Friday, August 21, 2009

Swiss Fish

Today's Annoyance: That I have confused the meaning of the word efficiency for making life easier.
Mantra of the Day: Gold fish crackers are just as good as the real thing.

I am currently in Switzerland on what I like to call the "Ava Pierce World Tour". This tour is nothing official or anything. I'm just trying to make the world a better place by sharing my presence with as many people as possible. (hehehe - No, I could never take myself that seriously.)

Since I've been country-hopping as of late, I decided to have something familiar with me to add to my hotel room, which are all starting to look the same. Believe it or not, I'm searching for a gold fish. I was staying at a hotel in Chicago a few months back (Hotel Monaco) and they supplied every room with a goldfish for the length of your stay. The staff took care of it so it was no trouble to maintain, but it was such a nice touch that I started to get attached to the fish. He was my travel companion for the few days that I was there and I ended up being much sadder to leave than I care to admit.

Now that I'm in Zurich with some free time, I decided to buy a goldfish. Since I'll be traveling to my next few destinations by train, it would be cool to have a little pet that doesn't require the same upkeep as a dog. I searched the Internet for a local pet shop that sells them, but when I arrived, not only had it started to pour down with rain, they didn't have any goldfish, or fish of any kind for that matter. They referred me to another shop twenty minutes down the road and by this point, I was determined not to return back to the hotel with a fish in tow. When I got there, they did have fish, but no small fish bowls to put them in. When I asked about buying one, they said that they would only sell me a goldfish if I had a completely kitted out tank that was at least a meter long. Well, since this was apparently the only place in town that sells both fish and tanks, I could only buy the fish and not a home for him to sleep in. Fun.

Whatever happened to making the customer happy? When I was a kid, getting a goldfish just seemed so much simpler. I assumed that efficiency meant making your life easier, but I guess that is not always the case.


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