school...i mean work.

Where do I start? Pathetic--I mean Squeaky--has done enough crap lately to get her own damn entry. Why the name change? Well, that's how she sounded for three weeks, and just as many excuses why. Let's see...there was the bad infection, a hole in her larynx, and--get this--lack of sleep (she told the last one to an insomniac...lmao). WTF? Here's the kicker--instead of being forced to stay home until she can talk again, she gets the green light to come to work (per her manager)...and get paid to...wait for it...take down the office Christmas tree. There's more to this one--and it's the reason a lot of are pissed--she pulled the same crap story LAST YEAR around the exact same time. Only last year it lasted longer--from Christmas Eve straight through to Valentine's Day. She came in, did some filing and crap, then went home when she felt like it. And the manager ok'd it the whole time. Again, WTF?!? Oh yeah..the part I didn't mention? Squeaky and the manager were like friends...

Other Pathetic news:
--She CHOPPED her hair off--I mean now it's stubble. Her reason? Her mom told her she should...
--She said she might be taking the buyout this year (early retirement from the company), because she thinks people are out to get her. Why? (1)Said someone signed her name for an e-week (like a week vacation, only no pay)--people saw her sign her name to the sheet, and she has unmistakable chicken scratch for handwriting. (2)Someone put a note on her desk, saying she could leave early...then supervisor calls her asking her why she left.
--She's telling people that my friend--the nicest person in the office, imo--is going back to the manager and spreading rumors about people. Ooooookay...
--And last but not least, the one that really pissed me off. She thinks I'm going on to her MySpace, printing pics of her, and giving them to the manager, in hopes that they'll get her in trouble or something. OMFG--she's not worth wasting my time, energy, or printer ink.

Ok--I'm a little happier now...this entry is about two months of crap...I feel better now.

til next time...=)

oooooooooookay...

So yesterday, I was at work and I get this call from a lady. I ask her what city and state, and she proceeds to tell me her story. She's watching the inauguration parade on TV, and she likes the activities that are going on in it. The problem? She can't really see it, since people keep coming on and talking instead. I ask her what listing, and she tells me she wants the number for the station, so she can call them and tell them to put the parade on, and stop putting the people (announcers) on. At this point, I'm shaking my head...I ask her what station. She tells me never mind, and hangs up.

Oh, the fun of 411....

til next time...=)

thoughts from 411...

...I hear dumb people.

...some of my customers make me feel like a genius.

...the IQ of people who use cell phones drops after 12:00am.

...now telemarketers call 555-1212.

...yeah, the automation sucks, but that's job security for me.

...people ask me weird things, like how to spell words, state capitals, and the price of postage stamps.

Now please don't be offended if you're a Verizon, VZ Wireless, T-Mobile, AllTel, or Cellular One (now AT&T) customer...I'm one of those customers too...just don't call 411 for really stupid reasons, or you just might get me, and you'll end up here...lol. Or in my friend's book (yes, she's got about a book worth of weird/obnoxious 411 stuff)...go check her blog out...she's here (maybe if you visit, she'll post more).

til next time...=)

annoying

Did you ever know a person who is a pathetic case? You know, the one who attracts so much attention to themselves that it makes you sick? One who is annoying to the point where you roll your eyes when you hear their voice? I work with someone like that. I will not say the name of this person, but if someone I work with reads this, they'll know who it is. And if she reads this...well, let's just say I'll have a 30-page letter sitting on my desk the next day. Let me tell you a little story...

The immaturity of this person reminds me of my kids...hell, she puts my kids to shame--and they're more than half her age. My kids have more consideration and appreciation than this person does--they can teach her a thing or two.

Why? Well, she has a car with major problems, and about 3 months ago she decided to take it to her friend's house--about three hours away. It broke down, and she hasn't got it back yet. So now she depends mostly on co-workers to get back and forth to work. The one time I brought her in, she was quiet the whole time...ok, maybe she wasn't in a good mood. Nope--the minute she walks into work, she perked right up as if nothing was wrong. The ride home wasn't any better--she spent the entire ride (about 30 minutes) on her phone. How rude! Of course, I never gave her a ride again. That wasn't the only reason though--my car isn't in the best condition. I don't like to overload it...meaning I'll only give one person a ride. One night, someone else asked me and I said ok. "Pathetic" had already secured a ride, but was able to leave early, so she asked me. I told her no, since I had told someone else I would. She got pissed off, then stormed off. When we went out to the car, she was out there having a cigarette. We said bye to her, and we got the silent treatment. That was the end of that...or so I thought.

I have been getting said silent treatment for the past two months and counting. Unless you count the snapping of her fingers at me to get my attention. GRRRR...that so aggravates me. The first time she did that was for a ride (nope, since I had to pick up my nieces and nephews on the way home), then again the other day to tell me something she did on MySpace involving me. Wonder if she realizes I deleted her from my friends list? LOL.

She doesn't take her job too seriously, either. I've told you what I do for a living...you sit there for 8 hours, with a headset on, taking requests from customers looking for phone numbers. The calls come fast and are over quick. And you can't have your cell phone on. At all. Anyhoo, a couple weeks ago my manager comes up to me and asks me about getting yelled at for texting. Huh? What the hell is she talking about? I tell her no, and she tells me someone told her that. Hmmmm...I wonder. Coincidentally, the day before, I told a mutual friend about how I saw "Pathetic" talking on her phone while she was online (and ignoring customers) a few times, along with texting. Stupid me shouldn't have done that--as soon as I was done talking to her, she went back and told "Pathetic" what I said. Probably went and told my manager what she did to cover her own ass. That way, in case I did go tattle, it would look like I was doing it because she did it first. Oh well...

So that's my story...feel free to comment. I'll update if anything new comes out of this.

til next time...=)

small sigh of relief

you sure we're not in kansas?

checkin in

Just writing a quick entry to let everyone know that me and Brayden are doing ok.  He was born at 3:29am, he weighed in at 7 pounds even, and 19 1/2 inches long.  I'll write more about him when I get home...hopefully tomorrow.

til next time...=)

random thoughts...

Last night I was bored at work...and wrote down what was going through my mind at the time...mainly one big rant...lol.

"I hate these calls--they suck.  Next time give me the whole damn name or the right f*cking city.  People are a**holes.  Good thing I'm getting an extended vacation in 12 working days.  No wait--11 more days of work!  It seriously can't go by fast enough...I'm getting tired of these calls.  Tired of old ladies yelling at me, then telling me their life story.  Stupid people.  People calling to find out which post office is open.  Dumb people who don't have a clue as to what they're looking for.  Stupid people who swear 411 knows why the number they dial isn't working.  Drunk people trying to find out where their damn car was towed to."

Like I said, I was ranting.  You can tell it was last night because of the post office thing--literally every other call was for the post office--they don't post the hours in directory (just like in the phone book) and usually the only number we have is the toll free one...lol.  And I constantly get people asking me what's wrong with a phone number--that's something the operator does (I think, anyway).  And I did get a call last night asking which tow company the police use...and she sounded like she was drunk and looking for her car.

The next two weeks can't go by fast enough.  My last day is April 30, if not sooner.  I did get made a permanent employee, but it's a little bittersweet--meaning I still have to make the 45 minute drive to work everyday.  And usually not getting home until about midnight or later.  I dunno--maybe it's just me, but I can't stand it there.  I'm miserable there.  Maybe I'll transfer out of there when I come back from maternity leave...after all--I can, now that I'm a permanent employee.  Maybe we'll move somewhere else in general...we'll see.

til next time...=)

huh?

Yeah...that's how I've been feeling lately.  So much has been going on, and at the same time, I haven't felt like writing here.  I dunno--with working 6 days a week, it's like I have no time for anything.  But I did go to my niece's graduation last week--had to drive down near Philadelphia to go (she lives around here, but since she graduated from a cyber school, that's where they had it)...and got lost on the way (only my niece and I did--we took two cars), and my sister realized she forgot the tickets about an hour into the trip and turned back to get them (turns out she didn't have to).  Joey quit his job, since they decided to change his hours to something we couldn't work around (and didn't tell him until after all the BS he went through).  That's really about all that's been going on here...well, that and work, work, and more work.  Oh yeah, and I turned 30 the other day.  I'll try later to post pics of me dressed up...lmao.

til next time...=)

update

    Okay...since most people who read this are either lurking or think I stopped writing...I've just had a lot going on.  What, you ask?  Well.....
    To start, Joey got a job!  He starts tomorrow, as a cook at a drug rehab facility.  The pay is great, and the benefits...well, it's a privately owned facility run by the state.  So he gets state benefits, which are AWESOME.  It's Monday through Friday, day shift.  And every other weekend.  So that's cool.  And the hours don't conflict with my hours, so that's even better.  It's about damn time something good happened to us.
    Which brings me to my next thing--my job might be gone within a year, maybe less.  Thing is, the wireless phone company we have a contract through merged with another wireless phone company, which also merged with a landline phone company, who has 411 operators who are at this moment twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do.  And the contract runs out in February of next year.  So instead of subcontracting the 411 out, they're going to have their own 411 operators do the job.  And we're out of one.  What makes this worse (I know--how can it get any worse than that) is we operators are on a 3-year temporary contract, after which my company has the option of (a)hiring us permanently, (b)extending our contract, or (c)ending our contract...basically letting us go.  A few weeks ago, some people hit their 3-year mark...and the next day were promptly told they no longer had a job.  So that leaves me wondering...
    But in the meantime, I've received a little more responsibility.  I do supervisor work part of the day, sometimes all day.  It's not bad--I like the change of pace.

More later...

til next time...=)

i'm not dead

In fact, I'm very much alive...just haven't been online. There's been a lot going on, including...

...*jumping up and down* Joey got a job (!)...
...my job might be in jeopardy...
...but in the meantime, I have more responsibility at said job...


And pics...a have a few. Of what's been keeping me busy and off the 'puter.

A. School Diversity Fair.


B. Cookies.


C. My new (and free!) toy (sorry it's blurry...my camera decided not to work when I tried to upload a better pic).


So that's what I've been up to...well that and not reading my mail. Give me a little while to catch up on that. Want details about the stuff above, ask...

til next time...=)

more 411 fun

Just one more for now--

Caller simply asks, "Who do I call to see if someone's dead?"

til next time...=)

my 411 by the numbers

These were from Saturday (the pics were from the day before, and drawn by me while taking calls)...

896...calls were taken by me (in 8 hours).



25...average call length (in seconds).
5...people called 411 (directory) when they really wanted 611 (repair/customer care).



16...customers asking for movie showtimes.
8...people whose ass called 411.



til next time...=)

work stuff

In a perfect 411 world...
--customers would know exactly what they're looking for, and exactly where it is.
--customers would speak clearly, instead of sounding like they filled their mouth with food (or other things...lol).
--customers would listen to questions being asked of them, and answer said questions.
--customers would know what city the person/business they're looking for is in (we can't search the entire US, nor the state or the county you think it's in).
--customers wouldn't spill their life story while calling 411.
--there's probably more I can add to this--but I'll spare you.
Then again, if this were a perfect 411 world, I'd be out of a job...so keep the rejects coming!  lol.

With that, I'll give you these:
**Customer calls in, looking for the Las Vegas Health Department.  When I asked her what division she needed, she told me she was calling about a pool that was shit in, and wasn't drained...so she didn't know which part she was looking for...lmao.
**Wanna live on "Shades of Death Road"?  Move to NJ.  It's there, in Great Meadows.
**One for the guys...Bob's Stump Grinding in California (bad me and my gutter mind).

And a new rule:  One at a time, please.  Listings, that is.  I know we can look up multiple numbers in one call, but let us find one before rattling off the next name.  We only have one computer in front of us, which means one number at a time.  And besides, our memory sucks.

More posting this weekend, seeing as I'm off for the next two days...WOOHOO.

til next time...=)

what got me through work today

Wondering what's in the box?  These.



Mmmmmmmmm.  They're gone now.

til next time...=)

stuff and 411

This is outside today.  We got about 12 inches of snow between Friday and last night.  Damn--I thought winter was done and over with--guess not.  The dog is so small, he has to hop through the snow to get around...lol.



Anyhoo, nothing really going on here.  Just my average day off.  Yesterday at work, I got a few funnies, and wrote them down for you.  I told you how we have the recording...well, usually it just asks for the info, but on the holidays it says "Happy Whatever Holiday from 411".  And what we usually hear (from the customer) is, "It said Happy Whatever Holiday from 411!"...and they forget to tell the recording what the hell they were looking for.  Which leads me to the funnies I got...one person, upon hearing this, said, "St. Patrick's Day...isn't that a Mexican holiday?" (they didn't say this to me...they said it to someone else, and the recorder picked it up).  And the other..."So that's why you're wearing green underwear".

I also got a call for the Reject Hotline...thought WTF?  Didn't find it, so I decided to look it up online, and whaddyaknow, there is one!  I had no idea...in fact, they have them all over the damn country!

til next time...=)

drinking frenzy

Getting to work wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  City Hall told us they'd be closing the roads around 9am, but I knew better--from what I saw last year.  Just like I thought, they weren't...I left my house at 10, and the roads were still open.  I got to work with no problem, with loads of time to spare.  So I got to people watch...actually, drunk people watch...lol.  I've never seen so much foot traffic on the block I work on...maybe that's because there's an Irish bar on the corner now...hmmm.  And it was a go-between, because the parade was on both ends of the street (went up one street, came down the other), and if people missed something, they could walk down our block, and see what they missed.

This is the only pic I got:

That's because by the time my lunch came around, it was over.  The only parade I really got to see was the parade of drunk people...lmao.  Mostly college kids, but funny as hell.  Didn't get any pics because I didn't want to get jumped by a bunch of smashed people...lol.  It was still going on as I left work for the night...around 8pm.  This is the only day in Scranton that you can walk down the street with an open container of beer, and get away with it.  And I saw a lot of that...lol.  I was soooo tempted to go drinking, but I didn't have any money...damn.

Update!  115,000--that's the number of people at the parade.

til next time...=)

everybody's irish today

I'm half asleep right now, but I had to write about this.  I just woke up for work (8am), and already most (if not all) the bars in downtown Scranton have been open for over an hour.  Why?  The annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, of course.  We went last year...here's the link.  There's some good pics in there.

This year, on the other hand, is a no-go.  Two reasons--too cold (40s with clouds)...not good for Bum, especially standing out there for 3+ hours.  Second reason is the one that I'm not happy about--I have to work at 11:30, which is the same time the parade starts.  It wouldn't be that much of a problem...if I didn't work SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE of the parade route.  So that's why I'm up right now--I have to leave 1 1/2 hours early for a drive that normally takes five minutes.  I'm going to be driving through crowds.  Yay.  But there's one good thing about working down there--on my break and lunch, I might be able to get some pics from the parade...if I can get close enough.  The crowds usually go 10-12 deep...that's what happens at the 3rd largest parade in the country...lol.  I just hope I get to work on time. 

(I suggested to beat the crowds, and since the bars are open at 7, me and my co-workers go drinking, then go to work...)

til next time...=)

Tags: Scranton St. Patrick's Day Parade, drunk people will be roaming the streets later

snow sucks

I think Brandi's getting her wish this weekend...

We got 15.5 inches of snow yesterday.  Watch Good Morning America (I dunno if it was on the other channels) Thursday morning?  See when they showed the one highway that was like gridlock because of snow?  That's about 5 minutes away from my house.  AND, on top of all that, I had to work Wednesday.  This is what the block I work on looked like...around 1pm.

It was like blizzard conditions.  I was on a split, and I didn't want to drive home in it.  So I spent the whole day--from 8:30am to 7:30pm--at work.  Some people couldn't get home, due to the state of emergency that was issued, as well as state police shutting down the highways...and ended up staying in the hotel across the street. 

When I finally did get out of work, I helped Melissa, my co-worker and neighbor, dig out her car.  This is what it looked like at 3pm, so add about 6 inches of snow to this, along with the fact that she was plowed in...at least 3 times.  She could barely open her door.

Here she is crawling on top of the snow piles...lol.

After that was done, me and another co-worker, Shereen, had a bet to settle.  See, she made a bet with me that it was going to snow 4 inches or less...of course, I took that bet.  If she lost, she had to make a snow angel, and let me take pics.  And, of course, she lost.  Bwahahahaha!

It took me forever to get home...meaning in the house.  The street we live on wasn't plowed...just packed down a little by other cars.  Had to go down the wrong way on a one-way street.  That was fun.  Couldn't find a parking spot for shit.  Got stuck a few times, then came back down the wrong way, parked the car in the middle of the street, and got a shovel from my landlord.  Shoveled out a little, then a plow came.  Had to move the car...and the nice plow guy plowed half of my parking spot.  Yay.  Did the rest, and finally got in the house at 9pm.

My last pic is of my street this morning.

See the truck in the middle of the road?  It was there since about midnight.  I had to go to the store before work (9am again)...when I walked past it, there was a note on the windshield that read--"waiting for a tow, nobody available until tomorrow, if needed, please call xxx-xxx-xxxx".  This wasn't the only car/truck/u-haul truck/MAIL TRUCK I saw like this--there were cars all over the place...just left wherever.

Want some snow?  Come and get it.

Oh--you wanna know what Brandi's wish is...she wants me to make another igloo...like this one.  It's gotta wait until Sunday, though, since I have to work the next two days...lol.

til next time...=)

411 junk

I was debating on whether I was going to do this.  But I've been collecting them since...Christmas Eve.  There's a lot here.  I've weeded through them, and I'm posting the best of the best--I think...lol.  Here goes...

Sweet Meat Stix
Lil' Suckers Children's Apparrel
Baby Janie's Dirt Snatchers
Ebbets Pass Gas Service
Rich Moneymaker, Attorney at Law
Heart Attack Grill
Couch Potatoes Only

Knots Landing...and NUTS Landing (what the caller was actually looking for)...both in Encino.

Stupid's Pizza Pub (saw this one and immediately thought of Jimmy)

Some quotes:

Said by Paula, one of my co-workers (on Christmas Eve): "These people are just incredibly STUPID.  I'm not asking for Einsteins, just people with an IQ higher than a CEREAL BOX!"

A call I had, also on Christmas Eve:
Caller:  Can you tell me what bank I use?
Me:  I'm sorry, but this is 411--I can't help you.
Caller:  Well, can you tell me who can?
(Lay off the booze, dude.)

Another ridiculous interaction (and this happens all the time):
Operator:  Is this a residence or business?
Caller:  Oh no, it's a restaurant.

Which leads me to yet another rule for 411:  Businesses are pretty much anything except homes.  This includes restaurants, doctors' offices, hospitals, churches, grocery stores, etc.  Anything that makes money, with the exception of the government.

Well, that's that...

til next time...=)

Tags: 411, stupid people, ridiculous businesses