target-- love it or...hate it?

there is a new target at cascade station, in east portland. i have a love-hate relationship with target and i've been to this new location a few times now.

as they've recently opened, i've found the store to be remarkably clean and full of eerily-eager 'team members.'every five feet a team member is lurking, jut waiting to ask me if i need help finding anything.

except in electronics, where i actually do need help. i don't need help finding anything, mind you, i just need them to unlock for me the flash drive i would like to buy. it's on sale and the main reason for my trip to target this day. i have to search through the aisles to find a team member. i finally find a few, huddled together in one place, talking about what they'll be doing that evening. how rude of me to interrupt this social session. i get a young woman's attention and let her know i need her to unlock a flash drive for me. she asks me what aisle it is on. i don't know, for god's sake! whatever aisle the flash drives are sold on! she seems paralyzed by my lack of knowledge of the exact layout of this store. so i lead her there.

"oh, it's locked," she says. umm...yes...that's why i've spent the past ten minutes searching the store for a team member. (that's ten minutes i'll never get back, by the way.) because it is locked! she needs to call someone with a key.

ok. so i wait. and wait.

until a young man arrives. he must be very important as he is unable to give me his attention right away-- he needs to finish barking orders at the younger men following a few strides behind him. turns out none of these young folks have keys, either. i'm not kidding. so we call for someone with a key (sound familiar?).

finally, another young man arrives. with a key! he asks me if i want red or pink. "pink," I tell him. "or maybe you want red AND pink," he offers. kill me. really? he is trying to upsell me at this point? he's lucky i didn't leave fifteen minutes ago. finally, he unlocks it, takes the pink one down and...doesn't hand it to me. apparently i'm not able to leave the electronics section without paying for the $18 item. even though surrounding me are hundreds of items equally as small and comparably priced. but, you know, that is the policy.

i mention that i want to grab a few more things and that i had actually purchased this same flash drive at this same store just days ago and the young person 'helping' me that day did not require me to pay on the spot. he just looked at me blankly. so i gave him my $18 and got the hell out of there, minus my other purchases.

what a hassle. i wish i could tell you i wouldn't be back because of this ridiculousness, but i would know i was lying. because i have a love-hate relationship with target. i just keep going back.

apparently, comcast cares

i wrote about my experience with comcast and live chat recently (read that post here). the next morning someone from comcast commented on my post.

i had nothing to lose by sending 'him' my phone number. plus, my interest was peaked. so i emailed the address he left (we_can_help@cable.comcast.com).

a couple of hours later i got a response.

it was about what i would have expected. really, i need to send a link to the post? not getting off to a great (re)start. but i sent it.

and the next day, i heard back again.

reach out to me? this is actually pretty funny at this point.

a few hours later (so two days after the original post), chelsea called me. she wanted to 'apologize' for my experience and 'assure' me the situation was being 'reviewed' (review is a popular word at comcast). in my original post i mentioned i thought my monthly charge was going to be $25 but it ended up being $35 because i didn't have any other comcast services. i hadn't read the fine print. as a 'good will gesture,' chelsea discounted my monthly bill by $10 for the next six months.

so i'm $60 richer and glad for it. next time i'll skip the live chat. and i'll read the fine print.

comcast and live chat-- thumbs down

a coworker told me she downgraded her comcast internet service and it continued to work just as well. i was sold. my internet service is pretty lame anyway-- it's slow and timing out isn't unusual-- so why not pay half as much. my service was $55 per month and the economy service i was planning to switch to was advertised as just $25.

so armed with my account number, billing address, phone number, social security number and some stored up patience, i headed to the comcast website to find their phone number. the 'contact us' link brought me to a screen pushing live chat. i decided to give it a try. maybe it would be less painful than a phone call filled with transfers and bad hold music. ha!

so i click on live chat, fill out a form with my name, address, etc and submit the info. i could try to describe the experience, but justice wouldn't be done. it speaks for itself:

oh my god. fifteen minutes later and i still have to call them. nothing accomplished and my stored up patience dwindling.

there is only one more piece of interesting (but not really surprising) information left to this story. when i made it through the maze of "for existing service, press 5...your business is important to us...." and got a real human on the line, he told me i was all set-- my new monthly charge would be $35. $35? the website says $25. turns out the $25 monthly charge is with a bundle. one must have other comcast services to receive that price. i think i'll pass on those.

so i am now the proud new owner of the comcast economy internet service package. for the bargain price of $35 per month. $38.50 with taxes and fees.

hair how i want it

everyone knows hairdressers just do whatever they want. it doesn't matter what kind of cut or color you ask for, you'll get whatever it is the hairdresser feels like giving you. because the hairdresser knows best. right? well...maybe they do know best. i'm certainly not an expert. but that doesn't mean i'm cool with my requests being disregarded or ignored. i am paying for this service after all. opinions are great. advice is welcome. but if, in the end, i want a cut my hairdresser doesn't feel is best for my face shape or hair type, or a color that doesn't do my completion justice, or whatever it is my hairdresser disagrees with-- that's my problem. so just give it to me. right? right!

so to my delight and amazement, i've finally found a hairdresser who actually cares what i want. she cares! she listens to what i ask for. she shows me pictures to make sure she understands. and then she really, genuinely does her best to make it happen. she doesn't make me feel bad for mentioning celebrities names as examples of the kind of cut i'd like. for god's sake-- i understand i'm not going to look like the celebrity (believe me, i KNOW that)-- it is just an example. my hairdresser understands, too. she understands!

and her greatness-- it isn't just a fluke. it isn't! i've been feeling brave and adventurous with my haircuts over the past year or so, and trying different things. she gets it right every time. every time. i've had a lifetime of of bad haircuts and hairdressers who don't listen. but no more.

and as a special bonus, she is fun! and friendly! and affordable! did i mention affordable?

oh, the hair gods must be smiling upon me. and they can smile upon you, too. do yourself a favor and go see julie ann at complete designs. you'll leave with hair how you want it.

¿por que no? yes!

i've been to the ¿por que no? taqueria on mississippi a few times. the food is always delicious--flavorful and super-fresh. but the space is loud and crowded. there's often a wait for one of the very few tables (that are very close together). it's a perfect atmosphere for my younger, hipster friends but no so much for me. i'm not long on patience when it comes to being seated (or in general). i don't love dining on top of the people at the next table. and i prefer to be able to converse with my lunch/dinner mate without having to yell or strain. so if it's ¿por que no? for lunch or dinner-- it's take-out.

until hawthorne.

i checked out this 'new' location many months ago. it was great. lots of space, nice service staff, no waiting. as that is too good to be true in a popular portland restaurant i figured i had just gotten lucky. and i hadn't been back since.

until this afternoon. three of my friends and i decided to brave the crowd and grab some tacos for lunch. at prime lunch time we rolled in. the line was out the door, of course. sigh. just like mississippi. "we're going to be here forever," i thought.

but we weren't.

the line moved at lightening pace. the cashier took our order quickly. AND nicely. even though she was mobbed. she even asked clarifying questions ("will you all be sitting together? paying together?"). she made eye contact. and then she moved us along with a firm but friendly efficiency only seasoned service providers can pull off.

good deal, right? but it gets better.

there were available tables! we found a place in the courtyard. it was quiet and private and we had plenty of space. a lovely woman brought us our (yummy) food with a smile. as service experiences go, this one was a winner.

so perhaps it isn't too good to be true after all. ¿por que no? yes!

the convenience of self-checkout

i went to hollywood fred meyer today. didn't need much-- a few apples, some creamer and a furnace filter. really no big deal. the plan was to run in and out.

who was i kidding?

there were about four checkstands open and about forty people standing in those four lines. ok, maybe twenty people. way too many for any kind of efficient experience. no problem, i'll just use the self-checkout. it's easy and quick.

who was i kidding?

oh, the drama of the weighted apples and the robotic cashier. i tried to convince the machine to sell me the apples. to no avail. it kept commanding me to, "remove item from bagging area." finally, the attendant came to 'help' me. she gave me a quick rundown on all the things i may have done wrong to provoke the robotic cashier, pressed a couple of buttons and dashed off. i hadn't actually done any of those things but..ok..all's well that ends well, right?

oh, who was i kidding?

robotic cashier just didn't want me to buy those apples. the command was now to, "place item on scanner." forget it already, i didn't even want the apples anymore! and oh, geez-- now the attendant was coming back. she shared some new ideas about how i could have caused this malfunction. so helpful. i gave her the apples, paid for my creamer and furnace filter and got the heck out of there! phew, not going back there for a while.

i just went to switch out the furnace filter. it isn't the right style. i guess i'll be returning to fred meyer tomorrow. i'm sure it will just be a quick trip. yes, i'm kidding.