Daily Mess

Not SubWay Bound

2008-03-17T13:38:00.003-04:00

Subway: 512 7th Ave, New York, NY 10018, March 28, 2007 (1pm)

While at my visit to this particular location, I decided to eat in at the restaurant. While I was on line getting my order, "Nancy" (whom I assume is a manager of some sort, seeing her at another nearby location), took part of my order and passed it onto the next sandwich preparer.

As she was partially preparing my sandwich, she asked the next customer what she wanted and started taking her order while she was passing mine along; given, it's the lunch hour, everybody's going out to get something to eat in a hurry and wants enjoy some of the nice weather. As the next order after mine is being taken, she asks the customer what she'd like and is obviously not paying much mind as she mistook the order, to start taking the next customer. When the customer after me told her that this wasn't her sandwich, "Nancy" snapped back by saying "This is what you ordered, I know what you ordered!"

So I thought that it was a pretty rude thing to say as I work in Food Handling/Customer Service myself -- that's not the way I talk to my customers! Now I'm sitting down to enjoy my lunch and the line gets longer, "Nancy" starts to get more and more aggressive with the customers and takes 2 and 3 orders at a time trying to cut the line down. This, again, is fully understandable, it's the lunch hour, people are crowding in, you want to make everybody happy, etc., and I hear that the next order or 2 were also incorrect.

As she was taking customers, she'd keep asking "What else, what else" they wanted in their sandwiches without giving them the chance to tell her what they in fact wanted in their sandwiches, which even to me (as I was eating), became frustrating. The next customer that comes along wanted cheese in his sandwich and she asks "What kind?" and he must have told her what kind of cheese he wanted, but probably didn't hear him as she quickly went on to take the next customer; so when she got back to him she snapped "I asked you what kind of cheese do you wanted, American, Swiss or Provolone?"

This was obviously getting out of hand, because on top of taking the orders, she quickly pushed the sandwiches down the counter to the next person making comments about there being too many customers at the restaurant in a way that suggested that it was an inconvenience to her (then why are you working there?).

After my meal, I went up to her and politely asked her what her name was, to which she quickly responded "Why would you like to know my name?" Such a shady question, don't you think? Obviously, she would've given me her name in an instant and if you're doing your job right, there should be no need question why a customer would want your name, no?

Later on, I go on the website for Subway to get the address of this location and see that it's owned by NARINDER SINGH and it kindly has a mobile number where Narinder may be reached. I also made the connection between Narinder and Nancy as it can more easily be remembered; she’s the same person. So, I decide to call and ask for "Nancy" to which she responds "Who? (I gave my name) Wh-who's this, no this isn't Nancy, you've got the wrong number!" Why ask "who's this" and then tell that that you've got the wrong number, but you have your number listed on the website???

The WOK Out

2008-02-07T15:06:00.000-05:00

I am not sure if customer service is a high priority to some privately owned restaurants, but losing a customer is probably at the very bottom of the list. When it comes to being hungry and all, poor customer service is not something that ought to be directed at, well, the hungry customer! I agree with me, I think you will too, by the end of this piece.

On Thursday, February 7, I stepped out to get some fresh air at 2pm and decided to visit Pow Wok. It is an Authentic Asian Cuisine restaurant located on 499 7th Ave Between 36th and 37th Streets in Manhattan. I had not been to Pow Wok in a while, with my reason being that I needed to put some variety into my diet. Recently, I kept telling myself that I would not go, I would not go, I would not go ... and finally I gave in and went. I needed my Tofu & Vegetables in Garlic Sauce & Fried Rice.

Like a child at a candy shop, I place my order and I am carried to another place (to be exact: the cash register) where I pull out my debit card to pay.

"Ten dollar minimum to use the card," the cashier replies almost bursting my bubble.

Fine, I thought, as there's a bank across the street, I'll just go and grab some cash real quick.

"I'll be right back, let me just go to the ATM," I calmly reply and she nods in comprehension. (I am sure I said it in English, and do not recall saying "goodbye.")

I cross the wonderful Fashion Avenue while the light allows me and enter Washington Mutual bank. I get my cash, and scurry across the street back to Pow Wok to happily pay for my order. I enter and walk back up to the cashier, anxious for my food ... but, it was not there! Oh no! I scan the counter in the hope that my eyes were deceiving me, but no, my 20-20 vision has never failed me before, and certainly was not failing me now.

The same cashier looked at her coworker serving the food and asked, "Where did it go?" (She said it in English.) The server looks back at her, befuddled, and shrugs his shoulders, responding with: "Maybe somebody took it."

Of course as my mind's cogs were churning all of this, these questions quickly flooded my head:
A) Who took it??? (The Invisible Man? Did you see the bag float in mid-air?)
B) Did this random food-taker pay for this food while I was getting the cash?
C) Why would you not hold the food aside if I said "I'll be right back."?
D) Did this poor girl need a translator? (Numbers are easy, they're universal, but I hear her speak in "English.")
E) Why isn't a sign posted stating that the Credit Card minimum for a purchase is $10.00? (The menu only states: "Free Delivery / Minimum $10." Nothing about Credit Card minimums.)
F) If you have competitors in the neighborhood that take credit cards for any amount, why don't you change your policy?

"Do you want another dish?" asks the gentleman filling the food.

I chose not to say anything negative, because I clearly had nothing positive to say.

I nodded in disappointment and mumbled "nah" while walking out of the restaurant [forever].

The Korean Bodega was my next best bet, and this time I had no need to use my debit card. And if I did have to use it, I would not need a minimum. Thanks Korean Bodega!

The cool air was good and refreshing at least.

PS - This posting was carbon-copied (CC'd) to the wonderful people at Pow Wok.

Goin' Down?

2008-02-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

These are just some thoughts and opinions. Whoever does this, please do not take it personal ... just laugh with me.

Have you ever been in an elevator bank with about 5 or 6 elevators, and you push the down button? You wait a minute or so, and somebody else comes along to push the down button. Does this somehow re-alert the elevator to remember to stop on our floor?

We're still waiting, and my wait time is longer because I've been here just 2 minutes longer. And it finally arrives, the doors slide open, we step in, and I do not bother to even push the button marked L, because I know the next person will.

On the way down, the elevator will stop at 2 or 3 more floors to pick up more passengers. As each person enters from a different floor, they also push the L button, as if this will somehow get us down quicker by undoing any other elevator callings between our current level and the lobby.

In the lobby, I get off and just nod my head, this is something you must laugh at, because lit up buttons apparently do not mean a thing. I have to laugh, it is easier to just laugh at ourselves.

Seriously... seriously!

Insecure much?

Nothing Overnight About This Hardworking Girl

2007-11-24T03:01:00.002-05:00

A musician, a young woman, a student. Jaclyn Shaw, 23, studies psychology at The College of Staten Island and wants to be a Music Therapist.

Sitting in the café area of the Staten Island Barnes & Noble, Jaclyn Shaw enjoys a coffee crumb cake and an iced coffee, bundled up in thin, comfortable layers of clothing, sporting glasses and recovering from walking pneumonia.

A Bay Ridge, Brooklyn native, Shaw currently lives in Staten Island, New York with her parents. She plans to move to Brooklyn with her platonic friend, Jason.

"A Music Therapist is someone who applies their ideas about psychology, about the way the human brain works and understanding centers of the brain that are influenced by audio waves."

Feeling this field is not researched as much as it should be, she hopes to shine more light on this field.

She explains: "Music is taken for granted because it's around us all the time. Sometimes silence is awkward and people are adjusted to hearing music in the background."

Shaw did not live in a household surrounded by music, but says that her mother sang to her when she was young, though "not in the best quality voice," she says.

Her early credits include singing "Flag of America" to her family members when she was in first grade; and also adds that this was her first memory of being musical.

"Growing up, it's always been a part of my life and I feel like I have a musical capacity, a musical intelligence. I compose my own stuff."

She was in an 80's metal band, Pulse, and it quit while not having any gigs lined up. "You wouldn't know of them because we didn't have any gigs lined up; only in the garage."

This was her turning point where she decided to learn an instrument, the classical guitar, and pursue her own "personal" music. She can also play the piano and takes opera lessons to help train her ear.

Shaw has had her fair share of jobs including: delivering newspapers, being a box office cashier at the old United Artists 14 movie theatre, and working various jobs at bagel shops and pizzerias.

She finally found her niche at Costco Wholesale, starting out as a cashier and gradually working her way up to become Vault Manager; giving kudos to the good pay and the good health benefits they offer. She admits that Costco has gotten her through school.

Shaw plays four local, Staten Island gigs a month with a band member changing every so often, saying that the local gigs do not pay well enough for her to pay the band. To date, she has performed 150 shows at eight venues.

Some of her locations that she has performed at are Martini Red and The Cup, both on Staten Island, as well as The Living Room in Brooklyn. She says that the more promising scenes are in Brooklyn, particularly in Williamsburg and Park Slope.

Shaw's current goals with her music are to gain exposure and play more gigs, while offering listening samples on her MySpace page: http://myspace.com/jaclynshaw. MySpace is an online community web site.

"Myspace is a great tool for advertising, a lot of people are on it, it's free, and people can still access your sounds." She eventually plans to sell her songs on MySpace using PayPal, an online payment transaction site, and hopes to move to iTunes once she becomes more well-known.

Once established and with a solid band, she hopes to sign up onto Sony Records with the help of some connections that she knows within the record label.

In five years, Shaw wants to be a "truly evolved, empathetic creature."

"That's what I want to be in five years, I wanna be a psychologist who tries to help people and empathize; not give them drugs, but give them music," she says with a burst of hearty laughter.

And You Thought Kanye Was Bad!

2007-09-10T12:55:00.000-04:00

Talk about having a big head! You thought Kayne West's song "Stronger" was full of itself, then we must direct our attention to Hunter College. There seems to be a particular professor, that is retiring after this semester (if my sources are correct), who's head is as pumped as that of Kayne's.

I mean (whoop-di-doo) it's great that you teach and were given the opportunity (years and years ago), but don't be ungrateful and nonchalant toward the students who want to learn from you. Yes, your "English" education may be great makes you so full of yourself that you seem cocky, at best, to your students, but they chose this class to be given a lecture on Propaganda and Mass Media. They do NOT need to know about your education and how you played hooky and still managed to get through your classes just fine.

It is a very nice way to pay back your students with your knowledge and tell them that if they miss a lecture that you "don't care and get paid anyway!" Yes, that is very encouraging for the student that actually wants to get something worthwhile out of the class.

Your students to arrive to class on time (with their need to learn) and you sweetly take your time and arrive 20 minutes later, at your own leisure. The mandatory break of 20 minutes half-way through your 3-hour class would be nice if you came back after 20 minutes or told your students to come back after 30 minutes, like you do! And then you have the gall to proceed five-and-ten minutes after the scheduled end of class to continue your lecture because you feel you need to get more in edgewise when you wasted the class's time by arriving late and extending the break! NO!

Without your need to have a syllabus because chapters are just assigned, you also tell your students that you do not check your e-mail if they ever have a question to ask. Your only way of actually being reached is to meet you during your office hours, and that seems to be the only stable thing with some "structure" in the class. Yikes!

Message to the underdog: be very careful, if you truly want something out of this class, let this one retire, then take it! Don't give him your money and don't get disrespected when you're intention is to learn.

PS - By the way, you're not getting MY money ... kind regards!

Toilet Seat Theory

2007-06-16T15:26:00.000-04:00

Toilet Seat Theory:
I disagree with keeping the toilet seat down while you have to do the #1, because even though someone can say they have a good aim, they will always sprinkle. This is not good, because there will always be a case where the #2 will come along while you're #1-ing, and sprinkling on the toilet seat; you will be stuck at a point, however, where you either choose to (in a split second decision) either try to wipe the seat fast & sit down, try to rip off a sanitary cover and let the sprinkleage soak through (the yuck effect), or try to hold the #2 in. This could all have been avoided if the case were approached with logic: you had the seat up, you started #1-ing and #2 comes along, so you throw down the seat, take out a sanitary seat, and the rest is history...

Phoenix Rising

2007-05-23T12:39:00.000-04:00

This past weekend had been complete torture, and I let myself get that way by procrastinating (I hope I learn my lesson soon, because it is not fun)! I had not been myself, I nearly broke down, and when I finally did, I had just gotten over the hump of finals & submitting everything, and still making it to both jobs...

Yes, indeed, Finals Week had taken its toll on me, although it did not catch me off-guard. Yesterday (Tuesday, May 22), I was running on 3 hours of sleep as the day before I had been working at both jobs; the second one until about 1 a.m. (a movie theatre). I was able to complete my final (at 9 a.m.) for Journalism & Society and still make home alive and somewhat awake by 12 p.m.

Naturally and unsurprisingly, I got the second wind and could not get to sleep. I awaited the UPS man as some packages were arriving and browsed the web in the meantime to try and get my eyes tired. That part worked out, so now I just needed UPS to come and go so I could hit the sack and catch some Zs! La, la, la ... he finally arrives and I help him bring the package up the stairs because it weighed 90 pounds, more or less; the second one was something light and not that big of a deal.

So at about 1:30 p.m., sleep had started to slowly creep up on me, and I did not try to run from away it. In fact, I ran to my bed and welcomed it! I crashed like there was no tomorrow, and it felt so good!

The next thing I remember is turning over to face the alarm clock to discover that it was 6 p.m. Wow, I should be able to sleep like this more often than not! The rest of my night flew pretty quickly: ran some errands, made some phone calls, bought some Shorts at Express, bought a Honey Dew melon-scented candle from Yankee Candle (aka Headache Store), visited my pal Ern at his place of work, and hit up Cold Stone (did you think I would skip that???).

Cheers, the Phoenix has risen from the ashes!

Finals Anxiety

2007-05-16T11:41:00.001-04:00

For the past couple of days, I have been going to sleep late and waking up early without a problem. Usually, when I do that, I'm tired or cannot function, but this week has been an exceptiton. Between studying, going to "Mattress" rehearsals (that's "Once Upon A Mattress" for you dirty minds), going to the gym, studying, acting class, tanning salon (which isn't that important), (on yeah, and work) I have just been a complete mess.

I think it's the finals anxiety, though, that's making me feel this way. And after the finals are over, it still will not be officially over, because then, the worry will set in on my grades. Aaahhhh! Thinking about it now, it seems so far away, and the grass will be greener on the other side... Sigh!