The real poop

Oh my.

First, a couple of people have commented on the Google ads on the side of the blog. First, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the number of hits for this blog continues to grow, because really, when you think about it, what is more important than relationship advice from someone who knows nothing about relationships?

Or better, financial advice from a complete moron.

Still, as people have pointed out in comments and a couple of emails, the Google ads are kind of funny, because the pick up certain words and then the ads link to those. So when Sketchy the Addict is mentioned, we get ads for rehab and treatment. So if I title a post with the word poop in it, it should be funny to see what happens.

For whatever reason I was flooded with questions via twitter and email last night, and I may get to them, but first, I am praising AT&T wireless. Why? Certainly not the service or the connectivity. No, there is a guy in their corporate office who was nice enough to allow me to drop the service and all my lines, and not charges me the dreaded Early Termination Fee.

Speaking of early termination, I had our dog put to sleep yesterday.

Anyway, AT&T Wireless was nice and professional, and for that, a big thank you.

Speaking of scummy companies, we went on a date this past weekend, casual and simple. We ended up deciding on a Red Robin restaurant, because it was close and sometimes the food is edible. We were seated almost immediately and the little chirpy said our waiter would be right with us. A good ten minutes went by and a huge family of four was seated near by. Immediately they had water delivered and a drink order taken, we had not.

About 7 minutes later, a waiter breezed by to inform us that he was swamped and would be right back. Five more minutes and the fat family was enjoying appetizers and drinks, we did not have water. When the waiter finally arrived, I asked to speak with his manager, because really, for no reason, we had just been left behind. So, in a short while, this frisky young woman came by, she was so so sorry we had been forgotten and she promptly took our drink order (water) and offered a gift of some onion rings, yikes.

So a pile of greasy onion rings arrived, as did a new waitress, the frenzied young man was gone. All went well, the food was almost adequate, the service almost too in our face and the final bill arrived, with, of course, the complimentary onion rings on it. We paid, but left zero tip, such was our disdain for the Red Robin franchise.

When I got home, I was still a little upset and decided to write an email to the Red Robin corporate office. The complain form requests the managers name, so I called and I was asked to hold, and who should pick up the phone? The manager who "mistakenly" charged for the complimentary onion rings. Sorry about this, sorry about that, dodge and move and on and on. She was going to send me a gift certificate and the world would be a peace. I mentioned that I was sending an email to the corporate office and she thought that would be appropriate.

So, yesterday, I did get a response from Red Robin corporate offices, acknowledging my email and promising that this "issue" would be resolved. Of course, resolution is called service in the restaurant business, so I doubt anything will be done. Of course, no gift certificate was sent, no apology made and the food, well, digested.

The lesson I learned? First, Red Robin is kind of skeezy. Oh, I guess that's the lesson.

AT&T Good, Red Robin, Bad.