One thing that bothers me, probably more than it should, is when people, specifically clients, type at me in CAPS. For example, I updated a site for a guy the other day and forgot one part of it, changing the wording of a link at the bottom of each page. Important, yes, but small. I did the other changes he needed done and didn’t even charge for part of it we would normally charge for. I finished the updates and told him to refresh his browser to see the changes. He thanked me and everything was fine.
Today he realized I hadn’t done the link at the bottom of the page, so he asked me to fix that. I did it and sent him back a message saying it was done. He then wrote back with, “IT’S NOT CHANGED ON THE SITE YET…” If he had consistently been typing in caps, that would have been one thing. It would have been annoying to look at, but at least I’d have had the sense that it was just how he typed. Since it was all caps and that was the entirety of the message though, it expressed to me annoyance and irritation and I felt like I was being talked down to. I wanted to, and was really close to, making a reply back with nothing but “REFRESH YOUR BROWSER.” But I thought that would be a dickish move so I rose above it and instead explained why he needed to refresh his browser in standard typing style.
It just really irritated me. I think I’ve always had a problem being talked down to, or being treated like I’m in some way inferior. It just gives my thinking a tinge of red and summons up some of the attitude that gives me the right to sometimes describe myself as scrappy. Maybe I was reading it all wrong (which I doubt) and maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of it than I should have, but it just bit on my nerves.
Anyway, the rest of my day went fine. Actually there was one oddish thing that happened that I’m not going to go into unless it actually becomes an issue. Not that it would matter, since I don’t think anybody at all reads this site anymore anyway. Moving on from that though, I want to spend some time in the near future making some plans and formulating some strategies for doing more with the business. I’m planning to plan. My boss, Scott Hendrix, is always open to ideas anyway. There are a few more aggressive sales things I have thought about pursuing, but I want to get the project pipeline cleared up a bit first.
On the way home from work, Amanda stopped by Target and got a heating pad and a few other things. We figured it’d be a useful thing to have, and the way my knee’s been nothering me we figured it’d be better to buy a decent heating pad for about $20 than to keep buying the one-time use Icy-Hot things.
Amanda also picked up some Chick-Fil-A, including one of their terrific milk shakes for me. I was feeling kind of snacky today. I’m blaming my knee; it’s just made me sort of run down. I should probably watch that, but I figure one day with a milk shake, a soda and a Kit Kat bar ain’t all that bad.
Joel Freeman called me today. He’s one of the few people I keep in any kind of regular contact with from college. It’s not that I don’t want to keep in touch with people besides him, Jason Revill and Annie and Rick Titus; it just works out that way. He worked himself out of some hours at his job and has moved in with his parents for a bit, which works out for them because they just happen to be doing some renovations in their house that he can help out with. Joel has gained a very marketable skill from his current job though, so my bet is that he won’t have much trouble finding something new.
There happened to be an episode each of My Name is Earl and The Office that Amanda and I somehow missed before that were on tonight. It was nice, as though we were getting new episodes a month early.
We got sucked into watching the E! True Hollywood Story of Full House. I think Amanda was hoping they’d mention Bob Saget’s role on How I Met Your Mother (as the voice of Future Ted), but apparently this E! True Hollywood Story was put together a little too long ago.
Amanda went to bed and I watched a little Mind of Mencia. I find him a little grating at times, but then I can’t help but agree with his very pragmatic, equal-opportunity bashing views at times either.
Michael Mercer had orientation pretty much all day today. He went back to Richlands afterwards. I had a talk with him last night about how much he’d be missing out on if he went home almost every weekend like he’s planning on doing. Yes, I know his girlfriend Sarah Denning is there, but one of my biggest regrets about my early college career was going home just about every weekend to see my girlfriend at the time, Julie Powell. I’m not trying to tell him to break up with Sarah; I consider her a friend of mine too, but I think he’ll miss out on a lot by going home. On top of that, Amanda said their mom wanted to tell him not to come home every weekend because they (Karen and Phil Mercer) are going to be helping him out financially and his car isn’t the most fuel efficient to be driving back and forth so much.