This was a really bad day.

There is no single word in the English Language that can convey what I am feeling. Anger? Pissed? Disgust? Loathing? Murderous rage?

Lump them together and you come close, but there is no one word for how I'm feeling right now.

To start my "lovely" day, we have to go back to this morning which is in fact the end of my previous day. For those who don't know me, I work Midnight to 8:30am so my "day" ends when I go to bed after work and starts when I wake up.

This past morning, I was called by one of the staff where I work with an issue. Her computer couldn't log in because it could not see the domain. 19 times out of 20, this is because everyone is trying to log on at 7am all about at the same time. 400 computers trying to log on at the same time and someone is going to get bumped. Sadly, Windows XP is too stupid to realize that just because when it got to the log-in screen there was no response from the overworked Domain Controller, it might let you on if you tried again.

Nope, It'll just sit there with it's virtual thumb in it's virtual ass. There are three ways to fix this.

1.) You log on to the computer locally (bypassing the domain) and once it sees that there IS a network out there, log off and logonto the domain as normal. This isn't an option for the end user as we only have an administrator account on the machines locally and there is no way in hell they're getting that password.

2.) Unplug the network cable and plug it in. This causes Windows to think "Oh Wow! There's no network!" followed by "Oh Wow! There IS a network!" and it'll try to contact it. Again this isn't an option for the end user as many of them are techno-phobic at best and at worst shouldn't be allowed near anything more complicated than a flashlight (and even that is a stretch for them). Even the ones who ARE tech-savvy would have a hard time since the computers are nestled out of the way and would involve a contortionist to get at. This leave us with...

3.) Reboot the computer. Simple, Easy, and 19 times out of 20 fixes the issue as the odds are in your favor that by the time you've done all of that, the other 400+ computers in the facility have logged on and there is more slots in the queue to get in.

I like #3. It usually means that I don't have leave my office to help them. I can just explain what the problem and why #3 will fix the problem. I also follow it up with "If it still doesn't work I'll come right over and see what's wrong in case it's that magical once time out of 20 where there is a real problem.

In this case I was trying to do a quick rebuild on a computer that went completely tits-up on us. Something that has a higher priority than getting off my duff to go and reboot someones computer for them. So I tell this person #3 and let them do it, telling them to call if there is a continuing problem. Her response was "You ARE going to answer the phone if I call?"

What...The...Fuck?

You did not just ask me that. Ok, I know that you are the least liked person in our facility by the IT department. I know that you are the most technologically inept person in the facility. I know that the rest of the department will put you off until they have to deal with you.

BUT I AM NOT THE REST OF THE IT DEPARTMENT!

In the past year and a quarter I've been working here, have I EVER not responded to your calls. Have I ever pushed you off till later? Haven't I always come to your rescue to resolve whatever your issue with the computer might be? When something out of my scope of my ability to correct occurred, have I not managed to find a solution so you could do your job even if it wasn't the most elegant one? Haven't I earned some respect for what I have done for you in the past 16 months?

Bitch! I am a professional. My personal feelings towards someone in no way reflects how I deal with them in the work environment. You may be a pain in the ass (and you REALLY can be) but when I am on the clock you are a member of this facility and have an important function that can't be done if your computer is dead. If you're not working then I have failed at my job.

I do NOT fail at my job. You have insulted me mightily and I am unhappy about that.

But that is the least of my problems. The second straw came when my computer went tits-up this past weekend. I fixed it without any major problems. When I went to install Thunderbird. I didn't realize that t-bird 3 was out. I also didn't realize that it was going to delete every piece of mail in the gmail servers. I didn't realize that it was going to decide that since the mail was older than 24 hours that I must not really want it.

5 fucking years of mail that I frequently refer back to are gone and there is not a goddamn thing I can do about it.

But that still wasn't the real kicker. This is the doozy. You might want to get up, stretch the legs, hit the bathroom, get a soda...this is going to be a bit of a tale.

Back? Good.

This past Christmas we decided that we were going to give the gilt of awesome to our kids. One massively fun present. We bought them one year, two park passes to Busch Gardens. Sounds expensive? Sure, if we had bought them outright it would have been. However Busch Gardens has ezpay. Meaning that for $12 per month per pass ($48 a month for the four of us) we can enjoy Busch Gardens whenever we wanted for only the cost of a tank of gas and lunch.

Good plan right?

We even used them ourselves. First my wife and I bought the passes and went to Howl-o-Scream (halloween event) and had fun. Went a second time in fact. Had a blast. Then we took the kids on Christmas for the Christmas event. That's when we gave them their passes.

And were we a hit. Were were the pinnacle of awesome.

Our oldest managed to convince his friend to get a pass of his own and since they both now drive (or very soon will be) they can go together whenever they can put the scratch together for a tank of gas and lunch. This was a good plan.

Was being the operative word.

So here we are, BG is opening for a limited run for Spring Break. We go to make sure we're up-to-date on our payments (we were one payment behind...I'll admit) and we're notified that thanks to the Credit Card Protection act of 2009 signed into law and put into practice this past February, that we can't use our pre-paid card anymore for a reoccurring charge.

"Ok, fine...what about all the money we've paid thus far?"

"I can issue a credit if you transfer to a "real" credit card."

(Now mind you that when asked what a "real" card meant, we were given a list of what was acceptable. I won't bore you with details but basically it has to be a card that was pulled out of the ass of a CEO of a major bank and personally ejaculated upon by Alan Greenspan.)

"Well what about we pay the balance off on the card?"

"Nope! Because it was set up as an ezpay plan, you can't do that."

"Well when were you going to let people know about this?"

"We're going to send out an e-mail before the parks opens"

"But the park opens next week."

"Nope, that's a special opening just  for Spring Break. Everyone will be notified before the park opens for real."

Now how many people are going to go there, expecting to use their passes only to be stopped at the gate and cheerfully told to "fuck off"? How many people are going to budget a vacation based off of the fact that they have to only pack enough money to cover gas, food and lodgings because they don't have to pay the $65 per person per day to enjoy the park...only to be royally disappointed?

So now we have to buy a new season pass (at full price since they're not going to refund a goddamn thing) for the oldest and use that pass to get discounted day passes for my wife and youngest. Then get a season pass for the youngest. Then get a pair for us since the youngest can't get there on his own (13 years old) and has no friends with season passes of their own.

AND all of this happening 5 days before the big spring-break trip.

Thanks so very fucking much Douche Gardens, thanks a lot.

You know...I think I'm going to forever more refer to them as Douche Gardens. You know why? Here's the sting. I read over that bill before posting this. I'll be jiggered if I can find any reference to the whole "You can't use a gift or pre-paid card for a reoccurring charge". I found something for a debit card that is attached to a bank account (enacted so people can't be slammed when some twit of a service hits you 30 times in a week trying to get money and racking up $30 per attempt overdraft charges.

I can understand that. But a gift or pre-paid card doesn't have that problem. Once the money is gone, that's it. Until the card is reloaded, there ARE NO overdraft charges.

This was just Douche Gardens' way of making sure that they don't have to do more than they have to. Either have a Alan Greenspan Semen coated credit card with Bill Gates' limit on it, or pay in full. Otherwise fuck off.

Lovely.