What happened to customer service?

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Mike Dell's World number

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4 38,

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and today is the 02/21/2026.

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Well, thank you very much, and we're thrilled

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to be joined by

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one of the most successful

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business leaders and people anywhere in the country,

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whether it's technology,

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no matter what business you're talking about, there's

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nobody quite like him. Michael Dell, very much

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of a legend who's here with his really

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exciting announcement. It's, so amazing.

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Well, I don't really have a amazing

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announcement.

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I don't know.

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Of course, I I played that on the

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last episode however many months ago,

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and, just thought I'd play it again.

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How how's everybody doing? Happy New Year.

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You know, of course,

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almost two months late, but, hey,

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it is what it is.

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I have been doing a daily weekday show

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well, doing a daily show, as you guys

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know, back in November.

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And then,

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after that, I continue on doing a week

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daily show,

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called Cup of Traverse City. You can find

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that over at cupoftraversecity.com.

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And that,

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you know, every morning,

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five days a week,

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I've been, doing a little five minute

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to talk about the weather, talk about a

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new story here locally

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and all that. So that's that's been going

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along pretty good. So if you're

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missing hearing my, melodious tone, you can go

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over there and listen to that. You'll know

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more about,

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Traverse City weather than,

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anybody.

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Anyhow,

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that's what I've been up to.

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That and plowing snow. Oh my gosh.

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First

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couple months here has just been crazy

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of winter.

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We got a little break about

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two weeks ago. It stopped snowing and about

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a week ago it got into the 40s

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for an extended period of time, so a

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lot of the snow has

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melted down. I have a

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yalo meter, probably don't know what that is.

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There's a youtuber out there, Ryan Hall y'all,

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the weather guy

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and

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he sells these

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these fancy

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snow meters and of course I picked one

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of them up and planted it in my

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yard outside the studio here and I can

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look out see how deep the snow gets

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And it was up over

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12 inches in, you know, in a non

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windy part of the lawn and under the

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trees and

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so it,

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pretty accurate of what, is currently on the

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ground. Well, it was up, like I said,

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over 12 inches

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and now well, it was down to

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blank ground until last night and,

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and last night we got, I guess, about

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three inches of snow, something like that. Two,

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three,

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nothing too too crazy and it was the

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real heavy wet stuff that sticks to all

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the trees and

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the phone poles and the phone lines and

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and all the power lines whatever you know

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so it was that real sticky sticky stuff

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And, you know, later in the afternoon, it

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was all off the roads and

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and all that. One of the things was

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kinda funny.

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You know, it was all stacked up on

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my truck. My pre pre start my truck,

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you know, the remote start, and I went

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to coffee klatch this morning over at the

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EAA,

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or the Legacy Aviation Building, actually,

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since that was the topic of my last

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episode.

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Gosh. It's been that long.

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But, anyway,

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go over to coffee over there every Saturday

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morning.

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And and

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as I was, you know, I pre run

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my truck,

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you know, for ten minutes and

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get in the truck and drive over there,

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and

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that was fine.

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And then I, got in the truck afterwards

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and

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had to go run some errands, and I

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I come up to a roundabout,

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you know, coming out of the airport

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area there and

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hit the brakes. And

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all of the snow came off,

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not only the truck part, but the topper

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part, and it all slid down and landed

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on my hood. And so here I am

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going through this

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this, roundabout with my windshield completely covered with,

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you know, a bunch of snow. So I

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actually had to pull off the side and

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get the snow brush out and brush all

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the snow back off the hood and windshield

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of my truck.

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You know, what I don't understand is why

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does it wait until you go forward to

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fall off forward

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rather than

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slide off the back? You would think when

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you accelerate,

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it would slide off the back. Nope. It

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always slides forward. That happens

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I don't know. It's happened to me two

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or three times this, this winter.

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It's,

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you know, just I don't know. Maybe it's

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the nature of that vehicle.

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Yeah. It was,

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it was a little comical. Luckily, there wasn't

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a lot of cars on the road or

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anything, so I was able

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to not hit anybody or go off the

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road or anything. But, yeah, it was

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that was

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a little bit exciting there.

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So basically, what I really wanna talk about,

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and this is what prompted me to

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do an episode this evening,

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is I had a very,

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very, very poor customer service experience.

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Went to dinner with my mom. My wife's

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downstate visiting her family.

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And so so I went to dinner with

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mom and, you know, met her over at

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the Red Lobster, if you have to know.

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But, met her over there, and we had

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dinner and chit chatted.

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And on my way back, I, swing into

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Shell. I gotta pick up a couple things.

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You know, we have these Shell mini marts,

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around here.

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Okay. No. You know, it's a convenience store,

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gas station. You're familiar with them, I'm sure.

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But,

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anyway, you know, I had, like, four items,

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whatever.

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And I walk up towards the counter, and

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they have all these signs

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in front of all the cash registers.

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Use the whatever it was called, and I

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didn't stick around to study it much.

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But,

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they have this thing that I don't know.

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I guess it looks like a hot plate

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or I don't know. Like, if you go

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into a,

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you know, restaurant or something where or not

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even a restaurant, but a deli or whatever

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where they have a hot case, you know,

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where they have a heat lamp and and,

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you know, and have food in there to

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keep it warm. It looked a lot like

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that, all other than it was kinda flat.

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It but it had, like, all these cameras

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around it.

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Well, that's the new

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self check thing.

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And, basically, you're supposed to put your items

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on this

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platform and then get out of the way.

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It's somebody behind the counter telling people how

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to use it. So that that's strike strike

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one right there. You know, if if you

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can't if I can't figure it out on

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my own, what what good is it to

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have it?

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But I guess the upshot of that is

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is I said, do we really have to

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use this? And she reluctantly

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said, no. I can get you over here.

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Went over to one of the regular

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checkouts and and, did it. And then she

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didn't ask me if I wanted a

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bag. I'm like, come on.

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Really? I got four items. Three of them

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don't fit in my pocket,

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and they'd be really awkward to carry out

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to the vehicle and then

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carry into the house. So, yes, I want

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a freaking bag. Always ask or just put

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it in a freaking bag.

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That that doesn't have it anywhere anymore.

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You know, do you want a bag? You

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know, at the grocery store, they'll ask you

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if you want paper or plastic, and I

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always tell them, well, I'm,

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I'm, you know, I I don't care whatever

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is easiest.

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Alright. At one time, I said I'm bisexual,

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and, they didn't understand that. I thought it

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was funny.

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But,

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you know, the grocery store, they'll ask you,

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paper or plastic? I say whatever is easiest.

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You know? I I I don't care. I

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kinda wish they'd get rid of those plastic

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grocery bags,

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and we're lucky around here. They don't charge

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us for those. I know a lot of

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places they do charge you for a bag,

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which I guess is okay. You know, I

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could carry around a cloth

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grocery bag. I'm I'm cool with that. Whatever.

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You know? But,

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anyway, you know, the the lack of customer

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service

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and also this newfangled

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scanner thing, I I just like,

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why? Why? What was wrong with you? You

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still got somebody standing there explaining it to

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everybody. Just have them check us out.

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You know? It it just don't get it.

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You know? Like, I go to, you know,

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Walmart

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or Meijer or our local,

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Tom's or Olsen's, whatever, you have the choice

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of doing self checkout or cashier checkout.

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You know, I don't mind doing self checkout

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if I'm not buying booze or something

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that requires an ID, but then, you know,

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you go to a self checkout that requires

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ID, then you got that problem.

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I was at Meijer's yesterday, bought a new

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pair of

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tennis shoes or well, I guess they don't

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call them tennis shoes anymore. Guess I'm getting

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old. What the hell? Turned 60 and, you

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know, everything went to hell on me. But,

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I went to Myers, bought a pair of

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shoes and, of course, you know, I'd well,

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I go through the checkout, you know, the

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self checkout. Oh, you know, still, you know,

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they scan them and beep beep beep beep

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whatever and, of course, they had, you know,

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some sort of sensor in the shoes and

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all that. So, you know, the self checkout

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didn't save me any time and didn't save

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them any labor.

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But, yeah, I really don't understand this thing

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at this Shell station. It's only the only

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one in town I've seen so far and

273
00:10:02,519 --> 00:10:04,200
you know, we got like six or seven

274
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:05,740
of these Shell Mini Marts

275
00:10:06,115 --> 00:10:07,715
around and this is the only one I've

276
00:10:07,715 --> 00:10:08,455
ever seen.

277
00:10:09,154 --> 00:10:11,554
Hopefully, that's not a trend and they're just

278
00:10:11,554 --> 00:10:14,195
testing something out and hopefully, they'll get terrible

279
00:10:14,195 --> 00:10:16,355
feedback. In fact, I'm gonna write a nasty

280
00:10:16,355 --> 00:10:18,934
gram to to, their corporate,

281
00:10:19,399 --> 00:10:22,519
not shell corporate, but, I forget. Was it

282
00:10:22,519 --> 00:10:23,340
True North?

283
00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,019
They're a big chain, mostly shell stations,

284
00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:29,259
in Ohio and Michigan.

285
00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:32,519
And yeah. I was gonna write to them

286
00:10:32,519 --> 00:10:33,340
and say, hey.

287
00:10:33,884 --> 00:10:35,804
I don't like this idea. You know? You

288
00:10:35,804 --> 00:10:37,965
you got people there anyway. What what's the

289
00:10:37,965 --> 00:10:39,404
big deal to have them check us out?

290
00:10:39,404 --> 00:10:41,085
And why don't they ask you for a

291
00:10:41,085 --> 00:10:41,585
bag?

292
00:10:42,365 --> 00:10:44,544
And why don't they, ask you

293
00:10:45,804 --> 00:10:47,085
or or why do they ask you if

294
00:10:47,085 --> 00:10:48,519
you want a receipt? Just give me the

295
00:10:48,519 --> 00:10:49,960
damn receipt. If it prints it, hand it

296
00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:51,399
to me. I don't care. You know, I

297
00:10:51,399 --> 00:10:53,159
really don't care if I get the receipt,

298
00:10:53,159 --> 00:10:53,659
but,

299
00:10:54,039 --> 00:10:54,620
you know,

300
00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:55,580
just

301
00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:58,839
yeah. It's crazy. And, you know, and then

302
00:10:58,839 --> 00:10:59,899
have a good one.

303
00:11:00,424 --> 00:11:02,524
You know? That's that's the common,

304
00:11:04,024 --> 00:11:06,784
greeting, you know, or whatever. And, like, have

305
00:11:06,784 --> 00:11:07,804
a good what?

306
00:11:08,824 --> 00:11:10,284
Not having a good experience.

307
00:11:12,184 --> 00:11:12,684
Whatever.

308
00:11:13,519 --> 00:11:16,559
So me me being a grumbly, grumpy old

309
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:17,700
guy here, but,

310
00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,139
well, that was that was quite

311
00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,559
the quite the annoyance, I I would say,

312
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:26,419
would be the right word for it.

313
00:11:27,504 --> 00:11:30,784
I'm gonna avoid that that particular location of

314
00:11:30,784 --> 00:11:31,845
of that store

315
00:11:32,225 --> 00:11:34,464
now for, you know, from now on. You

316
00:11:34,464 --> 00:11:35,444
know? I passed

317
00:11:36,144 --> 00:11:37,985
three of them on the way home, and

318
00:11:37,985 --> 00:11:39,745
I picked that one to go to.

319
00:11:40,225 --> 00:11:42,564
Now we have another chain of

320
00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,600
convenience store gas stations. Used to be called

321
00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:46,579
holiday stores,

322
00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:51,699
but they, rebranded to Circle k. They were

323
00:11:52,319 --> 00:11:54,159
you know, they they've been owned by Circle

324
00:11:54,159 --> 00:11:55,919
k for quite a while. You know? I'm

325
00:11:55,919 --> 00:11:58,274
sure, you know, wherever you're from, there's probably

326
00:11:58,335 --> 00:12:01,215
Circle k's, but, you know, North Michigan, there

327
00:12:01,215 --> 00:12:02,915
was holiday stores and

328
00:12:03,774 --> 00:12:05,615
and they haven't changed a bit. I mean,

329
00:12:05,615 --> 00:12:07,855
just to change the sign, but, you know,

330
00:12:07,855 --> 00:12:09,075
there's, you know, very

331
00:12:09,519 --> 00:12:12,079
very attentive people working there and, you know,

332
00:12:12,079 --> 00:12:13,779
it's a it's a decent experience.

333
00:12:14,159 --> 00:12:17,519
Subway is similar. It's not Subway. Well, Subway's

334
00:12:17,519 --> 00:12:18,579
got its own issues.

335
00:12:20,159 --> 00:12:20,659
Speedway,

336
00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:23,839
now that's a chain that I believe was

337
00:12:23,839 --> 00:12:24,820
mostly Midwest

338
00:12:25,975 --> 00:12:26,875
and Florida,

339
00:12:27,575 --> 00:12:29,575
when they were big in Florida for whatever

340
00:12:29,575 --> 00:12:30,075
reason.

341
00:12:30,455 --> 00:12:32,475
Well, that got bought out by seven eleven.

342
00:12:33,175 --> 00:12:35,014
So you go into a Speedway now. It's

343
00:12:35,014 --> 00:12:37,415
still branded Speedway, but everything in there is

344
00:12:37,415 --> 00:12:38,235
seven eleven,

345
00:12:38,700 --> 00:12:41,019
which because I had no particular problem with.

346
00:12:41,019 --> 00:12:42,320
But since that happened,

347
00:12:42,779 --> 00:12:45,580
they're not very good at customer service. They

348
00:12:45,580 --> 00:12:47,420
do have a self checkout, and some of

349
00:12:47,420 --> 00:12:49,200
the shell stations do too.

350
00:12:50,460 --> 00:12:53,440
Further downstate, there's another chain of shell

351
00:12:53,985 --> 00:12:55,205
stations called Johnny's,

352
00:12:56,065 --> 00:12:58,065
and they have a self checkout, but by

353
00:12:58,065 --> 00:12:59,664
no means do they make you use it

354
00:12:59,664 --> 00:13:01,504
or even encourage you to use it. It's

355
00:13:01,504 --> 00:13:03,105
just there if you want to use it,

356
00:13:03,105 --> 00:13:04,725
and that's the way it ought to be.

357
00:13:05,985 --> 00:13:08,144
That's because I'm oh, man. Get off my

358
00:13:08,144 --> 00:13:08,644
lawn.

359
00:13:09,590 --> 00:13:10,090
Anyway,

360
00:13:10,629 --> 00:13:12,570
you know, I work in customer service,

361
00:13:13,110 --> 00:13:15,830
at Blueberry. You guys know that. And, you

362
00:13:15,830 --> 00:13:18,310
know, my main job is to keep the

363
00:13:18,310 --> 00:13:21,350
customers happy and, keep keep them coming in,

364
00:13:21,350 --> 00:13:22,410
get more of them.

365
00:13:23,915 --> 00:13:25,774
And, you know, I don't have an attitude

366
00:13:25,915 --> 00:13:28,794
with my customers. Now I might pitch about

367
00:13:28,794 --> 00:13:30,095
them, you know, internally,

368
00:13:30,554 --> 00:13:32,315
you know, just to blow off some steam

369
00:13:32,315 --> 00:13:35,035
when they do some some stupid stuff. But

370
00:13:35,035 --> 00:13:36,254
for the most part,

371
00:13:36,950 --> 00:13:38,629
I I try to be as helpful as

372
00:13:38,629 --> 00:13:40,149
I can and, you know, as long as

373
00:13:40,149 --> 00:13:42,549
it's within the, you know, scope of what

374
00:13:42,549 --> 00:13:44,549
I am supposed to do, I will do

375
00:13:44,549 --> 00:13:46,870
it for them. And sometimes even outside of

376
00:13:46,870 --> 00:13:48,950
that, you know, go a little extra mile

377
00:13:48,950 --> 00:13:49,769
for certain

378
00:13:50,315 --> 00:13:50,815
customers

379
00:13:51,434 --> 00:13:52,654
and for certain things.

380
00:13:52,955 --> 00:13:55,355
Now, you know, if they're complaining about their

381
00:13:55,355 --> 00:13:57,115
website and we had nothing to do with

382
00:13:57,115 --> 00:13:59,754
their website, well, sorry. I'm just not a

383
00:13:59,754 --> 00:14:01,835
web designer. Can't really help you with that,

384
00:14:01,835 --> 00:14:02,335
but

385
00:14:02,980 --> 00:14:05,059
give him some suggestions on where to go.

386
00:14:05,059 --> 00:14:06,980
But, you know, I I wouldn't dream of

387
00:14:06,980 --> 00:14:09,460
rolling my eyes at a customer even though

388
00:14:09,460 --> 00:14:11,879
generally them on the phone or email.

389
00:14:12,580 --> 00:14:13,080
But,

390
00:14:14,019 --> 00:14:16,100
you know, this this person when I you

391
00:14:16,100 --> 00:14:17,700
said, do we have to use this? She

392
00:14:17,700 --> 00:14:18,679
rolled her eyes

393
00:14:19,534 --> 00:14:20,975
and, you know, and then when I asked

394
00:14:20,975 --> 00:14:23,394
for a bag, she rolled her eyes again.

395
00:14:24,254 --> 00:14:24,754
And,

396
00:14:26,254 --> 00:14:27,235
you know, it was

397
00:14:28,575 --> 00:14:30,815
it was just like, really? You know? And

398
00:14:30,815 --> 00:14:32,254
then you go to a lot of places

399
00:14:32,254 --> 00:14:35,110
now, you know, that wouldn't, you know, like,

400
00:14:35,110 --> 00:14:37,450
you do take out food, fast food,

401
00:14:37,830 --> 00:14:39,670
and they have a, oh, do you wanna

402
00:14:39,670 --> 00:14:41,830
leave a tip? No. I don't wanna leave

403
00:14:41,830 --> 00:14:43,210
a tip. You didn't do anything.

404
00:14:44,550 --> 00:14:45,690
You know what I mean?

405
00:14:46,404 --> 00:14:48,164
You know, I'll leave it for, you know,

406
00:14:48,164 --> 00:14:50,245
like a regular restaurant and I'm doing a

407
00:14:50,245 --> 00:14:52,085
carryout order. I'll do a tip, but it

408
00:14:52,085 --> 00:14:54,825
won't be the full, you know, 20%

409
00:14:54,884 --> 00:14:56,325
that I would do if I was going

410
00:14:56,325 --> 00:14:57,845
in there to sit down. I'll but I'll

411
00:14:57,845 --> 00:15:00,164
give a little tip there. But, you know,

412
00:15:00,164 --> 00:15:00,985
I was at

413
00:15:01,830 --> 00:15:02,330
McDonald's.

414
00:15:02,710 --> 00:15:03,850
I was on the road

415
00:15:04,629 --> 00:15:06,170
last week. Had to go to

416
00:15:06,710 --> 00:15:09,269
a doctor's appointment to about an hour and

417
00:15:09,269 --> 00:15:11,350
a half north of here. Don't ask me

418
00:15:11,350 --> 00:15:11,850
why.

419
00:15:12,230 --> 00:15:14,475
But, that's that's where I had to go.

420
00:15:14,875 --> 00:15:17,034
And on the way back, I stopped at

421
00:15:17,034 --> 00:15:18,714
McDonald's. And, of course, they have all the

422
00:15:18,714 --> 00:15:19,214
kiosks

423
00:15:19,595 --> 00:15:21,754
to to order your food, which I don't

424
00:15:21,754 --> 00:15:22,254
particularly

425
00:15:22,634 --> 00:15:24,634
have a problem with, but I didn't order

426
00:15:24,634 --> 00:15:26,394
at the kiosk. I went up the counter

427
00:15:26,394 --> 00:15:26,975
and ordered.

428
00:15:27,355 --> 00:15:28,815
Why not? Still an option.

429
00:15:29,370 --> 00:15:31,850
And, you know, keep those people busy. And,

430
00:15:31,850 --> 00:15:33,389
of course, when I go to pay,

431
00:15:33,929 --> 00:15:35,389
there's a tip thing.

432
00:15:36,009 --> 00:15:38,330
Has anybody really ever tipped at McDonald's? I

433
00:15:38,330 --> 00:15:40,410
mean, come on. This tip culture is is

434
00:15:40,410 --> 00:15:41,230
gone crazy.

435
00:15:41,894 --> 00:15:42,634
You know,

436
00:15:43,575 --> 00:15:46,715
I'll tip where tipping is, you know, customary,

437
00:15:47,014 --> 00:15:47,514
but,

438
00:15:48,134 --> 00:15:49,115
you know, not

439
00:15:49,654 --> 00:15:51,835
not at McDonald's. Come on, guys.

440
00:15:52,215 --> 00:15:54,055
And and besides that, where do the tips

441
00:15:54,055 --> 00:15:56,055
go anyway? I guarantee they're not going all

442
00:15:56,055 --> 00:15:58,459
in the employees pockets, Or if they are,

443
00:15:58,459 --> 00:16:00,159
it's some sort of pooling thing.

444
00:16:00,620 --> 00:16:02,879
And, you know, they they get paid,

445
00:16:03,419 --> 00:16:04,860
you know, $15.20

446
00:16:04,860 --> 00:16:06,799
dollars an hour to be there.

447
00:16:07,339 --> 00:16:09,500
I don't think they need my tip for,

448
00:16:09,579 --> 00:16:12,705
you know, $10 breakfast or whatever. But,

449
00:16:13,264 --> 00:16:16,165
anyway alright. No. I'm I'm done grumping.

450
00:16:18,065 --> 00:16:18,465
I'll,

451
00:16:19,345 --> 00:16:22,144
I'll try to to, add more content here,

452
00:16:22,144 --> 00:16:24,225
but, again, you wanna catch me on a

453
00:16:24,225 --> 00:16:27,524
regular basis, cup of traversecity.com

454
00:16:28,350 --> 00:16:28,850
or,

455
00:16:29,309 --> 00:16:32,829
also over at podcastinsider.com.

456
00:16:32,829 --> 00:16:34,209
I'm on, yeah,

457
00:16:34,619 --> 00:16:37,739
two out of three episodes usually or sometimes

458
00:16:37,739 --> 00:16:38,798
three out of four,

459
00:16:39,339 --> 00:16:41,119
something like that. Anyway,

460
00:16:41,658 --> 00:16:43,359
catch you guys later.