Time For Kruti’s Poetry Prompt!

You know I like a prompt now and again, and in December Kruti had set some prompts for fiction, which I enjoyed writing, and she said she would be back with something different. That prompt came in the form of writing a Concrete Poem.

Todays prompt is gonna be a bit tedious :p – Can we all try writing a concrete poem? Yes of course we can.

Concrete, pattern, or shape poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own.

Check her prompt post out here.

So, anyway, concrete poetry, or shape poetry… I hadn’t heard of it before, until, ironically, last weekend, when my daughter came home, and her homework was to write a shape poem. What on earth was a shape poem? Rhyming couplets about a square? Haiku about triangles? Sonnets about circles?

No, silly! It is a poem, or some writing, written in the shape of an object! She had do do one with the prompt word of Earthquakes, so she wrote a senses-inspired poem about the look, feel, taste, smell and sound of an earthquake, and each line looked like a crack!

And now it’s my turn!

Now not all of us are a creative genius on a computer, to write in various directions, so Kruti said we could write, the traditional way, on paper, and photograph the finished item…

So this is what I did!

It’s an ode to underpants! I hope you all like it, and actually, more than that, I hope you can actually see it!

Ode To Underpants!

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I’m not sure if it even counts! But hey, I had fun doing it!

#notsohotpoint – Update 3

hotpoint logoI left it a few days.

But these guys are still totally incompetent!

I guess certain things can’t be changed on a whim.

I sent my big long message to the #notsohotpoint guys at Twitter and they never actually acknowledged receipt of the messages.  However we did get calls back.

As you may remember from the previous post, they were just as dim as the last lot of clowns we had been speaking to, and I held out little hope that the CEO would even acknowledge the email Hubby Dearest sent.

Well, it actually got passed on to the CEO’s Support Team, and we got a message back apologising for our complex case… (It’s not that complex, 2 out of 3 of our appliances are dangerous because of a manufacturing fault. We want a refund.  Because it has taken so long to acknowledge the complaint, and the lack of communication, we are requesting compensation for all the time and phone calls that we have had to make, Plus, we have lost faith in the company, and want the third appliance refunded too!)

I explained that in a few lines. Does that make it complex?

They got back to Hubby Dearest and expressed their apologies, and offered the refund for the 2 faulty units. The rest would be a different process.  Fine, we were getting somewhere! He was assured that though there was no direct number for this department, that the email was a 24hour manned email, and they were a special team, the CEO Support Team. Fine. We look forward to the cheque!

I got a text from Hubby Dearest with the good news, so I called him back.  My happiness was short-lived. After the conversation, an email was sent, stating that they need to arrange to pick up the units before the cheque would be sent.

Er, sorry but NO! Had this all been dealt with in a timely fashion, that would have been ok, but after all the cr@p they have made us, plus all their other customers, go through, we have no faith that a cheque would follow swiftly, thereby leaving us machine-less, with no money to buy new units either.

Hubby Deareast messaged them to ask why he didn’t bother to discuss this on the phone a few minutes earlier, and that he would appreciate another call, or an email to discuss this further. No reply. Yesterday or today.

Then, at my Mother-in-law’s suggestion, I also had invaded their Facebook page.

No reply on there either! I had even posted my blog posts, thinking they would get removed, but nothing. I did respond to someone else’s post with this comment.

Well it looks like this page isn’t being looked at, or they would have a removal frenzy! I’ve blogged, and started on Twitter. #notsohotpoint.
Got the DM us your details message, so sent them a whole host of emails sent to and received from them, last night… No contact today!
They don’t know their arses from their elbows! Im disgusted!

And I got a response!

Hi there,

Can you confirm whether you sent the details via private message on Facebook or sent them via email?

Could you please send these via private message on Facebook?

Kind regards, Tyler.

Really? After all the phone calls, emails, and Twitter promises? Now Facebook Hotpoint reckons they will sort things out instead! This was my response…

Hotpoint here’s the thing. Your customer services have been phoned by us, emailed by us. Your Twitter team contacted. They replied with “so sorry! DM us your details.” I did so, and that was on Tuesday evening. NOT ONE RESPONSE FROM THEM! We emailed your CEO direct and got a call from the team  this email was redirected to. Certain points were agreed then other ‘conditions’ sent in an email after. In order to clarify and question these things, we replied, and NO RESPONSE AGAIN! Today we called AGAIN and were told AGAIN that the customer service reps didn’t know who these people were. Then after admitting there was indeed this special team around, we were told we can’t speak with them. They are outbound only.
The best bit? After being put on hold for 30 minutes, then we are told that yes we could be put through… But this ‘dedicated 24hour response’ team finished 15 minutes ago! You what??!!
It’s not cool, no.
Do I send you these email trails too? What’s the guarantee you will even respond? Let alone do anything? Your Twitter team didn’t. Your main CS team is abominable…
Will you be able to actually deal with stuff, or will it be another ‘we need to pass it on/I’ll get someone to contact you asap” scenario??????

Does it come across, how frustrated I am??!!

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Then another gem from them. Hubby Dearest called again, to get put through to the CEO Support Team, which is meant to be so super good, but no.

This time, he called at 5.15pm, and today’s operator says they don’t know who he spoke to, and that he couldn’t put him through to anyone. After much faffing around, and being kept on hold for the best part of 30 minutes. The guy comes back and says “Erm I would put you through, but the department closed 15 minutes ago.”

Livid does not come close to describing the anger my Hubby Dearest was experiencing at this minute! After all, if the guy had put him through straight away, he may have been able to resolve certain issues! Goodness knows where we are with this all now,  but that CEO has had another message from Hubby Dearest…

I have just spent another 40 mins on your customer services line (as there is no phone number for CEO support) demanding to speak to Ishmail or Alison. They said they could not put me through, by the time I was put on hold the agent said the office closed at 5.30,why not just put me through 40 mins ago when the department was open.

You have now aggravated things yet further. Just so we are on the same page here ;

1 see my points below regarding additional compensation points. A response as per my chases should be acknowledged. 24 hour response on emails instead of the standard 10 days I was told for the SPECIAL customer relations email address!
2 I was not told by Ishmail that you needed to collect the faulty units and that I would be called to arrange collection?Again no phone  call, but more importantly I will not be waiting for a cheque after you collect the units, that is to be sent in advance. I simply no longer trust your company any more, there is no guarantee of a cheque and I need that refund to be able to order replacement products BEFORE you collect anything and there is no timeframe at all for this process given the urgency and continuous delay of my complaint.

Mr Pettorino, I demand a full response and phone call from you personally explaining your company’s incompetency yet again in this matter.

I too have run several companies, but when a loyal customer has to email you to get a response, you should at least feel a duty to respond personally, especially given these circumstances, or is that too much to ask of somebody like you in an apparent position of authority!

Regards

What will happen next?????

Again, any retweets would be great!

#notsohotpoint

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FRIDAY FICTION with RONOVAN WRITE’S #9

friday-fiction-200.pngI have really been enjoying these fiction challenges with Ron, and he’s chucked us another doozy this week! Check it out here.

Prompt for Challenge #9

FIRST OF ALL: Please remember, this is NOT a race. Take your time. Friday is only a part of the title, not a deadline.

Ticks and tocks of essential time, sink the spirits lower than wine.

  1. Include the above sentence somewhere in your work of fiction. (Required.)
  2. Keep your word count at no more than 500 words this week. (Suggested.) Do NOT let your story suffer because of the word count limit. Remember, it is a suggested part of the prompt.

So here is my attempt… Any feedback is welcomed 🙂

Waiting…

I looked up at the clock. It was 3.23pm.

Two hours and seven minutes left until freedom.

But I still had to suffer those one hundred and twenty-seven minutes.

I glanced around and saw my colleagues, all looking very industrious, eyes trained to the screens, fingers tapping away at the keyboard, whispering into their headset microphones, responding to the voices being transmitted into their ears by the earphones.

But I had definitely had enough. This really wasn’t for me.

I knew what I really wanted to do, and this most definitely wasn’t it.

I shouldn’t really be sat here, apologising for the mistakes of others. It was nothing to do with me, what that stupid company had done to so many of their customers, yet I was sat here, alongside a team of around 20 others, fielding calls from irate customers, cooing false apologies and making unrealistic promises.

3.46pm. Only a few moments had passed, I had spoken to yet another disappointed customer, and I had parroted the standard response as we had been instructed to do.

But this job was a means to an end. I needed to work to pay my rent. My other ‘job’ hadn’t quite taken off as I had hoped, yet, but it would. Of that I was sure.

Not long until I could sign out of here, and wave goodbye, forever, to this place.

Maybe tonight would be the night I’d be discovered. I had another gig at the local club, a half hour set as a warm up act for the main event. I couldn’t wait to grip that microphone in my hand and belt out a few classic songs. That half an hour is never long enough…

It’s true you know, that saying, time flies when you’re having fun. But it sure as heck drags when you aren’t.

I remember reading somewhere ‘Ticks and tocks of essential time, sink the spirits lower than wine.’

I think now, I finally understood what it meant.

My phone buzzed again, and I sighed as I connected the call. “Good afternoon. You’re through to Coldpoint, how may I assist you?”

The clock said 3.52pm…

Ritu 2016

It was hard to get that sentence into anything, but I have to say my recent experiences with a certain multinational company were a little added inspiration for this piece too!

(You can read about that here, here, here and today’s update here!)

Bloggers Bash 2016 – Venue Announcement

Come come come!!!

Sacha Black's avatarSacha Black

ABBA 2016The Bloggers Bash Committee said this year would be bigger and better – and trust me, it will be. We, the committee, have plans afoot to make it a cracking day.

If you don’t know what the bash is, it’s an annual get together for bloggers everywhere. The bash is open to everyone, whether you blog about writing, cooking, parenthood, beauty, fishing or anything in between, this is the event for you. AND irrespective of blogging platform – so if you have friends from other platforms please let them know.

The event is open to any blogger from any blogging platform – and please, if you aren’t a wordpress blogger – share this post.

This is the chance for you to meet (in real life) all those firm friends you have made through blogging. This year, the bash is on Saturday the 11th June, in London, England.

I said we had plans…

View original post 294 more words

FFF #28 – Can’t Help Falling In Love (With You)

Tuesday, and time for me to hit the Flash Fiction Challenge by Matt The Book Blogger! Check out the original challenge here.

This time our prompt song is Can’t Help Falling In Love – by Haley Reinhart. A beautiful song, but I love the rendition by UB40! Fellow Brummies, after all!

And so it goes… (not a romantic piece this week, though I love this song so much and it should conjour  up romance… but a little twist!)

Womanly Wiles

Oh I know how it works. Got it down to a fine art now.

That gentle sway of the hips, the coy stare, that fleeting smile.

It doesn’t take much.

A few fawning words, flattery… I have them eating out of my hand within no time.

They just can’t help falling in love with me…

They want to protect me, to spoil me.

I’m not going to stop them, it’s a pretty good set up I have.

All my needs get catered for, material and sexual.

Emotional? I don’t have a heart, feelings mean nothing to me.

Men.

Stupid creatures.

Ritu 2016

Hope you enjoyed it!

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