![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniThursday was a very headdesky day.
First, there was the issue of getting my Secret Santee's present printed up by Kinkos online; I was thinking, that since the delivery would be to someone in the UK, it would be easiest to have a UK Kinkos branch print and deliver it.... And everything seems to be going fine, until I get to the part where I expect to find out how much it costs and put in my Credit card info. But instead of that being direct, they send me an email with a seperate, secure link where I'm supposed to get more information on how to complete my order... The email comes, but I.E. can't find the server when I click on it. So I figure the order's incomplete, and decide to try again later.
When I try again later, and try to upload my file again, the site keeps freezing, and I can't click the [next] button... I send an email to the customer service, trying to describe my problem, but I get a reply from a 'bot that only sees keywords, and all it tells me is: "Sure, it's easy to print something to a foreign office, all you have to do is click 'For non-US orders'...."
(headdesk)
Okay, so I decide to try again in the middle of the night, when my 'nets may be more cooperative.
Oh, and remember how I said that on Monday, my motor wheelchair malfunctioned? Well, it did... it went kaput-kaputzle. First it went in circles, and then it didn't go at all. So I'm trying to get around the house in my manual chair. It's possible. But it's slow. So a delivery person rings my doorbell... and has already driven off by
the time I'm just in sight of the door.
So, sometime after six, the wheelchair repair man comes to my door to clean up the contacts in my chair, and he brings the package inside... But the delivery person sent it to the wrong house; it was meant to go to house #500 on an entirely different court -- the only thing that's the same about our two addresses is the #500 and the postal code... You'd think delivery people would have the skill of reading street signs and matching them to address labels down pat... but apparently not.
(headdesk)
And then the the jolly repair man gets my chair going straight again. So I happily pay him the $50 for the house call, wish him a very happy new year, and send him on his way... And after he's gone, I go to motor the chair over to the handrail so I can transfer... and the chair starts going in circles again, and then stops. So I believe my chair is now as dead as that poor Norwegian Blue Parrot (It's not dead! It's just pinin' for the fjords!).
Headdesk.... But at least it decided to die before I'd transferrred, rather than after I had driven it into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet... (If I had done that, then, I'd have been trapped on the toilet until after Monday, Noon). I breathe a small sigh of relief for small blessings, and call the phone number on the address label. But it's a cell phone, and it's turned off. I dial 411 for the home phone number, and choose the $0.45 fee to have them direct dial it. And the direct dialler gets it wrong.
(headdesk)
So I call 411 again, and this time, I memorize the number, and dial it myself, and leave a message on their answering machine...
Later, I try again with the Kinkos thing. I finally figure out what I'm supposed to do to get it to work, and this time, instead of sending me a wonky url, they just give me the instructions in the text of the email -- and I'm suppposed to telephone the Kinkos branch, in London, in order to complete the business transaction.
So -- international phone rates, and I don't have an international plan... (headdesk). Still, I figure better to do it right then, in the middle of the night when the rates are going to be the cheapest they're going to be, if I'm going to do it at all. Only, I forget that it's "011" to dial first (I thought it was just "01"), and I forget about deleting the first "0" from the local number; so I have to call the Operator for a reminder, and that ups the rate again.... And finally, at about 2:30 am, my time, I get through to the Kinkos branch.
Lucky for me, the person on the other end is a cheerful, geeky-sounding helpful sort of fellow... and he tells me that I actually printed out two copies, so my first attempt actually worked after all (after putting me on hold ... BTW, the Kinkos branch on Curzon Street in London plays upbeat, skiffy sounding music for their hold soundtrack), and I manage to give my credit card number to pay for everything. ... Oh, and he told me it would have been a lot cheaper if I had had the thing printed in the US and shipped overseas (that's even without the long distance phone call). Next time, I'll know better. Though I'm seriously considering looking for an alternative to Kinkos... the corporation is not nearly as helpful since the merger with FedEx...
*Sigh*. It's going to be expensive, but I figure it's worth it, because when I hung up, I was in a much more cheerful mood than when I first called. I have such geek love. And it's happy-making when random contacts turn out to be with nice people on the other end.
And I got a private message from the Secret Santa Secretary that she got my gift this morning; she also knows my Santee personally, and assured me he'll like what I did. The kinkos people had creased it, so it would fit through her letter slot, but she said she'd iron it out for me and roll it up into a nice poster tube, and send it on.
So, there's my Secret Santa project complete.
And this afternoon, my almost neighbor came by to pick up the package, and he was cheerful and friendly, too.
So. Nearly all the headdesks of the last 25 (or so) hours are all sorted. And now, I have a kitty lovin' all on me.
So I guess I'm pretty okay...
First, there was the issue of getting my Secret Santee's present printed up by Kinkos online; I was thinking, that since the delivery would be to someone in the UK, it would be easiest to have a UK Kinkos branch print and deliver it.... And everything seems to be going fine, until I get to the part where I expect to find out how much it costs and put in my Credit card info. But instead of that being direct, they send me an email with a seperate, secure link where I'm supposed to get more information on how to complete my order... The email comes, but I.E. can't find the server when I click on it. So I figure the order's incomplete, and decide to try again later.
When I try again later, and try to upload my file again, the site keeps freezing, and I can't click the [next] button... I send an email to the customer service, trying to describe my problem, but I get a reply from a 'bot that only sees keywords, and all it tells me is: "Sure, it's easy to print something to a foreign office, all you have to do is click 'For non-US orders'...."
(headdesk)
Okay, so I decide to try again in the middle of the night, when my 'nets may be more cooperative.
Oh, and remember how I said that on Monday, my motor wheelchair malfunctioned? Well, it did... it went kaput-kaputzle. First it went in circles, and then it didn't go at all. So I'm trying to get around the house in my manual chair. It's possible. But it's slow. So a delivery person rings my doorbell... and has already driven off by
the time I'm just in sight of the door.
So, sometime after six, the wheelchair repair man comes to my door to clean up the contacts in my chair, and he brings the package inside... But the delivery person sent it to the wrong house; it was meant to go to house #500 on an entirely different court -- the only thing that's the same about our two addresses is the #500 and the postal code... You'd think delivery people would have the skill of reading street signs and matching them to address labels down pat... but apparently not.
(headdesk)
And then the the jolly repair man gets my chair going straight again. So I happily pay him the $50 for the house call, wish him a very happy new year, and send him on his way... And after he's gone, I go to motor the chair over to the handrail so I can transfer... and the chair starts going in circles again, and then stops. So I believe my chair is now as dead as that poor Norwegian Blue Parrot (It's not dead! It's just pinin' for the fjords!).
Headdesk.... But at least it decided to die before I'd transferrred, rather than after I had driven it into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet... (If I had done that, then, I'd have been trapped on the toilet until after Monday, Noon). I breathe a small sigh of relief for small blessings, and call the phone number on the address label. But it's a cell phone, and it's turned off. I dial 411 for the home phone number, and choose the $0.45 fee to have them direct dial it. And the direct dialler gets it wrong.
(headdesk)
So I call 411 again, and this time, I memorize the number, and dial it myself, and leave a message on their answering machine...
Later, I try again with the Kinkos thing. I finally figure out what I'm supposed to do to get it to work, and this time, instead of sending me a wonky url, they just give me the instructions in the text of the email -- and I'm suppposed to telephone the Kinkos branch, in London, in order to complete the business transaction.
So -- international phone rates, and I don't have an international plan... (headdesk). Still, I figure better to do it right then, in the middle of the night when the rates are going to be the cheapest they're going to be, if I'm going to do it at all. Only, I forget that it's "011" to dial first (I thought it was just "01"), and I forget about deleting the first "0" from the local number; so I have to call the Operator for a reminder, and that ups the rate again.... And finally, at about 2:30 am, my time, I get through to the Kinkos branch.
Lucky for me, the person on the other end is a cheerful, geeky-sounding helpful sort of fellow... and he tells me that I actually printed out two copies, so my first attempt actually worked after all (after putting me on hold ... BTW, the Kinkos branch on Curzon Street in London plays upbeat, skiffy sounding music for their hold soundtrack), and I manage to give my credit card number to pay for everything. ... Oh, and he told me it would have been a lot cheaper if I had had the thing printed in the US and shipped overseas (that's even without the long distance phone call). Next time, I'll know better. Though I'm seriously considering looking for an alternative to Kinkos... the corporation is not nearly as helpful since the merger with FedEx...
*Sigh*. It's going to be expensive, but I figure it's worth it, because when I hung up, I was in a much more cheerful mood than when I first called. I have such geek love. And it's happy-making when random contacts turn out to be with nice people on the other end.
And I got a private message from the Secret Santa Secretary that she got my gift this morning; she also knows my Santee personally, and assured me he'll like what I did. The kinkos people had creased it, so it would fit through her letter slot, but she said she'd iron it out for me and roll it up into a nice poster tube, and send it on.
So, there's my Secret Santa project complete.
And this afternoon, my almost neighbor came by to pick up the package, and he was cheerful and friendly, too.
So. Nearly all the headdesks of the last 25 (or so) hours are all sorted. And now, I have a kitty lovin' all on me.
So I guess I'm pretty okay...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-16 09:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-16 06:35 pm (UTC)I really should get a Pooh, icon (original illustration, please, not Disney), especially since I named this house "Sanders," and live near the Great Dismal Swamp (Eyeore's Gloomy Place).
no subject
Date: 2006-12-17 04:50 am (UTC)But not in a Winnie-the-Pooh story. (You may be thinking of "On Friday... oh bother. What did happen on Friday?")
no subject
Date: 2006-12-17 09:18 pm (UTC)Or I could be thinking of when Pooh and Piglet go around to the neighbors, wishing them a very happy ... Tuesday, is it?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-16 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-16 06:35 pm (UTC)