Let's Talk About Airlines

There was nothing wrong with this keyboard before I spent an hour on the phone to Hawaiian Airlines.

Let me say this first, I LIKE Hawaiian Airlines. I have used other airlines to get to the Hawaiian islands, and they were not nearly as pleasant. Even so, talking to an airline is totally frustrating.

I had an $884 credit from a ticket I bought last year. The ticket I just bought was $582. In the real world, that would give me a credit of $302, right? In the reality the airlines have created for themselves, not only do I not get that money back, I get an additional $150 charged for rebooking. Hello, rebooking? I let them know 2 weeks ahead of time that I had to cancel my flight last year. And I'm trying to make reservations for a flight in September of this year. Wow, is that so difficult it actually costs the airline $150? Of course not. Even though I kept their employee on the phone longer because I felt obligated to bitch about the situation, I'm sure her wages were not that much.

So I said, you owe me $300 and I owe you $150, which means you still owe me $150. Math isn't my strong subject, but common sense is.

I talked the booking agent down to a $75 rebooking fee, but that's as far as I could get.

I was sitting at my computer. When I hung up the phone, I beat on my very expensive, professional quality keyboard. The spaceband stuck. So I picked up the keyboard and beat the counter with it. Several of the keys flew off onto the floor. Luckily I have the stupid little flat-as-a-pancake keyboard that came with the computer that I hooked up or I wouldn't have anything to type on.

I don't pretend to have a good temper, I once took off my shoe and beat an errant keyboard with it...at work, but I'm getting so dang tired of being screwed over by one business or another. That seems to be the function of the middle class these days, we're just a gravy train for the greedy.

I got my sample ballot today for the primary election coming up in California. I'm not sure what good it does to have a primary here, the candidates are already chosen before we get a chance to vote. I'll scan a couple of pages of the document so you can see how ridiculous it is. It's written in 3 languages. THREE!!!! I am by no means a racist, but what the heck? If you can't understand English, you have no business voting. It makes such a messy document, it's practically impossible to figure out what it says. Maybe that's the intention...people will just give up and forget about voting?

Also today I found out we need to have another meeting with the county. Solid Waste Mgmt is proposing a 500 foot tower on their property that borders one of the fields Davis Ranch uses. This will make crop dusting a true challenge. We have a Right to Farm ordinance in this county, it's just that the policy makers, who might have a small backyard garden if anything, do not begin to understand what is actually required for farming.

By the time the week is over, I'm sure more than just my keyboard broken and lying in the trash. I think I'll lock up my cameras and a few other things. Usually I don't throw anything that's fragile, I limit that to pots and pans or something that belongs to someone else in the house, but this week is turning out to be special.