Temperatures dropped below zero again this weekend, limiting my will to move beyond a two-block radius. Fortunately, this radius contains my gym, several restaurants and stores and Nick's. You can't beat city living.
Friday I was doing shots with Marla. For a gold coast gal, she sure has adapted well to Wicker Park---I'd say she's more popular at Nick's than I am. Marla was laughing about the way she wakes me up for sex----often twice during the night if there's no school tomorrow. She'll place her hand on my hip and slide it down to my penis. Then, she just massages until I become aroused. Or takes me in her mouth---that usually does the trick.
"Sometimes, David, you roll over on your stomach and I know you're not ready and need more sleep. I'm like, dammit, I'll try again later."
I laughed. I've been in the dumps lately and my sex drive drive has fallen off a bit but I usually don't mind being woken up for sex. The payoff is usually better than anything I could dream.
Marla and I spent most of the weekend holed up in my apartment, drinking scotch, eating takeout Chinese and watching whatever movies were On Demand. The rut continues, but I am fighting the good fight. I continue to go to the gym and my apartment remains clean. As long as I can get out of be in the morning, things should be fine.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Dealing With Difficult Clients
Are you taking orders/Or are you taking over?
---The Clash
I guess I'm taking orders. Most adult men spend a large part of our day taking orders regardless of our stations in life. I'm fortunate in that my boss is humane and reasonable but unfortunate in that a sizable percentage of my clients are not. I'd estimate that 95% of our clients are reasonable and courteous while 5% are infantile, self-absorbed twits. Those are good odds, except that 80% of my time lately seems to be spent with the bottom 5%. Explaining that our platform can't perform a function that would violate the laws of physics would placate most reasonable people, you would think.
Dale Carnegie urges us to listen and empathize with outraged customers---easier said than done sometimes. Especially in this business where the customer is not always right. If I find myself agreeing with a customer over a technical issue and he's recording the conversation I could make my firm (and, by extension, me) liable for tens of thousands of dollars. So, no, the customer is not always right.
I enjoy watching one of my favorite bartenders at Nick's on Friday and Saturday night whenever a customer gets pushy. He ignores the guy (it's almost always a guy) while serving everyone else around him. The guy gets angry and throws his coaster and waves a $5 bill trying to get the bartender's attention. And he gets ignored, until he leaves.
In restaurants, it always pays to be polite. Ten years ago I had a former roommate from college move in with me while he tried to get his life in order. I lived near a Vietnamese neighborhood and my roommate was a connoissuer of Asian food, having lived in China for two years and spent time in many other Asian countries. An academically brilliant guy, but I had to explain to him why going to a restaurant wearing his Ho Chi Minh t-shirt would not be a good idea. Along the same lines, we all have "that friend" who audibly berates a waiter/ess over bad service.....
One of my favorite stories involved waiting in line at the airport. The guy in front of me was abusing the clerk in the most vile manner and the whole time the clerk just stood there, unruffled, calm, his expression never changing. When I got to the front of the line I complimented the clerk on dealing with the asshole.
"Well," said the clerk, "he's flying to Albany but I can't say for sure that that's where his luggage is going...."
---The Clash
I guess I'm taking orders. Most adult men spend a large part of our day taking orders regardless of our stations in life. I'm fortunate in that my boss is humane and reasonable but unfortunate in that a sizable percentage of my clients are not. I'd estimate that 95% of our clients are reasonable and courteous while 5% are infantile, self-absorbed twits. Those are good odds, except that 80% of my time lately seems to be spent with the bottom 5%. Explaining that our platform can't perform a function that would violate the laws of physics would placate most reasonable people, you would think.
Dale Carnegie urges us to listen and empathize with outraged customers---easier said than done sometimes. Especially in this business where the customer is not always right. If I find myself agreeing with a customer over a technical issue and he's recording the conversation I could make my firm (and, by extension, me) liable for tens of thousands of dollars. So, no, the customer is not always right.
I enjoy watching one of my favorite bartenders at Nick's on Friday and Saturday night whenever a customer gets pushy. He ignores the guy (it's almost always a guy) while serving everyone else around him. The guy gets angry and throws his coaster and waves a $5 bill trying to get the bartender's attention. And he gets ignored, until he leaves.
In restaurants, it always pays to be polite. Ten years ago I had a former roommate from college move in with me while he tried to get his life in order. I lived near a Vietnamese neighborhood and my roommate was a connoissuer of Asian food, having lived in China for two years and spent time in many other Asian countries. An academically brilliant guy, but I had to explain to him why going to a restaurant wearing his Ho Chi Minh t-shirt would not be a good idea. Along the same lines, we all have "that friend" who audibly berates a waiter/ess over bad service.....
One of my favorite stories involved waiting in line at the airport. The guy in front of me was abusing the clerk in the most vile manner and the whole time the clerk just stood there, unruffled, calm, his expression never changing. When I got to the front of the line I complimented the clerk on dealing with the asshole.
"Well," said the clerk, "he's flying to Albany but I can't say for sure that that's where his luggage is going...."
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Rut Supremacy
My apologies for not having written sooner, but I'm at the point right now where it seems like the winter will never end and the snow will continue to fall and I'll never see the light of day again. I've diverted my attentions with the Super Bowl, evenings at Nick's, mornings at the gym, movies with Marla and a sweet night of good-bye sex with Mar before she left for Colorado but in the end I always wind up with myself and the rut starts to take over and what Winston Churchill called his black dogs return to haunt their master.
Yesterday was Super Tuesday and Mardi Gras and when I mentioned via email that Barack Obama was holding a victory party Ted suggested that I try to attend and that it might be the perfect cure for the blahs. And, yes, several choruses of "Yes We Can!" would lift just about anybody's spirits.
Marla is an expert at getting into places that are hard to get into and she worked a connection of hers who was a reporter for Reuters but after making some calls he told her: no can do.
"This isn't a musical, Marla. This is History."
Not to mention that Secret Service were everywhere and the street was even closed off. We met after work at Redfish, a New Orleans themed restaurant and bar. Trouble is, once you've been in New Orleans, you've had the Real Deal and Chicago is just too far from the gulf to get the good shrimp and crawfish. Plus, if you accept and fully embrace Mardi Gras you have to accept Ash Wednesday, which I don't. Can't have one without the other.
So, I went outside to grab a cab and just by chance I grabbed Chicago's famous Singing Cabdriver. Sweet. I hadn't been in has cab in about ten years.
He began a very satirical song about generational gaps when Marla interrupted him with a question. I wished she wouldn't have done that, because he became taciturn and his song was a good one. But, I wasn't going to get upset about not hearing the Singing Cabdriver because I could always go to whatever piano bar he was singing at to hear him.
We got back to my apartment and watched the returns come in. A very politically astute friend of mine emailed me that he really didn't understand the whole Obamamania phenomenon. I knew where he was coming from---he's something of a policy wonk. I, on the other hand, often give free reign to my hunches about people, and to my feelings. I replied that there's always an element of kitsch in political rhetoric and you buy it or you don't. It fills a basic human need. However, true leadership is the ability to inspire people to their best and it's refreshing to hear a speech delivered with conviction, by someone who believes in what he's saying and is aware of its historic importance.
It's good to have faith in the possibility that the world can change. Because I'm struggling with a very cold Chicago winter and the easiest thing in the world would be to stay in bed one day and possibly all week especially when you realize how little control you have over your own life.....
Yesterday was Super Tuesday and Mardi Gras and when I mentioned via email that Barack Obama was holding a victory party Ted suggested that I try to attend and that it might be the perfect cure for the blahs. And, yes, several choruses of "Yes We Can!" would lift just about anybody's spirits.
Marla is an expert at getting into places that are hard to get into and she worked a connection of hers who was a reporter for Reuters but after making some calls he told her: no can do.
"This isn't a musical, Marla. This is History."
Not to mention that Secret Service were everywhere and the street was even closed off. We met after work at Redfish, a New Orleans themed restaurant and bar. Trouble is, once you've been in New Orleans, you've had the Real Deal and Chicago is just too far from the gulf to get the good shrimp and crawfish. Plus, if you accept and fully embrace Mardi Gras you have to accept Ash Wednesday, which I don't. Can't have one without the other.
So, I went outside to grab a cab and just by chance I grabbed Chicago's famous Singing Cabdriver. Sweet. I hadn't been in has cab in about ten years.
He began a very satirical song about generational gaps when Marla interrupted him with a question. I wished she wouldn't have done that, because he became taciturn and his song was a good one. But, I wasn't going to get upset about not hearing the Singing Cabdriver because I could always go to whatever piano bar he was singing at to hear him.
We got back to my apartment and watched the returns come in. A very politically astute friend of mine emailed me that he really didn't understand the whole Obamamania phenomenon. I knew where he was coming from---he's something of a policy wonk. I, on the other hand, often give free reign to my hunches about people, and to my feelings. I replied that there's always an element of kitsch in political rhetoric and you buy it or you don't. It fills a basic human need. However, true leadership is the ability to inspire people to their best and it's refreshing to hear a speech delivered with conviction, by someone who believes in what he's saying and is aware of its historic importance.
It's good to have faith in the possibility that the world can change. Because I'm struggling with a very cold Chicago winter and the easiest thing in the world would be to stay in bed one day and possibly all week especially when you realize how little control you have over your own life.....
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