One of those crappy days to gripe about ...

GRIPE #1

I woke up to Day #3 of my headache. And codeine hasn't helped.

Yesterday's bright neon lights in the background performers' waiting area almost killed me. Also froze my butt off since the heating was at a minimum at most. Felt nauseous last night when I got back home from my shoot and had some soup and noodles for supper, having lacked an appetite all day. Then I lay down for an hour nap, telling myself that I would get up for a late swim. Never got up again that night and ended up sleeping 12 hours before finally did. It's incredible how a headache can knock you out. And to top it off, it's still with me ... I just want to lie down again.

GRIPE #2

First on this morning's agenda. Going to Chevrolet Clermont where I bought Greta, my Chevy Aveo. Good little car, especially for the price. Bad service from the horrible salesman, Guy Gariepy. Don't go to him since he's not a man of his word.

He had sold me two ski racks last Feb. which he himself could not install, since physically there wasn't enough space on the roof racks. So he said he would have a garage technician to take care of it and after weeks and weeks of waiting and trying to get something done, I had to contact Chevrolet Canada and complain. At this point, I was frustrated and angry at being ignored and I wanted a reimbursement ... only makes sense, right? I'd been paying for something I couldn't use, since winter was now over and they still hadn't installed the two ski racks as promised which I paid for.

Of course no one at the Chevy dealership on St-Denis St. wanted to take care of my complaint and it took many many more calls from the head office before anything got done. And that was due principally to my going in personally to the dealership to see what the huge problem was - why weren't they going to deal with my complaint?

The sales director finally agreed to promise to install the ski racks next season for free. And that's what I did today.

The director of the garage ended up installing the racks himself, which took almost 2 hours to do. Problem? The two ski racks didn't fit onto the roof rack. Duh. I had been sold something that I shouldn't have been by a seriously incompetent and negligent salesman who totally ignored me after he *made his sale*, insisting that the racks would fit. The nice garage man had to modify the racks by drilling holes and moving parts to make it fit.

Good thing I stood up for my consumer rights last spring or I would have been stuck with a second ski rack that would have been IMPOSSIBLE to install myself.

So get that right folks, don't go to Chevrolet Clermont (Plateau Mont-Royal) and specifically DO NOT go to Guy Gariepy to buy your car. Post-service sucks royally.

GRIPE #3

I picked up a few groceries and one of the bags broke and my milk and peanut butter spilled out. But that's alright, it was at home on my porch and I lost the PB in my car.

GRIPE #4

I met up with a friend for lunch at his favourite restaurant. They looked like they had interesting lunch specials. He told me he usually ignored them since he always ordered the duck soup which was not on the menu. I am not a fan of duck and proceeded to ask the waiter what "Beijing sauce" was on the tofu special. He said, "Some type of sauce." Good answer, good answer.

So I chose Szechuan Shrimp. I mean, how bad could this be? I learned a lesson about fake Chinese food today ... got served shrimps served in some horrible gooey fake red sauce that was definitely not Szechuan but more like a bad sweet and sour with a side of almost tasteless fried rice.

Ugh. I ate what I could since I haven't been eating enough recently and left the sauce.

But it was good to see my friend and catch up a bit, though my headache played on me and I felt listless and drab and a horrible conversationalist.

GRIPE #5

I was at home this afternoon working at my computer when I heard a banging on my back door. What is someone doing banging on my back door? What is wrong with the front door?

I went to answer it and it was a man who asked if he could take stuff away from my backyard. He and his friend in their yellow pickup were collecting scrap metal. I looked at him and asked him what he was doing in my backyard, which is private. I told him he had no right to be there and to leave right away. I told him I would call the police. He made fun of me and jumped back over my fence to the truck and then backed out of the alleyway.

I called the police and complained about the guy trespassing. They passed the buck and told me to call the local post. I did, and the local post said they couldn't do anything unless the general office, which I first called, dispatched a call.

I told them it's not a good thing someone willing to jump over fences into private yards to check out stuff to haul away and that probably this person was up to no good.

Sheesh, for all I know, the guy would have robbed me had I not been home, or perhaps maybe he's the arsehole who stole my kids' bikes last summer and was just checking if I was at home. Or maybe it's this same arsehole who's robbed several neighbours today.

Of course the police didn't do anything. Nothing like a good citizen voicing a complaint about a suspicious person. TRESPASSING. I always thought there was a law against that.

GRIPE # 6

Not enough time in the day and I feel like I've gotten nothing done. I have a birthday supper to go to right now and have to get ready. I had a choice between training or blogging and I chose blogging because I had too many unhealthy gripes to keep pent up inside myself. Doesn't matter ... I will dance my butt off tonight at a friend's Christmas party. Woohoo!

I've decided to wear pants. Don't feel like getting a run in my panty hose.