Month: September 2022

What got me a week in Facebook Jail this time?

Griz

I got another week in the Griz Wing of the Zuckerberg Detention Center for Free Thinkers.

Why? what heinous content did I dare bring to the table?

well, it was this:

This little toaster it seems, promotes suicide or self harm. At least that it what the small minded staff of the the Zuck police force/prosecutors/jury/judge had to say.

I am kind of curious how one can be harmed by a fictitious character who not only is not plugged in, but seemingly has no cord. How could this tidbit of humor be a danger to the community?

Vape store D-Bag

Griz

I had a couple of requests asking for more about the encounter with the Vape Store D-Bag…

I have been vaping full time for about eight years or so. Before that it was just part time while I tried to cut cigarettes.

Besides being experienced with vaping, I make my own juice, so I know what flavor profile I am looking for.

Since my juice was temporarily lost in my luggage, I was a bit stressed as I sought juice to hold me over. There was a vape store seven tenths of a mile form my hotel. Even with the high humidity, it was an easy walk, so I hoofed it to the store. For most of my time in the store, I was the only client.

Paraphrasing as best as I can…

Me: My juice was lost by the airlines last night and I am out, so I need to find a bottle to hold me over for a day or two. I am looking for a bottle of 50/50 pg/vg with 12mg nicotine and menthol. The other flavors with it, I could work with.

D-Bag’s response: (all in a put out and better than I tone) we don’t have any 50/50.

Me: Well, what do you have?

DB: 70/30

Me: Beggars can’t be choosers…

DB: and we don’t have anything as high at 12mg

Me: Really, that is it? (keeping in mind, at home all the shops keep 0-12mg and some 18mg and higher.

DB: yeah, 0mg, 3mg, and some 6mg.

ME: Wow, well okay. At least it is something. What do you have in menthol?

DB: well, we have our flavors in a book over there. [points to a three ring binder at the other end of the counter] you will have to find what you want in there. [still put out].

Me: okay… let me see what I can find.

So as I fumble around their flavor selections, that seem to be like they wrote names on slips of paper, threw them on the sidewalk, hit them with a leaf blower for the neighborhood kids to retrieve, and wrote down as they returned. My clue to the flavor being menthol was their use of the word “ice”. At this point I am getting a bit annoyed, and not being local, nor able to go anywhere else without grabbing a Lyft/Uber. I bit my tongue and maintained MY customer service face and got my bottle and left.

I did have a nice chat with a homeless woman out front of the shop. Her son had recently died and he worked in that store. She shared a very sad story and I wished her well and headed back to the hotel.

Two or three days later one of my batteries failed. I knew that he would have them, but I tried every likely shop along the way in hopes of finding ANYONE else to give my money to. I did find a shop about two blocks short of D-bags shop. I quite happily gave him my 28 bucks or so, thankful that I did not have to see DB again.

Customer service is an important skill. Practice it, use it all the time to keep those skills sharp. I have shops near home that I will never enter again because they had a bad attitude, or tried to talk down to me, or about my vape gear.

They do not realize that I am a Google Guide until I excoriate them in my reviews. I have had one vendor reach out and make an issue right. After which I promptly amended my review. I do not take my review back, as it WAS my experience. I do feel that it is important to show that vendors will make efforts, but I am not sweeping crap under the rug like it didn’t happen.