Extinction of a species.. thwarted?

A recent announcement by the United Nations that the world may not be facing extinction of indigenous breeds is a surprising turn of events to areas with huge populations such as California. A report by the Hollywood Institute titled Peroxide Preservation and Diversity Report 1989/1990 reported the last known Valley Girl was found dead of starvation due to locking herself in a car. A recent find far north of the last known habitat of the Valley Girl shows that there maybe smaller pockets of the once thought extinct Valley Girl.

According to researcher John Timer, this new discovery is astonishing as it means that the genetic characteristics of the once disappeared breed may not have been lost forever. John ‘The Timler’, once interacted in their native environment in the 80’s and and warned us of the possible extinction factor. He is currently preparing for a field excursion on hopes of capture and at least an overnight study. “Oh man, I’m so getting my mullet back, I’m gonna get some hot action. Where’s my Poison cd?” Timler’s trials on the preservation of the Valley Girl can be found in his unauthorized autobiography ‘Leg Warmers in the Mist’.

Previous rumors of an ‘Eve’ type breeder on the east coast were dismissed by Timler in the mid-90’s after the plumage of a young woman was examined and found only to be a bad hair day and “Nothing else clean to wear, got something against leopard skin tights? Pervert!”
Governments around the world have been in talks about creating not a wildlife preserve, but a ‘party-life preserve’ , which would provide a more suitable breeding environment. Scientists and researchers are now poring over satellite photos to see if there are any ‘Duudes!’ to help perpetuate the species. Timler advises that he would be the most suitable candidate to supervise any breeding projects as he knows the species quite well after years of investigation.

The mating call of ‘Like Totally’ and ‘Are you all on the same team?’ may once again echo throughout shopping malls once again.

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The above was 'The Onion' inspired, after a phone call I had to make this morning from work. Tracking down a package that was sent to the wrong address. I phoned them and gave them a heads up and asked them if they could look for the package. The reply....

"Like totally, if I find it, I'll totally like call you back. Is there like a number I can like contact you at?"

Once thought extinct, the Valley Girl lives on, somehow clinging to life in the cruel cold climates of the prairies in Canada. Keep up the head bobbling Valley girl, I'll be on the phone with WWE to report the sighting.

I'm still here,
Pike

I have been quit for 3 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 1 hour, 56 minutes and 30 seconds (109 days). I have saved $575.94 by not smoking 1,199 cigarettes. I have saved 4 Days, 3 hours and 55 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 8/6/2007 9:20 AM

Remember

My grandfather served in the Canadian Navy, somewhere I've got his memoirs, I really shoud dig those up, reread them, maybe I can fill in a lot of the gaps. Who knows maybe it could turn out to be a decent read.

He was a big strong man, over 6 feet tall, and could drive a four inch nail into a railroad tie with one hit of the hammer. And it was Lou Gerigs syndrome or ALS that took his life.

Today is November 11th, a day to remember the veterans of war, like my grandfather. I really can't imagine him on a boat, setting the primer cord for depth charges.

I do remember his humor though. It was subtle and slid past you if you weren't sharp or quick enough to catch it. No matter what happened, even after he was diagnosed, he said to me that I "would be okay". He also told me once that he almost met Elvis...

But his shovel broke.


True story.


I'm still here,
Pike

I have been quit for 3 Months, 5 Days, 13 hours, 54 minutes and 37 seconds (97 days). I have saved $515.21 by not smoking 1,170 cigarettes. I have saved 4 Days, 1 hour and 30 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 8/6/2007 9:20 AM

Beware! ... The Customer....

Today...

I receive a package that has parts. No written instructions, no indication what's wrong with the parts, original packaging nowhere to be found, and only indication as to where it came from is written in black block letters ontop of painters tape which held down the lid for the box. Broken bits of styrofoam packaging (from what appears to be a set of speakers) were holding the parts in place.

How long should it take for a customer to return a part? With clear instructions, arranged pickup paperwork for shipment and return form? Should be done within a day, right?

Try 2 years.

Yep, it was about 2 years ago today I arranged for some faulty parts to be arranged to be sent to a repair depot, called in courier, faxed return forms and bill of lading to the customer. Enter a phase of calling each week and confirming if the customer had sent the part out. No replies to voicemails, written phone messages, faxes and all the other inquiries. After 4 months I made final voice mails and faxes, then closed the file as the warranty had expired 3 months previous. And I had convinced the repair depot that they should extend the warranty out longer to get it covered, they agreed as it would cost them more to do this as a billed item.) Track it down through the files, call up the sales people and then they confirm another thing for me... There was no original sale through us on these parts. It was originally sold by the 3rd party repair depot to the customer.

2 Years it took them to
- Ignore instructions clearly sent in multiple format (Voicemail, fax, e-mail)
- Send the parts to the wrong location and country
- Throw away their warranty coverage

Umpteen hours total of my time
- Fighting for customer rights
- Arranging for warranty coverage
- Arranging for courier pickup

I honestly don't know why they took that long to send, they made a huge fuss over the state of the parts in the beginning when we were first contacted. Did they loose the parts? Did all of that paperwork confuse them because they cannot read? Was there anything actually wrong with those parts to begin with? Did they have an epidemic of apathy? Did they get hit in the head and end up in a soap opera coma for 2 years?

I don't know.

I really don't want to know.

All I know is that one thing is for sure in customer service. The issues and problems are just like zombies wearing bullet proof helmets. You can shoot them, chainsaw them, explode them with dynamite, throw them down into a bottomless cavern and deal with them anyway you like... they will still get up and continue to go after your brains.

I'm still here,
Pike

P.S. Here's a meterflash, and no I did not edit the text from quitkeeper... and it took me a bit to get the final edit done on the above stuff.

I have been quit for 3 Months, 3 Days, 3 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds (95 days). I have
saved $502.37 by not smoking 1,046 cigarettes. I have saved 3 Days, 15 hours and 10 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 8/6/2007 9:20 AM