Monthly Archives: February 2009

24-Hour Suckiness

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I try to be as nice as I can to customer service reps because I’ve been one, and it’s a tough job. You never know what you’re going to get; and most of the time, thanks to company policies, your range of action is very limited. The result is a very disappointed customer who wants you to perform miracles, and you really can’t, so you get insulted, etc.

But when it comes to companies that lie to you, or misinform you, and then take your money out of your bank account? I hate it. I have called 24-Hour Fitness at least 4 times to cancel our account and ask why they keep on charging us for services we don’t use. First they said the account was going to be frozen for 6 months, but they did not inform us that after 6 months we were to be charged again… Ooops… Forgot to tell us? And then I found out there was a third person in our account, that turned out to be under my father in law’s name, and I’m assuming they used our address and personal info to do some kind of phone offer. I don’t know. Anyway!

So I called today again, and God help the customer service rep if any of his supervisors was around or his call was being monitored. First, he was speaking with his mouth full of food. Second, he was just being lazy. Third, he sounded seriously fake and condescending (which is very common, but come on… Try harder!). At the end he couldn’t really do anything, so I went on about how disappointed I was that I wasn’t informed of their policies. I told him I expected a refund for the last charge like I was promised. He said I should see it in my account in the next 2 weeks. As usual…

John and I got a membership in order to get healthy. The start fee is no joke, especially after choosing private training sessions. And then we started going, but the place smelled terribly like BO and sewer. On top of that, I’m not really good at keeping up with gyms where Barbie and her friends hog the treadmills. So we stopped going, and we froze the account, and now we’re being charged again. Meh!

I wonder if they really care for people’s health. I’m afraid they just want our money. I really miss my old, small, family-owned, not-so-fancy gym. My personal trainer was a no-nonsense physical therapist who didn’t promise me miracles, and yet managed to get me in the best shape I’ve ever been in.

Are Blogs Really Dying?

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That is the question Bran is asking today, via Twitter. Long gone are the days when we communicated online using more than 140 characters. Call it Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Jaiku… our lives have become this series of short sentences updating our contacts on our whereabouts, activities and status.

Blogs have been around for what, probably 10 years? Mine has been around for 8. I have days when I don’t even look at it. In the past I felt guilty when days passed without an update. These days? Not so much. After all, I have Facebook and Twitter, which allows me to have almost-IRT contact. My question is, how insightful are social media sites? And how strong are the relationships we form with other people through them? Can you really tell how a person is doing from 5 posts on Twitter? Are we simply too busy to sit down and write about something in detail? Is the world moving so fast that we can’t say more than just a few words to people?

The death of blogging is not news. I remember reading an article about it not long ago, and if you do a quick search on Google, you will find quite a few. Maybe we got tired of of reading so much over the years, or maybe we just like the small-talk social media sites like Twitter provides us with.

Whatever the reason is, I need to post this on Twitter so people will know I wrote about it. ;-)

Charity: Water

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One of the first things I wrote down in my gratitude journal was “Being able to drink clean water any time I want.” – The thought came to me after I drank water directly from the tap one day I was really, really thirsty. It made me remember the good old days, when I was a kid, and I was able to satiate my thirst at any tap, hose or even creek available. And water is one of those things we definitely take for granted.

According to the Charity: Water “Right now, 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. That’s one in six of us.” They are a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. They give 100% of the money raised to direct project costs, funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

The upcoming Twestival to be held on Thursday, February 12th, has chosen Charity: Water as its main cause. I hope I will be able to attend. If you make part of any Twitter community, make sure you check the Twestival website and get a ticket. All the money raised will be used to give less fortunate people the chance to have clean water available. And if you can’t make it to the Twestival, then make a donation to a very worthy cause.