Rant
« Previous EntriesJohn Thain: What Was He Thinking
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009Okay, if my memory serves me correctly, John Thain was brought in to replace Stan O’Neal as Merrill Lynch’s CEO. This occured in late 2007. Thain was hired to clean up Merrill Lynch after they lost lots of money during the mortgage/credit crisis.
So, what does Mr. Thain do after he becomes CEO? [...]
I’m Sick of “Rachel From Cardholder Services!!!!!”
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008The phone rings. I pick it up and hear the following recorded message that goes something like this (I’m going from memory):
“Hello. This is Rachel from cardholder services. There are no problems currently with your credit card account but it’s important that you act fast in order to reduce your interest rates.”
And [...]
I Will NEVER Buy a Price Pfister Product Again!
Friday, October 3rd, 2008UPDATE: Please read this follow-up post.
Remember me complaining about our Price Pfister kitchen faucet not even two months ago? To refresh your memory, our faucet had a problem with the diverter. The diverter is a little piece of plastic that diverts the water from the faucet to the hose or vice versa. [...]
Go Figure! Oil Drops 11.2% This Week and Gas is Down 1.5%
Friday, July 18th, 2008I know that oil prices and gas prices don’t always move in tandem but it sure seems like gas prices follow oil up and are reluctant to follow them back down again. Take this week for instance: Oil prices were down 11.2%. Yet, this morning I noticed that my local Kroger dropped the [...]
OT: What Does “Antibiotic-Free” Mean to You?
Monday, June 2nd, 2008UPDATE: I just noticed that I used the term “antibiotic-free” in the post title. I just figured out that nowhere on the packaging does Tyson claim that the chicken is “antibiotic-free.” Rather, they claim it is “…raised without antiobiotics.” Yes, they are technically the same but as you well know, wording [...]
Pizza Hut Now Charging Extra for Extra Cheese
Monday, June 2nd, 2008I just ordered pizza for my family. I always use a coupon that gives me two large pizzas with up to 3 toppings for $19.99. In the past, as one of the three toppings, I have chosen extra cheese. Tonight I noticed a note was added to the extra cheese section that [...]
I Don’t Like Automatic Gratuities
Monday, May 12th, 2008The definition of gratuity according to Merriam-Webster:
“something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service”
The other night my daughter had her first dance recital (my daughter calls it a “dance cital”). After the recital my wife and I took her family to Olive Garden to celebrate the evening. It was after 9:00 [...]
Good Help Really is Hard to Find
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008BankerGirl wrote an interesting post the other day with some advice for fledgling financial professionals. I particularly liked point #2: No job is beneath you, which reminded me of a recent experience I had at Sears.
On Sunday I visited my local Sears to buy a garden hose. As we were walking into the [...]
The Mortgage Bailout Plan Stinks!
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007This was in yesterday’s WSJ (emphasis mine):
The subprime sales pitch sometimes was fueled with faxes and emails from lenders to brokers touting easier qualification for borrowers and attractive payouts for mortgage brokers who brought in business. One of the biggest weapons: a compensation structure that rewarded brokers for persuading borrowers to take a loan with [...]
It’s Getting Tougher to Make Money From Blogging
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007Most readers of this blog probably don’t care about this topic.
Most of you probably know that I do make money from blogging. You can see the Adsense column on the left and two banner ads (there’s a third banner ad but I don’t get paid for it). Then, if you scroll all the [...]