Category: Griping

Good customer service

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 14/04/2010

I bought a new coffee pot and mug a couple weeks ago at Starbucks. The coffee pot is a Bodum-my old one was falling apart and Starbucks has ‘green’ versions. Literally, green. The mug too, it was recycled glass and looked great. Until yesterday, that is, when I poured in water to make tea and the glass cracked.

I had visions of arguing with the baristas about it, I’d lost my receipt and couldn’t prove that I hadn’t just taken the mug off the stack near the door…but they were very nice, the manager telling me to pick ‘any’ mug and didn’t make me pay the difference, about $4!

That makes me happy.

This is my new mug, hopefully it lasts more than a few weeks:

mug-a-licious

Yes, it’s a biggun. Ignore the world’s grottiest manicure.

Clouds

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 30/03/2010

I know I haven’t been updating as regularly as I used to: I haven’t been in the right mood. I try to keep my blog positive (or lightly complainatory) and if I wrote what I’ve really been thinking about lately, your hair would fall out. Or you’d get that glazed, glassy eyed look so many of my friends have when I really get on a roll, listing my many grievances, usually starting with the fact that Shannon and I are not yet married. It goes downhill from there.

Here’s a picture of a great mural in Toronto on The Cameron House. I love how the door is inside the mouth.

Open wide and say “ahhh”

The fellow in the brown jacket actually went in the door seconds after I took this.

And the sky was lovely a couple weeks ago on Bloor St. For some reason I seem to only notice clouds when I am walking between my house and Lansdowne subway station.

Bloor sky

Pillows I have been tempted by

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 16/03/2010

I actually stared at the first one for a long, long time and thought about a practical joke my parents played on wealthy friends of theirs a million years ago.

pillow 1

The next 2 aren’t as cool, but I can tell you that they are very soft. And tempting. And kind of gross. And not tempting at all.

pillow 2  pillow 3

I was extremely not tempted by this, the final item of today’s excursion. In fact. I stayed a minimum of 2 metres away at all times.

Ooh, la la, tres jolie!

‘Cause ‘hope I find crotchless panties’ is the first thing that pops into your head when you’re browsing at V.V.

Other than these exciting items (which I did not buy), the trip was good because someone had donated an upright piano which was being played by a pre-teen boy. Played? Massacred is more like. Better than screaming babies, which is the usual sound track. Also, if you were wondering, all but the girl with chicks paintings are gone. My blog sold them, I’m guessing. I also found the outer box of Tramacet (a pain killer for moderate to moderately severe pain) being used as a book mark in a book titled “Pain Free Living for Drug Free People”. Makes sense to me.

(And if you were wondering, yes, I did buy something: a couple yards of toile type fabric, cream with a blue print.)

Further adventures at V.V.

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 10/03/2010

You may well be wondering why I go to Value Village so often, and that’s very reasonable. I’m on the hunt for vintage percale sheets. That is ALL. Well, ok, you never know when you really will find a treasure, I also look at hand knit sweaters and for yarn/crafting supplies. I’ve never found anything worth while, because the store is full of this type of win:

Pretty, pretty dress for you.

For real. It’s full length and yours for ONLY $12.99. It’s size 15 and I bet that it’s still there right now if you run quickly NOW.

But wait. There’s this:

Nautical!

Cute, eh? It’s short and made of poly-cotton knit. And it’s a mere $24.99. Srsly. A bally worn out dress that someone probably wore to bed or over their swimsuit for $24.99. Dresses at Winners-NEW DRESSES-average out at the same price. New, pretty dresses that are current styles. Or you could get this:

Grand finale.

This dress not only has stains AND a pull in the fabric right on the front, not only has the seems literally coming apart with threads flapping in the wind, NOT only is 100% polyester, it’s also $24.99.

I actually flagged down an employee to ask her wtf is going on with these insane prices (and there were LOTS of dresses in this one size section with similar insane issues) and she waved me away, don’t bug me ask a manager. Which I did try to do but I was totally distracted by an incredible art collection. I was literally laughing my head off with a huge lineup of people right beside me, my phone out and taking pictures brazenly.

Sorry they’re blurry but I think you get the gist.

Girl with chicks.  La Piete  Rumble in the Jungle

All by the same artist. But here’s my favourite:

Satan! Satan! Satan!

Ho. Lee. Shit. Balls. Can you imagine that hanging in your house? Over your baby’s crib maybe? Oh. I love that painting so much. It belongs in the Museum of Bad Art.  Maybe they all do?

Oh, and in case you’re wondering-because you ARE-how much to bring to buy an original painting?

That’s right.

Don’t worry, they accept all major credit cards there.

PSA

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 23/02/2010

When I worked at Value Village my parents were dismayed to find out that the store does not wash anything before it’s put out on the floor for sale.

“How come it all smells the same, then?” Asked my dad. Because when your stink mixes with thousands of different people’s stink, it all becomes one general stink. And the air ‘fresheners’ that are strategically placed throughout the store also have an effect on the smell.

When I say that it was the worst job I have ever had, I am not kidding. I worked in production, pricing clothing, first womens, then mens and kids. I was on my feet for the entire shift (yeah, I know, boo hoo, but at first it really was a whole lot of boo hoo, I’d come home and cry my feet hurt so bad) and each person that works there is expected to fulfill their quota, each shirt, pair of pants, sheet, china lamb is counted and accounted for. Tallied. Yes, people pad (fudge, aka stealing) their tally sheets, especially after being threatened with losing their job. I was constantly being told that I was in line for a managerial position, just learn this, do that, do all this extra work and it will be yours…some day. I quit well before some day ever came.

Anyway, part of pricing clothing is deciding if it the pair of jeans is even worth putting a price tag on and hanging it out to sell. What makes something unsellable, you ask? Stains. Rips. Crotch rot (lots of that, hoo boy!). Bally sweaters. Hand altered anything. Deodorant streaks. Stink. Mold. You get the idea. In summer time when people are busy donating sweaters that no one wants to buy because it’s 120 in the shade, you can be even pickier on each sweater that comes down the line.

So what’s the deal at the Value Village that is (almost) right next door to me? I really have to wonder. I know pricing techniques have changed since I was employed there (we had to staple the tags onto the garment and then hand write the price in grease pencil and they have those plastic hanger tags now) and maybe that has something to do with it, but for real, the clothes there are horrific. I can honestly say that I have never, EVER found anything even remotely worth buying and wearing. Even the time I went before we went cob house building so I could get grotty work pants, I came home empty handed. Both pairs that I found that would fit me had someone’s left over yeast infection inside. No thanks.

Today I took a few pictures just to show that I’m not just talking out of my ass.

#1 Sheet with glorious white ‘mystery’ stain. It’s so obvious, it’s right at the fold of fabric that is on top of the hanger. How could the person pricing this MISS THIS STAIN?!?!

beware the white stain.

So you can see, it’s not a small stain either. It’s a lot of stain.

I just shivered and felt a little like puking.

#2 Jeans with hole.

Jeans. Ripped.

and how much are they charging for ripped jeans these days?

wow

Plus tax, people. To be fair, these were Diesel jeans. But they were also Diesel jeans from at least 10 years ago. If I’d gotten these on my line when I worked at VV I would have ragged them off. Or, if we were desperate for jeans, I might have put them out for 99 cents.  No, I take that back. I would have ragged them off.

#3 World’s prettiest dress. This dress is home made. It’s easy to tell, the seams are 2″ wide and all the edges are just pinked. It’s really badly made and it’s an extremely ugly pattern. Even the fabric isn’t worth salvaging for anything, it’s cheap and (not really) cheerful.

little miss sunshine

It’s so gruesome that not even a hipster, desperate for attention and validation would buy it. Can you guess the price on it? I know, you’re thinking “free” right? Well, you’re close:

zomg.

That’s right. It’s also $7.99, same as the ripped jeans! Maybe that pricer’s pricing doo-dad was stuck on that number? Again, this is the type of dress I would have priced for 99 cents and it still wouldn’t sell. Just for the tally.

#3 and #4 Filthy jeans. All I did was walk down one aisle of womens jeans and these were blatantly just hanging there for anyone (like management!) to see. This is a common ailment of jeans and pants, the hems all ripped, dirty and stepped on. I’d have ragged these off without a second glance.

Ack. Blegh.

And I didn’t even have to look for any of these in the store, they were all out in the open. Not smashed into a rack, not covertly folded to hide the problem. And it certainly isn’t like there’s a lack of jeans in this particular store, there’s rows of them, all jammed in. Imagine what I couldn’t see.

And so? If you find problems like this at your local Value Village (or equivalent type store), you really ought to point them out to the manager on duty, and preferably to the Production Manager. That is the person in charge of the people who do the pricing. I’ve done this before, at this very store, but I guess they don’t care because it’s in a pretty ghetto area of Toronto.

All I ask is that you remember, before you wear it,  to WASH EVERYTHING YOU BUY SECONDHAND. Especially anything that will come in direct contact with your skin. And happy hunting!

The 10 things thing

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 30/01/2010

Since I was tagged twice to do this, I figured I’d better get the ball rolling. Mostly I feel like my life is an open book so there won’t be much new stuff in here or any real surprises to anyone, but I’ll try.

(And the description of the process, from Ashley’s blog to help us understand:

“Shipley has hit honoured me with a blogging baton award.  Ms. Ship has a great blog herself where she often tells hilarious family tales and shares pictures of her gorgeous baby (who I am desperate to meet before she goes off to college).   Honest Scrap is blogger pat on the back by a peer or quite possibly it is the “friendship cake” of the blogosphere.  And I have given out my share of friendship cakes, let me tell you.

Now I get to share with you ten things you may not know about me, and nominate some other bloggers who I lurk, who will in turn do the same.“)

1. It looks like Shannon and I just might be allowed to get legally married. While I don’t want to actually start planning and be hideously disappointed yet again, it’s exciting to know that the ball that had been sitting in someone else’s court for years has finally been put back in motion. I have a huge file of pictures of pretty dresses and cakes and stuff to inspire me so I might start looking at those again soon.

2. I no longer have a best girlfriend. That long term relationship ended almost a year ago for a bunch of sad, silly reasons. We haven’t done the return of borrowed items yet (and I think we’ll just cut our losses) I can’t see it ever going back to the way it was, not even remotely. I used to be sad about this but now it’s gotten down to a weekly blip where I think, oh, I should call her and…nevermind. I miss the comfort of it, the familiarity, but I don’t miss the last little while where I felt judged constantly.

3. I have pretty good health over all and for that I am grateful. I don’t rock the boat by taking vitamins or anything, but I do exercise twice a week. And when I am stressed my body does do fun stuff, like seriously twitching eyelids. My ex would notice my eyelid dancing and he’d back off out of fear.

4. I get migraines. I think half the time they’re stress related and the other half they’re…just bad luck. Sometimes I get one because there’s a neon light flickering and I look at it the wrong way or it could be a very bright light, the sun suddenly in my eyes or a camera flash. My migraines don’t actually hurt, but I get a weird visual effect that means I can’t read or watch tv or do much of anything. Usually a couple aspirin help it go away and laying down in the dark helps too.

5. I am a technophile. It’s taken me a long time to realize and admit that, but it’s true. I love all my tech toys and my fingers itch to fiddle with my iphone, looking for new podcasts to download. I also love my sirius radio, kindle and ds. These are the things I pack on every trip I take.

6. For years I kept my hair short and bleached it blond. Now that it’s long, I like it much better and I can’t remember why I had it short for so long.

7. The last opera I saw live was a performance of Turandot, almost 4 years ago. I miss live opera very much and I see it as an extension of the years I spent going to rock concerts weekly.

8. The older I get the less likely it is that I will ever have a baby and I’m mostly ok with that inevitability.

9. I think about our trip to Panama every day and fantasize about living in the Kuna Yala territory.

10. My secret career goal is to become an ornithologist but I have no idea how to begin that process and will most likely keep it filed in my dream category.

Nothing profound, sorry. Now I pass the torch on to Shannon, Jana, Corrie and Ryan.

The winter blechs

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 23/01/2010

Dog owners. You know, the main reason I don’t have a dog is because there’s no way in HELL I would ever pick up dog crap. I know that somehow it would get on me, under my nails or a skid down my sleeve that would go unnoticed. And I think that a lot of dog owners also feel this way and either don’t bother picking up after their dogs or they dispose of the dog completely, like a Brita filter. Look at petfinder, you’ll see.

Anyway, I think winter must be seen as both a blessing and a curse for dog owners, a curse because it’s cold and sometimes dogs take a long time to find the right spot to squat, and a blessing because deep snow means they can’t find the poop and just don’t bother. Seriously, look in the parks in spring time, it’s revolting. This winter-and I use that term only in the technical sense-we’ve had virtually no snow but I think that because the calendar says it’s January, that means that some people think that it’s their time of the year not to stoop and scoop. Between here and the subway station, a 3 block walk, I believe there are at least a dozen smeared piles of dog shit. I mean, I hope it’s dog shit, you never know in this ‘hood. There was also a giant splat of vomit outside the subway station on Thursday, but that’s a different issue.

I took this picture today. It defies explanation. I call it “Still Life of Dog Shit and Underwear”.

caca

Dumb diddy dumb

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 22/01/2010

Last night, on my way home from quilting class (which, just to be clear, I LOVE!), I was on the bus, headphones deep in my ears blaring Howard Stern when 2 LDS guys got on. I think, if I remember correctly, their names were Elder Brainwashed and Elder Superdoy. Anyway. One leaned towards me and said something that I couldn’t hear because Howard was in the middle of moderating an arguement between Bababooey and that filthy clown guy.  So I pulled a headphone out of one ear and asked him to repeat himself.

“Is that a bag?” he says, gesturing to my-get this-bag.

So I asked him to repeat himeself again and I guess I’d heard him right the first time.

“Is that a bag?”

How does one even answer the world’s stupidest question? It was very difficult to keep the sarcasm at a minimum.

“Yes” says I, slowly. “It IS a bag. I mean, my bag…it’s a bag.” Then I smiled kindly. That kind of dumb you don’t want to anger. Then I put my headphone back in my ear and turned away to discourage more silliness.

Fast forward 24 hours.

After work this evening I was on the subway, minding my own business, knitting and listening to Howard again. A man sits beside me-ok, not beside, but I was facing forward, he was facing sideways, so our knees were pretty much touching-and he’s eating out of a giant bag of movie popcorn. Watching me knit. Then he dropped a popcorn onto his coat without noticing and it tumbled down between us, maybe landing on my boot. No big deal. Then he speaks:

“I bet my popcorn bothers you!” in a playful way but as he says it, a piece flies OUT OF HIS MOUTH, landing on my purse.

It didn’t bother me at all until that exact moment. Thanks.

Gorgeousness and gorgeosity

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 06/01/2010

I got this yarn in the mail (fishy wishy in a dishy, 105g, 400yds) yesterday from Seejayneknityarns. It is even prettier in real life, lemme tell you. The colours are crazy, now to decide what to do with it-and the other balls of yarn in my ever growing stash. I’m sure I will figure something delicious out.

fishy.jpg

I also spent 5 hours with Bill Baker yesterday working on my sleeve we started over 10 years ago. That was…fun? Maybe fun isn’t quite the word I am looking for-it was 2 hours of laying a stencil and drawing, 3 hours of tattooing. But I love Bill’s company and because we haven’t sat together in so long it was nice to catch up on all the local gossip. Is there a tattooer that doesn’t love gossip? If so, I don’t want to know about it.

yow.

I love the morning after scrub in the shower, pure bliss. There are 2 spots that are-unfortunately-lymphing still and despite my best, repeated efforts, still are gooping up. UGH.  Back to the bathroom with me.

Cottage cheese

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 26/10/2009

I took this on my way home from Dufferin Mall today.

like cottage cheese in the sky

I had to squat down to take my camera out of my backpack plus I had my headphones in and an apple clamped in my teeth so naturally this is the perfect time to be harassed by a security guard. Now I know everyone has at least ONE story about some piece of shit security guard over extending himself, but I was on the grass between the sidewalk and the parking lot, and I took 2 pictures OF THE SKY. It’s really no wonder he felt compelled to ask me if everything was ok and then to helpfully inform me that “photography on mall property isn’t allowed”. Just, ya know, fyi.

Thanks. I guess I missed the sign informing me? I actually laughed really loudly after he said that. Anyone that knows me irl knows I laugh…loud. Anyway, he walked off with a boner, presumably.

Men.

Oh, and did you know how hot this new Shakira video is? Not the song, not so much, but her, wow. Her body is…dang.