Rainy Days And Mondays

And Ground Hogs Day always get me down.

Greetings from a wet Raleigh, NC. Fortunately the weekend here was wonderful, but rather chilly. My arrival was not without hitch however.

Dem Bagsmashers
ITP-Reader Bob, perhaps you can help me out here. On my dilapidated suitcase (from years of getting mangled by airline employees) I attached a new name tag. The tag had a slide-out tongue on which I wrote my name and phone number, you know in case my luggage boarded a different flight that I did; upon arrival at RDU said tongue was no longer attached. Do bag handlers take courses in how they can effectively ruin people’s luggage?

Dear Hertz, Do Try To Pull A Fast One On Me
When I arrived at RDU I took the shuttle bus to Hertz where, to my dismay they asked my to try their new technology, the HertzExpress Personal Kiosk. What a nightmare (for me). It was like talking to someone in prison as I tried to communicate with the person on the other side of the video chat using an ancient-style telephone handset. To make matters worse my driver’s license wouldn’t scan so I had to call over the Hertz employee on site for help. Then, after smiling and alerting me that she’d upgraded me to a Toyota Camry with a GPS, both of which I thought were complementary since she’d made no reference to a price increase and I was previously told that my company now allowed rental of cars larger than sub-compacts, I was shown what would be my receipt — for $750! When I emphatically exclaimed that the additional $500 from the “upgrade” was not acceptable she had to call a manager to see if she could give me a “lesser” car for the price agreed upon at my reservation time.

Seriously, I will never go through this process again. In fact, for future trips I will avoid choosing Hertz because of this terrible customer experience.

Having Fun, Wish You Were Beer
For lunch on Saturday the family unit and I went to Mellow Mushroom, where we ate pizza and I had, soda, you thought that I was going to type beer, didn’t you.

Yesterday the Raleigh Royalty and I hit up the Raleigh Brewing which is both kid and dog friendly. In more-progressive states the brewery experience is so much more relaxing, with no cover charge to get in (“have to buy a glass from which to drink free beer”) and the ability to buy beer and growlers straight from the source. Raleigh Brewing also has seating and board games to entertain you whilst you drink. While there I crowned myself the champion of Battleship (since both boys quit half-way through the competitions).

Last night we sat at the house and ate delicious nachos while watching “The Big Game.” (don’t want the NFandL issuing a cease-and-desist letter by using their highly-trademarked name for that bowl game played on a super Sunday). Of course the team that I wanted to win did not. 🙁 Go ahead Jenka, gloat. 😛 The most frustrating part of the evening came when I thought that I was going to win $75 (I had 7/7) as one of my squares, and my hopes were dashed by both teams by scoring in the final two minutes of the second quarter.

Today I am working, and soon Lisa and I will be going to the YMCA for some exercise, which is good because I am on the brink of needing to buy new pants…

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

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6 Responses to Rainy Days And Mondays

  1. Barb says:

    So, what car did you get after all that? I’m assuming you expressed your displeasure to Hertz by email or tweet or phone call?

    Allan can tell you stories about the bagsmashers at Hartsfield, he said he sees plenty of bags that have fallen off the carts, etc. He said he is now truly amazed that bags ever get where they are supposed to go.

    I attempted to mtn bike Saturday, dang it I am out of shape. It was much harder than it should have been.
    Sunday Allan & hoofed it to Kroger in the morning, since he is a good sherpa, we took the backpack & bought things much heavier that I would ever want to carry back. It’s about 3.5 miles round trip.
    Then we headed out to get some culture, saw The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Tavern. Love that play, its so funny.
    Did sort of watch the Superbowl, but with friends over for dinner, didn’t really pay attention until towards the end.

  2. I am in a Chevy Cruze. Yes, Hertz has been alerted of my displeasure. When I was leaving the agent asked me about my experience, I told her that I was not happy; she was nonplussed. Then I reached out to Hertz on Twitter and told them how I felt. We exchanged a few tweets, but no reparations were offered.

  3. Stacy says:

    Your account of the out-of-state breweries makes me sad. I wish we had that here! The last out-of-state brewery I went to was out in Arizona, but I had Groupon purchased admission packages for me and my brother, so I’m not sure of what the actual differences are. You’ll have to point them out at Second Self this weekend! 🙂

    I thought that was really cool about the games/seating areas/etc. We need that here. Though I have been told some do. We have outdoor deck seating at ours; I think Redbrick actually has a trivia night (so I imagine they must have tables and chairs then?). I can’t stress enough how it’s the stupid Georgia laws that make the “have to buy a glass” process exist — it’s not the breweries.

  4. Barb says:

    I think there is something going on with the GA legislature right now about all this brewery stuff, but of course the distributors are trying to block it all. They don’t want you to be able to buy anything directly from the brewery. This whole “tasting” game is a slight way to get around it. There was a very cool brewery we went to in St. Pete FL that had tons of games, etc. We played ping pong that day.

    And yes Stacy, Red Brick does have some tables & chairs, though I don’t remember a ton, not sure how they’d do trivia there unless it is just a small crowd.

  5. bob says:

    When you have 150 bags and 15 minutes to put them from a cart into the airplane proper handling is just about the last thing on your mind. No special training needed but with some of the neanderthals I worked with I’m surprised more luggage is not damaged. 🙂

    Barb you are right, there is a effort to change the legislation on breweries. Right now it is just stupid. There have been some start ups that have gone to Florida or the Carolinas because of Georgia’s stupid laws and taking their jobs with them. Creative Loafing did an article on it http://clatl.com/atlanta/craft-beer-buzzkill/Content?oid=13262623

  6. Martha says:

    Wow, I can see them trying to sneak a few extra charges into the bill but 200%??? In what world does that seem like it would be okay?

    Quiet weekend in Woodland Hills, we made a trip to KSM for dinner at Craft Izakaya. It was good, all the food was small plates/shared and it just came out when it was ready. We had a mix of sushi, tempura, grilled, etc. The also had several Japanese beers that I had never heard of before. I had a really nice Japanese Belgium White… it was good, not $11/can good but hey, it only your 6th anniversary once right?

    I went trail running yesterday with neighbor Steve and Karyn (aka Cooter Scooter), we had a nice run and finished before the rain began, all and all a nice weekend.

    Have fun up north!

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