This morning I dreamed that I was in Michigan City, Indiana. I had to take a subway somewhere (don't ask me why Michigan City had a subway) and was down in the station waiting with a bunch of people. I had to do something near the stairs but was keeping half an eye on my purse. These hicks picked up my purse. I ran over to them to get it back when they threw it into this river of dank, subway water. I was upset and trying to find someone who could help me retrieve it, as I was not a strong swimmer. I asked one friend who couldn't help me but knew a guy. It turned out that the guy was a clown but the clown had an act in a few minutes and couldn't. I was distressed. I didn't know what I was going to do. My ID was in there, and my cell phone, my diary, my money. I was relieved that when I got my Michigan ID, they didn't seize my Illinois ID. At least I could use that, and still had it at home. I was trying to figure out what to do when I found my purse at my feet. I was completely baffled, as it was completely dry. But I knew it had been thrown into the river, other people had seen it happen. Someone asked if all my money was there, and I looked. They'd stolen the fifty dollars I had in my wallet. So my friend loaned me ten bucks so I could get around.
About this time, I got startled awake by the doorbell ringing. It was Fed ex with our eurail tickets.
I am very nervous about this trip. We're meeting my dad at the hotel in Rome. The only thing is, we have no information about our reservation at this hotel, and the only information about the hotel itself is a name and a street name. No actual address or phone number. My dad hasn't been answering my emails all week, so I haven't been able to get these questions answered. He has to fly out of Pittsburgh and transfer either in Chicago or Detroit. But he opted to fly out of Detroit because it was cheaper. I really wish he could have managed to get on the same flight as us in Chicago, it would make this a whole lot easier. For example, since we're all staying in the same hotel, I would then know that if we flew together that Rob and I could find this place when we get into town after ten hours on an airplane.
I still have so much to do. We leave day after tomorrow, I haven't started packing or picked up all the extraneous stuff we need.
I'm still very excited, but I don't think I'll be able to actually feel that excitement until I'm safely boarded on the plane.
In other news...
It looks like Rob is going to get approved for a training class in Austin. The nice thing about that is since it's a Monday through Friday thing, I could fly out Thursday and we could just spend the weekend together. That way I can show him all my old haunts. Maybe I'll even run into some old friends. It promises to be a pretty good time overall.
So, I think I'm going to look into getting a used car. I was skeptical about doing this, but it's the only way I can swing school. I can't afford it if I get a new car. We probably are just going to share the Jetta for the first semester, though. Of course this is all premature as I still don't have my license, something I really need to get cracking on. I haven't been able to find my permit manual and haven't had the time to go wait in line at the secretary of state to get one. Well, when we get back from Italy.
So I kind of lost my temper with a customer yesterday. I was sure that I was going to get in trouble but I didn't. The guy was arguing our fax fee, and anytime I would try to explain it or resolve the situation, he would interrupt me and go off on me. I hate that shit. After this happened several times, he accused me of being happy about this fee (why the fuck should I care? I make the same amount whether he gets charged a fax fee or not) because of my "tone of voice" (which only got disinterested after I tried several times to help him and couldn't because he made some snide comment everytime I was in midsentence. The irony of this was that on a few of those occasions, I was about to offer to waive it as a courtesy, but he never gave me the chance.) . At this point I got really irritated. I mean, yeah, I should have a pleasant and helpful tone but by the same token a person can only take so much. If you scream at someone for ten minutes and don't ever give them a chance to say anything, then of course their tone is going to start to get annoyed. At this point, I just snapped at him "Sir, I have been trying to help you, but you won't even give me the chance! You aren't even letting me explain this to you." To which he had the oh so clever comeback of "you just did." And hung up. I really thought he was going to ask to talk to my supervisor after I said that, but he didn't.
I guess my first clue that he was going to be completely unreasonable was, when as soon as I explained why he had the $20.00 fee on his bill he said "That's it! I'm forbidding my wife to ever call you people again!" Heh, maybe in his small little universe he can get his way by being the rudest asshole around, but it doesn't work that way in the real world.
I suppose this job has taught me a lot. That's a real plus. And although I doubt I will do this type of work after this year, it's good because I've learned so much. Not just about that silly corporate structure thing (did I tell you I got a copy of "Who Moved my Cheese?") or dreary financial matters, but human nature in general. But I must say that I am really, really, looking forward to not having to come in for a week because of the trip to Italy...