Rant #3,090: The Waiting

My mother had a nice birthday celebration.

As you already know, she turned 92 years young on Saturday, and my family and I—including my daughter—took her out to the Outback for dinner.

She had a good time, but ask her today where we went for her birthday—or even if we did anything at all—and she won’t remember it.

So goes dementia.

My sister and her family took her out on Sunday, and after speaking with my mom, it is pretty much the same thing.

I also took her for a doctor’s visit yesterday, and while she has some small things to watch—like her sugar intake and iron deficiency—she is generally in fine physical condition … except for her thinking process, which isn’t ever going to get better.

We do what we can to make her feel happy and confident, but this weekend, while talking about birthdays, my mother could not remember mine, did not know how old I was, and did not know the year I was born in … the very first time I can remember her not knowing this information like it was part of her DNA.

That quakes you in your boots no matter how strong you are.

After the birthday celebrations, I will briefly skip over Sunday, and talk about yesterday, when I had to go to the Kia dealer on a car recall related to the security of certain Kia cars, some models of which several major car insurance companies will not accept into their insurance plans because they are thought to be easily stolen.

So I had the reboot of the car’s computer done, which I found out is related to the automatic start that the car has.

You might remember that my car did not originally come with the automatic start, but I got is as one of the prizes I won in 2016, when I won a trip to South Korea.

Anyway, with the reboot, the automatic start does not work anymore … I rarely used it, and when I did, it didn’t work correctly, shutting off after about five minutes, so it is no big loss for me.

But a recall that wouldn’t cost me anything led to a time at the shop which ended up costing me, as they found in nail in my tire, so it cost about $50 for a patch job.

So after waiting three hours for the car to be rebooted, I also had to pay this extra charge, which I wasn’t anticipating, but I am glad they saw it.

Couple that with the hour and a half I had to wait to see the doctor with my mother—these offices have a new rule that they proudly hit you with that you must not only be there on your appointment time, but you must be there 15 minutes early or they will not see you that day, which I guess only applies to patients and not to them—and I did a lot of sitting yesterday.

On to Sunday … I kept this at the tail end of today’s Rant, because although the other two instances I just mentioned to you are nothing but annoying—I nearly fell asleep at least three times at the Kia dealer during my long wait there—this last instance is completely outrageous.

On Sunday, I went out to get my family and I food for dinner.

My wife wanted Boston Market, and if you remember the last escapade I went through there—where they had no chicken and I received the lamest reply possible from corporate which I didn’t buy at all—I hesitated going back … but if my wife wants it, I just have to get it for her.

And yes, after the latest escaped there this past Sunday, I sent another email out to corporate, which I sincerely doubt they will reply to, but I will reprint it here, because it pretty mush sums up what happened there this past Sunday, when I gave Boston Market another try.

Here is the email I sent to them after visiting them on Sunday:

“To Whom It May Concern:
Two weeks ago, on February 25, I contacted you through your Guest Satisfaction Survey related to an incident at this restaurant, where the store was open in spite of the fact that it did not have any chicken at all during an early Saturday evening.

I received a reply back stating that it had to do with supply chain issues and other factors, and you hoped that I would try Boston Market again.

I knew that this reply was kind of flimsy.

I am a writer/editor in the food industry--covering military stores--and your explanation was not a very good one.

However, I did give the same exact store another try early this evening, and let me tell you what happened.

I walked into the restaurant, and I was not acknowledged by either the server or the manager. The manager, in fact, was on her cell phone.

When the server finally acknowledged me, I gave her the first part of my order, which she took and filled, but then she went to the back of the serving area by the spits, without asking me if I wanted anything else.

And I then said, "I haven't finished my order."

The manager, off her phone and serving another customer, waved the worker back to the front, and I then placed my order, which she did fill.

My two individual meals were ready to be rung up, and the manager went to the front to take my money from me.

I gave her the receipt from the previous order that I made on February 25, where I was supposed to receive a 15-percent-off of my order, and then I also asked for a senior citizen discount.

The manager told me that she could not give me both discounts at once, which not only isn't true--I have used other discounts with the senior citizen discount countless times at this restaurant--but I told her, "There was no sign up stating this ... much like there were no signs up on February 25 stating that there was no chicken available that day."

(Note: There was a small sign on the drink machine that day stating that there was no Coca-Cola available, but nothing about your signature offering, which is chicken. Also, I took the 15-percent discount on the receipt.)

When I said that the store had no chicken two weeks ago, the manager flat out told me, "That is not true, and that never happened."

I told her it did--she was working that day--and I have proof, because I still have your limp reply on my cellphone, which I tried to show her, but she shrugged me off.

"Look, do you think I would open my store without chicken?" she said to me. "I have to pay my workers their daily wage, and if I don't have chicken, how can I pay them?

Well, evidently she found a way, because the restaurant was open on the evening of Saturday, February 25, and the store had no chicken.

(I have attached your reply to me as part of this email about that situation on that evening.).

So tonight, I walked out of the restaurant, and I know that I had been had, so to speak.

My wife was, at one time, in food service as a restaurant manager, and she told me that it is generally the manager's responsibility to make sure that the restaurant has everything they need to stay open and cater to their customers.

Thus, I do believe that the manager was covering up for what happened on February 25, and honestly, I do know what I am talking about, it did happen, and you know it did happen because I contacted you about it.

So while my family and I do enjoy Boston Market, it might be a long time before I go there again to pick up some food, because I don't like it even inferred that I don't know what I am talking about and that I am making this all up.

And do you really think that your reply to me was a good one?

Like I said, Boston Market without chicken is like McDonald's without hamburgers and Arby's without roast beef.

And whether the manager wants to remember or not, her restaurant was open on the evening of February 25, the restaurant had no chicken, and there were no signs up alerting patrons about this situation.

This is a situation that really should be looked into a bit further than you gave me the impression that you did.

The public really isn't as stupid as you think we are.”

Yes, I must be living in some bizarro world, where ineptitude is valued and good performance is not.

But at least I didn’t have to sit and wait for hours there like in the other places I just described … maybe I should just be thankful for that.