Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:37 am
I know I posted about translink and my card malfunctioning and having to switch to the new clipper card for our bay area transit systems. I know I touted the greatness of translink. Clipper was supposed to be the same system just new name and server. Well, it's not. Whoever is spouting that nonsense is either lying or woefully misinformed. I have had problem after problem with my clipper card. Half the time I tag it at the gate it says see agent and there is NO problem. It's frustrating, then to top it all off, It's been taking days for my money to upload to my card. With translink I could literally load it from the work computer and by the time I scooted to the station the money would be loaded. I put $70 dollars on my clipper card Friday morning. It had not uploaded by the time I went to the station so I bought a one way pass to get to work figuring it would be ok by the time I went home. I checked my email before I left and there was a notice with approval and transaction numbers from clipper. I went to go home... card was still only registering $1.10. I bought another one way pass. I got home and checked my bank. The money had been deducted from my account already. Saturday, I go to get on BART, same thing, card is only reading $1.10. I buy a round trip ticket for work and back. On my way home I stopped at the agent booth anyway to check up with Stanley and see how he's doing. I bitch a bit about the clipper card and then teased him about the one good thing about the clipper card is that I have made new friends like himself and Denise who works afternoons. He laughed. I get home and write an email complaint and submit it to clipper's website about both the huge amount of useless trips to the station agent for no reason and the delay on money upload. I get to the station today and it's STILL reading $1.10. I was upset and I snapped into unhappy, matter of fact, ice cold here's the problem you need to fix it and I'll brook no arguments mode. I had to run an errand so I got on at New Montgomery instead of Civic Center so I don't know that station agent's name but I told him every detail of my scenario. Then he tells me there is a clipper rep at a booth in the station so I march over there and the station agent actually followed me. I get to the clipper rep and tell him my story and he goes to check the card and his computer says $1.10 as well. I ask if I can use his internet to show him and he says no problem so I tap into my email and show him the confirmation from Friday, then I show him my bank page with the money deduction also from Friday. My card is reading NO ACTIVITY since I tagged out Thursday night. I start telling him that I never had these types of problems with my translink and he starts spouting the nonsense that I was told in the beginning when I got my clipper card, that they are the same system. I told him, "As a consumer who has commuted regularly with both cards, I can tell you first hand that that statement is not true and whoever has been telling you that is either lying or misinformed. Thank you for your time, but now I'm late for work. I realize that you are not in charge of the system and I hope you know that my displeasure with the system was not directed at you and I honestly hope you have a good day." He nodded an affirmative and mumbled something unintelligible as I turned away. Then I stomp towards the self serve pass machine to buy myself yet another round trip ticket. The station agent who was still there says, "Stop, where are you going?" I say, "To buy another ticket." He says, "I will help you with that." and gives me a ride voucher for a round trip ride to work. I told him he didn't have to do that and if anyone should be doing that it should have been the clipper rep. He laughed and said that he had heard a lot of similar complaints about the clipper cards and that's why he followed me so that he could see firsthand how the rep handled it. He also said it was entertaining to watch me show the evidence with the bank and email and then hear my statement about clipper and translink being the same. He said the look on the guy's face when I said that was priceless and it got even better as I turned and stomped away. I said I didn't notice because I was angry and looking directly into the guys eyes when I said that so I didn't absorb the facial expression, only the scared look in his eyes. We laughed about that. Then he told me that he was impressed at how calm, cool and reasonable I was and yet incredibly intimidating at the same time. 
I told him I didn't mean to be intimidating, I was just frustrated. He said he knew but it was still impressive and he was glad he was not that rep because there was nothing the rep could do, I was clearly right to be frustrated. Anyway, I made it to work. Had another good day.
Teased Cheng a bunch. Lu was working today so we had some fun banter. Made lots of customers laugh, especially Jen and Carol who brought in 72 pounds of shredding for me to do which took me over an hour. After the first bag, I turned to the one lady who was watching me shred, her partner was off shopping and I said, "Are you Jen or Carol?" She laughed and said she was Jen. I said, "Cool, I'm a Jenn too but more importantly, you know you only need to keep your tax records for three years right? 1995 is a BIT longer than you need to keep, just for future reference." She laughed and said, "I know, it's bad. I'm sorry." I laughed and told her I was just teasing. Then a few bags of shredding later, Carol walks up and I say, "You must be Carol." She laughed and said she was. I told her, "You need to open your money market statements once in a while. They are too thick to go through the shredder in the sealed envelopes." She looked mortified and I laughed and said,"It's ok, I'm just teasing." Then they started telling me about Carol's new job and moving to New Jersey. At the end of it all I wished them good luck and they left very happy.
My favorite moment with Cheng today: I was talking to a customer about ink cartridges and Cheng had to get past me to to grab some ink for a different customer and I said, "Am I in your way YET AGAIN Cheng?" and she said, "Yes." So I moved so she could get past and then said, "I think I am going to make a point of getting in your way EVERY day we work together." She laughed and said, "Thanks Jenn." On her way back by I jumped in her path and said, "Who's in your way NOW? I am in your way, blocking you, whatcha gonna do?" She laughed and said, "Move it." I got out of the way and said to the customer I was helping, "See how mean she is to me?" They both laughed as did the customer Cheng was helping. I said, "It must be getting close to closing because I am getting ridiculously silly now." Cheng said, "Yep, half an hour left." I said, "I knew it." then laughed.
Another favorite moment today: I was helping a customer and he had a mouse in a container from the pet store and I said, "Oh, dinner for a pet?" and he said yes so I told him to let me guess and said snake. He told me he had a ball python. I told him a story about Thulsa, a nine and a half foot burmese/indian python I was only supposed to babysit for two weeks that turned into six months until I found her a new home. We talked snakes while I helped him pick out some stuff and then I asked him if he let his snake swim in the tub? He said he never heard of that. I told him about Saturday swim for Thulsa and how to temper the water and he said he would try it tonight. Pythons love water. Thulsa was at her cutest when she would zip around the tub in circles for an hour then settle in and lounge in the water with just her eyes and nostrils above the water level. I did periodically warm the water during her swim time so I clearly outlined temperatures and warming processes. He was very appreciative of the information. I also was cashing out this couple and they were having a conversation which didn't involve me and I asked, "Oh, so you guys are getting married, congrats, but you don't want to put ordinary stamps on your envelopes, either in the rsvp or on the outside, the USPS has a great selection and you can even browse online. I recommend choosing two, one for the invitation and a different one for the rsvp. The gal was like, "I like that, thanks for the recommendation, that's awesome." I told her, "If you need anymore unsolicited opinions or ideas just call and see if I am working and I would be more than happy to help you out." She laughed and said, "I will probably take you up on that offer since we haven't actually chosen the final invites yet." I told her, "I am on shift nights, wednesday to sunday so come on in and we can figure it out." She said she would come in thursday with the samples. Not sure how I get away with being so bossy/intrusive/obnoxious/opinionated in so many moments but I must have some serious social karma right now.
Allright, probably bored you all way more than usual. Just needed to talk it out. CovJr, sorry. sounds like she's mad at you for something and it's stupid so she doesn't want to talk about it so she's creating other reasons to justify her madness. Usually means she is feeling unappreciated in some way. Think back on the past two days and see if something that might have seemed ordinary to you, may not have seemed ordinary to her.
SJ, glad you are feeling better. Sarge, sounds like you had a nice day. Holsety, good to see you around. Ali, I know, I am a bit worried about SJ too.
Hugs to everyone.
I told him I didn't mean to be intimidating, I was just frustrated. He said he knew but it was still impressive and he was glad he was not that rep because there was nothing the rep could do, I was clearly right to be frustrated. Anyway, I made it to work. Had another good day. Teased Cheng a bunch. Lu was working today so we had some fun banter. Made lots of customers laugh, especially Jen and Carol who brought in 72 pounds of shredding for me to do which took me over an hour. After the first bag, I turned to the one lady who was watching me shred, her partner was off shopping and I said, "Are you Jen or Carol?" She laughed and said she was Jen. I said, "Cool, I'm a Jenn too but more importantly, you know you only need to keep your tax records for three years right? 1995 is a BIT longer than you need to keep, just for future reference." She laughed and said, "I know, it's bad. I'm sorry." I laughed and told her I was just teasing. Then a few bags of shredding later, Carol walks up and I say, "You must be Carol." She laughed and said she was. I told her, "You need to open your money market statements once in a while. They are too thick to go through the shredder in the sealed envelopes." She looked mortified and I laughed and said,"It's ok, I'm just teasing." Then they started telling me about Carol's new job and moving to New Jersey. At the end of it all I wished them good luck and they left very happy.
My favorite moment with Cheng today: I was talking to a customer about ink cartridges and Cheng had to get past me to to grab some ink for a different customer and I said, "Am I in your way YET AGAIN Cheng?" and she said, "Yes." So I moved so she could get past and then said, "I think I am going to make a point of getting in your way EVERY day we work together." She laughed and said, "Thanks Jenn." On her way back by I jumped in her path and said, "Who's in your way NOW? I am in your way, blocking you, whatcha gonna do?" She laughed and said, "Move it." I got out of the way and said to the customer I was helping, "See how mean she is to me?" They both laughed as did the customer Cheng was helping. I said, "It must be getting close to closing because I am getting ridiculously silly now." Cheng said, "Yep, half an hour left." I said, "I knew it." then laughed.
Another favorite moment today: I was helping a customer and he had a mouse in a container from the pet store and I said, "Oh, dinner for a pet?" and he said yes so I told him to let me guess and said snake. He told me he had a ball python. I told him a story about Thulsa, a nine and a half foot burmese/indian python I was only supposed to babysit for two weeks that turned into six months until I found her a new home. We talked snakes while I helped him pick out some stuff and then I asked him if he let his snake swim in the tub? He said he never heard of that. I told him about Saturday swim for Thulsa and how to temper the water and he said he would try it tonight. Pythons love water. Thulsa was at her cutest when she would zip around the tub in circles for an hour then settle in and lounge in the water with just her eyes and nostrils above the water level. I did periodically warm the water during her swim time so I clearly outlined temperatures and warming processes. He was very appreciative of the information. I also was cashing out this couple and they were having a conversation which didn't involve me and I asked, "Oh, so you guys are getting married, congrats, but you don't want to put ordinary stamps on your envelopes, either in the rsvp or on the outside, the USPS has a great selection and you can even browse online. I recommend choosing two, one for the invitation and a different one for the rsvp. The gal was like, "I like that, thanks for the recommendation, that's awesome." I told her, "If you need anymore unsolicited opinions or ideas just call and see if I am working and I would be more than happy to help you out." She laughed and said, "I will probably take you up on that offer since we haven't actually chosen the final invites yet." I told her, "I am on shift nights, wednesday to sunday so come on in and we can figure it out." She said she would come in thursday with the samples. Not sure how I get away with being so bossy/intrusive/obnoxious/opinionated in so many moments but I must have some serious social karma right now.
Allright, probably bored you all way more than usual. Just needed to talk it out. CovJr, sorry. sounds like she's mad at you for something and it's stupid so she doesn't want to talk about it so she's creating other reasons to justify her madness. Usually means she is feeling unappreciated in some way. Think back on the past two days and see if something that might have seemed ordinary to you, may not have seemed ordinary to her.
SJ, glad you are feeling better. Sarge, sounds like you had a nice day. Holsety, good to see you around. Ali, I know, I am a bit worried about SJ too.
Hugs to everyone.
