Will the craziness never end?

[kalinda001]

Well, my adventures with Dell are finally over.

I still don't have access to gmail for some reason. Hotmail works fine and so does Yahoo mail. Unfortunately gmail is my primary email account. Bugger...

Just rain and thunder today. No more reports of freaky hail conditions accompanied by hot temperatures.

Where does the craziness come in? The public transit ride into work this morning was horrendous...



Normally it takes about 1H 15 min to get to work by transit. This morning it took twice as long...
What happened you may ask...

Well first of all, there was a signal problem at one of the stations. That was the big one. It meant that the subway (or the underground for those not familiar with the term) was almost at a standstill for a large section of the line; unfortunately the busiest section of the line. Our train was stuck between stations so that we couldn't even get off if we wanted to. Fortunately we were stuck on a portion of the line which runs above ground for a bit. Everyone was busily using cell phones or borrowing cell phones in order to let people know they would be late. It was a packed train, standing room only but everyone tried to stay in good humour so it wasn't too bad.

As we were sitting there, we kept getting updates of the status of the delays over the comm system. Did I say "delays" as opposed to "delay (singular)? Yes. It was no accident. Shortly after the signal problem, we were told that another station down the line now had an alarm which had been activated and it had to be investigated. More delay. Maybe a frustrated transit rider?

Another half hour later, another announcement that a different station had a medical emergency reported so it was closed down until the problem could be dealt with. Another delay... *sigh* Maybe I should go home...If only I could get off this $#% train!

Soooo....2 1/2 hours after leaving home, I am finally at work. I have to reinstall everything I had on my laptop previously because it is all gone now, not to mention all of my files....

I hope this is that last of it. I'm almost afraid to wonder what else could go wrong...


EDIT: It seems that I'm not the only person who has problems getting into gmail at work. For some reason, someone has seen fit to block that url. Hotmail and yahoo are still fine.

Comments

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I think that Dell is losing a lot of customers through their crap service.

*hugs*

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yes, Dell is just....actually my adventures remind me of some of the ones you've had...

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

There's an amazing number of businesses today that think their job ends with them getting the money, not the customer getting what they paid for.

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

That is sad but so very true. I think that Dell used to have a good reputation with service. But clearly not anymore. Though the technician who finally came, did fix the problem and tried to be nice. But at that point, I was not feeling that charitable anymore...

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Dell's been really bad for a long time. My brother bought a top-of-the-line Dell several years ago directly through them, & it arrived with a totally disfunctional monitor- nothing but black. They put him through a lot of loops and aggravation and a lot of delays and people telling him the wrong thing before they finally replaced it. By the time he finally got it, he'd sworn he wouldn't buy another Dell no matter what the price.

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

I certainly would never want to buy from them.

[debris4spike]

It sounds as if your train-line is run by DELL a.d Gmail combined .... maybe the 3 should get together - implode - thus teleporting you home, with Orac in your bag!

Well you can now tell it has been a long day here!!

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

A teleport would be very nice.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

It's at times like this I'm glad I only have a half hour drive.

By public transport, walk half a mile to first bus stop, catch bus that theoretically runs every twenty mins and takes 25mins to cover 3 miles north west. Walk across town to next bus stop and wait for bus that runs every 30 mins for 40 min journey south. Cross road and catch third bus that also runs every 30 mins for 30 min journey north west. Walk half a mile south to school. Is it any wonder I drive?

Let us know how your journey home pans out.

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

So a one-way trip sounds like it would take over two hours? Yes, I would be driving too.

I suppose I could drive to work too, except that it's a pain driving downtown.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

So a one-way trip sounds like it would take over two hours?

Yes. I do have an alternative. First bus, then a train (every hour maybe) then another bus. I've never tried that route.

At least the drive is cross country, I don't drive into the city.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I hope the files you lost were backed up.

Why GMail and not Hotmail which I thought would be targeted first? Can you ask?

When I worked right across town (one of the biggest in area on the planet), it twice took me three hours to come home on a Friday (Fridays are worse) so I negotiated 30 mins extra on the other four days so I could leave two hours early on Friday. It was still not good. I'll never work so far away again.

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

Don't even know who to ask. It's some security folks not even at our location.

Unfortunately all of my work for the last week or two were lost =P

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Possibly this will help?

http://internetducttape.com/2006/10/04/how-to-access-gmail-when-its-blocked-at-work-or-school/

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll try those.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Good luck! With that many workarounds, I'd hope one at least would be practical for you.