Stuck in a community college in Lethbridge...

At least there aren't any zombies. At least not yet.

So, Lethbridge seems like a nice place. Reasonably big, a few things to do, but not really much in terms of big attractions. The only issue really is trying to keep busy, especially today, since I don't have a hotel room to hang out in and work on documentation while I watch the World Cup. Today, unfortunately, I'm sitting in a random common area in Lethbridge College, trying to be useful. To be honest, I'm actually just trying to stay awake. Nothing like getting up at 6 AM to be at a dealership when it opens, so that you have the smallest chance of fixing a potentially catastrophic engine problem with a 6 hour drive ahead of you later in the day.

*sigh*

After waiting about an hour in the waiting room at the dealership, I got the news: the air filter assembly was not bolted down, and was flopping around inside the engine compartment. I immediately rolled my eyes, because I instantly knew what caused the problem. It wasn't no mechanical failure or lack of servicing on my part. No. It was the stupid high school kid working at the Mr. Lube. Yeah. Against probably better judgment, I got an oil change at Mr. Lube, since I was busy with research, and didn't really have the time to muck about with an oil change with Dodge. So, I took the car to Mr. Lube last Saturday, so that we'd be traveling on fresh oil.

So, while my young friend is working on the air filter, his coworker starts telling the story (rather loudly) of how he deflowered a (by his account) a smoking hot chick the previous night at a grad party. The story must have gotten to my young friend, and instead of re-installing my air filter assembly correctly, one bolt made it back in, not tightened, even hand tightened.

Last night, my friends handiwork came undone at an intersection on 3rd Ave S in Lethbridge. Awesome. It sounded like we were either losing a belt or our lifters were beating the crap out of the camshaft. Our pleasure drive turned into questioning if we're actually going to be making it home. Unfortunately, at this point, everything was closed, and we'd have to wait till morning to get it fixed. So, neither of us slept much, if at all, and got up at 6 am, choked down a quick breakfast, hurriedly packed the van, and went to the dealership.

Nicole got a ride to her class here at the college. I stayed in the waiting room listening to the god-awful news on Global Calgary. An hour later, the service manager came up to me and gave me the good news: that the air filter unit was loose.

So yeah, I'll be going to Mr. Lube Thursday, and showing them the bill for this kid's stupidity. I frankly don't care if they cover the cost, or even apologize. I'm going to do what so very few consumers actually do: speak with my money, rather than complain on deaf ears.

Far too many people think that saving a buck is worth the headache of bad customer service. If consumers, in general, actually did more than complain about bad services or products and stopped paying for mediocrity. The only way that the quality of retail services will improve is if you choke out the bad by not using them. Its that simple. Consumers need get out of the rut of "cheapest at any cost" and start looking for value in customer service and quality of product.

Too bad that Japanese Garden didn't have wifi. I'd probably just hang out there today to destress. Oh well. I'll just drink coffee, listen to Pearl Jam, and write.

Opinions. I like them.

Anyone that's really been involved with serious research on any topic has been exposed to the differences between fact and opinion. I'm not even talking about being a grad student, or even going to a post-secondary institution. This is the type of skill that most people learn at a rudimentary level in high school.

For example:

Gravity = a fact.

Blogs = an opinion.

This should be clear to anyone. However, here comes the problem. Even if people can distinguish between fact and opinion, the attitude of "I'm right at all costs" is so unbelievably prevalent in today's society. Don't get me wrong, I like opinions, I like when people express opinions, since it leads to dialogue and discussion, which usually leads to understanding. On the other hand, the segment of society that cannot either take the time, or are unable to interpret an opinion dumbfounds me.

Now, there's a bit of a spectrum to this group:

1. The people that agree to disagree. Generally, I really don't have a problem with these people, because they're defending an opinion. If they defend their opinion logically, with evidence, precedent, analogy, or otherwise, that's great! However, the people that decide to defend their opinion with no evidence, or better yet, unsubstantiated "facts" and rumors that are completely wrong/misplaced are hillarious. These are the people that I give up on having any sort of discussion with, and just avoid and then laugh at when their opinion's blow up in their faces. Good fun.

2. The people that fly off the handle the nanosecond their opinion is challenged. These are the fun people. This tends to be more internet-related, found on forums, leaving comments on news stories, etc, that absolutely (and audibly) snap when someone has an opposing opinion. Now, there's a bit of latitude in these people, the people ranging from having a hissy fit, yelling, screaming, going all the way to violence and hate. Usually these are the type of people I bait into flame wars on forums as a past time. I know, I'm a jackass. However, this group is also the scary portion of society that you can see somewhat in an international connotation (ie, Israel and everyone else).

So, why the social commentary? The University I'm a part of is experiencing financial troubles. The issues are specifically caused by a reversal of policy on the government's part (this University is partially publicly funded) which ended up in a unexpected funding cut during the fiscal year. Of course, like the other cuts by the government, (significant cuts in health and education) this cut was carefully hidden by press releases and reorganization. Anyone not involved with the University now sees the financial problem as the University's fault, not that the government cut nearly $100 million in funding. The University is now the bad guy, not the government that can't manage its own books. The public backlash is overwhelming, and anyone trying to defend the University or provide factual counter-evidence to this opinion get destroyed.

Anyways. I'll just go write a Wikipedia post explaining the situation. Then it will be "fact". *shakes his head slowly*