Running With Jack

Let me tell you Customer Service in Germany is an almost unknown concept. When I have a problem with a product I expect help in solving the problem, especially when the seller is at fault, I mean is that too much to expect? Our big Christmas present this year is DSL dedicated Internet service with flat-rate telephone, all the rage this year. Lots of standard packages available, I ordered mine over the Internet site from the Deutsche Telekom, because they are supposed to have the best service by far! So what happens, they got the main order right, but tacked on a flat cell phone option and forgot my router. So I was in the city of Karlsruhe last night and stopped at their store, I figured it would be easier to square it away in person than over the telephone, logical right! Well, according to the Telekom store all Internet orders have to be handled by their national hotline. Ugh, so I go home and call their hotline – after 35 minutes I finally got through to a human being. The friendly lady straightened out the order and listened patiently while I expressed my displeasure with their store. She replied that the store can and should have taken care of the mistake, and asked if I would like to submit an official complaint (yes, thank you). Well, maybe there still is hope for customer service in Germany, but for now they are still in the Stone Age.

In any case by the time I finished fooling around with all this I told my wife I was in dire need of a run, which she apparently noticed, because she didn’t even complain that it was dinner time. I did at least cut my run short, running an easy 8K/5M instead of the planned 16/10. The dinner my wife made still tasted great warmed-up, and I made sure I said this several times. Later in the evening when she was busy surfing I slipped upstairs in the shed for a 15-minute weight training session, better than nothing.

Today is my last day of work for this year, but the only person who knows is my boss. I learned years ago never to let anyone else know, because they all come to me with last minute requests "that have to be done before the end of the year". I explained this to my boss and he understands and supports me on this. So about 10 minutes before its time to go home I will walk through the offices and wish everyone happy holidays.

Tonight I want to run a 16K/10M easy run. And what am I going to do on my first day of Christmas vacation? Well I have to wake my wife up at 5 a.m. for work, so while I’m up I might as well run, right! I have a cross-country run on Saturday (9.1K), so I want to do my long run tomorrow morning at 5:30. Weather prediction, clear sky and about 0C/32F!

After the run I want to take the streetcar to Karlsruhe and pick up a couple presents that are missing under the tree.