Okay, I'm going to have to find a certain time of the day that I can once-again do a daily update. I've been getting a lot of compliments and praise for my writing, and it's very encouraging. But between work, the company newsletter, preparing packets of info for Deadlands, and other stuff, it's very hard for me to get the wits together to create a good, well thoughtout entry. I won't do what other do, though, when things get hectic. I won't shut down The Realm of the Rogue Marine. I'll just update it when I can, which is just what it's always been.

I mentioned that I am working on a packet for Deadlands. What I did was create what I called the 'beginner's packet'. Thus far, it's a 7-page document with stat listings for all the various types of weapons that I've got in the game, pictures of all the guns (I had to go find all the manufacturer's websites like Heckler & Koch, Beretta, Benelli, Barrett Firearms, Colt Manufacturing, Avtomat Kalashnikov, Fabrique Nationale, SigArms, and Glock. I have to say, I like the look on that Barrett M82A1) :). In fact, I probably wouldn't have made the connection between the production crew for Resident Evil's love of H&K and the guns that they used there if I wasn't looking. I also have to say that I think that, after tomorrow, I should start saving up for either Colt's remake of the 1911, or maybe Beretta's 92 or 96 model pistol. Either of them look great, but I know that my brother Matt would recommend something made by Glock, and I can't argue that.

At work today, oh man, it got pretty bad for a day that started out good. I had several customers, on the phone, get really pissed off and swear at me. I've said it once, and now I'm going to say it again: companies have to stop subsidizing bad behavior. What I mean is that companies like Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, and others have to stop kowtowing to rude and outrageous demands of customers who get pissed off. I understand that sometimes you, as a consumer, feel that you get shafted when you buy a $2000 refrigerator and it doesn't work. I can sympathize with that. When you lose my sympathy is when you start yelling at me, and claiming that there's a conspiracy to ruin you, even after I bust my ass and arrange for an emergency service call first thing the next morning, and you still yell at me. Responsible people are people who can control themselves and not explode on others, even of they're on a phone. There's still a person on the other end of that line, and it's because of people who bitch at them that causes call centers to lose employees.

Another problem with consumers the myth that if you buy the most expensive unit, it won't break down. EVERYTHING breaks down. The majority of salespeople are driven by commission, and will tell you that breathing the vacuum of space is healthy if it gets them the sale. This is where the consumer has to step up and research what they're spending their money on as much as possible.

When consumers call the manufacturer, and they get as abusive with them as they do with people where I work, the consumer gets their warranties voided. They do this because if you really think that you got shafted, you can tell your friends and neighbors not to buy that brand or from that store. That's something they can do without anyone really doing anything that can legally stop them, but to get verbally abusive with someone who did break your dishwasher is not only rude, but outright abuse. If I talked that way to my wife, I'd get hauled out to lockup on verbal abuse charges. Why should these people on the phone be any different? We teach kids to go find constructive ways to deal with their anger, but we see adults, more often than not, doing the exact opposite!!! I'd like to be able to have the power to void a warranty or two. They pay me and my co-workers to take the flack for Lowe's local and corporate fuckups, and I've always known that. None of this "You're here to take care of the customer" crap. We're there to take the bullets and landmines from them, much the same way as our soldiers were wasted in Vietnam.

On that point, Witchy found an interesting CNN article where President Bush made 9 April Prisoner Of War Recognition Day. I plan on viewing some of the diaries one the POW/MIA that I'm a part of. This is something that has greater weight to me than it normally would, since I have a brother who's active military, and I've always had a love for the Uniform. Although I don't have a black or yellow armband to wear, maybe I can find something to symbolize it. Hmm...

Anyways, tomorrow is my 21st birthday, and I've to go decide what I want to get smashed on, if anything, to celebrate it. I'll write more tomorrow.

Time is short and talk is cheap. We shall speak again.