Shit from Pittsburgh’s USPS and Citibank

Okay.

So last Friday, Mr. Worm sent me a credit card using USPS’s priority mail, advertised to ship within three days. It has already been an entire week, and I still have not received anything from Seattle. Unfortunately, the card has been activated (Citibank requires that the card be activated from the home phone), so both Mr. Worm and I are afraid that the card might have got lost, which brings up the possibility of someone else using it.

I called the local post office for our neighborhood, and explained my situation: I know without a tracking number you probably can’t find it, but is there anything else that can be done? And you know what the lady said to me?

“I’m sorry, but without a tracking number, we can’t do anything about it. You’re just going to have to call the credit card company.”

“Okay…. so priority mail is supposed to be shipped within three days, right?”

“Usually. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

WTF?!?!?!

*Sometimes* it doesn’t? Then why the hell would we want to pay four times the usual postage price for a letter/package that might not even be shipped within the time frame of so-called “priority mail”? If it’s going to arrive the same time it would under normal shipping speed, then why the hell bother with advertising “three day priority mail” and charge the customer $5 USD for a piece of plastic that probably doesn’t even weigh 0.03 oz.? And if it’s priority, it is quite reasonable to assume that the contents are pretty important (why else would one choose priority mail within the states?). You’d think that they would be especially careful with mail like that. And honestly, that lady’s attitude was definitely not what I would consider quality customer service.

Undeterred, I called the local post office that Mr. Worm went to. And – surprise! – the lady was exceptionally nice and tried to be as helpful as possible. Contrast Pittsburgh-Lady with Seattle’s: “Oh, I’m sorry for your inconvenience. Yes, priority mail is supposed to arrive within three days, but sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t know why that happens, it’s ridiculous, but sometimes it just falls out in the back of truck. But if you can find the confirmation number, I will be able to look it up in our computer system for you.” What a difference! I mean, I know it’s not their personal problem that my mail got lost or delayed, but really, customer service and attitude really does make such a big difference!

Yesterday, I told Taine about the situation, and said,

“Pittsburgh’s postal service seems so……”

“Unreliable?”

“Yes! Very much so. Or is it just me and my bad luck?”

“No. You’re right. They are extremely unreliable.”

Shit. Next time, if we need to ship anything important, then we are definitely *not* using USPS. With something like an activated credit card, I would rather spend a buck or two more and go to FedEx or DSL.

And then, I called Citibank to see if they could cancel my card and send me a new one to the address in Pittsburgh instead of the home mailing address. First of all, THE LADY DOESN’T EVEN FREAKIN’ SPEAK DECENT ENGLISH OR UNDERSTAND MY ENGLISH!! I’ve had to explain over and over that we already received the card, had sent it to Pittsburgh, but were concerned that it got lost. She kept saying with a heavy Indian accent “You have to wait at least two weeks for the card to be processed.”

BUT IT HAS ALREADY BEEN PROCESSED! THAT’S NOT EVEN THE FREAKIN’ POINT!

And I tried to ask her as calmly as possible if they could ship it to Pittsburgh.

“No. We can’t do that. No, we just can’t. No, no, no.” What is she, a broken record? Can’t she even give me a reason? Capital One let’s you do that. Why not Citibank?

On top of all that crap, I found out that if I wanted to cancel my card, they would have to cancel Mr. Worm’s card as well, because of the same number. And so we would have to wait another two weeks or so, by which time I should be back in Seattle.

I suggested to Mr. Worm that I will wait until the day I leave, and if the card still hasn’t arrived yet, I will call them to cancel the cards and just have them send new ones back home.

Talk about inefficient, ineffective America! If we can’t even guarantee timely deliverly of such mundane things as a piece of plastic, how the hell do we expect to expedite more important things like food and clothing in times of emergency?!

Coffee @ Crazy Mocha

After DWiP’s (Duquesne Women in Philosophy) monthly meeting, Taine and I finally went out on our belated coffee date at Crazy Mocha’s. She was the one who helped me the most with arrangements and other Pittsburgh/Duquesne questions before I physically imported myself to the east coast. Honestly, I’m not sure how I would have survived without her helpfulness! Unfortunately, by the time I arrived in the Steel City, she had already left for Berlin as a visiting scholar for one year. Now that she’s finally back, I’ve finally had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her! Before, I’ve only seen her in pictures on her Facebook profile. I must say, I didn’t know what to expect, and was unsure what kind of a person she would be like.

She’s very pretty and attractive in her own right, and definitely has the self-confidence but yet also humbleness of a sucessful (I would venture to characterize) woman philosopher. She’s very down-to-earth, but at the same time has an almost untimely elegant style. So: I really like her.

At Crazy Mocha, treated her that cup of coffee that I had promised for an entire year, and we sat and talked about our work, our interests, our approaches and thoughts on feminist theory, her stay in Berlin, the national (re)construction of a collective German identity, problems with politics… and of course, what some philosophers have to say about the world we live in, e.g. Arendt, Luxemburg, Habermas. I really enjoyed it! And I know such intellectual conversations will be greatly missed after I return back to Seattle. That is not to say that the things I talk about with my friends are meaningless, but it is quite different talking to a fellow scholar on pressing issues in a shared field.

It is really too bad that I have to leave now that we’ve finally met, but hopefully in the future, we will be able to meet again! And of course, there’s always email!

On a completely different note: I just bought a keyboard protector for my Macbook, and I’m still trying to get use to the touch and texture, so I’m still typing rather slowly. There are many keys that I can’t seem to hit at the right time. It’s quite a big difference…. and actually rather annoying. Instead of the slick surface that I’m used to, my fingers are hitting a rubbery, almost sticky kind of texture. But it protects my keyboard, and I have really no choice because some of the letters on the keypad are rubbing off. So, I’m trying to use it as much as possible in order to get used to it. .

Today we have really nice autumn weather in Pittsburgh. About 71 F, there is still a cool breeze that passes through. This is one season that I really enjoy about the east coast. Summer, not so much. The winters are really way too cold to my body’s liking.

Back in the Steel City

It’s my second day back in Pittsburgh, and though I miss my parents dearly, I’ve already readjusted to what I call east-coast-life as opposed to west-coast-life (as some of us know, there is quite a difference between the two). The weather has been your typical Pittsburgh summer: hot, and humid, with a few light showers now and then; definitely warmer than Seattle. Mother told me that it was already cooling down quite a bit.

I’ve unpacked about 95% of my luggage, cleaned my room, though now I’ve got a problem with placement of things. Nancy had moved in for me while I was back in Seattle a bed frame, and Joey’s old table used for studying. It’s a pretty big table, one of those long office tables, which is perfect for me since I need a lot of space for all my papers and books and Macbook when I’m studying. Naoko had helped me buy some hair accessories from Japan, and I think she made such a nice selection. She really knows my taste! And these clips are very nice, and much cheaper than the prices here in the States with better quality and design. Ching Chia bought me some small Anna Sui hand towels and a Shu Uemura brow pencil refill. I feel bad for not bringing them anything…. For some reason, either because I was lazy or for whatever mysterious reason which escapes me, I failed to buy anything for my roommates…. Sorry my dear roommates! Maybe I should ask my mom or sister to send me something from Seattle…. I’m not too worried about Naoko and Ching Chia, because they will be here next semester, but Nancy will graduate this winter and go back to Taiwan… so I don’t know what I’m going to do.

This semester I’m taking four courses for credit and auditing one. In order: Latin (which I am very nervous about because of its difficulty level and the fact that learning a whole new language takes up a lot of time and energy); Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit; Deleuze’s A Thousand Plateaus; and Plato’s dialogues, Cratylus and Gorgias. Because of the ostensibly immense amount of work, I might not be able to continue my ballroom lessons. On top of the work, CMU (where they offer these classes) is not very convenient to commute by bus to and from home.  So we shall wait and see how my courses go!

Yesterday, Jing and Sha came over to spend the night, and it was also the first time seeing them since coming back here. Jing’s family is from Szechuan, so you can imagine how worried we were when the earthquake hit China. Sha is also from Szechuan, but her family has been residing in Beijing, so she was not immediately effected, though she said she could feel the quake even in Beijing! Some of her relatives were in Chengdu, but they are safe. A relief!! So last night all five of us – Naoko, Ching Chia, Sha, Jing, and I – made dinner together, and sat down for our first “community” meal. Naoko made miso soup and omelette, Ching Chia cooked the rice  and stir-fried some green beans, Jing made a spicy Szechuan sliced potato, and I stir-fried mushrooms in butter, garlic, and soy sauce (Sha helped Jing and did the dishes). By the time we finished making the food and sat down, we were all so exhausted and hungry that we consumed the food mostly in silence. Poor Jing was still in jet-lag, and almost feel asleep a few times throughout dinner. The room was pretty hot, so it didn’t help at all.

Another strange thing: I’ve realized that my skin is so much clearer and smoother here in Pittsburgh. When I went back to Seattle, my face had broken out into many pimples and acne. I’m not sure what the difference is; might be the weather? It is drier in Seattle and more humid in Pittsburgh. Or it might be diet? Here I eat my full, completely clean vegetarian meal since I cook myself. Back home, mom and dad usually cook veggies on the side of meat. Don’t know. Whatever the reason, my skin is definitely nicer here.

Who left that in the fridge?!

So my roommate had called me a couple of days ago upon returning back to Pittsburgh from Japan and informed me that apparently the last person to leave for vacation had failed to empty the fridge of easily spoiled foods, e.g. vegetables, milk, etc. Moreover, she had also forgotten to throw the leftover rice in the rice cooker and coffee grinds in the coffee maker. So all of the above had been left to rot away for a full three months while we were all away for summer break. 

I was the second to the last person to leave, only shy of one day. I had remembered asking her to make sure that the veggies in the fridge would either be given away or thrown away. I did not specify that she also check appliances like the rice-cooker or the coffee-maker, but this should be common sense. Apparently, she had none. *And* she was also the first to return back to our apartment, back in the first week of August. When she called me, I simply assumed that she would have the sense to clean and dust up a bit, so I did not even bother to pursue the matter. I was not her mother, and this wasn’t something that one would need reminders for; especially when I consider the fact that she will be turning 30 years of age by this December.

I could not believe my ears. 

Ostensibly, it is quite true that one cannot judge one’s maturity level, quality of life skills, common sense, and wisdom from one’s age; neither can it be judged from one’s education level. Practical skills are indeed not dependent upon theoretical skills, though the two can wonderfully complement each other–and of course, this also depends on which person it is embodied within. 

And poor Naoko! You have no idea how angry she is; and understandably so. 

I feel so sorry for her! I can already envision her reaction when she first opened the rice cooker, and then turned around to check the coffee-maker, then the fridge. She said she had wanted to do something, but the thought was so repulsive that she simply could not bring herself to reopen the rice cooker or the coffee machine. As far as the fridge is concerned, she could not even identify what some of the items used to be. “I think they were once vegetables…” On my part, I should have just done it myself before I left. I was just thinking that Ching-Chia (our other roommate) would use those appliances. She herself told me that she would give the raw vegetables to her sister, so they won’t go to waste. 

I asked Naoko to try as best as her stomach allows her to clean the appliances. The rice cooker could be thrown away, but the coffee machine was a rather expensive one, and included an espresso maker on one side. I paid for most of it, and I really don’t want to toss it. I advised Naoko to just close her eyes and throw the filter away and soak the plastic filter in hot boiling water; if she waited until I went back, it would only get worse. I am not sure if she accomplished, but I will find out soon enough.

I must admit that I am just as upset about the whole situation. Either one of us has to get down to it and scrub away those little micro-critters that had been growing, or we buy new appliances. Honestly, I’m not sure which is the best route to take….