mishaps – f-your blog

A Road Trip Tip So You Don’t Get Screwed Over

A While Back My Wife and I had to go on a Road Trip to of all fucking Places fucking Florida. My Wife’s Family Predominately Live in Florida so We head Down there about 4 times a Year to Visit Them. Now to be fucking Clear I actually do Like My In-Laws, BUT for the Record FUCK FLORIDA. I fucking Can’t Stand Florida which was a Glorified Swamp filled with Moronic and Insane Assholes running around like the fucking Wild West. Over the Last 5-6 Years Florida went From a Shitty Swamp to an ABSOLUTE AND UNADULTERATED FUCKING SHITHOLE Populated by Scum of the Lowest fucking Order. And No I don’t give a Flying Fuck about Disney or fucking Universal or The Kennedy Space Museum since I’m Not a fucking Little Kid so Don’t Bother Mentioning Any of Them.

We always Leave on a Friday so My Wife Doesn’t get fucked out of P.T.O Hours (Paid Time Off) and We Usually We Drop Our Dog’s off at A Friend’s House in the Late Morning, Drive Home, Pack the Truck, and Hit the Road. This Particular Trip though all fucking Hell was Breaking Loose at My Wife’s Job so We had to Switch Up Our regular Routine. We Dropped the Dogs Off first fucking thing in the Morning and Them We headed Home so My Wife could get to Work. She didn’t get back Home Until 6:30pm and then We packed the Car and Hit the Road by 7:15pm. We finally reached Our Destination in Fucked Up Florida at about 3 am to find a Cold Front had rolled in and it was Non Stop Raining.

My Wife went in to the Hotel where We had made a Reservation fucking WEEKS BEFORE We were coming to Check In and all that bullshit. I waited for Her to Return to the Truck accept it was taking an Unprecedented Amount of Time and was getting Quite Pissed Off. I continued to Wait without doing dick because When I get Pissed Off I turn into a Raging Asshole which tends to make shit worse. After what seemed like for-fucking-ever My Wife came Walking back it to the Truck with a Extremely Displeased Look plastered across Her Normally Calm Face. I instantly knew by Her look Something Seriously fucked up had Happened and Now We were going to be Scrambling at 3 am in the fucking Rain to find a Solution to this Surprise Problem. And I was Right on Point with My Assumption.

When She hopped Back into the Truck She informed Me that the fucking Hotel decided to SELL OUR ROOM in spite of the Fact We had Paid for it in fucking Full when We made the motherfucking Reservation. The Issue was since They Sold Our Room to Some Asshole the Hotel affectively had ended up Double Booking the goddamn room. The Result of this was We were fucked out of Our Reservation, its was Cold and Rainy, and at 3 am We had No Where to Stay. We pulled into a Parking Spot at the Hotel since We didn’t have a Clue what the fuck to do about the Bullshit Situation and Sat in Our Truck Brainstorming. As I mentioned I was already Pissed because I was Worn Out from the Road so I was on the Verge of Totally Losing My Shit at this Point.

I asked My Wife what the fuck the Person Working had to Say about all this fucking Bullshit that had Ended Up fucking Us Over. She replied that there was Only One Employee who looked like She graduated from fucking High School Yesterday and that this was Her first Day on the Job. The Bottomline was the Employee was Inexperienced and Utterly Incapable of Dealing with the Problem and in all Due Favor had Called the On Call Manager for Help. Between it being 3:30am and the Manager being a Total Prick Didn’t’t answer Their fucking Phone leaving the Employee ass out to Defend for Herself. Since I knew if I walked into the Hotel Pissed as a motherfucker I most likely would End Up Walking Out in fucking Handcuffs (because Someone would inevitably call the Cops) decided to Conduct all Conversations with said Employee via the Phone.

First thing First I called and Demanded the Employee call Her Manager and Blow Their Phone Up until They fucking Answered. Well That Didn’t Accomplish a damn thing. Next I asked Her what the fuck about the Fact We had Pre Paid for the fucking Room and since We got screwed over We wanted Our fucking Money back incase We Located another Hotel with a Vacancy. The Employee then tells Me that the Hotel will definitely Refund Our Money BUT it Couldn’t be Done Until Tomorrow because She didn’t have the Authority to do Refunds. For the Record I knew that this Employee was the Lowest Person on the Totem Pole and as such had No Real Power or Authority to do much of Anything other than Apologize.

Keeping this in Mind when I have to Deal with Customer Service I try Not to Abuse the Customer Service Rep. I know They can’t really do Much if fucking Anything to Help Me so I make Sure to Say shit like “Your Employer”, “Your Boss”, and Call the Company Out by Name. I fully fucking Understand Why People get Angry in these types of Situations and Tend to Vent Their Displaced Anger on/at the Customer Service Rep. That is Why I make sure to Call the Company Out by Name or Say Shit like “I know its not you…” or “Your Employer…” or “The People Running the Company…” because again Yelling and Cursing at Someone with No Actual Authority is Futile because They lack Any and All Power to Do Jack Diddly Shit. The Best Part is Customer Service Reps get Screamed at and Insulted Daily by Pissed Off Jackasses so When They Encounter a Customer Who Doesn’t Automatically Unleash Their Fury Upon Them are Very Appreciative. Their Appreciation translates into Them going above and Beyond, doing shit They Normally wouldn’t, to Try and Really Help You Out (Mind You Though even with the Best Intentions They have Little to No Authority) as Best They can instead of Sticking to the Script so to speak.

The Next Half Hour the Employee desperately called Other Hotels in the Area trying to Find One We could go to with just One Problem. As I mentioned We drop Our Big Dogs off at a Friends, Yet Our the Little Dog Travels with Us. I told the Employee that the ONLY fucking Condition We had was whatever the fucking Place was it had to be fucking Pet Friendly which seems simple enough. While the Employee did Find Several Places every time She called Me Back it turned Out She had fucking Forgot that the Place had to be Pet Friendly. Since this was Her fuck up and Her’s alone I began to get Far More Aggressive and asked Her why it was so fucking hard to remember one fucking thing because Now She was wasting My fucking Time as We sat in Our fucking Truck in the fucking Parking Lot in the Rain like Assholes.

Luckily While I was attempting to Deal with the Situation with the Employee My Wife was Calling Hotels as Well looking for an Alternative for Us. And Low and fucking Behold My Wife found a Place Near By, Pet Friendly, and had a Vacancy. At that Point I told the Employee that My Wife had figured something out since the Employee was fucking up time and time again. I then suggested the Employee find another fucking Job and One hopefully She’d be better at. I also took a moment to Shit Talk the Useless Manager and while doing so Asked if Said Manager would be working Tomorrow which They were. I did in fact call the Manger Jerk Off the Next Day and Ripped Him a New Asshole, and meanwhile all this pathetic fuck could say was that He didn’t appreciate My use of Foul Language. I reminded Him I’m legitimately Pissed the hell off at getting fucked Over and Offered to come Down to the Hotel so We could Discuss the Matter of the Room and My Language in Person which He Declined.

The Moral to this Story is a Simple One: ALWAYS Cover Your Ass. I had experienced My Parents and Others Over the Years calling Hotels to Verify that They are Coming which I always thought was well Retarded. I thought so because if You make a fucking Reservation then that takes care of it because that’s what the fucking purpose a Reservation serves. Needless to Say I fully understand that Calling to Confirm Your Reservation is Retarded BUT unfortunately fucking Necessary Bullshit. Thus I will be calling to verify My Hotel Reservations from Now until the End of My fucking Life because I swear to fucking God I’m NOT going through that Shit EVER Again.

It is What it Is,

By Les Sober

Misunderstandings, mishaps, and misguidance….

Sometimes things are done that are irreversible. Whether they are words, whether they are thoughts, whether they are actions, whatever means the university has to dispense of them, they to be insurmountable when they occur.

I almost wrote about one of these misunderstandings lately. Fortunately the gods of social media, let the misunderstanding between the X on my browser and the little button called submit blur. This was a positive misunderstanding.

However most misunderstanding is not positive. Most of it is what divides people from one another. Misunderstanding is different then a lie. Lies are purposeful and can be hurtful whether or not they were intended to be. It’s just that most lies can be exposed as such. As lies, as mistrusts, as transparent as the shaky foundations they were built from.

They can be fixed in many cases, harmless in others, and cause a complete lack of mistrust and mishap and all the other mis- words you want to think of when done on a frequent basis.

Misunderstanding is where the real problem lies. Too many people are too busy with their lives, with the things going on; important and complete frivolity to even bother to try and understand others and the things they say and the things they do to try and grasp a more complete picture.

Of course there are people who I would rather have misunderstand me then know the complete and total picture. We repaint this on a daily basis, usually just a few strokes here and there on the canvas, other times we wish to start a whole new work of art. Usually it is just a few strokes here and there with an occasional day of massive labour to complete a few more pieces of the puzzle then usual.

Who then are we most upset about when a total lack of understanding occurs??? For me this is friends, parents, lovers, mainly the people closest to me in my life whom I wish to share more of myself with then the casual stranger. Unfortunately this misunderstanding occurs in these situations as well and sometimes it gets a bit more deep then it should, whether the fault of one party or both.

For myself the part about misunderstanding and mishaps, the part occurring involving former lovers and friends, current and former, have shaped things more then anything involving my family.

For me, at least in all my experiences so far, the misunderstandings for me that are hardest are those involving love. Friends and lovers. Lovers and friends.

Love actually????
So what is love? It is a word some people throw around as if they were throwing a penny into the grab penny, take a penny or a penny into a water fountain; while to others it is something that is rarely said in fact all too rarely.

People are so afraid of this word for the most part however but for it to be said meaning friendly love and respect it is rarely done with a throat penetrating kiss or even with a very deep look in the eye unless maybe you are looking at one of your parents. Even if you look at them too deeply, that might be considered incest in some regions.

However when love is said to mean something more then just the friendly type, it is done with a certain tone, it is done with a deep look in the eyes, it is followed by a kiss, a feeling of lightness and is not thrown around like pennies. It should be only used in very special circumstances and once it becomes fodder as a prelude to a kiss or rubbish in order to get your wife to throw up her legs it becomes meaningless as a person telling it to their acquaintances, frenemies, and one night stands.

I believe love can be shown in many different forms. The words, “I love you.” only mean so much. Actions are what show love. Doing nice things for people you care about, treating people with respect and decency consistently not when it is convenient, and holding the door for an old lady show love. Love for your fellow man.

While a lot of those things are just common courteousy, well guess what??? These are all love, just not the Romeo and Juliet bullshit that society raises us on. If they make children read that, why not give a counter point about Syd and Nancy, for better yet something boring about people such as my grandparents who have been together for nearly 60 years and have truly survived the old adage through better and through worse.

Back to misunderstanding…….and love……..

So what happens when love or lack thereof it is misunderstood???? It is a rather unfortunate event. Some people I have really cared about and definitely loved in a friendly, non-romantic manner, well frankly I am afraid to tell them I love them. For some people it is such a tabu, as if i told them to drink a cup of their own urine or walk naked into a church. And it hurts to not be able to say it, even without a look in their eyes, even without meaning, even without a passionate kiss, even without as slight as a passing glance.

It hurts because I feel that is what they need at the moment. Because I have not meant anyone yet who does not like being told that they are loved. It is just when people misunderstand the love that they are being given in which the issues begin.

I’m maybe a victim of this misunderstanding. Maybe because I was raised on Romeo and Juliet and not Syd and Nancy my ideas of romantic gestures are old fashioned, not newfangled. Maybe I’m the last person left who thinks of something sweet as candlelight and a homecooked meal and a freshly drawn bath and rose petals as being appropriate gestures of love, courtship; rather then a bottle of jim beam, a flea ridden motel, and a few packets of astroglide.

And since I sometimes believe this to be true, these are a few things I thought were universal, a few things I would never give to someone except under special circumstances.

The things

Anyway like I said maybe this is because I have too much of a grip on what societal norms seem to be, especially for a person who does not consider himself very much in the norm, but well I do I guess……

Flowers- I feel somewhat that flowers given to someone symbolize a certain love, however this pretty much can be devised into, what the note says if there is a note and if there is not the abundance of the flowers. Special circumstances also can apply like a housewarming gift, a holiday like mothers day, weddings, funerals, etc. However flowers given for no particular reason to me are not common places unless associated with love.

Chocolates- While chocolates never asked to be brought into this whole love mess they fucking have. Thankfully they come in those little gay heart shaped boxes for Valentines Day and come in cheap little packages like a Hershey bar to differentiate between the two of them.

Stuffed animals- Stuffed animals didn’t ask to be brought into this mess either but they have been. I have always thought as them as something a guy wins for his girl/boyfriend, child, wife at the shore and as nothing more or less. Especially when used a prelude to a sexual encounter or as the aftercare for being told you were like someone’s soulmate. But hey maybe I’m just old fashioned. Maybe I’m just stupid.

Banners from airplanes at the Jersey shore- If someone is going to dole out the cash to say they love you being dangled from an airplane or dangled any sort of thing for you up for the whole word to see, it’s either love or a psycho with way too much money.

(women only, maybe men?)- Undies from a place like Victoria Secret- Wait I don’t know about women, but can only imagine this would be love, psychopathy, or a husband buying their wife underwear 4 sizes too small as a suggestion his chick got a bit too big.

Anyway that’s about it I’m getting stupid and I’m more sure about it this time.

The ENDish

It is a shame, that they say all things must come to an end. But in many cases, this is the complete truth. When misunderstanding and mishaps combined equal more then the love of any kind it is very hard to repair without an open line of communication. It would seem for this not to be a very hard thing, yet most people do not wish to maintain communications such as that.

Yet it is the reason that I do things that may seem dumb to others. Like blog. Like saying hello to strangers and holding doors for the elderly. Like listening to others even when they have reached the twentieth degree of annoyance.
Like not needing to hide behind a private profile on social media. Like treating people in equal fashion and manner no matter who they are surrounded by or who I am surrounded by.

Of course I have not been perfect in this and sometimes fall back on my old ways of being a complete and total jackass. If it were perfection I were looking for, I would never have had any friends, any lovers, or even had a family to hold onto at this point in my life.

It is also the reason that people sometimes have very strong opinions of me without getting to know me and just knowing my words or a few choice actions. It is also the reason I may come across as a know-it-all, misinformed, stupid, intelligent, caring, asinine, naive, friendly, or as a complete jackass. But I would rather have people know me or try to have them know me then to constantly run and hide behind a million walls. Yes, it is healthy to have some walls but when all you are doing is building walls, there is no time to enjoy the house behind them.

So for those of you I consider my family and friends I would consider to be like family.

I love you.

For those of you I consider to be little more then acquaintances or frenemies or just random people on my friend’s list or people I do not even know.

I love you too.

And for those of you with whom I may be going through misunderstanding, misfortune, misguidance, mishaps, (pick your favorite -mis word).

I love you still. (and no I’m not lookin’ deep in your eyes)

By Spacedog