HP - Products and Service Totally Suck

Coming soon to a blog near you; more specifically coming to this blog.

Find out why HP is one of the worst companies I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Find out why I am telling anybody and everybody that I can reach why I think they should tell HP to shove it, before they get burned like me. There is a quote that goes something like this:

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." ~Douglas Adams

Thank you Mr. Adams for providing the world and more importantly me with these words of purest wisdom and infinite truth. Heed these words folks, don't ignore the mistakes I have made in purchasing an HP product. If you do not heed the words that are forth coming then I pray you never need customer assistance from this over-bloated corporation.

So stay tuned folks to find out just exactly why I have reached a point of frustration and anger that I would write the scathing article that will be arriving here very soon now.

Remember people:

"Fool me once... ... ... ... Sh-hame on me... Fool me can't get fooled again!" Thank you Mr. Bush for you profound words of wisdom, uhh or something like that.

Funny How the World Goes Round

I feel the need to make a retraction to my last post. Sort of… Well the words were true enough just not about the person (you know the one I didn’t mention in my last post) that I was angry at when I wrote it. You see if that person were to read this, he would know what it was regarding and although I doubt he ever will read it I still feel I should make a retraction – sort of. Had I not been upset and frustrated I would have seen that he is not the sort of team lead that would act in the fashion with which I previously described.

Now having clarified that, let it be understood that what I said still holds true (in my eyes) for another individual with which it is necessary for me to associate with. So I do not retract what I believe to be the truth of the situation I have been faced with this past year. Oh, and before you start criticizing me for whining and crying the blues, which is not my intention, I and my coworkers (who suffer this bullshit right along with me) have been tolerating and bottling this for a year now and I would imaging that a lot of you who might criticize would not have withstood it this long. Furthermore, just because I wrote this doesn’t mean it has improved for us. It just means I have cracked the seal on the bottle in order to release some of the pressure so I can begin to approach the situation with a clear head -- hopefully!

It is interesting to note that the night before I wrote my last post, as I lay awake unable to sleep because of the turmoil I was faced with, I prayed that God would take my burden from me. Asking that he take this situation and fix it, preferably by allowing me to take the really cool sounding job, I had applied for. Then the next morning after reading a rather scathing email written by my team lead in anger. I proceeded to not only write the previous post but to also respond to his email in kind, not once but twice.

Both were sent before I had time to realize that, after giving my burden to God, I had in my irritation taken the burden back by responding to the email. Once I realized this I made an attempt to recall the two email I had sent… The recall didn’t work. This led of course to a blow out between me and my team lead and eventually petered out into a conversation about what we need to do, as a team, to build a team. We all got together a day or two later, where the other members of our team could express their concerns. They brought up several of the issues I had mentioned during my little blowout, they were of course able to do it without announcing it to the rest of the building -- unlike me!

This was, I believe, a successful meeting of the minds and we will be able to build from the experience to develop a strong team. So all-in-all it occurs to me that God did in fact take my burden and work to make things better. For the atheists out there who figure I did all the work myself, you should keep in mind that neither me or my team lead should have sent email like the ones we sent. In most cases that would have done more harm than good. I believe however, that once I realized what I had done and I demonstrated to God that I understood what I had done was contradicting my prayers from the night before, he chose to use my foible to do the work I had asked of him. He did not give me an opportunity to take the job I mentioned above and that is just fine. I gave the problem to him to handle in his way and I have faith that he has and will continue to help me with this situation. When it comes to the job opportunity, well it’s like Garth Brooks said, “I thank God for unanswered prayers.”

Abuse of Power

Why is it that when a co-worker that you get along with pretty well, becomes and instant jack-ass when they are given a "TEAMLEAD" position. You know the type, they smile to your face and tell you they are there to assist you if you get into a bind. Then they prove it by pointing at you and demanding to know why a task isn't done; rather than getting their hands dirty beside you to get the job done. On top of that when you try to pass along information that lets them know what is going on or what problems you are faced with, they come to you 2 weeks later completely clueless of anything you have told them previously. Of course if you miss something or don't remember some oh so important information they have passed along they look down on you like a pile of shit they just stepped in.

These are the people who immediatley begin their reign by changing things around without regard to where you fit in. This usually involves taking duties from you that you enjoy and customers that appreciate your work, and putting you somewhere you don't want to be, doing things you don't enjoy doing. If you try and point out these issues to them, you know try to help, they treat you like your the one rocking the boat.

This inturn causes a lose-lose situation for the "underling" if you say anything your the one that gets into trouble. If you don't say anything, your stuck working for some disrespectful little prick, who will continue to drag you down till your so miserable you dread going to work everyday. This will inevitably cause work performance to suffer which of course gives the bastard more fuel for the hellfire he/she has created.

So now your spending your days wondering why you used to be a happy, hard working, productive employee; but, are now reduced to a miserable, resentful, slave. I know there are jobs out there where employee productivity is high because they are treated respectfully and the leaders lead by example instead of the iron-fist method of motivation. Hell this job used to be exactly that way. Now I don't see a way to get back to that happy productive time. Guess I'll go job hunting and see if that helps.

Miss used or abused anacronyms

Okay people, since when does ASAP mean drop everything you are doing and do this right now? It seems to me that "As Soon As Possible" means get it done when you are capable of doing so; however, our so called management these days apparently don't see it that way. On top of that they love to give as many ASAP's as possible within an unrealistic time frame.

The one that goes hand in hand with ASAP is "Close of Business". Oh Yeah Baby! Don't they (management) love to use that one. They tell you to have it done by close of business today, like you have all the time in the world to do what they ask and still keep up with what you normally fill your time with. This is another one that they will stack on top of each other in an unrealistic time frame. I have deftermined that "Close Of Business" or C.O.B is another way saying: "Come over here, now bend over an let me shove this corn C.O.B up your ass!"

Cheerio folks!

More on the Mohammad/Muhammad dilemma

Okay nuther post on the correct spelling for the prophet Muhammad thing. I said before that I did a search for Mohammad and found sites claiming both spellings. Well after my last post, it occurred to me to do another search, this time for Muhammad. This time I found only sites for Muhammad and nothing referring to Mohammad. Therefore, I am spelling his name with a “U” instead of an “O”.

Is it Mohammad or Muhammad?

Okay here is an interesting dilemma. While looking over the description for this blog, it occurred to me that I might not have spelled the Prophet Mohammad's name correctly. So I did a Google search for Mohammad and found links to the prophet Mohammad AND to the prophet Muhammad; both claiming him as the founding father of Islam.

By the way, I am not trying to insult anybody or their religions, I was merely making a point of saying that no matter who your chosen savior is, they haven't come for you yet; therefore, there will be no utopias today.

To rant or not to rant...

Is this going to be just another series of pseudo-intellectual rants about right and wrong, good and bad, or the just plain stupid??? Possibly! Although, I don't think that is the intention; regardless of what the description might lead you to believe. I just came up with a title and needed a description. I kinda like the one I came up with so I kept it. Like it or lump it. I mean the description is no more contrary than the lyrics of the song from which this little ditty derives its name.

"...Blood in the streets of Chicago..." You gotta love Jim, well okay you don't have to per say; but I find him to be contrary, eccentric, and well just a really cool guy.

Anyway, I am not certain what I want to say here, if anything. I might blog a story, or blog about life; I might blog about music, I might blog your wife. Hehe! Just kidding honey, you’re the only woman I want to blog. So don't be surprised if what I say pisses you off. Close your eyes if what I say offends you. I may make you laugh, I may make you cry. I really don't know what I might say until I start typing away at the keyboard. Don't worry I edit my work, but if it makes me laugh, or in some other way relieves my stress then I am probably not going to censure it.

So on that note let me provide a bit of a warning regarding the things that are said here. I am 36 years old, I am not writing to enrich the lives of your children. I am not here to tiptoe through your tulips. I wanna say what I wanna say. So if you are overly sensitive or if your parents would thump you in the head for reading this sort of stuff then you might want to pass me on by. This blog is like South Park, The Simpsons, and the Family Guy -- it is an adult only cartoon. Nuff said 'bout dat!

One last thing before my wife makes me sleep with the dogs for staying up so late. Feel free to leave your comments, if they are really good I might even post them. Just do me one favor use a damn spell checker before you send it to me. This is not an IM or a Chat; if you can take the time to comment and you have the intelligence to make your comments worthwhile then you have enough time and enough intelligence to check your spelling and your grammar.