My Mitsubishi Lancer Dashboard Eats Compact Discs

I always wanted a Mitsubishi car, and in July of 2013, I purchased a brand new 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer GT from Columbus Mitsubishi West in Hilliard Ohio. Until last weekend, my experience with my car, my car company, and my car dealer had been good. Today I can honestly say it changed for the worse. What could have been a great customer experience, turned into a bad customer experience.

What happened is a compact disc (CD) got inserted just above the CD slot. Instead of going into the proper CD slot just below, it actually went into a slot between the dashboard and the CD unit. The picture below demonstrates what I am talking about, showing how the CD slides effortlessly into the dashboard:

It was an honest mistake that anyone could make. The space between the dashboard and the CD unit is extremely accommodating and inserting it basically deposits the CD behind the dashboard.

On Monday, I took it into the dealer. I had halfway expected them to easily remove the dash and get at the CD. The dealer Service Manager admitted he really didn’t know how the dashboard would come off and would have to do research and I would have to make a service appointment with cost to me.

I maintain that Mitsubishi should have foreseen that CDs could have been lost this way and either put some sealant in the space, or provided pieces of metal or plastic that would have stopped the CD from being inserted into the dashboard. I offered to take the matter up with Mitsubishi Motors to see what they could do.

I called Mitsubishi on Monday. A very helpful customer service representative, Sophie, was very sympathetic and took down my information and advised that a case manager would call me to discuss my case.

Yesterday, I got a call from the District Service Manager (DSM) for Mitsubishi. We discussed what happened, and he said he already spoke with the dealer Service Manager. His position was that this was not a warrantee-able repair and could offer no other assistance other than to contact the dealer to see what they could do for me.

I made my point that to have an open gap like this in the dashboard is a design flaw and was an open invitation to having a CD inserted into the dashboard. The DSM literally laughed in my face at my contention. I was shocked that anyone in customer service would be so disrespectful and called him out on it. He didn't apologize. He was a bully who was condescending and almost acted like he designed my dashboard, and my criticism was a personal insult to him. He reiterated his point that what happened was “human error” (my fault) and he couldn't help me, and the best he would do to see if the dealer could help.

He basically pushed the whole thing back at me. I understood his position, but his total disregard for my position hit hard. I realize that under the letter of the terms and conditions of the warranty it was not reparable. I was hoping that Mitsubishi would come through and help this new customer of theirs. No such luck!            

Instead I am an extremely dissatisfied Mitsubishi customer and regret my purchase. I called into the Mitsubishi case manager, who advised today there was absolutely NOTHING they would do for me. I actually understand their position that it was not something under warranty. It was however a chance to show me that Mitsubishi values their customers and lend me a hand. They Failed.

I did tell the case manager that I understood their position on the work, but made sure they understood the extremely poor customer service given by their DSM. He wasn't empathetic or understanding; he was a bully and should not be in a position having direct contact with customers.

I got a call into a car stereo installer who will help me out and get at the CD. They are even going to see about sealing up the gap so it doesn't happen again. They said this is extremely common.

Ravenscroft

First of all: my blog my opinion. Your opinions may vary. Also this contains blatant spoilers, so if you don’t want to know the ending and all involved read no further. Also, I am a food blogger, so doing a posting about a theatrical performance is rather new for me.

Last night I went to view the Little Theatre Off Broadway’s production of Ravenscroft. It is a quaint little theatre in Grove City, south of Columbus Ohio. Even though the venue was small, it had a lot of charm to the place. Apparently some history as well as I read through clippings of previous performances and a fire that apparently happened in years past. The staff and volunteers were very friendly and welcoming, I really felt like I was invited into someone’s home to watch a show as opposed to a business theatre.
So small theatre means a small stage, which I am sure limits the performances that one can put on. For this performance it was a play entitled ‘Ravenscroft” by Ohio State Alum Don Nigro. I went because a good friend and coworker of mine, Jack McDaniel, was playing a title role as Inspector Ruffing. I have seen him perform the Narrator in “Into The Woods”, and he brought a very intelligent and commanding presence to that role. So I thought that the role of authority and reason in Inspector Ruffing was an excellent fit for him.

All the performers did a great job with their roles. Since it is community theatre, my expectations weren’t high, but I can honestly say they expectations were exceeded. They knew their lines and they definitely brought me into the story.

The stage was rather eclectic; one even remarked in the audience how it looked a bit inspired by M.C. Echer. My only criticism of the stagecraft was they needed more carpeted flooring. The cast were dressed in Victorian era clothing with hard soled shoes and hearing the footsteps on the wooden floor was a bit distracting.

Now that I finished with praises, let me get to the critical part of this posting: the story.

The play is about a suspected murder, in which Inspector Ruffing is called to investigate by questioning the all-female inhabitants of a Victorian era mansion. The audience is just plopped into an initial conversation between Inspector Ruffing and Mrs. Ravenscroft. If this had been a Hollywood movie, it would have started with an action event of seeing (or hearing) a man falling down stairs and a woman crying out frantically to get a doctor.

So we are to believe that Inspector Ruffing believes there to be a murder worthy of police investigation. How many murders happen because the victim fell down stairs? It seems like a very sloppy and random way to try to kill someone. The prospective victim could easily have gotten a footing or even survived the fall. Shooting and/or stabbing someone seems like an obvious murder, failing down the stairs sounds more like accident.

The victim of this supposed crime is a 29 year old footman who is remarked as being fit and handsome. Why 29? Well 30 is apparently “over the hill”, which means that I am way “through the woods but not quite off the grandmother’s house we go”. 

The death of a servant wasn’t looked on with much suspicion back then. This was not a man of privilege or title, he was a live-in employee of the owners of the manor. I really didn’t care about the victim, and was rather puzzled why the police would care either.

The first act is basically a complete waste of time. The women of Ravenscroft manor try to confuse and otherwise hamper the Inspector’s efforts to get at the truth of the matter. The characters are mildly amusing, and there are even bits where you might chuckle. It’s evasion after evasion.

Like I am sure that many do when they watch a mystery, I am trying to make sure that I am paying attention to everything that is said. I want to try to figure out myself who did it and why by listening along with the Inspector. So I listen intensely to a lot of facts that mean absolutely NOTHING later.

My advice is if you watch this play; don’t try to figure it out. You will be as disappointed as I was that your efforts are in vain, which I will go into later (There was a spoiler alert at the beginning of this post if you missed it). If you watch this play, just sit back and enjoy it as a comedy.

We find out that Mr. Ravenscroft died very similarly to the footman just months before, by the exact same circumstances of falling down the stairs. This catches Inspector Ruffing by surprise, as he was not aware of that information. Apparently the police didn’t really care about the lord of Ravenscroft manor dying but they DID care about the 29 year old footman?

Not surprisingly the 29 year old footman was quite the lady’s man. We slowly learn more and more about his involvement with the women of Ravenscroft. We also feel pity for the dear Inspector has he tries to deal with these evasive women, holding notepad in hand.

In the second act, Inspector Ruffing stops taking notes and starts drinking more wine. Apparently these women are causing him to abandon reason and take to drink. The second act also brings in the women to start interaction with the other women, causing them to go into direct conflict on their random stories.

Like in the first act, the character interaction is interesting and does provide some occasional chuckles. However, we still don’t get closer to finding out who killed the footman. Like the Inspector I gave up trying to figure it out, and wished I was at least mildly inebriated.

The Inspector then gets hit on the head, which I think was a literary allusion to him coming out of his drunkenness to alertness and clarity. Then the women of Ravenscroft start blatantly seducing the Inspector in hopes that he drops the matter.

Like most long journeys, we finally get there. However, I felt like the Griswold’s in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and finds Walley World closed. I really felt cheated in the ending.

It wasn’t a murder at all; all that tension was for naught. Apparently Mr. Ravenscroft liked to dress up in ball gowns and dance like a lady and dance with the footman dressed as a man. When he was feeling too old, he got the footman to reverse roles. The footman apparently didn’t mind dressing like a lady, but felt the need to prove his masculinity by working out and seducing the women of Ravenscroft manor.

Apparently the footman was all dressed up in a woman’s gown when he fell down the stairs to his death. So as not to cause a scandal, we are to believe that a woman or women were able to completely undress him out of his women garments and put him in men’s clothes. That doesn’t sound very easy or believable to me seeing how they described his mangled frame at the bottom of the staircase.

The happy ending of the story is that the Inspector agrees to keep the whole scandal of men dressing as ladies quiet in exchange for the servants being better treated. He even gets what is perceived to be true romantic interest out of the nanny of the household.

My advice is to not view this play as a mystery or even a thriller. View it as a story and comedy, and I think you will be disappointed less than I was in the storyline.

Slacker Internet Radio’s IE9 Promotion is Completely Weaselly !

I can’t say illegal; because I am sure a team of attorneys went over it. However, I can definitely say that what Slacker has done is deceitful and underhanded.

This week, I went to Slacker Radio (slacker.com) on my PC and noticed that they had a promotion going. The promotion was for “Three Free Months of Slacker Premium Plus”, and all I needed to do was to move Slacker to my Windows taskbar. The promotion was supposedly a joint effort of Slacker and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

I listened to the music on my PC, and was able to skip songs and play specific songs, all without advertising. However, when I brought up my Slacker Ap on my iPhone, I was not able to skip or play specific songs, and there was advertising. I thought something was wrong, so I rebooted the phone and I also tried signing out of the Slacker Ap and back onto it. The Slacker Ap on my iPhone would only recognize a “basic” subscription. But I have a Slacker Premium Plus subscription.

Checking with Slacker, they state that the terms of the promotion is that the “Three Free Months of Slacker Premium Plus” only applied to the PC and did not apply to mobile devices. Apparently there was fine print at the bottom that stated that it only was for Windows 7 PCs and IE 9.

The kicker is Slacker does not sell a PC only subscription. The mention of “Slacker Premium Plus” represented to me that it was exactly as their subscription product, which includes computers AND mobile devices. This promotion is different, but they use the same name, and that I feel is a misrepresentation.

An analogy would be McDonalds having a promotion for a “FREE HAPPY MEAL”. We all know what to expect with a Happy Meal. The customer goes up to the counter and gets the promotional Happy Meal. However, as he walks towards the exit and employee approaches saying, “Sorry sir, but you can’t leave the restaurant with that Happy Meal. Under the terms of the promotion, which are in the fine print, you must enjoy it here. If you want to take the Happy Meal outside, you’ll have to pay full price. And yes, the toy is part of the Happy Meal.”

That is exactly what Slacker did to me. They promoted it to me as “Slacker Premium Plus” however they put a restriction that isn’t part of that package or expectation. I should have access to Slacker on my mobile device as well as my PC.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no issues with companies running promotion programs. If Slacker advertised it to me as “Slacker Premium Plus for PC”, I would have understood the limitation.  Slacker Premium Plus for PC” would be a different package than just “Slacker Premium Plus”. Alas, they were deceptive by putting it in the fine print it was limited, while stated in big bold letters at the top that it wasn’t. What weasels!

Do you see anything in the below image that says this is only for the PC?

My Favorites in Chicago

My #1 favorite: Gino’s East Chicago – Absolutely best Chicago deep-dish pizza around. Everything about it is authentic. My favorite is that they have an entire slab of sausage patty for the pizza. Every single bite is cheese and sausage. Yum!

Ed Debecivs: It’s a 50s style diner started in 1984. The waitstaff acts the part of the 50s diner waitstaff and treats you like you’re an unrulely high school greaser. Best meatloaf I have ever had in my life.

Miller’s Pub: When I am in the Loop downtown, one of my favorite places to stop and eat. Good food, good atmosphere, comfortable.

Rainforest Café / Hard Rock Café: Columbus doesn’t have these themed restaurants anymore.

Chinatown: The atmosphere is amazing, you feel like those few blocks of street actually puts you in China. Food can be hit or miss sometimes. Good place to visit, shop, and grab something light to nibble on.

House of Blues: Never ate there, but someplace you have to visit while in the city. Live music every night of the week.

Second City ECT or Second City Mainstage: The absolute best comedy theatre in Chicago! Again, not much on the food, but you can see tomorrow’s comedy stars today.

RANT: Standing In Long Lines: An Antiquated Practice

Short lines, long lines, fast lines, and slow lines we hate them all. Back in the day, we were told that in communist Russia, long lines formed just to obtain toilet tissue. However, still today we stand in line to get something we want.

Our patience for standing in line is determined by how much we want what is at the end of the line. If we really want to ride that roller coaster, we’ll stand in line for it. However, many of us will see that the line is long and take a pass.

Lines are bad for business. A customer might spend an hour in the store picking their purchases. Then they get to the line and wait their turn to pay for and receive merchandise. If the line is too long, or moving too slowly, the customer will seek out another line in the hopes that it is moving faster. If it looks completely hopeless, the customer will leave their cart and merchandise and leave the store. Then an employee will need to take the cart and put everything back onto the shelves. End result: store has made no revenue and lost labor in putting back the intended purchases.

Most businesses understand this. They train employees to quickly scan and process customers. They open additional aisles as necessary, trying to do everything they can to get the customer’s money and let them be on their way. They provide aisles with a requirement that the customer have a small number of items. This prevents losing a sale because the customer doesn’t have as much invested in their purchase. If a customer only spends 15 minutes in the store, he is unlikely to spend 30 minutes in line paying for it.

I understand why my fellow customers and I stand in line. It is because we want the end result. We want the food we purchased at the grocery store, and we are willing to wait our turn to pay for that food and leave with the food.

One line I don’t understand is the line to do something that you have no interest in. For example, you go to Bob Evans for breakfast. You are seated, you order, and you eat the breakfast. Then the cashier gives you a receipt and you go the counter and stand in line to pay. In this case, what is the point in standing in line? You already got fed. In fact standing in this line you lose money. The only benefit for you is knowing you are a good honest human being who pays for their food. Is that really enough? Sorry, but I think that restaurants who have the waiter or waitress take the payment is a much more efficient practice. I am still sitting down, sipping on my beverage, while I wait for the server to return.

Line management is also a major headache. People in this country will stand in line for hours upon hours. Some will even wait overnight and basically camp in the line. I remember standing in line to see the movie “Batman” and we were there so long, we had someone bring us dinner. If someone tries to cut in line or violates line etiquette, the once patient people in line can be aggravated even to the point of violence. This is why security becomes a must.

They say line jumping in theme parks will get someone kicked out. However, I have only seen security deal with one line jumper. Every other case, it appears that the line jumper gets away with it. Usually they have some kind of excuse as to why they get to jump ahead. And really, if they are close to leaving anyway, why not line jump. The only penalty is being kicked from the park, and if you’re leaving anyway that isn't much of a deterrent.

But why make customers stand in line in the first place? If you have only 200 seats in your theater available, sell them tickets in advance and have them come back later. If you only have 60 of the newest game console to sell, pre-sell them to the first 60 people in line.

Disney theme parks understand the cost of lines. When a customer is standing in line, they aren’t enjoying themselves, and most importantly they aren’t spending money. Disney put in a reservation system where your place in line is held by a computer reservation. Customers get a ticket that tells them to come back later and they can get into a much shorter line.

A lot of restaurants understand lines as well, especially to get a seat. If there is a line at the host station it is typically a short one. They may take names, but a lot now use electronic pagers to call customers. Hosts often give an estimate to customers as to how long it will take to get a seat. If the host says 45 minutes to an hour, the customers are very likely to turn away and seek food elsewhere. If it is something the customer really wants though, there are some that will wait that hour for a seat.

However, where restaurants fail is the wait area for these customers. Many don’t have the space for all those customers to wait for a table. There is often a shortage of seats in waiting areas. One would think the bar area would help with the wait, however that area fills quickly and often with customers that are not buying liquor. A bar area really doesn’t help deal with waiting customers.

Computers are notably absent from host stations. Typically they use an erasable board or even paper and pen. If they had computers, they could keep track of customers better as well as be more scientific in the estimation of a wait time. They might also be better able to explore other options in managing the demand.

While I don’t think lines will be eliminated in the future, I think there are definitely some methods we could use to make lines shorter and better managed. You can now purchase movie tickets on line and print them out on your printer. Some restaurants are even taking reservations over the Internet. Telephone support systems now uses a method where they call you back rather than have you continue to wait on the phone. We might even get to the point where rather than standing in line for a roller coaster, we have an iPhone ap that gives us a reservation time and reminds us when we can go ride.

Long lines should be extinct like the dinosaurs they are.

The Epicurean

Served at the old Marshall Field’s department store restaurants in Chicago, this open faced sandwich is beyond delicious. Here is the recipe:

2 slices buttered toast – trimmed
1-1/2 oz (2 slices) ham, sliced and cooked
2 oz (2 -3 slices) turkey or chicken sliced and cooked
2 tablespoons mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
¾ cup parisienne sauce ( see below)
¼ cup New York cheddar cheese grated
Dash of paprika

On serving plate, place one slice of toast in center and one sliced cut diagonally on each end.

Top the toast with the other ingredients in order as listed above. Dash with paprika. Broil 5” from flame until browned and bubbling. Be sure the parisienne sauce covers all. Makes 1 serving.

Parisienne Sauce

5 tablespoons butter or margarine
7-1/2 tablespoons flour
1-1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
½ cup cream
1 teaspoon salt

Combine butter and flour together. Add chicken stock slowly to make a gravy. Stir constantly with a whisk. Cook until thickened and bubbly. Warm the cream and add to the gravy. Add salt as needed. NOTE: if this recipe is made with butter it will require less salt. Makes 2 cups.

FNF: Brien’s Stories

It’s been awhile since writing a Friday Night Funny story, and the muse was upon me so I decided to type out another. OK, so I am posting this on a Sunday, so we’ll consider this a FNF a couple days late.

In the 90’s I hung around a lot with my pal Brian. Though back in the day he spelled it Brien. He was like me in some ways and unlike me in many others, which I think is the basis of a good friendship.

One time, we went to see a movie. I can’t seem to remember the title. We had gotten there early, so we had to wait until they were ready to let us in. We played some video games, and then got a couple of sodas. He got a Dr. Pepper, and I got a Coke. We then sat in the lobby and waited until they were ready.

The sodas were the same size and looked identical. I took up what I thought was my soda, and began to take a sip. Immediately I realized that I grabbed Brien’s Dr. Pepper instead of my Coke. Slowly and as carefully as I could I laid down his soda exactly where it was.

I think Brien was reading something and seemed distracted, so I got away with it. Then I hear him remark, “So how was that Dr. Pepper?”. Damn! Apparently I learned then that I am not as slick as I thought I was.

The funniest moment though was at a Best Buy store. Being a tech nerd it remains one of my favorite places to shop. Brien went with me one day, and we were looking though CDs. With Brien being at least 10 years my younger, we definitely had some different tastes in music.

For some unknown reason, the discussion that Brien and I had in the record department turned into a light argument. Brien maintained that I knew nothing of the latest decade in music. I admit being a child of the 80s, that music will always be a part of me. However, Brien chooses to criticize me for not opening my mind to more modern music of the 90s.

I admit that I listen to some modern tunes, even today. There is some stuff I like, but most of the modern music coming out is not what I would call quality.

Brien set through a challenge. Music was playing in the Best Buy store, and Brien said to me, “I bet you don’t even know what artist is playing the song that is playing.”

I listened to the music intensely, and after the song was over, I remarked, “It sounds like Garbage to me”

Brien’s jaw completely dropped and eyes widened in surprised, and got a bit of a stammer in his voice when he said “yeah, yeah, that’s right. How did you know?”

I responded, “It just sounded like Garbage to me”.

Then Brien got a bit of a questioning look to his face, not quite believing me, and rephrased his question, “No, how did you know that the band’s name was Garbage?”

“There’s a band named Garbage?” I said.

We laughed about the confusion, and I got a complete lesson in the alternative rock band Garbage.