This has been bugging me for several years, but it took a Miss Manners column to make a post about it.
I sometimes find Miss Manners’s answers to be crotchety and a bit mean, but this was right on.
Why add the preposition? The word is already complete. Merriam-Webster says that in this context welcome is an interjection that is “used to express a greeting to a guest or newcomer upon arrival.”
See? One word. Done!
And “in” to what? If one is trying to say “Welcome to my store,” or “Welcome to the store,” the word “in” is not used. Do they mean “inside” like “inside the building,” or “inside the door”?
I’m certainly not engaging with people who say this and badgering them as to if they are even thinking what they are saying. It is one of those things I could let go of, but so far, it continues to rankle.
I’m hoping it goes the way the overuse of air quotes did in the 90s.
Come to think of it, air quotes would be perfect for this: “Welcome [air quotes] in [close air quotes]”.
In September, I got nervous and accidentally paid my COBRA payment twice. It was the first one I was responsible for (my former company paid for June, July, and August) and I forgot that I had set up autopay. Because of the Labor Day holiday, the autopay hadn’t come out by the third, and I paid via credit card.
When I realized my mistake (about September 6) I called to ask them to refund my money. It was $681.91, so not an insignificant amount.
And thus began my journey with every single customer service agent telling me the check would be to me by a certain period (two weeks, eight weeks, November 15 for sure) and the check never arriving.
By the time the fourth person told me yet a different story, I asked to speak to a manager who did not care at all about my plight, the fact that three previous employees did not have their facts straight, and that this was my fourth phone call. She never said she was sorry. She didn’t believe me when I quoted what I had been told. “I mean, I would have to listen back to the tapes to see if that’s what they said,” she said more than once. I’m quite certain she didn’t bother.
I’m guessing the company doesn’t put any money into training their customer service people. The people who call customer service are not the ones to choose their services; that would be their employer. So why bother making sure the frontline customer service workers have correct information? It’s cheaper to have them say whatever and then it’s the customer who has to waste time calling back.
The fourth person did seem to have the correct story, and the check has arrived. I never want to work with Paylocity again, but I will not be the person who makes that choice. Fingers crossed that our paths will never meet.
p.s. When I paid by credit card, they charged me an extra $20 fee for using credit. On the fourth phone call they told me they wouldn’t be refunding that amount. And of course, I didn’t want to start all over again, so they netted $20. Good job, corporate America.
Antares requires eye medication that is cheapest when bought from Chewy. I’ve ordered it multiple times, and, save one time, each delivery has been left on my doorstep despite our signs that ask that all packages be brought to the back porch.
Every time this happens, I contact Chewy and explain that the problem hasn’t been fixed, despite me doing all the things they have told me to do. And every time they write back and apologize and assure me it won’t happen again. And then it happens again.
As I have been telling them, things are stolen from my doorstep, hence the request to not leave things there. And today it happened. I was riding home from work and saw an opened Chewy box on Interstate about three blocks from my house.
I knew my box had been delivered, so after checking all the places, I walked back to see that indeed, the opened box was my box. Luckily, the thief wasn’t interested in my cat’s $60 dollar eye medication and abandoned the box, so the biggest damage was that I got to bring home trash.
My email telling them of the theft was met with the same apology and reassurance that it wouldn’t happen again. From the future, I can say the pattern continues.
I will be quite happy when I don’t have to deal with Chewy any longer.
While I have never taken a loan from my 401k or withdrawn funds from my 401k, there were a few years where I saved less that 5% of my income. And wan savings (especially when you make less than the median income) does not make for a good chance of retiring before 65. It’s a bummer how much clearer the retirement thing becomes in one’s 40s.
Because the temperature is much too cold for Portland. Aside from the outdoor temperature, you will notice the indoor temperature. The upside of our house in the summer is that it’s really good at staying cool. When temperatures are high, our house is, by comparison, rather cool. But in the winter when temperatures go down, our house just keeps holding on to those cool temperatures.
Eventually I did turn on the cadet heater in my bedroom. Just to get through the work day.
The date on this magazine is December 5. Given that Christmas is 20 days after that date, I don’t think there is any real way to lose 2.4 pounds a day other than cutting off a limb, or maybe two. At least with amputation, that weight would stay off, unlike every single crash diet.
And, as usual, First for Women comes through with the ridiculous weight-loss claims and the elaborate dessert.
Too bad to much time has passed since I took this picture and I can’t find a geotag for it. I have no idea where this was.
Teslas remind me of the man who runs their company. I haven’t gotten around to writing my screed about Elon Musk and I don’t think he deserves enough of my time to really screed it up, so here’s a short version. Basically, he occupies the same part of my brain that Donald Trump does. I think he bloviates, he’s a terrible person who doesn’t stick to his own standards, thinks much too highly of himself, and has no actual effect on my life other than annoying me.
I also hate how both men have hoards of people who think they are amazing and will not hear otherwise. Both dudes are in the way way back of the Amazing line. I’d actually put them in the Lesser Mediocre Realm.
There once was a time when I thought about Donald Trump about once per year. I’d like to go back to that frequency of thought. There was once a point (and not really that long ago) when I asked Matt, “Is there someone named Elon Musk?” because I wasn’t entirely sure.
The rains came torrentially while I was waiting for the MAunts to show up at the Rose City Cemetery. But luckily it tapered off so by the time we made it to the second cemetery the sun was out.
