Panera BAD

Dear Panera Bread,

I tried to like you. I wanted to like you! I gave you a second chance today. I took Marie and my mother to you, with a gift certificate for your food from one of my dear FB friends. Oh, Panera Bread - how you disappointed me! You see- the three of us are seniors. That's right - SENIORS - not yuppies who have your menu memorized and just want a cup of joe so they can use their laptops. We wanted a meal. And your confused counter staff simply couldn't comprehend nor compute what we wanted. Oh, Panera! We tried so many times! This is third grade stuff. Mom wanted a half- sized Asian Sesame chicken salad and a cup of hot tea. Marie wanted an Asian Sesame chicken salad and diet Pepsi. And I wanted a Thai chicken salad with no cilantro, and blueberry iced tea. Oh! I need my smelling salts. It was so painful - so difficult for the Young Man At The Counter.

Oh, mercy! Who trains your counter people? How confused this poor young man was. He couldn't keep the half salads and whole salads straight. And it seemed to take forever. And let's not talk about the daunting task of using the cash register. I thought the poor thing was going to cry.

He asked me my name after this, which seemed odd- as I should have at this point asked for HIS name. I told him, though, and he printed an important-looking receipt to give me. There was my name, in all its glory, MISSPELLED -- I kid you not. ELIZEBETH. Cringe cringe cringe.

Went to get my drink. The ice dispenser did not work. They didn't know how to refill the ice, so I ended up scooping dregs from beneath the grate. Poor Mom didn't have her hot tea. Then I heard them calling my name. Oh! That's right. I am a server here. I put in my order, and when it comes up, I must pick it up and take it to the table, and serve my guests. So must Marie, it appears. My goodness! We are waitstaff! Where is Mom's tea? In fact - where is her ENTREE?
Three, no - actually, four----maybe even FIVE trips did Marie and I make to that table with heavy china tableware. Then, I couldn't find a fork. Fortuitously, Marie had an extra. A staff person finally walked by and I said to him that I thought that I should receive a tip for all the waitressing I had done so far at his restaurant.

Can't say the food was bad. But what is this about? Incomprehensible menu. Incompetent staff. Can't even spell the Queen of England's name, yet expects her to get up and get her own order, and the Queen Mother's as well! Well, we all sat and ate. The bread (which they seemed confused about adding) was tasty, and the drinks weren't half bad, but Mom's tea was so hot I had to add some ice cubes to it. We won't discuss the source.

Fast forward. Our meal is over! Happy, happy meal! Now it's time to go home. But WAIT! We have to BUS OUR OWN TABLES! That's right! NO trays, of course. We have to scrape the food off into the trash, sort the plates and cups and silver and ---oh, my! I did not clean off my plate neatly. I was as mannerly as I could be, but I was seething. I don't have delusions of grandeur - at least I don't think... so, but let's see. Panera Bread, you expect us to stand up to a counter and try to explain our orders. Then, we have to carry our entrees to the table. Then, we clean up after ourselves. Is that any way to treat a guest? Oh, I forgot. We aren't guests. We aren't even customers. We are staff, apparently. Unpaid staff. Volunteers, I guess. I think even volunteers get tips at some places. Panera bread, I have a tip for you. You are BAD. I will never patronize you again. And please teach your staff how to spell the name Elizabeth. You never know if HRH might decide to visit you in person.

Computer Drama, Part II

Computer Drama: I tried to join Librarything.com tonight (5 hours ago, I may add) and fresh hell broke loose. Here's the text of the e-mail I wrote to their contact person - I hope he is not a robot.

Dear Tim,

My name is Elizabeth Flygare, and I set up an account with Librarything tonight. I am running Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11. While setting up my profile, I decided I wanted to import my list of purchased books from amazon.com, and I assumed Librarything would allow this, since Goodreads encourages people to do so.

I looked on the Librarything site for a method for doing this. Per the instructions I got (which had the disclaimer that it was a workaround), I went to amazon.com and looked at my recommendations, which were based on items I'd purchased. I then selected the option to view my purchased items. I was taken to a page that listed the items I own. I went to "View" and selected "source." A box popped open with numbering on the left side, but no text. I did a "select all" and the source codes popped up.

Here was when things went awry. I knew I was supposed to save the doc as .txt, but I didn't see the option, so I pasted them into Notepad. In Notepad, when I did a "save as," I wasn't given the .txt format as an option. So, with trepidation, I selected .csv, as it was my only choice, and saved it that way, and copied the file onto my clipboard. (Strangely enough - I just experimented with it again, and this time I did see .txt, so I obviously did something wrong with Notepad)

I went back to Librarything and opened the page for importing books. There was actually a link to click on in the workaround fix on your site (for importing amazon books) and that's where I clicked. I was taken to a page where I could either manually import or paste what I assumed was the source code (meaning the .csv on my clipboard.)It wouldn't let me paste it in, so I gave up. I figured I'd try it again later, and logged out.

A few moments later I decided to log back in. I used in the URL https://www.librarything.com/ . I was taken to a page that told me I had received the HTTP 403 Forbidden error. Accompanying this was the message: "The website declined to show this webpage." I went back and tried http://www.librarything.com/, and the same thing happened. When I tried to go to Librarything's Facebook page, I got the same error.

We have a wireless broadband network. My housemate, who also uses Librarything, typed in the URL on her PC and the same thing happened to her. I may add that she uses Firefox, not IE. She also can't access the Facebook page, either. This means that our I/P address is blocked by Librarything. (I can access your site using the 4G on my cell phone.)

The first thing we did, naturally, was to make sure that we could access other sites, which we could. Librarything is the only one that is giving the HTTP 403.
I went through the typical diagnostics: deleted temp internet files, deleted cookies, even disabled add-ons --- rebooted, of course.

I got online and looked for downloadable fixes, but couldn't find one for Windows 8.1. I don't want to get into my registry. I don't know if it's a certificate authentication error, or if your site doesn't enable directory browsing. I contacted Microsoft Support online and the technician suggested things that I had already done.

I spent over an hour setting up my Librarything account and I would like to use it! So would my housemate; we're both retired librarians and I'm a published author. Can you authorize access for us from your end? I don't want to download a random program that might mess with my registry and send me a bunch of junk add-ons and unwanted programs, and try to scare me into thinking there are hundreds of errors on my PC and I must pay immediately to repair them. I've been around that block many times and I'm not going there again.

My phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. I would appreciate a call from you as well as a detailed email describing the problem and the necessary fix, which I hope you will do straightaway. I apologize for doing something to make Librarything so mad at me that we were booted out.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Elizabeth Flygare

Computer drama

I haven't written a thing in here since Jean's death and the aftermath. I just can't deal with a blog when there are so many other things on spin cycle. I decided I'd try to catch up here since I have some time this afternoon - and it will be better if I stay in digital mode.

My Toshiba Satellite C55-A5286 has been giving me fits. Even after a year with it, I'm still not used to a large laptop with a numeric keypad. I am accustomed to positioning my body in front of the computer, smack in the middle, somewhat the way beginning piano students are indoctrinated to always sit in front of Middle C. As a result, everything is a bubble off. The good news is that I have lost some weight - but one of the consequences is that my stomach is flatter now, which alters the way the computer sits on my lap. I thought I was having a pointing device and touchpad problem - scrolling was all awry and I couldn't right-click on anything - I'd try to rename a .jpg file and another one would pop open, or I'd try to load Facebook and get Chase Bank. I have been told that Windows 8 was designed to memorize the user's patterns and anticipation subsequent actions. I don't know what I've been doing, but it and I are out of sync. I'm sure it's an ergonomics problem - I just noticed my left palm resting on the touchpad, which wouldn't happen if I shifted the computer to the right.

I was blaming Windows 8 for everything, but I've tried to be open to change. I know that touch computing is the wave of the future, and W8 is designed for that. I need to take a class, and there's no excuse not to, because free classes are offered at the library.

SO...

Last night was the last straw. I'll preface this by saying that as we speak, poor Marie is at jury duty. Both of us were up all night. I'm not even in the mood for another "Toshiba Wars" post, such as the silly ones I've put on Facebook - this is no longer funny. This laptop crashed at 2:30 AM and I had to do a system refresh, which meant I lost Norton, Windows 8.1, MovieMaker, and Microsoft Office. I had the product keys for Norton and Microsoft office, so I got those up and running, and ITunes is intact, as are my files. But I lost some of my favorite apps and I tried to re-install them, but they won't run because I don't have the proper updates for 8.1 nor do I have the .dll files for MovieMaker. I tried to download Windows updates, which took hours, but my computer rejected the download and restored Windows 8 to the way it was after the refresh. There are places online where you can get free downloads to fix .dll problems, but they will only fix a few - then, they inform you that your computer has hundreds of registry errors and that you must PAY to get the program, which will fix all woes. I am fit to be tied.

 

I have had NO SLEEP at all - this all happened because after midnight, I connected this laptop to my wired HP printer and got a message that the printer was in an error state. I did the usual: checked connections, tried different usb ports, turned the printer off and on again, checked to make sure the cartridges were aligned. Then, my laptop deleted the printer. When I tried to re-install it, my computer froze. I did a control-alt-delete but it wouldn't boot up. Tried that twice. Then I turned it off and turned it back on again and this time, I got a screen that warned me that a repair program was going to run. I was given two choices: (1) to wipe everything off my computer and start all over (this would include removing the operating system and all my files!) or (2) doing the "refresh," which would delete the update to Windows 8.1 and all 82 of the Windows updates I've installed over the past year, along with many of my apps - but keep my files. I chose the latter.

I have a call in to the Computer Goddess of Rockford Public Library - Paul and I both want to take her classes; in the meantime, I'm hoping she and I can get together for lunch and at least get the Windows 8.1 free upgrade back up and running. I'm afraid that if I don't, I won't be able to make a smooth and economical segue to Windows 9 when it comes out.   (And oh, how I long for that day.)

 

I have had nothing but trouble with this computer - I'm serious - I have spent probably 75% of the time while using it trying to troubleshoot something. The system refresh - ironically - did away with my touchpad and scrolling problems. I've had PCs for over 20 years, and I'm told that I should try a Mac. This is starting to remind me why I know so much about cars - old cars, granted --- in the 70s, when all I could afford were clunkers, everything went wrong with them and I learned how to diagnose everything from a cracked exhaust manifold to a bad ignition module. The thing is - those were old cars. This computer was brand-new last September.

 

Next time I visit this blog, I hope to be back to waxing poetic about music, my doll collection, the cats, and the many blessings that surround me. The biggest blessing of all is that on the 24th of this month, I will have 1 year of sobriety in AA. Now that's something to smile about.

 

And-- the computer is nothing to drink about.