Dick's Restaurant, San Leandro

Grrr....what kind of dick would call their restaurant "Dick's"? A dick called Dick perhaps? I guess it's a possibility. Just to be upfront, I was ready to hate Dick's and give the owner a real dicking roasting on my blog...I'm talking a real grumbling grrrr-fest, but you know what, I really liked Dick's. It's not that I'm afraid to grumble, you understand, but when I find something I like, I have to suspend my normal urges to moan and talk it up. So here goes:

Dick's is fantastic! Their decor hasn't been touched since the 70's, which is great as I LOVE old stuff; it's so much better than the generic rigid plastic all the chain eateries have invested in - god knows, the Bay Area has more than enough of that stuff lying around. The service is great too: speedy but you don't feel rushed, and the food is great. The menu is the usual diner fare, but it's just a little bit better than you'd expect. They've even got the old fashioned milkshakes - the ones where you get some extra shake in a metal cup like back in the day. Another plus is the friendly atmosphere and their general tolerance of Mr Grumble Jr running around in the bar area. Not a lot of places you can say that about. There's really nothing for me to Grumble about...grrrr!!!!

Dick's Restaurant: you'd be a dick not to check it out!

OMG FedEx Office is soooooo awful

Grrr....grumble, grumble, moan. What is going on with customer service at FedEx Office? I went there today and it was like having red hot needles shoved under my fingernails - and I know because I've had that done at the ER, and boy did I grumble that day! Grr...at the memory.

So here's what happened at FedEx. I ordered some 11"x17" color printing online, nothing much, like 25 copies or something, and show up to collect it about 2:00 pm. The only guy in the place, let's call him Jim, as that's what it said on his badge, is just finishing up with another customer...well, I assume that's what he's doing as he is handing the person some bills, and there's one other lady waiting...so I stand there...for like fifteen minutes while Jim ambles about, not doing much, and still talking to the original guy...

...then Mr Grumble Jr announces that he needs to go to the bathroom, like RIGHT NOW!...so I have to leave, loose my place in line, and walk down the mall to find a bathroom...grr!...still, can't be helped....eventually this is accomplished, and we return to FedEx, probably after another 15 minutes or so...by this time another couple of folks have shown up, and guess what - yes, Jim is still dealing with the same guy he was talking to when I first arrived!

Grrrr! Finally, Jim gets done, and moves onto the next poor soul who's probably been waiting since last Thursday, and she needs a refund for something...oh dear, poor Jim can't cope....he has to disappear out the back for ten minutes to take a Valium or something...grrr!, grr, grrr! Eventually he comes back, and starts doing the paperwork for the refund. Poor chap, he can't handle it - his pen moves so slowly across the page I keep thinking he's fallen into a coma - you know what I mean, the kind of guy who should really be working at the DMV, not somewhere with a line of people waiting for him to GET A GRIP!

Grrrr! After about 45 minutes from when I first showed up, I had to throw in the towel and leave. I know I skipped out for a bit, but Jim had only manged to serve one customer in all this time, and with a few folks still in front of me I had to go - I just couldn't bear to spend the rest of the afternoon in the Fedex Store watching Jim dick around when he should have been BUSTING A GUT to get his job done. I did tell him, as I was leaving, that I had to go, and that I wouldn't be coming back for the printing, but I didn't get the sense he cared all that much....Grrrr!! Now I'll have to find somewhere else to get my stuff done....Grrr!!!

target and their plastic bags

Grr...I hate it when I go to Target and, like no matter which store I go to, they insist on bagging my stuff individually...it's like the checkout minion thinks, "OK, like the toothpaste goes in one bag, and then the toothbrush, better put that in another bag, and then this dental floss, quick, get me another bag..." and so on.....I spend half my time at the target checkout taking stuff out of bags and putting it into other part full bags, and the other half of my time trying to grab stuff off of the conveyor before it gets in a bag. What a pain!

Grrr...God I hate Target...why do I ever go there...oh yeah, I guess it's cheap and convenient...but, Grr...moan, whine, they do annoy me. Today, though, they went too far. I mean I just popped in to pick up some laundry detergent, and, while I was there, I bought a pack of cookies, a box of donuts, and two bananas (I know, I'm on a Spring health kick!), plus my Tide. How many bags do I get given at checkout? That's right, three! And I took the detergent away from her before she could put that in a bag! Honestly, what IS the world coming to?*

*I suppose I should think myself lucky that she didn't separate my two bananas and bag them individually as well!

ha, ha, fooled you!

Grr....! Yesterday was April Fools Day, didn't you know, and I "got" every single one of you with my ridiculous "happy" post. How could Mr Grumble ever be happy? Grrr....happy people should get help, I'm happy being a moany old PITA!!

I'm so happy!!

I'm so happy today that I want to do a little dance all round my front lawn while shouting "HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!" at the top of my deep masculine voice. Yay me, yay me, YAY ME!