the hours of 9 and 11 am. Hooray!

So Happy Fun Baby and I woke up at the crack of dawn (i.e. the same time Not So gets up every morning) and headed over to the office, which was empty except for a desk chair and a printer. It was hot, and it was boring, but we persevered.

And persevered. And…11 o’clock came and went. Happy Fun Baby, who had had enough around 10, was practically inconsolable, and I was righteously annoyed. I called the warehouse directly (all hail Caller ID), where I was told that the driver wanted to speak with me.

“It’s the weirdest thing,” he said. “I show that it’s here on paper, but when we were loading the truck this morning we saw that it hadn’t come in.”

“Why didn’t anyone call me?” I asked.

“Well, you know, it was six o’clock in the morning when we were loading the truck…”

“I’ve been here since nine a.m. In an office with no air conditioning. And a cranky seven month old baby.”

“I’m sorry,” the driver said. “It’s not here.”

So we schlepped furiously home and I furiously called Best Buy customer service, where I was told the following:

1) No no, the desk is being delivered today. You just didn’t wait long enough.

(Um, the desk isn’t there. I could have waited all day; wouldn’t have made a difference.)

2) The order can’t be cancelled, since delivery has already been scheduled, and

3) So sorry, but Best Buy managers don’t speak to customers.

…WTF?

I shouted something to the effect of “THAT’S THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I’VE EVER HEARD! CANCEL MY ORDER RIGHT NOW!” and hung up. In the most mature, non-temper-tantrum-y way possible, of course.

And then, seething, I sent a bitchy e-mail to their corporate headquarters. And the Better Business Bureau. Because repeatedly failing to deliver goods paid for and scheduled? Really not a good business practice.

It’s too bad, because we’d done a lot of business in the past and undoubtedly would have continued to do business with them in the future had they at least treated us with the slightest bit of respect. They could have been up-front about the availability of the desk. They could have called us when they realized the desk wasn’t going to be there when promised. Refusing to let me speak to a manager (despite my repeated requests), though, was pretty much the last straw. Since when is that not considered a shady business practice?

technorati tags:best buy, customer service, suckage

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