Today Was the Day . . .

I've heard that the city can get to you, and today was the day for me. A beautiful Indian summer day, and I come home more frustrated than I've been since we moved here. It started building up yesterday, when I under-prepped for an interview and then could not find a place to watch the Broncos game, and ended today, when I spent two hours in a Verizon store getting a new phone.

Yesterday, the football gods clearly did not want me to see the Broncos play (and that might have been a good thing, considering how they played). I was on campus from 4:30 until 6, but there were still two quarters left. A small group of us went to Off the Wagon, which was way too packed to get a seat, but in retrospect we should have just stayed and waited for something to open up. Not finding a spot, we walked a few blocks to Down the Hatch, which I know for a fact has NFL Sunday Ticket. We ran into the same problem there; namely, no seats (though the bar weirdly wasn't crowded). We were sure we could find something else, so we went next door to the Four Faced Liar, which had just one small TV tuned into the Jets game. A big problem I've encountered here is that most bars don't have the Sunday Ticket package so they only show network games. Since it is highly unlikely the Broncos will be the regional game out here, sports bars are my only hope.

The unintelligible bartender at the Four Faced Liar recommended Town Tavern, which was back over towards Off the Wagon. We get there (by this time we've wasted a whole quarter walking around) and find a table in front of the one small TV showing the Broncos-Chiefs (nevermind the two plasmas showing the Jets game, neither of which was being watched intently). Shortly, we encountered two huge problems that one should never encounter at a sports bar. First, the place was running out of beer. When we got there, five of eight taps were dry, leaving us Bud Light, Blue Moon and Guinness. Well, there wasn't much Guinness left, either, considering that we got the last two pints. Then--and this was nearly the dealbreaker--a large black box appeared on the TV, blocking out nearly half the screen. I ended up watching just the top of the end of the game. At least the helmets looked okay, and at least the bar fixed the problem before overtime (and, I guess, at least we got a free beer out of complaining, because I wasn't about to pay for Blue Moon).

Then, after a horrible night's sleep, I went to class this morning. Between my two classes, I went to a Verizon store because my phone has been acting like a half retarded mental patient for the last few weeks. I dropped the phone off with a service technician, who said the software was outdated (of course, there's always that small chance all data on the phone would be lost). Tired and frustrated with my phone, I agreed, and went back to campus. Of course, my phone became the statistic, and I lost all my data--the phone won't even boot up now. After arguing with the tech and finally talking to a manager, I get the store to agree to allow me to buy a phone with the rebates, instead of full retail price. I pick out a phone that I'm not really excited with (seriously, the selection at Verizon sucks. Where are all those cool phones I see?), and then the sales guy disappears for 15 minutes. When he gets back, he walks me over to customer service, where I have to wait again just to pay for the phone, even though the sales rep is at a kiosk with a register.

Total time in store: 10 minutes to drop off phone, 85 minutes to buy new phone
Total people I had to talk to: 7
Total people who actually helped me: 1 (the nice guy in the front of the store greeting people)

So, if you are someone I call regularly, please call me or email me your number. Because I don't have it anymore.

My wife has been planning a post on the customer service out here, so I don't want to steal too many of her examples but I will explain the service in one word: NONEXISTENT. I was even talking to someone who thought there was good customer service in the city. It turns out she's never lived anywhere else. The service here is horrendous.


Here are some other things I've been thinking about lately (in no particular order):

--The new iTunes rocks. I just spent the better part of 4 days searching for album art for all my cds, even though I don't even have a video iPod that displays album art (I hope my wife appreciates this on her iPod). Anyway, the jukebox mode, where you can shuffle through album covers, is awesome. I didn't realize how much I missed shuffling through cd or album covers.

--Pluto. Not the whole planet/not a planet argument. The dog. As in Mickey Mouse's dog. Does anyone else think it's weird that a mouse has a dog?

--I feel bad for ASU quarterbacks in the NFL. First, we have Jake Plummer, who has led the Broncos, a team that was supposed to have one of the best offenses in the league, to just 9 points in the first two games, with no touchdowns. Second, poor Andrew Walter. He's a second-year backup quarterback for the Raiders, and their quarterback situation is so bad, he had to play most of the game yesterday. No TDs, 3 interceptions, and one intentional grounding penalty in the end zone, which drew a penalty and an automatic safety.

--Even though I supposedly live in "the city that never sleeps" (it does), I find myself missing the bar scene in Scottsdale. Maybe it is my familiarity with Scottsdale, but I found the lounges, bars and clubs there to be much more enjoyable. Now that's not to say we haven't found some amazing places here (we have), but we've encountered way more clubs that either had a bad crowd, or got too crowded, or had no crowd, or that played horrible music, or that run out of beer, or that have no distinguishing feature at all. There's no mid-level lounge scene here (like Suede, Pussycat, Kazimierz, or the bar at the Mondrian). It's either high end (expensive) or a dive.

--How much are milk and paper towels? I just paid $5.29 for a half gallon of milk, and $16.75 for a six-pack of paper towels. And don't get me started on the beer. The closest place to buy beer is one of the numerous delis (the grocery stores are a bit more of a walk), and they price the beer by the bottle, at $1.50 to $2.00. If you want a six-pack, you're paying $12. End of story.