First snowboarding days of the year in Tahoe and… wow, what a weekend.  I
don’t think I’ve every seen that much snow in Tahoe.  It’s been dumping
non-stop since Friday morning and if you ignore the stormy conditions, it’s
snowboarding bliss up here.  The conditions being what they are, it’s the
third white-out in a row, which is particularly propitious for what I
affectionately call "faith-based snowboarding".

Basically, the sky and the snow merge into one giant white blur and no matter
how good your goggles are, you just can’t rely on your eyes to identify the
terrain as it unfolds in front of you.  All you can do is trust that there
will be as much powder ahead of you as there was behind you. 

It works…  most of the time.  When it doesn’t, it provides a
spectacular wipe-out for the viewers sitting on the chair lift above you (I’ve
even heard applauses on a few occasions) but even so, all you do is crash into
two feet of powder.  Could be worse…

I was trying to pull the record for my trip last week from Travelocity, which
is the site I used to make the reservation.  Since I was receiving a "trip not found" on the Web site
when I typed the trip ID, I decided to call them.  After thirty minutes on
hold (thank goodness for headsets), I finally reach a Real Human Being and I
explain my problem.

"I am trying to pull the record for a trip I made last week but I can’t
find it."

"That’s normal, it’s an old trip."

"You don’t keep records of past trips?!?"

"We do, but we don’t give access to this functionality."

"Why not?!?"

"It’s not needed."

"Well, I certainly need it now, and your competitors and other Web
sites keep track of past orders for the convenience of their users…"

"… <silence>…  Would you like me to email you a copy of your receipt,
sir?"

"Yes, that would be great."  <sigh>

Some companies really don’t get it.