Taking pride in what you do…

Is there anyone in the world who actually takes any sort of pride whatsoever in what they do for a living, or is everyone just showing up, punching the clock (perhaps literally?&#41 and doing half-assed work with a snotty attitude? The other day after we did the laundry, Avery and I ordered two burritos from the Mexican place which happens to deliver because they're fast and pretty good…that and we have no food in the house save for the stale remains of a box of Cocoa Krispies, half a box of Pop Tarts and a bag of egg noodles. A simple request, one would think, wouldn't one? Just two burritos, ordered from a person whose sole job it is to take down the phone order and make the burritos. We ordered two super burritos: one with pork and jalapeno peppers, and one with pork and NO jalapeno peppers. When they arrived, written in black marker on the tin foil of one of them was the word "pork." Both had pork, both had jalapeno peppers, and one had a whole bunch of lettuce and extra sour cream. Don't ask me. They just work there.

Then there's my whole annoyance with travel agents and their inability to cope with more than the occasional family vacation itinerary, even though the owner of the agency came to our office, had a meeting with our office manager and assured everyone that they would be able to handle heavy business travel. Well, my boss travels. A lot. For instance, in the month of February he will be in the office for exactly seven business days; the rest of the time he will be traveling and having meetings all over the country. He changes his travel itineraries frequently, when he is able to squeeze in another meeting or visit another client at the last minute, and if his meetings end early or are cancelled, he takes an earlier flight home. This drives the travel agent crazy. Travel Agent gets upset and starts berating my boss' flying habits and talks about him like he's only doing this to make Travel Agent's life difficult. When I ask him to find a fare lower than $2,000 to go from here to New York (booked well over a week in advance&#41 Travel Agent tells me "that's the only fare available for travel on those days" and he should "stay over the weekend" to get it a few hundred dollars cheaper. Note to Travel Agent:

1. We send $5,000 to $10,000 worth of business your way per month.

2. My boss is the CEO of a company, he has tons of money and billions of frequent flyer miles, he will always, without fail, want to be upgraded to First Class, and if he doesn't want to sit in the Red Carpet Club of a dingy airport for 6 hours just because his meeting ran shorter than he planned, he doesn't have to.

3. Quit making comments about how weird my boss' travel habits are. Stop asking me why he does things at the last minute. Start doing what I ask, when I ask it, stop answering my questions with "I don't know" and acting like you know less than nothing about what you do for 8 hours a day, and for Christ's sake, could you please get me a fare better than the one I get just by logging on to Expedia?

And cold-calling salespeople, of course, are the most annoying of all. Especially the bad ones. Witness the conversation I had when I picked up the phone the other day:

As I pick up the phone to answer it, I hear someone talking, which to me is always a bad sign. A woman's voice says "well, there's someone on the phone" as she presumably hands it to someone else. A man comes on the line and says "Hello?"

Me: "Hello?" (I'm thinking that this will end badly.&#41
Salesguy: "Who am I speaking with?" (Now I know this will end badly.&#41
Me: "This is Janet."
Salesguy: "Janice?"
Me: "Jan -ET."
Salesguy: "I'm sorry, I'm still not getting it?"
Me: "J-A-N-E-T." (Really badly.&#41
Salesguy: "Oh, Janet. Do you ever go by 'Jan'?
Me: (wondering if this guy is a stalker or a wacko or something&#41 "Noooo…"
Creepy Salesguy: "That's a pretty name. Well, Janice, are you the buyer for the computer printer ribbons in your office?"
Me: "No." (Who the hell still uses printers with RIBBONS?&#41
Creepy Salesguy: "Well, could you tell me the person who does?" (No self-respecting office in 1999, that's for sure.&#41
Me: "Let me find that out for you." (Yeah, right.&#41
Creepy Salesguy: Decides that a minute-and-a-half of on-hold music is enough for him and hangs up.

Well, what do you expect when you have your mother dial the phone number for you?