A little Tony review

Haven't done one of these in a while:

*I had my first verbal confrontation with a customer on Monday at the business I help manage. That evening around 6pm, the cashier called me to the front because a customer wanted to return an item. The man had purchased a pork fillet earlier in the day and discovered that it was bad. Fair enough. Sometimes meat goes bad, right? It's a perishable item. I gave him his money back ($9.37) and thought things would be done and over with, but that's when the fun began. The second I handed him his change, he said, "It was $10 something!" Of course, it wasn't. The price was clearly marked on the package. He then proceeded to follow me to the back of the store and started cursing like a sailor: "That was old meat. The was f**d up. You better not sell that to someone else." What a moron. I walked to the back and remarked on what an a-hole the guy was being. A few minutes later, the girl working the deli told me the guy wanted to see me. I asked him what he needed. He said, "You've wasted a good deal of my f***in time today. Unless you want me to raise a stink over the bad meat, you'll give me this $14.94 package of steaks for the price of $9.37." I told him I couldn't do that and he decided to throw the steaks back in the meat case, and that's when I had had enough. I told him if he wanted to raise a stink about it, go right ahead but he had no business acting like a jerk, and the argument ensued. He called me every name in the book and was basically implying that we were intentionally selling bad meat. "I could have been sick. You're a f**kin a-hole, etc, etc." Wow. It's amazing how so many people walk around with this sense of entitlement just because they are spending money. Newsflash: You're entitled to great service and good quality. That's it. Sometimes, the quality can be bad, but when that happens, you're still only entitled to get your money back and an apology. You're not entitled to act like a douche-bag and get verbally abusive. There have been times over the years when I really wanted to give it back to a customer who was giving me the business, but they never really gave me probable cause. Monday night was the first time I ever had someone act in such a way and I wasn't about to take it. It was certainly a watershed moment for me and a banner day and I do not regret a single second of it other than maybe not telling him what I really thought of him. So next time you're out shopping somewhere or dining at a restaurant and maybe you don't feel the service or quality is up to par, it's okay to complain, but it is not okay to belittle someone or act like a fool. The end.

*I went to the Pirates home-opener with my girlfriend last Thursday and it was a very fun experience. The game wasn't great (the Pirates lost 7-1) but it was a beautiful day. Early April games are generally hit-or-miss in-terms of weather, but it was gorgeous and it was almost nice enough to break out the shorts. We even got to see some drunk-idiot run onto the field. It was a first for yours truly. After putting on a few drunken moves, the security guards finally tackled the guy and took him away (James Harrison would have been proud).

*The only bad part about the day (other than the loss) was the traffic jam afterwards. Not surprising that there would be a traffic jam after the Pirates home-opener, but I unfortunately made things much worse due to my horrible sense of direction. We parked a couple of miles from PNC park at the Humane Society. It's near the West End Bridge and pretty ideal since I don't live too far from the bridge, and other than some traffic, I didn't think it would take too long to get home. However, I had to make a left out of the lot in-order to get to the bridge, but the traffic was bumper-to-bumper and I decided it might be a better idea to turn right and see if I could avoid some of that mess. I thought wrong. After driving around the North Side for about 15 minutes, it became pretty obvious that there were no other alternatives so I had to get back on the road I should have turned left on in the first place. Instead of being at point A on said road, I found myself way back at about point X. You talk about frustration. There was a point where we did not move for literally 30 minutes. It was crazy. I had a volleyball game to get to and naturally, it was an early game and my anger boiled over to the point that I was pounding my own car door. In total, it took about 80 minutes to get home. I did make my game, although I think I frightened my woman.

*Speaking of volleyball, this is my first season back after taking the Winter off and I think I've finally shaken off most of the rust. The main reason I decided to take a break was because of injuries. I've had a chronically bad shoulder for years and last Summer it really started acting up to the point where trying to hit a volleyball was almost unbearable. Also, I sprained my foot in a game last Fall and it just took forever to heal. I wasn't too worried about the foot. I figured it would just be a matter of time for that to get better. My real concern was with my shoulder. It was starting to bother me to the point where even day-to-day tasks were becoming quite painful. I wondered if maybe my volleyball playing days were coming to an end. But then something weird happened. You see, I also enjoy bowling and one day back in February, I decided to change my style in order to improve my game. For about two years, I had my own unique-style of bowling that not only was sometimes effective, but highly entertaining (I've been complimented on the entertaining aspect at parties). It had been described as a side-wind motion, a kung fu approach, everything under the sun. However, I could only reach a certain level with that style and one day in February, I bowled an 85. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was making progress and I went and bowled an 85? That's when I decided to start bowling more traditionally. I wanted to progress, not regress. After I started bowling that way, I noticed that my shoulder felt looser, and I didn't have the chronic kink in the left side of my neck. It was so bad for a while there right after New Years, if I wanted to turn my head to the left, I'd have to twist my entire body. Now I could actually turn my head and look left. I guess whipping the ball out there like so many people do is really good for your shoulder, at least mine. Anyway, in conclusion, my left shoulder still isn't the greatest, but it hasn't been 100% for years. However, I feel as good as I did before it started giving me trouble last Summer and now I'm able to play like I did before.

*As far as bowling goes, thanks to my new style, I've finally started to improve and my average has been increasing. But just like with any sport you play, the second you start to get too-confident about things, you get knocked back down to Earth. I was on a roll (at least for me) in the PSL bowling league I belong to and before last Sunday's match, my average stood at 147. I'm used to 120 or, at best 130, and 147 just looked really awesome on paper. But last week, I managed to knock ten-points off my average by averaging about a 115 over the three games that I bowled. Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Even legendary bowlers like Linda Johnston and Josh Lehrman bowl bad games every once in a while. Heck, Tiger Woods has been in a golf slump for over a year. Everyone has bad days.

*Who would have thought that something that I decided to do on a whim would become such a passion of mine? And unlike volleyball and flag football, where I fret over every little mistake I make, even when I bowl a bad game or three, it's still just a tremendous amount of fun. I absolutely enjoy being at the bowling alley.

*Oh well, that's about it for today. Later.