Where the hell do people get off demanding others to turn over their Facebook user names and passwords?  This is a violation of privacy in one of the grossest forms.

I’m sorry, but if I apply for a job and they demand access to my private Facebook information, they can kiss my ass.  A company that willfully disregards the rights of its employees is not a company that I want to work for.

Facebook is part of your personal life.  I don’t see corporations following these people home to see how their home life is, or wanting to read the text messages on their phone.  Perhaps they would like to see how applicants’ sex lives are?  Because, really, should they be employing sado-masochists??  Is that really conducive to a teambuilding corporate atmosphere?

I’m all for criminal background checks.  If you’ve been charged with a crime, that is no longer your personal life, but public life.  I can understand credit checks (only for companies having to do with finance…otherwise it seems pointless).  But companies have no need or right to prod into your personal life.

(This is, of course, assuming you don’t already grant public access on your Facebook page.  If you do, stop that.  Also, I don’t want people trying to jump down my throat saying “if you put it on Facebook, you have no expectation of privacy.”  There is a big difference between an idiot leaving their embarrassing photos for all the world to see and someone demanding access to my account to view every last detail that I have kept from being public for a reason.)

Know your rights.  Giving others password information or allowing someone, other than yourself, to access your account is a violation of Facebook’s terms of use that you agreed to when you created your account.  Tell anyone who may want this information that they should be ashamed of themselves.

Then offer them a sex tape.

I would like to meet the Amazon employee who decided to add Ensenda to their list of delivery companies.  I would use some kind of chemical [or magic] to sicken their kidneys and then ship a donor kidney to them via Ensenda, so that they could die waiting for their package.  [Check out Pissed Consumer for LOTS more anger and bitterness directed toward Ensenda by people who are not me. ]

I decided to get a little wrist rest pad for my mouse.  Found a good one on Amazon for $8 that qualified for Amazon Prime.  Excellent.  I decided to have it shipped to my work address, because sometimes I have trouble getting packages at home.  I have never had a single, solitary problem getting packages at work.

Enter Ensenda.

I was supposed to get my package last Thursday, the 16th.  When I didn’t, I tracked the package only to discover a delivery attempt was made at 4:30 but the “destination was closed”.  Some mere fluke, I thought.  I will get my package tomorrow!

Friday rolls around.  No package.  Again, when tracking I see another delivery attempted message at 3:30 with the same “destination closed” note.

Now, lest you think my office was closing early, I will let you all know that my office building is actually open [and staffed by security] 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  That this driver continues to say “destination closed” means that he is either lazy or a complete moron.

So I called Ensenda on Saturday morning.  I told them that this driver is either lazy or a complete moron and my building is open 24/7.  They “leave a note” and tell me the package is out for delivery today.  Hooray!

It was not out for delivery on Saturday.

Monday another attempt was made at 4pm and despite my “note” again the driver indicated “destination closed”.  I called again, pretty pissed off by this point.  They kept telling me they were leaving notes [for all the good it seemed to do] and that they would “personally follow up” with this case to make sure I would receive my package on Tuesday.

There was no delivery attempt made on Tuesday at all…according to their tracking, it never left the main shipping center.

Which brings me to today.  Almost a week since I should have received my package.  I called them again this morning… The driver now [theoretically] has my cell phone number and work phone number.  Tracking says my package is out for delivery.  I decided to work late and stay at my desk until one of three things happened:

1. I get my damn package
2. The tracking status changes from “out for delivery” to “delivery attempted: destination closed”
3. Six o’clock.  There’s no good reason to stay at work later than 6pm, package or no.

I am surprised to report that number 1 was the winner today.  At 5pm.  I also sent an angry email to Amazon letting them know that my choosing them for future purchases will be heavily swayed by this Ensenda experience.  They responded, though I am not sure that they read my email, for they announced they were sorry that I could not receive my package and have shipped another to me, free of charge.  So there’s that, I guess.

I never believed the day would come when I would prefer FedEx.  To actually long for the half-assery that is a FedEx delivery.  Thanks to Ensenda, that day is here.

I really don’t understand our country’s financial system.  But I do know one thing: I wish mine worked the same way.

Just think, I could get a bunch of credit cards, use them on things I can’t afford, and hell, don’t even really need!  Once I have maxed them out, I can just raise the limit to whatever I want!  I never have to worry about paying the cards back!  I can just spend and spend!

This is what America does.  This article mentions the dire consequences if we do not raise our debt limit by August 2.  America could lose its amazing AAA credit rating!  You know what, perhaps America’s credit rating should reflect its credit habits, as it does for every American citizen.  If you take on a lot of debt that you can’t pay back, your credit deserves to go down the toilet.

The answer here isn’t to raise the limit.  The answer is to live within your means.  If you are not doing this, you have two fool-proof plans to start: 1.) reduce spending, or 2.) increase income.  You can even combine the two!  It’s finance magic!

So, a letter:

Dear Federal Government,

Stop spending money you don’t have.  Either cut it out of the budget, or raise taxes to pay for it.  You are embarrassing yourself, and me by proxy.  [Personally, I feel as though you've taken too many liberties with how you are allowed to spend Americans' money and would prefer you cut more out rather than increase taxes, but at this point, either would be a better solution than raising your debt limit.]

I would also recommend Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover.  A lot of good tips in there for budget planning and paying off debt.  I will happily send you a copy as a gift.

I don’t know whether my stance on this issue makes me side more with Republicans or Democrats [and I don't care].  I just know it makes me smart.

Sincerely,
Teri

This story annoys me, but not for the reason you may think.  In case you didn’t feel like reading it [you big lazy] I will sum up: A woman walks into a Burlington Coat Factory and announces she’s just won the lottery and will pay for everyone’s purchases (up to $500).  Turns out, she was lying and took off before paying for anything.

I’m not in any way condoning her actions, but let’s look at the behavior of the people receiving this “generosity”:
*”Apparently they were in line calling relatives who were not at the store and told them to come.”
*”People flooded the registers as cashiers began ringing up purchase after purchase”
*”Shopper Candace Jordan said she told Brown she didn’t need clothes, she needed help paying her rent.”
*”That’s when angry customers, realizing they weren’t getting free coats, began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Nace said. ‘Everybody was like, ‘I still want my free stuff,’ and that started the riot.’”

Pretend, for a moment, that this woman had been legit and felt good about having won some money and wanted to do something nice for the people around her.  Look at how they took advantage of her!  Customers called relatives and told them to come get something for free, they went crazy with purchases to get all of the $500 offered, and they said “Thanks lady, but that’s not good enough.  Pay my rent, instead?”  [Also, I have to ask why a girl who was having trouble paying her rent and didn't need clothes was shopping there in the first place.]

These greedy people got what they deserved.  Give people an inch and they take a damn mile.  When they found out it was all a hoax, they sacked a store that had NOTHING to do with it.  They stole merchandise with the belief that they were somehow entitled to it.  They caused a riot regarding coats.

These people make me sick.

While I’m on the subject – here’s another prime example.  A Massachusetts man and woman began throwing things at McDonald’s employees when they received a small french fry instead of a large french fry with their order.  “The man and woman turned violent, hurling coins and plastic safety cones at cashiers in the North Quincy restaurant, injuring one, police said.”

Seriously?  These people have serious anger-management issues.  Either that, or need to be smacked in the face with a serious dose of perspective.  Getting the wrong size fry is not a big deal.  This intense of a reaction is entirely inappropriate, and these idiots should be ashamed of themselves.

At the bottom of this article is yet another instance: “Last Thursday, a couple apparently upset that their food order was slow in arriving allegedly punched and kicked another customer at the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Norwell. Jared Garfagna, 31, and Sara Mohn, 24, allegedly yelled profanities at restaurant employees and attacked another man who asked them to stop because children were in line.”

I think we [being society or the government or whatever] should develop mandatory classes, in same the vein as driving school, that people guilty of crimes such as these must attend for a certain number of hours.  The classes would address anger-management of course, but would be primarily centered around the theme of, “THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU, SO PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND GROW THE HELL UP.”

That’s a damn good theme.