TICKETS PLEASE!!

As you all now know, I am off to Singapore in only 2 short months. Before this can occur however, there is the process of booking an international flight….an ordeal that I have never encountered before - until now. When one decides to fly to Singapore, the normal course of action is to fly over our dearly, beloved Canada and stop over in Tokyo or Hong Kong, and then head down to Singapore. In my case (never doing anything simply or easily) I have decided to fly over Europe so I can have an extended stop over on my way home and take in some crazy European adventures as well. WHY NOT? This led me to encounter a few dilemmas and issues.

First MAJOR difference is the price. A return flight to Singapore the normal route is somewhere around $2000 after all taxes and fees. In my case…$2500 or more, depending on where, when, etc.

Secondly, my itinerary changed so many times.
#1 Toronto - Frankfurt - Dubai - Singapore
#2 Toronto - Frankfurt - Hong Kong - Singapore
#3 Toronto - Vancouver - Singapore (started to feel frugal)
#4 Toronto - New York - Singapore - Frankfurt - New York - Toronto
#5 Toronto - London - Dubai - Singapore - $2696.41

Now, who gets to go to Dubai? Me? Yes I do indeed. I am pretty excited about this stop over. I can see a lot of gold, a lot of camels, and a lot of luxury; it is in abundance. I can get within 1km of one of the world's only 7 Star hotels, the Burj Al Arab. Apparently every room has a butler or a team of butlers to assist you with all of your needs. If you need to land your helicopter on the roof there is no problem as it has the landing pad ready and waiting. I would need to pay $54.00USD in order to see it though. Ummm…maybe I'll stay in the Royal Suite for $28,000 a night. Sure.

Initially I was going to be flying on Singapore Airlines which is known to be the world's best. Now I will be flying the only airline that apparently rivals it- Emirates Air.

Something I didn't really know before booking this flight was that all airlines are connected to different alliances. There is the Star Alliance, Oneworld Alliance and the Sky Team Alliance. Basically, all I really understand about them is that when it comes to frequent flyer miles, you can only get them if the airlines you are connecting to along your journey all fall into the same alliance which, in my case, they do not. BOOO!!! Oh Well I am going to Dubai!!!

Also, because of some sort of craziness and Frankfurt being the only place that Singapore Airlines will fly to Singapore from in Europe ( I think that's what the travel agent said) Almost ALL flights out of Frankfurt are SOLD OUT as far away as August 2nd… CRAZY! Hence all of the changes and stresses.

BUT, I digress. I do know that I will have an amazing time flying in three 7 hour chunks on the way. If anyone knows what I can get up to in London with a 12 hour stopover, I am all ears. I also am excited to visit some friends in Hong Kong before the school year starts. I will go to Macau and do some gambling…very little, but some. On the way home I can stay with friends in Paris and London and also with family in various places in Germany and Holland. How traveled I will be.

Enough…DONE…LATER.

I was long winded, but I am ultra-super-crazy-magnifico exicted!!!

Shoppers Drug Mart.....DONE!

The date was sometime approximately two weeks ago. The venue was the Shopper's Drug Mart located at Queen St. east and Logan in the city's east end. It was around 11:00pm and I really needed a bottle of Pepsi..not Coke..Pepsi. As I approached the large sliding glass fridge I overheard to cashiers speaking very firmly to eachother. What was being said was

"You're doing it wrong"

"Oh just let me do it."

I noticed it but was not immediatley thrown by the discussion as I am often irritable at work see previous post. However I did not expect what came next. The layout of this Shopper's had three cashier stations all in a row. As I approached the first cash I saw a rather unpleasant looking woman who, as I sat the bottle of Pepsi on the counter, proceeded to throw her hands in a dismissive manner at my face and say "DONE!"

I relied with a "Thank you for being so honest"

Of course the next logical step is to approach the second cash station. Apparaently not becasue as I approached the first Bitchy McBitcherson said to me,

"Ummmm that's the Lotto station...keep moving."

At this point I could only laugh. What was I to say?

As I was paying the last woman who seemed nice enough at first, she sarcastically said that I was not getting my change back. I did not want sarcasm at this point....I wanted 15,000,000,000 optimum points. All I can say is that letter will be sent to Shopper's. Exaggerating the situation??? Maybe? But, I think if I am expected to provide the utmost in customer service at all times, I should, at the very least, be shown a basic level of customer service.

oh retail....

School is done for the summer and I am working more often - at Starbucks good help me. It is truly comforting to know that I will not be working there as of the end of July...AMAZING!! As I was waking up at 4am yesterday, some memories of this job came to mind. I would be lying if I said that there were NO good memories of the job, but I am going to share with you some of the most terrible and poignant flashbacks of my retail career.

- walking towards the store to open up for the day and realizing that some type of fecal matter was lying prominently in front of the door....waiting for me.

- seeing a grown man in a business suit throw a real-life temper tantrum because we had run out of banana soy muffins. Can we say...regression?

- having a sugar canister thrown at me by a crazy woman...it smashed at my feet and she proceeded to call me an assortment of gay names when I asked her to leave.

- working at the busiest store in North America and ringing through 101 customers in one half of an hour. This actually made me proud......scary!

- working during the Santa Claus Day parade and making SOOOOOO many hot chocolates that I was wearing mocha and milk...some of which I later found in my undies?!?!

- being so hung over that I showed up three hours late to open the store...OOOPS!!

- being mooned by a girl who really had to pee and I had locked the door already

- having a cockroach fall on me from the ceiling

THE LIST GOES ON REALLY

I also have concluded that all people should have to work in the retail industry at some point in their lives. That way, people would no longer lose all common sense when speaking to just another face behind yet another counter. I am human, I have an education, I am not stupid. Oh I cannot wait to be done with this job....oh the end is near.