I was at McDonald’s last night, which, despite the postings about fast food here, is not that common. Oh, don’t get me wrong, because I love fast food. But I try to limit it as best as possible. Among the fast-food chains, McDonald’s is near the top of my favorites list.

But, someone, somewhere in their corporate office, decided to remove root beer from their offerings. That decision makes me sad. It is the reason I don’t here there nearly as often as I used to because I adore root beer. Before, they had Barq’s. Not quite as good as Vanilla Barq’s, but still plenty darn fantastic. Until they didn’t. It turns out that I like Barqs more than I like McDonald’s.

But last night I went for a McRib, which I love more than the lack of root beer. And this location has Orange Fanta, so it’s not so bad.

As I was filling up my drink, the store manager was standing there. Never one to miss a chance, however much of a long-shot it is, to pass a message up to corporate, I commented, only slightly casually, that I sure missed the root beer. The manager, being quite accommodating, responded that he did too. Then he took it a step further and asked me what my second favorite flavor was.

To which I responded quite simply: “Wendy’s.”

It is just me, or is this crazy world a little weirder than usual these days?

Twice today, I needed technical support. I try my best to answer my problems by reading and researching. I Google around to see if anyone else has the same problem. And, I look to see if there is an option or setting or widget or something I should have set because I’ve been known to miss the forest for the trees. But when all else fails and it is important to me, I ask for help.

Such was the case this morning. I knew I would need help last night, but decided to wait until this morning. I didn’t see the need to stir up some poor soul late at night for something which isn’t critical in the least. So, this morning, I write an email to support. I succinctly described my problem, told them where it was happening, showed them an example with a screenshot, and told them I read their blog entry describing the issue. I was in no hurry and figured I would receive a reply sooner or later.

A while later, my reply came in. Yea! I had some time to deal with the issue, so I was excited. I opened up the email. It wasn’t a long email, but it wasn’t a complicated problem. The first line apologized for the issue, which I pretty much expected. The second line told me to read their blog, and more specifically, the very blog post that I told them I just read. The third line informed me that I needed to do the very same steps that I told them I did as well as install one more piece of software.

Interestingly, this was the very same software that I was needing support for in the first place. In other words, they told me to do the very things that I told them I just did. Sigh. The person responding didn’t read an inch of what I wrote, other than the topic.

Helpfully, there was a Rate My Experience link at the bottom of the email, which I did. You can guess how that went. Perhaps this is the new normal in our too-hectic crazy world?

Then, later this morning, I started an online chat with another company. It was such a simple problem, or so I thought. A link on their website wasn’t working for my account, and I figured it was probably a simple solution. I also thought it would take five minutes, maybe less. How wrong I was.

The agent came online quick enough and asked what the problem was. I told them and pasted in the error so they could see. They asked where I saw the error. I responded that it was on their website. They asked me if I was logged in. I replied that I was indeed logged in. So far, this is pretty routine, but then we came to the circles in the conversation. They next asked me what the problem was, to which I repasted the error message. Then they asked me what website it was on, to which I responded it was their own.

For the third time, they asked me what the error was, and for the third time, I paste the error message. We went round and round, verifying the information time and again. Each time the replies came slower and slower, and if I had to guess they were juggling multiple people. It’s a pity they didn’t glance at the current conversation, though, to see what question they should ask next.

The result? They said that there was an error and I should try again. But, on the bright side, they would be happy to escalate the issue for me.

I merely thanked them for their time and ended the conversation. What else could I do? They didn’t ask me to rate their support, though. More’s the pity, I guess. However, I will be looking for alternatives to them, that’s for sure.

Anyway, is it just me, or is our crazy world just a little weirder than normal these days?