Good reading

So I got yelled at, really yelled at, by a French Canadian today. Some teenage kid decided that I was to be the object of his rage because his card wasn’t working and even though I explained why, he still felt the need to vent his frustration and tell me all about how he put his money on the card and needed to pay his cell phone bill and he wasn’t going to give up his hard earned money to Mastercard and how I had to refund his money immediately. Over and over and over. On. Three. Different. Calls. “So you’re telling me you want me to accept that I’m going to lose my fifty bucks huh? Really huh? That’s what your tellin me?!” Yes actually…I’m telling you that I can’t help you because your card number isn’t even valid and I’m going to disconnect this call. *Release button* Only to get yelled at a few minutes later by a man trying to use his prepaid card for a casino transaction (all of which are blocked on prepaid cards, btw) accusing me of taking HIS money. It didn’t matter how many times I told him that I couldn’t mail him a check, and that it was his choice to put HIS money on HIS card, and that he still had access to it, he was adamant that I didn’t have the right to tell him what to do with his money. Fortunately, French calls aren’t recorded, so I just talked over him until he understood that HE chose to submit to the card’s terms and conditions I wasn’t going to listen anymore. He could do what he wanted with his money, as long as it wasn’t gambling. :P *Release button*

Gah. People. You might have one of the friendliest people in the world on the phone, but when you get money involved, the worst comes out in everyone—even them. I’ve always known that money was the root of all evil; I just hadn’t seen it come to life in such detail before. That said, I got pretty irritated when they took $250 out of my paycheck this week for a health spending account I didn’t enroll in this year. Fortunately, they notified me that the situation was corrected today, but the $250 won’t be refunded until my next paycheck. Good thing I don’t have to live off of it. :P

I’ve been thinking on my way home from work that I need to find a few regular hobbies to fill my time now that I have a regular schedule. Playing L.A. Noire and solving cases with my video game character is great, but I should probably have some backup activities for when all the cases are solved. I wish there were more places to go hiking around where I live, or at least places to walk or run outside in nature. There’s only a little bit of autumn left, and it would be nice to spend what I can of it outside. This winter though, I’m going to finish my France scrapbook and finish crocheting my afghan. It’s about time I finished something!

I’ve been reading “The Toynbee Convector” collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury during my slow times at work and LOVING it. I had almost forgotten that warm feeling you get when you read a perfectly turned phrase, like, “The sounds of the world wandered in through his hairy ears like static on a badly tuned radio.”

Or, “He drove out of town. He was supposed to be in New York in five days to talk over the play he didn’t want to write for Broadway, in order to rush back to Hollywood in time to not enjoy finishing a screenplay, so that he could rush to Mexico City for a quick vacation next December. Sometimes, he mused, I resemble those Mexican rockets dashing between the town buildings on a hot wire, bashing my head on one wall, turning, and zooming back to crash against another.”

Don’t we all have lives like that?

And…”He walked through the green forest and listened to the various silences there. Not one silence, but several; the silence that the moss made underfoot, the silence the shadows made depending from the trees, the silence of small streams exploring tiny countries on all sides as he came into a clearing.”

We all instinctively *know* that there is not just one silence in a forest, but “various silences.” But how many of us actually bother to *notice* it? Ray Bradbury does. Tis a shame this is a library book; otherwise, I would have marked up all my favorite quotes by now.

Like this one, “For the simple fact was that she was fifteen pounds underweight and he was always trying to get her to add a few pounds. And he was twenty pounds overweight and she was always trying to get him to take off more than his shoes.” LOL

I can never get enough good writing.

Thinking in francais

I almost started writing this post in French. That’s what a few days at my job does for me! I’ve only been on the phones for about a week and a half on my own, and already I can tell that my fluency is returning. I’m thinking in French, catching myself right before the words come out…it’s kinda fun…like being back from France all over again. I love the feeling I get every day now from learning just one or two more phrases or pieces of vocabulary that enable me to understand at least 20% more context the next day, or even on the next call. It’s like being immersed again, and I love it. I’m not so nervous anymore when my phone beeps and the stoic woman’s voice says “Prepaid…French.” I can understand the accent a lot better now and I’m even getting to the point where I’m comfortable enough with the card information and the language that I can make a tiny bit of small talk and not sound quite so machine-like. And the number of people who ask to speak to someone who “actually speaks French” is dropping, thank goodness! That’s a morale booster. Every person up here has gotten that comment though, native speakers included.

So I’ve been introduced to the wonderful world of insurance. *sarcasm flag* Yeah, the one time I try to enroll in JUST the flex spending account for health care expenses in 2012, they mess up my enrollment and start taking money out of my paychecks in 2011! I don’t know when I’m going to get the money back…now I know what people are talking about when they say insurance is a major headache. On the flip side, I do get other great benefits here, so I’m looking at getting a new Ford Focus, since the price with my company discount is comparable to the price of a used car. Makes more sense to me to get a new one with the longer warranty! I’m working on getting the rest of my bills transferred over to my name…a daunting task. Kinda scary, being out in the world, but exciting too.

Can’t believe that it’s already the middle of November. Veteran’s day, then Thanksgiving, then fall is over and winter begins. Everyone is already hyped up about Christmas, and I’m sure they probably think I’m a scrooge for saying it, but I’m not ready yet! Thanksgiving comes before Christmas, so why shouldn’t it be given a proper celebration? And why shouldn’t autumn should be enjoyed and celebrated while we have it? There’s no sense in skipping ahead!

Anyway, on a different note, if anyone is in need of a job, please let me know. I know of some really good openings right now.