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edenfallingToday (which is technically Monday, but I haven't gone to bed so for practical purposes it is still Sunday -- shut up, don't argue with me) has been a very long day. I got up at 6am and drove from Denison to Omaha. Then I flew from Omaha to Detroit, arriving around 12:30pm. I had lunch. I went to the gate from which my next flight was scheduled to depart at about 3pm. So far so good.
Then Delta cancelled the flight.
I went over to the help desk along with all the other passengers, only to encounter one of the worst failures of common sense and customer service I have ever seen.
Follow me here. There were two computers and two agents at the desk. One was dealing with an elderly man who had a sheaf of papers and was using the agent's phone to make an interminable call. The other was dealing with two elderly women who only spoke French.
The obvious course here is to motion the French women to the side until an interpreter arrives, and get on with processing the planeload full of annoyed passengers waiting in line. But no. That would be too logical. They kept the French women at the help desk, uselessly, until a man who spoke French was finally procured. Then it transpired that their problem was either too complicated to solve immediately, or too complicated for him to explain to them. But it was obviously not time-sensitive, since they were eventually taken off to a lounge.
Eventually, in this case, means over half an hour later.
And the agent was still trying to solve their problem, tying up her computer and talking fruitlessly with a third woman who seemed to be some sort of companion (driver, perhaps?) to the two French women!
Seriously, what you do in that sort of situation is either direct the French women to step to the side and wait, or tell the man on the phone he needs to finish right now and try calling again when there isn't a line, or you take a minute to announce to the long line of increasingly irritated people that they should go to another desk in such-and-such location for help with their cancelled flights. This is not rocket science.
Except apparently it is. And even the manager they brought in to help with the French women didn't think to unravel the mess.
ARGH.
...
Anyway, fortunately we have two miracles of modern technology known as the cell phone and the internet, so I called my dad and gave him my flight confirmation number. Thus armed, he was able to rebook me onto the 10pm flight from Ithaca to Detroit, and I could go use the self-check kiosks to print my new boarding pass.
This meant, of course, that I had to kill seven and a half hours in the Detroit airport, but I had several magazines and I bought a book at the Borders outlet in Terminal A, so I survived. And I am safely back in Ithaca.
I am also very, very tired and still annoyed, but the main point is that I'm home.
-----
P.S. In unrelated news, I want to mention that I took a printout of "Secrets" ch. 14 rough draft with me and subjected it to the Editing Pen of Death on Saturday night. I will make the changes to the file on my computer on Wednesday, most likely, after which I will need someone to beta-read it. I think one of my old betas has left fandom, and the other is busy with a new baby, so I need some new help. If anyone is willing, please tell me!
Then Delta cancelled the flight.
I went over to the help desk along with all the other passengers, only to encounter one of the worst failures of common sense and customer service I have ever seen.
Follow me here. There were two computers and two agents at the desk. One was dealing with an elderly man who had a sheaf of papers and was using the agent's phone to make an interminable call. The other was dealing with two elderly women who only spoke French.
The obvious course here is to motion the French women to the side until an interpreter arrives, and get on with processing the planeload full of annoyed passengers waiting in line. But no. That would be too logical. They kept the French women at the help desk, uselessly, until a man who spoke French was finally procured. Then it transpired that their problem was either too complicated to solve immediately, or too complicated for him to explain to them. But it was obviously not time-sensitive, since they were eventually taken off to a lounge.
Eventually, in this case, means over half an hour later.
And the agent was still trying to solve their problem, tying up her computer and talking fruitlessly with a third woman who seemed to be some sort of companion (driver, perhaps?) to the two French women!
Seriously, what you do in that sort of situation is either direct the French women to step to the side and wait, or tell the man on the phone he needs to finish right now and try calling again when there isn't a line, or you take a minute to announce to the long line of increasingly irritated people that they should go to another desk in such-and-such location for help with their cancelled flights. This is not rocket science.
Except apparently it is. And even the manager they brought in to help with the French women didn't think to unravel the mess.
ARGH.
...
Anyway, fortunately we have two miracles of modern technology known as the cell phone and the internet, so I called my dad and gave him my flight confirmation number. Thus armed, he was able to rebook me onto the 10pm flight from Ithaca to Detroit, and I could go use the self-check kiosks to print my new boarding pass.
This meant, of course, that I had to kill seven and a half hours in the Detroit airport, but I had several magazines and I bought a book at the Borders outlet in Terminal A, so I survived. And I am safely back in Ithaca.
I am also very, very tired and still annoyed, but the main point is that I'm home.
-----
P.S. In unrelated news, I want to mention that I took a printout of "Secrets" ch. 14 rough draft with me and subjected it to the Editing Pen of Death on Saturday night. I will make the changes to the file on my computer on Wednesday, most likely, after which I will need someone to beta-read it. I think one of my old betas has left fandom, and the other is busy with a new baby, so I need some new help. If anyone is willing, please tell me!
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-15 01:36 am (UTC)As for the PS, I'll beta if you can't find anyone else. I think I do decently with concrit and feedback, except half the time it takes me far longer than it should on my turnaround. As in, if I don't get it done right then, it'll be a month. @_@
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-15 05:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-15 03:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-15 05:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-15 03:45 pm (UTC)