Happy Festivus!

Festivus could not have come at a better time! I have been collecting my thoughts for this post for a while so here it goes... 

My overall grievance for 2022 is the lack of accountability existing in the world. 

I think this is a good representation of my Festivus pole for 2022.

1. Delivery Services: It should not matter why someone uses a delivery service, they should be reliable. When you order something, it is reasonable to expect it will arrive by the date/time it says it will arrive. When it arrives, it should be what you ordered. Especially because in most cases, I have paid the subscription cost and then I also pay a markup on each item. Companies do not realize some people use delivery services because they have limited options. As a person who does not drive because of the side effects of my illness, I rely on delivery services to bring me everything from the essentials to the indulgences. I pay to have a number of delivery services because just like streaming services, there is not a single company who meets all my needs. I keep hoping I will find a company who gets customer satisfaction but not yet. 

• Walmart - I typically do not shop this store but more and more I had been hearing positive things so I decided to give them a try. Mistake number 1. They seem to think delaying an order without a communication is acceptable. My order was supposed to be delivered between 9 and 10 PM.  Then I got a text it was delayed and should be here within two hours. At midnight, I got a hold of a customer care rep who said he called the store and it would be here within thirty minutes. I finally gave up on waiting. It was delivered at 7 AM. There was one item missing, yet I was charged for it and a poor substitution. I had to hunt down a customer service number. The number the midnight guy gave me when to media relations and they never answered. Customer care refunded me the money for the item I did not get and half of the poor substitution. He acted like he was doing me a favor. He said refunding the item I did not order was all he could do. Serious lack of communication and customer service. This is the Walmart I am most familiar with - shame on you!
• Uber Eats, Door Dash, and Grub Hub - Even though all three of these services have told me to report issues through the app, Uber Eats recently said, "It looks like you’ve recently made several refund requests—many more than most other customers typically make." Door Dash has said something similar as well. Maybe I make more requests than a typical customer because I use the service more than most customers. If restaurants would take the extra minute to double check the order, I would not have to report issues of paying for food I didn't receive either in whole or part. Trust me, I would rather have the food I ordered. When my order doesn't arrive or is missing a part of it, I am left with having to make the decision to risk a second order for the evening or figure out an alternative option.
• InstaCart and Target/Shipt - It is frustrating to know items exist in the store but I cannot put them in my cart to order them. It is frustrating to have delayed delivery times because they do not hire delivery people directly. At Thanksgiving, I had to wait two days for food. With Shipt, they failed to have their two systems communicate and told me it was my fault the shopper could not contact me.
  

Call to Action: Hold the restaurants responsible for putting together correct orders. Start employing people so there is accountability for the schedules and quality of delivery. Stop punishing the customer who does not get what they ordered. Charge either a subscription rate or up charge each item but stop doing both. For those of us who need to use these services because we have limited options, it is very costly. 

2. Drive Thrus: Mom and I will go through drive thru windows on nights we do not cook or use delivery services. It seems simple enough, you order your items, they put them in a bag, and you get food. Nope! For an industry increasing their hourly wage to more than I made as a teacher, it baffles me how they struggle to put the correct items in the bag. Take a minute and double check, no one will mind. My other grievance is when a restaurant, most particularly McDonald's, runs two drive thru lines with a single employee. Stop it because you are just overwhelming your employee and frustrating your customers. If you do not staff both lines, do not have them!

Call to Action: Take a minute to check the order. Smile and stop making the customers feel like we are bothering them. 

3. Social Media: I am appalled with the irresponsibility of the social media companies to promote hate and harm by not enforcing a simple set of ground rules for their online communities. People are dying because of online bullying and attacks on their self-image. People are dying because of the amount of hate promoted. People are dying because of misinformation. People are dying because access to weapons of mass destruction and human trafficking is just a click away. People are dying because they are being catfished and/or blackmailed. 

Call to Action: Do a better job monitoring user activity for harmful actions and implementing rules of conduct. Social media is a privilege not a right, it should be taken away when it is causing harm to others. 

3. Fast Paced, Instant Culture: This relates to the problems above. It seems our society has stopped seeking high quality or accurate services being provided or information being shared. It seems the goal is to just get things done fast regardless of the outcome. It used to be a big deal to have to retract false statements but not anymore. The new trend is thirty seconds or less. Is our attention span really that short? This will be the downfall of our society. This includes the medical world. The insurance companies pressure doctors to get patients in and out. When this happens, doctors cannot get to know their patients and things are missed. We are seeing a trend of many younger people dying from terrible diseases, which if caught earlier may have been able to be reduced. 

Call to Action: Slow down! Taking an extra minute or two to ensure quality will ultimately take less time than rushing and having to redo it. My wish is for us to return to values and ideals that once guided our society to strive for excellence.

4. Lack of the Sense of Community: For a world connected 24-7 without boundaries, I think we are the most unconnected we ever have been. This is apparent when we are willing to allow children to be murdered at school, shoppers to be murdered picking up dinner, commuters to be murdered headed home from work. Watching the news, it is clear people have lost their sense of community. When people feel like they are part of a community, they are less likely to commit crimes against each other, steal from each other, and ignore people in need.

Call to Action: Reach out and become part of one or more communities. Get to know the real people. Understand the issues impacting those around. Give your time, treasures, or talents to help others. If everyone gives a little, we all benefit. When we are part of a community, we hold each other accountable to do better. 

5. Giving False Information: When a company tells you something, you should be able to believe it. I am tired of companies who say or claim something but then it isn't what it they say. AT&T gave me two pieces of information, which turned out to be incorrect. Instead of making it right, they just said there was nothing they could do but they agreed I should have been given correct information. 

Call to Action: Honor your word.

Hopefully, next year my list of grievances will be less. I truly feel pausing for a minute and caring about others would resolve 99% of the world's problems.

Happy Festivus!

For tonight . . . I'm just sayin' XOXO