Sourpuss' Rants

Gillian's Island Movie

2010-03-10T18:11:00.001-07:00

Word is buzzing that someone is interested in making a Gillian's Island movie. This got me thinking about who I would like to see play the different roles.

Skipper - David Ogden Stiers, Martin Lawrence, Mandy Patinkin,

Gillian - Kerr Smith, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jason Ritter

Professor - William Katt, Leo DiCaprio, Joshua Malina

Marrianne - Pauley Perrette, Kaley Cuoco, Danica Patrick

Ginger - Marilu Henner, Demi Moore , Lauren Holly, Katey Sagal, Amy Yasbeck, Allison Janney

Mr. Howell - Robert Redford, Kelsey Grammer, Tim Curry, John Larroquette

Mrs. Howell Angela Lansbury, Doris Roberts

Guest natives Gabrielle Anwar, Craig Bierko

Guest Star Michael J. Fox

Who would you like to see play the different roles?

Employee Abuse; A Two-way Street

2010-02-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Most people think of employee abuse as a customer abusing an employee or a management person abusing a lower level employees. There are another forms of employee abuse. These include when an employee abuses customers, vendors and anyone else they deal with while doing their job. I recently was subjected to employee abuse as a vendor to a business.

I did the yearly book reset in a store. I had 12 boxes of books to ship back. My paperwork requires the RTV clerk to scan out the books and generate a report with RTV numbers I need. I did the reset Thursday and was informed by the RTV clerktht she had other things to do besides RTV work and would get to it later in the day. I told her I would be back the next morning to finish my work. I had to reschedule some of my Friday appointments to accommodate this change.

Friday morning rolled around. I walked in the building behind her. She went straight to the employee lounge. I waited 30 minutes at her cage and still no RTV clerk. I went to the employee lounge to find her brushing her hair and catching up on the morning gossip with a co-worker. She again informed me that she had things other than RTV work to do and she would shortly come print out the reports I needed. 35 minutes later she finally arrives at her cage. I should have already been done and heading for my next appointment.

She then tells me she has to enter the books into her gun before she can print anything for me. She had previously stated she just needed to print the reports. So I am not only being delayed by her but also lied to. It took her another hour to enter the books and print my reports. When I asked for key req numbers required by my company, I was informed in a very nasty voice "Jerry could have gotten those for you". All she had to do was enter my purchase order number to find the key req. It took all of 30 seconds of her time.

After two hours of dealing with the RTV clerk, I could finally start to complete my work. It took me about 50 minutes to finish up. While I was finishing my work, I heard her abuse a fellow employee who needed her to do an RTV so he could complete his job. She informed him she has more than RTV things to do and she would get to it when she got to it.

My one hour job became three hours. The delay caused by this one abusing RTV clerk caused me to have to call again and reschedule appointments. I lost over $50 of income and looked bad with my other clients because of one business's abusive employee.

Options Other Than Presidential Election Campaign Fund Donations

2010-02-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

The only option on my tax return is Presidential Election Campaign Fund with the following provision. The Presidential Election Campaign Fund reduces candidates' dependence on large contributions from individuals and groups and places candidates on an equal footing in the general election. If you or your spouse would like to designate $3 to the fund, please check the applicable box. Checking a box below will not change your tax or refund.

It would to nice to see other options like an emergency relief fund or national debt relief. Such additional options would allow American tax payers to be donated to more than a presidential election fund. Granted, a non-government agency would be better to handle the funds as the IRS still cannot balance their books.

We have seen how $5 or $10 donations add up with the recent fund raising for Haiti. It would be nice to see funds raised to help improve situations in America.

Bringing the Bicameral Legislature of the Federal Government into the 21st Century

2010-02-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

The bicameral legislature of the Federal Government was created during a time when it took days or weeks for the average American citizen to get news of events outside their town or county. The method of having a few select people represent Americans was realistic then. In this day and age of electronic communications, this method is now obsolete. Each American can represent themselves without the middlemen.

Granted changing the process would put an end to the livelihood of Congress and Lobbyists. It would takes the billions of dollars used by them and put it back in the hands of average citizen. There would be no more special retirement funds, special health care system, bills filled with add-ons to get votes, supporting two or more residences, lavish trips and campaign costs to name a few.

Americans can represent themselves the same way they vote on American Idol. We have the technology so why not let Americans use it to voice their actual opinions instead of allowing someone to do it for them.

Finding Employment

2010-02-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to see all these people who cannot find work. Yes, jobs are scarce but they are available. Even my recent quest for employment was a bit trying. I received one job offer in my field at such a low salary that I would be making less than $5 an hour. This resulted in me seeking jobs via the Internet. Need less to say I am now employed by several companies. These companies are paying from $8 to $14 an hour.

The jobs I am referring to are in the merchandising / demonstration field. These companies are screaming for reliable employees who can work with minimal supervision and willing to learning new things. Most require a computer, Internet connection, digital camera, access to fax machine (or all-in-one printer with fax option), dependable car and ability to follow simple instructions.

The type of spot jobs some companies have paid me to do include price checking 4 types of soup ($5 for 10 minutes), reset furnace filter displays ($24 for 45 minutes), bi-monthly checks on Sony electronics ($10 for 1 hour), reset printer display ($10 an hour), build furniture (piece work at various rates) and check store displays ($5 to $12 for 10 minutes to 30 minutes). Other companies are paying between $8 and $10 an hour to straighten and stock their products on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

These companies generally do not pay mileage or the cost of printing their paperwork. This is great for me come tax time. I can deduct my Internet cost, printer paper and ink, mileage on my vehicle and other supplies as these are required by my employers.

If you are interested in working outside your normal field of employment or just looking for part-time work, check out National Association for Retail Marketing Services and AllRetailJobs.com.

Hotel Loyalty

2009-06-23T11:29:00.000-06:00

For years, my husband and I have stayed at Best Westerns. Usually we get a decent room at a good rate. With the customer rewards card we have earned several free nights. That has come to an end. We recently paid over $159 a night for a Best Western room that had wallpaper peeling, doors missing locks and ceiling falling in.

For our recent trip from New Mexico to California for a job test, I used Priceline to get our rooms. I got rooms at Hotel Arizona in Tuscon and Radisson Suites in Covina for $38 a night plus taxes. Both hotels blow Best Western out of the water. The best was the Radisson Suites with great wireless internet access, 2 TVs, pool, spa and kitchenette. The regular price for the Radisson Suite was $87 plus taxes. Still a better bang for my buck than Best Western.

Sore Head

2009-05-01T10:14:00.001-06:00

My head is so sore from beating on google to get access back to this blog. I finally succeeded today. Now I can post more of my rants. I am sure a few of you have missed them.

Performance Based Bonuses

2009-02-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

The concept is good but in practice it has been proven to not work. People have done whatever it takes to get performance based bonuses. This has included falsifying documents, fudging the numbers, creating shell companies, ponzi schemes and hiding losses to just name a few.

Energy

Oil industry did whatever they had to to hit bonuses in the 1970s. Some even went so far as to dump tankers of oil in the desert to create a shortage of fuel. The direct result was higher prices to the US public. Then we had Enron and the games their employees played. Bouncing electricity back and forth between different states creating a false shortage to increase prices. California has paid outrageous power prices created by those bonuses.

Real Estate

Realty agents and realty appraisers started inflating property values so they could get a more money from their sales. It took a few years before sub-prime mortgage companies appeared on the scene to get their share of performance bonuses. The outcome of these performance bonuses is hundreds of thousands of consumers with mortgage that are underwater.

Banks & Credit Card Companies

Banks and credit card companies got sucked into lending more and more money without being realistic in the effect it would have on businesses. They learned that charging high interest rates allowed them to generate growth to meet performance bonus requirements.

The average consumer has been the loser when it comes to bonuses based mainly on performance. There needs to be some form of checks and balances when it comes to employee bonuses. Limiting the amount would be a good first step.

Foreign Workers in the US

2009-02-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

It seems businesses want more and more foreign employees brought into the US. I am all for it as long as there are 2 Americans are granted foreign work visas in other countries. For example, for each scientist brought to the US on a work visa, 2 American scientists would receive visas to work outside the US. It is reasonable to assume that if foreign workers want to work in US, then there are American workers wishing to work in other countries.

This would mean that if there are 5 Chinese seeking US work visas, China would have to offer up 10 work visas for US citizens. So many of our jobs have already been sent overseas. It is time for us start sending American workers to those jobs. If a country will not allow Americans to work there then we should not allow citizens of that country to work in the US.

Stimulus Watch

2009-02-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Stimulus Watch dot org allows you to see many of the programs that could easily get money from the stimulus package. This site was created by the Obama administration to help track where the money goes and to hold public officials accountable for the funds. Listed are projects in the following programs:

Airport (529 projects)
Amtrak (50 projects)
CDBG (4028 projects)
Energy (1378 projects)
Housing (634 projects)
Public Safety (1505 projects)
Schools (1066 projects)
Streets/Roads (4724 projects)
Transit (807 projects)
Water (4029 projects)

This site allows you vote for or against the project, post a comment, edit the description and add pros and cons to the project. I feel this is a great tool for Joe American to let the government know how they feel about where money should be spent on "shovel ready" projects around the country.

Others have taken the time to create a map that compares jobs created by the projects to unemployment rates across the US. It is interesting to see the correlation in a graphic format.

Now is the time to use this site to let your opinion be heard.

Praising Good Customer Service

2009-02-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

It is too easy to get hung up on the negative experiences we have as a customer. We forget to let people know when we receive excellent customer service. One company that can be proud of their customer service is Olive Garden. I have eaten at several Olive Gardens in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Texas. The service and food has always been outstanding.

It is normal to leave a nice tip if you like the service when dining out. That is as far as most people go towards acknowledging good customer service. Last week my husband and I had lunch at an Olive Garden in Humble, TX. It is a great experience from the time we walked in the door. We were seated quickly. Our waitress, Ashley, was friendly and attentive. The food was exquisite. Just leaving a tip did not seem to be enough.

As we were leaving, I asked speak with the manager. You should have seen the looks between the employees. The thoughts of "What did we do wrong?", "Was something wrong with the food?" and "Who messed up?" could easily be seen on their faces. I patiently waited for the manager to appear. Even the manager was apprehensive as to what form of complaint I was going to have. Instead of a complaint, I shook her hand and congratulated her on the awesome service and food we had received. You could have knocked her and the employees over with a feather. A customer had taken the time to personally thank them for an excellent dining experience.

Remember when you are dining out to not get trapped in the tunnel view of what was wrong. Take the time to find the good things that occur during your experience. Inform the manager when you have a good experience.

Outrageous Bonuses for Executives

2009-02-05T02:37:00.000-07:00

President Obama has the right idea by capping the bonuses for the executives of the companies receiving bailout funds. $500,000 is a good limit. Enforcing it may be an issue but there are simple ways to ensure compliance. One would be "special performance bonus taxes" on bonuses over $500,000 for both the company and the employee.

The employee would have to pay 50% on every dollar over the $500,000 limit. This tax would be separate from income tax and non-refundable. The tax rate for the business would be 100% for each dollar over the limit and also non-refundable. Income generated from this tax would go directly to paying off the national debt.

Let's use a $6,000,000 bonus to a CEO for an example. A bonus of that size would generate $8,250,000 payment towards the national debt; $5,500,000 from the business and $2,750,000 from the CEO. Looking at past outrageous bonuses given by businesses applying for bailout funds, the national debt could be paid off in just a couple of years.

If the company can only afford a total of $6,000,000 in bonuses for that employee then they need to pay the employee $3,250,000 and a tax of $2,750,000. The employee would pay $1,375,000. This would still generate $4,125,000 for the national debt. It is simple, if a business firmly believes that someone has performed well enough to get an obscene bonus, then national debt should also benefit from this stellar performer.

US Chief Performance Officer

2009-02-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

I would like to throw my hat in the ring for this position. I have never had household employees so there are no issues with their pay. I have never made over $50,000 a year so there is no way I could have an unpaid tax bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I do have a BS in Management / IT Management and I have successfully managed a business. I more qualified than many other for this position. I have had to live with failure of many government departments not performing their jobs. All government agencies should always do everything for the American citizens as if they were shareholders in the company. Technically speaking they are but this fact is forgotten amidst all the brown nosing and political games being played by the old boy network. Their "What's in it for me?", "Who will get me what?" and "Give me more" attitudes have gotten us where we are today.

It is time for red-blooded, hard working Americans to take control of their government and hold them accountable. I am willing to use my gray matter for this purpose. President Obama give me the chance to help build America into a country we can be proud of again.

Made in USA

2009-01-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

With this current economic situation, I feel the simplest thing I can do to help is to start buying products that say "Made in USA" on them. I am sick of the USA being shipped overseas one dollar at a time. I will no longer buy products made in another country. This also means I will not be buying products that just say "Marketed by ...." or " Manufactured for..." I want to see that "Made in USA" on the label.

By doing this I am supporting the companies that are using American work force. I do not have to buy anything that was made outside the USA. I realize this is hard to do. Some products are built in the USA but the components may have been made outside the country. It is worth the time and energy to look at the label to support our fellow US workers.

Sometimes my decision means I have to pay more for the product. I know that the extra money is going to support US businesses and workers. Here is a recent example from my local WalMart. I paid $.97 for Idahoan Mashed Potatoes that were made in the USA instead of $.72 for Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes that said "Manufactured for....". I know I paid a quarter more for the product I bought but I feel proud to have spent the American money on an American product.

As more people start doing this, it will cause a decrease in the demand for foreign made products and an increase demand for American made products. This will then create more jobs here instead of overseas. This is one of the simplest ways a regular American citizen can help the current economy.

Browser Jacking by ICQ

2009-01-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have used ICQ for years. I decided to install it on my newer computer. I was shocked to see that it changed my homepage, search engine and added a toolbar without informing me of such changes. NOT COOL! BAD ICQ!

I used to be able to comfortably recommend ICQ to family and friends. Those days are now gone after this experience. I cannot promote any product that believe they have the right to change my computer settings without an opt-out option during installation.

As can be seen by my ICQ number (153243) I was one of the first users. I never had to worry about ICQ. It was safe and above board. Times appear to have changed. Now ICQ has joined the ranks of browser jackers. It is a sad day to see another good software product has been corrupted.

Insurance Drug Programs and Deals with Pharmaceutical Companies

2009-01-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago my husband was prescribed Crestor for his high cholesterol. After 6 months, our prescription drug program provider sent us a letter stating they would not be offering Crestor anymore. We had to change his medication to Vytorin. These two drugs aren't even the same and are made by different companies. Crestor is a rosuvastatin calcium drug made by AstraZeneca. Vytorin is an ezetimibe with simvastatin manufactured by Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals.

Last month we get another letter that our provider will not longer cover Vytorin and that he needs to switch back to Crestor. This is not based on anything our doctor has told us or any research done with these drugs. It appears to be based on which pharmaceutical company is offering them the best price. I am waiting on them to send a similar letter about my Advicor.

Now I'm really steaming. I reviewed our prescription purchases and it seems that our drug insurance is charging us more than the store would for the Vytorin. We had been paying $30 for a 30 day supply. Then I noticed it jumped to $60 during the middle of the year. I checked and it seems that if I pay regular price at WalMart it would have only cost $38.19 for a 30 day supply. So we have been getting over-charged by $21.81 a month for his prescription because we have a drug program.

I have found a solution after doing research on the varies cholesterol drugs available. It seems Crestor, Advicor and Vytorin are just newer, more expensive versions of old standards like lovastatin, simvastatin and rosuvastatin. Some have niacin added. WalMart offers lovastatin at $4 for 30 days or $10 for 90 days. So why pay these outragous prices for name brand drugs. Niacin isn't that expensive. This means I can buy a year's supply for both my husband's and I for less than we were spending for 3 months of his medication.

Do not let your insurance programs or doctors decide how much you need to be spending on medication. Research your options. These options for us will result in major savings. Total cost per year for my husband and I is now $165 a year for lovastatin and niacin. We spent $1110 last year for the name brand drugs and only saw a slight improvement in our cholesterol levels. We should be able to receive the same or better results with the generic versions of our medications. The $945 not lining drug manufacturers' pockets in 2009 will be put to more practical use by us.

Customer Service

2009-01-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

Many businesses have forgotten that good customer service leads to return business and word of mouth advertising. Many companies I have dealt with in the past few years have treated me as if I was something the cat dragged in. I have received the same treatment whether I was complaining, complimenting or paying them. It was as if I was an inconvenience, bothering the employees while they chit chatted.

Since when has my money not mattered to a business' bottom line? Where have even the basic manners gone? I don't enough digits to count how many times I have not been greeted by a cashier. Several are too busy talking or texting on their cell phone to give me the time of day. Some have been so busy talking that they never said a word to me. They rang up my purchase, took my money and gave me my change without a word to me, the paying customer, the reason they have a job.

Companies need to go back to basic in training employees. If an employee cannot maintain good customer service, they should not be given pay raises and promotions. Proper customer service must start with managers and co-workers. When company employees treat each other as customers, it trickles out to the paying customers. This means being respectful and courtesy to each other. Years ago I was taught that if a manager takes care of the employees and customers, the money will take care of itself. Following this philosophy I was able to run 30+% operating profit month to month. Customer loyalty was seen in the 46.5% sales growth my first yeer. If I can do that with only a high school diploma then why can't these businessmen with MA in business do the same thing?

Seen in a fortune cookie "It is nice to work with happy people. Be one!"

Cost of Doing Business

2009-01-19T19:27:00.001-07:00

It used to be that any company in business knew they would have standard expenses including bank fees and administrative costs. Nowadays these fees have been passed down to the consumer. If I pay my mortgage payment with a check over the phone, I have a service fee anywhere from $5 to $12 added to my payment. If I speak to a real person, there is another fee added in the $10 range. If I use a credit/debt card to make my payment, there is a different service fee applied.

I was taught that businesses normally covered these costs with the income their business generated. Now everything is an added fee. I can no longer walk into an office and pay my mortgage payment with cash, I have to use check, e-check or credit/debt card. All, of course, for a fee.

It seems that somewhere someone got the bright idea of passing these fees onto the consumers. There are way too many businesses "feeing" consumers into debt. It has come down to using any product or service includes a fee. Then they add another fee when you pay them.
Do any of these fees go pay higher wages to their employees? No, they go to help someone meet their goals for a bonus and/or promotion.

Where is my bonus or promotion from all these fees I pay? Am I suppose to feel good because Mr. Middle-management made quota and got a $10,000 bonus when I don't know if I'll be able to make next month's house payment? These are the same type of managers who are getting government bailouts. Applying fees didn't cover their greedy little hands well enough so now we, the tax-paying consumers, must hand them more money. I feel any company receiving bailout money should not be allow to charge us fees for every little business expense they occur. We have earned the right to "feeless" goods and services by allowing them to use our tax dollars to keep their businesses open.