My First Impressions of the 2 New National Chain Restaurants on Guam

1. Chili's Grill & Bar - I've been seeing their commercials on TV for quite some time so I was really excited to visit this Resto. We waited 2 weeks after it opened to finally visit it so it isn't TOO busy and we went early, about 1130am on a Saturday, let's just say that we were there early enough to see tables available just waiting for customers to sit down, or so we thought. We walked in and there was a line forming already from inside because we didn't particularly look like they were ready. We were 3rd in line and we ended up watching the staff run around like chickens with their heads cut off for about 30 minutes. Even the obvious "Manager" was just their talking to their staff looking at clipboards, papers, monitors, completely ignoring the fact that their customers were right behind them waiting to be seated while seeing that there were tables available. When we finally sat down it took awhile before anyone came over to take our orders. I was listening in and observing the tables around us and on the table behind us there was a family that waited awhile for their drinks, and to my right was another family. To make a long story short, it was TOO obvious that the personnel at this Chili's had biased treatment towards "certain" people based what? I don't know but I was the brownest individual in the area and I pretty much got ignored while the table behind us got asked 500 times (exaggeration) by 4 or 5 different staff how everything was and if they needed anything then they would proceed to walk by us totally ignoring us. Wow. Toward the end, the only positive was that me man PJ who brought out our food and talked to us saved the whole experience for me. So if you're not the Preferred type or form factor, PJ will take care of you of that I'm sure. So here it is: Overall First Impression Grade: C-



2. Hooters Guam - I was excited to go here for obvious reasons, the Wings! ;) Seriously though I appreciate the female form and their symmetry as much as I appreciate good food, so you can imagine how excited I was that Hooters was coming to Guam. When a bunch of friends asked me to meet them there even before the place was 2 weeks old I was like, .. uhh.. OK! =) You could tell I was hesitant. When we got there, there was a long line outside but boy was I glad I was late, which meant my friends already had a table and were already inside, yes! A couple of things that noticed were that the ventilation of the resto was not too good. First of all it was hot inside which could mean the aircon is weak or the lighting is too hot (we had to turn some lights away from us), and their sound system was an iPod connected to a cable hopefully temporarily placed up above our table on some piping.. things that make you go hmmm... The Wings were pretty good and the girls were OK but I do want to say something about the girls outfits. 1 word: Upgrade. Well that can also be considered 2 words but hey, I'm trying to make a point here. The Hooters Girls outfits are Not flattering, well,.. maybe to the "Hooters" but not much anything else. I think the problem is that the outfits have not been updated since the inception of the Restaurant and it no longer has the same effect as it did in the olden days. Their outfits remind me of Roller Disco, Farah Fawcett and Daisy Duke. Again, time for an upgrade. Overall First Impression Grade: B

These of course are not my final grades, these are merely based on 1 visit, and I'll let you know if anything changes. I'm actually making a 2nd trip to one of them on Monday so let's see if anything changes.

$ 4,000+ Water Bill from (GWA) Guam Waterworks Authority!! WTF??!!

A brief history:

I've been living in my current home for about 10 years now. My power bill has averaged anywhere from $175 to $250 per month depending of course on our usage, while my water bill has averaged anywhere from $30 to $70 per month depending again on usage over the course of 10 years. Simple right? Apparently not.

Welcome to my Nightmare:

A couple of days ago, I routinely checked my mail,.. and I routinely received my utility bills in the mail that day too. So I opened up the power bill first because that is usually higher and is the one that I am "usually" concerned about. Ok, whew! No surprises there. For some reason, I elect to open up my water bill as well, which I am not normally worried about. Here is a partial image of what I found:

What the??!! Apparently I all of a sudden consumed almost a MILLION GALLONS OF WATER IN FEBRUARY??!! But, wait, that's not all, I was OFF-ISLAND FOR 2 WEEKS IN FEBRUARY TOO! Sooo,,.. that means I consumed almost 1 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER IN 2 WEEKS!!

As you can also see above on the right hand side, my previous bill was $44.14 which is within my average. Now they are billing me $4,099.56!!!!!!! W... T.... F!!!!!!!???

That is not the worst of this experience, now for the call to GWA the next day.

So I had to wait until the next day to call because it was after working hours already for them, let's say about 4:02 in the afternoon? Just kidding. ;) Anyway, since I wasn't able to get any sleep knowing that I had just received the biggest bill of my personal life, I had to calm myself down to make the call to customer service.

Here are the details of the call to the best of my recollection:

GWA: Guam Waterworks

Me: Hi, yeah I have a problem with my billing, I have been averaging around $40 to $70 per month for 10 years and all of a sudden I am being billed for over $4,000 with almost 1 Million Gallons of water consumed... {expecting some sort of reaction}

GWA: Account Number Please

Me: W9XXXXXX

GWA: Ok just to let you know that your previous billings were based only on estimates,...

Me: What? What are you talking about? What do you mean?? Are you telling me that this is really how much I owe??

GWA: I'm just telling you that your previous billings were only based on estimates and that we will need to investigate it further.

Me: Well PLEASE DO!!

GWA: Excuse me?

Me: I said Please DO! {hmm,.. I wonder what she thought I said?;)}

GWA: You will need to fax a map and call us back within 2 Weeks.

Me: Ok, wait, just so we are clear, are you folks NOT having any other issues like this?? Is it only me??

GWA: Yes sir we are having many issuess like this..

Me: Ok then I'll fax it

I hang-up, draw a map, and try to fax it to the number she gave, it just kept ringing with no answer. So I called GWA again:

GWA: Guam Waterworks

Me: I've been trying to fax but the machine is not answering..

GWA: What does the machine say?

Me: N-o M-a-c-h-i-n-e A-n-s-w-e-r. =P'

GWA: Hold on, I will have to walk over to where the machine is..

Me: Was it off?

GWA: {delay} It's working fine it's receiving faxes.

Me: OOOO,,...KKKK,....

GWA: Just keep trying,..

Me: I'll try now can't you just watch it?

GWA: I need to return to my post now just keep trying.

Me: {frustrated} Ok

After hanging up, all of a sudden the fax machine was busy. Yup, just as I thought, it was off, they just didn't want to admit it. They just assume that all of their customers are idiots.

Look, I run a business too, and I have some simple tips s for everyone in Customer Service:

• a little empathy goes a long way,
• try to put yourself in the customers shoes, in their situation, then you'll understand, and only then can you truly help them,
• if you or the company makes a mistake, admit it, they'll respect you more for it,
• your salary is getting paid by your business' customers so please, show some respect yourself, the Government is no exception.

Having some IT and Management background, I have a tip for GWA Management to consider as well:

• It should be easy enough to tag Residential Accounts that either have a usage that is TOO HIGH for a Residence, or if this month's bill is unusually LARGE as compared to the previous months, with some simple code in their billing output programs,
• Add more controls and Audit your Billing Please.

For now, I wait, but you never know, who knows what is going on here..

Drenched in Dededo (in almost 1 Million Gallons of Invisible Water) =P'

Nightmare at BDO (Banco De Oro) Greenhills Virra Mall

Just a warning to you all, be wary of the BDO ATM in Greenhills. My bro tried to use the ATM yesterday and in one shot, the machine confiscated his Credit Card. We went into the bank to tell the personnel and after presenting his Driver's License she proceeded to say that he needed a 2nd Id. So let's get this straight, here are the facts:

• We reported the card taken,
• The guard even saw us,
• He presented his Driver's License with a Picture and all of the required information,
• And their policy was to ask for a 2nd ID?
• Stupid.

This is much like their policy in the Philippines that you need to sign the back of your credit card. So basically it doesn't matter who you are, as long you have something scribbled on the back of the card you're good. It doesn't matter if you have the ID that matches the information on the card, it is their policies.

I'm beginning to think that Philippines Policies like these are simply retarded, but if you want to argue go ahead I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but mind you, I will go at it with you. ;)

Noypi

Please Read Signs Very Carefully

While visiting an Atoll near Hawaii I came across one of the weirdest signs I had ever seen. I was riding a bike and following the bike trail, and right smack in the middle of the bike trail around an hour into my riding, there stood the Sign that said:

"Watch Out for Approaching Aircraft."

I was like, all panicky and looking around and ducking and thinking to myself: "WHAT THE??!!" This is a TRUE STORY. The explanation is is that it is an Atoll and it is so small that there are NO Cars, only bicycles and golf carts, SSOOOO,.. that means the airport is, right smack dab in the middle of well, everything!? =P'

At any rate I guess that that is not the weirdest / funniest sign I've ever seen anymore. See what the Alaskan's have to deal with here: