I headed to
Dearborn Michigan this week and talk about a shock to the system! When I left
Austin, it was 75 degrees. When I landed in Detroit, it was 19. That
suuuuucccckkkksss .. .
Usually I
get the early morning flights, but I found a direct flight from Austin to
Detroit leaving at about 1 PM and not only was it a direct flight, but it was
also the least expensive flight available. It was kind of weird to not be
getting up at 3 AM to get ready and out of the house before the children awoke
for school, but I managed to adapt. There was plenty of time to get the children
ready and out the door, drink some coffee, fart around, and then get ready
myself. I almost got a bit too
complacent though, and in the end found myself running a bit late.
As the
driver of the shuttle bus from the parking area to the Airport came up to my
truck to help take my bags, he noticed the “My son is in the Navy” sticker on
the back window and struck up a conversation with me.
“My son is in the Navy too!” he said, clearly beaming with a father’s pride. “Where is your son stationed?” he asked. Well, as it turns out, both of our sons are stationed in Virginia. No, I didn’t tell him my sons name as I figure he has enough shit to deal with without the possibility of someone giving him shit over what I am.
“My son is in the Navy too!” he said, clearly beaming with a father’s pride. “Where is your son stationed?” he asked. Well, as it turns out, both of our sons are stationed in Virginia. No, I didn’t tell him my sons name as I figure he has enough shit to deal with without the possibility of someone giving him shit over what I am.
I received
my first upgrade to First Class in quite some time and I don’t mind saying that
it felt good to be in a comfortable seat with a bit more room! The man next to
me kept looking at me and grinning, but I didn’t let it get to me. He has his
life, and I have mine. One of the flight attendants went out of her way to tell
me that she thought my shoes were cute, so there’s that I guess.
When it came
time to board the Avis shuttle bus from the airport, I was surprised and grateful
when the driver came back and started helping people, including me, to load
their bags. The Avis drivers rarely do this these days. Not sure if it is an
insurance thing, or a “driver don’t want to do the heavy lifting thing”, but
since I was feeling old and tired, I was most grateful for the help.
As I said
earlier, it was in the 70’s when I left Austin, so I was a little less than
delighted to find it cold as hell, and snowing heavily as the driver dropped us
off at the lot. I made my way to my car, made my typical walk around to be sure
they weren’t giving me a car with damage that they were later going to try and
pin on me, and then started to lift my bags into the hatchback.
“Hold on ma’am!” I heard a man say from behind me. I turned to see a young man in an Avis uniform, with a well-trimmed beard and no mustache, getting out of a car that he was parking behind me.
“Hold on ma’am!” I heard a man say from behind me. I turned to see a young man in an Avis uniform, with a well-trimmed beard and no mustache, getting out of a car that he was parking behind me.
“Why don’t
you go ahead and get in the car and out of the snow and I’ll put these in for
you?” He asked politely. Honestly, I was exhausted and my leg was killing me (a
bit more on that later) and so I was intensely grateful to him and told him as
much.
Things went
a little less smoothly at the Holiday Inn Express when I checked in. The clerk
greeted me with kind words.
“Welcome to
the Holiday Inn Express, and may I say that I like your dress?!” he said with a
smile. Well, I wasn’t wearing a
dress, but I figured that wasn’t really the point, so I thanked him with a
smile. Once he had me all checked in, I made my way up to my room just to
discover that neither key he had given me worked. Not much to be done about it,
so I headed back down to the first floor, had him program the keys again, and
then dragged my suitcase back to the room.
This time
the key worked. The heater however, didn’t
. . .
I tried the
thermostat, noted that it was set to 75 but the room was at 60. Next I checked
the wall unit and made sure it wasn’t meant to be operated from its own control
panel, and then I made sure that it was plugged in. After all, I troubleshoot
equipment for a living, and so I can work my own way through the basics. Having
determined that it was nothing simple that I could address myself, I called the
front desk.
“Guest
services – how can I help you?” asked a cheerful voice.
“Yeah, my
heater is dead and it’s just a bit too cold.” I replied. I began to tell him
all of the things that I had checked but he interrupted me.
“Did you try
to adjust it from the thermostat?” he asked in a somewhat condescending tone.
‘Well,’ I thought
but didn’t say, ‘if you would have shut up long enough, I would have told you
that!’
“Yes,” I
told him. “I also . . .” Once again, he interrupted me.
“Did you see
if you could operate it from the unit itself?” He asked.
“Yes, I
tried both, the thermostat and the unit itself. The thermostat is set to 75 but
. . .” I was going to say that the room was only at 60, thus proving the damned
thing wasn’t working, but he interrupted me again.
“Ok, no
problem. We will be glad to send someone up to look at it sir.” He said, still
with that artificially cheerful tone in his voice.
“I’m not
sure that there is any point to sending someone to look at it, as it is clearly
dead.” I told him, and was about to ask him to simply give me another room when
he interrupted me yet again!
“I
understand. Hold on and we will have someone right up to look at it sir.”
Now I don’t
typically get all wound around the axle about the “sir” thing. I know I don’t
pass perfectly, so there is little point to getting upset about it. Given that
he was talking to me on the phone and only had my voice to go on, I really couldn’t
blame him. Still, I’d have to admit that it tweaked me just a bit, so there I
sat fuming while I waited for someone to come do everything that I had already
done.
About five minutes later, I open the door
after hearing a polite knock, and I allowed the young man to enter my room.
“The guy on
the phone thinks I’m an idiot, doesn’t he?” I asked him with a laugh as he was
looking at the thermostat.
“No, not at all!”
he replied with the only answer he could have possibly given. I then grinned as I watched him do everything
that I had already done, and ultimately admit defeat.
“Yup, it’s lost its programming!” he told me. “I’m afraid that all we can do is move you to another room.”
“Yup, it’s lost its programming!” he told me. “I’m afraid that all we can do is move you to another room.”
“That’s
pretty much what I thought myself.” I told him with a tired voice.
“I’ll tell
you what. Why don’t you just wait here and I’ll go down and get you another
room and bring you the keys?”
“That would
be awesome – thank you!”
So the new
keys AND the heater worked for the new room.
So the next
day I completed my job pretty early in the afternoon and headed to the mall in
boy mode to see a movie or two. I saw “Hidden
Figures” and in my opinion, it was a great movie and I highly recommend it,
especially if you have any geek or nerd in you. Any movie that can make you
laugh AND make your eyes water a few times has got to be pretty well done.
I also watched
the new “Resident
Evil” movie. Honestly? Not that impressed with it.
When I was done with the movies, I figured “what the hell” and made my way through the malls “JC Penny” and “Macy’s” stores. I probably shouldn’t have done that. You never know what is going to trigger depression, but apparently for me, tonight, it was shopping. Honestly I have little to be depressed about when I stop to consider things with my intellect, and yet I suddenly felt crushing depression. Not much of a man, definitely not much of a woman, walking alone as usual through a place that held nothing for me. Yeah, I know, I don’t really have any call to be depressed, and have a life a WHOLE lot better than a hell of a lot of people, but logic really has nothing to do with depression. . .
When I was done with the movies, I figured “what the hell” and made my way through the malls “JC Penny” and “Macy’s” stores. I probably shouldn’t have done that. You never know what is going to trigger depression, but apparently for me, tonight, it was shopping. Honestly I have little to be depressed about when I stop to consider things with my intellect, and yet I suddenly felt crushing depression. Not much of a man, definitely not much of a woman, walking alone as usual through a place that held nothing for me. Yeah, I know, I don’t really have any call to be depressed, and have a life a WHOLE lot better than a hell of a lot of people, but logic really has nothing to do with depression. . .