» Personal Ads

Comic Geek Love
I have yet to go on a date with someone I met on the internet. Here's why.

I used to work at a comic book store on the weekends (a dangerous enough place for any unaccompanied female), and soon after starting, developed a following of comic fanboys.

One in particular, "Ted", was very attached to me. Ted asked me if he could add me on MySpace, and in the name of keeping peace, I said yes.
When I signed on to MySpace later that day, I saw Ted's friend request and clicked the link to his profile.

Wow. The picture of the guy on the profile was tall, muscular, handsome, in short, everything Ted was not. Ted was short, bordering on obese, and balding.
Profile Ted was into kayaking, hiking, and wokring out.
Real Ted spent at least two whole days a week at the comic book store, gossiping about the latest issue of X-Men or griping about the inaccuracies in the latest Batman movie.

This convinced me that I should never, EVER date someone I met online. God only knows what they're like in real life.
(Wed 19th Sep 2007, 3:21, More)

» Customers from Hell

Abused Baristas, Unite!
While I worked at Barnes & Noble, I was not only a bookseller, I was also scheduled to work shifts as a barista. The best of both worlds, right?
Wrong.
We got some real nutjobs at that place.
There was the germophobe woman who insisted that we not touch (hell, we could barely even breathe on the damn thing) the rim of her coffee cup, and watched us like a hawk as we processed her order.
We ran into tons of problems with the giftcards, because we were technically a B&N cafe that served Starbucks coffee, NOT a Starbucks.
People would constantly be trying to pay with Starbucks giftcards, and when I told them we couldn't take them, they would look at me like I just shot their beloved golden retriever in front of them.
I actually had a customer laugh and say "You must be joking", all while holding out the giftcard to me, like that would make it work.
There were more than a couple WTF instances.
Like when a woman ordered a frappuccino, then brought it back to the counter, complaining that "it was cold".
No duh. That's what the drink is.
Then there was the caramel guy.
First off, the order was originally made by one of his co-workers. She had come in (she worked at a nearby store), and given us a massive list of drinks. We make them, she leaves, everyone is happy.
Not so much.
This guy, one of her co-workers, comes back with one of the drinks we gave her. He wants more caramel in it. Okay, no big deal, put a little more caramel on it, he's happy.
Right?
No.
Then he spills the drink all over the condiment bar. He wants us to remake the drink. Does he know what it was? Of course not.
Can't we identify it by the spillage, he asks.
All I can tell is that it was some sort of hot coffee/espresso drink.
One call to his coworker later, and he finds out it was a caramel macchiato.
So we make another one.
He wants more caramel on it.
More caramel.
More.
Can't I just give him a little cup full of caramel?
"If I don't get her enough caramel, she'll kill me!"
Sure.
Bastard.
(Fri 5th Sep 2008, 2:44, More)

» Customers from Hell

Really? Seriously?
I used to work at a large American bookstore chain (Barnes & Noble), which had the misfortune of having the same first letter as another large American bookstore chain (Borders).
We could and did do special orders over the phone. People would call in looking for a particular book, and we would put it on hold for them. Or they could place the order in store, and we would call them when the book had arrived.
Many a time I was approached, told by the customer that they had called and placed a book on hold.
I looked by name. Nothing.
By book title? No luck.
I would then ask if they were sure that they had called this location (or if they were sure we called them, as the case was), and not another one of our nearby stores.
No, the customer would insist, they had called THIS store.
After much back and forth of "Yes, you did" "No I didn't", they would usually look around themselves and ask the wonderful question,
"Wait, where am I again?"
After I explained to them where they were, some had to be shown a business card for them to believe it. I mean, there are signs ALL AROUND the store ffs!
And don't even get me started on the whole membership/bonus points card.
There was a way for people who had forgotten their card at home to access their membership. We, as employees, would enter the customer's phone number (phone number ONLY) into the computer, and the computer would bring up the info.
I can't count how many times customers would come up to the register and tell me to look up their membership by their e-mail address.
When I informed them that we could only look it up by phone number, they would say "Well, your [fill in the blank] location (this was, of course, NOT a B&N, but a Borders) always looks it up by e-mail, so you should be able to do the same."
I don't know how many times I had to point out the large signs that read "Barnes & Noble" around the store.
(Thu 4th Sep 2008, 23:07, More)

» Phobias

Lepidopterophobia
That's right. I'm terrified of butterflies and moths. I can't even be in the same room as one.

When I was a kid, one of my cousins told me some scary story involving butterflies, and ever since then I've had this irrational fear of them.
The weirdest part? Neither myself nor my cousin remember the original story.
So I'm afraid of butterflies, and I don't even know why.
(Sun 13th Apr 2008, 2:46, More)

» Personal Ads

HoN. Again.
I'm on there as kingdomcomengo, currently waaaay back at 55th.
(Mon 17th Sep 2007, 6:07, More)