On 2005-12-24 14:24, stuff-o-rama wrote:
My one gripe this year (in the wacky world of retail) was a phone call I received yesterday (Dec 23rd) from a boisterous woman on the phone who was screaming at me the second I said hello. She explained she was on the web site, she wanted to order an item that was noted "out of stock", she wanted it overnight delivery to NYC, she would not take NO for an answer and ended with "I'm a paying customer, how are you going to make this happen for me?" I was so caught off guard, all I could do was laugh. It just happened, all the bottled up stress just came out in hysterical laughter! So now she's fuming at me, I explained the item in question was sold out, I did not have any "hidden away" I could not "make it happen" on short notice and that I was sorry for both not being able to help her and for laughing at her request. She volleyed various obscenities at me before slamming the phone on me. I think the transit strike must have done a number on her. I almost feel bad for laughing...

SORRY to insult any particular group of people, but her needing it sent to NYC explained a lot! Did you somehow forget that the world revolves around NYC? When I was in real estate my WORST customer was a New Yorker. I called him: "The Self-Proclaimed New York Jew". My kids called him: "The Guy Who Comes to Our House and Eats Our Food..." I actually advised his fiancee not to marry him. She took my advise. He spent 2 years not buying a house and then complained that the prices had gone up too much and that he could have made a ton of money. DUH!!!

If I hadn't met some cool TC people from NY I would have given up hope! I guess there are badly behaved folks everywhere.

My 16 year old realized yesterday, the 24th, that he hadn't bought his brother a gift. So even though my presents were all wrapped, mailed, and otherwise done.... I found myself at the mall yesterday afternoon. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I only had to dodge a few people trying to step on my recently surgered foot.

Merry Christmas to you all! We are going to see if Santa left any cool shells at the beach for us!

Love,

Wendy

stuff-o-rama, I'd have laughed too...impossible not to. Though the urge to mess with her calmly for a few minutes would have been hard to resist as well.

Now THIS is customer service:

When a woman complained to Tesco to ask why her favourite chocolate was no longer available in her local store, she received a letter telling her that she had bad taste and should go elsewhere. The letter said:

"We have come to the conclusion that you and a select few have an astonishingly bad taste in chocolate and Tesco is not prepared to accommodate the less sophisticated market. We suggest you try Sainsbury's as their food is especially bland and may satisfy your plain palette (sic)."

The letter was signed Mrs S Upyours.

On 2005-12-10 06:01, TikiTikiTavi wrote:
I have one "Holiday Gripe" and that is having to call "Christmas" by some other non-offensive name because people are offended by the word "Christmas."

I agree. I just noticed how sensitive ads are becoming in using the word "Christmas" and replacing it with "Holidays". It's pretty silly in my opinion. I'm a strict atheist and I'm not offended if someone says "Merry Christmas" to me.

In fact when you consider how many nonchristian elements Christmas incorporates: misteltoes, Christmas Trees, the timing close to Winter Solstace, worship of the almighty dollar, and I'm sure there's a ton more - one can argue that Christmas celebrates many different religions, in fact several religions that predate Christ.

So please, you can wish me a Merry Christmas, and I'll say the same to you :)

All this brouhaha out there over CHRISTMAS (neener! neener! Christmaaaas!!!) seems rather pointless to me.

I mean, if I were to play 'word association' with 100 randomly picked Americans out there, I wonder what words would come up most often upon hearing the word CHRISTMAS?

Probably something like,

1. presents
2. shopping
3. bills
4. presents
5. food
6. shopping
7. stress
8. food
9. presents
   10 tree

Etcetera. I bet that "Christ" would probably be down the list a ways. I mean, is it REALLY a purely religious holiday anymore? Probably not. It's just, you know, a shopping holiday. Does anyone REALLY need to freak out about the religious implications of Christmas? NOT.

My paranoid feeling is, this is just another evil Illuminati plot to distract us from thinking about what REALLY should be concerning us...like, our credit card bills.

--grinchvixen

My sister-in-law almost kicked the shit outta some lady who twice pushed her cart into her heels while waiting in line. After the second time she pivoted around and gave her a full faced, finger wagging, expletive laced spittin' spew. The thing is, she's a small lady and I believed she really would have delivered some devastating blows. DO NOT PUSH YOUR CART INTO OTHER PEOPLE'S FEET!! :lol:

I actually got a big laugh out of the big corporations changing over to the more generic (Or so they think) phrase "Happy Holidays". If you ponder the word holiday it came from the words holy days....HELLO!

I'm off to help hubby take down the Christmas lights!

Happy New Year to you all!

On 2005-12-25 14:10, WenikiTiki wrote:
'Did you somehow forget that the world revolves around NYC? When I was in real estate my WORST customer was a New Yorker. I called him: "The Self-Proclaimed New York Jew".'

1. If the world revolved around New York City we would be living in a entirely different politcal landscape right now...if you get my drift.

2. You called your customer a 'Self-Proclaimed New York Jew', huh? Well if you called him that I guess he really never got the chance to 'proclaim' this himself. Please tell me exactly what that means. Did this individual actually do that or is this your funny little way of getting your thinly veiled Anti-Semitism out there in public?

"If I hadn't met some cool TC people from NY I would have given up hope!"

Well...thank goodness for that. I would hate to see what happened if you never owned a computer.

Oh...and by the way, Happy Hannukah, one day late.

On 2006-01-02 08:12, donhonyc wrote:

On 2005-12-25 14:10, WenikiTiki wrote:
'Did you somehow forget that the world revolves around NYC? When I was in real estate my WORST customer was a New Yorker. I called him: "The Self-Proclaimed New York Jew".'

1. If the world revolved around New York City we would be living in a entirely different politcal landscape right now...if you get my drift.

2. You called your customer a 'Self-Proclaimed New York Jew', huh? Well if you called him that I guess he really never got the chance to 'proclaim' this himself. Please tell me exactly what that means. Did this individual actually do that or is this your funny little way of getting your thinly veiled Anti-Semitism out there in public?

"If I hadn't met some cool TC people from NY I would have given up hope!"

Well...thank goodness for that. I would hate to see what happened if you never owned a computer.

Oh...and by the way, Happy Hannukah, one day late.

Sorry, I thought the part where I said "Self Proclaimed" explained it all... This guy began every negotiation with the phrase "I'm a New York Jew, so don't think I'm going to pay too much for this house." No kidding! He was so silly. And since I met him when he tried to buy one of my listings right across the street from my own house...he knew where I lived! He and his girl friend would just show up at my house, and want to go house shopping. I suspect they were bored. Many times I was out working in my garden and they would just show up! I am certainly not anti-Semitic. Or pretty much anti- anything. Okay I do really hate e-mails trying to save my soul.

As to my belief that the world revolves around NYC, it came from reading magazines and watching sit-coms... So again, I thought I was making a joke. But I GUESS I am only funny in person.

Did you miss my "Happy Chrismahanaquanzaka" greeting I left earlier? My personal belief is that it is a big world with lots of different people in it, and that we should all respect each others differences without trying to change them. Just call me Pollyanna!

I grew up as a military brat, military member, now military wife. I have traveled a great deal and have seen a lot. Living here in Hawaii is my 31st lifetime move in my 46 years on the planet. I have visited 20 countries and actually lived in 3 countries besides the US. I never have any problems with anyone, anywhere. So I certainly didn't mean to offend you. Next time I write one of my amusing anecdotes I will include all the details!

Happy New Year!

On 2004-11-30 11:46, cynfulcynner wrote:

Does anyone go caroling anymore?

TofuJoe and I go carolling every year, and we don't do any other Christmas-type celebrating (Well, we do go to Dickens Fair, but that's because were nerdy Victorian re-enactment geeks and just go to dance and drink in Tuxedoes and Hoop Skirts). We wear our "Vics" (the aforementioned Tuxes and Hoops) and carol along Picardy Drive here in Oakland, where all the neighbors deck out their houses, complete with strings of lights the connect house to house.

Oh, and in response to Cyn, bourgeois in SF (AKA Neo-Expressionist Illumination Sculptures)

On 2005-12-22 02:53, cynfulcynner wrote:

On 2005-12-21 18:13, powerofthetiki wrote:
I hate these bags of shit. I feel like shooting the crap out of this shit every time I see them !!!

One advantage of living in San Francisco is that few people have front yards, and those who do would never decorate with something so bourgeois. :roll:

As uber-fans of popular culture experiences, we also partake of the After-Thanksgiving Day Sales. We have very strict rules, though. Anything we buy must ultimately cost nothing (accept our time, which we donate in order to partake in the adventure, and a few stamps, to return all the rebate receipts). We set ourselves up by pouring through all the pre-sale ads for the free (mostly with rebate) deals, making our driving routes, and getting to bed early. One year, went with four other couples. It was a fabulous booty that year, all free (with rebate): a dozen walkie-talkies, two lava lamps, boxes of pens, pads of paper, a wireless router. Ah, good times...

I am sucked into the holiday festivities this year. Sacriledge...I bought one of those pre-lit artificial Xmas trees...someone help me puleeeez!!! I already have a small collection of nutcrackers that makes up the most of my decorum. Gonna have to find little nutcrackers to hang on the tree...that will move me into the gag-me-with-a-spoon realm of decor. I am keeping the colors to baby blue, white, silver and then the nutcrackers will speak for themselves. I'll throw some Mannheim Steamroller on the stereo and that ought to top off the barf-fest at my house. :D

Bump

The orgy of consumerism has begun!

I hate the traffic...people on the road that usually don't drive and kids with their new cars on their new cell phones.

CHRISTMAS PARROT

One day a man walked into a bar and sat down next to a guy with a parrot on his shoulder.

The bartender said, "Cute parrot, does he talk?"

The guy with the parrot says, "He does more than just talk, watch." The guy lit a match and placed it under the parrots left foot. Then the parrot started singing "Jingle Bells", it was a Christmas Parrot.
The guy then placed the match under the right foot and the parrot then started to sing "The 12 days of Christmas."

The bartender said, "That's incredible". He then asked, "What does he say when you place them between his feet?"

The guy said, "You know I never tried that, let's see."

When the match was placed between the feet of the parrot the parrot began to sing a familiar tune... "Chesnuts roasting on an open fire."

I hate that no one takes Columbus Day seriously anymore. It used to be families would hang out the Flat Earth map, kids would play with their little Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria models and the family would enjoy a traditional spaghetti and meatballs dinner before Dad headed off to the K.o.C. Hall to get loaded. These days when you bring up Columbus, kids think 'Ohio'. What's that all about?

LMAO :lol:

Washington power brokers
Make me laugh till my sides ache
Abandoning their cars by the roadside
At the sight of the first snowflake

I really hate greed

CNN: Black Friday turns tragic for Walmart

NBC Los Angeles: Black Friday argument led to Palm Desert Toy Store Shootout

[ Edited by: King Bushwich the 33rd 2012-11-27 23:59 ]

They're fighting over panties at a Sacramento Mall..

Huffington Post: Black Friday Brawl at Sacramento Mall

Christmas must be near

Hulk Smash!

Holiday hypocrisy. Not that hypocrites don't exist year-round, but as Scrooge's compatriot would say, “it is at Christmastime that it's most keenly felt.” They don't exist so much anymore with the popularity of Facebook, but those annoying, self-congratulatory annual letters people used to send out, listing and detailing all their accomplishments during the preceding year, including first bowel movements, colostomies and inductions into retirement homes. Oh, so your oldest was first in her class? How does that reflect on you? Self-importance with a glossy photo of the offspring and a cheerful stamp from a Postal Service that doesn't know how to do math. Happy New Year.

But my new peeve, not confined to the holidays by any stretch, is irony. I've seen glimpses of it here in the references to Mannheim Steamroller, but it's time for you under-thirties to stop hiding behind The Irony Curtain. You may think that watching Teletubbies, Scooby-Doo and The Star Wars Christmas Special while rolling your eyes and popping Pez is all ironic and self-conscious, but you're only trying to fool yourself. It's the low culture equivalent of eating your own boogers: enjoying something surreptitiously, in this case under the pretense of not really enjoying it. Of course this all ties back to your teen and pre-teen identity formation, but if you're over thirty and still raging about a style of music that “sucks,” it's time to grow up. Or rather, it's time to a) admit that what you're doing is something you truly enjoy, and b) admit that what other people think about that doesn't matter.

We don't surround ourselves with velvet paintings, Witco and monster face mugs because we enjoy the irony, we do it because we find virtue and pleasure in it. And most of us have the capacity to enjoy both low AND high culture, but sometimes our inner purists get the better of us. Sure, rockabilly's great. But so is progressive rock, jazz and lite classical. How can anyone keep a straight face while listening to George Shearing or Jackie Gleason, while accusing Mannheim Steamroller of being schlock?! It's all schlock, and it's all good: just enjoy and remember we're all adults now, and it doesn't matter if some of your acquaintances are still stuck making fun of what others like.

I'm not religious, but I do observe the gift-giving holiday while tolerating the music and keeping it all as minimalist as possible. I appreciate the authenticity of the tradition, and sometimes I even watch the Pope's celebration purely for the pageantry and the music. The older you get, the more you appreciate the rare quality of authenticity in the world.

So don't get me started on Kwanzaa and whatever it is the Wiccans pretend to do.

On 2012-11-28 06:48, White Devil wrote:
But my new peeve, not confined to the holidays by any stretch, is irony. I've seen glimpses of it here in the references to Mannheim Steamroller, but it's time for you under-thirties to stop hiding behind The Irony Curtain. You may think that watching Teletubbies, Scooby-Doo and The Star Wars Christmas Special while rolling your eyes and popping Pez is all ironic and self-conscious, but you're only trying to fool yourself. It's the low culture equivalent of eating your own boogers: enjoying something surreptitiously, in this case under the pretense of not really enjoying it. Of course this all ties back to your teen and pre-teen identity formation, but if you're over thirty and still raging about a style of music that “sucks,” it's time to grow up. Or rather, it's time to a) admit that what you're doing is something you truly enjoy, and b) admit that what other people think about that doesn't matter.

There are people under 30 on Tiki Central? :P

42 Million Dead In Bloodiest Black Friday Weekend On Record

oh, it's only satire, oh well...
Guess I will head back to the Wild Savage Jungle Queen thread.

[ Edited by: KING BUSHWICH THE 33RD 2013-12-02 16:04 ]

I have supported consumerism as best I can this holiday season. Gift cards...that's the ticket.

Actually Black Friday every year

Good one KB!

Ditto.

The one on the right is actually more scary!

My "holiday" gripe is that it is NOT Christmas yet!

All you're expected to do on Thanksgiving is sit around, watch TV, and eat a lot of food.
It's the perfect holiday! Stop rushing it!

I'm all for Christmas. AT Christmastime.

I have to chime in on this topic. I am thoroughly annoyed that people DO NOT send Christmas/holiday cards anymore. If I get one more form letter holiday greetings email I am going to scream. I want cards! First its ok to wear sweatpants, a sports jersey and bedroom slippers out in public and now you don't even have to send cards. Where are the standards? What about the social contract? No wonder my rum consumption is off the charts.

I do not like Christmas stuff before or after December but I do miss this place

Dam, that's cool.

On 2016-11-26 12:36, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
I do not like Christmas stuff before or after December but I do miss this place

Tanks for the memories King B.
I hadn’t thought about this place in years.

Every Day WAS Christmas - Santa Claus, California 1948-2002

Carpinteria, California

The Reindeer Room was part of Santa Claus, California -- a tourism village concept now gone. It was on the coast, near Carpinteria, and was more a roadside strip of buildings than a village. Still, it was the year-round Christmas stop for snowless coastal California, and exploited the ubiquitous "San" in most town names.

A large Santa defined the horizon, while a large snowman puffed his pipe and pondered the vast Pacific before him. Developers have plowed away any trace of Santa Claus... though the 20 ft. tall plaster Santa survives in a vacant lot turned into a Santa memorial park in Oxnard.

• See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/34482#sthash.BWN264Gl.dpuf

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2016-11-26 22:29 ]