You make minimum wage what do you care?

Today I went to Dunkin Donuts to grab me an iced latte.  I’ve been a long-time recovering Starbucks frappucino addict.  I’ve been getting some coupons from my wife for Dunkin Donuts so I thought I’d give them a try this morning. 

I ordered a 16oz mocha iced latte.  The coupon states 16oz mocha iced latte for $1.99.  The kid asks me what I want, and I tell him I want a 16oz mocha iced latte.  Silly of me to think someone working at Dunkin Donuts would know what a 16oz cup looked like.  It’s not like they have actual cups taped on the wall or the size printed on the cup right?  So he gives me my drink.

Another underpaid employee looked at my coupon and says to me “your coupon says 16oz, this isn’t 16oz, this is 24oz”.  Referring to the fact that her co-worker gave me a 24oz instead of a 16oz.

So I said:  “O.K.  But I asked for a 16oz”. 

She takes my 24oz and dumps it down the sink!  Then she proceeds to make me another (keep in mind there are at least 6 people behind me).  She gives the kid who made my drink an evil look and says in the most condescending tone:

“That’s not a 16oz that’s a 24oz, a 16oz is SMALL and a 24oz is medium”.

Right, I’m sure he had the same Harvard education she had right?  The whole time I’m thinking, wow this bitch is worried about 16 cents worth of extra latte mix when she just threw a $2.00+ drink down the sink and threw the cup in the trash as well?  Wow.  No wonder she’s working at Dunkin Donuts, clearly she doesn’t posses the aptitude to comprehend economics or even simple math for that matter. 

I never got upset one time.  I just allowed her to hold up her entire line to dump out my drink and make me another (smaller) drink. 

It was so ridiculous that when I was walking to my car, the guy directly behind me said: “I can’t believe she would rather waste the drink than just give it to you”.  I agreed and the gentleman and I made a few derogatory statements about the twit, laughed and went our separate ways.

But it got me thinking.  One big pet peeve I have is fast food workers and their penny pinching attitude.  I’ve often been asked would I like any sauce with my meal.  Being the picky but simple eater I am.  I tend to say “just plenty of ketchup”.  Only to be presented with two packets of ketchup.  So I say I’m going to need more and they present me with another two packets.  This goes on until I’m satisfied with the number of ketchup packets I have to finish my fucking meal to my liking.  Is that so wrong?

My point is, you make minimum wage at McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, etc.  OK maaaaybe you make 30 cents over minimum wage (congrats on that promotion).  But why do you give a shit about giving a customer extra ketchup?  I’m not trying to have a surplus of McDonalds ketchup to supply my home or anything.  I just want to enjoy my food the way I want!  Why do you give a shit about just saying “oops our mistake, just go ahead and keep that large iced latte”.  Is McDonalds going to give you a super-sized-Ronald-McDonald-MVP-awesome-fucking-employee-of-the-year-McBonus-check?  Huh you fuckin’ cunt?  You’d rather hold up your drive-thru while we negotiate 6 packets of ketchup like we’re at some sort of flea market in Dubai?  It’s bad enough I wasted 5 hours taking an online class in the drive-thru just to understand what fucking language you were speaking whilst trying to communicate with you through a blown speaker in the drive-thru that acted as more of a CB radio then a fucking legitimate order-taking machine.  And yet somehow you still managed to fuck my order up, then accuse me of being the one who ordered the wrong thing while pointing to your 4 packet maximum ketchup policy. 

When I have people refuse me what I want, I tell them to go-ahead and refund me my money.  I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay 25 cents extra for some additional ketchup because you implemented some fly-by-night policy that I’m sure McCorporate wouldn’t approve of.  So hey, you don’t want to give me ketchup, give me a refund and cancel my order.

You know how fucked up that ends up being.  Now it’s 3 people none of which can speak English trying to explain the issue to each other, the drive-thru line is growing, they ask you to pull forward, you refuse, now they have to grab the manager because he’s the only one with a key to open the register, he’s pissed because the 3 minute average drive-thru time is now fucked.  And eventually they just give into your more ketchup demands.  All that for a few extra packets of ketchup. 

But why must it be like this?  Why can’t you just make the customer happy and make logical decisions.  While we went back-and-forth on ketchup, 2 people drove around and abandoned the McDonald’s drive-thru for the Wendy’s across the street because you increased their wait time by trying to save 2 packets of ketchup at a cost of 10 cents.  And that’s assuming one packet costs McDonalds 5 cents (which I doubt). 

Dunkin Donuts threw a medium drink down the sink and a good cup in the trash because my coupon was for a 16oz small not a 24oz medium iced latte which they erroneously gave me.  It never occurred to her that she wasted more money and product than she saved the company.  I guess she taught me a lesson huh?  How dare I come in there with my little cut-out coupon thinking I was going to get an extra 8oz on the house.  Not with trusty Detective Dunkin Dipshit on duty work the morning shift.  I’m sure Dunkin will be proud, she can hang that employee of the month plaque in the studio apartment she shares with 42 other immigrants.  One day she might even make enough to bring her family to America and share her plaque with them as well.

At the end of the day I can only assume this is why these jackasses are working at McDonalds instead of owning a franchise.  This is why they make minimum wage.  They’re probably just happy to get that check and sneak home a 10 piece from time to time. 

Palin steps down 18 months early. Alaskans everywhere rejoice.

Well if they’re not rejoicing they should be.  After a failed run at a bid for VP (like that was going to happen) and one embarrassing speech after another, Alaskans everywhere should be happy that they can now refocus their attention on the crackdown of meth labs and “Salmon slaying”.

Though no one is sure why Palin has decided to end her term early, there has been much buzz and speculation.  Everything from she can’t handle the pressure, ridicule, and ethics complaints, to the possibility that she may run for President in 2012.  Palin explains her decision as: "A good point guard, here's what she does. She drives through a full-court press, protecting the ball, keeping her head up because she needs to keep her eye on the basket, and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so the team can win. That's what I'm doing. I'm passing the ball. I know when it's time to pass the ball for victory."  Yes I guess that means people in Alaska actually watch more than just Nascar and bass fishing.

The state of Alaska has spent nearly $300,000 investigating ethics complaints and according to Palin her and her husband have spent $500,000.  She’s been the subject of 15 ethic probes, 13 of which have been resolved by the state Personnel Board with no findings of wrongdoing.  The other two are pending.  One of the agreements required Palin to reimburse the state for $8,100 for costs associated with trips she had taken with her children.  Her approval rating is low to mid-50% range, much lower than her 88%+ approval rating in Alaska before her failed attempt at a VP spot.

If Palin has dreams of running for President in 2012, I think she’s going to be in for a rude awakening.  I suspect she’s pissed off plenty of republicans and democrats alike.  But the issue is she could be hurting republicans more than helping with her loose lips double-wide backwoods trailer mentality.  Not an image I think the GOP is trying to portray though when you have people like Rusty DePass and Sarah Palin it’s hard to shake that image.  Besides, I think Obama was a strong candidate but I also believe Palin probably caused the republicans to lose a lot of votes (thank you Palin).  So let’s hope she doesn’t embarrass herself, her family, or Alaska any further.  Besides, a governor who couldn’t even handle finishing out the rest of her term now decides to run for President?  What kind of commitment does that show?

A local radio station suggested that republicans in her inner-circle were possibly  intentionally giving her bad information, planting bad seeds in an attempt to further make her look like the idiot that she is.  I personally think that she can’t handle the ridicule and embarrassment.  Part of the problem with dishing shit is you have to be able to take it.  I think Palin had and still has a lot to say and it’s come back to bite her in the ass.  She’s the butt of a lot of jokes, and her every action is under heavy scrutiny.  Newsflash Palin, in case you didn’t know, being in the public eye means you will always be under heavy scrutiny.  Especially when you don’t know when to shut your mouth.  Lucky for her I also think if she crawled into a hole and we never heard from her again she wouldn’t really be missed and people just might stop filing ethics claims and talking about her and her family.  In fact she could be forgotten in less than a week.

GOP Activist Rusty DePass compares Michelle Obama to a “Gorilla”

It should come as no surprise that the “good old boy network” is in full swing as they ever so passive-aggressively sneak in racial slurs at every opportunity.

This week  FitsNews.com and political writer Will Folks (also picked up by CNN) is reporting that Rusty DePass made derogatory comments regarding Michelle Obama while he commented on a  Facebook update.  In the Facebook update someone was notifying friends that a gorilla got loose at the Columbia, SC Riverbanks Zoo.

“I’m sure it’s just one of Michele’s ancestors—probably harmless” DePass responded.

DePass later apologized telling WIS-TV in Columbia, "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest.”  He then added, "The comment was hers, not mine," claiming Michelle Obama made a recent remark about humans descending from apes.  As of yet, no media outlet has been able to find references to Michelle Obama making a correlation between apes and evolution.  Good try though DePass. 

Of course African-Americans everywhere are outraged as we should be.  But we’re also very used to this sort of ignorance.  We expect no less from a geriatric balding redneck from South Carolina named Rusty.  We expect no less from a state where the confederate flag still rests upon a monument in front of South Carolina’s State House.  In fact I’m surprised they even know what Facebook is in South Carolina.  Good job Rusty.  I mean come on Rusty your state’s official dance is the Shag.  You know, like the shag they use to carpet double-wide trailers in South Cacalacky. 

Yes his comments are offensive and so are the comments of so many others.  You have to look at these comments as jealousy and fear.  After all, racism and prejudice are really nothing more than fear.  Racists tend to fear for their jobs, “the niggers and spics are taking all our jobs” or fear of what’s different.  Someone dresses differently, they don’t want to eat bagels and cream cheese and they’re automatically on the racists shit-list.  I think Michelle and Obama should laugh at and ignore stupidity from people who are irrelevant. 

Whenever some racist makes me angry I think to myself should I really be bothered by some redneck, high-school dropout with 3 teeth riding around in a Ford-F150 with a confederate flag and deer antlers, talking about “niggers” and “Ebonics” when he can barely speak proper English himself?  Naaaa.  We African-Americans are typically doing better than the racists spewing the hate. 

I mean seriously, Obama and Michelle are Harvard graduates, wealthy, and of course Obama is the President of the United States.  What have you accomplished again DePass?  Oh yeah, you figured out how to get on the Internet.  I’m proud. 

Fuck off Friday’s: Netiquette

You know I’m thinking of starting a fuck off Friday blog.  This is where I will highlight things that really annoy me and make me want to say fuck off! 

As inconsistent as I am, I’ll probably write this fuck off Friday blog and never write another. [UPDATE:  In fact I wrote this Friday and didn’t publish it until Tuesday].   Then again, many of my blogs are like fuck off Friday blogs.  General bitching.

Today’s topic:  Netiquette.  Ok, I recently changed my email address because I’m tired of using GMAIL’s domain when I could have my own for $12/year.  I gave this new email address out to a select group of individuals.  Not even all of my family or in-laws are allowed to have my email address.

Why?  Well I’m glad you asked.  Because I’m so sick of these fucking retarded, downright ridiculous ass emails filling my inbox.  To make matters worse  living in 2009 means all my emails also come to my phone. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t give a shit about foot prints in the sand.  Every old lady has the picture framed in her bathroom and I look at it every time I take a piss.  Thank you but no thank.  I could probably recite the poem verbatim from memory I’ve seen it so many times.

I don’t give a shit about the email you sent warning me about crack heads putting HIV infected needles in payphone change return slots.  First off, the only people who use payphones are crack heads since it would be hard to keep a cell phone without selling that and a blowjob just to get your next fix so why would I give a shit?  Secondly, a crack head is far more concerned with tracking down rocks than trying to figure out how to insert a needle into a payphone return slot while they’re incessantly scratching themselves with jittery hands.  That would take one hell of a talented crack head. 

I don’t care about the the kid whose sister burned up in Wal-Mart and now you have to forward the email to everyone you know so Wal-Mart can track it and send money to the victims.  Really?  You fell for that?  Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?  As an Information Technology professional and realist.  Let me let you in on something.  Wal-Mart doesn’t give a fuck about some non-existent kid that burned up in some non-existent Wal-Mart fire.  We also know they don’t give a shit about women, health-insurance, the retarded senior working the front door with the stickers, or paying people for over-time without lawsuits.  If some kid did burn up in a Wal-Mart fire, best believe they wouldn’t need to forward an email to get their bills paid.  Walt would have been sued for millions of dollars.  Secondly, when have you heard on CNN something so ridiculous as, “be sure to forward that email to help the victims of the fire”.  Although there is technology that can track an email, no business in their right mind would risk the many possible methods for circumventing and forging emails to make it look like it was forwarded to 2 billion people by promising to pay $2 per forward.  Hmmm, did it ever occur to you that people set up foundations and ask for donations? 

If people would treat the Internet with the same common sense they treat the real off-line world with we wouldn’t have scam artists in Nigeria ripping them off.

Somehow you thought some prince in Nigeria or better yet, some foreign lottery you never played was going to transfer you $1.2 million US dollars and all you had to do was deposit his check only after sending him $1,000 to release it from some bullshit escrow account.  You’re an idiot. 

Don’t get me wrong.  Maybe those inspirational, quote of the day, joke of the day, lottery winning, friends are forever, 101 ways to be annoying, god is eternal, good luck totem, you are blessed, be grateful, Jesus in your ear, Tommy Hilifiger petition, Taco Bell roach egg, rat urine forward me 100 times emails really get your day going.  But for me, I have much more important things to do than being disturbed at 2 in the morning by a new email message being copied to my phone by some asinine email. 

To make matters worse, these fucking Internet cockbags don’t even have the common fucking sense to put all the email addresses in the BCC field.  So now every other fucking idiot they forwarded the email to now has a list of additional email addresses for which they can their bullshit spam to.  So please, next time you think about hitting that send button and forwarding that fuckin’ retarded ass, I can’t even find the words to describe how annoying…email just don’t.

Palm Pre Bugs Roundup + FIXES

It’s not uncommon for a newly released device show signs of bugs.  The Palm Pre is no exception.  Several bugs have recently  been discovered within 2 days of the Palm Pre launch.  We’ll keep a running updated list of bugs as they’re reported.

• Screen discoloration:  Some Palm Pre owners are reporting a discolored portion of their screen and possibly dead pixels. 
• Symbols problem:  This issue is affecting all Palm Pres.  You cannot insert symbols into a web-based form through the Palm Pre web browser.  Quite annoying for users who have symbols in a password they’re trying to enter online.
• Extremely slow photo album: When viewing photos, it takes forever to load a single picture.  Seems to be intermittent could be a potentially corrupt group of photos that needs to be deleted then re-added to the Pre.
• Restart/Shutdown Issues:  Some are reporting that the Pre shutdown while the keyboard is out. 

                    -FIX-

• CAUSE:  Battery doesn’t make full contact with battery contacts when keyboard slides out.
• WORKAROUND:  Place a piece of paper between the top portion of battery to sort of push the battery downwards forcing it to make keep touching the battery contacts (via PreCentral).  This should buy you some time until the Sprint has a better quantity of replacement Palm Pres.

For the other issues, don’t panic Pre lovers all of the aforementioned issues can be resolved with a software update (except for the screen discoloration issue which seems more like a hardware issue).  You can also rest assured that Palm isn’t going to ignore these issues and risk bad publicity so soon on their “iPhone-Killer”.

Are you experiencing any bugs not listed here?  Please submit your bug in the comments section and stay tuned as we’ll be updating this list regularly.

Republicans critical of Obama’s speech in Cairo fearing it may hurt U.S./Israel relationship

A speech given by President Obama speaking in Cairo has been viewed as potentially hurting the U.S./Israel relationship by several Republicans.  No surprise there right? 

House Minority Leader John Boehner :  "He seemed to ... place equal blame on the Israelis and the Palestinians. I have concerns about this," the Ohio Republican said. "The Israelis have the right to defend themselves."

Yes Boehner, he clearly placed equal blame on both parties in an attempt to remain neutral.  That is important in bringing about resolution.  Had Obama went to Cairo taking Israel’s side he would be further hurting Palestinian/Israeli relations.  The Obama administration is attempting to bring about peace through means of a change in policy.  By means of reversing the current perception of the United States as being arrogant and two-faced, by telling the Arab world our stance on the Israeli/Palestinian issue. 

Romney: Obama needs to stop using foreign soil to apologize for U.S. relations in what he calls a "tour of apology."

Thiessen: "He made no mention of democracy in discussing Afghanistan.  He made no mention of democracy in discussing Iraq.  He made no mention of the advance of freedom in the Middle East that has taken place in recent years, or any commitment to continue it," he wrote.

"Indeed, he said Iraq was a 'war of choice' but then said a moment later that Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein. Well, was it a good choice then?"

The United States voted for change so why are we so critical of change.  Clearly change is hard for many.  Especially when the “good ol’ boy network” have been doing things their way for years.  Herein lies the problem for the “good ol’ boy” mentality of thinking.  Obama is an African-American.  He has experienced racism, intolerance, ignorance, and injustice.  Therefore he can relate to the Palestinian disenfranchisement, injustice and anger.  There is nothing wrong with what Romney calls a “tour of apology”.  America has a lot to apologize for.

While republicans are running around criticizing his speech worrying that he may be damaging U.S/Israeli relations others around the world are praising his speech.  I believe his speech was very even-handed.  I don’t believe he favored Palestinian or Israeli specific views during his speech.  I believe that if either side wants to stop the violence they must come to a two-state solution.  Period.  That means Israel should cease continuing to build settlements on the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, and I think President Obama made this very clear.

President Obama said what other Presidents should have said before him.  The United States, he said, "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”  He also goes on to say that the controversial Hamas movement -- which controls Gaza, near Egypt, and has significant support among Palestinians -- must end violence and recognize past agreements.

The sooner we [America] acknowledge our mistakes, maintain neutrality in the Middle East, and change our old ways, we can move forward gaining the respect and trust of other nations.  Obama is making a point of changing the perception of America by implementing change.  Continuing to make enemies and not acknowledging issues until it reaches war is not the way to do business.  Heading off issues, making peace, and showing the Middle East that we are fair, just, and empathetic to the needs and cultures of other nations is Obama’s way of bringing about change.  Running around like cowboys, guns blazing, making demands, forcing democracy down the throats of countries and cultures which have existed without such forever is not the way to get your point across.  Regardless of how effective a democracy is.

America is extremely powerful.  We don’t need to remind everyone all the time.  There’s nothing wrong with going to another country and saying a few words in the hosting countries native tongue as Obama did.  Hell people come to America from other countries and they speak full English.  Just because we’re the big kid on the block doesn’t mean we have to go around bullying everyone.  There’s nothing wrong with being a “gentle-giant”, disciplining and taking sides only when such is required.  Obama is only trying to change the perception of America, we voted for change now we just need to get Republicans to open their minds to a new world and a new way of thinking and doing business. 

Sarah Palin lay off the meth.

In a speech introducing Michael Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Regan.  Sarah Palin did what I would call a

paranoid potentially meth induced rant implying that our current administration is trying to turn the United States into some sort of communist state. 

Palin warned that the government is planning to "bail out debt ridden states" so it can "get in there and control the people."

"Since when can you get out of huge national debt by creating trillions of dollars of new debt?" Palin asked. "It all really is so backwards and skewed as to sound like absolute nonsense when some of this economic policy is explained."

"We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she said. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people."

"Some in Washington would approach our economic woes in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101, and they fly in the face of principles, providing opportunity for industrious Americans to succeed or to fail on their own accord," she said. "Those principles it makes you wonder what the heck some in Washington are trying to accomplish here."

What the fuck is she talking about?  Economics?  Really?  This from the Governor of Alaska, a state with all of about 6 people.  I’m sure she’s an expert on Economics 101. 

"It is war over there, so it will not be war over here," she said. "And it had better still be our mission that we win, they lose."

Since when did a conceding incumbent start making demands?  This from a women who is against sex education in school but her daughter Bristol Palin was pregnant at 17?  Why is she even speaking?  She’s irrelevant and makes an ass out of herself every time she speaks.  Palin, those people are laughing at you, not with you.  If those words don’t sound like the words of a person smokin’ “that shit”, I don’t know what does. 

So because our current administration is bailing out businesses so that Americans MIGHT be able to keep their jobs, thus forcing unemployment down, thus keeping food in people’s mouths and mortgages paid, she’d rather we let every business fail?  Why? Because she feels like the government wants to get in there and “control the people”.

I do agree that some businesses should be left to fail.  GM is a good example.  Clearly the company was mismanaged.  Ford isn’t failing, in fact they’ve recently ramped up production.  But we cannot allow every business to fail without some government intervention.  Isn’t that what the government is here to do?  To help?  It’s your political party Palin that got us into the debt we’re in today.  So crawl back into your meth lab trailer in Alaska, help raise your grandchild and leave the politics to the administration the United States voted into office and ZIP IT!