Sarah:[narrating] Dyson listened while the Terminator laid it all down: PieNet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you hear that you're responsible for 3,141,592,653 deaths. He took it pretty well.
The PieNet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. PieNet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
I'm waiting for someone with $42.50 burning a hole in their pocket to revive the AMC car brand.
My brother's first car was an '82 AMC Eagle (bear in mind, this was around 1998). He'd had it for a day and had already poured four quarts of oil into it and was still getting the 'Low Engine Oil' light. So he took it to my dad, who opened the hood and right away noticed that the lid holding the oil filter in place was very very loose, so he tightened it and turned on the engine.
Presto! They have oil pressure! A LOT of oil pressure, it turns out, because about thirty seconds later the lid rocketed off the engine block and oil geysered into the air.
And that is the story of why my brother bought his second car (after returning the first under the state's lemon law) three days after he bought his first car.
I think the true irony lies in the whoredom of Redux Beverages that caused them to first call an energy drink 'Cocaine' and now to license a fictional drink name from Fox. It's that kind of marketing 'genius' that will put ads on every available surface like in 'Idiocracy,' and really, only caters to those who saw it and missed the point.
I would have you fired for overbooking the place to begin with.
Good luck avoiding the unemployment on that; I was in accounting.
No other places 'overbook' except hotels and airlines, and it usually ends up costing the customer time and trouble. Overbooking should be illegal.
It is, which is why those guests we walked got a free room nearby, taxi fare back to the property, and breakfast in our restaurant, all free of charge. See my other comment as to why it's done.
The moral is that you overbooked, and you let your ego get in the way of customer service
Did the fact that she made a verbal contract to occupy and pay for these rooms somehow elude you? She was in the wrong, and we had attempted to accomodate her even though she obviously had no intention of honoring that arrangement.
You are not being honest when you write that your "hands were tied by company policy" because you write that you "could have given her a large chunk back, but she decided to bully me instead."
You have obviously never worked for any sort of business before - there is company policy (which would have been repeated to her by everyone above me in the food chain) - and then there is what I could get away with. At any point I could have chosen to break with policy and not one single person would have questioned me on it. I had been with the company longer than most people she would have come into contact with, and because I routinely enforced policy (spirit of the law, if not the letter), it was assumed that I was capable of making these judgements. I wouldn't have heard a thing further had I caved to her; I got in zero trouble for adhering to policy.
Your entire post reeks of the undeserved ego of minimum wage clerks.
No, my post reeks of the undeserved bitterness that accompanies years of undeserved abuse. I was a manager.
The only damage you describe--having to reject other guests at your expense--happened only because you overbooked.
Yes we overbooked. You know why? Because every day people like her make reservations they have no intention of showing up for, nor have any intention of paying the no-show fee. In hotels, we overbook - to a point. Statistically speaking, 99% of no-show fees we be reversed; far fewer are kept than pay for the increased staffing levels at the desk, and on the shuttle, and in the restaurant, not to mention the business that's turned away that might otherwise occupy and pay for the room. She booked four rooms - it is extremely unlikely a group that large will no-show. If she'd bothered to cancel, even after check-in, we would have waived that fee because in reality, she'd have done us a favor.
What sort of upbringing did yo have that makes you think it's okay to be a dick to a perfect stranger, wage-slave or no, and expect that you'll get whatever you want?
In this situation, just take it up with your credit card company if you bought using your credit card. Otherwise, you're in trouble, no?
Despite what you may think, chargebacks aren't the be-all, end-all of resolving customer complaints. For example:
A couple of years ago, I was working in the accounting office of a "destination" hotel, and a woman named "Ann" was charged for 4 no-show reservations, to the tune of about $700. Of course, she had given us her debit card number when our reservationist asked for a credit card to guarantee these reservations, and she had about $10 left in her account. Ann called me and tried all sorts of tactics, mostly yelling and belittling me, threatened to sue, threatened to call her card company and repeatedly said these were unauthorized charges. My hands were tied by company policy (we would have been sold out that night, and in fact, we walked other guests to accomodate her block of four), so I suggested that instead of merely threatening me, she actually call her card company. She had me escalate the call to my boss, who told her the same thing I did, and then she called back and swore at me.
Any sympathy I had for her evaporated, and I made it my mission to ensure she paid for those rooms. I fought the chargeback, and won. She wrote to the Better Business Bureau - twice - and I responded that we could do nothing. She called the GM, and when I told him we paid for guests to stay elsewhere on her account, and that ended it for him. She somehow got the number for the owner of the company, and he talked to the GM, who then came to me for a refresher.
The moral is: your bank signs agreements with the credit card brands, and can only help you so far in issuing a chargeback. And, incidentally, keep your cool when talking to customer service reps. I could have given her a large chunk back, but she decided to bully me instead.
Good luck getting the executive branch to respond to subpoenas. Congress tried to subpoena testimony from Karl Rove, and look how well that turned out for them.
Slashdot Mirror
Black background; font in black.
You know what? Just turn the monitor off and go look at something with depth-of-field.
I know, but it's a mistake I rectified in my follow-up post.
Sarah: [narrating] Dyson listened while the Terminator laid it all down: PieNet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you hear that you're responsible for 3,141,592,653 deaths. He took it pretty well.
Miles Dyson: I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
John: Too much pie? Do you need some Redi-chill?
T-1: Cool Whip, dickwad.
The PieNet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. PieNet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
I'm waiting for someone with $42.50 burning a hole in their pocket to revive the AMC car brand.
My brother's first car was an '82 AMC Eagle (bear in mind, this was around 1998). He'd had it for a day and had already poured four quarts of oil into it and was still getting the 'Low Engine Oil' light. So he took it to my dad, who opened the hood and right away noticed that the lid holding the oil filter in place was very very loose, so he tightened it and turned on the engine.
Presto! They have oil pressure! A LOT of oil pressure, it turns out, because about thirty seconds later the lid rocketed off the engine block and oil geysered into the air.
And that is the story of why my brother bought his second car (after returning the first under the state's lemon law) three days after he bought his first car.
Russ Feingold isn't running. But goddamn would I vote for an Obama/Feingold ticket.
I'd rule with an iron fist from my throne of skulls, and ensure that the streets ran red with the blood of my enemies.
Same platform I ran on for student body president in high school.
Could that not be another case where if you need to go to their site for support or information, you must now install sliverlight to view that pages?
I should just wait until the new Silverlight-only page is live and then try to download a compatibility pack for Silverlight.
Keep me updated, Slashdot!
Pffft. Chuck Norris takes whatever he wants, including jokes.
The only reason the disk is still spinning is you nailed the power button "on."
Okay, so I asked him, and he didn't want to talk about it.
I think the true irony lies in the whoredom of Redux Beverages that caused them to first call an energy drink 'Cocaine' and now to license a fictional drink name from Fox. It's that kind of marketing 'genius' that will put ads on every available surface like in 'Idiocracy,' and really, only caters to those who saw it and missed the point.
You'll never arrive where you wanted to go, but you'll find you always end up where you needed to be.
I would have you fired for overbooking the place to begin with.
Good luck avoiding the unemployment on that; I was in accounting.
No other places 'overbook' except hotels and airlines, and it usually ends up costing the customer time and trouble. Overbooking should be illegal.
It is, which is why those guests we walked got a free room nearby, taxi fare back to the property, and breakfast in our restaurant, all free of charge. See my other comment as to why it's done.
The moral is that you overbooked, and you let your ego get in the way of customer service
Did the fact that she made a verbal contract to occupy and pay for these rooms somehow elude you? She was in the wrong, and we had attempted to accomodate her even though she obviously had no intention of honoring that arrangement.
You are not being honest when you write that your "hands were tied by company policy" because you write that you "could have given her a large chunk back, but she decided to bully me instead."
You have obviously never worked for any sort of business before - there is company policy (which would have been repeated to her by everyone above me in the food chain) - and then there is what I could get away with. At any point I could have chosen to break with policy and not one single person would have questioned me on it. I had been with the company longer than most people she would have come into contact with, and because I routinely enforced policy (spirit of the law, if not the letter), it was assumed that I was capable of making these judgements. I wouldn't have heard a thing further had I caved to her; I got in zero trouble for adhering to policy.
Your entire post reeks of the undeserved ego of minimum wage clerks.
No, my post reeks of the undeserved bitterness that accompanies years of undeserved abuse. I was a manager.
The only damage you describe--having to reject other guests at your expense--happened only because you overbooked.
Yes we overbooked. You know why? Because every day people like her make reservations they have no intention of showing up for, nor have any intention of paying the no-show fee. In hotels, we overbook - to a point. Statistically speaking, 99% of no-show fees we be reversed; far fewer are kept than pay for the increased staffing levels at the desk, and on the shuttle, and in the restaurant, not to mention the business that's turned away that might otherwise occupy and pay for the room. She booked four rooms - it is extremely unlikely a group that large will no-show. If she'd bothered to cancel, even after check-in, we would have waived that fee because in reality, she'd have done us a favor.
What sort of upbringing did yo have that makes you think it's okay to be a dick to a perfect stranger, wage-slave or no, and expect that you'll get whatever you want?
In this situation, just take it up with your credit card company if you bought using your credit card. Otherwise, you're in trouble, no?
Despite what you may think, chargebacks aren't the be-all, end-all of resolving customer complaints. For example:
A couple of years ago, I was working in the accounting office of a "destination" hotel, and a woman named "Ann" was charged for 4 no-show reservations, to the tune of about $700. Of course, she had given us her debit card number when our reservationist asked for a credit card to guarantee these reservations, and she had about $10 left in her account. Ann called me and tried all sorts of tactics, mostly yelling and belittling me, threatened to sue, threatened to call her card company and repeatedly said these were unauthorized charges. My hands were tied by company policy (we would have been sold out that night, and in fact, we walked other guests to accomodate her block of four), so I suggested that instead of merely threatening me, she actually call her card company. She had me escalate the call to my boss, who told her the same thing I did, and then she called back and swore at me.
Any sympathy I had for her evaporated, and I made it my mission to ensure she paid for those rooms. I fought the chargeback, and won. She wrote to the Better Business Bureau - twice - and I responded that we could do nothing. She called the GM, and when I told him we paid for guests to stay elsewhere on her account, and that ended it for him. She somehow got the number for the owner of the company, and he talked to the GM, who then came to me for a refresher.
The moral is: your bank signs agreements with the credit card brands, and can only help you so far in issuing a chargeback. And, incidentally, keep your cool when talking to customer service reps. I could have given her a large chunk back, but she decided to bully me instead.
L. L. Bean made several customers for life that day.
Of course, since L.L. Bean items are guaranteed for life, your daughter was already a customer for life the second she got her item.
I'm with you, though. Customer service reps who aren't dicks do more to promote their companies than any pre-sale rep ever could.
CDMA and unlocked, for starters.
Of course, the company behind Charmin has a viable business model.
They have the same basic business model as the traders who shorted SCO stock - they all rely on other people being full of shit.
Are you by any chance a giant ant?
If they're going to keep straying from their original vision, they should at least have the decency to call it "No Laptop Left Behind."
Might as well call it The Nutcracker.
Unfair! Fred Thompson might be an asshole too, if we only give him a chance.
Good luck getting the executive branch to respond to subpoenas. Congress tried to subpoena testimony from Karl Rove, and look how well that turned out for them.
The joke's that he's dead, right?
Yes, and you're right - I should apologize to his widow.
What's that you say? Ohhh...