The Shaving Cadre
Welcome to The Shaving Cadre, a forum dedicated to gentlemanly discourse about wet shaving and other topics of common interests. Membership is always free so register today and join in the fun
CBLindsay's brain droppings
- Thread starter CBLindsay
- Start date
Sounds fantastic!
Catching up Chris, very nice Reads
Tuesday 6/19/18
Straight Shave #870
WD 24mm silvertip
CBL "russian tea" knock off
Ator
Pinaud Whisky Woods
For some reason I felt a little more tired today than usual. The new Bedroom set (minus the bed) arrived yesterday so I was forced to put all my clothes back into drawers. With so many new (and larger) drawers I was able to open up some space in my closet and still leave a couple empty drawers. The large chest of drawers has a cool "shallow" drawer that I feel would be perfect for storing my straights and DE's, It's huge. Problem is, My wife would then SEE everything in one place, that could be bad. ...but I think I will work on some inserts that will do the job, I like the idea of being able to open a drawer and scan the whole lot for the one I want use. The plan was/is to swap sides of the bed now that we will have a bigger better bed and all this storage, so, despite not having the new bed we switched sides last night...didn't sleep terribly well.
Fortunately the shave went well. The CBL Beta 4.0 Russian Tea performed as expected and smelled nice. I can't say it is a clone of the loved Stropp Shopp scent ...more like a decent Chinese knock off. The Ator (A gift from @sskim/Tom) was wonderfully sharp and did the job it was called on to do.
Oh, I almost forgot... I had the wonderful pleasure of "chatting" with a skilled Verizon wireless customer service rep last night. My older son is still on our plan and needed a new phone. His line was ready for an upgrade so ordering the new phone was a simple matter of a few clicks. A few well placed clicks and I was charged $30 for the privilege of extending my contract and purchasing a new phone ...and $30 in various taxes. Oh that part was EASY. My daughter decided to flush her quality hand-me-down phone in the toilet on her way out to camp back in January, so she has been using one of my wife's old phones. Upgrading her line (buying a new phone) should have been an easy task except the lovely Verizon had attributed the payments for MY phone to her line...leaving my phone ready for an upgrade but excluding her's from such luxuries.
When "this should be easy" turns into "!@##$% !@#$$%"
I figured, "no problem, I'll just transfer the available upgrade from my line to hers (and transfer the payments back to my line)". Trying to do this online did not appear possible so I began a chat with Leyda. I said "Hey, I am trying to transfer the available upgrade from my phone to my daughter's line so we can get her a new phone. For some reason the payment that should be assigned to my phone is showing on her line so I would like to (will need to) have that payment moved to my line. How do I do this." Leyda responded with a lovely message indicating she would be HAPPY TO HELP. Then she explained that doing so requires my line(s) to be eligible for such a thing. ...silence... "so...is my line eligible?". Well it seemed Leyda needed me to confirm who i was, my phone number and provide a secret PIN before she could access my account. After I provided her with all my information I explained that I was unaware of ever having a PIN. She then informed me that without my PIN she would not be able to help me. "but you said you would be HAPPY TO HELP ." Turns out she WAS happy to help in exchange for a PIN ...so she sends me a link that I can use to CREATE A PIN!. Moments later, after clicking the link and creating a link we were back on track. After a few moments of silence I was told "her line is eligible for an early upgrade". "what does that mean?" I asked. She responded by informing me we could upgrade her line but we would need to turn in her current phone and pay off the balance. It was about this point that I got up and poured myself a double shot of the Apple Jim Beam my son got me for fathers day. Then i responded..."you can have her old phone if that makes you happy but I have owned it outright for more than 6 years...I shouldn't have to pay anything off". Her response- "Oh, I know, I had that same phone. I am an apple lover too". I finished my drink and considered pouring another. I was baffled and had no idea how I was supposed to respond. After a few moments of contemplation I prepared to respond only to receive another message from Leyda in which she said "you can upgrade your wife's line". I knew I should have waited to pour that drink... I responded, "but she doesn't need a new phone". Silence... I continued "how about I just use my wife's upgrade to buy my daughter's new phone then once I have the new phone in hand, activate it on my daughters line". Man am i brilliant, Leyda thought so too, she said "that's what I was thinking". Having experienced the special hell that one must go through in order activate a phone on a different line than it was intended for, i was compelled to respond. "ok, but i was really hoping to avoid the hassle by just transferring the upgrade eligibility to my daughter and getting a phone. Her phone should never have had the payments assigned to it in the first place." As I prepared to terminate my chat and begin ordering a phone under my wife's line I got a message... "what line should the payment be assigned to?" I scrolled up the chat history and..yup, I had already explained that MY phone should have the payment not hers. Armed with this "new" information Leyda offered a solution "why don't we assign the payment to your line then her line will be eligible for an upgrade." What? Isn't that exactly what I asked her to do a half hour ago? In any case it appeared we were getting somewhere, Leyda began asking questions about what phone I wanted. "Iphone7+ i" I said. Lyda approved, telling me I had made a good choice. "Thanks, I thought so" I replied. Then Leyda proceeded to engage in small talk ...for 45 minutes, all the while my responses became less and less coherent as the sweet elixir began to numb my senses. During this time I learned that Leyda doesn't have any kids, wishes she had enjoyed High School more, would love to study photography and she wishes for world peace. Eventually the topic circled back to actually completing my purchase. Turns out Verizon was unwilling to let me add the new charges to my bill, which meant I had to pay for everything now. See, Verizon really does care, they don't want my bill to be over $500 when it arrives next month. The final steps of this whole process required me to sign some disclosure documents...with my finger. moments after signing I get a message from Leyda "Wow, your signature look great". Seriously? I responded ..."hell, that looks better than I can do with a pen and paper ...guess I should sign more documents after having a few drinks"
Straight Shave #870
WD 24mm silvertip
CBL "russian tea" knock off
Ator
Pinaud Whisky Woods
For some reason I felt a little more tired today than usual. The new Bedroom set (minus the bed) arrived yesterday so I was forced to put all my clothes back into drawers. With so many new (and larger) drawers I was able to open up some space in my closet and still leave a couple empty drawers. The large chest of drawers has a cool "shallow" drawer that I feel would be perfect for storing my straights and DE's, It's huge. Problem is, My wife would then SEE everything in one place, that could be bad. ...but I think I will work on some inserts that will do the job, I like the idea of being able to open a drawer and scan the whole lot for the one I want use. The plan was/is to swap sides of the bed now that we will have a bigger better bed and all this storage, so, despite not having the new bed we switched sides last night...didn't sleep terribly well.
Fortunately the shave went well. The CBL Beta 4.0 Russian Tea performed as expected and smelled nice. I can't say it is a clone of the loved Stropp Shopp scent ...more like a decent Chinese knock off. The Ator (A gift from @sskim/Tom) was wonderfully sharp and did the job it was called on to do.
Oh, I almost forgot... I had the wonderful pleasure of "chatting" with a skilled Verizon wireless customer service rep last night. My older son is still on our plan and needed a new phone. His line was ready for an upgrade so ordering the new phone was a simple matter of a few clicks. A few well placed clicks and I was charged $30 for the privilege of extending my contract and purchasing a new phone ...and $30 in various taxes. Oh that part was EASY. My daughter decided to flush her quality hand-me-down phone in the toilet on her way out to camp back in January, so she has been using one of my wife's old phones. Upgrading her line (buying a new phone) should have been an easy task except the lovely Verizon had attributed the payments for MY phone to her line...leaving my phone ready for an upgrade but excluding her's from such luxuries.
When "this should be easy" turns into "!@##$% !@#$$%"
I figured, "no problem, I'll just transfer the available upgrade from my line to hers (and transfer the payments back to my line)". Trying to do this online did not appear possible so I began a chat with Leyda. I said "Hey, I am trying to transfer the available upgrade from my phone to my daughter's line so we can get her a new phone. For some reason the payment that should be assigned to my phone is showing on her line so I would like to (will need to) have that payment moved to my line. How do I do this." Leyda responded with a lovely message indicating she would be HAPPY TO HELP. Then she explained that doing so requires my line(s) to be eligible for such a thing. ...silence... "so...is my line eligible?". Well it seemed Leyda needed me to confirm who i was, my phone number and provide a secret PIN before she could access my account. After I provided her with all my information I explained that I was unaware of ever having a PIN. She then informed me that without my PIN she would not be able to help me. "but you said you would be HAPPY TO HELP ." Turns out she WAS happy to help in exchange for a PIN ...so she sends me a link that I can use to CREATE A PIN!. Moments later, after clicking the link and creating a link we were back on track. After a few moments of silence I was told "her line is eligible for an early upgrade". "what does that mean?" I asked. She responded by informing me we could upgrade her line but we would need to turn in her current phone and pay off the balance. It was about this point that I got up and poured myself a double shot of the Apple Jim Beam my son got me for fathers day. Then i responded..."you can have her old phone if that makes you happy but I have owned it outright for more than 6 years...I shouldn't have to pay anything off". Her response- "Oh, I know, I had that same phone. I am an apple lover too". I finished my drink and considered pouring another. I was baffled and had no idea how I was supposed to respond. After a few moments of contemplation I prepared to respond only to receive another message from Leyda in which she said "you can upgrade your wife's line". I knew I should have waited to pour that drink... I responded, "but she doesn't need a new phone". Silence... I continued "how about I just use my wife's upgrade to buy my daughter's new phone then once I have the new phone in hand, activate it on my daughters line". Man am i brilliant, Leyda thought so too, she said "that's what I was thinking". Having experienced the special hell that one must go through in order activate a phone on a different line than it was intended for, i was compelled to respond. "ok, but i was really hoping to avoid the hassle by just transferring the upgrade eligibility to my daughter and getting a phone. Her phone should never have had the payments assigned to it in the first place." As I prepared to terminate my chat and begin ordering a phone under my wife's line I got a message... "what line should the payment be assigned to?" I scrolled up the chat history and..yup, I had already explained that MY phone should have the payment not hers. Armed with this "new" information Leyda offered a solution "why don't we assign the payment to your line then her line will be eligible for an upgrade." What? Isn't that exactly what I asked her to do a half hour ago? In any case it appeared we were getting somewhere, Leyda began asking questions about what phone I wanted. "Iphone7+ i" I said. Lyda approved, telling me I had made a good choice. "Thanks, I thought so" I replied. Then Leyda proceeded to engage in small talk ...for 45 minutes, all the while my responses became less and less coherent as the sweet elixir began to numb my senses. During this time I learned that Leyda doesn't have any kids, wishes she had enjoyed High School more, would love to study photography and she wishes for world peace. Eventually the topic circled back to actually completing my purchase. Turns out Verizon was unwilling to let me add the new charges to my bill, which meant I had to pay for everything now. See, Verizon really does care, they don't want my bill to be over $500 when it arrives next month. The final steps of this whole process required me to sign some disclosure documents...with my finger. moments after signing I get a message from Leyda "Wow, your signature look great". Seriously? I responded ..."hell, that looks better than I can do with a pen and paper ...guess I should sign more documents after having a few drinks"
I had to chuckle about the phone issue. While I didn't have as epic a time as that, it is timely in that just a couple of hours ago, I just got through haggling with AT&T over my account. It's amazing what one can accomplish when threatening to switch carriers (which I was completely ready to do, so not a bluff!).
It's Verizon's new policy...get to know your friendly across the country (or maybe international) under paid customer service rep! It seems to be working.
Sorry you had to go through the hassle.
Sorry you had to go through the hassle.
Great shave Chris!
The last time I Blew a cork at a "customer service person" was in a Verizon Store several years ago. This was back during the "Friends and Family" plan days. The wife and I had always had separate accounts with Verizon, until I was out from under contract and needing a new phone there was no advantage in joining them. So anyhow I had been out from under contract for about 4 or 5 months and the new "Razor" phones had just came out. Running the numbers the best deal was to get a phone and add it to the wife's Friends and Family plan and cancel my account. This would save us about $50 per month if I remember correctly.
So we went to the Verizon store and waited our turn in line, the store was busy. This young man asked us how he could help us, and I informed him what I wanted to do, simple right? Cancel my account, get me a Razor phone from inventory and add it to the wife's account. After a few minutes of pecking on the computer he informed me he couldn't do that. Why I asked? He said your phone is still under contract, I informed him that was incorrect. He pecked some more and said your not under contract, I agreed, so now what. "I still can't do that" he said. Okay why can't you? Well that wouldn't be right? What do you mean wouldn't be right? It wouldn't be ethical. HUH? So what you are telling me, is since I've figured out a way to reduced my Verizon bill, you can't make the changes. Silence...and a staring contest. Okay I'll tell you what, just cancel my account. "You can't cancel your account." WHAT? "You can't cancel your account your under contract." Listen here fellow I can cancel the account any time I want, contract or not. If I was under contract I would just have to pay the penalty, but I can cancel the contract. By now my voice is to the volume that it can be heard over the crowd and store wide. "NO YOU CAN'T." Well then big boy, (he was kinda large framed, but so was I) tell me this, what happens when I don't pay my bill? We'll cancel your account. WELL YOU CAN CONSIDER THE )(&#$&?(%^!@(#)%* account )@#$&?(!@^&#%()!#& Canceled! And turned around and walked out. I was met by a manger on my way to the door and being followed by several people that had been in line behind me. Sir what seems to be the problem. Mister you had better just go back to whatever it was you were doing. He stepped aside and we walked out. The 3 or 4 people that had followed me out all wanted to make sure they had understood what had happened. I confirmed and they all left. Seems the were there to become 1st time customers.
The wife said what are you going to do? Not pay your bill? That will effect our credit. I said no, here is what I'm going to do. I dialed Customer Service on the phone and informed them I wanted to canceled the account. They wanted to know why, I told them I was told I couldn't cancel the account by "Joe" at the Huntsville store. And I was going to prove that I could. Well what can we do to change your mind. Mam' you could not get me to change my mind with lifetime free unlimited service right now. She apologized and canceled the account.
Then I went to a business that I new had a Verizon kiosk and had the wife go in, get a razor and add it to her account. No problem, point proved, I got a new Razor phone, and saved $50 per month to boot. Now why did it have to be so complicated?
The last time I Blew a cork at a "customer service person" was in a Verizon Store several years ago. This was back during the "Friends and Family" plan days. The wife and I had always had separate accounts with Verizon, until I was out from under contract and needing a new phone there was no advantage in joining them. So anyhow I had been out from under contract for about 4 or 5 months and the new "Razor" phones had just came out. Running the numbers the best deal was to get a phone and add it to the wife's Friends and Family plan and cancel my account. This would save us about $50 per month if I remember correctly.
So we went to the Verizon store and waited our turn in line, the store was busy. This young man asked us how he could help us, and I informed him what I wanted to do, simple right? Cancel my account, get me a Razor phone from inventory and add it to the wife's account. After a few minutes of pecking on the computer he informed me he couldn't do that. Why I asked? He said your phone is still under contract, I informed him that was incorrect. He pecked some more and said your not under contract, I agreed, so now what. "I still can't do that" he said. Okay why can't you? Well that wouldn't be right? What do you mean wouldn't be right? It wouldn't be ethical. HUH? So what you are telling me, is since I've figured out a way to reduced my Verizon bill, you can't make the changes. Silence...and a staring contest. Okay I'll tell you what, just cancel my account. "You can't cancel your account." WHAT? "You can't cancel your account your under contract." Listen here fellow I can cancel the account any time I want, contract or not. If I was under contract I would just have to pay the penalty, but I can cancel the contract. By now my voice is to the volume that it can be heard over the crowd and store wide. "NO YOU CAN'T." Well then big boy, (he was kinda large framed, but so was I) tell me this, what happens when I don't pay my bill? We'll cancel your account. WELL YOU CAN CONSIDER THE )(&#$&?(%^!@(#)%* account )@#$&?(!@^&#%()!#& Canceled! And turned around and walked out. I was met by a manger on my way to the door and being followed by several people that had been in line behind me. Sir what seems to be the problem. Mister you had better just go back to whatever it was you were doing. He stepped aside and we walked out. The 3 or 4 people that had followed me out all wanted to make sure they had understood what had happened. I confirmed and they all left. Seems the were there to become 1st time customers.
The wife said what are you going to do? Not pay your bill? That will effect our credit. I said no, here is what I'm going to do. I dialed Customer Service on the phone and informed them I wanted to canceled the account. They wanted to know why, I told them I was told I couldn't cancel the account by "Joe" at the Huntsville store. And I was going to prove that I could. Well what can we do to change your mind. Mam' you could not get me to change my mind with lifetime free unlimited service right now. She apologized and canceled the account.
Then I went to a business that I new had a Verizon kiosk and had the wife go in, get a razor and add it to her account. No problem, point proved, I got a new Razor phone, and saved $50 per month to boot. Now why did it have to be so complicated?
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Imagine if Leyda was drinking...........................wait, maybe she was. That's some funny stuff there.
Wednesday 6/20/18
Straight Shave #871
Stirling Boar
Williams Mug soap
Weck Med Prep w/NEW diane blade
Aqua Velva
Welcome to WILD WILD WEDNESDAY -WHERE THE WILLIAMS IS WHIPPED, THE WECK GETS WIELDED AND WHISKERS GET WHACKED!
You guessed it, today was a Williams/Weck Wednesday. My little puck of Williams provided a nice lather and the fresh blade did a great job. The new blade felt wonderful at times, while at other times it felt a bit harsh. In the end I was given a close and mostly comfortable shave with a few small weepers here or there.. I did capture a VideoLog of the shave, even edited it a bit. Since a few of you have mentioned how disturbing my silent Bob routine is I am thinking I will not post this shave. I did want to show the Williams and Weck in action ...so who knows, maybe a voice over will prove useful.
Meanwhile back on the farm...
My wife spent more time putting things back in their proper place yesterday and was hinting that she would really like me to hang the new "thing" she made to put on the wall and hold the TV. It really is kind of cool, but its quite heavy. With a bit of careful measuring I was able to get 3 long lag bolts into studs ...that thing isn't going anywhere. I mounted the TV wall mount onto the piece of art using some carefully measured holes, nuts and bolts. By my calculations, the ART/TV is absolutely dead center of the wall and centered perfectly between the ceiling and the top of the new dresser. My wife's OCD was on overdrive but her attention to detail caught the 0.00125 of a degree tilt in the screen and the tilt was corrected. The room is coming together and she seems to be hinting that she expects me to stuff the empty drawers with my "crap" ..she is correct!
Straight Shave #871
Stirling Boar
Williams Mug soap
Weck Med Prep w/NEW diane blade
Aqua Velva
Welcome to WILD WILD WEDNESDAY -WHERE THE WILLIAMS IS WHIPPED, THE WECK GETS WIELDED AND WHISKERS GET WHACKED!
You guessed it, today was a Williams/Weck Wednesday. My little puck of Williams provided a nice lather and the fresh blade did a great job. The new blade felt wonderful at times, while at other times it felt a bit harsh. In the end I was given a close and mostly comfortable shave with a few small weepers here or there.. I did capture a VideoLog of the shave, even edited it a bit. Since a few of you have mentioned how disturbing my silent Bob routine is I am thinking I will not post this shave. I did want to show the Williams and Weck in action ...so who knows, maybe a voice over will prove useful.
Meanwhile back on the farm...
My wife spent more time putting things back in their proper place yesterday and was hinting that she would really like me to hang the new "thing" she made to put on the wall and hold the TV. It really is kind of cool, but its quite heavy. With a bit of careful measuring I was able to get 3 long lag bolts into studs ...that thing isn't going anywhere. I mounted the TV wall mount onto the piece of art using some carefully measured holes, nuts and bolts. By my calculations, the ART/TV is absolutely dead center of the wall and centered perfectly between the ceiling and the top of the new dresser. My wife's OCD was on overdrive but her attention to detail caught the 0.00125 of a degree tilt in the screen and the tilt was corrected. The room is coming together and she seems to be hinting that she expects me to stuff the empty drawers with my "crap" ..she is correct!
My wife doesn't allow me to hang anything anymore, on account of..."DON SMASH!" Glad the tilt on the Art/TV was caught, or else you would have to endure the complaints for quite some time!
I don't smash but I certainly DO complain...a LOT. I also noticed that I have a built in "Warp" in my visual field. I can think I have something very level only to have it off my 20 degrees. The benefit is that I know I have this issue and correct for it...find "level" then tilt 20 degrees.