I spent half my morning on the phone with customer retention at Rogers this morning dealing with another of their fuckups.

When I say the only thing they deliver consistently is bad service, I mean it!

Billing me for twice the amount I owe for almost a year on my cell phone bills, jacking the price up on internet while the performance suffers and then extending my contracts without my knowledge. The funny part is that all of this happens when they’re trying to appease me because I keep trying to leave!

The real icing on the cake today is that I called in to upgrade (I know, I know. I only did it for work and as soon as my contract is over Teksavvy is getting my business) my internet plan to find out that my contract had been mysteriously extended without my consent or knowledge. After sorting that bullshit out for half an hour I finally get to the part where I upgrade my internet.

Oh wait, what’s that? I need a new modem, and it’s going to cost me $7 to rent one now?? Fuck.

I agreed to it because I really need the internet, and the person makes a work order for me to pick up my new modem tonight at my local store. Everything is dandy, right?

HELL NO.

I leave work early so I can get to the damn store because I don’t know what time they close at. Yes, I called ahead but apparently answering phones or even having voicemail at a phone company is not something Rogers believes in.

So I haul my ass out there, wait in line for 20 minutes only to get to the bitch-ass dude at the front who is playing on his cell and barely greets me. I tell him I’m there for the modem that was ordered for me this morning, present my work order like a good little peon and he tells me…

“WE DON’T HAVE ANY OF THOSE”

And proceeds to give me shit attitude when I start to get upset. It wasn’t easy to get there and stand around for ages waiting to pick something up. I was also without internet (and so were my paying guests) while I hauled the old modem in for the switch. Not cool.

And the attitude I got was just amazing. The two working there looked like they hated their jobs and were taking it out on the customers. The guy treats me like an idiot because I’m incredulous that they don’t have any of the promised modems. He tells me it doesn’t matter that I have a work order and that I was told there would be one ready for me and makes it seem like its my fault that I didn’t call ahead.

I told that punk I DID call ahead and no one bothered to answer the 3 times I did. He just shrugged. Un-fucking-believable.

I just left at that point before I made a scene.

The best part?

I called Rogers immediately to complain and sat on hold for SEVENTEEN MINUTES. And never even got through.

Who the hell is in charge of their quality control? Their distribution? Their customer service?

I want to hear from these people and have something done about my account. This is just sick. How can they expect to keep me, or others like Krystal as customers with all this idiocy??

Let me share my experience with you so you can decide where to spend your money next time you’re in Yorkville. Hopefully it won’t be at Moroco.

I’ve been to Moroco numerous times. It’s a little expensive, but I love the atmosphere and the chocolate is pretty good too. It’s a real fun experience for a date or girl’s night out. It’s also great for an office Christmas party. Oh yes. I got my office to have their party there this year and it was awesome! We had everything on the chocolate menu and unlimited champagne and lattes. Go big or go home, I say.

Every time the staff was attentive, the food delicious and presented nicely.

But not this time.

Tonight we stopped by for a few tasty treats including macarons, frozen hot chocolate and French sipping chocolate. Our bill was near $50 for the 3 of us.

We seated ourselves on the half-full patio and ordered our items. We had no problems getting our food, but afterwards, oh my! It was atrocious!

As we were finishing up, gabbing away and enjoying ourselves (it was a lounge, after all) the downward spiral began. Let me illustrate it via a list of strikes against Moroco.

Strike #1

Normally when I order the sipping chocolat, I swap out the truffle for a macaron. In the past this has never been an issue, but this time the waitress said it was not possible at all (not even if I paid more) and I was stuck with a truffle. I don’t really like them and was surprised that she was so brusque about it.

Strike #2

The waitress cleared our dishes away before asking if we were done or if we wanted anything else. Had she asked, I would have actually ordered some more macarons.

Strike #3

The bill was dumped on our table far too soon, and we felt like we were being pushed out. We ignored it for a while while we were enjoying our remaining drinks, but the waitress kept coming back and huffing every time she saw there was no money sitting with the bill. Finally she came back and told us that there was a 30 minute limit for sitting on the patio if you’re only ordering drinks. She said this was written on the menu and that there were other reservations coming in.

There are several problems with this.

1. It’s a LOUNGE. People go there to LOUNGE while they eat and drink. Why is there such a short time limit for this? Why wasn’t this actually printed on the menu? Here’s a screenshot from their site:
   

   Notice how they refer to themselves as a lounge & tout the MoRoCo experience

   
   If we just wanted a cheap & quick coffee drink we would have gone to Tim Horton’s! Why would we pay $50 to be rushed out??

2. The patio was nearly empty, and there were other patrons having nothing but drinks who were there far longer than we were. Why was our small party singled out? We weren’t being loud or unruly, and we were dressed well.
3. I didn’t order a drink at all, but one of their specialties from the menu. Even if there was some kind of rule, I would have been exempt on that technicality. It also wasn’t nearly as good as last time.
   
4. If they really did have a reservation, they could have politely asked us to move to another table. We would have obliged, but this was never brought up. We were rudely told to leave, instead.

Strike #4

The final strike was like salt in the wound. We looked at the bill to find that we were charged the group gratuity rate of 18.5% on our order. Outrageous! We weren’t even a group or large party, there were only 3 of us!

According to their own menu, there is a gratuity charge, but only for groups of 6 or more. When did 3 become 6??

From their own menu, only groups of 6 or more will be charged the gratuity

At that point we were livid. We went out for a good time and some luxurious treats and instead were treated like we were scum. I was SO embarrassed since I had recommended this place! What a great impression of Toronto/Yorkville to give Krystal on her first visit to the area.

We decided not to pay the stupid automatic gratuity (and why the hell was it so high!?!?) and just paid the bill plus a small tip since we’re not misers. I also left a note on the bill explaining that it was unacceptable to charge us the tip in advance AND kick us out after only 30 minutes. After that we high-tailed it out of there, afraid that the waitress would come chasing after us when she saw the small tip. (Did I mention that the money hadn’t been on the table for more than a minute before she swooped in like a vulture and scooped it up???)

I am really disappointed by this whole experience. I really want to like Moroco, I really do! But if this is the way they are treating their loyal customers these days, then I guess my romance with fancy chocolate is over.

I just can’t get over our treatment. Here we are being snubbed by a waitress at a fancy establishment. HELLO. OBVIOUSLY WE CAN AFFORD TO BE HERE since, ya know, we ARE here.

Think about it, dear readers. Is this a place that YOU would like to visit??

LYSOL® Healthy Touch® No-Touch™ Hand Soap System

So what’s my beef with something that is supposed to help you maintain clean and healthy hands?

It’s simple: Redundancy.

You just don’t NEED this product.

The Lysol marketing pitch is that this product:

• Automatically senses your hands
• Dispenses the perfect amount of soap
• Provides antibacterial protection!!!!eleventyonee111!!

So that “you and your family will never have to touch a germy soap pump again.”

Pshaw. This is ridiculous.

First of all, the damn system takes FOUR AA batteries. They’re hard to install (yes, I actually set this stupid thing up and used it) and the sensor is a piece of crap. It’s really not as user-friendly as they claim. Multiple times I tried to get it to work, and when it finally did, it really wasn’t as cool as I thought it would be.

Second, it dispenses WAY TOO MUCH SOAP into your hands! So much was wasted down the drain, I felt guilty for trying to be clean! We’re talking gobs here, people. And there was no way to adjust how much was dispensed. We went through the soap refill container lickety-split, when normally a container of that size would last much longer. This wastage is not only bad for your wallet, but doubly-bad for the environment. The packaging was also way more than was necessary.

Third, it’s antibacterial soap. Unless you work in a hospital or doctor’s office there is NO NEED for antibacterial products. Proper hand washing with soap and warm water completes the job just as well without the harmful effects of triclosan and other antibacterial chemicals on your body and the environment. Read about the problems with antibacterial products/additives here.

Finally, it doesn’t matter if the damn soap dispenser is dirty! You’re going to be washing your hands anyway! Holy fear-mongering, Batman!

Overall I am disgusted by this money-grab of a product. They’re washing it with feel-good messages about protecting your family’s health, when it is anything but.

Expensive, hard to set up, redundant, requires batteries, extra soap refills, bad for the body and environment and overly wasteful in design, function and packaging!

This is one fancy gadget we ought to avoid.

/end rant

So I’ve hauled ass FOUR times this week to get there before 6 only to find them closed EACH TIME!

The kicker is that I even called the woman yesterday and asked her to make sure to stay until the proper 6pm closing time because I would be there at 5:30. The fucker left! She promised she would be there and she fucking LEFT! Before 5:15 because I even called! I went anyway, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she WASN’T THERE! I went all the way there to find an empty shop!

I am so fucking furious with the people that run this place. There are a lot of details I’m leaving out of this because it would take me hours to type up everything, but I have EVERY RIGHT to be FUCKING FURIOUS.

So I went to bed angry and woke up crying early this morning. Despite my dream-blocking meds, a very upsetting and emotional dream slipped through… I had a terrible dream that my dad had a heart attack and then his heart became infected and he passed away. You have no idea how intense the sadness was in this dream. It was totally in your face and I woke up crying and out of breath. That never happens.

I was so upset about this that I actually called my dad this morning to make sure he was ok. The last time I got an intense feeling like that, I “felt” like something had happened to my cat. It turns out that she was ok, but the OTHER cat ran away! So I was definitely feeling something!!! (It was when I was leaving for Vegas, my buddy Tigger ran away for the whole week I was gone! He came back but it was so unusual!)

And now it’s raining, my day is filled with stupid conference calls and there was even one scheduled from 5pm-6pm! I am fucking livid! I HAVE to go back to that shitty store today and get that stone or I’m screwed tomorrow. Now if I have to stay past 5 today it means that my only chance is to go at lunch, assuming I even have time for lunch today!

I am just so goddamned PISSED today!

I received this in my inbox today:

Looks pretty promising, doesn’t it?

So away I click, excited that there’s going to be a shopping party in my future and in my area! They wouldn’t send me an email otherwise, right? I mean, I DO live in Toronto, basically the centre of the Canadian world. Psha.

To my surprise I am redirected to a page on the LouLou website in which I discover that all the “parties” are happening at locations in the middle of nowhere. Not a single listing for anywhere resembling the GTA. (Edit: Ok there is one in Woodbridge. Woodbridge. It hardly counts as the GTA, especially when the flagship store is in Toronto proper!)

Epic Fail #1.

So I think to myself: “Fine. Maybe they’re giving the less fashionably-fortunate a shot at the parties first. Maybe Toronto will come later” and I surf over to the AE website to see what constitutes this “collection” from LouLou.

I am all for increasing the fashion availabilities for the plus sized market. We want to be fashionable, comfortable and pretty too, you know. We deserve to have nicely made & nicely tailored outfits that we can be confident in. They should be flattering to us, but not 100% black because life is more fun in colour!

When LouLou first paired up with Addition-Elle I was tickled pink. They made us fat people a little digest-size version of LouLou for Fat People magazine. I was so happy to get mine that I actually wrote to the editor of LouLou thanking her (she was nice enough to reply back. +5 for customer satisfaction!).

Anyway…

That email they sent me up there? It looks awesome. I’m totally digging the model’s look, and I have a well-established love of the military look (yes I owned the military look before it even became cool….) So I am expecting to see some really awesome chic & sleek items that most people can wear. Hopefully no more of the crap they’re currently trying to shill (polyester & rayon tents with no lines or even sense to the designs sometimes).

I’m hoping for something comfortable and flattering. Something timeless and classic that you could love. Basically, a decent collection that LouLou would support, the way they support other straight size lines of quality.

What do I get instead?

BEHOLD: The horrors of plus-sized fashion!

EPIC FAIL Infinity+1

Ewwww! My eyes are burning! Not only are these some of the most hideous animal print twill pants I have ever seen, I strongly feel that they should be taken out to the back and put out of their misery.

How can the AE/LouLou designers possibly think these are either a) fashionable or b) flattering? Especially on a larger body. I would shudder to see these on a slim gal, but on a big one? I think my fight or flight response would kick in.

The worst part? They want $90 for them. As if!

Those are arguably the worst part of the collection, but LouLou + AE go on to disappoint further.

Behold:Oh yes. And this beauty is guaranteed to chafe, cling & make you sweat in ways you never imagined with its 90% Polyester, 10% Spandex stylings.

I know the 80′s are coming back, but did they have to break out more shitty animal print PLUS gold chain for this??? Srsly???

I know I’m going to see some naive and misguided women wearing this. I just know it. And as I walk by I will cry on the inside for them, for they know not the crime they commit. I won’t sneer or look away because I don’t want to make them feel bad. They should feel confident in their beauty. But…. *sigh* This is awful.

You can get your own chain print top to sweat and chafe in for only $70! *gag*

Everything else in the “collection” (if you can even call it that!) so far is only slightly less horrid than those two, yet still ho-hum. Nothing to write home about. Except for the jacket. I actually like that one. PRAISE JEEBUS!

I just… have no words. Addition-Elle and LouLou, how could you do so wrong by us big gals? What happened? I had such high expectations (at least of LouLou, Addition-Elle has been in a downward spiral for years) and a blinded hope that one day you would produce beautiful, flattering, comfortable and affordable clothes of value for the big girls of the world.

Instead I get the dog’s breakfast. And an invite to a party that isn’t even happening in my geographic location. Ever heard of geo-targeting?

tsk tsk. I am disappointed in you.

I’ve seen some people in my feed making comments about it in a negative fashion, as if you can’t be sexy and fat at the same time, or that being fat automatically means that you can’t be healthy.

This obviously upsets me because (in case you haven’t figured it out by reading my blog)

And sexy.

And healthy.

The terms are not mutually exclusive. You can be all of the above, all at the same time.

It upsets me that people who “know” me online are making comments, forgetting the fact that fat people (and sometimes their fat friends) are reading those comments, and are being offended by this whole thing.

There is such a thing as health at every size, my friends. Just because you’re thin doesn’t mean you’re healthy OR sexy by default.

I happen to be fat, yet I take care of myself. I get regular exercise, I eat healthy and in moderation and I dress myself well, do my hair, etc. Just like everyone else.

But I’m still fat. Sure, I could do more (and I will) because I would like to be a smaller size, but as it stands, my doc thinks I’m healthy, I think I’m sexy, and so do all the guys who follow after me when I go out!

I would like to direct your attention to the following points [via Kate Harding's Shapely Prose] to help you better understand obesity, being fat, and BEING HUMAN:

1. Weight itself is not a health problem, except in the most extreme cases (i.e., being underweight or so fat you’re immobilized). In fact, fat people live longer than thin people and are more likely to survive cardiac events, and some studies have shown that fat can protect against “infections, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, osteoporosis, anemia, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes.” Yeah, you read that right: even the goddamned diabetes. Now, I’m not saying we should all go out and get fat for our health (which we wouldn’t be able to do anyway, because no one knows how to make a naturally thin person fat any more than they know how to make a naturally fat person thin; see point 4), but I’m definitely saying obesity research is turning up surprising information all the time — much of which goes ignored by the media — and people who give a damn about critical thinking would be foolish to accept the party line on fat. Just because you’ve heard over and over and over that fat! kills! doesn’t mean it’s true. It just means that people in this culture really love saying it.

2. Poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle do cause health problems, in people of all sizes. This is why it’s so fucking crucial to separate the concept of “obesity” from “eating crap and not exercising.” The two are simply not synonymous — not even close — and it’s not only incredibly offensive but dangerous for thin people to keep pretending that they are. There are thin people who eat crap and don’t exercise — and are thus putting their health at risk — and there are fat people who treat their bodies very well but remain fat. Really truly.

3. What’s more, those groups do not represent anomalies; no one has proven that fat people generally eat more or exercise less than thin people. Period. And believe me, they’ve tried. (Gina Kolata’s new book, Rethinking Thin, is an outstanding source for more on that point.)

4. Diets don’t work. No, really, not even if you don’t call them diets. If you want to tell me about how YOUR diet totally worked, do me a favor and wait until you’ve kept all the weight off for five years. Not one year, not four years, five years. And if you’ve kept it off for that long, congratulations. You’re literally a freak of nature.

5. Given that diets don’t work in the long-term for the vast, vast majority of people, even if obesity in and of itself were a health crisis, how the fuck would you propose we solve it?

6. Most fat people have already dieted repeatedly. And sadly, it’s likely that the dieting will cause them more health problems than the fat.

7. Human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Fat people are human beings.

8. Even fat people who are unhealthy still deserve dignity and respect. Still human beings. See how that works?

9. In any case, shaming teh fatties for being “unhealthy” doesn’t fucking help. If shame made people thin, there wouldn’t be a fat person in this country, trust me. I wish I could remember who said this, ’cause it’s one of my favorite quotes of all time: “You cannot hate people for their own good.”

10. If you scratch an article on the obesity! crisis! you will almost always find a press release from a company that’s developing a weight loss drug — or from a “research group” that’s funded by such companies.

There. Now that you’ve read that you’ve been given the opportunity to be a MUCH nicer person.

Some people think that #fatpeoplearesexier. Just to clear this up, I don’t necessarily believe that. I feel that #fatpeoplearesexy is a better descriptor.

Feel free to hash this out in the comments. You all know how I feel now. Just remember, this fat chick is watching what you write, so be smart.

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Ok I’m really pissed about this and just had a convo with another friend who doesn’t know her. It sums things up pretty well so you’ll have to suffer with a pasted convo:

Friend says:
Hey. How was your day yesterday?
Ginger says:
it was ok
im kind of pissed right now though
a friend just asked to crash at my place
she didn’t have anywhere else to go tonight, so i said yes
F says:
Damn, that sucks
G says:
i told her to get here before 11pm so i could settle her in
and i went and pulled out all the freaking stuff in the guest room, made her bed, etc
and she’s at a club downtown right now.
it was 1030 by this point after i’ve been cleaning very quietly
F says:
Ugh..
G says:
and i txt her asking her to be here soon
and she fuckin’ txts me back saying she can’t leave right now
her party is more important than a place to stay tonight!?!?!?
so she basically says she won’t be coming anymore
so pissed. i am so put out right now. i went to all that trouble at the last minute for her
and now she’s not even coming. what am i, a hotel?
i really don’t mind helping people out, but fucking follow through, eh?
F says:
I don’t blame you one bit
G says:
i just can’t believe she would ask me a big favour like that and then make me go to the trouble, then not even come!
seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!eleventyone!11!!!!
F says:
So beat her with a nerf bat when you see her next
G says:
urgh
seriously, i don’t mind helping but i HATE being taken advantage of
F says:
That’s because you’re so awesome. So when you’re put out like this, you get super pissed
G says:
yeah no kidding.
i used to be such a doormat. i believe in helping others, but sometimes it makes it worse for me
now she’s changed her mind and has said she’ll come and is offering to make me breakfast
i’m not even here for breakfast
*big sigh*
i don’t know what to do
—————–

Still upset. She keeps waffling back and forth about coming, and it seems to me her glass of wine is more important than her friend that just went the extra mile for her benefit. I’m not letting her come over now.

What I really want to do later is call her and yell at her a little. Tell her that I feel really taken advantage of by her and that she needs to shape up or ship out. I like her and don’t mind helping her, but there has to be some gratitude and respect in there somewhere, and I ain’t feelin’ it.

Am I being unreasonable? Flame away, my friends, flame away.

She gave me a cheque to cover internet and the stupid thing bounced and I was charged for it!

She’s bounced cheques twice before with our landlady and this really bothers me, I’m worried that she won’t be able to afford rent or anything else pretty soon. SO PISSED.

Not to mention that she’s been eating all my food and not replacing it!

*fury*

And I suck at confrontation. When you have to live with someone it’s hard to confront them about these things and keep a harmonious environment. I really just need to live on my own because this really gets under my skin.

She’s a nice girl, older than me, but NOT RESPONSIBLE!!!

arrrhggghghhghghg!
RANTRANTRANTRANTRANT!!! Dammit!

I sent her a text saying it bounced and that I need the money plus the admin fee back. Let’s hope that she doesn’t have a problem with this and can just give it to me. But still, I don’t want her to be nonchalant about it either, for chrissakes. This sort of thing should not be happening!

I hate being tied to people who are not financially responsible and having to rely on them like this. If she doesn’t pay things like rent, it affects me! It’s all rainbows and sunshine with just me, but having to share with others sucks!

Why me?!