Monthly Archives: June 2009

rants, tamu

Many little rants

3 Comments

I think most people would describe me as an agreeable person. Optimistic and upbeat a majority of the time. However, I do go through my phases in which a lot of little thing just eat at me. They bug me. Pull at my last nerve. Wear out what patience I have.

Now is one of those times.

Rivals
I graduated from Texas A&M University in 2003 with my BS in Journalism. I am an Aggie, and I have the diploma and ring to prove it. I am proud of my school, and I am a die-hard Aggie football fan. However, I also have a lot of respect for other schools. My only request is that you don’t rub your allegiance to a rival school in my face. I always want to simply ask, “And your point is…?”

This last week, I had a guy pointedly flash a Longhorns signal at me, and my blood immediately boiled. Especially since I was 99.9% certain the guy was what I like to call a T-shirt fan… no real alliance to the school other than being just a fan. He felt the need to act all better-than-you all because I am an Aggie? I wanted to walk over and tell him unless he had a diploma to back up that hand single he better shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. Because I am sick and tired of being so severely disrespected because of my school. Which just so happens to be a REALLY GOOD SCHOOL with a loyalty and family-feeling that can not be compared to any other school.

I can take good natured ribbing from friends. But by a stranger? Its just disrespectful and unwarranted. So unless you have some true point and reason for your need to be obnoxious, can it. Because I will take your arrogance and raise you a hard-earned degree.

Redneck Men
This last week I went out for awhile to Fan Fair, oh wait… CMA Music Fest, on my own to people watch and take in some of the music myself. As I walked down the street to the stages, I had a guy go, “Heyyyyy…” I look at him, and he literally has his hand and arm up his shirt scratching his arm pit, leering.

REALLY???

I mean. Really. Woman walking down the street alone just MUST be in need of the first man who leers her way with his hand up in his sweaty arm pit. Yeah. We’ll all just jump on the first man that looks our way and goes, “Heyyyy….”

This is why you don’t see many women out alone! It’s not rapists and muggers we’re avoiding! It’s dumb rednecks that think this is okay! Newsflash: IT’S NOT!

Twitter Spambots
I’ve admitted my addiction to Twitter in the past. I’m not leaving it any time soon. However, I wish there was some way to put a handle on these Spambot profiles. I had one follow me about ten times over three days time offering a Britney Spears sex video. And for some reason, despite my profile stating I am married, Singles Dating Sites feel the need to follow me and try to offer me help setting up my singles profile.

I like to meet new people on Twitter. But I will not follow and will most likely block anyone who does not take the time to fill in any of their profile information. Throw me a little information here, people.

Comcast
Yes. I’m calling out a company that I’ve been annoyed with as of late.

It started with our cable bill going up steadily over six months time. And  our service wasn’t getting any better! So we called to see about getting it lowered, explaining that we just could not afford what we were paying now!

The young man on the phone promptly reads us this offer for better service (HD Channels, even though we explained we didn’t have an HD TV)… for a little more than we were paying. He wasn’t helping us any with that. THEN he offers us much slower Internet services, the same Internet and phone, for only about $10 less than we were paying now. Again, not helping matters any. FINALLY after going through several offers, he admitted he could set us up with the exact same service we had already for $30 less a month. We took it… not only was that pretty much where we were shooting to be, but we were also tired of his not really listening to us.

Fast forward to the other night when our service was out for hours. I mentioned it on Twitter via cell phone texts several times before I went on to bed. Four hours later, someone from Comcast jumps on Twitter and asks if they can help me. Well by this time my Internet is back, but beyond that… if my internet is down how am I to necessarily be able to respond to your offer to help via Internet!?

Well, that next day, Comcast actually calls to notify us of maintenance over night and that our internet would be down for a period of time. I am so grateful when they do that! Because I like to know when I need to work around an outage. I don’t mind the outage when I know its coming!

So, I post this on Twitter and promptly a Comcast service rep messages, “Can I help?”

I just closed my browser and walked away. Really Comcast? I am saying that I have service now, but won’t have it later in the evening… and you ask if you can help? One of these days I’m just going to Twitter the word “Comcast” and see how many “Can I help?”s I get.

Honestly, I do think the service reps via Twitter are a good idea. I’m just annoyed that they don’t seem to really grasp whatever their customer is Twittering about prior to responding. Read before you respond, guys. Please.

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EDIT TO ADD (4:00 pm) :: Note in the comments of this entry a response my a Comcast representative. Kudos to them for that… I’m very impressed! A ranty little entry from a woman in a bad mood as of late and they took the time to respond. Thanks guys!!!

Fan Fair, fans, ironic musings, nashville

Hi, my name is…

I can’t get to upset. I’ve been guilty of it myself.

Fans waiting to get into a show, Fan Fair 2008
Fans waiting to get into a show, Fan Fair 2008

That assumption someone remembers your name even though you only see them once in awhile.

This week is CMA Music Fest in Nashville, better known as Fan Fair. It’s honestly one of my favorite weeks of the year, even though it means little sleep and being on your A-game at all times. I thrive under pressure! This is the week in which country music fans descend upon Nashville to get up-close to their favorite artists and get a taste of Music City.

However, its also the time I always make SOMEONE angry. How? I don’t remember them from the year before.

Last year was the worst in which one woman spent an entire night shooting daggars at me, because I dared have no idea who she was… even though she’d met me at this artist’s show in this random city on this random day and we talked for fifteen minutes.

I sincerely try to remember people’s names and their stories. However, especially living in Nashville, I meet literally hundreds of people a year. I am going to forget someone’s name in there. I’m not perfect. I never claim to be.

I feel for my husband and all the musicians. They have is 10000xs worse. Especially if they’ve worked for multiple artists over the years. They have a lot of fans they’ve met over time. Most of the time, there IS facial recognition. But remembering a name and city can often require a little help.

I love that fans remember so vividly ever details of a conversation they had with an artist or their band (or the occasional wife). I did it too for years. I am just as guilty of assuming that the other person remembered me just as vividly! However, the fact of the matter is, its just not possible to remember EVERY conversation. At least not for me. Try as I might, I often can’t remember what someone ordered to eat from me an hour earlier if I’ve made ten hot dogs since then!

I don’t want to offend anyone, so I propose that during Fan Fair, every visitor be given a “Hi! My Name is…” sticker to wear, with an extra line of, “…and I’m a fan of…” at the bottom. I sincerely don’t mean this to be mean, but please… Country Music fans, cut everyone here some slack. We’re REALLY glad you’re here — everyone from the artists to the musicians to the bartenders to the cab drivers — but we’re also not perfect. Please don’t be offended if you initially get a blank stare when you see someone you know. We mean you no offence. We’re just frantically going through our mental Rolodex… and sometimes that takes awhile.