So, I hit the freeway and settle in at a lovely pace of like 75-80 mph. Who doesn't drive that fast, right? I rocked out to Adele and whatever else was on the radio as I tried to get myself into the right frame of mind to deal with people all day. C'mon, no one wants my job. The moment I tell people I work in a call center, they're immediately like, "Oh man...You deal with assholes all day." Funny they should mention that...Because it's true! I've said it a hundred times, but I'll say it again-- If I didn't have cool co-workers, I would've lost my mind by now. Sometimes, they're the only ones who keep me sane because we all laugh and joke between calls. Anyway, so I got to work and went inside to start my day. I was immediately greeted by an email from an unknown co-worker saying that a card holder was requesting me to call him back. *rolls eyes* I had left a message for the guy regarding an issue he was having with a merchant. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything we could do about it and honestly, I was happy when I got his voicemail because I hate being the messenger. So, now I would have to call him back and have the discussion with him about how we couldn't do anything for him. *rolls eyes* That just sucks. I logged in and started my day of taking calls and shortly after starting (it was slow), we had to pick up the slack for the consumer reps so we were taking calls for personal card holders. Man, it's hard talking to the business owners sometimes, but the general public is even worse...How do these people get out of bed and go out into the world each and every day without...wearing a safety helmet? I am worried about society.
At almost noon, I was thinking I might take some sick time and leave early because I was just worn out and done...And then I got in some surveys. I hate surveys. They are not clearly worded enough to tell people that it's not to be used to complain about how you feel about our company, but how your interaction was with the employee you spoke to. I guess people might still use it as a complaint hot line of sorts even if it was worded correctly, but it just sucks. I listened to the two calls from the bad surveys and neither call was bad. The one woman had even ended our call with saying, "Heather, you've been excellent! I appreciate all your help!" But then when she rated me in the survey, she gave me a less than stellar score. Like I just want to call these people back and tell them, "Thanks, asshole, you just cost me a big chunk of my bonus because you either don't understand English or you are a sick individual that likes to fuck with people!" At that point in time, I was done. I took a couple more calls and then took my sick time and left an hour early. I was so mad I could cry. I wanted to go get some fro yo (frozen yogurt) and go home and take a nap. I didn't want the frozen yogurt because I was upset, but just because it had sounded good long before my day had gone to hell.
I walked out into hell (also known as "outside" here in AZ) and was immediately struck by how freaking hot it was. It was like 102* and humid. Blech! I called Phoenix to tell her I was leaving and as I got into my truck, burning my fingers on my steering wheel, I started it and immediately saw the my front passenger tire was low. I got out and looked to find...*drum roll*...That's right a fucking flat tire. FABULOUS! I'm so excited. I was thinking that maybe I could slowly drive to the gas station near my work (like across the street and through a big parking lot) to put air in it and then go to a tire shop to get it fixed. I slowly pulled out and realized that it wasn't just flat, but super flat. I pulled into the back part of our parking lot where there was space and thought that maybe I'd change it, but then I remembered that my truck has 22" rims on it and only the standard jack, which won't put it up high enough to remove the tire. I know this because I had a Silverado in the past with bigger tires (not bigger rims, just bigger tires) and the jack didn't work. I learned that when I was 50 miles away from home. Good times. Anyway, so I call Statefarm to ask if I have road side assistance, which I thought I did. They said I did and had their road side assistance call me to get me set up with someone to come help me. YAY! While waiting for them, I drove very slowly and carefully out of our parking lot and across the street because my work is crazy tight with security. At almost 2, the road side assistance guy showed up. He looked pissed and was not at all nice to me. Seriously? I'm the one having a bad day, what the fuck is his problem? I don't like my job either, but at least people can't see me scowling. He takes off the cover on my rim and says, "Where's the key for the lug nut?" Turns out I never got the key for my locking lug nuts. He hands me the cover for the rim and says, "You'll need a tow truck to come get you. Call your road side assistance and have them get you help. I can't change this tire." He stalked off, still pissed, got into his air conditioned car, and drove off. I just stood there, breathing, and thinking horrible thoughts. I refrained from kicking my truck...He made me so angry. As I got back into my truck, the road side assistance called to ask if he'd shown up. I said, "Yes, but he just left. He can't change the tire." So, they sent a tow truck, which took some time. During that time, I called the dealership and after being transferred to everybody and their mama, I finally talked to a manager about the missing key. He said if I bring my truck down there, they'll give me new locking lugs. I still need to take care of that, but it pisses me off. What if I had been on my way to Cali and this happened???
In the meantime, Phoenix shows up with her niece Goofy. We were going to go get Fro Yo together, but now I'm stuck. As they roll up, apparently Phoenix said something funny to Goofy, Goofy unrolls the window and is laughing wildly. I think she's laughing at me because that's what it looks like, so when I chuckle (her laughter is contagious) and tell her she's mean, she only giggles more for like 2 or 3 minutes. I still think she was laughing at my misfortune, but Phoenix says she wasn't...But can't remember what it was she said to make her laugh in the first place. Mmmmhmmm...Anyway, so they left to go pick up the baby from daycare and then come back. So, the tow truck drive shows up. He was this awesome guy, Bruce. He quickly got me taken care of and when I told him that Statefarm had suggested a Goodyear Tire (Although, when I called Goodyear to tell them I would be coming with my truck, the guy was a total douche! He was all, "It'll be $48.50 to break the lock off. It usually takes a half an hour of labor. It's really just easier if you had a key." Well, duh, mother fucker! I didn't ask how much, I said that I needed the lock broken off!) place, he said, "Discount is better. If it's a nail, they fix it for free. And if you need tires, they're cheap and honest." I like Discount Tires and usually get my tires from them, but I didn't know where one was. He said he'd take me and my truck there for no extra charge. Seriously, he was amazing! He chatted with me the whole time, which helped to lighten my mood because I was just pissed.
This story gets better...At Discount Tire, the guy says, "When did this blow out?" I said, "It didn't blow out. I drove to work this morning and then came out to find it flat." He said, "No, this blew out. Look!" He pointed to the tire and there was all this steel belt showing, as though the tire had ripped apart on the inside of the tire. WTF? Then we go and look at the driver side tire...It's nearly as bad, but hasn't given out. The two back tires had chunks, again on the inside, that were showing the steel belt. What the hell??? I just had my tires rotated like a month and a half ago or two months ago. He asked, "Did they tell you anything about this?" I told him they didn't and he said, "This didn't just happen over night...It takes time to wear it down like that. Your truck has an alignment problem." Oh goody. *rolls eyes* So, now this is no longer fixing one tire, but all four because the other three could blow out at any time. I'm not stupid. I'm not messing around with fucked up tires in the hot Arizona summer which causes blowouts anyway. He looks in the system and says, "The best price I have for your size tires is..." I think I blacked out for a moment...Tires are fucking expensive! 22" rims look cool, but they fucking suck ass! It was nearly $1100 for four tires. *cries like a baby* Do you know what I could do with $1100??? I called Phoenix and she was like, "Ask if you qualify for their credit card." I mean, I could've put it on my credit card (Or maybe split it between two...), but since I was there, I couldn't pull it up on my computer to see how much I had available. Anyway, so luckily, I qualified and I have 9 months to pay it off with no interest. YAY! Again, another bright little spot in my shitty day. Another bright spot was that this happened while I was at work. I just got back from California last Sunday afternoon. This could've happened when we were driving all over Southern California. And in two weeks, I'm going back to Cali for a wedding. This could've gotten ugly. I'm glad it happened when it did, but it still sucks balls...
While waiting for the tires, we went to walk around Sam's Club to spend more money we don't have and then went to get my truck. When we finally left, I called my mom to tell her about my bad day and she says, "Weird that you called me right now. We just walked into the hippo exhibit." Say what? I'm having a hellish day and my mom is bringing up the fucked up nickname that I was given in middle school?? Yup, I'm Hippo Heather. As though to make me feel better, she texted me this picture...
Nice, right? Yeah, I love my mom...*rolls eyes*
Since my friend Texas was having a pretty shitty day too and had texted me that she needed a drink, I suggested (After Phoenix said I should) that we could go get dinner. We ended up at Red Robin (Yummmmmm!) because it's a kid-friendly place where our baby and her's as well, could be loud and no one would really care. I ordered my usual Guacamole Burger and asked for a side of jalapenos. The bad waitress (Why is it so hard to find good service anymore???) brought me fresh cut jalapenos instead of the pickled ones. Man, they were fucking hot. Like my lips and mouth burned like fire. Then the story gets better. After eating, my eyes were itching (allergies) and I proceeded to remove my glasses and rub my eyes. Apparently, I still had jalapeno juice on my hands or something despite having used my napkin repeatedly. Yes, my eyes started burning like fire...No, like acid...No, like fiery acid. It hurt so bad. I went to the bathroom and rinsed out my eyes after listening to them joke that they probably had an eye wash station in the kitchen. In the bathroom, this old lady came out of a stall and washed her hands. As she started to walk out, she looked at me in the mirror and became concerned. "Are you okay, honey? Is everything okay?" I couldn't help but laugh. I said, "Yes. I'm fine, but thank you for asking." She asked, "Are you sure?" Of course, I now owed her an explanation. I said, "Yes, ma'am, I had some jalapenos with my dinner and without thinking, I rubbed my eye." She then told me a story about her sister doing something similar while eating pepperoncinis. She told me the burning would eventually stop. I thought it was nice that she asked if I was all right. Most people don't care anymore. I decided right then and there to call it a day. Texas joked that I should come with caution tape or something. Haha...I suppose. I came home and even though I wanted to read or do something, I ended up going to bed. It was better to just get the day over with and be done with it before anything else could go wrong. Thankfully, today is a new day and perhaps a better day...*crosses fingers*
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