Creative Marketing.

The last couple of weeks I have not been the person who puts out the new releases. They have had me working in other departments instead of electronics. Had I been the one putting them out I would've mentioned this on Tuesdays post about new releases. Paranormal Activity 3 is available only in a Blu-ray/DVD combo. What they don't tell people is that the DVD by itself will be available on February 10. This is the third time that I have seen that happen. The other two releases were by Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and the re-release of The Lion King. In both of those cases, the DVD was released about a month after the combo.

What they are doing is basically shoving Blu-ray down your throat. It is inevitable that DVD will be gone, my estimation is two years. Right now the hangup is the cost of a Blu-ray player, which continues to drop. Once you have an assortment of models under $50, then DVD will be gone. The same thing happened when the format was switched from VHS to DVD. One of the nice things about Blu-ray is that your regular DVDs will play on them. I do not like this tactic, but I think will be seeing a lot more of it in the future. One of the reasons it is happening is that DVD is no longer the cash cow that it once was, and the movie studios are doing everything they can to increase their revenue. I will be keeping an eye on this and any time that I find it is happening in the future I will be mentioning it. It is not a real hindrance to me personally because I rarely buy anything when it comes out. I would much rather wait until the price goes down to about $10. That is what keeps my inner Jack Benny very happy.

Overreaction.

An elementary teacher for the Gwinnett County, Georgia school district has resigned due to some poorly worded math problems that were assigned to some students. The questions attempted to teach a little history as well as math. His question about Frederick Douglass was in poor taste. The question asked "If Frederick got to beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in a week?    In two weeks?" Why he thought that was a good idea, he has not explained. He did say his intentions were good, and when the controversy came out, he turned in his resignation before it was asked for. I really don't think he should of had to resign, but some kind of punishment was called for. A suspension without pay could have covered that. Of course, since he did resign it is a moot point. That is not the overreaction that I was referring to with the subject of this post. The overreaction is mentioned in the story where some parents are now requesting that counseling be made available to the students who received these questions. It is ridiculous to believe that simply reading that question would emotionally scar a child. It would not surprise me for a lawsuit to end up being filed over this. It is an unfortunate happening, but life really will go on.

The second overreaction took place at a Subway in South Carolina. A 19-year-old employee there made sandwiches for his friends and charged them $1.50. It's not clear how many friends were involved but instead of firing the young man, the manager had him arrested. I agree that the young man was in the wrong, but having him arrested is going a little too far. I can only assume that this was done as a warning to the other employees, but unless he had 50 friends in there being fired should have covered everything. The way the story reads it was a one time occurrence. Why the harshness in dealing with it only the manager can explain.

Fines for Singing.

Most people agree that the Star-Spangled Banner is a very difficult song to sing. There's been a lot of press about the way certain celebrities have sang it. An Indiana State senator is trying to get a bill passed that would find any performer $25 if they don't meet certain criteria with the way they perform the song. Any place where the anthem is sung would be required to keep recordings of it for two years. The bill is good intentioned, but wrong on so many levels. First of all, who sets the standard as to the way the songs to be sung? Secondly, who then judges whether or not the performance was within the standards? What one person deems as good, another may loathe. I like Barry Manilow, but you won't hear him on my friend Don Colletts' radio station, Project 42. The person judging the performance may simply not like the artist and will hit them with a $25 fine just for that reason. I would be greatly surprised if this bill actually becomes law.

In business news, I read where the Hostess company has fallen on hard times and has filed for bankruptcy. They just emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 and things are still not going well for them. Hopefully they will recover this time and continue to produce their tasty treats for a long time. After all, without their help, how would superheroes ever defeat super villains?

Whatever happened on Facebook on Wednesday seems to have been corrected. I was able to post a link to this blog on my page yesterday. Things have really quieted down at work, which is a good thing. The next big event will be inventory, which should be in March. Also, I am once again beginning to feel like a human being, having spent the last week with a nasty cold. Next week I am planning on finally starting my other blog, The 1956 Adventure. I reserved the title almost 2 years ago and it's now time to get busy on it. My goal is to have two posts a week on it. It will mainly be about the 1956 Topps baseball card set. I will post a picture of the card and talk a little bit about the player. I'll put a link here when I begin.

Vader Burger Anyone?

If that burger with the black bun looks good to you then you need to get in touch with your travel agent right away. It is only available at the Quick restaurant chain located in France, Belgium, and several other foreign countries. It would have been nice had they checked on the spelling of Vader before they came up with their advertising, but you can't have everything. As you can see by the ad it is timed in with the release of Star Wars Episode One in 3-D. I don't think I would care for the bun, but to each his own.

One other news item that caught my attention is an eBay dealer is trying to get a class-action lawsuit filed against eBay. What has upset him, is the eBay feature of maximum bidding. It is his belief that the bidder should pay that amount instead of the amount that the auction ends on. I don't think he has a full understanding of what an auction is all about. I have used that feature many times. When bidding, I decide exactly how much an item is worth to me, and what the most am willing to pay for it is. If I get outbid I let the item go. Even though I'm willing to pay a certain amount for anything I bid on, if I can get it for less I'm not going to complain. It is no different than if you go to a live auction where you don't tell the auctioneer how much you're willing to spend. I don't see any way that this person is can win this suit. It is not surprising that it was filed in California, where several suits a been filed against cereal companies because somebody discovered that crunch berries weren't real, and that Froot Loops are not made of real fruit.

Find A Different Profession.

A man who work for Target in Omaha, Nebraska, is protesting the fact that he has to come in to work at 11 PM on Thanksgiving night. He has started an online petition wanting people to sign to tell Target that they should not make anyone come in that night. Considering the fact that he has worked for Target for three years, and should have a basic understanding of the nature of retail, he should realize that the season we are entering into is the busiest time of the year. I can sympathize a little about schedule changes, considering I am going in two hours earlier than normal, but again, it goes with the season. The customers are there to buy and if you don't take care them, they will go elsewhere.

Not all retail establishments are open on Thanksgiving, but a lot of them are. My employer is open 24 hours a day, I worked for Kmart, which was always open on Thanksgiving, plus working in hospitals and nursing homes were somebody has to work on the holidays.  The advantage to working holidays is added pay. It was a little harder when my wife was alive, but the extra money was always too good to pass up. Now that I am single, it really doesn't matter to me whether I work them or not. In retail working weekends and holidays goes with the territory. If you're not willing to do that, you really need to find a different job. I agree that Black Friday is starting to get a little ridiculous, but that is the nature of the beast. Each year, somebody seems to want to up the ante. This year my employer announced that there will be a sale starting at 10 PM Thanksgiving night and another at midnight. Toys "R" Us took that one step further and announced their sale will start at 9 PM. Most other stores will be opening at midnight, Sears is scheduled to open at 4 AM and Kmart at 5 AM. If people are truly upset with the stores doing this then they won't come and shop. Does anybody really see that happening? That is the only way that opening at these times will stop.

Part of working retail is customer service. If you don't like helping people you need to be doing something else. I have always tried to do anything I can to help people. Last night I made a lady extremely happy. She was looking for a PSP, the portable PlayStation, which happened to be out of stock. It was a Christmas gift for her husband and she had just put in a 13 hour day at a restaurant to pay for it. I told her that we could order it through my employer's website and have it delivered to the store for free, which would take about a week. She really brightened up and we went to the computer and placed the order. She kept telling me how happy she was, and she knows one of the managers at the store and she is going to tell him about the service I provided. I don't see where I did anything spectacular, I just was doing my job. The look on her face was my reward. That is where I get most of my work satisfaction, knowing that I was able to help somebody. It doesn't work out that way all the time, but it really is nice when I am able to. Too many times when people ask for help, all they will get is we don't have that. When somebody is there with cash in hand, ready to buy something, you need to do all you can to close that sale. If not, they will go somewhere else to find what they need. There are those customers who no matter what you do for them will never be happy, but I've always found them to be in the minority. I still do everything I can for them and if they're not happy with it, they are the ones that have to deal with it.

Now On DVD And An Underhanded Marketing Decision.

There were only two "new" releases this week, and only one of them appeared in theaters. The Tom Hanks movie, Larry Crowne, brought in $35,608,245 and was rated 6.0 on the IMDB. I really have nothing to say about the movie because I have not seen it and don't plan on changing that.

The second release was two short cartoons based on the movie How To Train Your Dragon. The titles of them are Gift Of the Night Fury and Book Of Dragons. Again, I don't have much to say about these because I have not seen the movie that they are based on.

Two other DVDs did come out last night, but considering that they were released a few weeks ago in a different form, I don't consider them new releases. Both movies were from Disney, The Lion King and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. When first released. You can only buy them in a Blu-ray/DVD combo set. I had several people asking me for just the DVD by itself, and I disappointed those people by telling them it was not available. Now they are available, but I wonder how many people paid the extra and now have Blu-ray copies that they can't use. To me it was kind of underhanded of Disney to release them this way. I understand the marketing behind it, but I totally disagree with it. It strikes me as being insensitive to the wants of the consumer. Blu-ray is the wave of the future and in my opinion it will be about two more years before the option is taken away from us and DVD goes the way of VHS. Still, I think it was kind of dirty of Disney to do it this way.

Video Game Madness.

Last week I mentioned about the madness that went on with the release of the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This is by far the best selling video game that I have been associated with, including the time when I was electronics manager at Kmart. I do not play these type of games myself because I am no good at them, but this game seems to be bringing out the warrior in some people. The weekend before it was released, a gang in France hijacked a truck and stole 6000 copies of the game. In Modern Warfare style, they used tear gas to stop the truck. The estimated worth of the shipment was $500,000.

In Aurora, Colorado, a man went into the local Best Buy and claimed that he had pre-ordered the game. When they informed him that they had sold out, he got angry and threatened to shoot the employees when they went to their cars. If that wasn't enough, he also threatened to blow up the store for good measure. The man was not arrested but was issued a summons to appear. In an interview. He said he did not know that his words could get him in trouble. Obviously he's not been paying attention to the news lately.

On that same night in Kansas City, Missouri, a young man got tired of waiting in line at a Game Stop and decided to simply follow somebody home and rob them of their copy. That part of the plan went well, but unfortunately for the robber his intended victim decided to fight back, even though the robber did have a gun. It obviously was not the smartest thing that the intended victim had ever done, but he did prevail in this instance. Police went to the Game Stop to investigate, and the robber was there waiting to purchase his game. It probably will be a while before he gets to play the game.

Downfall Of A Legend.

The sad story out of Penn State University got a little sadder yesterday when the university was forced to fire head football coach Joe Paterno. Earlier in the day, Paterno had seen the handwriting on the wall and had announced that he was retiring at the end of this season. My friend John Simcoe had posted that article on his Facebook page and I had commented that Paterno should have resigned immediately. I don't believe the Paterno is guilty of any crime, but I also believe he did not do enough when he was told about the accusations against Jerry Sandusky. It is a bad way to bring to a close such a brilliant coaching career.

Of course, there are people commenting that the authorities are overreacting by firing Paterno, since he has not been accused of anything.  I wonder if any of those were among the ones who wanted Paterno fired in 2004, after Penn State had losing seasons in four of the previous five years. Penn State students have taken to the streets to protest the firing. I wonder if they would be there if the team was 1-8 instead of 8-1. There once was a time when athletes could get away with almost anything , but fortunately, that day has passed and players are being held accountable for their actions.

The officials of Penn State are doing the right thing by cleaning house of those who knew what was going on. Criminal charges will probably be brought against several other people for protecting Sandusky. I have no sympathy for them. Covering those crimes up is inexcusable.

A Specialty Salad.

It's always nice getting something extra when you buy something. A woman in South Pasadena, California got that when she bought a prepackaged salad at Costco. The salad came complete with a live tree frog in it. I had recalled reading a story a few years ago about the same thing, but that story was unconfirmed. This time there is some credibility to the tale. Just watch this video:


It is believed that the frog made it through the processing system because the lettuce was not chopped. The salad was organic, so no pesticides  were used and it would've been possible for the frog to have passed through the packaging process. Normally when you read about a story like this you see the person obtaining a lawyer and preparing to file a lawsuit against the store. Happily, this story doesn't have that in it. All the lady who found the frog wanted was a refund on the salad, and to keep the frog. It is refreshing to read about somebody with that kind of an attitude. Not everything that happens should lead to somebody trying to get rich quick.

They Transplanted What?

The things that modern medicine can do today is astounding. I can remember hearing about the first heart transplant, which was done in 1967 when I was 11 years old. The hospital that I worked for in Illinois did a lot of kidney transplants. Doctors have been successful with many other types, including double lung transplants and in the last few years, they've added faces to the list. I just recently read about the most recent types that doctors have been doing and it really is a little disgusting. They are now doing fecal transplant's. To phrase it like Mike Rowe would, they really are taking poo from one person and putting it in somebody else.

So why would a doctor do this? There is an infection called C. diff, which causes chronic diarrhea, and can be fatal. By placing the fecal matter into the colon of a person that antibiotics cannot help, it allows the natural bacteria to overcome the C. diff infection. The infection mainly effects older people, but it is becoming more widespread. I am not sure who came up with the idea to do this, but it is proving to be very effective.

We are seeing more and more diseases that are antibiotic resistant. I wonder if we not be coming to germ conscious and are bringing a lot of it upon ourselves. There are a lot of antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers that are becoming more widespread and their usage. It is possible that this is causing some of these infectious strains to become resistant. Not all bacteria is bad, and we run the potential of doing more harm than good. We may be killing ourselves with good intentions.

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, will be hearing arguments today concerning a Georgia state law that forbids carrying guns into places of worship. An organization called Georgia Carry is claiming that that law is illegal. To support their case they have used three examples were there were shootings in churches. None of their examples occurred in the state of Georgia. Also mentioned is the fact that some churches have large amounts of cash. They are claiming that it should be up to the individual churches and not the state to make that decision. Personally, I don't have a problem with the law. I am not against people carrying guns as long as they have applied for and been granted the proper permits. However, I do not feel church is a place that they need to be armed. Yes, it was tragic where those shooting incidents happened, but one point that they are missing is had the people in those churches been armed, the body count might've been even higher. Friendly fire anyone? It does happen, especially in a situation that moves as fast as shootings do.

Before today I had never heard about Georgia Carry. After spending a little bit of time on their website. I am almost scared of them as I am the armed criminals. One of their members protested about having his carry permit checked at a national park. He was clearly carrying a handgun and the Park Ranger wanted to see his permit. According to him, that was a violation of his rights and he protested and actually received a ruling in his favor. Now anyone carrying in one of the parks will not be stopped, which basically means all a criminal has to do is not conceal his weapon and he won't have to worry about it. This organization is so worried about tragedy happening in churches that they are stopping to consider the tragedies that could happen in national parks. I hope that the court rules in favor of the state and the ban on guns in churches is not lifted. The odds of guns being needed is very slim, and having people carry guns in their legally will not make them any safer.

For the record, I do not own a gun, nor do I plan on changing that. Growing up I never went hunting, although my dad and both my brothers would from time to time. I never saw any sense of getting out of a warm bed to go stand out in the cold woods.

Go Shop Somewhere Else.

 

I have worked retail for over 20 years. I know there are those customers that you are not going be able to please no matter what you do. The saying," the customer is always right" is not true. Even then, I would not knowingly go out of my way to insult a customer. A clothing store in Australia feels otherwise. The clothing chain GASP has decided to defend an employee who insulted a customer.

A young lady went there recently to look at bridesmaid dresses. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to buy anything the clerk told her, "Have fun shopping at Supre... I knew you were a joke the minute you walked in." Supre is an Australian clothing store known to carry larger size clothing. Of course, the young lady was outraged and wrote a letter to GASP. Imagine her surprise when she received a response to her letter basically telling her not to come back. You can read the full article here, which also contains both her letter and the companies response.

GASP seems to be unrepentant. In fact, they are reveling in the publicity and seem to think that they have done a great thing. They claim that sales are up tremendously. In one sense, that doesn't surprise me, but I believe it will turn out to be a very short-term success for them. I think more people will be outraged then will support them and that will turn into their down fall. There have been several customers that I would have to love to have told off, but that kind of behavior does not solve anything. That would have been reaching down to their level and I refuse to stoop that low. Another day, I will do a post on the theme the customer is not always right. Regardless of how I have felt in the past I would never have insulted a customer the way that that they did. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

You Really Thought This Was A Good Idea?

The movie 127 Hours is based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who while hiking in Blue John Canyon, Utah, became trapped by an 800 pound rock. To survive, he ended up amputating his arm. He had not told anyone where he was going and paid the price. You would think that based on what he went through that no one else would ever try to do that. Of course had that happened, I wouldn't be having this post today.

A 64-year-old North Carolina man recently did the same thing. He took the same path and did not tell anyone where he was going. Fortunately for him, he did not injure himself as badly as Ralston and still has all his limbs. He did manage to dislocated shoulder and broke his leg. He was able to get the shoulder back in the place and was crawling back to his vehicle when he was found by Park Rangers. The Rangers had been looking for him for two days when they had found his abandoned campsite. It took them two days to locate his car, at which time they realized where he was headed.

I realize that some people like the solitude of being out in nature, but should at least let someone know where you are going. Too many things can happen, and by not letting anyone know it could prove fatal. Life is risky enough without doing things like this.

Protesters?

The political correctness of this world amazes me. Usually it takes place in this country, however, we are not alone. For the first three days of the recent rioting in England, the BBC referred to the rioters as protesters. Quite possibly when the event which led to the riot first started, they were protesters. They lost that designation when the first window was shattered and the looting began. The BBC did not change their stance until criticism began in the newspapers and they still are not very apologetic about it. Obviously, they just don't get it. Too often today the media tries to downplay terrible events, as if they are afraid to offend the guilty parties. I do understand and accept that before somebody is tried and convicted you call them the alleged suspect, but you don't have to minimize what they did. If it is only an accusation you can give the person the benefit of the doubt, but when someone is witnessed in the act why are we protecting the perpetrator?

We have not seen anything in this country on the scale of what happened in England, but we are seeing some well-planned mob action. Early this summer Philadelphia had a major problem with flash mobs, but arresting 70 youths and returning them to the custody of their parents seems to have calm down the situation. The flash mobs have now taken an extra step. On August 13 a 7–11 in Germantown, Maryland, was robbed when a flash mob appeared and just started grabbing merchandise. Here is the video of that robbery:



Hopefully from that video at least a few people will be identified and arrests will be made. Should we be calling that group protesters? Of course, I'm not sure what they would've been protesting. Maybe it was the fact that society requires them to actually work and earn money to buy things and not just give them what they want.

I have no answers for the solution of this problem, but I do believe a lot of it is caused by the upbringing of today's youth. Some schools don't want teachers to fail their students. Life's best lessons come when you learn from your mistakes. Rules have become more guidelines then something that is actually enforced. Unless, of course, the rule is absolutely ridiculous, then is it administered with an iron fist. I will do another post on that topic later. Right now it seems enforcement is done at either extreme, and we need to get back to the middle, but mostly we need to be consistent about the rules. Children today get enough mixed messages. We don't need to send them more.

Grow up, Carlos.

Most years it can be very trying being a Chicago Cubs fan. This is one of those years. However the last couple of weeks have been going very well for the team. They had a seven-game winning streak, and had won nine out of their last 11. Then came last Friday night in Atlanta. It was Bobby Cox night, when the Braves retired Cox's number. Carlos Zambrano was pitching and was being extremely hospitable to the Braves. He allowed five home runs, including back-to-back home runs by Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla. The next batter was Chipper Jones and Zambrano threw two pitches at him. Of course, the umpire tossed him out of the game for that. Zambrano is well-known for tossing temper tantrums when things don't go his way. At those times, a two-year-old shows more maturity. He has fought with his catcher, destroyed a Gatorade container, ripped his teammates in the press, and generally acted like a spoiled brat many, many times. This time he went to the clubhouse, cleaned out his locker, and went home, claiming he was retiring. It was a real mature way to handle the situation. I don't think he was prepared for the Cubs reaction, however.

The Cubs have placed him on the 30 day disqualified list which means he not only is not playing, he also is not receiving any salary. Of course, the players union has already filed a grievance, but I really hope the Cubs stick to their guns. I appreciate the fact that Carlos is a very intense player who doesn't like to lose, but we have seen this kind of behavior too many times. His teammates are tired of the drama that he brings. They have made it pretty clear they don't want to see him return. I am sure he will pitch again but I don't believe it will be in a Cubs uniform. He has come close a few times before of burning that bridge, but this time he used gasoline. He can be a very good pitcher, but his skills are clearly diminishing. Factor in that personality of his and he becomes a liability instead of an asset. Some team out there will be willing to give him a chance. Let them try and tame this man child.

The Cubs seem to play much better and August and September. If we could only start the season, then we might see some success. No matter what, I will still root for them. I am a die-hard Cubs fan, not one of the fair weather fans that only root when their team is winning.

The baseball card pictured here is from my collection. It has in it a piece of uniform that Carlos wore during a game.

Name Calling.

We all know that today in our politically correct world, you really need to watch what you say about other people, because they just might interpret that as name-calling, at which time, you might find yourself being sued. Personally, I don't believe in name-calling, but if somebody hurls an epitaph towards me, I just shrug it off and consider the source. I make myself the butt of many of my jokes. Some people really enjoy belittling others and you take all the enjoyment away from them when you do that. If I choose to use an ethnic joke, I tell it as a moron joke. I believe if you're offended by a moron joke, you deserve to be.

A woman has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the state of New York, for a name they have used in reference to her brother. I almost hesitate to use that word here, because I know that everyone who reads this are very kindhearted individuals, and I really would hate to upset you. However, in all honesty, I must use that word, so please brace yourselves and don't hate me for using it. That nasty word is inmate. I can sense everyone cringing as you read that word. Shocking, isn't it, and I apologize to anyone that I have offended.

Seriously, there is an actual lawsuit that has been filed over the word. The lady who filed the suit stated that the word, "implies that our brother is locked up for the purpose of mating with other men." I can see where he might be stigmatized by being called that. I also have never interpreted inmate in that manner. So why is this sensitive soul being incarcerated? He had a little disagreement with another gentleman over a business deal, involving drugs, where he ended the argument by putting a bullet in the other man's head. The other man did not survive. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. I am not surprised that our renaissance man is offended by being called an inmate. He is eligible for parole in 2013.

In a move that I'm sure no one will find surprising, the woman who filed this lawsuit is also acting as her own attorney. We all know what is said about an attorney acting as his own client, and in order to avoid being sued, I will not use that phrase here. However, it truly does fit. Our courts today get bogged down with this kind of nonsense on a regular basis. There is no doubt in my mind that this suit will get thrown out, people in prisons will continue to be called inmates, and somebody will begin thinking upon the next ridiculous thing to bring before the courts. I am sure we will not have long to wait.

Weird Al Yankovic summed it up best in a song, I'll Sue Ya. You can watch it here.

Too Many Choices?

Two years ago Coca-Cola announced a new dispensing machine that could mix over 100 flavors. They have been used in several parts of the country, and are now coming into Chattanooga, Tennessee. A chain called Taco Mac, which I am not familiar with, is installing them in their restaurants. I think before the summer is over I will go to one just to check this machine out. Of course, this machine leads to the question, 'Just how many choices do we need when it comes to sodas?'

We live in a world today, where we have almost too many choices to make. If you have the full cable-television package, or a dish, you have a large selection of what channels you can watch. Growing up, we only had three major networks. Most people today would get upset if those were the only choices that they had. I'm not complaining about the multiple choices that we have, but sometimes it does feel like there is a sensory overload with the decisions that we have to make.

Fast food is another area where you have plenty of choices to make. Just using Calhoun as an example, there is one stretch where within half a mile you can find McDonald's, Arby's, KFC, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Chic-Fil-A, Checkers, Pizza Hut, Zaxby's, Subway and Bojangles. That doesn't count 2 Mexican restaurants, an Italian restaurant, a Chinese buffet, a Japanese restaurant, a sandwich shop, and a pizza buffet, not to mention 2 grocery stores. If you go hungry on that stretch of road, that is your fault.

When I was working frozen foods, there were many times you would see people just walking back and forth between the cases trying to decide what they wanted to eat. Several of them made the comment that they couldn't make up their minds, because there were too many choices. Having all of that is a good thing, but where do you draw the line at? Another part of the problem, especially when it comes to food, is that people seem to get bored with certain items and are always wanting to try something new. One of the problems that comes into play, when somebody succeeds with a product and then all of a sudden you have 10 copycats trying to grab a piece of the same pie.

Getting back to Taco Mac, they now have an extensive beverage assortment. In addition to all of the Coke flavors, they also serve 250 different types of beer. The place is a beer drinkers paradise, but unfortunately for them I do not drink beer. I will just stick with the exotic Coke flavors. Here is a video that has been posted on YouTube that demonstrates how this Coke machine works.

Overcharge?

Five weeks ago while at work I hurt my arm. It is much better now and only gives me slight pain when I use it, but considering I'm 54 years old that is nothing out of the ordinary. I have recovered fine and am able to do everything at work with no problems. The reason I bring this up, is last week I received the doctor's bill from the emergency room. That night I saw the doctor for about 5 minutes. His bill, which didn't count the rest of the emergency room bill, was $603. It did not cost me anything because Workman's Comp paid for the entire bill. What got me was the size of that bill, considering how short a period of time he actually spent with me. I know that insurance paid for it, but still, that is to me an outrageous amount to charge for 5 minutes of his time. I know there are a lot of reasons for the charges that go into these bills, but I think that overcharging is one of the problems with our medical care today, and why we have almost reached a crisis state concerning it. I have no idea how much the emergency room bill itself was, because I never got it, but I probably would be equally outraged if I had seen it.

Seeing that bill reminded me of something that happened after my wife had died. When I took her in I did not have my insurance card on me. While they were working on her I registered her and when I told told them that I did not have the card I was told that was no problem, they had the insurance card number on record. Imagine my surprise, a month later when I received a bill totaling almost $5000. It was an itemized bill and some of the charges amazed me. I realize that hospitals have to make money, and there are a lot of people who cannot pay their bill, but it is unfair to charge those who can pay. I took the bill into the hospital and told the person I handed it to that I should not have received this. She agreed with me and did apologize for it being sent out. I was supposed to pay $50 for the emergency room, but the hospital never charged me for that. The $5000 was for about 45 minutes in the emergency room.

There is no easy answer to the healthcare crisis that we're facing now, but these are two examples of things that need to be changed. Incidentally, this is not a rant about the doctor or the care that I received with my arm. I have no complaints at all about that. I am fairly certain that the doctor does not personally handle the billing of this. The rant is about the billing process itself.


On a lighter note, the prankster must be on vacation or just celebrating the holiday because for the second night in a row. There were no prank calls. We will see how tonight goes and then after that, I'm off for the next two days.

Don't Drink And Drive, Unless....

We have just started carrying this item. If you read on the package you are instructed to put it in the freezer for twelve hours and then enjoy. According to the package it is perfect "for the home or on the go." Those words are also on the case the product comes in. Say what??? Who approved this copy? Talk about falling asleep behind the wheel. (Pun intended.) Hopefully their intention was you can take it to the park or sporting event and enjoy it there. They just should have made that clearer.

The Tale Of The Drunken Baby.

A couple of weeks ago I was lamenting about how our kids are getting out of control these days. Now we have the story about a drunken 15 month old in an Applebee's in Madison Heights, Michigan. Don't you just hate it when toddlers belly up to the bar and demand service? Actually the boy was given apple juice in a sippy cup. When he started talking to the walls and then went to sleep at the table his mom became a concerned. She tasted the apple juice and found out it was a margarita instead. The manager did apologize for it but didn't know what else he could do. If he hasn't already, he could pay the bill for the emergency room where it was discovered the boy had a blood alcohol level of .1, which did make him legally drunk.

I have read several stories about how this, but most gloss over how the margarita ended up being served. The best explanation is that it was poured into a bottle that was labeled apple juice. Applebee's is investigating. If they can find who put it in the bottle that person should be held accountable, either suspended or fired. In a restaurant everything should be clearly labeled. I don't know what the Michigan law is, but in Georgia health inspectors look for that sort of thing. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

I do have a tale from my hospital days involving an unlabeled bottle. I cleaned an outpatient dialysis unit in Springfield,Illinois. They had an open house so one of our guys was sent over to buff the floor so everything looked great. He used an unmarked bottle which he thought was spray buff solution, and the floor looked great. Unfortunately our spray buff solution and spray polish looked and smelled identical. The floor looked great but was as slick as ice. We all got a lecture after that about never using an unlabeled bottle.