Wednesday, January 27, 2010

bathroom upgrade

today, the office restrooms got a little makeover -- in the form of automatic soap dispensers! plus, a few weeks ago, they upgraded on the paper towel quality, which was so nice! it doesn't rip, and i don't have to use as much...

is it weird that we get excited over these things?


tomorrow, a new episode of The Office! :)


word of the dayguesstimation 

Thursday, January 21, 2010

so many crazy people in the world!!

some of my favorite quotes from emails or calls that happened today:


  • "five minutes ago i could see, but now i'm blind."
  • "ok, but is it lupus?"
  • "crack -- you know, it's a drug?"
  • "ok, please explain to me how a chair caused your abdominal pain that made you go to the ER..."
and here's a fun conversation:

rep: "i can't just sit in silence while you think of a question. it's tying up the line. can you call back when you think of something?"  
caller: "ok, you don't like silence?" *starts singing* (and it sounds an awful lot like the Little Mermaid -- "ahh aahhh")
rep after the call: "the little mermaid gave me contractions!"


yesterday's song of the day: "if you want to be happy for the rest of your life" by jimmy soul
we had tons of fun yesterday trying to figure out the lyrics before some brilliant person Googled them.


i did have a song of the day for today, but now i can't think of it because of that catchy song about marrying ugly women... any help? it might have been the "chicken noodle soup" song we discovered today. apparently, there's a dance. 


in other news, The Office comes back on tonight! i can't wait. i'm inviting a ton of people over, i'm going to be knitting the Gryffindor scarf i've been working on, and i'm going to take notes for tomorrow's blog! ok, maybe not the last one.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

the adventures of cat and the ceiling

today's episode is titled "The Adventures of Cat and the Ceiling" because of a very special co-worker and her ongoing struggle with the area directly above her desk.

first, there was the bug incident, in which dead bugs were allegedly falling from the air vent. if you will recall, that was the day that a certain higher-up in the company -- and not just one maintenance man -- got up on a ladder to investigate. (that particular day is also the reason i now bring my camera to work with me every day.)

second, there is the ever-popular fight with the temperature (too hot or too cold, again because of the air vent). but i'm told that this is a constant debate whenever there are women working in an office.
also, according to Toby on The Office, everyone
should bring a cardigan or sweater to work in
case of drafts... i prefer my blanket, as it is much
more comfortable and fun.

today, it was the light, which is not the air vent but they must be in cahoots, since they sit right next to each other in the ceiling -- both directly above the desk in question. the light must have wanted some drama, because it recently started flickering and nearly caused seizures for at least one office worker (not really). so, again with the ladder and maintenance men in our department. and now there's one very bright ceiling light.


quote of yesterday: "i apologize for your suffering."

quote of the day: "i might have the baby tomorrow if she keeps it up."

---
update: there is pizza box in the kitchen with half a pizza if anybody wants it...

Friday, January 15, 2010

angry mama bear

today, i was threatened... but in a nice way. i wasn't quite sure how to take it. the caller was an angry mama-bear type, and i think we must have attacked her cub or something, because she was definitely provoked. allow me to add this image to your mental picture:

 

so, mama bear was provoked but her natural good-natured self was still intact. she smiled the whole time. (you can hear that kind of thing on the phone.) it was a simple threat: "You should be happy I don't live anywhere near you." i didn't quite know how to react to that.

today's song of the day is inspired by today's Office quote of the day, which comes from the episode i watched last night, "A Benihana Christmas."

The Office quote of the day:

Andy:So she looks really hot, so I said, 'you look hotter than usual today.' [...] So, she looks at me right? And she goes, 'I'm sorry, do I even know you?' After a year! A year of buying lattes from her. Do you believe that?
Jim Halpert:Yes.


song of the day: "taylor the latte boy" by kristin chenoweth, whom i love.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

variety is the spice of life

the beginning of the year is always really hectic. so, to spice things up, i've been going to work every day in search of one funny story to come home with. i think this will be my new mission in my office life, and i will document it in this blog. yesterday's was a good one.

one of our customer service reps had asked a caller to send in a written description of their injury. (apparently, he had been chasing his friends in the snow and ran into a tree.) all we needed was a letter or email from this person for his files, and he decided to email pictures as well.

it would be a violation of tons of laws to post those pictures here, so a description of each of the three pictures will have to suffice:

  1. the first picture is of a young man sitting up on a couch with his legs stretched forward. he looks to be in conversation with someone off-camera, so this is a candid shot. it's kind of hard to tell what's going on or if there's even an injury. he doesn't look to be in pain...
  2. the second picture is of him making a face. again, it's a candid shot, and this time it looks like he might be in pain, but it could also be that's he's acting out a spanish soap opera scene where he was just told that his best friend is missing in the Himalayas; maybe he's whining about not being able to reach the snacks on the coffee table. it's hard to tell. there is still no sign of injury... 
  3. third is the money shot. his ankle is swollen like two apples on either side, and his foot is pretty swollen, too. if there had to be a picture, this would suffice. but really, all we needed was the date and description of injury.
today's "variety is the spice of life" item is a secret. it's a dumb secret, but i'm still not allowed to let anyone know. it's a secret between me and the guy in IT (aka Jim Halpert). 

ooh! also today, my manager went to the mall (the big one, i think you know which one) for lunch, and i realized that the food court has a Chick-Fil-A, which has the best waffle fries EVER. i'm pretty sure fries are one of my top 3 favorite foods, along with lasagna and chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven with milk. but i digress. i gave him some money and asked him to get me some of those amazing waffle fries, but then i remembered how much i like their wraps with thousand island dressing, and then i thought i might as well get the whole meal... yup, Chick-Fil-A lunch definitely makes it a fun day.

also, one of our reps just spoke to a woman who fell down a well. 

Friday, January 8, 2010

TGIF!

ok, the song of the day is "One Way Or Another" because of reasons i can't disclose here. feel free to call me, though. it will give me an excuse to use my new phone that i love. or we could play the "yes" game, as Pam likes to call it: you ask me yes or no questions and i answer until you figure it out. :)

i'm currently listening to Hanson's Middle of Nowhere album. i'm not ashamed. it pretty much fits the mood of the day, which is a little nutty and a little manic, all rolled into one entity.

so, now that it's 2010, i have to get a new naughty/nice list. my 2009 list is all filled up on the naughty side. it's kind of nice to look at my list just one week into the new year and see only two names on the naughty list. yup, two people have verbally abused at least one Customer Service Rep enough to be placed on the naughty list. expect your lumps of coal in 12 months and 2 1/2 weeks.

speaking of verbal abuse, one caller today had the audacity to say that a person shouldn't be a customer service rep if they can't deal with verbal abuse. well, not in those words, but that was the jist of it. why do people think it's ok to verbally abuse a perfect stranger over the phone?


MLIA of the day: Today, I discovered that instead of the usual "medium" size label on my pants, the tag said "average". MPAA.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

a sticky situation

this morning in the kitchen, there was a free treat! some sort of pie-crusted, danish-topped treat. two co-workers were in the kitchen discussing it with lots of "yums" and such.

a third co-worker popped his head in the kitchen and said it sounded like an X-rated film in there.

what a crazy place.

today, i switched my default printer to the front one instead of the back to mix it up a little.

also, there was an insurance questionnaire that one of our customers filled out. the question was PPO or HMO? they answered "idk."

word of the day: cacophonous /kək'ɒfənəs/
If you describe a mixture of sounds as cacophonous, you mean that they are loud and unpleasant.

currently reading: The Kite Runner

the finer things club met last night. we discussed The Lovely Bones. interesting conversations about death, heaven, and being pregnant...