mccullochblog

Memory Lane.

Given the passionate response to the whole 'customer service' question (this one could run and run), I wouldn't dare gloss over the topic so swiftly with a new blog were it not for the fabulous trip down memory lane I took with Emma last night.

I think one of the best things about being in your 'mid-thirties' is that the bands you used to like when you were in your twenties make comeback tours, or better still, they simply haven't stopped touring. And - the beautiful thing is - after fifteen years or so those old songs just sound even better than ever!

We went to see Buffalo Tom in concert at the Great American Music Hall. They haven't released an album in nine years. I'm pretty sure they haven't played a live show for nearly as long. I'm also fairly certain that no-one who reads this blog (with the exception of he-who-alerts-me-to-gigs) has ever even heard of Buffalo Tom, but I own six albums by them. To be truthful, it's possible even I didn't know how much I liked them until I realised (ten songs into their set last night) that I'd just sung every lyric of every song for the past forty minutes.

Anyway, in keeping with tradition (and the fact I still have same phone) I captured a little hazy picture for you. And with that, I ask you to share your favorite old-band-that-came-back memory with me in between musings about customer service.

p.s. If you're even slightly curious, I recommend downloading Taillights Fade from iTunes.

"Hello, can I be of no service whatsoever?"

  Saturday had been a big night. It was clear by 9am that none of Mario's bachelor party were going to achieve much more than brunch on Sunday, so I decided to try and get an earlier flight home from San Diego to surprise Emma.

Hoorah! I was able to switch my United flight from 18.50 to 13.40. Booo! An hour later I got an automated voicemail saying the flight was cancelled. Nevermind...back on the 18.50, I thought. But no. "I'm afraid that flight is now fully booked, Sir. And so are all the other flights out of San Diego today."

"What can you do to get me home?", say I.

"Nothing", says Mr. distinctly-pissy United service agent.

"Fu**$%^ try again!!!!!" say I.

"Well, what do you expect me to do? You cancelled your previous reservation."

"I can't believe that's your response. I had a first class ticket from San Diego, you cancelled the flight and now you're not even attempting to find me a flight home. What do you expect me to do exactly?"

"Well, you can fly home tomorrow."

"Of course I can't"

"Well, I don't know what your plans are for tomorrow".

"If my plans involved flying home from San Diego tomorrow, don't you think I would have booked my flight for Monday?"

"I'll check with my flight director....(5 minutes on hold)....no, sorry, no flights."

"Okay, book me on the flight for tomorrow. Will you pay for my hotel tonight?"

"No"

"You've got to be kidding."

"No sir, our obligation is for the flight only."

"Which you're not bloody providing!"

(SLAM)

"Hello SouthWest Airlines....can you get me home to San Francisco? You can...fabulous. Book me".

Number of additional negative slurs on United Airlines in the blogosphere: 1

Number of new customers for SouthWest Airlines: 1

And that's my story really. United didn't try to get me home. In fact their staff member did everything he could not to offer me any other way to get home. In the old days, wouldn't United have put me on a SouthWest flight and eaten the cost...but kept their customer happy?

Anyway, I've got plenty worse stories than this...(manic New York cab drivers, condescending San Francisco waiters, borderline-homicidal bus drivers...) but I really want to hear from you.

Vote...and give me some horror stories to make me feel less like I've been singled out for persecution.

Where has the time gone?

What should we call those times in our lives? You know, the times when you're really quite busy; doing things, learning things, visiting places and discovering new things on the Internet, and then all of a sudden a month has gone by and you can't remember a damn thing about what you've been doing with your time.

Okay, so it's only two weeks since my last post, but  still feel as if I've been hiding from you.

One culprit is definitely StumbleUpon. Be VERY careful before you click on that link. Before you know it, hours will have gone by and you'll have discovered dozens of new web sites that will make even more hours go by every time you launch your browser. Seriously, I can't remember anything about Sunday afternoon.

Another lesser waste of time would be Facebook. I now have a page there. Facebook seems to be where all the people who used to live in my address book have moved to. For a while, they lived in Hotmail, then they all moved to Friends Reunited before a brief stay at MySpace. Having realised they were mostly a bit old for MySpace they all wandered off slightly apathetically to Linked In, but even that mildly-useful site has now passed its sell-by date to be replaced on the shelves of the Internet by Facebook. Clearly, you know I'm the wrong side of 35 when I say you are welcome to pick up the phone and call me any time you like.

And if you did call me, I'd tell you I was in New York last week - only a flying visit for work - but fun all the same. Our New York office has a Hollywood-sized addiction to karaoke, to which I'm always curiously drawn until I find myself belting out "Pour Some Sugar on Me" in the early hours of the morning. Oddly, I have never sung karaoke in San Francisco. The fact that almost no-one knows me in New York is probably a factor.

So, that's you up-to-speed on my news. Clearly the rest of the past two weeks has been taken up reading, listening and watching reports of the Beckhams' arrival in the United States. While Beckham hasn't actually played any football yet, that, and the timely visit of Chelsea to the Bay Area (see photos) have just about stopped Emma and I unduly craving the re-start of footballing festivities in the UK.

Oh, and if you're not busy next weekend, I believe tickets for Dover versus Gillingham are still available.

After 231 years, it comes to this...

Earlier this year, I read the excellent 1776 by my namesake author. Like the fabulous citizenship ceremony, I sincerely believe the background to the Declaration of Independence is something with which all Americans should be familiar.

Given the events of the past week in Washington DC it seems even more important that Americans should remember what it was they were trying to achieve by going to war with Britain back in 1775. Perhaps its time for folks to remind themselves of the ideal of self-governance that John Hancock imagined when he wrote that "all men are created equal," and were endowed with the "unalienable" rights "life, liberty , and the pursuit of happiness." Won't John Hancock be turning in his grave right now?

• 65% of Americans disapprove of the job President Bush is doing. (If only a few more of those had voted against him we wouldn't be in this mess of course).
• The UN has repeatedely pointed out the President's 'breach of the UN Convention against Torture' in keeping open the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
• The President has given himself the power to wiretap, open the mail of, search and indefinitely detain any American without trial. (Richard Nixon, anyone?)
• The US has the lowest international favorability ratings in history. Astonishingly, even seven-in-ten Americans (69%) acknowledge the U.S. is "generally disliked". For the record, 75 percent of those polled felt less favorably towards the US because of Bush's re-election.
• And - like a cherry on a cake - the President has now indicated his belief that he is above the law by commuting the prison sentence given to a purjuror by an experienced federal judge who had 'considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws.'

Giving an appropriate nod to Mr Hancock in commenting on the Scooter Libby case, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald tried to remind the President that it is "fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals." In response, President Bush said he 'wouldn't rule out' a pardon for Scooter Libby at some point in the future.

Is history repeating itself? Take a look at this quote from the impeachment proceedings of President Richard Nixon:

"The President wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV, only four years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment." — James D. St. Clair, Richard Nixon's counsel, arguing before the Supreme Court.

Maybe it's time for a revolution again. Happy 4th of July.