Customer Unservice

My butt is sore.  I need a new computer chair.  The one I’ve been using forever is a 32 year old folding chair.  I’m amazed my back isn’t more out of whack than it already is.

So I decided this weekend I was going to buy myself a new computer chair.  There’s a Healthy Back store just down the street from me.  I’d eyed a couple of $400 chairs online.  (Yes, I’m willing to pay that much for a chair.)  Turns out they weren’t as comfortable as I’d have liked.  However, an $800 chair fit the bill beautifully.  (And yes, I was willing to spend that much money on it.)  The store had the chair in stock and could assemble it and deliver it to me on Tuesday.  Except that I work on Tuesday. I’d already taken Friday off, so I wasn’t keen on asking for another day off.

I asked if they could deliver after 7 pm, since that’s about the time I normally get home.  The manager said they couldn’t deliver that late because the warehouse is in Beltsville, MD, (about 20 miles from here) and the delivery men wouldn’t be able to get home to spend time with their families.

Well, par-dōn me if my spending nearly $1000 would cause a little one-time inconvenience!   I told them I’d have to think about it and walked out.

You know what’s worse?  I drive 30 miles twice a day to work!  It’s not convenient, but I do it.

Chances are, if the manager had been pleasant to me, I’d have gone ahead and just had the chair delivered next Saturday.  But from the time I walked into the store, he treated me like I was  a burden to him.  Too bad, because the gal that waited on  me was quite nice.

Hunkering down

The one saving factor of the Great Snowfall of ’09 I thought, was that we’d most likely be done with Big Snow this winter.  Wrong! So now we’re expecting even more snow than we got in December.  It’s the Great Snowstorm of… Ten?  One-oh?

The neighbors are having a little storm party tonight.  And because I live in a condo with a covered stairwell, I don’t even have to put on my snow boots to go!  I was told there will be libations.  Woohoo!

I hear the grocery stores were busy last night and today—even at 6:00 in the morning.  Fortunately, I went to the grocery store on Tuesday evening to pick up some milk (already had enough bread and toilet paper), and a few other things—most importantly, cat treats.  (Life would be hell if I didn’t have them the next few days.)   Apparently one of the big items this time around is cheese.  Some woman on the radio said there was no cheese anywhere.  She asked, indignantly, “Who needs that much cheese?”  Well, it is Super Bowl weekend, so I imagine cheese and chips and wings and whatnot were on a lot of peoples’ lists.

Me?  I already have enough cheese.  I stocked up on ice cream. 

Smile for the camera!

I have horrible teeth.  Not that they’re filled with cavities, theyr’e not.  But they are unsightly.  I have a cap (crown), a bridge and little teeth, all within smiling distance.  And none of them match.  So, I decided to look into cosmetic dentistry.  My hairdresser gave me the name of two cosmetic dentists, and one is even a Navy vet.  I thought about seeing her, but since (most of) the work can be done by my regular dentist (and I really like him), I had him take a look.

I just came back from my consult with him.  The bad news, it’s very expensive—even more than I thought it would be.  The good news is my insurance will most likely pay for about half of the cost of replacing the cap and the bridge.  Of course, it won’t pay for the veneers (which are even more expensive than the bridge!), but it does put a limit on how much the dentist can charge for the veneer, and that works in my favor.  Plus, there are a couple of financing companies that offer 18 months interest free payments.

What’s surprised me is how much it lifted my spirits.  By having the goal of a better smile, it seems to make work more palatable.  Like I finally have something to work for, and something to look forward to.

As for the camera, Time magazine is coming tomorrow to take pictures for an article they’re writing.  My guess is the article is about the new Cyber Command, which is being made up of NSA and my command.  They’re not supposed to show up until 5:00 pm, and I’m normally gone by then, but perhaps I’ll stick around to see what’s up.  Or maybe not.

Did you watch the V pilot last night?  Yeah?  What’d ya think?