Misreply.org

To preface this post, I wish to make it clear that I never really had much faith in people. While most people argue whether or not people are inherently good or evil, I simply theorize the fact that people are inherently stupid.

This particular gentleman adds further proof to my theory. I was on my way to a hockey game, and was to pick up a teammate along the way. I was driving on 33rd Street on Drexel’s campus and was stopped at the stop sign at 33rd and Race. As I am at this stop sign, this particular gentleman decides to back up into 33rd Street from Race. He also made it a point to not notice me standing there. He also made it a point to ignore my honking and flashing. I’m sure you can guess what happened next….he backed up right into me. Good going dude!

Total damage to my car: $2026
My rental: Initially, I was given a Kia, which is about as uncool as you can get. The Kia then got a flat tire, and they weren’t able to fix it, so they gave me a replacement Dodge Charger. It is a V6 Charger, not the Hemi powered V8. It’s slow, and it handles like a brick with wheels. It also drinks gas like a Russian drinks vodka.

TLDR: people suck.

A letter to United Airways:

Customer satisfaction: I used to think that it meant something in the airline industry. I was always under the assumption that being in the business of getting someone from point A to point B actually involved getting that person from point A to point B. As it is, satisfaction is the word furthest from the list of terms I would use to describe my experience with your airline.

At this point, allow me to expand on my experience so that you may better understand my urgent need to write to you. I was to go to Springfield, IL on a business trip. I was to leave Philadelphia on Wednesday, and return on Thursday. I should have known right away that I was in for an adventure from the moment I arrived to catch my 6am flight out of Philadelphia to Chicago. I started with the self-check in, only to find that my flightplan had been changed. I was no longer leaving at 6am to go to Chicago, but instead was to take a 3pm flight to Washington Dulles. Due to the brevity of my trip, I did not find this acceptable and asked an agent for clarification. I was told that the flight from Chicago to Springfield had been canceled, but was offered no reason for it. I inquired about other flights, and was finally booked on a noon flight from Chicago to Springfield. It seemed that I would at least arrive in Springfield at a decent time.

The return trip is where I am sad to say, the service I received suffered. To be more precise; it plummeted…from mediocrity to levels so low that I do not even have words to describe them. I wish that I could at least say that I was the only one affected, but that was not the case either.

My flight from Springfield to Dulles was to leave at 6:05pm. I arrived early since it was beginning to snow, and I wanted to ensure that I had enough time to return the rental car and check in. I overestimated the time I needed to check in due to the small size of the airport and the fact that the Springfield to Dulles flight was the ONLY flight of the day. I sat and waited at the gate as more fliers arrived. Since we all saw a plane parked at the end of the gate, we had assumed that we would leave on time. No announcements were made to make us think any differently until 6pm came and went, and nobody offered to board us on the plane. It turns out, that the plane (a United plane, no less) was not for us…it was just sitting there idle. It was finally announced that the United plane that we were to board was ten minutes away, and they were going to move the current plane from the gate. Those ten minutes came and went, and no plane. Someone finally got up to ask about the status, and was told that the plane was indeed on its way, and that there were Air Traffic Control issues. I could understand ATC issues at a busy airport, but not in Springfield, and not when there was only a single flight for the entire day.

We were finally able to board at 9pm. We still had to wait for the crew to de-ice the plane before we finally took off at 9:30. Mind you, I had a connecting flight from Dulles to Philadelphia that was to leave at 10pm…so obviously I was not going to make it. The majority of the people flying to Dulles had connecting flights, and as we landed, the horde of us went to the customer service desk to try to get this situation resolved.

While standing in line and during my conversation with the CSR, I found your airline to be unwilling to offer ANY kind of help to anybody. People had missed their flights, people were sick, people had surgeries….people needed to get home, but United did not seem to care. They cited that ATC issues were not their problem, and the best thing they could do was to get us on other flights the next day. When we inquired as to what to do overnight, the CSRs rudely said “get yourself a hotel”. I would possibly have paid more attention to names and ID numbers, but after hearing this be told to the fifteen people in front of and including me, I was much too infuriated to care. I was told to get a hotel at my own expense, and was given the option of being standby for a morning flight or to be confirmed for a 1pm flight the next day. I chose both options, since I was fairly certain I would not get the standby due to the queue of others that accepted the same terms.

Upon arriving at the hotel after a rainy twenty minute shuttle drive, I was offered a room at a “discount” rate that still seemed very much like an average room rate. At any rate (haha, see what I did there?), I went to my room and finally took a much needed shower. I went to bed at about 1:00am, and asked for a wake-up call at 5am since the shuttle from the hotel left at 6:00am.

I arrived at Dulles at about 6:30am and anxiously found the United terminal where my standby flight was supposed to leave from. At this point, I did not think that United’s customer relations could get any worse; I was wrong.

The Philadelphia flight was called once, and then again in about ten minutes. The gate that the flight was leaving from was servicing two flights, and one attendant was handling both “sides” of the gate. The final call for the Philadelphia flight was called, and there was still about 40 people in the line. Two minutes later, the gate attendant announced that the Philadelphia flight had boarded and the gate was closed….AS THERE WERE PEOPLE STILL IN LINE. A younger couple, with child, cut out of line to speak to the attendant. They said that they were booked on the Philadelphia flight, and asked to be boarded. Now, mind you, they were IN LINE for the gate boarding. The attendant snuffed them off and told them they should have come up sooner, and that she would not help them. Granted, perhaps the attendant has supernatural mind reading powers and expected this couple to magically know that even though there is a line, the gate would be closed. This is, in one word: unacceptable.

I waited at the airport for the next few hours for my 1:00pm flight in furious agony at what I had just witnessed. I tried to make myself feel better, saying “at least I’m not the only one”, but somehow that thought made me more angry. At the very least, my flight was showing as “on-time”.

As 1pm came and went, the flight did not board, and the screen updated to say that my flight was to leave at 2pm. Since I was already here, the extra hour was not that big of a deal. At 2pm, the screen updated again: “Flight to Philadelphia – 3:00pm”. As it can be deduced from this entire experience…3pm came and the flight still did not board. The screen updated one last final and fatal time: Canceled. No reason was provided, other than “Operations”. I was horrified as I took my place in the customer service line once again.

During the half hour or so that I stood in line, a gentleman took the initiative to find out why the flight had been canceled. He had found out that United did not have a pilot for the flight. He also mentioned that the entire day had been similarly disastrous. A flight with a pilot, but no crew. Another flight had a pilot and crew, but no plane. Then my flight had a plane and crew but no pilot. Operations problems…..I think the problems lie much deeper than an operations error.

Upon finally reaching a representative, we discussed various options for getting me home. There were flights the next day, and there were flights from another airport, but I would not make them because it was coming up to rush hour. At this point, I had experienced enough of United, and asked for a refund on my ticket. The representative then asked for my baggage tag so that they could arrange for my baggage to be waiting for me at the baggage claim office on the first floor of the terminal. I immediately asked if the baggage could just be delivered to me in Philadelphia, and she said that “no we don’t do that”, when I know for a fact that every airline does so…I have had it done before. She was insistant that they would simply not do it, so I agreed to pick it up downstairs. She checked my baggage status, assured me that it would be waiting for me, and then dropped another bombshell: she could not give me a refund…I would have to go to the OTHER United customer service desk. I obliged from lack of options, and made my way to the other customer service desk to receive my refund. With that finally settled, I was free to catch a train or rent a car to finally get home.

I went downstairs to the baggage claim office to pick up my bag. The representative there checked my tag number in the computer and told me that it had not arrived yet. She told me to give my tag to one of the workers in the orange jackets at the baggage claim gate. The gentleman there told me that they had not unloaded that particular plane yet, and that it would be about an hour before I was reunited with my baggage. An hour later, at 4:30pm, I inquired again about my bag. I was told by the same gentleman that they were understaffed and the large amount of canceled flights meant that I had to wait a bit longer. I checked the Amtrak schedules (there was a train leaving at 6:30 that I had the possibility of making), and reluctantly agreed to wait. An hour later, I inquired again about the baggage, and was told that they had just unloaded the plane and my baggage should be on the conveyor belt shortly. I waited again as people got their bags and left, but still no sign of my baggage. I inquired again, and asked him to look up the status of my baggage, and he said that my baggage was scanned and should be out. It was not, so I made my way to the office to see a supervisor. She informed me that the bag had indeed been checked and should be on the belt. I assured her it was not, and this was verified by the baggage handlers. She looked up the status again, and said that the baggage was indeed scanned….in Philadelphia…at 10:00am this morning, a fact that everyone seemed to miss, even though it was right in front of them on the computer screen. I had wasted an additional four and a half hours waiting for a bag that I was never going to receive. I had missed the train at this point, and my only option was to rent a car and drive home.

Finally, I was home. I missed a concert that I had tickets for; tickets that were not cheap in the least. I was two days late, tired, angry, and STILL had another day’s work ahead of me. I still had to return the rental car (which, by the way, ended up costing me double what my ticket refund was), and pick up my baggage from the Philadelphia airport.

So, I just wish to say: Thank you, United…you have managed to completely destroy my faith in airlines and in the very notion of customer service.

Regards,
Luke

———
And to close it out…here are some cool links:

Think Guitar Hero is for geeks? Try this one out.
Apple vs Hackers…. hackers winning: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/08/out-of-the-box-1-1-3-iphones-now-software-unlockable/

So I had the other contact lens taken out Monday morning. Lately, I’ve had no discomfort in my eyes, as long as I keep up with the lubricating drops.

Vision in left eye better than the right, yadda yadda. It’s nice to wake up in the morning and see the alarm clock.

Friday was fairly uneventful. Marginal improvement in vision.

Saturday morning, I had another appointment go see if the right contact is ready to be taken out. It’s not quite there yet…the eye is about 98% healed. I could have had the contact taken out at the expense of some pain for the next day, and I chose to keep it in. I have another appointment on Monday. My vision is odd now. My left eye sees things better up close, but my right eye sees things better that are far away. However, this has shifted numerous times throughout the day, and I’m now back to seeing better with my left eye overall.

Driving, reading, and watching TV is a lot better now…I can see text fairly clearly, whether it be a road sign, a book, or the tv guide.

Went out with Heis, AnneMarie, Nicole, DJ and Appel at night….so boredom = cured (for now).

Beyond that…nothing exciting is going on with the eyes.

Day five was Wednesday, January 9th of 2008, and it was glorious. I only say that because it is the first day since Monday that I did not want to claw my eyes out. The light sensitivity and pain of the last two days was really starting to irk me, but today was pretty good. There still was some light sensitivity, but nowhere near as much as I had experienced in the last two days.

The biggest problem now has nothing to do with my eyesight or the recovery process. Instead, my main problem is boredom. My vision is not yet clear enough to read any books, or to sit on the computer. It’s not stable enough and the photo sensitivity isn’t mild enough to actually take a trip anywhere, although I did drive over to pick up my mail from the Doyne house.

There’s only so much guitar I can play without reading some new music. There’s only so much blurry TV I can watch….only so much I can sleep.

Today was day dix after surgery. My left eye seems to have pretty good vision, but my right eye is still blurry. I went into work today for a few hours to move my old office to my new cube. It actually kind of sucks right now. I have way too much stuff for that little cube. Currently, I have (from left to right): a stack of laptops, my primary desktop tower, my dual monitors, a network switch with my phone on top of it, my laptop, another monitor, and two more desktops that I have to setup for the new Springfield store. I unpacked all my paperwork, software disks, licensing information, backup tapes and a plethora of everything else, and tried to stuff it into the four drawers I had in that desk. Although this is only a temporary arrangement until the new suite is built out…it will be uncomfortable sitting there for a while. Additionally, the way my area is, it is 1. in a high traffic area. 2. all my screens are clearly visible. Goodbye Angeline Jolie walllpaper! For the most part, I don’t particularly mind, but then again….I don’t really want to make my work everybody else’s business.

I had another appointment today with the eye doctor. I drove out to Plymouth Meeting for the fifth time in the last week to get another check-up of my recovery. Dr Grey (or is it Gray…I again forgot to look. I thought it would be rather awkward for me to look at her nametag, which is conveniently [or unconveniently] placed directly over her breast. So Dr. G it is. Anyway…so I went in to see if the band-aid contacts can be removed.

She used a giant Q-tip looking apparatus to remove the contacts. As she removed the right contact, I felt pain. Her words right before were “itchiness and dryness is normal…pain is not”, so I was quick to point out the rather obvious dilemma. I quickly got some numbing drops. She took a look under the eye-scope thing-a-magigy and found that the epithelial layer is not completely healed. It was about 80% of the way, but not quite there yet. Under the contact lens, she couldn’t clearly see how far it had healed…so it was a shot in the dark trial and error method of finding out. She then removed the left eye contact lens, and there was no pain as that one was removed. I happily announced this fact as I reveled in my own awesomeness. She again took a look under the microscope eye looky thingy and saw that the cornea had regrown. She pointed out that the healing was like the seam of my jeans….the cornea’s epithelial layer had grown from the outside in, and formed a seam in the center. Wait a minute….why was she looking at my jeans…..there could be something there….except for the giant rock on her finger (yes, Tim…I checked).

The rest of the day was more boredom. I went ahead and organized my DVD collection out of said boredom. I then decided that I should pay Tim a visit, since I had gotten him the Orange Box for the 360. I stayed around and (hopefully) got him addicted to Portal. After that, I went to hockey practice. No, I did not actually suit up and play…but I made an appearance as team captain just as a figurehead, and so that I can give my input on drills and on setting new lines (since Flick quit the team).

I have another appointment scheduled for Saturday morning to see if the right contact can be removed. Oh wait…I forgot to mention….after having the right eye checked, she inserted another contact so that it can continue to heal. So barring any major problems or revelations, expect another update on Saturday.

I woke up today at around 9am with my eyes still being ultra sensitive to light. I picked up my blackberry, answered a couple of emails from work, and then decided that I would be better off with my eyes closed. I attempted to go back to sleep, but instead just laid there for a few hours on one side…since if I turned over to the other side, the sun was in my eyes through the window.On the bright side, my eyes were not as dry as yesterday, which leads me to believe that the dusty environment was as much to blame as anything else.

It was another beautiful day outside, unfortunately, one that I could not take full advantage of. Nothing new really to report…just more light sensitivity and dryness. It’s a bit better than yesterday though. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I may try to head into work for a bit, since there is still stuff to move that I am responsible for, such as printers, plotters and the majority of my office (my new space should be ready by tomorrow, I’m assuming). I’m probably not going to spend much time there, since reading a computer screen is still a bit on the difficult side (albeit, much better: I can actually see the text).

I must say, day two was pretty uneventful. It was just a regular boring Sunday. I stayed home and watched some movies. Bas came over later and we went out to get some food. It felt good to be outside again, especially with the weather being so nice.

Day three I had to go into work. We were moving from Suite 200 in our building to Suite 102….so that meant that IT had to coordinate the move of all the computers, wireless access points, T1s and phone systems. It also meant that I had to be at work at 7:00am. this in itself was not so bad, had it not been for the “minor” side effects of PRK.

As I mentioned in the previous posts, PRK has a longer healing time and more painful recovery period. For the first wo days, I was quite content since I was experiencing none of that. Today, however, proved to be the day it all caught up with me. Right after waking up, my eyes were super sensitive to light. Even putting in eye drops, it was painful since I had to look up and into some kind of light source. Being outside was not too pleasant either. It was a lovely day, in the 60s, with the sun shining bright. Usually I’d be ecstatic to have that kind of day in the inter, but not today. Even with sunglasses on (polarized, UV protective), I still had to shield my eyes from the sun using alternate means like closing my eyes or using my hand, neither of which proved too useful. My eyes were dry, yet teary, red and burning.

I left work around 2:00pm to go to the eye doctor for my post-op appointment. My vision had returned enough that I was cleared to drive. My doc told me that my side effects were mild compared to some other PRK patients. His previous appointment had to have the lights turned out completely, even indoors, and still wore sunglasses because his eyes were so sensitive. I am not quite so bad…hell, I’m nowhere near that bad.

I was bad enough, however, that I had to cancel going to the Redrex men’s league hockey game with Tim. Usually I’d be there on the bench helping out, but today was NOT a good day to go anywhere. I instead decided to go to bed at a nice early 9:30pm.

Today completes my first full day after surgery. I had to sleep with protective eye covers that made me look like an alien to make sure I don’t rub my eyes at night, or right after I wake up. I didn’t really need them, but I’m not about to make a fuss about something so minor. The tape they gave me as an adhesive is pretty damned strong. Peeling it off this morning was a tad uncomfortable, but luckily I didn’t adhere it to any hair.

Upon waking up, I put more drops in my eyes, ate breakfast, and headed out to meet with Dr. Grey (or was it Gray…I can’t remember now) for my first follow-up appointment. I was there at 8:15am….and the follow-up basically consisted of her looking at my eyes to make sure there is no scarring, to make sure the contact is still on and a basic eye test. She said that I was doing very well. Most people come in on day one and their eyes are not fully open and they are experiencing some discomfort. I had none of that. She was quite pleasantly surprised that my eyes were fully wide open, had a healthy glisten to them, and that my vision was pretty decent. I am nowhere near 20/20 yet, but she said that my improvement is better than average for a PRK patient.

I am scheduled to appear again on Monday at 3:00pm for my second follow up, to see if I can be cleared to drive yet. I will be meeting with Dr. Bainbridge on that day. It’s really irrelevant to me who I see, personally, as both Dr Grey and Bainbridge are pretty cool people (I met with Dr Bainbridge the very first time I went to the center a month and a half ago for my iniital consultation).

The day was pretty uneventful. I took the drops as described in the first post. I noticed that the Zymar leaves an aweful taste in my mouth that lingers for about a half hour. I’ve been trying to hide the taste with plenty of orange juice and the occasional chocolate ice cream.

I again spent most of the day on the couch doing nothing. My vision isn’t great enough to do any web browsing or readin (I still can’t really see this text too clearly as I type it), but I did manage to watch some TV. I could tell what was basically going on, but if there was any in-movie text (like the translations subtitles), it was a bit difficult to read, but I was able to do it.

Still no discomfort, which is good. With the TV watching, my eyes were getting a bit dry because one does not blink as often when they are watching TV, but luckily I have plenty of lubricating drops.

I also noticed that vision in my left eye is improving at a faster pace than my right, and it’s pretty weird having my non-dominant eye be the better seeing of the two. It’s taking a bit getting used to….I can’t wait for my vision to stabilize.

Anyway, off to bed….there’s really nothing to do to keep myself occupied that wouldnt tire my eyes out..and having them closed is beneficial to healing. So adios!

I’m not supposed to be TECHNICALLY writing this (or be on the computer at all), but since I’m an apparent addict; Here we go.

Yesterday, I had my PRK surgery done. For those that don’t know, PRK is another form of laser eye surgery. PRK has been around longer than LASIK, but the popularity of LASIK comes from the quicker healing time versus PRK> However, many will still swear that better vision and better long term eye health is attained through PRK.

The main difference is, that in LASIK, the surgeon uses either a scalpel or a laser to basically cut through the cornea of your yee. It cuts enough so that they can lift up a flap of the cornea and allow the laser to reform your cornea. In PRK, they shave off the first layer (the epithelial) layer of your cornea. The epithelial layer, since it is completely shaven off, will regrow completely, but it takes about a week. With LASIK, the flap that was cut gets put right back on, and all it has to do is heal where it was cut.

The reason I was getting PRK rather than LASIK has to do with the thickness of my cornea. I was borderline for LASIK, and the doctors at TLC Vision center advised that PRK would be better for my long term eye health. Since LASIK cuts deeper into the cornea, there is the possibility for more complications if the patient’s cornea is thin like mine. With PRK…like I said, it regrows completely at the expense of the longer timeframe.

So January 4th, 2008 was my appointment. I was told that I would spend aout three or four hours at the center, so I was prepared to be bored. I arrived promptly at 10:00am. I would like to say that I was completely prepared for this, and not nervous at al…however I’d be lying. I woke up that day after about three hours of sleep. I was stuck at work doing a switch migration until 3:00am, so waking up at 8:00am after a restless night was not fun in the least. After waking up, there was that feeling of nervousness that accompanies any type of procedure where the doctor will fire a laser in your eye.

Upon arrival, I filled out all the waiver forms and signed my life away. In true shacker fashion, I made a final post on the shack from the waiting room and verified my nerd-dom to my boss at work. I was given a Xanax, but I have no idea what it was supposed to even do. I didn’t feel any different, any better or worse. It didnt matter, I had waited for so long for this damned procedure, I wasn’t about to back out now. The entire thing actually took a lot quicker than I expected. After going back and forth and settling the waivers and monetary considerations, an hour had already passed. I was then taken to the back and given the good old preparatory speech. I then had my doctor go over my tests, charts, waveforms and all that. Following his analysis, it was time. I spoke briefly with the doc about what was actually going to happen, what the healing time would be and what to expect. I then went into the laser room. When they tell you to wear a long sleeve shirt, they are not kidding. It was pretty cold in there, and I had a fleece on.

The procedure itself was fairly uneventful. The procedure for both eyes took about ten minutes total. The first thing they did was numb my eyes with a decent amount of dumbing drops. After that, they taped my eyelid up, and inserted some doohickey under the eyelid to make sure I don’t blink. Then the doctor took his tools and started scraping away at my eye. I did not feel a thing. After that, they centered the laser on my eye, and let it go to work. The laser then started pulsing and cutting away at my eye. I could smell the burning cornea as it did its work. Each eye took about 45 seconds of actual laser work. After that was done, they gave me a protective contact lens and sent me home. Total time there: two hours…better than expected.

After coming home, I spent the majority of the day sleeping. I called Misty on the way back because I promised I would, but was greeted with a voicemail prompt. I later found out there was a very good reason, but it’s irrelevant now. I told her everything went well and said I’d call back later. Like I said….I spent the majority of the day sleeping or with my eyes closed, but in no mood to really talk to anyone. After leaving, my vision was blurry. The doc said that it would take a while for it to stabilize and become sharp. It is rather annoying, however, having blurry vision (hell, I can’t even see this as I’m typing it), and not having any way to correct it. I just have to wait for it to heal on its own…bummer.

I was told there would be discomfort for the first few days. I would have slight pain in my eyes, have dry eyes, and perhaps have itchiness in my eyes. During the first day I experienced none of that. I was given various eye drops to take. One was Zymar, then there were some steroids, another drop called Alcon (or something similar…it’s basically tylenol for the eyes), and lubricating drops. The Zymar and steroids I am to take every two hours today, and the lubricating drops every hour. This is the pattern for the day of and day one. Afterwards, I will be taking the steroids and zymar four times a day until they remove the protective contact lens from my eyes. I have an appointment on Thursday for them to take a look at my healing and make that determination. The Alcon I have to take twice a day for the first two days…so tomorrow will by the end of that.

Anyway…so far so good.

Friday night at the Korban apartment proved to be an epic event. This…is their story.

Read more…