Ok sorry about this. Happy rambling and Erastes-as-Victim ranting.

[erastes]

More Metal Gear...

I've picked up "Snake Eater" again after being stuck on one place on it for several years and - playing on "very easy" - I'm past the stuck point and am nearly finished it. But fuck me - WHAT  a brilliant game.  Where I had been going wrong, I think, was sneaking and attempting to take all the guards out, rather than attempting just to sneak.  Kojima is a flegging GENIUS. There are so many extras in this game that you could probably play it 30 times and have a different experience each time. You can shoot fruit and bees nests from the trees, you can kill alligators and goats (the first time I saw a goat I nearly died of shock, considering I was inching, belly first, through the undergrowth), you can capture live poisonous snakes and spiders to throw at guards (although it depends on the guard how scared he is) and if you kill something to eat later it goes off in your backpack, gradually. You have to experiment with your camouflage, too - depending on the weather, light and surroundings.

Boss Battles have always been the most hated part of my gaming experience and it was actually a boss battle that I had been stuck on for years but I managed to get through it this time with determination (and playing on very easy) but one of the other Bosses was just the most fun I've EVER had in a gaming environment. It was a pure sniper fight between allegedly the best sniper in the world and me-suck-at-action. I adored every minute of it and wanted to do it again when I beat him. Crawling inch by inch through thick forest, using a directional microphone to trace his direction, staying hidden and then blasting him when he'd nodded off.

The best bit for me, always being happy for gay content in games is that the big Baddie (Colonel Volgin) has proved to be bisexual and has the prettiest boyfriend called Raikov. Snake has to dress up as Raikov (stealing his clothes in the process, revealing a black thong with a lightning bolt (the Colonel's weapon of choice) on them (obviously a present) and when he meets up with the Colonel, Snake is immediately unmasked - as the Colonel's way of greeting his lover, or so it seems, is to grab him by the crotch and thus he finds that Snake and Raikov don't match up (although in which way, I don't know). Bi sexual characters are fairly common in Japan, I hear but they rarely make it over here. 

Ok. Shutting up about this now.

And just a final word (hopefully) about solicitors.  One made me CRY yesterday.  I went to go and get my passport notorised for USA tax purposes and I got to the office 15 mins late.  Basically because there was no parking, and this wasn't explained on the phone, nor was I told where extra parking could be found. Great Yarmouth is one big one way nightmare, being an ancient and very busy sea-port being very higgledy piggledy.  So I rush in and apologise to the reception that I'm late.

They ring the notary and i hear the receptionist say "Yes.. I know. She said she had parking problems." Unprofessional point number 1.

Notary comes charging downstairs grumbling colleagues as he came down UP2.

Notary comes up to me and without introduction leads me into the meeting room UP3.

I apologise again - he mumbles something about if he doesn't get out he won't get paid for something. Am I supposed to feel sorry for a man who's probably on £40K a year? UP4.

I'll add at this point I had been turned into a shuddering wreck and not the feisty heroine I know I can be. I don't know why. Perhaps it was conditioning - that solicitors have been making me feel like a worm for five years I slip into Victim Mode too often. Shame that I was supposed to be a CUSTOMER, isn't it?

He takes my form and sneers. "You haven't filled it in."  Me: "I'm going to do it when I get home."  Him: (still don't know his name as he didn't introduce himself) "I can't notarise a form you haven't filled in." (translation: I'm not sitting here while you fill it in, stupid cow)  Me: NO. As I explained to your secretary over the phone you only need to certify my ID."

Him. Snatches Passport. Goes and photo copies it. Doesn't ask if that's all I need. UP5. 

Comes back and can't find his keys (for the sealing stamp) they are in his jacket, he says. He can't find his jacket. Rushes out to reception and asks where his jacket is. When he comes back in I point it out on the back of the chair (that he'd asked me to sit in) 

He says (get this!!!!)  "Oh - you are sitting on it - no wonder I couldn't see it."  UP points 6,7, 8 and 9. What a charming man.

Paper is finally sealed, stamped and I have a copy. I say "Do I settle up with reception?" He says "No, unfortunatley (UP10) you settle up with me. That will be £20" Bargain!  Five minutes of insults!   "Who do I make it payable to?"  HEAVY SIGH. UP11. 

"It's TRADITIONAL to pay in cash"  Me: "I'm sorry (why am i apologising to this git?) no-one EXPLAINED this to me on the PHONE." Another heavy sigh. UP12. "in that case you'll just have to make it payable to HKB Wiltshires" (Yes, I'm naming them, bad service is bad service whether it's shoes or solicitors)

Pays. Apologises - AGAIN - for being late. Which is ignored (UP13) and I leave without a goodbye or a thank you from him. (UP14)

He didn't miss ONE opportunity to make me feel lower than a worm's armpit. What an arse.  Look I know there may be solicitors on my flist, but how on EARTH I ever thought for one moment that I wanted to be one, I really don't know.  I did cry on the way home, (feeling stupid) but part of that is probably that I've been bottling up the treatment I received from Steeles Law since I was sacked.

Well that was depressing and I don't often unload in public but I needed to write it all down just to RID myself of it.

Comments

[melspenser.livejournal.com]

That must be a new world record for unprofessional points in under 5 minutes. What an asshole.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it deserves an award!

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

"Oh - you are sitting on it - no wonder I couldn't see it."



I'm 5'2" and 105 lbs. Size never mattered to me. I can go there and gnaw the fucker's ankles for you.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I mean - 1. He told me to sit there. 2. I wasn't sitting ON it, it was on the back of the chair. 3. Didn't thank me for finding his jacket. 4. His keys were not in his jacket ANYWAY but under a piece of paper on the desk!!!!!

Yes please.

:)

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thanks hun.

I rather wished I'd had my Metal Gear guns and poison spiders with me

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

I was actually going to say that, but then it sounded so... much less comfy than *hugs*

[marquesate.livejournal.com]

Holy doodah! hat a bunch of cnuts, Mr M would say, and how bloody right Mr M is in this case. I might not solicit his choice of language a lot of the time but CNUTS! (please rearrange the letters at your leisure) GRRRRRRRR

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Completely. I know now that it's endemic (not just based on two firms of solicitors but of five years of meeting many many many of them) and that they are Canutes.

As tharain said to me yesterday: What do you call a plane crashing with 500 solicitors on board? A start.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

What do you call a bus going over a cliff with all but one seat filled with lawyers? A missed opportunity.

[ggymeta.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

"Oh - you are sitting on it - no wonder I couldn't see it."

D: Oh no he didn't! Man, I would have said this:

You can kiss my fat ass walking, punk. I got here late enough for you to get your shit together, and here I am, still waiting for you to get your shit together. Let's get this over with so I don't have to subjected to another waking minute staring at your miserable unprofessional face.

> _

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you! and that's the galling part about it. If I'd been given crap service by anyone a few years ago, I'd have been the one killing with sarcasm, but Steeles seems to have destroyed my attack gene. It'll come back. I hope!

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

What a nightmare. There anyone you can complain to, like a supervisor or something?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I intend to send a letter to them and the Law Society. Unfortunately they are as protective as the police but it will make me feel better.

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

Damn. That's a new low for unprofessionalism. *hugs*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thanks hun! What an arse he was!

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I srsly doubt it's customary to pay in cash. Sounds like he'd just pocket the cash.
And also, ((hugs))

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It is, though - swears and notaries are traditionally done in cash (and I actually KNEW this, but I didn't think it would matter as I had no idea where a cash point was) because they are considered such annoying little jobs that the person doing it does take the cash in hand. It's one of those old-fashioned things that has hung on. I hasten to say though that Steeles DIDN'T allow the notary to pocket the cash, but that's no great surprise.

[eternalism.livejournal.com]

No matter what one's profession is, there's no excuse for treating a client like that. Sometimes I may excuses for people who look like they may be having a bad day or whatnot, but regardless, even if that was the case he could have at least apologized to you for being grumpy. Sometimes I get short with people when I work too, but it usually takes them being interrupting and rude for me to give a little rudeness back, at least. If I acted like that jerk, I'd deserve to be fired, I think.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and I agree. He's probably the major partner though, which doesn't say much for the firm in general.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Yeek! That's awful! If it makes you feel any better, the man at the IRS office in London responded to my sympathy for his long commute with 'well some of us have to work for a living'. Which I agree isn't even close, but still made me seethe for the rest of the day. Thanks for naming and shaming them. I'll know who to avoid in future!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

How charming that he assumed that someone who is available during the day is not working and didn't take a day off specifically to make that journey!!

That reminds me, must fill in the damned form and send the paperwork off today. Ick.

[leatherdykeuk.livejournal.com]

What an arse that man was.

[suryaofvulcan.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to say that I've yet to meet a polite solicitor (meeting them in a professional capacity). They're some of the rudest people I know - only topped by barristers. You have my sympathies.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

There was a nasty SOB at our former veterinarian's--refused to make copies of our dog's records after they'd performed hundreds of $ worth of tests--and demanded $18 per animal to fax the info to the new (WONDERFUL!) vet.

His name was McDonald.

Did you notice the name of the weasel in Gentleman's Gentleman? I'm awfully tempted to send him a copy with a bookmark at that page...

O'Brian named ships after editors who gave him grief--and he sank 'em. Your former employers deserve a whole flotilla.

[enolabloodygay.livejournal.com]

What a tosser! I know damn well that a few years back you would have verbally annihilated him and hope that your attack gene soon resurfaces.

I also know what being undermined for a few (or more) years can take out of you, so can empathise with the teary moments too.

Just to balance the view of solicitors, mine (for the divorce) seems really nice, very down to earth, seemed to care about doing her best for me and I could imagine a night on the piss with her! Maybe not a recommendation for a solicitor but it works for me!

Hugs for you and a bazooka aimed at the tosser!

xxx

[lyras.livejournal.com]

God, what a fucking wanker. *steams on your behalf*

[cassiopaya.livejournal.com]

WHOA! Where did you go for your notarization? Douchebag & Douchebag?