Forgot to wish everyone a happy holiday

Yesterday was an important holiday. Almost as big as Christmas. I really hope everyone had a very happy Bruce Springsteen's birthday. I'm reminded of a time years ago when i worked at KFC. I asked my dumber than dirt assistant manager if we would get paid time and a half for working Tom Petty's birthday. She thought i was being serious and got mad at me for suggesting such a thing. I was advised that if I want to get paid extra for Tom Petty's birthday i should quit and go somewhere where i would be paid for it. This was the same lady who thought i was serious when i told her i was never washing my hand again becasue I had shaken Barney Bentall's hand. Again i got a lecture and was told about good hygene. What a dumb ass. Ah Kfc how i miss you-not. Seriously though Bruce Springsteen doesnt look like a man who will be 60 next year.

Here's a real shocker.

Wow I heard the most shocking news today. Clay Aiken came out of the closet! I can't believe it. I never would have thought that in a million years. I always thought he could be the next big action movie hero . I havent been this shocked since George Michael came out. Whats next? Elton John is also gay? Yeah I can't type this with a straight face.

Bentall show rocked/wifes a bootlegger

So on September 20th Kath and I were able to see Barney Bentall in concert again. For those of you who don't know who he is(and I think that would be anybody reading this blog) a brief history.

Barney Bentall has been releasind cd's both solo and with his band the Legendary Hearts in Canada since 1988. I've been a fan since the beginning. I met Kath in 1999 and was able to convert her into a fan. Seeing how she is from America she had never heard of him. He had kind of dissappeared for a few years to become a cattle rancher. Kath finally got to see him for the first time in 2004 and last saturday was out 4th Barney show. We were able to talk to him and get our pic taken with him in the past. He's a really nice guy. Here is a link to his 2 biggest singles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkskyqyadVo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FApKN6bkmU

Anyhow the concert was at a place in Hamilton at a place called the Hamilton Downtown arts centre. It was kind of a weird venue. When we arrived the concert hall wasnt open so we were told to go wait in the lounge.The lounge reminded me of a church re room and even had that rec room smell. Then i looked around and realized,we were probably the youngest people there. There were a lot of senior citizens. Later on i saw a few people that could have been our age. I overheard some people say they didnt even know who Barney was they just bought seasons tickets for the shows at this venue. So we finally go into the auditorium and it was smaller than my high schools auditorium. The stage set up was really weird as well. In addition to a mic and a piano and several guitars were various kitchen tables and chairs that looked like something out of my grand parents kirchen circa the 1970's. Oh and there was a small table with a lamp on it--i guess in case Barney wanted to read a book during the show. The announcer who came out to introduce him was so boring and unfunny. He actually said(in a boring voice) Barney Bentall's work with the Legenday hearts was legendary! We actually got to sit in the front row! The show itself was great. He opened the show with a brand new song and announced he was hard at work on a new cd. This was good news because this time it was only a 3 year wait between albums as oppossed to the 9 year gap between albums last night. Something else that was great--he was totally solo this time. We've seen him do the acoustic thing before but he had a couple of other musicians with him. This time he was totally on his own. He did all the old favorites--Something to live for, Come back to me, Do ya, life could be worse etc. He also did a killer version of Hungry Heart and Norwegian wood and even an old broadway song. At the end of the show he announced he would be touring Ontario next summer with The Legenday Hearts. He said he wanted to do another rock tour before he turned into a senior citizen. He's also a grandfather now. I'm hoping for another free show at the sound of music festival. After the show we got to talk to him for a bit,he signed our photo and said he remembered us from Hugh's room. He was cool as usual. I gotta tell ya if i had the cash i would so be at the Hugh's room show this week. Oh it should be mentioned that Kath is a bootlegger now, Her phone has a recording feature so she recorded the show. Wasnt that bad of a recording. My wife is wacky! QUe George constanza voice shouting "she's a bootleggah!" Until next time

Jay

Holy I'm F'ing old

I just realized something today. I'm practically a senior citizen. First of all my goatee is almost all white. I'm starting to look like Uncle Jesse from the Dukes of Hazzard. The other night i tried to read an old comic to Diana and had to stop becasue the printing was to small. Oh and on more than one occasion I've said the phrase "thats not music that's noise"! Pretty soon I'm gonna be wearing a diaper and yelling at kids on the front porch. Oh and I'll probably wear my pants up to my armpits. Holy crap I'm gonna be 40 next year. How did that happen? When did i become an old fart? And man do i feel old when i hear a song on the radio and suddenly remember it came out 20 years ago when I was in high school. Oh well at least i still listen to all the hip current bands like Huey Lewis and the Monkees.

On a lighter note my friend returned today and gave me a present,a nifty star wars key chain. Seeing her put me in a good mood. A lot of you probably know I'm a shy dude and have a hard time meeting new friends. Most of my friends i met back in high school. So i do appreciate the fact that i was able to make a friend at work in the last couple of years. wow could i use the word friend again? Joey Tribianni was my favorite character on friends.


Speaking of the show Friends. Anyone remember the episode of friends when Chris Parnell thought Chandler's name was Toby? He had been calling Chandler Toby for so many years that it was to late to correct him. Funny thing is i have a simillar situation at work. There's a lady at work who always calls me John. She's been calling me that since i came back from parental leave in 2005. Its much too late to correct her now. So John it is.

Until next time Jay (or John if you will)

shitty week/awesome mood

So Monday started off as bad as you could imagine. When i woke up it was pouring rain. I Didnt get enough sleep and felt like i had the crap kicked out of me. My first caller of the day at 8:00 in the morning reemed me out and told me what to go do with myself. By the way how is anyone that angry first thing in the morning. Seriously I didnt even wake up til about noon, four hours into my shift. Really? You woke up and the first thing on your agenda was calling up someone you dont even know and swearing your hick ass off? Anyhow despite the fact that i had to listen to call after call after call of bitching and moaning I was in a great mood. It's been a good week so far. First of all Big Brother finally ended this week. I watch that show every summer with Kath and every summer it annoys me. I gotta admit i will miss seeing Keesha fall out of her shirt every episode(see above).

Another thing getting me through the week is I have Saturday off and get a three day weekend. We`re going to see my favorite singer Barney Bentall in Hamilton. For my American friends he`s a singer who had a few hits in Canada only in the late 80`s and early 90`s. Kath and I have seen him before and even got a chance to meet him as evidenced in the above photo. Nice guy. Maybe this time I will tell him i used to have a cat I named after him. Yes I am a geek.


Also adding to the good mood, a friend of mine is returning to work after taking a leave of absence. I`m sure she doesnt want to be named in a blog so I`ll just call her Blair Warner fan. Hope she sees that and has a chuckle. There`s not a lot of us old timers at work anymore so I`m happy she`s coming back. It`ll be good to have another friend there to cheer me up when customers call in and call me every name in the book. Good times.

Thats it for now until next time

Keep the faith

Jay

Oh Chinese John Oates where art thou?

Sometimes when I'm getting yelled at by red necks my mind drifts off to other subjects. Take today for example. Today i started wondering whatever happenned to Ali Aleong. You may remember him as that Asian American guy that showed up in every action movie from the late '80's and early 90's. He played the asian american terrorist who ate the chocolate bar in Die Hard. He also played the asian american criminal who tortured Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, Before today i din't know he had a real name. To me he was always chinese John Oates. I think he looks like John Oates from the legendary Hall and Oates. Compare for yourself above. Anyhow hadn't seen good ol C.J.O. in awhile. Dammit he needs more work!! Come on hollywood wake up.

Cool a mundo

Ok I figured I'd go with a happier non work related story for my second post. This one is about one of the greatests moments of my life. The day I met The Fonz! Seriously this even ranks third after getting married and the birth of my child. As many of you know I am a complete nerd. I read comics,we have action figures on our basement wall and we named our daughter after Wonder Woman. Keeping this in mind, every year in August we attend a comic book convention in Toronto. Many celebrities attend this event. Over the years the con has featured William Shatner,Lou Ferrigno and the midget that played R2D2 in Star Wars. Lots of cool people but no one i really wanted to stand in line to meet...until this year.

I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw Henry Winkler was one of the guests this year. I'd been a fan since grade 2 when Happy Days was still running. I remember being mad the night Elvis Presley died because Happy Days was interrupted. It was the one where Ritchie and Fonzie had to report for army training. Hell I almost got the strap in grade 2 for telling another kid to sit on it. As a teenager i remained a fan. He did have a hand in the creation of Macgyver after all. Man i even watched him on his lame doctor show where he was banging Jennifer Tilly. What can I say I'm a fan.

This brings me to that fateful day of August 23rd 2008. We made our way into the convention. We moved past Princess Leia's,assorted ninja's and Spidermen and fellow nerds. We somehow wound up in front of the autograph signing area. This years guests included Edward James Olmos, Data from Star Trek and Michael Rosenbaum-tv's Lex Luthor. The booth on the end belonged to Henry Winkler. Both Kath and I became nervous. We got in line to meet a tv legend. Here's what I couldnt believe, he had the shortest line in the place. We were 3rd or 4th in the line. He's a tv legend,he still appears in film(including Adam Sandler movies) and he also writes childrens books. Meanwhile the dude who played Boba Fett in 2 star Wars movies for a total of 10 minutes 25 years ago and hasnt worked since had a line wrapped around the building.Go figure. A friend of mine from work saw us and started talking to me. I can't remember a single thing she said to me. I was about to come face to face with Arthur Fonzerelli.

It was our turn. Holy crap.What could i possibly have to say to the Fonz? I shouldnt have been worried. What a nice guy he turned out to be. He talked to us for a few minutes and shook our hands and signed one of his childrens books for Diana our daughter. He wrote To Diana the world is yours. He let us take a photo and before we left Kath made me tell him about my little grade 2 near strapping experience. He laughed. So there you have it. What celebrities may we see in the future? I'm hoping someday I get to meet Macgyver. Its good to have dreams.

Welcome

Hey there.
So a few months ago a friend of mine told me i should consider writing a blog. I thought cool idea but what could i possibly talk about? I talked to my wife who reminded me i hear alot of ridiculous stories concerning customers on a daily basis. So i guess i could share my thoughts on the various individuals i have to deal with everday and touch on the barrage of stupid questions i have to handle. Hey i even have the occasional good day i could talk about.

So as I'm sure by now you all know i listen to phone calls from angry cable tv customers in the United States. Apparently their tv means more to them then life itself. I've been called every name in the book over the years and have even had my life threatened. One lovely Phoenix customer told me he was going to come find me and tear me a new hole. He wasnt impressed when I told him I was in Canada. Guess he didn't want to spend the money on a plane ticket. Whew. dodged a bullet there!!


So one of my favorite calls occurred just last week. A gentleman from Northern Virginia called and demanded credit for his pay per view movie. That wasn't an unusual request as many people call in when we experience technical difficulties and don't want to be charged for a film that wont play. This particular guy was able to view his entire movie and it played perfectly. His beef? Well turns out he ordered a porno film and there wasnt any "girl on girl" action in it. I immediately began laughing so hard that i had to put my finger on the mute button of my phone. This kid was dead serious. I tried to explain that we have no control over the content of the movie and unfortunately could not apply a credit. I really tried hard to be nice about it. I couldnt believe the balls on this customer. If it was me and i had looked at porn,i wouldn't want anyone to know about it. The more i turned down his request for a credit the madder he got. Soon i was dealing with a screaming customer who was starting to sound a lot like the Hulk. Finally I had enough. This guy was keeping me on the phone,my shift had ended 10 minutes ago. I told him that there was no way he was getting credit for a movie that failed to satisfy him. Guess the Hulk reached his breaking point because then he demanded a supervisor. I got a supervisor, explained what Joe Hairy palms wanted and was greeted with laughter. Yes i deal with morons like this all the time.

Anyhow if you actually read this please be kind. I've never blogged before , If I continue to write I promise not ever post will be about some random douchebag from work. Hope every one is well and talk to you again