okay, that's enough of that

That's all the positive stuff I have time for right now. Back to things I'd like to whine about...

At the Sacramento International Airport, there is one onsite gas station. Who do you think they gave the franchise to? I'll tell you: to AM/PM, the one station in the entire country that DOESN'T TAKE CREDIT CARDS. Am I the only person who thinks this is the most ridiculous decision ever? Q: Who's filling up at that station? A: People returning rental cars. Q: What are 99% of car rentals done on? A: On a company credit card. If there was ever in the history of man a prediction you could make about your target market, it would be that the people returning their cars WILL WANT TO USE THEIR BLANKING CREDIT CARDS TO PAY FOR THEIR GAS. Okay, so that's that, then.

As for Alamo (the car rental company, not the fort), here's a sneaky thing they do: if you upgrade your rental from, say, a midsize to a fullsize, they charge an extra $9 per day. The sneaky thing is they itemize the "car class change" as a separate item, chargeable once per 24-hr day. So if you return your car two days and two hours after you rent it (like I did), you pay for two days at the old rate, plus two hours at the hourly rate, plus THREE days of "car class change".
And it's not the nine bucks -- it's not even my money, the client pays it -- but to me it represents an attitude toward your customer (ie, hold still while I gouge you) that I dont' like. I think it's representative of a company that just doesn't get it.
And speaking of not getting it, I very friendlily explained to the mgr at the desk that in case she cared, that policy would be causing me to rent somewhere else next time. She looked at my contract and informed me that "No, we charged you what you agreed to." Which was not my point, of course -- I had started off by explaining that I wasn't suggesting anyone had cheated me, or that the bill was wrong -- I just wanted her to know that a former customer (a tiny piece of the market share they spend millions of $ every year fighting for) was leaving. Here was an actual customer they had already earned, who was taking the time to explain what he wanted in a car rental company, and whom they could keep if they wanted to -- all it would cost them would be a little under nine bucks. She suggested I call the customer service number to voice my complaint. Which is something I might do IF I WAS STILL A CUSTOMER, but since I'm NOT STILL A CUSTOMER, why would I take the time? Okay.

And another thing: I've mentioned this before, but what is it with people who have to stake out a spot at the baggage carousel right where the bags come out? Are they afraid someone else is going to jump in and take their bag if they don't grab it right away? Do they think there's a prize for getting your bag first? My new policy is this: when I see my bag come down the chute onto the carousel, I elbow my way through the people standing glued to the prime spots and pick up my bag. Then I wait for someone to say something so I can say "Well, since your bag ISN'T here, and my bag IS, I thought maybe I would pick it up." It helps to be 200 lbs and 6'3" in cowboy boots.

Finally: we need a program to make old people not have their mouths open so much while they're driving or looking at things. It's starting to bug me.