Corporate America

Last night I decided that today's post would be about corporate America. That is sort of a dirty word, because it brings up images of Exxon, (earlier) Healthsouth, Enron, you know, big ugly corporations, that do big, ugly things that get lots of news.

But what about the friendly corporations that just hurt one person at a time (or hundreds, as in the case of United Airlines. See I am still a little steamy about United, because they promised us vouchers when we suffered through a cancelled flight, a bump from a flight, and a denial of boarding (till they saw the steam coming out of my ears). But the vouchers have yet to arrive. They will be expired before I ever get them.

Then there is Bright House. You know, the cable TV company. I'm sure we can all complain about cable tv, like the paying for HBO In Demand and then having to watch John Adams Part 4 all pixelated and skipping. How nice. Or the Music Choice channels that skip....and skip....and sometimes just quit playing. But try this on.

Go to channel 100 to pay your bill. Go through all the steps, using their (hopefully) secure credit card system, and get a message on the screen that they were unable to accept my payment at this time, try again later. OK. So try again later, go through the same steps. Same message. OK, I will just pay the old fashoined way tomorrow. Well "tomorrow" was yesterday, so I thought, well I will just try the TV service again. So when I "log on" and get to the page that shows my balance, its negative because they actually accepted the two payments I made. What kind of system is that, in this age of technology and this company that wants me to use their phone service and internet cervice and cell service and garbage service and sewer service...well actually the last two I just threw in there, but really they might do better on the sewer than what we got now.

But the corporation that brought all this on is Best Buy. Why do I never learn. They are the same Geeks (Squad) that erased all my documents and pictures from a laptop I took in for repair a few years ago, so why I thought I should buy a new one from them I don't know. Well I do, I guess. Blue is a much better color than red (the Circuit City color). That could be an Auburn thing, I guess, but anyway, I went to them to get a new laptop.

OK, making a long chapter of a story short, it was not ready when promised. That irked me a bit, since I made a special trip over there to pick it up, but a gift card from the manager helped. But today...when I return to get it after waiting 30 minutes...no one can find it!!!

Seriously, it is gone. So am I still without a computer, without a big chunk of cash, and steaming.

But they tell me I will have a (new and different...same model I mean) laptop tonight. And they better hand me another gift card too.


What is your favorite corporate America story?

Starting tomorrow I begin (really I started last month) in earnest a "new phase." I will be doing an internship at the Department of Agriculture in Montgomery in Ag Security. To learn more about what that means, read my column next week in the Western tribune, or stay tuned on here.