SF Thoughts and KFC's Promise

Today is Monday. Tomorrow is Tuesday. The day after is Wednesday. And the next day I’ll be leaving for San Francisco.

Am I scared? Yes.

The easy answer is the weather, which they’re now forecasting rain for the entire week, Monday to Friday. But that’s not it…I don’t think.

It might be the unplanned stuff or something not working out right or me losing something/forgetting to bring something.

The truth is, I don’t know what it is. It’s just a general fear. And maybe it’s the expectation factor. I didn’t go anywhere last year and the last place I went was on a road trip to St. Louis where all I really did was wander around a park, go up the arch and watch baseball. The last time I flew anywhere was to Boston (the trip where I got pulled out of line and had a slight altercation with a TSA official).

Maybe it’s the feeling that this had better be good because how long it’s been and how long it could be before I get to do something like this again.

Today, and the last couple days, I’ve been mainly preparing for coming back. Washing clothes so I don’t have a giant stockpile for when I get back. Tomorrow I’ll be pre-packing, so I can know what I’m bringing and how everything fits together.

As for the planning, there’s really nothing else I can (reasonably) do. I’ve done all the research, printed all the pages, and planned the best I could. There’s only so much planning you can do before you just let go.

I think one concern I have, and have had for a while, is that I don’t want this to be a trip where I hit point after point and the vacation is more of a checklist and I come back and either I’ve hit all the checkpoints or I didn’t. Those aren’t usually fun. This is about being away and I need to feel that. Running from point to point is just another kind of job. I’m concerned that I’m missing the spirit of a vacation.

I don’t want to come back and feel that I left something major out but I don’t want to come back so worn out that I almost regret going.

I just want this to be good.

101% Satisfaction Guarantee

I was in the drive-thru at KFC and I noticed a sign on the window that stated something like ‘Customers should be 101% satisfied with their visit.’ I don’t understand this. I mean, obviously, someone can only be 100% of anything within themselves. If they’re completely satisfied, then they’re 100% satisfied.

Yet, you hear about give 110% or 150% of yourself all the time. But KFC doesn’t go for the standard cliché. Instead, they settle on having the customer be 101% satisfied. And I felt slightly offended. If it had been 100%, I wouldn’t’ve thought anything. Had it been 110% or 150% or 200%, I would’ve probably rolled my eyes but there seems to be a certain amount of resignation in saying 101%.

They’re just shooting for 1% more than what you expected. For instance, I expect between two and three napkins. They gave me 15. That translates to about a percent. So I guess I’m 101% satisfied.

Final Thoughts

A man shot himself in a theater while watching ‘Watchmen.’ It just shows that seeing a naked blue man on screen affects people in different ways.