What Scott Ate Today

Almonds

2011-11-22T20:06:00.001-08:00

Pretty much nothing but almonds today. I love almonds.

OfficeMax loses a customer

2007-06-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Original Post: OfficeMax on Sheep Guarding Llama

I got home last night and the cleaning begin in ernest. However, before I could really get down to cleaning I had to call back to OfficeMax because after having opened a customer service case last night and having been told that they would get back to me - they didn’t get back to me. The issue is that we ordered a desk eleven days ago that was to be delivered in one to three business days. We placed the order on Sunday so shipping could happen the very next day. We waited and no desk arrived. We had been hopeful that it would have arrived by the weekend so that we could have had it assembled and put in place before we left on Friday. That had been the plan all along. No luck.

We returned from Frankfort and decided to give them until Tuesday to deliver the desk before calling. So yesterday I called and talked to customer service about the desk. They said that they couldn’t help me (great customer service) but that someone from the warehouse would call me back (I assumed later that evening.) I thought that it was strange both that the customer service team couldn’t answer questions about the status of my order and that they thought that the warehouse would be useful since the one thing that they were able to determine for me was that the desk had not been shipped at all.

So tonight when I got home I decided that I needed to follow up as obviously the unshipped desk did not arrive nor did the warehouse call. Apparently the warehouse has little interest in shipping products or doing good customer service. So I called customer service again and they explained that the warehouse needs at least forty-eight hours before they would call back. The excuse for this turn around time was that the warehouse needed time to check with the shipping partner as to the status of the order. I could see this if, in fact, the warehouse had shipped my desk but in this case they had not. They were simply stalling.

I explained that it was not appropriate for the customer service department to stall on my for forty-eight hours on an item that I was trying to find out why it hadn’t been shipped in seventy-two hours especially when I had given them much longer than that in the first place. Had the customer service representative yesterday decided to actual take care of me they would have immediately cancelled the order and had a new replacement desk shipped immediately since it would be likely to arrive, assuming the warehouse people decide to show up to work at all, around the same time that the warehouse is supposed to return my call to let me know that they don’t intend to ever ship my original desk. The first customer service representative simply took the path of least resistance, acting like she was solving my problem and brushed me off.

Tonight the customer service representative was going to simply let me continue to have nothing done for me explaining that it was the warehouse’s problem and not customer service’s - something that should never, ever be said or implied to a customer. I mentioned that if the desk was ordered today that it would, hopefully, arrive within seventy-two hours but that if we waited for the warehouse to tell us what we already knew - that the desk had not yet been shipped - that it would take at least one day longer for no reason. She agreed and went ahead and cancelled my current order and placed a new order for the desk which should, in theory, arrive within the next three business day.

Given that we know that it takes the warehouse forty-eight hours to respond to a request for information concerning a shipped product it therefore makes sense that the only reasonable way to get a good turnaround time from them is for me to then open a customer service request tomorrow. If I open a case tomorrow then the warehouse should get back to me to let me know whether or not they have bothered to ship this new desk by the exact same time that it should, at the latest, have arrived.

I have often said that the true quality of a company is not seen until you have something go wrong. Every companies makes mistakes and has problems. There is no way around that. Customer service is the place where companies have an opportunity to fix things that are wrong or to make them worse. In the case of OfficeMax, they made it worse. They could have shipped out a replacement desk immediately but instead totally blew me off the first time from customer service, then blew me off via the warehouse and then only did anything to resolve the issue when I proposed the only logical solution. Why didn’t either of the customer service representatives take the initiative to fix the problem rather than just pass it off to the warehouse whom they knew were going to call for several days and knew that they hadn’t shipped the desk at all? And why is the warehouse allowed to sit on a customer service issue for two days when they could tell me instantly that they had missed the order and needed to ship it right away. The entire system is built for the purpose of stalling.

The only thing that I can imagine is that OfficeMax is stalling because they already have my money and just by holding onto my money they get to earn a little bit on it before they actually deliver the product that I paid for. Even now I had to pay for the second desk (which we don’t even know that they are going to ship) up front just for the honor of possibly getting the service that I already paid for two weeks ago. And, at some point, I will get credited for the original desk whose order has been cancelled. So even now I am not getting the same level of service that I should expect should I be a new customer at this point. A new customer would at least not have to have money held for a desk that OfficeMax just decided not to deliver!

Altogether, even though the customer service representatives were “friendly” this has been one of the most disappointing customer service situations that I have ever experienced and has totally turned me off to OfficeMax. I was so happy with the products and the ordering just two weeks ago and I have used them for years but they managed to show to me that all of that good service was just a thin veil over a completely customer unfriendly organization. They proved to me this week that they have absolutely no interest in having me as a customer nor fulfilling their obligations of sending the order that they had happily taken my money for.

The bottom line is that to my face people acted friendly but the actions, which speak louder than the words, were rude and obnoxious. And now I am back to the beginning. Maybe they will ship me a desk. Maybe they won’t. It will be another week before I have any way to know. Even if I open a case to find out if it is shipping tomorrow I should not expect the warehouse to let me know whether or not they are going to ship me the desk until next week.

January 9 - Breakfast

2006-01-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

Omega Grill with Dominica

Scrambled Eggs with Cheese
Large Glass of Vegetable Juice
One cup of coffee

January 8 - Dinner and Late Night

2006-01-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Snack before dinner

Left over tuna salad from Dominica's lunch

Dinner at home with Dominica

Eggs with cheese
Broccoli
Veggie Sausage

Late Night at home with Dominica

Baked Beans with Veggie Hot Dogs

January 8 - Lunch

2006-01-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

Omega Grill with dad and Dominica

Tuna Salad Plate with Tuna Salad and Cottage Cheese
Large Glass of Tomato Juice

January 7 - Dinner

2006-01-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

Walmart Fish Fillets (3)
Green Beans
Spatzle

Dominica made dinner at home. We are attempting to finish off the "bad" food in the house so that we can stick to our diets.

January 7 - Lunch

2006-01-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

Omega Grill with dad

Cream of Broccoli Soup (cup) with two packets of crackers
Broccoli and Cheddar Omelette
Cottage Cheese
Glass of Tomato Juice
Coffee (2)

Beginning South Beach Diet

2006-01-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Not quite but more or less. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and my weight is up and so is my blood pressure. They are mildly worried about hypertension but they are sure that it is just connected to the extra weight that I put on because my pressure was always fine before. So now I am on a strict diet so that I can go back to the doctor's in three months and show progress. I have to get another blood check done before I return to show my cholesterol again but that was fine before and is likely to be fine again now. Nothing to worry about there.

Today

2005-11-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

Food

Scott and Dominica Prepare to Go to Florida

2005-10-31T06:30:00.000-08:00

Well, if anyone is reading this site - I am sorry. It was more of an experiment than anything. But since it is here I am posting info about Scott and Min's vacation that is taking place this week. There is an info page that will direct you to the associated blogs, podcast, vlog and flickrcast. This is going to be really exciting so check it out:

SGL2 - Scott and Min's Vacation

Papa John's in the Hotel Room Alone

2005-08-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today was a cheese Papa John's pizza and cheese sticks alone in my hotel room. That was it. No snacks or other meals.

Decently Good Day

2005-06-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

No Breakfast

Lunch: Tom Wahls in Avon. Veggie burger with swiss cheese lettuce and Wahl sauce, regular french fry and a medium diet soda.

Dinner: Burger King on NY Thruway. Fish sandwich, large french fries and a large diet soda. Also, Dulce de Leche pie slice.

Late Night Snack: Silk Soy Shake, Bolthouse Farms Vedge drink and Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness drink.

Avoid Perkins Restaurants

2005-06-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

This past Friday had Min, Andy and I eating at Perkins on Jefferson Road in Rochester. The general manager there, Carrie Giambra, is apparently a vegetarian hater and she gave us a hard time about eating there. She was really rude and wouldn't even talk to us herself - she made the poor server talk to us for her so that we would get mad with our server instead of the manager. But that didn't work. I filed a complaint with Perkins corporate but apparently it is of no concern to them because they didn't bother to contact me about it at all. But I wanted to make sure that everyone in the blogosphere was made aware of what an awful restaurant Perkins has become so I have a link to the writeup about how Perkins Sucks over at SGL2 that everyone should check out.

If anyone has any additional stories of mistreatment at Perkins, let me know and I will totally link to you. I am on a campaign now, I am so upset that they were so mean to us.

Min's New Diet

2005-06-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

Dominica is starting the South Beach Diet so we might see that affecting my intake in the near future. I will try to keep you posted.

Breakfast: Omega Grill in Geneseo. Had three eggs over easy, one order of wheat toast and one potato pancake. Two cups of coffee.

Dinner: Dennys in Geneseo. Had the mini-burders with Boca instead of meat with onion rings. Got a side salad with ranch. Diet Coke.

Late Night Snack: At work at Wegmans in Niagara Falls. Had one cream filled donut, one cheese danish, a tiny bag of sweet potato chips and a bottle of soy milk.

Min made breakfast in Frankfort

2005-06-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and four pieces of toast.

Snack at Wegmans Liverpool

2005-06-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

Had a candy bar, one of those M&M Amazing Peanut Butter bars. And a good number of Terra chips. The Mediterranean flavoured ones.

Dinner at Marketplace Mall

2005-06-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

I was on the road this evening and so I grabbed a quick bite at Tom Wahls in the mall. I got my usual Veggie Burger with swiss cheese, lettuce and Wahl sauce with a regular fry and a diet.

Trying to get back into it

2005-06-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

I let this slip for a while and I am going to try it again. It was really helping when I was doing it.

Lunch: Omega Grill. Had Spanakopita with Tomato Soup and a salad. Min couldn't finish her Spanakopita so I finished hers.

Hoping to get back on track

2005-05-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

It is difficult, even using simple blogging software, to keep track of everything that you eat on a regular basis. Once you fall behind, you tend to let it go. I plan to try again starting in May. Maybe I can stick with it this time. Until then, you can keep up with everything at my real blog, Sheep Guarding Llama. That was a shameless plug but, oh well, every so often we all need them.

8 April 2005

2005-04-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Burger King Geneseo - (2) Croissant sandwiches with egg and cheese and a small hashbrown.

Lunch: Burger King Dansville - Fish sandwich and large french fries while en route to Ithaca to see My Favorite Year at Ithaca High School.

Midnight Snack: Sammy's on the Commons in Ithaca - (3) slices of cheese pizza with bleu cheese dressing on the side.

7 April 2005

2005-04-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Late Lunch / Early Dinner: Only meal today. Pad Thai at Aja Noodle. Fried vegetable dumblings as an appetizer.

6 April 2005

2005-04-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Dinner: Woke up late and didn't eat until mid-afternoon. Went to Burger King with Min and had a fish sandwich and french fries.

Midnight Snack: Spinach and Ricotta on Wheat Calzone, small bag of Sunchips, two orange juices and an apple juice.

Late Late Snack: Two yogurts.

3 April 2005

2005-04-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

This post is late and most likely rather innaccurate.

Lunch: Fried Fish Sandwich at the Silver Lake Family Restaurant.

Dinner: Crackers with Dip and Peanut Butter.

5 April 2005

2005-04-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Lunch: Pad Thai and steamed soy beans at Aja Noodle in Brighton.

Dinner: 1/2 a Pita and Hummus appetizer and a Pita Cheese Pizza at the Omega Grill in Geneseo.

4 April 2005

2005-04-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

Dinner: Fish sticks, corn bread stuffing with red and green peppers and mixed vegetables (peas, beans, corn and carrots.)

2 April 2005

2005-04-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Slim Fast Optima

Lunch: [Snack] (2) Servings of Cheddar Cheese and many club crackers. Also with French Onion sour cream dip.

Dinner: Light buffet at Pakistan House in Rochester.

1 April 2005

2005-04-04T01:51:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Slim Fast Optima

Late Breakfast: (2) Egg and Cheese Croissandwiches and small hash brown at Canandaigua Burger King.

Dinner: Fish fry with baked potato at Hole in the Wall in Perry

No snacks today. On the road all day.

31 March 2005

2005-03-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Slim Fast Ultima

Snack: (2) Servings of cheddar cheese and several Club crackers

Lunch/Dinner: McDonald's (2) Fillet o'Fish Sandwiches, Large unsalted fry and a fruit and yogurt parfait.

30 March 2005

2005-03-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Slim Fast Optima

Lunch: Sesame seed bagel with egg and cheese frozen omelet

Snack: Yogurt

Dinner: Popcorn fish with peas and scalloped potatoes

Midnight*: Four cheese calzone and a small bag of sun chips

* Worked overnight shift at Wegmans.

29 March 05

2005-03-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Slimfast Optima

Lunch: One Yogurt. Two bagels at Brueggers. One with egg and cheese and one with light cream cheese.

Dinner: Omega Grill. Had spanakopita with mixed veggies and cream of broccoli soup.

Dinner 28 March 05

2005-03-29T20:26:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Snack: One yogurt.

Dinner: Min cooked dinner of popcorn fish, mixed veggies and rice. Also had a side salad.

Lunch 28 Mar 05

2005-03-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

One bowl of Wegmans Fruitful Morning cereal with Eight Continent Light Vanilla Soy Milk. One yogurt and two servings of cottage cheese with pineapple.

I have already had my three servings of dairy for the day. I have managed to have three or more serving every day for about two weeks now. Doing really well with that.

Easter Sunday

2005-03-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Went to Burger King at 9:30 with Min. We both got 2 Egg and Cheese Croissandwiches, one Medium Hash Brown and one Small Hashbrown and an Orange Juice.

Lunch: Easter Lunch at the Richardson's. Had one Quorn Chicken Cutlet, some corn, potatoes, fruit salad thing, green bean casserole and chocolate peanut butter brownies for dessert.

Dinner: Two yogurts and a double serving of cottage cheese with pineapple.