Posts Tagged ‘Rants’

When companies MUST provide wifi to their customers

Monday, April 9th, 2007

I have a belief that certain businesses should definitely provide wireless Internet services to it’s clientele. These are businesses where it’s either expected of the business to carry wifi or it’s necessary based on the type of business and/or the clientele served by the business. Keep in mind that most of the businesses listed below provide services to people who MIGHT be travelling. Travellers may find it harder to find specific services in the area for which they are travelling without prior research.

Cafes and Coffee shops - All cafes and coffee shops should provide free wifi services to their clients. In fact, providing wireless Internet service is actually a staple to compete in the coffee shop business. It’s no longer solely based on the flavour of the beverages you serve anymore. But it stands to reason, coffee shops are mainly frequented for their ambience. They are pretty popular with business people and college students alike. There was a coffee shop in Lethbridge, Alberta I went to called the Penny Coffee Shop (I think) and while the hot chocolate was pretty steep on the price, it provided me the power to talk with my lovely Becca. This is invaluable. And I am pretty sure the services were well used by the many college students that walked into and out of the coffee shop.

Long-haul transit services - Companies such as Greyhound and Amtrak should provide wireless internet services simply due to the fact that they are long-haul transit providers. These should generally be provided in their customer lobbies for customers who are waiting copious amounts of time for things such as lay overs or a line change. Like, for an example - when you get to the end of the line for a route like Empire Builder in Portland, Oregon - it would be a great idea to provide wifi services while waiting for a train to take you on the rest of the route. And it would seem that for Amtrak, it would also be feasible to integrate it into the cars. I mean, they have found a way to integrate a snack bar into the transit service - how much harder could this be?

Motels - I don’t care what anyone says about this - wifi in motels is a NECESSITY. It allows you to remain in touch with your loved ones, friends, business associates and family. Therefore, to reduce the level of homesickness, it would definitely be a good idea to integrate wireless services into Motels. Most motels are picking up on this fast - the proof being that the smaller motels like O’Haire Manor Motel and Sherlock Motel in Shelby, Montana. But there are still motels like the nasty biker motel just out of the United States border in Sweetgrass, Montana.

Restaurants - Depending on your location and the nature of your clientele, this could go either way. Most likely, if this is just a family restaurant, this is not really a necessity. If this is a romantic kind of restaurant, you might want to stay as far away from providing wifi as possible. But if you get a lot of business people visiting your restaurant, do them a favour and provide wifi services in your restaurants. Your business will probably be frequented more by business people if you provide great food and a way to show a presentation without necessarily needing it onto their hard drive.

And to everyone else, think about your clientele and their needs carefully and you might find that it would actually be in your best interest to provide wireless internet to your clients.

Businesses, learn to pick up the phone!

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

I hate calling the customer service department of a business. Generally, it means being transferred to the right person/department/whatever more than once, hopefully getting the support you need and tolerating that horrible hold music and “hold advice” that they give. I am going to talk to you about a couple of my pet peeves in how a business runs and hopefully, this will inspire you to run your call centre in a more efficient manner. And know that until I can afford to take these measures, I am not going to run a call centre. In fact, I only give my number out to clients or possibly prospective clients. (more…)

Back in the Fray!

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

So, the journey of waiting for my MacBook Pro’s power adapter is finally over. Let me retell the epic story because I’d really want a record for my own ranting purposes. On Thursday, I was using the MacBook while sitting on the couch and I noticed that the battery dropped to 10% capacity. So I went back to my room where the power adaptor was and a few moments later, boom. The AC adaptor burned out. So I frantically started to dig around trying to find my AppleCare enrolment number because I knew that I was entitled to a brand new AC adaptor. After numerous hours of searching and searching, I found the AppleCare enrolment number on the CD of software that came with the AppleCare package. (more…)

Hell is interacting with your roommates

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

I’m back at the computer store - for the third time since my MacBook Pro’s AC Adapter fried. You see, I thought I would be able to study the Dharma and become a better buddhist while I am waiting for my MacBook Pro’s AC Adapter to come in the mail. Wrong! You see, recently my roommate is becoming more and more annoying with his accusations that I am stealing his food. WTF? I stole absolutely nothing from that asshole because (a) it is wrong to steal from someone and (b) he has nothing I’d want. In fact, earlier yesterday - he made a false accusation that I stole his Doritos. Wrong! (more…)

Called Apple

Friday, March 9th, 2007

Okay, so I called Apple (I am posting this at a local computer store) and basically it will take a few days for me to get my AC adapter. So I should be back on early next week. So stay smexy, m’kay?

Ill.

Monday, March 5th, 2007

I am sick. My nose is stuffy and my nose has been running since I woke up this afternoon at 2pm. I feel like complete shit and it gets worse. My asshole landlord has decided to start a new rule where showers are limited to one 10 minute shower a day. I mean, it really sucks and I am not too happy about it. So if you don’t mind, I am taking the day off because I can’t serve clients effectively today while snot is coming out of my nose and I feel like complete shit. But after today, I am going to cook myself a big hunk of that hamburger meat that I have in the freezer.

Don’t Order from Alibris!

Monday, March 5th, 2007

I would highly recommend avoiding Alibris as much as you possibly can. I’ve ordered from them in the past and it resulted in some kind of problem. My books didn’t even make it to the address I was using then within their designated time coordinates. Now, I know for a fact that Alibris does not directly sell the books, but rather, they are sold by others, much in the same way that Craigslist or eBay works, but there is one small little problem with their model. There is no dispute service where you can raise a concern directly to the staff at Alibris. No contact information where you can speak one-on-one with a live agent. And the only way that I was able to get a refund was because I raised a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau where Alibris is located. (more…)

Why be US-Centric?

Monday, February 26th, 2007

I tried to register for outside.in but guess what? They don’t support Canada nor Canadian towns yet! Fucking faggots. But it got me to thinking, why is it that there are so many US-Centric companies out there? I am talking about the companies that severely limit membership or hinder registration due to the lack of internationalization in their programmes. (more…)

FOAD Thursday: Online Dating Whores

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

This Thursday’s Fuck off and Die Thursday is about those women that abuse the online dating system and basically lure men into contacting them only to fool them. I usually refer to this type of woman here as an Emotional Mercenary or simply as a Mercenary but when they abuse an online dating system, I refer to them as Online Dating Whores. These women are a consummate evil to the Internet, providing false hope to the desperate. I just recently got targeted by one (as you can read by my previous posts) and I have been targeted by several throughout the course of my stay here in Calgary.

I refuse to believe that all women are like this and I truly believe that there is someone out there for me and when I find her, she will treat me with the respect and dignity I deserve as a human being. I am just starting to believe more and more that I am NOT going to be able to find her in this city/province. Why can’t I just fund a woman that is looking for a mutually loving and respectful agape relationship? I am not interested in a solely Eros relationship and while a philia relationship is nice, I don’t want that at this time of my life.

Delayed ETAs and Bon Jovi on repeat

Monday, January 8th, 2007

Okay, so I got burned by another girl. Yeah, this was NOT cool. But the cool thing was that she was a little less rotten than other girls that I have talked to online. I am just so tired of this and I would just like to find someone that I can hold and embrace. Someone that I can walk life’s path with. Someone that will accept and appreciate me for everything that I am. Someone that will love me with an agape love that I will love them with. You see, I have never been loved by another human being. Not my family, no girlfriends and no reliable friends in this world. I am not very popular because I refuse to conform to other people’s standards.

I am not in the mood to talk to many people. And if you do wish to talk to me, you had better be able to withstand many minutes, if not hours, of ranting about how hard it is to find someone of the opposite sex that will love you. About how everyone with a loving family or close, reliable friends is blessed. I am not in a mood to pretend to be happy. Forgive me if I refuse to respond to your private messages or what not, I would not be in a good mood anyways. I am also writing a whole number of posts for four days (8 posts) so I don’t have to respond to comments. It’s evil, I know, but I am not in the mood to play comment police.

To my faithful clients: You will receive everything you ordered. Plus, I will remember this when you want another project so you will very likely save money on your next project. However, when life continuously shits on you, it does not allow you to focus on your work. It’s only two days more in many cases and I apologise for the additional time required. I just need time to centre myself.