I need Diversity Training....

Living in New Jersey, since last July, has certainly been eye opening. We've been exposed to all sorts of behavior in the customers we've encountered. In fact, today Linda and I had a "spirited" discussion with one of our tenants about why he couldn't come in every month and merely switch the owners name on the contract for his unit so he'd only have to pay the $21.07 move in special. Linda and I both told him that he couldn't do it so don't plan on doing it next month. Linda asked him how he'd feel if someone "ripped him off" by only paying the $21 every month. He responded that it wasn't ripping anyone off. I told him that he certainly was...a company would go out of business never renting a unit for the regular price and only having tenants pay $21.07 every month. Only then, did he seem to have some inkling of understanding (but only slightly). He said he'd keep trying and if he couldn't do it he'd move out....Linda said that's fine. Sadly, he's the norm and not the exception.

Earlier in the day, we had to drop the car off at the garage so I could get the brakes checked, oil changed, etc. On the way back from doing that, we wanted to get Bertha filled up with diesel so we'll be ready to pull out Sunday after work. We drove to the Gulf station just below work and asked them if they carried diesel...he said no. We asked where we could find it and said we'd prefer a station where someone spoke English. Let me explain why we asked...In New Jersey, you aren't allowed to pump your own gas...there are attendants that do that. Bertha is really temperamental about getting the tanks filled. Put it in too fast and it overflows. We know how best to do it but every time we go to a station with middle eastern attendants they INSIST on pumping it although Linda is screaming at them that we must fill it. Well, today was even worse than usual. We had to drive to three gas stations before we could find diesel (first didn't carry it, second was out). The diesel pump, at the third and final station, was at the back of the lot. It had a small nozzle on one side, a high flow nozzle on the other side. Since our caps are on the driver side we parked on the back side of the pump. The small nozzle pump (on the front side) had a really long hose so I proceeded to get that one ready to pump from. The "middle eastern attendant" came running over and waving his hands and saying words that were not understood by me indicated that we had to pull around to the front of the pump although the hose we easily reached our tanks from where we were. Yep, there was a line forming behind us and we needed to get on the correct side of the pump....NOT !!! Linda shared some popular American profanity with this fella and gunned Bertha to pull to the other side of the pump (good thing she's a duelie cause I swear she was up on two wheels). I started filling and sure enough, she was being temperamental again this morning...lots of foaming. This gentleman's fine customer service manners had not put me in the mood to monkey around with all the foaming, etc. plus I didn't want to spend any more of my hard earned dollars to pay his salary so I stopped at 10 gallons. We'll make it as far as we can into PA, on Sunday, where we can pump without someone hovering, etc. I will not miss this problem when we leave New Jersey. What happened to all the high school students who used to get jobs pumping gas after school ? Where are they working ? All we've seen (with the exception of the Gulf station that didn't carry diesel) are middle eastern attendants that work at the gas stations here. Would American businesses collapse of we didn't have all of this foreign labor here filling these positions ? You can't tell me that they are all citizens when they can't even speak English. As is said for alcoholics, we can't change what we don't accept. Well....my name is Linda and I'm in need of diversity training.

Third Time's The Charm...

Well my prediction of them finishing up at 2:00 was wishful thinking. The problem area seemed to be the flange that goes into the top of the black tank from the toilet. First time they glued it, as soon as water (weight) was added to the tank the flange pulled away from the tank on the one side. After some fussing and fuming, they called in a plumber friend. Ka Ching ! Could hear the dollar signs flying through the air as he was there all afternoon. Second try....glue it again..fill with water...leaked ! As is usually the case for me with projects, must be it's a familiar formula cause the plumber cleaned it all up...applied cement for the third time..add water...and 'voila...It didn't leak ! Twas 5:00 and would have been the last attempt if it hadn't worked. Plumber says the black tank flange is a very poor design. Should be a pre-assembled set-up, possibly with a gasket on top and a threaded piece on top that when they receive it in the field they just need to screw another piece down tight and you've got it. Instead they sent a tank...no holes cut at all and all the holes had to be cut on site. Between everyone's chunk of labor, this has to be the costliest black tank replacement in Excel history. I just pray to God that the service contract covers it ! We shall see once I get all the info from Settle's. Even though I told them I need the authorization number on the bill, do you think they put it on there? Of course not. And we still have the issue of not getting the hot water heater fixed. They said they can order the part and have it shipped to me. Great ! I feel better already....can you tell it has been a trying day ?

Got the bike loaded and pulled out at 5:45. We are on the road....81 north to be exact and we have broadband signal AND cell phone reception. Things are looking up already. Will not try to drive the whole way tonight but go till we are 1) hungry or 2) tired or a combination of both.

Still Visiting...

On Monday we got together with a friend of mine to see her new house. It is a cute old house that has been completely restored. It is located in Fairfield and used to be the train station and post office. The rooms are huge and the hardwood floors are awesome. We had breakfast with them, sat on the front porch and caught up on what we've been up to since we last saw each other and then headed out to Pine Grove, PA to check out a campground and drop our applications off there.

On Tuesday we left Chambersburg to go to Linda's brother's place in NJ. Her brother is currently away on business but we are having a great time visiting with his wife Kathie. Each day while Kathie is at work we have been finding things to do and enjoying some quiet down time to catch up on e-mail correspondence, etc. Today we went into New Hope. It has been many years since I've been there and it seems to have changed quite a bit. There were many store fronts that were vacant so it seems that there has been some impact, from the depressed economy, to this quaint little town. It was nice to walk around and see all the little shops that were open. We spent a couple hours there and then came back to Roy and Kathie's place.

Tonight the three of us went out to run an errand and had a great veggie pizza at a local restaurant. It was delicious and loaded with veggies ! We're spending a quiet evening at home tonight, watching an old movie....The Philadelphia Story starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart. The weather has been drizzly but tomorrow it's supposed to warm up into the upper 70's. We have an exciting day planned tomorrow. Linda and I are going to Norwalk, CT for the day.