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| Alright, so can anyone tell me what "doing your taxes" actually means? It's my first year out of school and into the real world, and I figure I should learn the definition to this phrase since I'll be participating in it for the next 60 years or so.
Questions abound in my mind, things such as where do I go to find out what taxes I need to claim/pay? What forms should I fill out? Should I have been keeping receipts of every single thing I've purchased the past year? What's some good software that I can use to expedite the process? Even then, is the software good enough for morons, b/c I have no idea what's going on.....
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| So today after work, I went to CompUSA to get a refund for the laptop I
bought from them on Black Friday. After waiting in a non-existent
line for 20 min, the service representative asked me what she could
help me with. I said that I wanted to get a refund on a warranty
for a laptop I purchased. she said ok, and said she would need to
get a manager to ok the refund of all service plans. After
waiting a few minutes, the manager came by and basically tried to talk
me out of refunding the service plan. He said that the service
plan costs $140, but batteries for laptops usually cost $100 or so
dollars. On top of that, it covers any and all hard drive
failures, and any damages on the screen. Plus, if you drop it,
you can get it fixed per the warranty, simply b/c it's offered through
CompUSA and not through the manufacturer. To tell you the truth,
it's a pretty damn good warranty for a laptop, since they cover even
batteries and hard drives, but I didn't want it, and moreso, my parents
don't want it and the laptop I bought is for them.
So anyway, he's explaining all the things I already know (from the
salesperson who sold me the warranty. I thought it would be good
to get it for now, and return it later. I couldn't do the
opposite.) He stopped, and then said, wait, come with me.
So I followed him into the area where they do all the onsite repairs,
and showed me all the laptops that had problems with them. There
were about 7 or 8 of them back there, with one of them already had
like, 4 repairs done on it in the past. To make a long story
short, I ended up walking out of the store without getting the refund
for the laptop.
I had to give it to him, he was good. I went into that store
knowing full well what I was getting a refund for, and I already knew
what the warranty would cover. I mean, I'm not a computer idiot,
I know how to take care of things, and how to replace components if
they break down, but man. He was a pretty good salesman, I guess
that's why he's a manager. I walked out of that store knowing
full well that he changed my mind about it, and I knew he would have
this huge grin on his face afterwards as well. I knew he had
changed my mind, and it sorta bugged me. Maybe b/c it seemed like
I was so easily influenced? That I didn't stick to my decision
when someone gave it a little push? I dunno, but I guess I'll
take it up with my parents. I really do think it's a good deal,
so maybe we'll keep it simply b/c I don't know how they're going to
treat it, and it's good to know that the warranty is always
there. Laptops are tough to take good care of, especially if you
don't fully use the entire battery capacity at least once every month
or so, your battery will not be able to hold it's charge as well.
Oh well........
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| So I was surfing the web and came across this link on How to deal with impossible people. It was a pretty interesting read, and I intend to use it next time I encounter a complete moron.
My only concern is, will impossible people think that everyone else who
thinks they're impossible, is impossible too? Or to simplify it,
what if you're the impossible one, and you think the other person, or
everyone else is? That could potentially lead to both people in
the argument thinking that the other is impossible, and therefore
effectively rendering them both impossible on account of them under the
impression that the impossible one is the other.
Get it?
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| So the other day at work, I ended up getting a $50 bill as a tip for
bascially doing my job. This guy rolls up to the counter with
this cute blonde hanging on his arm, acting like he's all high roller
and high society. Except for the fact that he was wearing a
sleeveless Tshirt, had a big gold chain around his neck, and the
tattoos on his arm, maybe I would of believed him. When I take
his name, I see a note on the reservation that one of my coworkers had
left earlier that day to check him into a suite for an extra $50 a
night. Turns out he had called the bell stand earlier that day
and inquired about fancy restaurants in town, and also asked for a
favor somehow. I still don't know how people can get up the
cajones to just ask for free stuff, but he did it somehow.
anyway, the bell man told him that his wife (my coworker @ the front
desk) would be able to take good care of him, so he transferred him
over and spoke to her. She gave him the $50 suite upgrade
option that everyone else gets, so I guess he thought he was getting
one hell of a deal, and I guess if I didn't know better, I would think
that too. You're basically getting a suite for the price of about
$150-170 depending on your base reservation, as opposed to the normal
selling price of about $700 or so. Yeah, that's what I thought
too.
Anyway, so I'm in the middle of checking him in, trying to find a suite
for him, and he leans over and drops a folded up $50 bill on the
keyboard and said that he really appreciated us helping him out.
At first I didn't know it was a 50, I thought it was a 10 dollar bill
or something, so I (being the traditional Chinese boy that was taught
that it was rude for you to look at the red pocket money in the
presence of the giver) picked it up and put it in my pocket without
looking at it. I got him his keys, got him on his way, and only
after he left did I realize it was a $50 dollar bill. So I gave
it to my coworker, telling her it was mostly her and her husband that
dealt with him, but she didn't want it. Instead she told me to
split it 50/50 with her. I protested, saying I didn't really do
anything, but she said that I checked him in and all, so I deserved
50%. *shrug* I wasn't about to turn down $25 especially
after it was pushed back in my face. So I did what any gentleman
or scholar would do, I took it.
Anyway, a few minutes later, the bell man that took them to their room
came back over and said, with a shockingly authoritative voice, that
the girl that was with that guy was a prostitute/hooker. I was
like, how'd you know. He then said that he recognized her from
the Howard Stern show, and knew for sure when she opened her mouth b/c
she had a voice that sounded like a 1st grader's. (which was
true, her voice was pretty unique). He then went on to comment
that he would of recognized her MORE if she had been naked, to which I
really didn't have any response at all, b/c I was still clutching my
$25 in my pocket. Overall, this was more of the unexpected tip
that I received and less about the prostitute/stripper that the guest
came in with.
On to my next story, as most of don't know, Disney on Ice: Princess
Classics was taking place @ Reunion Arena from 11/16-11/20. http://www.reunionarena.org/cal.htm
On Sunday night, amidst this huge check in of Christian Schools around
the area, I checked in the star of the show, the princess
herself. Of course, I had no idea what the show was about, but
she had mentioned that she had just finished a show, to which I said,
"Disney on Ice at Reunion Arena?" she answered in the
affirmative, and would go on later to tell me that she was the
princess, to which I gave a cheesy "So you're the star of the show eh?"
that only drew a awkward half-smile from her. I thought I'd stop
there before I made a bigger fool of myself and gave her her keys and
sent her on her way. I don't know why that was so cool, maybe
it's b/c she's sort of like a quasi, semi-entertainment figure, if not
known by the general population, then known by little girls ranging
from ages 2-12 everywhere all around the nation. That alone is
stardom enough, isn't it?
In the end, I've had a few stories that I wanted to put up here, but me
dilly dallying has caused me to forget them. More often than not,
it's mostly in the heat of the moment when I get pissed off at people
who approach the counter and stand right in front of you while you're
on the phone, instead of standing in the roped off area and waiting for
the next agent to be ready. Or maybe it's the foreigners who
think they can cut in line and interrupt you while you're helping a
guest b/c they want you to check them out. Or, the best one of
all, is having an elderly asian man approach you upon check-in and
outright ask you if any upgrades were available, but making it clear
that he didn't want to pay for anything. He then asked for
breakfast coupons, but then said that he didn't want to pay for
it. I'm sorry, but who the CRAP do you think you are?
You've got some nerve walking in here and asking for stuff like you own
the place, come on! Not only is that low-class, that's down right
tacky. Geez......if you're going to ask someone for a favor or
complimentary upgrades, have some class while you're at it and tip him
with a $50 or something. sheesh......
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| Alright, so tonight this lady called in at around 12:45 AM and wastotally appalled that we didn't have room service that was 24hours. She went on and on about how this was supposed to be aworld class hotel and how every other hotel IN THE WORLD had 24 hourroom service. At one point she asked (rhetorically, I think)where she was, (as in, where am I?) to which I replied, "In Dallas, TXma'am." I don't think she liked that response, but hey, she setsthem up and I knock 'em down.
So anyways, I told her that there was a chinese take out place thatwould deliever until 4 AM, but you would need to come down to the lobbyand pick it up yourself. She got noticeably MORE pissed, sayingit was unreasonable and stupid to have to go down and pick up the foodwhen they couldn't bring it up. I told her it was a securityrisk, in giving out your room number and letting them go up there, butshe wouldn't listen, and insisted that it was "UN-FSCKING-BELIEVABLE"that something like that existed.
The whole time I was just sitting completely taken aback by howimmature and whiny grown adults can be. For goodness sake, if youwanted something to eat maybe you should of asked ahead of time to seewhat time room service ended. Holy crap, I also have a sinkingfeeling that I will never cease to be amazed at what kind of anticspeople will pull when they don't get their way. I don't eventhink she was actually hungry, she was just causing a fuss just b/c shedidn't get what she wanted.
Nonetheless, after I hung up with her, I called security to let themknow I V8-ed the guest b/c she was being such a huge whiny baby. We have this VIP classification system which goes from V1 to V8. V1's, 2's, and 3's are usually pretty important people like CEO's,Executive directors of companies, or members of some board orsomething, that has some high status during the convention. Onthe flip side, a V8 guest is basically anyone who makes enough of afool out of themself, and gets classified as a "dissatisfied guest" towhich we would take extra care of and give extra attention to so thatwe wouldn't piss them off even more. *sigh*, I hate V8's.....
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