The Sad State of American business

I am always baffled by the ineptitude some company's are capable of displaying. I have some long stories but they are so tiresome for me to think about that I will try to be brief.

We just did a house swap in Florida. The home had service with Direct TV. I called them to initiate service at my new Florida address. I currently have Direct TV at my home in Illinois as well. The order was placed and everything seemed to be under control. Then the installer shows up...he was lost. He failed to get one of the boxes to work and indicated he would return to fix it the next business day. The next day came and went and we never heard from him. When we get home to Illinois there is a message on the answering machine that the Direct TV installer is sitting in our driveway and he's wondering if we will be home so he can get the satellite box authorized. The problem...the guy on the message was sent by his idiot company to our home in Illinois; the box in question 24 hours away by truck....unbelievable. Obviously it took additional shenanigans to get the box in Florida fixed. One other interesting thing...several of the satellite boxes installed by Direct TV are refurbished units, sold for the same price of new units. They told me that the refurbs are actually better than new units. I hope the Direct TV people merge with CarMax and try to pull that crap. What they are doing is a deceptive trade practice; plain and simple. If you want Direct TV, buy your boxes at Best Buy. They will be new and they are the same price. Total bullshit. I thought this company was better than Comcast. Now I rate them as an equal and I think Comcast is useless.

Speaking of the Comcastic ones...I needed to get them to reactivate cable internet at my new home. I had to make 3 calls to them to get to a customer support person that actually said it could be done. The two other reps had no clue as to what to do. None. Nada. I'm glad that I just kept calling. The 3rd guy got a guy out the next day and we had internet. The first two used two different reasons why service could not be scheduled for a couple of weeks...If I was stupid enough to own stock in this company, I would give it to Al Queda. It would serve them right.

This is the quote that sticks with me..."You don't have to be different to be great, being good is different enough." Amen

Conversation Stoppers

Some of these actually happened...

What do you think of our new President, Barack Hussein Obama....next

I think professional wrestling is awesome...oops gotta run I'm late for my root canal

Well, my house was on the market for quite a while but then Jesus sold it for me...one question before I run away, was he wearing a yellow Century 21 jacket...just curious....bye

Well, all rich people have no morals, are greedy and dishonest...excuse me?

Same sex marriage is not natural...well I guess people who think like you should be sterilized...deal?

Me - I'm going to vote for the best candidate available
Response - Why would you do that?
Huh

Why should I vote for a tax increase for schools, my kids are all grown...you must think that way because school was lost on you...gotta go

I love Rush Limbaugh...were you just at the WWF smackdown? What I meant to say is "can I smack you down?"

Have you found Jesus?...no but I heard he works for Century 21 Realtors

I hate __________ (this is a fill in the blank)
golf
sports
rock music
the way Eric Clapton plays his guitar. Its noise to me.
you
pizza
kids
dogs
cats
people that drink alcohol
summer
that movie you just told me you saw and really kinda liked

Ok...we're done

I love ______________

Abba
your wife
my toupee
the Jonas Brothers
Dick Cheney
George Bush
Barry Manilow
Politics
Pine Nuts
Lawyers

Outta here...

You've got a friend

Something happened recently that I had some trouble processing.

A business colleague that I hadn't worked with since 1985 or so passed away and I hadn't seen her or talked to her in about 10 years. She was 61 years old and working in Arizona. She apparently contracted some type of terminal cancer. She was not someone that you would call "warm and fuzzy". On first blush,, she seemed cold. I had worked with her for about 10 years at several different firms. I got to know her and, on a personal level, this woman had a great sense of humor once you broke through with her. Flat out, I like her; she made me laugh. Her personal life was somewhat of a shambles; I know she was married and divorced at least 3 times; she never had any children.

When I was informed of her passing, I went online and signed one of those newspaper guestbooks expressing my condolences at her passing and making a point of saying how I appreciated her sense of humor. I never did go back and check the guestbook.

Several weeks later I received a notice that the guestbook was going to be closed unless I wanted to extend it. I clicked through to the guest book and was mortified that mine was the only comment that had been left. I felt an instant pang of hurt for Madeline. Was she really that alone? I hope not. Maybe people just didn't find the guestbook. In any event, it made me a little sad to think that she might have been this alone. May she rest in peace and somehow know that while we were not close, she was my friend and someone that touched my life.

I am so thankful for my friends and family. You should be too.

To all my friends and loved ones, I love you more.