Pottery Barn Sucks

OK, so Pottery Barn sucks again. I found out that my non-fitting couch cover is not my fault! I didn't look at the receipt until today when I called them to return it. I found out from that that I was send a loveseat cover, not a small sofa cover, which was what I requested. This isn't why they suck though.

I called and returned, they issued a return tag from Fed Ex. Unfortunately, their system does not automagically send out my replacement item. I actually have to *call* them *again*! What a stupid plan that is.

I worked all weekend, and I still don't have the reporting scripts done yet. Coding seriously after all that time away from it was like crawling with the recollection of running. It was a real drag, but I think I'm back up to speed now. Well, at least for the subset of Perl I habitually use.

I got reviewed today, and I have to say that it was anti-climactic. Our raises aren't decided on at this point, so basically you get reviewed, but there's no cookie at the end to make you feel like the shit you just discussed has a purpose. I mean, I'll get a raise, but it will just magically appear on my paycheck. I guess the world just doesn't do things the way I think it should, because I think this is wrong too. That's two for today alone.

I got a few gold stars, but the net total came out to "meets expectations". I've decided that I'm working way too hard to not be "exceeding expectations" and that I should work less hard since I can probably slack quite a bit and still "meet expectations". I'm also guessing that my raise is going to suck. Everything else about this company is turning out at least a little sucky, so I can't imagine the raises are going to turn all that around.

I can't wait for them to institute a more draconian travel policy. It's only a matter of time. If and when that happens, I will simply not travel unless forced. I think I need to do that anyway. Traveling is vastly over-rated.

When I got off the plane tonight, I chatted briefly with another Big Bird employee who was also on my flight. He's staying at the frickin' Omni, and I'm in a Candlewood Suites, as always. My VP is tight-fisted (which is another reason I think my raise will suck), and this other guy is in Marketing. They get all the goodies, I swear.

At least MCI knew how to treat their engineers. Big Bird doesn't seem to think that we're that key to the operation of their shiny new internet backbone. Oh, they are so wrong.