Old? Who's old?

What was I thinking?

Back when I first Googled (seems so long ago) I did what everyone else does, and swears they'd never do. You've done it, so stop lying that you haven't. It, of course is Googling oneself.

What a non-event that was. My name came up thanks to my company's website, and from about a million races I'd entered that published their results online.

Still...I came up on Google!

Did it again a couple of days ago, and whadya know, my name came up on the company website, and about ten million races I'd been in that published their results online. Then, there was one more. There's a blogger here in Kingston who calls himself the "Kingston Radio Insider." He says that he wants to start a dialogue that will help educate advertisers in an objective way so they can better understand what's "really" going on in the market. Fair enough. So I read further and found my new station 989 The Drive mentioned. He seemed to like what we were about to do on the air, and even mentioned me as the new morning host. Okay. Then I went a bit further to find him asking "...the Spring book will tell us if CTVglobemedia can put an old Kingston jock to grab the young male audience." So you know, the Spring Book is a ratings tool that all stations in the country use to gauge their audience and set advertising rates.

Old Kingston jock?

Kingston...yes. Jock...definitely. Old...kind of harsh don't you think? Eddie Vedder and I are the same age. Eddie Vedder can't be old! Yipes! If you're going to put me in a slot, why the hell would you choose old? I've spent my entire life getting told that I'm TOO YOUNG to do things which I want to do. NOW I'M OLD!

Call me too skinny. Make fun of my crazy hair. My squeaky voice. My inability to talk in a slick, formatted, focused manner.

Just don't call me OLD!

Here's a thought: Kingston Radio Blogger, how about you and I go for a little run together. Nothing more than five k's. I'll set the pace. Then we can see who feels old.

Gawd I hope you're not fast!

It's not my fault!

All I wanted was for them to come and haul away my old fridge like they said they would. That's it. I was not interested in how busy they were, how other employees didn't do their jobs right or how "sometimes these things happen."

Just come and get the fridge!

My wife and I decided that it was time to give the North American power grid a break and buy a new power-saving refrigerator. We ended up getting one that was not only easy on electricity, but also could fit enough food to feed our growing (and growing and growing) son.

That part was easy.

When we bought it, the store offered to take our old one off our hands for 20 bucks. To me that was a deal. But my wife said there was this program she'd heard about where the government would come and get the old appliance and make sure it was disposed of properly (as in not plugged back in by someone who bought it second hand from a retailer).

So we stuck the old fridge in our garage.

Where it sat.

And sat.

And....sat.

Finally the Ontario Power Corporation started running commercials on 98 3 Fly FM (a fine fine radio station with probably the best late-morning show I've ever heard) saying they'd come around and take it away. So I booked an appointment on the Internet. They called back to say they'd come in about five weeks.

I was a bit disappointed, but still happy that we'd get rid of the old thing, and save me at least 20 bucks, so I did everything they asked which included plugging in the old machine to make sure it worked and to do so again 24 hours before pickup. They were very clear about the four hour window in which they'd come around, and I was thrilled to know that I'd done something that would clean at least a small portion of our Sanford and Son-esque garage.

Yesterday was f-day. My window started at 2pm, so I booked off early from work and rode home like crazy to be there early. Got in at 1:30, and saw the message light flashing on the phone. It was the fridge guy telling me that I was not there when he came, so I'd have to reschedule.

Damn!

Re-checked the date and time. Nope, I was right...2pm-6pm on the 26th.

Called appliance-central, and talked to a nice guy who said he'd get to the bottom of this and get them to come back and pick it up.

So I waited.

And waited.

And...waited.

At 6:05 I called the 800 number again. The nice woman who answered told me that I must have had the day or time or both wrong. Nope, I'd even been reminded by her call centre the night before and wrote the details down.

She continued to point out that a) the message may have got out wrong to the driver, b) the person who notified me the night before may have got it wrong, c) I probably got it wrong, d) the driver may have got there early (duh) and before she could get to e) I simply asked her to come and get my fridge. Like I was promised.

Here's the point. Sometimes things get messed up. I know this because I've lived it. I don't need to know who's fault it is, what caused the problem or even why this happens. Who did what doesn't fix my problem...a friggin' fridge in my garage!!!

Have you noticed how often this happens though? You aren't calling some place to blame the person on the phone for whatever problem has come up. But the person on the other end gives you the whole litany of what can and probably did go wrong and who in particular causes this.

"The Customer is always right" doesn't have to be proved by "here are the reasons this place I work for always screws up."

Just take a little responsibility. Convince me that you want to fix my problem. Stop ratting out your co-workers and employer.

...and come and get my fridge.