New York Hawks grounded after Chihuahua attack

New York Hawks grounded after Chihuahua attack:

"The use of hawks to control the pigeon population at a park near New York's Times Square has been suspended after one of the birds attacked a Chihuahua, mistaking the miniature dog for a rat."

Well it made me laugh.

Customer Service - Health Insurance, Part 1

Is it me, or do US Health Insurance companies treat their customers as if they were criminal fraudsters? You or your employer pays them large amounts of money to provide payment for medical treatment. The insurance compnay then does its best not to pay your medical bills either promptly to ensure that you have to pay and claim a refund, which they then delay. Has anyone out there had a bill of more than $250.00 paid in full, first time without query?

Weather

I'm back again after a few days away from Blogging.

I have been thinking about the weather. I have only been living in the USA for six or seven months but have visited this part of the USA many times over the last four or five years. This summer is the wettest I have know. It seems to rain every day. As the UK and the rest of Europe suffers in the record breaking heat wave and as year after year weather records for hottest, coldest, wettest, driest seem to get broken somewhere with increasing frequency, I have to wonder is there something in this global warming after all.

Customer Service in England - Part 1

I was thinking about the unusually poor Bob Evans experience (see post below) and how that contrasted with English restaurants. As a general rule if the restaurant in England is part of a chain the service is terrible. I stopped going to Beefeaters, Frankie & Bennies, Pizza Hut and TGI Fridays in England. For example you arrive, you are seated, you order drinks, you get drinks, you order food and you wait 25 minutes. Then, after the food arrives, every minute waiting staff interrupt your conversation to ask if everything is alright. It would be nice to get the food sooner and it would nice to be asked if everything was alright whilst I am still waiting for the food! At least then I can tell them "it is not alright I want my food!".

We complained once in Frankie and Benny's and were told that it took 25 minutes to cook a Canadian steak. When I said it doesn't the response from the manager was that there was a lot of demand for the equipment they used to cook it. So I suggested perhaps they should start cooking it earlier - for example when the starter arrived. I was told they never cook the entree until the starter is finished. All they could do was argue with me at every point. I had been kept waiting 25 minutes between courses and it was not the fault of the restaurant. It was my fault for ordering an entree that takes 25 minutes to cook on equipment they didn't have enough of. No "sorry" from them at all.

We wrote to head office and got a free meal voucher.

To spend the voucher we reserved a smoking table at a different branch. We were seated at a non smoker. We complained and were moved. We ordered and 25 minutes later the food arrived. We said it had taken a long time and was told it takes 25 minutes to cook a burger. I noticed that the people at the table next to us had their food delivered in two lots. Two people had eaten theirs before the second couple's food arrived. I was also brushed and knocked in the back every time a waiter went past my table. We wrote to head office again telling them we have had it with their restaurant chain.

Customer Service in the New South - Part 3

I have to say that our favorite restaurant is Bob Evans. They serve unpretentious food at good prices and he service is usually good. I sense a bit of snobbery in that people I work with regard it as being down-market and even tasteless to eat there. I disagree. I like it. Compared to other value eateries I find Bob Evans to be a better atmosphere and better service.

That said we had a long wait in a busy Bob Evans yesterday. The car park was pretty full when we arrived and we then had a five-minute wait for a table. I noticed when we were seated that a couple who arrived after us had been seated first. I also noted that the tables around us were occupied by people who were not yet eating – a sure sign of delays in the kitchen. Eventually of server arrived and we ordered the food at the same time as the drinks to reduce delay. Despite this it was 35 minutes from sit down to food arriving.

WE told the server that we knew it was not her fault and asked for the manager. The manager arrived apologized (we said it was below their usual standards) and said they had some no show staff and the cooks were new and slower than usual. The managers knew it was poor service and did not attempt to argue. We ended up with a 20% discount.

Thermostat Wires

So we were "advised" to wire up the thermostat colors that were obvious and told to ignore the others as they were likely to be power that the new thermostat did not need as it was battery powered. We wired it up and the fan worked but not the AC compressor. So we put the old thermostat back again.

We searched the internet for help but only found one similar question. Another user with the same problem as us – there was not posted reply!

Back to the drawing board or pay someone $200 to come and wire it for us. Ho hum.