I'm back home. It feels good.
Long Beach was, to put it bluntly, a complete waste of my time. It took 23 hours to get there and 16 to get back. The keynote talks were not all that hot-shit, though there were some good ones here and there. 14-hour days and too many parallel sessions meant that people got information overload and just stopped caring after a while.
The conference venue was sub-par and the town itself is not the shining beacon of California. This trip has confirmed some of my ideas about living in the US in the current sociopolitical climate. I got really fed up really fast with the friendly-but-fake service industry and people refilling my coke glass every 30 seconds. Maybe I'm just being grumpy because of lack of sleep, maybe not. I'm just glad to be home right now.
One conversation I had with a waiter at the convention center springs to mind during a morning coffee break:
me: excuse me sir, but do the cookies have nuts in them?
daw: <blank stare>
me: I'm allergic to nuts. Are there any nuts in the cookies?
daw: naw, (points to cookies) those are white chocolate, chocolate chip, pecan, and raisin.
So apparently, pecans aren't nuts.
Idiot.
Then there was the waitress at the starbucks:
me: excuse me, but does the chocolate mudslide cheesecake have any nuts in it?
daw: <great big smile> no, just chocolate cheesecake
me: fine, I'll have one.
Just as I'm taking the first bite, my fork hits something crunchy. On further inspection, there's a whole fucking layer of walnuts in the middle. As I point this out to the dumbass, she has the gall to say “well, what do you know, I never noticed that before”.
People just don't give a damn. They'll happily smile and take your money, but they really, really just don't give a damn.
So, you'll forgive me if I'm glad I'm home and I can go to my local pub where the waiting staff know my name and actually care when they ask me how I am and what I'm doing and tease me by calling me garlic-boy.
bunch of morons
(http://livejournal.com/users/petkatyyazzick)
I loathe the teasing. I wish I could find it funny but I CAN DIE HERE.
Stephane had made us reservations for Japanese in Buena Vista. We arrived, took our seats with 2 other groups at the table and the chef began. First thing he pulls out? the largest mound of zucchini I'd ever seen, my heart STOPPED I swear, I started crying and hitting steph, why hadn't he warned them during reservations??? Steph quickly stops the chef to explain. He stops, cleans everything and proceeds to cook my meal entirely on it's own, making everyone else wait. Okay, whatever.
Then as my food gets cold, he starts there, first thing he does? “Your dinner is ready hahah” and puts the pile of zucchini up to my face.
My husband thought this was the funniest joke of all time, as did the other people seated at the table, yeah..hilarious, lemme wave around something that can KILL YOU…
People are dickholes.
(http://livejournal.com/users/blacksquiggles)
in my case, they call me that because that's how the kitchen staff knows me and make sure that my food won't kill me, so I don't really mind it :)
(http://livejournal.com/users/talisker)
WTF? You would think the possibility of killing a client would make people take food allergies a bit more seriously.
(http://livejournal.com/users/ultimategirl)
YAY HOME!
(http://livejournal.com/users/petkatyyazzick)