Monthly Archives: August 2008

Cold pizza of doom

This is one of those things that happen in small support centers. The larger places usually have enough staff to handle high call volume, or have an overflow to route calls. But, what happens is a huge jump in the call queue. We had over 20 calls in queue when ours started. We had some comprimised email accounts sending out spam. When we locked those down, all our customers started getting emails requesting that they send in their email address and password, or the account would be shut down. Nothing generates calls like email. Everyone had to call in and find out if it was a legitimate email or not.

So this is where the cold pizza of doom comes in. You get an email from your supervisor or manager telling you that you will now be working through your lunch and they will be providing pizza. Technically, this isn’t legal. You are required to have a certain amount of time off the clock each day. But they send out for your pizza and you get to sit glued to your chair. Usually, folks in the office who are not working support drift by and grab a slice or two. By the time there is enough break in the calls for you to go grab a piece, the pizza is cold. You eat it anyway, of course. And you go back for seconds during the day, when it is even colder.

I really do not find cold pizza good compensation for losing my lunchtime. And I don’t like phone systems where you can’t record a message that customers can hear, up front, to let them know that we don’t need to talk to them. We had a full week of serious issues getting lost while we answered calls about those emails. There has got to be a better way to handle support calls.

It’s just one of those things…

I have plans to update this site more regularly, and the next thing I know, a month has passed by. Sometime, I’ll have to write up my tech rant about the “cold pizza of doom”. Anyway, a quick update in the meantime. Something, likely a rabbit, got in and wiped out all the cole crops I had planted in the garden. It’s getting too late to replant cabbage, so I am going to replant with a bunch of old seed and see if anything comes up. I can still replant collards and kale. We have a live trap out to see if it comes back.

We are still working on the yurt but I suspect it is going to have to go on hold until next year. I’m going to try and felt some of this stuff up anyway, just to clear up some space. We really need to hook up the wood stove and start getting ready for winter. Likely, Jeffrey will build yet another extension onto the trailer for now. We need to move some cats in and find a place for my bird.

Speaking of cats, Jack had urinary blockage, something I haven’t dealt with in a long, long time. But I recognized it right off. Managed to find credit enough to get him unblocked. He’s been back home for a week and seems okay so far. He now gets to eat expensive food for the rest of his life, but I’m glad he’s back home.

We are planning to start butchering out wethers when the weather cools, including Ragnar (the goat in the lawn chair picture.) Hay is pretty expensive, $250 a ton for grass. Many folks are getting rid of their livestock as a result. Not a good time for me to do that. I’ll try to pull the rest of them through the winter and will wait until November or so to breed. We might manage it.

Loretta is still a handfull. She’s more like a dog now than a puppy. I wish she minded better, but she just doesn’t hear you sometimes. She’s such a good dog otherwise. She is a bird dog, so I guess it’s not surprising that she likes to flush chickens from the brush.

So, I guess that’s it for now. Maybe I can pull together that tech rant.

88 poles…

and we’re at about halfway towards building the yurt. Jeffrey has been cutting poles for the walls, mostly maple and hazelwood. We are going to take a walk around and look for poles for the roof this weekend. Meanwhile, I am fluffing wool, to get enough to start my first large felted piece. I’m shooting for next weekend. I worked on it all last weekend, spending a bit of the time tearing apart a grey fleece that was already trying to felt. So, I guess the stuff really WILL felt!

As for the garden, I finished planting it last weekend. The first potatoes are up and looking good. The volunteer potatoes are starting to flower. I have cabbage and collards starting to come up. We had a little rain today, which should help too. I’ll be glad when I can really see things come up. It is a lot of work to go out and water the plants every morning. Still, it’s nice to finally have a garden at long last. Everything seems to be coming right along.