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Eye would rather be a different kind of spy

I tried out a Mystery Shopper program a friend recommended. Well it's not really a Mystery Shopper program, it's just a similar thing for evaluating restaurants. In exchange for the company reimbursing you for your meal (excluding tip, those cheapasses :/ ), you submit a rather long essay on your experience at the restaurant. By long I mean you have to cover everything--from the atmosphere, to the 'story' of the hostess/server, to the occupancy of the parking lot. I had a 60+ questionarie to fill out, with 20% of those being short essay questions of 2 paragraphs each. Fine, I'd figure, I'm good at writing, right? I'll try it out.

Well, I don't know how my friend endure months of this program, I had enough with just one session. My B.S meter was stretched thin. I mean, I wrote garbage and crap for my English class essays, but I had no sources to 'borrow' when it came to writing about the parking lot conditions in 2 paragraphs, or can I comment on the cleanliness of the bathroom in two graphs.

The thing that bugged me the most was that the 5-7 paragraphs were required for the 'story' of the server/hostess. The story begins with how they greeted you, how they performed some requisite pleasantries like repeating your order, and flowing all the way to the end to whether they gave a farewell greeting. Hey that's great having you feel good at the resturant, but that the reason i go eat out. I eat out because--

I WANT TO EAT SOMETHING THAT I CAN'T MAKE AS WELL MYSELF!

Meaning quality of food is the absolute factor, not whether the waitresses was eyeing my package or not. I mean, what point is having great service when the food give you poisoning, is undercooked, or just plain bad. I would rather subject myself to a soup Nazi atmosphere then to some fancy ass, treat you like a king restaurant. All that services implies a hefty tip, which I don't care to give, but that's a whole other beast. All the server/hostesses questions were irrelevant anyway, was I went to a counter-style restaurant. You know, one where you pay everything up front, and where they is little interactions after paying and receiving your food. I'd rather not mention the name as I have no ill will against them, but let's just say they claim to make 'real Texas bbq’. I had plenty to say about their food, without any BSing, details below.

The garlic fries were a huge disappointment. There were just plain grocery store quality fries with cilantros and garlic bits sprinkled on them. I could barely type the garlic. I was expecting the fries to be marinated or cooked in the garlic sauce, but these fries were an afterthought. The fries themselves tasted quite stale, worse than the quality of fast food chains (burger king, MacDonald’s, even in-n-out fries were better). I did not finish the appetizer dish, as I could only eat ¼ of the basket of fries before I got sick of eating them.

My combo platter had 3 pieces of ribs. There was no flavor, it was dry. There was a lot of meat on the ribs, about 70% bone and 30% meat. There were various bits that I considered was overcooked and burnt, so I ate around those areas. I tried eating the skin near the bones of the ribs, but they just tasted oily, so I spit them back out. The sauce was very bland. There was extra sauce on my table, but I didn’t bother trying the sauce. The turkey was also bland, nothing special. It was warm, the meat was soft, and it easy to chew.

The rice portion was small, just an ice cream scoop worth of it. It was also bland, and the rice was not firm like freshly cooked rice—my guess was that it was microwaved. This is ok, as the rice did its job to complement the other items in the platter. I wished there was more rice in my dish, at least two of those tiny ice cream scoops. The bread was tasty, it an inch thick slice of bread, toasted without any burned portions. It tasted good with the supplied sauce. The peanut salad was just minced lettuce with peanuts. Its portion as a side was slightly larger than the rice. There was NO spinach in the salad, despite what the cashier said. If there was any sauce in the salad, I did not notice it.

The mocha milkshake came with the whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top. It was filled to the brim on the cup the cashier mentioned and it also came with an extra metallic container filled 25% with extra milkshake. The milkshake was thick, tasted of mocha, and was the best value as for some reason I got 50% off the milkshake price.

Well I don't agree with the evaluation company's emphasis on service, when above all else it should be on quality of food. I also don't want to name the company, not directly anyway, as I have no ill will towards them--I just think their emphasis is on the wrong area. If the food is bad, you might as well save on a fast food chain or eat at home. It doesn't matter how good the service was. Needless to say, I won't try another evaluation with the company.

$1350 / 2br - Victorian Style Apartment on East Oakland area

My bro's apartment has a vacancy for a newly renovated upper level apartment on E. 15th St. It is part of a 6-plex with 2 floors.

Unit comes with:
*Burgundy Wall-to-Wall carpeting
*Heat: Gas and electric
*Refrigerator
*Gas range/stove
*Victorian window blinds
*Sorry NO PETS

Landmarks
*A public laundry facility is one block away.
*Street Parking
*One block from AC transit 82/82L bus line

Move-in cost:
*1st month ($1350) + security deposit ($1350) Layaway plan OK
*Owner pays water & garbage
**Please do not disturb the current tenants**

All applicants must fill out an application to be considered.
A credit check is required. Applicant may pay for one ($20 Non-refundable) OR bring their own recent report(within 30 days) + ID/driver's license.

Section 8 with excellent record may also be considered

Location: 2237 E.15th St, Oakland,CA 94606
Cross-street: 22nd Ave

If interested, please call Gordon at 650-787-3704








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Free 4GB Ipod Nano by opening 4 month CD and checking account with Union Bank Pleasanton Branch

I just came back from setting my accounts from this banks grand opening promotion. Here's what I gathered from them.

This offer is only valid with Union Bank of California, Pleasanton branch. Expires this Friday, 11/30. The bank just opened in October.

This setup requires $10,100. The 4 month CD requires 10K minimum to avoid service fees of $18 a month. The APR on the CD is 4.15%. The interest bearing checking account requires $100 to open, and provides free checks. Interest on the checking account is 0.1% regardless of the amount that is in the account. Custom design checks and carbon copy checkbooks are free also. After the 4 months, you can roll over the $ into a new CD, but I'll probably just close everything after the 4 months.

You must keep the accounts open for 3 months to keep the Ipod, but since you have a 4 month CD, that point is moot.

Ipod will be mailed by UPS, within a month.

Original flyer (Click to enlarge)


Union Bank of California website

Google Maps (full address is 4747 Hopyard Road, Suite E-2 Pleasanton, CA 94588)

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