• A few new customer service annoyances

    It seems like every day I either have great customer service or horrible. Here are the last few that I’ve encountered.

    • #1 Delta Airlines. To say that our flight from San Diego to Atlanta on Monday was a disaster is an understatement. We’re a family of four traveling together. Do you think you’d seat children with their parents? It would seem logical that a parent would be seated next to a 4 year old, wouldn’t it? But not on Delta. They seated Megan and Paul together and Kristen in the same row, just other side. Then they stuck me way in the back. Long story short, I had an empty seat next to me. I asked if the flight attendant could go to Megan’s seat and get her for me so that I could sit by her and then Kristen could move to sit by Paul. He said… “No problem. Actually, there is a way to all sit together if you move up to their row.” So I got up… and as soon as I got up he moved a lady/child into my seat and then told me he couldn’t really get us together. He tricked me out my seat to solve his problem. Thus putting me in a worse situation! I went from a window seat with an extra next to me to a middle seat surrounded by other adults. I said to the flight attendant, “You know you just totally screwed me right? I trusted that you were telling me the truth.” He went on to try to say that the other lady wouldn’t sit apart from her child and that it was the only way the flight could take off. When I, rather bluntly, told him that what he did was lie to me to prioritize that family over my own and that he was wrong… he tried to be empathetic with me and offered us “free videos” on the flight. Of course, being Delta even that didn’t work. So Kristen and I were roughly near the kids but not next to them. It gets worse… so we were scrunched next to people and the kids were alone. Of course, our seat mates promptly fell asleep so that no one could easily go to the bathroom. Then to make matters worse, the flight attendants spent 4 hours peddling food and credit cards to us! I can’t believe that in order to fly I have to listen to a credit card offer and buy $6 snacks. Give me a break Delta. Kristen got off the plane and aptly described the flight as “the worse flight of my life.” So if you fly Delta, look out for flight attendants who lie and peddle stuff to you the whole time. Totally annoying.
    • #2 Semco Energy. This is our local natural gas vendor. Their billing system is totally jacked up. I never get bills from them anymore. I don’t even get late notices. Their phone system calls my cell phone all the time but doesn’t say anything… literally just blank air. The only time I hear from them is when they drop off a disconnect notice! The crazy thing is that I typically pay via their online payment system. Well, starting in May they started rejecting my online payments. I have no idea why. They keep telling me that my routing numbers are off… but they aren’t. (Pay almost all my bills online!) Then about 3 days after I try to pay I get this really ugly letter from them. Then I get a hand delivered disconnect notice. Calling their customer service line is nearly as much fun as calling AT&T. After 40 prompts and entering my account number 2-3 times, giving them my SSN a few times, and verifying my billing address at least twice. I get told the same thing over and over again. “Our system is fine.” The best part about our latest disconnect notice is that it’s for so little money AND our bill isn’t even late! So my bill is due 7/28 but they are going to disconnect our gas today. Brilliant customer service. Morons.
    What about you? What companies are treating you like dirt?

  • Open to suggestions

    skribitIf you only read my blog via RSS, you may want to come to adammclane.com and check out a new widget. 

    For the longest time I’ve pretty much blogged whatever I felt like. Sometimes I rant about stuff, sometimes I post silly things, something I try real hard and post something thoughtful.

    Well, I want to make sure that I give you the opportunity to suggest stuff for me to write about. That’s why I’ve added Skribit. How it works is that you suggest something for me to write about. If you don’t want to create an account, your suggestion is completely anonymous. See a good suggestion? Simply vote it up and put the pressure on me to write about it. 

    Deal?

  • The injustice of grace

    Define GraceHave you ever thought about what Jesus did and thought, “eh?“ I’ve been having this thought lately and I just can’t shake it:

    It’s a complete injustice that I experience grace.

    First of all, I need to be clear what I mean by grace since there are several definitions for this word… even the Bible uses it 5-6 different ways. By grace I mean “the active communication of divine blessings by the inworking of the Holy Spirit, out of the fullness of Him who is “full of grace and truth,”” (Louis Berkhof, 1949) In other words, grace is the good stuff we are blessed with because of our relationship with Jesus.

    Have you ever been comped on something? You know, you show up to a place and because you are with “him” or “her” you get free stuff. That’s a practical expression of grace… and it’s a total injustice! In my life I’ve gotten comped on some very nice things. Rounds of golf, meals, retail stuff, vacations, stuff like that. It’s always a weird feeling as you of look at the person whom you’d normally pay and then flash a glance over to the “big guy” and the need to pull out your wallet goes away. (Sometimes a half thumb pointing at the big guy helps.)

    Why is that an injustice? Well, you get stuff you can’t afford for free! Other people have to pay big bucks for the round of golf I play for free… that’s really not fair to those who have to pay, is it?

    It’s the same way in a lot of areas of my life right now. God is granting my family a lot of injustice lately. When I look my kids I can’t help thinking… what an injustice, I don’t deserve this awesome family. Even as a family, there is so much good stuff happening to us and all around us we’re kind of left simply shrugging our shoulders and pointing at the “big guy” and admitting… “we’re with Him.” God is comping us on little things (stuff) and big stuff (a family who choses to honor God with what they do) and the only word I can use to describe it is overwhelming injustice.

  • Why I like student ministry

    I like student ministry because all of these kind of seem like they could be a youth group game. 

  • Ocean Beach Surfer




    Ocean Beach Surfer

    Originally uploaded by mclanea


  • Sunglasses and Beach IQ

    Having just spent 8 days on the road in SoCal with the family, we ate out and went to a lot of public places. I made a couple of observation/over generalizations — OK, they are just Adam-isms. Here we go:

     

    1. I think there is a link between the lens size on a woman’s sunglasses and her IQ. The smaller they are– the higher her perceived IQ. I promise you, we saw some women who may be hovering in the low 80s. Those big satellite sunglasses aren’t cute on Paris Hilton, imagine how “fabulous” people look with cheap imitations. If you aren’t picking up CSPAN with those bad boys… get some smaller ones and you’ll look so much more fabulous.
    2. lamp shade uglyWhat’s up with the ugly tube top deals? I don’t know what they are called. But they are like this lampshade looking shape with no straps. We were in a place in Old Town and I promise you, 2 ladies near us had to adjust themselves 2-3 times per minute. A little advice, either pin those suckers so nothing ever could pop out or get some duct tape. This is almost as odd a fashion item as the low cut jeans/g-string thing. Blech. A side note, these should not be sold in sizes larger than large unless in the maternity department. Under no circumstances should number 1 & 2 be combined. Low IQs and elastic based tops shouldn’t mix.
    3. There are some swimsuit styles out there which should be banned. I don’t mean the teenie weenie or the yellow polka dot bikini as that is fine and normal to see. It seems most women in the 300 lb and up radius have figured out bikinis aren’t for them. But there is a new style that has like no back and this weird swoop thing to about half way across the stomach. Basically, there is a small bit of fabric that connects the bottom of the suit to the top. This shouldn’t be worn by women with rolls (and I’m a dude with rolls, I know how to hide some fat!) and I don’t think that style of swimsuit would look good on anyone. Seriously, the cast from Baywatch would look pretty nasty. It’s the cut, it’s not you girl.
    4. At the end of a long day at the beach, please don’t cover up #3 with #2 and pop on #1. It just confirms the whole IQ thing.

     

    Speaking of Baywatch, I think I saw The Hoff at Coronado Beach yesterday. Either that or this was one tan dude who looked just like him. We checked the parking lot and Kitt wasn’t to be seen. So I must have been confused. 

     

  • ESPY Recap


    HT to Gman

  • Finding a church home: Kaleo Church

    Our first stop on the search took us to Kaleo Church that meets at the AMC 20 in the Mission Valley Mall. Obviously, this being the first one we’ve visited it was pretty high on our list of places to explore.

    And we weren’t disappointed. Parking is a non-issue obviously. The location is easy enough to get to and was just 1.4 miles from the hotel. I think this campus would be roughly 10 miles from our new house… so a little far for our liking. But they also do something closer to us on the campus of San Diego State University that we may want to check out as well.

    I don’t really have a format to these “reviews,” so I am making it up.

    First impressions. I kind of dig the movie theater thing. Reminds me of Granger when it first started. It’s informal and comfortable to me. I could see myself easily inviting people to a movie theater. We were greeted by a few official greeter people and since we were awkwardly early for SoCal (15 minutes before service) there was absolutely no one in the auditorium! Thankfully Kate [wicked good violinist] was uber friendly and showed us where to take the kids. Boy were the kids happy they didn’t have to sit through the whole service.

    They seem pretty confident in their format. I like confidence. While it was odd there was no soft buffer music for those of us who came early, I was perfectly comfortable chilling with Kristen while the countdown clock was on.

    The service. It was very chill, but not overly chill in that the people up front came across as unprepared. The service order was very simple. 2-3 songs at the beginning, a message, 1-2 songs at the end with communion pretty much ending things. There were some short announcements at the beginning. But other than that it was a very basic service. Did I miss an offering? If they did it I didn’t notice. The lack of lighting, video, or even mics at times was both cool and different. For this group simplicity worked.
    Environmentally I don’t think they take full advantage of the space… but that’s OK and wasn’t annoying. I think their simple style reflects their values without coming across as bland.

    I really liked the style of the band though I’d never heard any of the songs. I gathered that a husband/wife team lead the band and we sang originals. Stylistically, I can’t quite label it… Hawaiian maybe? Very cool and raw sound. No production elements whatsoever for worship times. For my comfort level I could have dealt with a little Tomlin or Crowder mixed in, but the worship was… worshipful. So that’s good.

    The message. Yikes, I have to admit I wasn’t prepared for the depth. I had listened to parts of a couple of recent messages so I knew I would like the style of the primary preaching elder, David (I think that’s his name.) I liked that the message was designed in a way that acknowledged my intelligence and yet made me think. It was conversational, he even stopped a few times to ask for thoughts. It was very personal to the audience, a few moments he directed certain portions to individuals in the church that a segment applied to. If I had to find something negative it is that it felt a little like a college lecture. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing at all… just an observation.

    It was a tough passage (one I’ve always shied away from preaching) so I am not certain if that led to the length of the message… maybe 50 minutes? (Matthew 13) If I were designing the service I’d shoot for a little less preaching, but it seemed like he preached until he was done. The message only felt long at the end when he prayed… FOREVER! (Take that with a grain of salt as I’m trying to be “picky” here. How can you rush prayer?)

    I can’t really compare the message to anyone else I’ve heard. Definitely not “feel good, one big idea” like Andy Stanley and not quite “holy cow that’s a lot of stuff” like John Piper. But more leaning towards Piper than Stanley. If I knew more about Mark Driscoll I’d guess it was more like him.

    The church. One thing Kristen and I strongly identify with Kaleo is its mission. They are seemingly passionate about reaching the community. I noticed on their website they have a new ministry to exotic dancers as well as a homeless outreach and several other community projects. I liked feeling as though I could likely contribute something to Kaleo if God wanted us to partner with them.

    One thing I like is that Kaleo is a church plant of the Acts 29 network. While I don’t think we’re 100% exactly matching their theology… it is quite solid. If we proceed I’m going to really understand their position on women [not] in ministry as well as a couple other positional differences. But no deal breakers that I know of. But I know a couple other Acts 29 planters and a little bit of networking goes a long way to gaining credibility in my world.

    Kids ministry. Being selfish parents… kids ministry is pretty important to us. It was a big deal that the kids both wanted to go back. Megan asked several times throughout the day if we could go back to that church. “I know we want to look at a few churches before we decide, but I really liked the people there.” Megan even told me “it was awesome” during lunch. She is a pretty shy girl, so she must have really connected with the leaders and kids to say that.

    Paul… he was bored and hungry when we picked him up. It’s no surprise he was hungry as he’s always hungry. And I don’t think he was really all that bored. When I asked him later in the day if he’d like to go back to the “movie theater church” he asked if he could go back and told me he really liked it there. One thing they both liked was that the kids got to come into “big church” for the worship portion of the service. I also noticed that most of the parents seemed to go get their kids and bring them to the end of the service with them… we’d probably do that again.

    Overall. Kristen and I really liked what we saw. From a first impression standpoint we really dug the service and it made us curious about the church. We will definitely come back when we move out in a few weeks and give it a second look. I’d be quite interested to see how school starting effects both the attendance and demographics of the congregation. I think there were about 100-150 people in the service this morning. (I could have been WAY off too as Kristen and I sat about 5 rows to the front.) Age wise, we’re in our early 30s with kids… and we felt a little high on the age radar. I felt like we could definitely connect with some of the other couples, maybe even get involved somehow in mentoring the engaged/young marrieds. The young demographic is not a bad thing at all! It was also noticeable that they don’t have any student ministry of any kind. 10 years as a youth pastor and that stuck out like a sore thumb. At the same time, if you aren’t ready for student ministry it’s best to just allow someone who is to do that. With that said my mind started to wander and wonder… “I bet they could do a service at the same time for high schoolers.”

    As Kristen and I made our way to the food court after church we both agreed, Kaleo’s service was definitely heartfelt and decidedly not fake. That’s a great impression to leave on two “battle tested” church staffers. We’ve been inside the walls enough at church to smell fake.

    Follow-up. I filled out the card and talked to someone after the service. Actually, I thought it was cool that a couple of other new people introduced themselves to us. They just moved here from Texas and have been going to Kaleo about a month… that conversation awkwardly died… but yeah, it was cool new people said hello to newer people. So I’ll just wait and see if/what we get for follow-up.

  • Last day

    We’re back from church. (More on that later) Today is our last day in San Diego and the family is sad to go home. I suppose that means that the week was a success.

    We wanted the kids to come out here so they wouldn’t be afraid to move. They’d get a part in picking a new house, new church, new school, meet some new people, see some sites, and basically get a feel for the new community.

    In a few minutes we’re leaving for our “last trip” to the beach. I think it’s our 5th trip this week. Clearly the family likes sand, surf, and people watching. And the thing that has the family all charged up is that it is our last trip to the beach.. for 2-3 weeks until we’re back permanently in August.

  • Amazing food fight!

    I caught this on a youth pastors blog. I was basically standing up and cheering during the video… it’s just that good. I love it when you come up with a game that just makes sense, is safe/fun for everyone, and is “holy cow messy.” This should be done in every youth group in America.

    Props to Kyle in Alabama.