FEMA

What can I say? Breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back and with your tax dollars to boot.

 FEMA = F*ing Egomaniacal Managmement Atrocity

Rome burned; Nero fiddled. California Burns; FEMA congratualtes itself.

Wilco / Hess

I can’t believe that I actually have something nice to say about an oil company.

Over the past week, gasoline prices had been coming down. Then on Thursday, the price of oil hit $90 a barrel. The amount of the price increase warrented an increase of about a penny or two a gallon. However the Bush Brigade (rich oil men) are in a panic because it crossed the magical $90 a barrel and they shot off their guns to spook the herd and start a stampede. There is actual danger that the CEOs of the major oil companies won’t get their billon dollar bonuses this year.

However, Wilco / Hess has held its ground. It has not raised its prices as of today.

Gate raised their prices 9 cents a gallon overnight as did Exxon / Mobile. Gate is also the only local gasoline station that raised its prices on 9-11. On my way to work that morning the price was $1.349 / gallon. That afternoon, it was $1.479. That’s equivalent to a 27 cent a gallon spike in today’s gasoline prices.

I haven’t been in a Gate station (other than an emergency stop in the men’s room) since 9-11. I will patronize Wilco / Hess even if they aren’t the cheapest gas around — however, they usually are.

Let’s hear it for Gate gasoline, they’ll do ANYTHING not to piss off the terrorists. Must be a European-owned company.

[Edit] 10/29/07 Exxon / Mobile raised their gasoline prices another 6 cents a gallon today while Wilco / Hess is holding fast. Wilco / Hess will have to raise their prices eventually as their supply of lower-priced gasoline is exhuasted. In the meantime, Exxon / Mobile is making 15 cents a gallon more on the same gas they were making a profit selling 5 days ago.

[Edit 10/31/07] Wilco / Hess finally raised their price to $2.78.9 which is still 11 cents a gallon cheaper than Exxon / Mobile.

[11/1/07] Exxon/Mobile $295.9 – another 6 cents per gallon into the CEO’s pocket. Now leads Wilco / Hess by 17 cents a gallon.

[11/2/07] Wilco / Hess closed the gap $283.9 but Exxon added 4 more cents today in it’s daily price raise to $299.9. So the gap is only 16 cents a gallon.

How American Airlines Tried to Kill My Family (Part I)

The first attempt was personal as the whole family was on board. It was a flight from Denver to Seattle that started with a high-speed abort on the runway due to an improperly secured cargo door. When we arrived at SeaTAc, there was a severe cross-wind. We made three missed approaches before diverting to Boeing Field.

Other airlines were already at Boeing field, and they sent busses  to pick up passengers and baggage and cart them to SeaTac. American Airlines chose to refuel and try it again. Most passengers bolted and boarded cabs at their own expense, especially after a uniformed crew left the aircraft

As a pilot myself, I realize that they might have been scheduled to fly the next day and needed to get into crew rest, however the rest of the passengers were asking, “What do they know that we don’t know.” So much for exhibiting confidence and leadership.

The now-exhaused crew, on command of someone at a desk at American, took off from Boeing Field for another attempt at a cross-wind landing.  As a pilot, I am used to making as decision like this from the cockpit and not be told what to do by some “ground weenie.” Unfortunately, the ground weenies at AA determine if you stay employed after exercising good judgement.

In the event, we made it. However, it was a bad call all the way around.

JobWorld2020

Hey, hear it from Mark Spilnella himself! All he wants is $2,295 to place me!

I am overjoyed that he failed to place me without my permission in a position that doesn’t exist. Now he wants to spam my resume to thousands of companies who don’t know him from the southern end of a northbound horse.

 — quote —

1.    I believe I can help you find a new job, but until we talk I can’t be
sure.

2.    I tried placing you at no expense to you but do not have anything
appropriate at the current time. If you have 3 or 4 months we can discuss pursuing this option.

3.    Simple economics will tell you that the average person earning only
$90,000 per year lost $7,500 not working last month. If you have no current leads you will lose $7,500 more this month. Those who earn more will lose proportionally more money.

4.    We have a program to get your resume in front of virtually any
potential employer. It costs as little as $0.92 per lead depending upon how many companies we contact on your behalf and what other services we use. Our base package is $795.

5.    If you employ our most popular program you get 1250 companies for
$1795. At this level, if you follow the program, I will guarantee multiple interviews or we will rerun the campaign at our cost.

6.    We have a program at $2295 designed to let you look both locally and
nationally. Some clients use this to “hunt for the elephant” (that big paying job in your industry), while simultaneously searching near their homes. Others have used this approach to search two geographic areas at once. The program delivers 2500 companies!

7.    I could have this all working in 2 business days. If we start on
Tuesday, by Thursday your campaign will be in the mail and the faxes will start your phone ringing.

There is much more to say but that lays out some of the basics. If you are still interested I’d be glad to fill in the specifics. I recently ran my own resume through the program to audit the process and received some interesting responses I could share with you. This is no panacea, but it is a proven way to expand your network and land the interviews you need to get a job.

— unquote—

–

American Airlines

Ok, it’s time to go after one of the biggies. I am a frequent flyer of American Airlines, definately not by choice, but it’s the only reasonable way to get between GSO and DFW. American Airlines is a cargo operation. First they load the cargo, then they decide how many passengers they have to bump (after they’ve checked in and are at the gate) to accomodate the extra weight.

On one of these trips they bumped 15 people off a 47-passenger aircraft. I got bumped, flew to RDU and rented a car (at company expense) to drive to Greensboro. It’s of no concern to AA that it would have been cheaper to fly to RDU to begin with, so the fact that you pay extra to rent a car is of no concern of theirs. After all they automatically booked you for the next available seat on a flight on the following afternoon.

On this particular flight they held the plane for an additional 45 minutes and then three deadhead aircrew got on. So three more passengers were bumped after they were already strapped into their seats.

By getting bumped I could have recieved $100 “AA bucks” (to be used before they expired) if I waited until the plane gated out. Of course I would have missed my flight to Raleigh had I waited for that. I would have used my $100 to buy inflight snacks. “Hey flight attendant, you got change for 100 Monopoly bucks?” 

So at American Airlines passengers are their primary concern, right there behind deadhead aircrews and cargo.

Friendly Center Tire

I was in town maybe two weeks when my brakes started chattering. I brought the car to Friendly Center Tire at about 9 AM on Saturday. They close at 12. I had no track record with them as a loyal customer, but the “squeezed me in.” That was in 1995. Ten years later they still were taking care of my 1985 Tempo. I credit the extra 10 years of the car’s life to my driving habits and their maintenance.

What I like most about them is that they do not take the typical automotive mechanic approach to a problem: keep replacing parts until the problem goes away. They actually drive the car, then diagnose the problem. Then fix it and then drive the car again to make sure the fix takes. They have spent hours and dozens of miles on a single problem.

When the problem is of a nature they can’t fix, they make very good recommendations for shops that can fix the probelm.

Jiffy Lube

OK, they are more expensive than my normal mechanic, but you can’t beat them for convenience. Just watching them work you can see that they work as a team. I asked the manager about this, and yes, they do get training on more than how to do an oil change. They get training on how to deal with customers.

One time I left my car with them and told them I would be back later. I left the keys on the dashboard. When I came back, the car was still not serviced. They told me I didn’t leave them the keys. I told them I left them on the dash. They moved me to the front of the line, serviced the car and didn’t charge me.

On another occasion, they fired the people who were supposed to be doing the state inspections on the spot because they were late. They brought in other inspectors from who knows where.

I deal with the one on Battleground, down the block from Lowes.

Sherman Sauvain Spinella Nationwide Recruiters

I’ve been in a job search from time to time, and it is amazing how many people are willing to jump on a job seeker, preying on his vulnerability. Here is the latest that I’ve come across.

Someone named BradF contacted me from this organization telling me that he knows how to tap into the “hidden job market.” Of course employers hide jobs from the public, especially if they are critical positions they need to fill. They wouldn’t want anyone to find out about them, would they?

Brad admits, “There are so many positions out there that are available which never make it to the job boards or help wanted ads. Especially the higher level positions. Most tend to be filled from word of mouth, networking, recruitment firms and from within the company.” What Brad doesn’t tell you is that these people don’t know him any better than they know the average aboriginal tribesman in the Australian Outback. Brad is smart enough not to say that his company has actually been retained by any employer to conduct a search for them. In fact,Sherman Sauvain Spinella Nationwide Recruiters doesn’t really get involved with these companies at all.

The way this scam works is you pay Brad your money, and he sends you an exclusive mailing list of this “hidden job marker” to which you can spam your resume. Of course everyone in the same carrer field as you gets this same “exclusive” list. As he says, “Our Direct Mail Campaigns help you break apart from the pack and tap the job market you”re not seeing. Instead of your resume being in a pile with dozens of other resumes we deliver it to the decision maker of the organization by itself.” So, what do you get for your money? A bunch of mailing labels. You buy the envelopes, reproduce your resume and cover letter, stuff the envelopes, pay the postage and burn your gas to drive to the post office. So who’s doing all the work and who’s getting all the money?

If you are interested in sending unsolicited resumes to decision makers who don’t know who you are, you can look up where to send the resume on line or at the local library. Don’t pay Brad. Sending cold resumes does work, but it’s a low percentage shot. Having someone who actually knows the decision maker present the resume for you increases the odds almost astromically. That person isn’t Brad. In fact Brad won’t even be the one submitting your resume.

What’s it all about?

This is a blog about companies that use unethical, doubious or just plain incompetent business practices when dealing with the public. If you happen to work for one of these companies, I pity you, but I am not looking for internal “dirt” on a company.

 So if you have been cheated, swindled or otherwise just plain abused by a company, I’d like to hear about it. So would the rest of the world!

10-21-07: I decided to make this a forum for the good the bad and the ugly. If you have comments about a good company, there is a category for that too!