Most days, when I go into work, feel like Office Space. You know, the part where Ron Livingston is explaining how everyday he goes into work is the worst day of his life? That's how I feel about ninety percent of the time when going into work (at my summer job, anyway). However, every so often, I have a day that doesn't suck. Nothing seems to go wrong, or I'm just too tired to notice/care, and I don't feel entirely like harming myself or others by the time my shift is over. For some reason, that Ice Cube song always plays in my head when that happens. I don't have an AK, but I don't think I would've used it today. And that's a good thing.
On a different subject, some friends/almost relatives of mine have purchased Playstation 3's recently and came to me with adivce on what games to get. Now, most of my collection for the PS3 is either games I don't expect other people to get (Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2) or franchises that have carried on from the PS1 & 2 days (Resident Evil 5, Metal Gear Solid 4). So I have a hard time making recommendations. I like those games, sure. Love them? Might be too strong a word, since I have huge problems with both, of which I have vented for years about, so I don't need to expand upon that here. But would I recommend those games?
No, not really, not unless you've been following the franchises for years.
Instead of just poopooing some of those games, I've come up with a list. Without further ado, here's my list of top 5 PS3 games that I would recommend (in no real order) and why:
Batman Arkham Asylum: Despite the fact that I feel let down by any and all news of the sequel (outside of the teaser trailer from last year) that does not keep me from recommending this gem. It might have the most entertaining melee combat system I've ever seen in a game. Every hit, every move has weight to it and it is a blast to fight through the challenges. An added bonus is that they got Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammil to reprise their characters from the Batman: Animated Series. Fun fact: At one point, I was ranked #6 on one of the combat challenges (after the boosters were cleared out).
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2): Either one is a great game, though I'd recommend both just for the story. Some felt jilted by the single player story in 2, but my only complaint is that it really felt like it was a setup for the next game (which may or may not come). The only difference in multiplayer is that MW 1 seems to be more strategic in that there aren't as many ridiculous knife kills and kill streaks to use to rain hell down on your enemies.
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy: Yes, this one is available on the PS2 as well (and the DS and every other system out), but the PS3 version is only 19.99 new, and for what comes out to be two complete games, the price can't be beat. I've heard some gamers say that they like Batman or Indy better, but I think things like the Force and lightsabers just works better than the whip or batarangs.
And...that's it. Huh. I don't own five games that I would honestly recommend to others. I own about twenty games, but not all of them are good, and not all of them are by choice.
Honorable Mentions: Metal Gear Solid 4: I know I said I wouldn't recommend this game, but it does deserve a spot on this list for being a part of the series that I did one of my first speed runs on. We never timed it, but we got through MGS1 in just over two hours. If you want to see the end to Snake's story, here it is, in all of it's 1/2 hour + per cinematic glory. On the plus side, the graphics are amazing, the gameplay has been refined from 3 (which was already pretty good), and you get to pilot a Metal Gear.
Resident Evil 5: Some say that RE has lost its way. That the series has lost its dark roots and is no longer scary. Yeah, I guess so. But if better gameplay is the sacrifice I have to make for cheap scares, then yeah, take the cheap scares.
Sound off in the comments if anyone has more games to recommend.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
I bet most of you thought I was dead...
I've been neglecting my social netwoking facets this week (facebook, twitter, this blog, etc...), but that's mostly because I have nothing really new to say. I spent most of my work week in a department I despise (front end, or cashiering, for those not in retail). That's how I was rewarded for my excellent sales for the first two weeks of July. I was stuck up front at a register where I can't move and am overworked for eight hours a day. You know what wasn't designed to stand in one spot for eight hours straight? The human body. My knees are pretty well shot by the time one of those shifts are done. And at one point one of my managers asked why my sales weren't as high (I have seven different bosses. I'm hoping for one more so that I can find someone named Bob and explain to them how many bosses I have).
But today, oh boy, today was going to be different. I was actually in technology. And, you know what, I made a bunch of sales! Who would have thought? But enough of the bitching about work, because, honestly, it doesn't get me anywhere. I will, however, write one thing more about work. Only because it is so f***ing ridiculous.
So, on Tuesday, the last day I worked before today, I found and then rang up a couple of flash drives (or USB drives or thumb drives or whatever) that were on sale for a customer.
She came in today after hearing that we were giving away a cheap lil 6.99 backpack with a $10 purchase and demanded to know where her backpack(s) was(were).
I told her that we were out.
She asked for a raincheck.
I explained that it was a promotional item and that we weren't expecting to get anymore in.
Then she asked why I hadn't given her her backpacks when she had been in on Tuesday.
I had no response to this, because, really, anything I could have said would only have made things worse.
She asked who the store manager was and if he was around (I've been asked that a lot lately, and it's usually never my fault or that of the employee the customer is angry at). He had just left, so I told her I was calling the manager on duty to the front of the store.
She proceeds to call the MoD by the wrong name and then goes off on how she never shops at our store because we intentionally label items with the wrong price and how I should have given her the backpacks when she was in the store on Tuesday before they ran out on Wednesday (I mispoke, because I rarely have Wednesdays off and we had run out the last day I worked).
He explained that it wasn't an item that we just give to the customers, that they had to either get one off the shelf or request it at the register. She yelled for a few more minutes and then said she was going to write a letter of complaint to someone or other and asked for all of our names.
She then called the MoD by the wrong name again and he asked for her name so that he could relay her complaint to the Store Manager. And then she left.
It was only the 2nd customer of 3 in a row to yell at me. And it all boils down to this:
The customer was pissed because I wasn't psychic. Sorry.
Now, I will very rarely openly debate politics. Mostly because I try to actually be rational and logical when it comes to such things, and whoever I argue with hardly thinks of those things as useful or intelligent. I preface this next segment because I don't want to see any political comments (not that there are many comments in general). An...acquaintance that I knew in high school joined the military after graduation. I say acquaintance because I mostly knew him from working at the grocery store in my town and I graduated high school with his sister. He served in Iraq and was wounded three times in the line of duty. Twice from shrapnel from homemade explosives and once from a missile. He took a godamned missile hit and kept going.
He recently received the Purple Heart and a commendation from President Obama. His sister, with pride (and well-deserved) pointed to a news article on the website for the local paper (hence how I know how many times he was injured and from what). I read through the article and thought, "This is a boy (I later corrected myself and said man when retelling the story to my girlfriend, since the young man in question is only a year younger than I am) that served his country. And he was mentioned, by name, by the President of the United States. How cool is that?"
And then I made the mistake of reading the comments. I think maybe two comments in is all it took for the hate and political rhetoric to creep in. One of them even blasted him for joining the military to support a fake war. Another was ranting about President Obama and how he is ruining the country. Now, I don't care how anyone feels about Iraq, Afghanistan, or the current President of the United States, but there is a time and a place to argue about such things. At the end of a news article about a soldier receiving the purple heart for being wounded in action is not one of them. Nor the funeral for anyone who fought for their country and died. Nor anything having to do with sports. Really? The Cubs are playing lousy and you're going to blame the war or Pres. Obama?
So this is my salute, Matt Seidl. Thank you for serving your country and continuing to do so in the face of adversity.
But today, oh boy, today was going to be different. I was actually in technology. And, you know what, I made a bunch of sales! Who would have thought? But enough of the bitching about work, because, honestly, it doesn't get me anywhere. I will, however, write one thing more about work. Only because it is so f***ing ridiculous.
So, on Tuesday, the last day I worked before today, I found and then rang up a couple of flash drives (or USB drives or thumb drives or whatever) that were on sale for a customer.
She came in today after hearing that we were giving away a cheap lil 6.99 backpack with a $10 purchase and demanded to know where her backpack(s) was(were).
I told her that we were out.
She asked for a raincheck.
I explained that it was a promotional item and that we weren't expecting to get anymore in.
Then she asked why I hadn't given her her backpacks when she had been in on Tuesday.
I had no response to this, because, really, anything I could have said would only have made things worse.
She asked who the store manager was and if he was around (I've been asked that a lot lately, and it's usually never my fault or that of the employee the customer is angry at). He had just left, so I told her I was calling the manager on duty to the front of the store.
She proceeds to call the MoD by the wrong name and then goes off on how she never shops at our store because we intentionally label items with the wrong price and how I should have given her the backpacks when she was in the store on Tuesday before they ran out on Wednesday (I mispoke, because I rarely have Wednesdays off and we had run out the last day I worked).
He explained that it wasn't an item that we just give to the customers, that they had to either get one off the shelf or request it at the register. She yelled for a few more minutes and then said she was going to write a letter of complaint to someone or other and asked for all of our names.
She then called the MoD by the wrong name again and he asked for her name so that he could relay her complaint to the Store Manager. And then she left.
It was only the 2nd customer of 3 in a row to yell at me. And it all boils down to this:
The customer was pissed because I wasn't psychic. Sorry.
Now, I will very rarely openly debate politics. Mostly because I try to actually be rational and logical when it comes to such things, and whoever I argue with hardly thinks of those things as useful or intelligent. I preface this next segment because I don't want to see any political comments (not that there are many comments in general). An...acquaintance that I knew in high school joined the military after graduation. I say acquaintance because I mostly knew him from working at the grocery store in my town and I graduated high school with his sister. He served in Iraq and was wounded three times in the line of duty. Twice from shrapnel from homemade explosives and once from a missile. He took a godamned missile hit and kept going.
He recently received the Purple Heart and a commendation from President Obama. His sister, with pride (and well-deserved) pointed to a news article on the website for the local paper (hence how I know how many times he was injured and from what). I read through the article and thought, "This is a boy (I later corrected myself and said man when retelling the story to my girlfriend, since the young man in question is only a year younger than I am) that served his country. And he was mentioned, by name, by the President of the United States. How cool is that?"
And then I made the mistake of reading the comments. I think maybe two comments in is all it took for the hate and political rhetoric to creep in. One of them even blasted him for joining the military to support a fake war. Another was ranting about President Obama and how he is ruining the country. Now, I don't care how anyone feels about Iraq, Afghanistan, or the current President of the United States, but there is a time and a place to argue about such things. At the end of a news article about a soldier receiving the purple heart for being wounded in action is not one of them. Nor the funeral for anyone who fought for their country and died. Nor anything having to do with sports. Really? The Cubs are playing lousy and you're going to blame the war or Pres. Obama?
So this is my salute, Matt Seidl. Thank you for serving your country and continuing to do so in the face of adversity.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Another one of those nights...
It's another one of those nights where I'm just too tired to think of anything to write. Rather than taking the same cheap way out, I'm going to try something new...ish. I think I saw it one an episode of Family Guy once. The positive sandwich. I'm going to say something positive, then negative, then something positive.
+ Joss Whedon was finally officially announced as the director for The Avengers. Since the movie seems to be on a tight schedule, it seems there is a fair chance that this will stick.
- A woman at work last night came in to buy networking equipment. One of our associates helped her and noted that she complained a lot that her coupons wouldn't work, so he said that there's an e-mail coupon going around that would work, so he prints it out and hands it to her.
The woman comes up to the register, where I've been scheduled for most of the week, and, before I'm even finished with the customer ahead of her, she starts yelling out her phone number. I have to assume it's for the loyalty card. Then she spends most of the first couple of minutes alternating between whistling and humming. Everytime I hear whistling, I always think of Red from That 70's Show, "You know what's the best part about whistling? You can STOP whistling." So at that point I was already pretty irritated with the customer. Like, I wanted to place a pane of glass in front of her, run up behind her, and do a knee drop into the back of her head, forcing her to go face first through the glass. But, I don't, since I'm such a nice guy.
I finish ringing her items through and scan the e-mail coupon the other employee gave her, and tell her the total. She says, "I have this coupon, too!"
Without skipping a beat, I reply, "That coupon isn't valid on any technology items."
With one of the most obnoxious smiles I have ever seen, she says, "Well, guess what. Your guy back there said it does..."
Again, without missing a beat, "Well, guess what. It doesn't matter what he said, it's not valid on any technology items."
Now, whenever that happens, there's one of two outcomes. The customer gets so pissed that I won't push the coupon through (on a lot of tech stuff, I couldn't even if I wanted to, which I didn't in this instance) and leave, or, they knew the coupon wasn't going to work so they grumble about how shitty we all are personally and they pay for their stuff and leave. It was the latter.
I didn't hear about the fact that the salesman had printed out the email coupon to be nice until after I called him up to the front (we have radios, but I think it's BS to call someone out over a public network like that) to tell him not to tell customers they can use those coupons on tech.
The only good thing about the whole ordeal was that it got her to stop whistling.
Then she came back today. Guess what she asked for?
+ After giving a customer a lot of help (as well as helpful suggestions on where to get product we don't carry, because we're an office supplies store, and what she was looking for wasn't office supplies), she turned to me and said, "You're amazing, you know that?"
Kind of weird, but ok, nice to get a compliment on a shitty day.
+/- A lot of things are being shown at Comic-Con. There, that covers the lot o' ya.
Also, one of the districts that I guest teach in is looking for permanent building subs...er...guest teachers. It'd only be a bit more money, but it'd be working everyday, which would be nice.
Also also (instead of PSS), some of my work is on a site for authors so they can get feedback and help from other authors (doesn't always work out that way, but hey, somethings better than nothing), and today I got a message from John Connor. Unfortunately, it did not contain anything about saving the future or going with him if I want to live.
+ Joss Whedon was finally officially announced as the director for The Avengers. Since the movie seems to be on a tight schedule, it seems there is a fair chance that this will stick.
- A woman at work last night came in to buy networking equipment. One of our associates helped her and noted that she complained a lot that her coupons wouldn't work, so he said that there's an e-mail coupon going around that would work, so he prints it out and hands it to her.
The woman comes up to the register, where I've been scheduled for most of the week, and, before I'm even finished with the customer ahead of her, she starts yelling out her phone number. I have to assume it's for the loyalty card. Then she spends most of the first couple of minutes alternating between whistling and humming. Everytime I hear whistling, I always think of Red from That 70's Show, "You know what's the best part about whistling? You can STOP whistling." So at that point I was already pretty irritated with the customer. Like, I wanted to place a pane of glass in front of her, run up behind her, and do a knee drop into the back of her head, forcing her to go face first through the glass. But, I don't, since I'm such a nice guy.
I finish ringing her items through and scan the e-mail coupon the other employee gave her, and tell her the total. She says, "I have this coupon, too!"
Without skipping a beat, I reply, "That coupon isn't valid on any technology items."
With one of the most obnoxious smiles I have ever seen, she says, "Well, guess what. Your guy back there said it does..."
Again, without missing a beat, "Well, guess what. It doesn't matter what he said, it's not valid on any technology items."
Now, whenever that happens, there's one of two outcomes. The customer gets so pissed that I won't push the coupon through (on a lot of tech stuff, I couldn't even if I wanted to, which I didn't in this instance) and leave, or, they knew the coupon wasn't going to work so they grumble about how shitty we all are personally and they pay for their stuff and leave. It was the latter.
I didn't hear about the fact that the salesman had printed out the email coupon to be nice until after I called him up to the front (we have radios, but I think it's BS to call someone out over a public network like that) to tell him not to tell customers they can use those coupons on tech.
The only good thing about the whole ordeal was that it got her to stop whistling.
Then she came back today. Guess what she asked for?
+ After giving a customer a lot of help (as well as helpful suggestions on where to get product we don't carry, because we're an office supplies store, and what she was looking for wasn't office supplies), she turned to me and said, "You're amazing, you know that?"
Kind of weird, but ok, nice to get a compliment on a shitty day.
+/- A lot of things are being shown at Comic-Con. There, that covers the lot o' ya.
Also, one of the districts that I guest teach in is looking for permanent building subs...er...guest teachers. It'd only be a bit more money, but it'd be working everyday, which would be nice.
Also also (instead of PSS), some of my work is on a site for authors so they can get feedback and help from other authors (doesn't always work out that way, but hey, somethings better than nothing), and today I got a message from John Connor. Unfortunately, it did not contain anything about saving the future or going with him if I want to live.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Crazy Shit that Happens to Me at Work
I'm exhausted from work (they really need more than single coverage per department) and am, therefor, too tired to think straight to come up with anything to discuss/rant about. So here's another edition of "Crazy shit that happens to me at work..."
1. If I haven't said before, I'll say it here. The first customer usually sets a presedence for the rest of my day. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten, that customer is a complete whackjob and/or asshole. I don't even remember what I had set out to do, probably some menial task that didn't really need to be done, when this customer stopped me. She didn't look that old to me, but who am I to judge how old someone looks? She said she's looking for an ear thingy. When I just looked at her like the crazy old woman she was, she said, "You know an ear...thingy." Like that was some sort of terminology that is regularly used. "You know (she said that a lot) a thing for your ear." Thanks. I didn't know what she was talking about until she very disrespectfully rearrange her nonsensical phrase to create a slightly different nonsensical phrase. She also said, "you know what I mean," quite a bit. When most customers say this, it's because, I think, deep down, even they don't know what they mean, so they're probably hoping that I do.
So she finally says she needs an ear thingy for her phone. So I ask her if she needs one for her cell phone or for her home phone. She doesn't know what a bluetooth device is, but a surprisingly large amount of people don't. Crazy, I know. So I show her a few corded headsets for cordless phone systems. After I start explaining how the cord gets plugged into a cordless handset, she stops me and says, "I don't know what that means." I ask her what part does she not understand? Turns out, she didn't know what cordless meant! Seriously? It's in the name. Cordless. Does not have cords.
So I show her a display model of one of the cordless phones we have and show her where the headset could plug into the phone. I continue to explain and I think I've used the term handset a few times and then she says again, "I don't know what that means! Handset, what is that?" It was much more beligerent sounding than I could convey in a blog. So I explain to her that a handset is the part of the phone where...*gasp* your hand goes! Hence the term handset. So I show her some other phones and she stops me again and asks what the difference between a cordless and corded phone. It was a serious question.
So after I'm done, she picks out a phone and a headset and leaves. How did an ear thingy turn into buying a new phone system?
2: This one is much shorter. We have a thing at work where we cycle through employees to act as door greeter, rather than have a dedicated employee for that. So I was the greeter and I smiled and said hello to a customer. She replied by pulling a plastic baggy containing an HP ink cartridge out of her purse and sticking it in my face. Seriously, it was about three inches from smacking me in the eye.
"I need this."
"Ok." I turn to lead her to the cartridges, which were in an aisle right behind where I was standing.
"It's an ink...cartriiiidddgggeee."
Thanks. Because without that, I would've thought she was carrying a Koala Bear around in her purse. Not like I wasn't standing in front of an aisle containing about two hundred different kinds of ink.
So without looking back at the woman, I ask, "Was that a #56?"
Her reply was to the effect of, "I don't know, I just pulled it out of my printer and stuck it in a baggy..."
Still haven't found more fun 'Zero' facts, but I am still looking. Might even check through old edits of the book to see if there is stuff I've cut out that I could post. Until then, stay classy retail customers. Stay Classy.
1. If I haven't said before, I'll say it here. The first customer usually sets a presedence for the rest of my day. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten, that customer is a complete whackjob and/or asshole. I don't even remember what I had set out to do, probably some menial task that didn't really need to be done, when this customer stopped me. She didn't look that old to me, but who am I to judge how old someone looks? She said she's looking for an ear thingy. When I just looked at her like the crazy old woman she was, she said, "You know an ear...thingy." Like that was some sort of terminology that is regularly used. "You know (she said that a lot) a thing for your ear." Thanks. I didn't know what she was talking about until she very disrespectfully rearrange her nonsensical phrase to create a slightly different nonsensical phrase. She also said, "you know what I mean," quite a bit. When most customers say this, it's because, I think, deep down, even they don't know what they mean, so they're probably hoping that I do.
So she finally says she needs an ear thingy for her phone. So I ask her if she needs one for her cell phone or for her home phone. She doesn't know what a bluetooth device is, but a surprisingly large amount of people don't. Crazy, I know. So I show her a few corded headsets for cordless phone systems. After I start explaining how the cord gets plugged into a cordless handset, she stops me and says, "I don't know what that means." I ask her what part does she not understand? Turns out, she didn't know what cordless meant! Seriously? It's in the name. Cordless. Does not have cords.
So I show her a display model of one of the cordless phones we have and show her where the headset could plug into the phone. I continue to explain and I think I've used the term handset a few times and then she says again, "I don't know what that means! Handset, what is that?" It was much more beligerent sounding than I could convey in a blog. So I explain to her that a handset is the part of the phone where...*gasp* your hand goes! Hence the term handset. So I show her some other phones and she stops me again and asks what the difference between a cordless and corded phone. It was a serious question.
So after I'm done, she picks out a phone and a headset and leaves. How did an ear thingy turn into buying a new phone system?
2: This one is much shorter. We have a thing at work where we cycle through employees to act as door greeter, rather than have a dedicated employee for that. So I was the greeter and I smiled and said hello to a customer. She replied by pulling a plastic baggy containing an HP ink cartridge out of her purse and sticking it in my face. Seriously, it was about three inches from smacking me in the eye.
"I need this."
"Ok." I turn to lead her to the cartridges, which were in an aisle right behind where I was standing.
"It's an ink...cartriiiidddgggeee."
Thanks. Because without that, I would've thought she was carrying a Koala Bear around in her purse. Not like I wasn't standing in front of an aisle containing about two hundred different kinds of ink.
So without looking back at the woman, I ask, "Was that a #56?"
Her reply was to the effect of, "I don't know, I just pulled it out of my printer and stuck it in a baggy..."
Still haven't found more fun 'Zero' facts, but I am still looking. Might even check through old edits of the book to see if there is stuff I've cut out that I could post. Until then, stay classy retail customers. Stay Classy.
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