The End of an Era

The Dell computer on which I am typing this has been nothing but a pain in the ass since the day it arrived just over three years ago. Even typing "ass" is a pain because this morning the "S" key popped off, and I couldn't quite get in back on right. When I took the computer out of the box for the first time, plugged it in, and turned it on, what appeared on the screen was a bunch of horizontal black and white lines and nothing else. I called Dell "customer service" as I took Stella for a walk, and over the course of 45 minutes I was transferred to 23 (actual number) people before number 24 finally helped me. The reason why number 24 finally helped me is because I yelled at number 23 and demanded to speak to a supervisor who could tell me something apart from the flow sheet answers that the 22 previous outsourced agents had been giving me. Even then, number 24 told me that my only recourse was to send my brand new computer back for a refund and reorder it. On the up side, I wouldn't be charged for shipping. This blog entry is not Germany-specific, but the thoughts in it have been magnified and confirmed in the weeks since we moved here. Get ready for a lot of complaining, because it's been a rough couple of months, and I've got a lot of things to address.

Jerry Seinfeld (or maybe it was Elaine) once said, "People are the worst." I agree with this for the most part. A person is fine. I have a collection of persons with whom I am friends and with whom I choose to maintain contact because those individual persons are great. Collectively, however, people are the worst. My first example is a woman named Valorie Johnson who works at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield Child Development Center. It is not a mistake that I used her full name because she needs to be outed as the nightmare that she is. Incompetent, rude, and unintelligent people (particularly those with government jobs) often get to skate by, and I think this is a shame. Not on my watch. We had to go to Wiesbaden to pick up the car a few weeks ago. There was a morning driving class at 0730 followed by a test to get our German driver's licenses, and we had to have the licenses to pick up the car. I contacted the CDC to see if Annika could be accommodated for a day of daycare so we could get this taken care of. Online, the hours were posted as 0545-1800, and I was certain that there would be a way for them to help us (an active duty military family) out for this special circumstance. It started off ok, and Valorie sent me the list of everything I would need to get Annika set up for hourly care, only the earliest she could come was 0800 because those are the hourly care hours. I asked what the 0545 hours were, and she said that was for daily care only. I let it go and decided that I would just arrive to the class late. After much scanning and emailing and immunizing, I had everything taken care of...or so I thought. At Annika's 1-year appointment, she did not get the HepA shot because her pediatrician gives it a month later. This was a huge problem because their regulations say that the child has to have the HepA shot. I looked up the US Centers for Disease Control recommendations, and it states that the HepA shot should be given between 12-23 months of age. I sent this link to Valorie and asked for a bit of a pass for the 6 hours Annika would be there. Well, Valorie did not like this at all and replied with her own link of their requirements which says HepA at 1 year (with a small footnote #4 next to it). Upon further review, the #4 stated that the USCDC states exactly what I told her already. She dug in (as all people who are not qualified or able to use common sense or basic reading skills do), and Neil had to get involved in asking for a supervisor. Lo and behold, I was right, and Valorie was overruled. In addition, upon speaking to the director, there was no reason why Annika couldn't be dropped off early...shocking. As it turned out (because that's the way it goes), Annika was sick and couldn't go to the daycare anyway, and I had to take the test at Ramstein where an angry civilian worker insisted that Neil had an office phone number apart from our home or cell phones and could not be convinced otherwise and would not let me take the test without an office phone number. To humor the man (whose name I don't know because he had no name tag or it would be here), I called Neil, pretended to ask for his office phone number, and then gave him our home number. What is the deal with these people? Do they ever burn as many calories trying to help someone out as they do being speed bumps? What is my angle? Is this part of my elaborate scheme to give the children at Wiesbaden Army Airfield Hepatitis A and get a German driver's license under false pretenses although I provided military orders, a military id, and not one, but 2 addresses and telephone numbers?

Annika looking how we all felt leaving Wiesbaden.

Upon returning from the car pickup trip, we were finally able to get our quick/express/unaccompanied bag shipment delivered. This is a small shipment of items designated to be delivered within 30 days of packing for use until our actual household goods arrive. We had it picked up April 18 in hoped that it would be delivered no more than 9 days after we arrived here in Berlin. Prior to packing, Neil had to give an estimate of the weight of this shipment. It could be no more than 1500 lbs. I forget what our estimate was, but it does not matter, What does matter is that the actual weight was about 150 lbs. shy of the estimated weight, and thus the shipping company wouldn't take it. Of course, they told us this at the time in order that we could address the problem and make appropriate adjustments/arrangements. Oh, wait, no...that happens in a scenario where everyone isn't lazy and unaccountable. What actually happened  is that our stuff got placed in storage, never to be heard from again  until Neil called upon our arrival in Berlin (3 weeks or so after the pack date), and wondered when it would be arriving. Imagine our surprise that it was still sitting in Salinas, CA. Many angry phone calls later, we got it "straightened out." What this means is that the 30-day clock got reset from the day we finally got someone to get off their ass and take care of the problem, and our things were delivered in just over twice the time it should have taken.

These are only 2 examples of people being horrible and worthless. There are more, but this is getting a bit long. Over the course of this, there have been attempts at encouragement and positive thinking and just being happy that we get to have this experience in the first place. This drives me crazy. Make no mistake, we have enjoyed the hell out of Berlin as much as possible with no stroller or travel backpack for Annika. I like our German pediatrician very much, although Tricare made it difficult to like him or even see him as no one thought it appropriate to ever call me back when trying to schedule appointments and get referrals. I have never been one to play the it-could-be-worse card. I think it allows for and encourages mediocrity. It is possible to be happy about the things that are going well and still be pissed off about the things that aren't. If everyone only ever focused on what was going right, no progress would ever be made, and nothing would ever get done. If we had just happily enjoyed our empty apartment and not called and yelled at the shipping company, our stuff would still be in Salinas. If I hadn't yelled at poor number 23, I would have a paperweight that also lights up when I open it. Sometimes things are miserable, and it is not only ok to acknowledge it, but it is actually, I think, healthy to vent about those things so that others don't get the same horrible treatment. Yes, it could be worse, but it could also be better. That isn't pessimism my friends, it's the truth.

Having said that, Neil is almost home with our new Macbooks (which had better f'ing work flawlessly) and sushi for dinner. Annika is asleep. We have 2 new city bikes in our storage locker to get us around town. We have an episode of The Bachelorette to watch, and life is good. With the new computer will dawn a new day and possibly more frequent blog posts about the fun times we're having here.

Next up, a recap of the Euro 2012 game in Poland.