Circular References

In the continuing saga of "just how dumb are field engineers"...from an actual account request:

Who are you reporting to?:  LTC Smith

Who reports to you?: LTC Smith

I'm envisioning how the org chart for this would look...just one big-a$$ circular reference...and probably neither reads what the other writes anyway.  So par for the course.

Thoughts on Bad Service and Tipping

What is it with service in this town...or is it problematic everywhere?  Our recent Olive Garden experience was abysmal (slow bordering on ignoring us completely, and full of errors) so we likely aren't returning.  A jerk at Outback Steakhouse awhile ago complained at me for not tipping him when buying a gift card (I still wish I had torn up the credit slip at that point and handed him back the gift card.)   Today we went to the Sierra Vista Diner and after nearly 15 minutes where we were completely ignored - no water, no coffee, no menus, no service period (despite asking three times if someone would help us), our (cycling) group of 9 gave up and left.  (And Diner people, you were dumb.  Not only did you lose a good chunk of business today, but future business as well.) 

Which makes me think, WTF?  We have places providing mediocre food and lousy service, yet the service staff expect 20% tips.  (On the final bill, not pre-tax either.)  You know, I know most of them are paid low wages, but in my book, you get a good tip for providing good service, not just for showing up and barely going through the motions.  You'd think the ones who want more money would actually try.  Or the owners of the flippin' restaurants would get a clue and train people (since ultimately it is their bottom line...a couple of bad servers can drive away a lot of business).  Or better yet, the owners would staff peak times appropriately instead of running one person ragged....but that's another issue.

So for crappy service, here's the deal.  Tipping is on a sliding scale.   I start at industry standard - we'll call that 18% (I'm basing that on what got put on my bill at a very nice restaurant in Hollywood when we were there with a family group earlier this month).  Treat me well, and that's what you get.  Treat me exceptionally well, and the tip goes up to 20%.  If your service sucks, then it starts going down approaching zero.  (But not zero...you'll just think I forgot...it has to be small enough to scream out at you YOU SUCK AND THIS IS ALL YOU'RE GETTING.)  And if you suck that much, then you've guaranteed I will never return, where you work will eventually go out of business when the word gets around that you suck, and you'll be out of a job.  So there.

Would I ever give over 20%?  Yes, under exceptional circumstances.  Like giving me a free drink or something.

There was a positive end to the bad Diner experience at least.  We all went to the Country House instead, where we were served promptly, courteously, and efficiently.  Their food is nothing to write home about, but at least they treat people well.

Additional note to Olive Garden - stop it with the fake italian names for food.  Pastachetti?  Who are you kidding?

Carnita Taco's

Do I have to say it?  CARNITAS, not CARNITA.  And there's no apostrophe in TACOS!  Sigh.  I hope they cook better than they spell/punctuate.

Enterprise Email...what a !#!$#! joke

So I was one of the lucky thousands to be "migrated" to an enterprise email server over the last few days.  What this basically means is that I can't read email where I want to (AKO using an IMAP client), because we were forced to forward all email from AKO to the enterprise server.  The enterprise people refuse to let me forward back the other way so I can still read on AKO, and they won't provide any IMAP capability.  They wouldn't even write up the ticket asking for IMAP capability (I picture the admins in a cave somewhere with their fingers in their ears and humming, so they can't hear the complaints).   What's the bottom line?  I can only read email in my office or on a friggin' government laptop.  THANK YOU SO MUCH you idiot enterprise people for making sure I can't do squat if I happen to be out of the office.   I guess you are all so used to everyone being idiotically unproductive that you can't fathom that anybody like me would actually like to be responsive.

If the acronyms above mean nothing to you, just take this away:  Army Enterprise Suck Unproductive Email Bad Service Morons

To the Cloud!

What is Cloud Computing really to the average end user?  Basically it means you don't know WhereTF the server is, who is running it, how it is being run, or who to call when you have problems.  It's a giant friggin' black hole with all of the critical bits beyond the event horizon.  It may be cool technology for the people who get to run it, but just try getting anyone to help you with anything! 

Why the wrath about the Cloud?  It's not just those annoying Microsoft commercials.  It's the fact that my work email is moving "to the Cloud" in the guise of an "enterprise Exchange server" that is who-knows-where.  And we thought it was bad enough contacting the local admins...ha!  So if I stop answering work email next week, well, you'll know why.