Insight

Am I the only one who thinks Insight Communications is full of jackass employees? I know they aren't the only company that has employees who don't do their job. That seems to be commonplace these days. It just gets old constantly having to make phone calls and/or emails to get something done.
I've dealt with Insight for four or five years now. You have to go through the typical, lengthy voice automated b.s. to get to an employee that reads straight from a screen, and has to transfer you to someone else. I called them on the 5th to cancel cable, but keep broadband. "George" didn't want me to cancel, but let's face it: The programming rarely changes and the economy blows. (What's with Insight commercials advertising that they're hiring because of increased volume?) Maybe they need more idiots to take cancellation calls and try to get them to stay by "saving them some money." That's what George did. He said he could save me $15 a month. I didn't even let him tell me how. They always try to get you to get a phone and lure you in for that one year deal, just like their other services that rise substantially after you've been with the company for a year. What other cable company can you use in the area besides them?
I thought I would return my cable box and that would be it. I received my bill Friday and there was NO CHANGE! (As I type this, 2 commercials in a row came on, telling you how great Insight is.) Rather than call and deal with another incompetent fool, I communicated via the way most companies now promote, but don't use: EMAIL. Last time I emailed them about something I never even got a response. I was doubting I'd get one this time around, but I'm real optimistic. I emailed Sunday night and got a reply this evening from Shatonya. They needed my account number. WTF? You mean you don't have access to it? I gave my *mandatory* address and my Insight email address. After replying with my account number I never heard back. I emailed Shatonya again, this time I'm sure I sounded a bit hateful. She wrote back that she did in fact reply. I never saw it. They finally made the adjustments to my account on the 17th. My bill went from $130 to $95.
The people that come to do installations are just as shoddy. When we moved into this house, cable wasn't even available out here! We had satellite. (Does DirectTV even offer Internet anymore? I remember inquiring about it back when we had satellite and it was hundreds of dollars just to get it going.) Some of the rooms in our home were already wired. (The lying ass builder stood here and told us there would be phone and cable jacks in every room.) When we ordered cable I requested that they do some installations in other rooms. I even told the person on the phone that there was a brick wall on the other side of the wall I wanted one of the jacks installed on. Of course they didn't notify the guy doing the installation.
The installation guys don't want or know to do but the bare minimum and sloppy ass job. This guy hated that he had to drill two bedrooms. Forget about a nice, professional wall installation, he went through the floor just next to the wall. They do anything to avoid going down a wall. They did the same thing at work last year when we switched our phone/internet to them. We now have a horrible looking bare wall with a cable outlet near the ceiling because the installer claimed he couldn't go down any further. Maybe Insight shouldn't pay their employees a flat fee and nothing more for overtime.
Insight sucks and I'm tired of their commercials touting them as the best in the industry. Maybe they are. Every corporation seems to run the same low standards these days. Everything takes multiple phone calls with multiple idiots. Nothing is done right the first time. Prices increase.

The 6 letter word I dread

SCHOOL. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy learning, but I don't enjoy doing useless reports and writing APA style papers. One of the worst assignments I had while working towards my Associate's was doing a business plan! I can see maybe doing this assignment for a BA or Master's, but come on!
I bring this up because I need to continue my education. With a horrible economy and still owing on my education, I'm just a little discouraged. I don't know when I'll return to the classroom. More than likely I will return to Sullivan because I refuse to attend another school only to have some credits not transfer, and have to take classes I've already passed just so someone can make more money off of me.
Not only is Sullivan University outrageous, the staff are pathetic. I can't even remember everything they had screwed up. I know at one point they had me listed as an Accounting Major when I was a Business Mgt major.
I'm just discouraged right now. Finding a job right now would not be fun at all. Something tells me that even if I had a BA, finding a job would not be good right now.
I bring all this up because I can't work for Dad forever. Eventually (hopefully) he can sell this place and retire. In closing, I ask you, "Where is the bail out for small businesses?"

Body Language Reveals Wealth

A flashy handbag or Armani suit can signal a person's wealth, but so can their body language, according to a new study. People of higher socioeconomic status are more rude when conversing with others.

Psychologists Michael Kraus and Dacher Keltner
of the University of California, Berkeley, videotaped pairs of
undergraduate students who were strangers to one another, during
one-on-one interviews. In total, 100 undergraduate students
participated.

The researchers then looked for I'm interested" gestures, including laughter and raising of the eyebrows

The higher SES students fidgeted with nearby objects for an average of
two seconds, while those from lower SES backgrounds almost never
fidgeted during the 60-second clips. Upper SES students also groomed
themselves for short stints while lower SES students didn't. Rather,
the lower SES students nodded their heads, peacock's tail, the seemingly snooty gestures of higher SES students indicates modern society's version of "I'm fit," and "I don't need you."

"In the animal world, conflict arises when you're battling for status.
So it's adaptive for us to avoid those conflicts and tell us we know
'I'm higher status than you, so don't bother having a conflict with
me,'" Kraus figures.

Lower SES individuals can't afford to brush off others. "Lower SES
people have fewer resources, and by definition should be more dependent
on others," Kraus said.

The research is detailed in the January issue of the journal Psychological Science.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090210/sc_livescience/bodylanguagerevealswealth

Someone in Kansas is a little crazy or just has too much $

I was looking @ prices for some HDMI cables last night. I found this guy's review of a $220 cable. I thought it was pretty funny, especially the part about the $100 bottle of finishing polish for CDs that lasts for 30 CDs. WTF?

"This is the best cable EVER! I have been an audiophile ever since I quit being all my other 'philes'. I have dedicated my time to be the best audiophile I can. So much so that I bought all the Best Buys around me out of these cables because I need as many as I can get! Until now I've only used mercury filled, oxygen free, silver tinned, foil braded, tekflexed cables. They have been so good to me and my ears. But now i get this cable to go from my dvd player to my tv. It makes my tv sound like its a 5.1 system with full subs and all the Bose tweeters hooked up in a wall all in parallel. The best I've ever heard. They did however get better when I hung them upside down for a few hours to let the electrons flow back down into the right orientation and direction. The I squirted some pure silver induced harmonizing fluid into the connector tips. This makes the connection so sweet and keeps the electrons from escaping when you are using them.
I only play movies and cds that have had their edges trimmed to 35 degrees. This allows the laser to relax and play better. I also rub my cds with a super special finishing polish that is $100 a bottle. Unfortunately it only lasts for 30 cds. I always unplug and turn off everything in the house that I can besides the tv and my audiophile ps3 that I have modded with extra resistors and capacitors to make "open it up". It gives it much better air and ambiance than it did before. But do beware. There are some serious scams out there that do nothing. But my super super tweeter is not a scam. It plays way above the human hearing threshold, but its purpose isn't to make music its to condition the sound on the line and that is exactly what it does! no more background noise, cross talk, and definitely more depth and breadth.
I highly recommend these cables for everything! you must use as many as you can to make sure all the data gets transmitted. My cable box has three HDMI plugs so I ran all three to the tv and get over 5x the clarity than I did with just one."

Heaven's no, Hell yeah

But wait! There's more!

The man hasn't even been inaugurated, yet he's restored confidence! I can't stand this commercial.




On a different note, I just stumbled upon this video, which I think is just HILARIOUS.

The blackest cat on the street

I hate you, but you hate yourself too. I hate to be honest, but I'd hate to be you.

She was a folk singer

I can't stand people that sing, not people that sing in a band, nor us tone deaf folk that fail to hit a single note while rocking out in our cars with all the windows up. I'm talking about people who sing while they're supposed to be helping you. The woman checking my groceries at Whole Foods would be a good example.

Now I can only assume that someone, somewhere, most likely a parent or some schmuck trying to get laid led this woman to believe that she could sing. Because in all honesty it's a voice only a mother could love. Possibly a pathetic lie told while dry humping and desperate, and I mean a DESPERATE need to play hide the tofu-salami, most likely after said schmuck ran out of date rape drugs at a sorority party.

Fine sing, take voice lessons, But what the fuck makes you think it's okay to do while you're at work, weighing my bok choy and running my credit card. I would honestly find it less offensive to watch someone shit on the floor in the seafood department. And what the fuck makes you think that I, or any of the thirty customers lined up behind me, would want to hear that off-key fucking hippie ass teach your children well shit yodel spewing like some Technicolor yawn all over the express lane.

Needless to say I will never be going back to Whole Foods.




My boycott of one lasted over two years. And though it may not appear to be outwardly affecting them I think they lie alone in their beds at night, heads gently resting upon buckwheat pillows, bodies laid out on organic mattress and while silently rocking themselves to sleep they cry on the inside.

My boycott was halted by an unfortunate incident involving driving, low blood sugar, a fat day and only an Arby's in sight. I broke down and willingly sacrificed my morals for the growing girth of my ass and fair trade vegetables.

I made it through the salad bar and most of the checkout line unscathed. And as watched the happy customers ahead of me purchase their products without incident I had my very own Mary Tyler Moore moment. I was gonna make it after all.

How wrong I was.

My cashier, who seemed to have her wits about her decided to show me all of her tattoos.

Tattoos of her spirit guides and proceeded to tell me how each spirit guide originally appeared to her.

I didn't get annoyed, though it could have been out of sheer weakness and the fact I was about to pass out, I don't think I'll ever be clear on this. I just took my salad and started eating it while at the register waiting for my change.

I went with the flow for almost ten minutes, this included smiling, nodding, oohing AND aahing.

I guess if some company sees the importance in letting their employees "be who they are" then they would also see the importance of letting their customers "be who they are."

In this case that would be hypoglycemic.

And yes, from now on I will be carrying a banana with me.