Kerfuffle

The Illinois Tollway provides yet another example in support of why people think government agencies are incompetent and not to be trusted

Apparently, to deal with the Illinois Tollway folks is to deal with incompetent nincompoops.

In July of 2008, I wrote this post about how we tried to pay a fine with the Illinois Tollway based on some I-Pass issues.  I assumed we were at fault, and I sent the tollway authority a check.  They sent it back, saying I didn't provide enough documentation, even though I sent them the violation notices.  This post still draws a few hits a week almost 18 months later, telling me a lot of people are frustrated with the tollway's incompetent attempts to collect money.

Eventually, the issue above supposedly was resolved over the phone.  We still got calls for a while but they finally stopped.

Today, we begin a new chapter in Illinois Tollway stupidity with our receipt of a letter from a certain Arnold Harris, Attorneys at Law.  Arnold's computer-generated form letter tells us we owe $213 in tolls, fines and late fees for three unpaid fines at the Beloit toll plaza.  My partner Tom passes through that plaza two times each weekday en route to and from his job.  Mind you, no letters or anything else ever showed up to suggest we blew through without paying.  One must assume that the tollway's technology is working, and one also must assume the transaction goes through since I-Pass transactions are conducted automatically at 55 miles per hour using equipment owned and operated by the Tollway Authority.

What's so ridiculous about this is that there was never any attempt, I am guessing, to cross reference this with the data in our I-Pass account.  Within two minutes, I was able to go online, access the account, and see that all three tolls were logged as paid. I know they are the same tolls because they are listed at the exact minute as the alleged non-paid tolls.

In other words, even though we have three I-Pass transponders registered to our account under the exact same names and address our cars are registered under, and the exact same names and address the collection notice was mailed to, neither the Tollway Authority nor Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law made any apparent attempt to cross-check this. 

Given that Illinois is in a world of financial hurt right now, as are many states, I'm sure they would much rather collect $213 than the actual $1.50 in actual tolls involved.  And no doubt Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law gets a nice percentage if they collect.  I'm not necessarily saying that the Tollway Authority or Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law are being deceitful, hoping that these kind of notices will just get paid.  Nor an I necessarily saying that the Tollway Authority and Arnold Harris Attorneys at Law are lazy and just simply didn't do their homework before trying to collect money they are not owed.  I am saying, however, that this kind of incompetency is why so many people little faith or confidence in government agencies.  I'm also saying that if you are a law firm that makes a living by threatening people with legal action, you may want to check to see if you have a freakin' case before anything else.  Little wonder why the average person has a low opinion of lawyers.

On Monday we'll fire off a leter with copies of the notice from Arnold and the documentation -- provided by the Tollway Authority's own web site -- to the Tollway Authority.  With a little luck, we'll have this all clear up by Christmas.  Christmas 2010.  Maybe.

Another PR lesson for United Airlines: Your lousy customer service and surly employees might get you a popular YouTube music video

United Airlines is one of many so-called legacy air carriers that have hit the skids.  In my estimation, they have fallen the farthest.  I personally avoid them -- and their Chicago O'Hare hub -- at all costs.

Musician Dave Carroll spent nine months wishing he had steered clear of United's unfriendly skies.  The airline's baggage handlers trashed his guitar as he watched from his seat on the plane.  He then had what can only be described as a complete customer service cluster-fuck. 

Carroll, being a musician and all, decided to apply his creative talents to the problem.  He came up with this:

As of this writing, the video has had 641,937 views and 10,867 people have given it an average rating of five stars.  5,610 people have left comments... few of them very favorable to United.

To really appreciate the song, take a look at Carroll's website.  He posted the whole sad story and to read it is to know he really did get screwed by United.  No surprise there.  But only when he got past being mad and got creative instead did United finally wise up.  Funny what a viral video can do.  As is often the case, once this thing took off, the mainstream media picked it up. The LA Times put the video on their site.  Yesterday he was interviewed on CNN's The Situation Room, and a part of the video was shown.

Paging Dave Carroll to the white courtesy phone.  United Airlines has a call for you!  And what d'ya know... they are suddenly in a mood to make things better.

"It struck a chord with us,” said Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman with United Airlines.

Yeah.  I'll bet it did.  Especially with Wolf Blitzer playing the video. 

"We are in conversations with (Carroll) to make what happened right and, while we mutually agree this should have been fixed much sooner, his video is excellent.

“It provides us with a learning opportunity we can use for training purposes.”

She said they hope to provide customers with better service.

I think it is safe to say that until this turned into a very unflattering PR problem, United was no-way, no-how going to do anything for this man.  They practiced the fine art of the customer service run-around, which can be quite effective in getting people to just give up.  It's kind of an extended way of telling the customer:  "You aren't important to us, and we know we can ignore you, so just fuck off, won't you?"

And to think United was once what many people considered the best airline flying.  Now they make Air Uzbekistan look pretty good.

Wired magazine calls bullshit on Fox News story; employs cutting-edge fact checking technique using Google and single Wikipedia link to totally debunk FOX's "source"

Too funny  How can FOX News even pretend to be credible and respectable anymore.

Apparently, the geniuses at FOX re-reported on a story from World News Daily.  (That in itself is kind of humorous.)  The story said that Wikipedia was scrubbing out any unsubstantiated references to doubts over Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, as well as speculative content regarding William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright.

Seems that the guy who wrote the story for WND, Aaron Klein, appears to be the guy who was actually doing the editing and got kicked off of Wikipedia.  Apparently, the Obama wiki entry was being edited by Jerusalem21, a Wkikipedia user that has  posted and edited one particular  entry (37 times) over the past three years.  You see where this is going.  That other entry?  The biography of... wait for it... Aaron Klein!

So Klein writes a story about how Wikipedia keeps deleting "facts" about Obama's mysterious birth and conjecture about two people who were (and I gather still are for some) being used to try to discredit the President.  And the person trying unsuccessfully to game Obama's Wikipedia entry is the guy writing the story.  And down the rabbit hole we go.

Except all someone, a Wired reporter in this case, had to do was click on Jerusalem21's posting history at Wikipedia.  (That was apparently too much trouble for the crack journalists at FOX.)

He Klein claims it wasn't him, but his researcher.  Uh huh.  And he kinda sorta acknowledges this in an update.  But only after being caught red-handed.  FAIL!  Klein went back and scrubbed out Jerusalem21 from his WND story, but as Wired points out, forgot about Google Cache.  Double FAIL!

Aaron Klein, you, sir, are a tool.  FOX, well, we pretty much know what you are, and it is neither fair, nor balanced.  But it is funny.  Sadly, pathetically funny.

The whole Wired story can be read here.

And credit where credit is due.  First read this on Daily Kos in a post by Devilstower.

Used without permission, or just a liberal and inconsequential invoking of the Fair Use doctrine?

Either by the cartoonist.  Or me.  Or both of us.  Probably just by me. 

I like the word "kerfuffle" too.

(h/t to friend Harvey Briggs for the find.  I'll not include his comment on  Stone Soup, the comic strip, since I am fair-using it here.  Read into that what you will.)

Wall Street whiners: If you want your "bonuses" while driving your firms (and clients' portfolios) into the ditch, learn how to spin things better

Many years ago, a co-worker of mine at an advertising agency accompanied his client to a sales meeting in Las Vegas.  The client made a hell of a lot more money -- and had a pretty huge expense account -- compared to my associate.  But being a good agency guy, my coworker kept up with his client at the blackjack tables as best he could.  When he returned to the office, he included in his expense report an entry of $300, identified as "gambling."

Back then, we had a woman in the department that looked over time and expense reports like an IRS auditor.  A request to be reimbursed for gambling expenses did not fly.  "The IRS does not consider gambling losses to be a deductible business expense," she informed him coldly as she dropped the rejected T&E report on his desk.  He appealed to the senior vice president who ran the department, pleading his case that he was only doing what he was told to do... shadow the client and be his pal during the trip. 

The department head just shook his head, sighed and said, " You idiot.  You can't get reimbursed for gambling, and you should never have put it down on your report.."  My associated asked what he should have done, then, since even the boss agreed it was a difficult situation and he was, after all, out $300.  "Too late now, but you should have put it down as a freakin' dinner."

I am reminded of that story as I read about the whining and carping about bonuses by the Wall Street high rollers who did a pretty lousy job looking out for their firms' and clients' money, if you evaluate them on financial performance, and yet still expect huge bonuses. 

As the New York Times reports...

“People come here because they want to work hard and get paid a lot for working hard,” one investment banker said Friday as he wended his way, lunch bag in hand, through the World Financial Center. “I think there’s a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.”
...
“My bonus is ‘shameful’ — but I worked hard to get it,” said John Konstantinidis, a wholesale insurance broker, lunching Friday at Harry’s at Hanover Square.  “I’m a HENRY,” [he] added. “High Earner but Not Rich Yet.”
...
Nonetheless, it was rather remarkable on Friday how many white shirts denied getting a bonus altogether when they were asked. Indeed, if the data obtained by reporters in the district was any measure, there is no telling where that $18 billion really went.
“On Main Street, ‘bonus’ sounds like a gift,” he said. “But it’s part of the compensation structure of Wall Street. Say I’m a banker and I created $30 million. I should get a part of that.”

“There’s got to be a better term for it,” he added, turning to Mr. Novello.  “Earned income credit?” he wondered aloud.

Exactly, Mr. Novello.  Find a better way to phrase it.  Better yet, if you are going to get it one way or the other, roll it into your actual salary package.  Calling it a "bonus" suggests it is something extra, like a really, really big tip.  Given the current state of economy most of the Main Street Americans don't seem to be in a mood to be leaving a big tip, especially to you guys.  Even if individual brokers are hard at work making big money deals, the big names in banking and on Wall Street are, right now, pretty much viewed by the rest of us as big, expensive restaurants with rather mediocre food and really shitty service.  People don't tip for that.

What you guys need is some public relations and marketing advice so in the future it won't look like you are gouging the taxpayers who just bailed out your firm as you run away with bonuses of bombastic proportion.  Or - how's this -- maybe you can actually be paid on a scale that is even remotely reasonable for whatever it is that you do.  Oh, right. Then it would be socialism.

Whatever it is that you decide to tell people as you scam these "earned income credits," best that you do say it from a distance. You probably don't want to be too close to those people whose modest investment portfolios went to shit while in your care.  The average person may not understand how financially complex things are in your world.  But when they see their 401K down by 50%, and that loss as cash equivalent equals one tenth of your "bonus," they get a little testy.  To them, "socialism" is starting to sound like a good idea.  (Have you seen this map lately?)

Apparently, the English translation of "Blagojevich" is "Douchebag"

What a tool Illinois Governor-for-now Rod Blagojevich is.  He claims he is not being allowed to call witnesses in his impeachment hearing before Illinois State Senate.  But, as the Chicago Tribune points out...

Blagojevich said the Senate rules effectively don't allow him to call witnesses. The rules do allow Blagojevich to call witnesses, but he skipped deadlines to submit his witness wish list. Senators will have to vote to approve any witnesses called by the prosecution or the defense.

Blagojevich, portraying himself as the victim, said the impeachment trial rules are "a gross violation of every constitutional principle that exists."

"If they can do this to a governor, they can do this to any citizen in Illinois."

The impeachment trial, however, is a political procedure, not a legal one.

This report comes from the same Chicago Tribune whose editorial board Governor Douchebag tried to extort into firing some of its editorial board members.  These would be the same editorial board members he is now begging for help in swaying public opinion...

Blagojevich pleaded with newspaper editorial boards to lobby in his favor to change the rules of the impeachment trial to make them what he says would be fairer. In the criminal complaint following his Dec. 9 arrest, federal authorities accused Blagojevich of scheming to get Chicago Tribune editorial board members fired in return for helping the Cubs baseball team, which is owned by Tribune Co., a deal with the state to buy Wrigley Field.

Of course, this is all a ploy on the part of the Illinois Legislature to raise taxes on the good people of Illinois that elected this fool...

"This is politics," he said on the "Don Wade and Roma" show on WLS. "This is about raising taxes. Pat Quinn has cut a deal with Democratic leaders....It's all about getting rid of me to raise taxes on people." Both income and sales taxes on gasoline would be increased by May, he said.

So he's fighting the good fight to help the people of Illinois.  I gather he was just helping them when he was allegedly selling one half of their representation in the United State Senate as well.  Uh huh.

As a native of Illinois, I cringe every time this asshat opens his mouth.  I mean, honestly, what a complete and total idiot this man is... in addition to being a first class jerk.  As a native also of the City of Chicago, however, I love Mayor Richard M. Daley's one word summation of Governor Douchebag: 

"I said 'cuckoo' once, I'll say it again," Daley said said. "Cuckoo."

[CLTV video of Da Mare here via the Chicago Tribune]

We're asleep on the job

Sorry there haven't been a lot of Kerfuffle posts of late. We've been napping, but we will be back at it shortly. (It ain't easy being Bosco, as you can tell.)

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