Corporate Rants

Milk "Chocolate"

2011-12-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

Ugh... here are the ingredients of this brown product masquerading as milk chocolate. Oh, and the front label says "YUMMY MILKY & CHOCOLATY FLAVORED CANDY!" Apparently the "chocolaty" part is only the FAKE color.

INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, PARTIALLY-HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (PALM KERNEL AND/OR PALM), WHEY, SKIM MILK, U.S. CERTIFIED COLORS (FD&C YELLOW 6, YELLOW 5, BLUE 1, BLUE 2, AND RED 40 LAKES), SOY LECITHIN (AN EMULSIFIER), VANILLIN (AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR).

Not even an homeopathic amount of chocolate in there.

Eliot Spitzer spells it out

2011-12-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

Eliot Spitzer is very eloquent in describing what needs to happen with Wall Street and the OCCUPY movement. KQED Forum interview

Tony Kiritsis vs the Mortgage Banker

2011-11-30T00:09:00.000-08:00

Wired a shotgun to his neck and was on television for three days. see video

Annoying gifts

2011-11-25T10:46:00.001-08:00

A gift card that requires you to give the corporation your date of birth, address, phone number is an evil thing.

The Revolution is Love

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

My response to a video "There are a few good nuggets in here, but there is also a lot of idealistic vagueness that nearly submerges those nuggets. I think there are specific things that the movement does want, or at least that *I* think could be solutions. Number one is the changing legal structure of the corporation. A corporation is not a person, and under the current legal structure, a corporation is granted all the rights of citizenship with none of the responsibilities."

Which elicited: @DocSquat This video is trying to show you, in particular, that there's a bigger picture that you're not seeing. In the system the way it should be, it wouldn't matter whether a corporation is considered a person or not. ----beauxq 9 hours ago

@beauxq Oh my god! Thank you for revealing my blindness, I am still reeling from the lightning bolt of truth that has landed upon my consciousness from your wisdom. I will immediately sell all my worldly possessions, and not send worthless money, but shall buy a tanker of soup and have it delivered to your tent. I am sure you will use it wisely.

Credit Union - paper statements

2011-11-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

Today is the end of a transition. My credit union now gives you an "either" "or" option: If you don't agree to electronic statements, you can't use the web site for banking. Arg.

It's not that I don't like internet banking, it's just that I envision a day where I need to do something and for some reason, internet access is not working. Of course, getting a statement in the mail has nothing to do with whether I can make an online transaction. But despite occasional problems, for some reason I still trust the U.S. mail more than I trust having internet access?

Forty-some cents to mail a letter. Much more than that to maintain internet access.

Lose your password?

2011-11-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah right... a company that wants you to trust them will all your passwords has in its terms of service agreement "may terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately." Whoops - you no longer have any of your passwords. What a great service?!

Citibank doesn't love me

2011-10-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

But what should I expect? What should they expect? Less than two months after I open my account, they change the terms, requiring either direct deposit or $15,000 on deposit to avoid a $20/mo fee. When I opened it, $6,000 was sufficient, and I thought even that seemed a bit excessive.

So, yes, goodbye Citibank. I thought twice... hmmm, maybe I could open a money market or investment account to achieve the $15,000 instead of just having it sit there without getting interest? Well, they didn't seem very knowledgeable or enthusiastic about offering these other options, so adios. They're the kind of institution that would love to get you trapped so you can't move your money, and then screw you over. No thanks. Been there in another lifetime.

Identified - your entire life?!

2011-10-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

Identified.com is a company that is mining facebook data and "ranking" you as an employee for prospective employers. What does Identified show the Human Resources department that's thinking about hiring you? In order to find out, you have to link your FB account to their website - which gives them access to even more of your information!

Facebook effluvia

2011-10-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

The goal of the latest Facebook iteration is "frictionless" publishing to your feed. The problem that I see is that there is no personal editing of the flow - just because you read an article doesn't mean you'd reommend it. You'd have to comment "This article is a waste of time!" Link to article about Facebook and your feed.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

What would a change in the legal definition of a corporation actually look like, that would prioritize service to the citizens and government instead of the government and citizens serving corporations? Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

The Bailout (simplified)

2011-10-09T13:55:00.001-07:00

Ed Stein explains the bailout in simplified terms.

Sprint 4G... WARNING!!!

2011-10-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I thought I'd be an early adopter; try Sprint's Overdrive cell hub for home wifi. First problem - strangely, though the 3G signal is very strong at my house, the 4G signal is crap. But that's not the worst of it. The worst of it is that there's UNLIMITED DATA on 4G, but a cap on the 3G. And the 4G ALWAYS cuts out after less than 15 minutes and they switch you over to 3G. Ding. DING DING DING DING!!! Hundreds of dollars in overage fees unless you keep a tight watch on how much you're getting jacked for a service that doesn't work.

Yeah, they apologize "we're sorry - the signal just isn't good at your location." Yeah, fuckers. Any refund? Nope. A co-worker also did the same thing - in a totally different location - same rip-off. Think it will work for you because you have a good 3G signal? Think again. Sprint just blew a lot of money to get the new iPhone in their line-up, but guess what? It will only be 3G, not 4G. So much for getting my 4G beefed up to what it should have been in the first place.

Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah, some of Apple's product pricing strategy (do I want this product with more memory - or the next product higher in the line??) was a bit challenging, and the iPad control-freak thing seemed over-the-top... but after purchasing Android, I understand totally where that came from! So yeah... you gotta give a lot of credit to a guy who was thrown out of his own company.

Citibank shows the banker's heart

2011-10-05T20:41:00.001-07:00

dicks. One month after I open an account, Citibank changes the terms of the account - adding fees, of course.

Social networking sites

2011-10-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Just remember - you're not the customer; you're the commodity. Internet firms co-opted for surveillance: experts

Railroaded!

2011-09-28T21:00:00.001-07:00

This is a great discussion of the railroad tycoons and their similarities with modern "too big to fail" banks.
Railroaded

Transit self-destruction

2010-01-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

MUNI jacked up prices for riders again. People unfortunate enough to have auto-pay into a Translink account got seriously jacked, as the powers that be decided to auto-deduct the highest possible pass price (went from $55 to $70) with very little notice. The one announcement was sent via email during the Christmas break, two weeks before the change took affect -- not good for anyone gone on vacation or needing to adjust pre-tax deductions. Many riders would probably opt for the $60 pass over the $70 one, the difference being the ability to also use it on BART but ONLY within city limits (there are plenty of buses that run the same route).

MTA spokesman John Goodwin said "his department hasn't received any complaints." Clearly these are the type of executives who make decisions to improve their short-term gain without thinking about the long-term effect on ridership or participation in Translink, which has had two decades to gain customers, but still seems to be floundering. Wonder why?

Pre-tax Flex Spending Account

2010-01-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

Be prepared to be EXTREMELY proactive if you think you're going to get all the money back that you put into your Flex Spending Account. As you get to the end of the year, if a charge is over what's left,(on the credit card they give you), the charge will bounce. So you'll need to charge the EXACT amount (we'll see if that works).

I write this as I'm on the line with "customer service" to find out if I'll be issued a new charge card for the following year. I've already punched about 5 phone tree options, one of the options doesn't clarify itself until you've failed three times, I've heard about 5 recordings, and now I'm at the ominous "silence" after which I anticipate getting hung up on - bingo. In the time it took me to write that, I heard a click and lost connection.

Second call, I reach the a raspy-voice sounds like heavy smoker who won't help me unless I provide my account number or social security number. The account number is on paperwork they sent a year ago, NOT on the credit card they issue. I don't want to endure hold again to dig through my old paperwork, so I give my social security number and complete information she needs to set up a false identity.

She informs me that even though the credit card they issue says it expires end of month, it's actually worthless and I have to submit a MANUAL claim for the end of year expenses (which I actually have until March to make). This entire interaction makes my head hurt, and realize that the amount of "tax savings" involved in these pre-tax "benefits" is not enough to pay for the time spent trying to straighten out the accounts involved.

Telecoms = institutional assholes

2009-07-31T22:43:00.001-07:00

I had some notion that there was a reason for them blathering on in the voicemail, though my Earthlink account is worse than my cell account.

blog post: Wasting your cell phone minutes

Good Corp, Bad Corp

2009-07-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

(deleted expletive). That's my feelings about Conexis, a company handling UCSF flex-spending accounts (pre-tax benefits for health care and child care).

From a Walgreen's drugstore receipt, you can see the annotations next to items reimbursable via a flex account. More stuff than I imagined -- contact lens solution, aspirin. So I get a letter from Conexis: AUDIT -- they want my receipts to prove what the money was spent on. I was worried about all those little Walgreen items, but never fear, they don't care about those small potatoes. They want the receipt for the BIG item -- CONTACT LENSES, which is the reason I opened the account in the first place. Never mind that the audit page says the the money went to an OPTOMETRY OFFICE -- a reimbursable expense. They want my receipt and are threatening to cancel the credit card if I can't produce it. Oh sure, I know they say to keep all receipts, but it seems a little suspicious that they're asking me to produce a receipt, and threatening cancellation about it, when the item on their very audit print-out says it's to an optometry clinic. (and this is my own money anyway -- set aside ahead of time for health care expenses). (deleted expletive).

An the other hand -- GOOD COMPANY -- while at Walgreens I picked up some hair conditioner, in part because there was a tag on it that says "this bottle FREE -- just send in tag for rebate." I sent in the tag, and wow -- before the bottle is even half-empty, I am reimbursed for the product. Organix hair conditioner. Smells good too !

San Francisco Taxi Medallions

2009-04-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Outside of drug dealers sweeping into town from Richmond or Oakland, taxi drivers are the next rudest class of drivers in San Francisco.

Part of this is the fault of the city, and its medallion policy. From what I understand, possessing a taxi medallion theoretically is proof that one is suitable for operating a cab. However, the way the system works is that medallion holders actually rent their cabs out to other drivers, who may have no qualifications.

Instead of the city making money by charging a larger number of drivers to get qualifications, a limited number of medallions are issued, and the medallion holders make money renting to unqualified drivers. What's wrong with this picture? Well, riders and visitors to the fair city are putting their lives into the hands of questionable characters, and people walking or riding bicycles on the streets are subject to idiot drivers who are either rushing off to find a new fare, assuming their passenger wants to get somewhere in a hurry, swerving around making U-turns in congested areas, or sitting in the bike lane waiting for a fare or dropping one off.

This is an easily fixed problem. Make every driver get qualified and responsible for their actions. Let the city make the money instead of the taxi-lords.

Bed Bath & Beyond

2009-04-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Today in Bed Bath & Beyond, I experienced the major omen of bad management: not one but TWO sales associates who offered to help, but were actually useless in the help they offered. I was looking for a specific type of shower curtain. The first clerk gave me broadly sweeping directions -- oh, there are more around the corner. The second clerk gave me a blatant misdirection, "everything we have *should* be hanging up on display."

After looking through everything hanging on display around the section, I was about ready to give up, then noticed, second time through, that there were other shower curtains on the shelves that WEREN'T part of the display.

I had faith that the shower curtain I was looking for was probably available. That makes TWO sales associates that BB&Beyond is wasting money paying to wander around the store.

Reminds me of something I read this morning about CompUSA -- another company that was rife with sales help running around the store too busy to actually assist customers (it always seemed they were running in some official "pack" on business, or headed off to their break). They deserved to go out of business.

US workers get the shaft?

2008-12-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

Interesting... So workers in other countries get healthcare through the government. Well, workers in US plants owned by foreign auto companies probably get healthcare too... we hope??
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Condition of Bush's bail-out plan for automakers:
The United Auto Workers union will be asked to rework contracts to make wages and work rules comparable with those at nonunion plants in the U.S. owned by foreign automakers by Dec. 31, 2009.
White House rescue plan for US auto industry SFGATE