Unbelievable Stupidity and Walmart management

Today, I had to go to WalMart on 75th street for a few things. When I parked my car I noticed a Nissan Altima with its lights on in the parking lot. It happened to be a very cloudy and rainy day. I took down the plate number. It was an out-of-state plate too, from Kansas. I went in and reported that a silver Nissan Altima with Kansas plates had its lights on in the lot. I gave her the plate number which she wrote down. The lady said she'd take care of it.

I was feeling all warm and fuzzy for doing a Random Act of Kindness. A smile on my face. Just a secure and contented feeling.

After a couple minutes, I heard a very faint "something being said" over the store's speaker system, but there was music playing and I faintly heard the words "Kansas" and part of the plate number. I couldn't believe that it wasn't loud enough for shoppers to hear!

I expected a BOOMING "Attention shoppers! There is a silver Nissan Altima in the lot with their lights on! The Kansas plate number is bla-bla."

But all I got was a damn whisper. Barely audible. And they (Walmart) obviously thought this was just fine. Just fine way to treat one of their customers. It ticked me off.

I left the store after a half hour, and the car was still there...with its lights on.

I couldn't just leave it! So I grabbed my receipt and used my cell to call the Manager's number on it. I told the lady who answered that I was inside the store today and reported that a car had its lights on in the lot and the car is still here with its lights on. She said, "Yes, we announced it."

Okay, I'm VERY ready for battle with a total idiot.

Me:  "I barely heard the announcement and it was not loud enough."

Manager's office: "They had the volume turned down today."

Me: "And you think that is good enough?" 

She didn't respond.

Me: "The car is still out here with its lights on and there was no AUDIBLE announcement made. Can you announce it again or should I come into the store again?"

Manager's office: "I don't have the plate number."

(As if that is a good excuse to NOT do it?) O.M.G. Stupid people. Ready to strangle the bitch. Through my phone.

Me:  "I'm parked right here by the car and I can give you the plate number."

Manager's office: "Okay what is it?"

I again said it was "a silver Nissan Altima with Kansas plate number bla-bla. And make sure the announcement is loud enough for shoppers to hear this time!"

Now, I have no idea if the second announcement was loud enough for shoppers to hear. I hope that it was, so the folks from Kansas didn't have a dead battery to contend with when they left the store.

I did the right thing. I did what I could. I did more than most. I didn't want a "thank you" or any sort of recognition. I just wanted people to do their fucking job. I just wanted someone else to give a damn.

All I can do is hope it worked out this time.

Mary

ALERT: Fed Ex Phishing E-mail

I received this email, allegedly from Federal Express. I know it is a fake because Fed Ex does not have the email address it was sent to. Additionally, there were several people who were BCC.

Most importantly, there is a .ZIP file attachment that you SHOULD NOT CLICK as it most likely contains a virus. Delete this email if you get it. Pass this blogpost on to others you care about please.

EMAIL I RECEIVED

SUBJECT: You need to get a parcel number 7237
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 12:58 PM
From: "FedEx office" support.nr.3136@managerscom
To: eXXXXXXX@yahoo.com
Bcc: mXXXXX@hotmail.com, cXXXXXX@hotmail.com, sXXXXX@yahoo.com, iXXXXX@yahoo.com.my

Message contains attachments

1 File (32KB)

* FedEX_Information_IDS34911.zip

Dear Customer!

The company could not deliver your package to your address.
The package was returned to FedEx office.
Information about your package is attached to the letter.
Look through the information about your package thoroughly.


Thank you.
FedEx Logistics Services.

END OF EMAIL

Stay safe and be smart!

Mary

URGENT! E-mail Account Phishing Scam BEWARE!

I just received the below e-mail and it is a phishing scam to gain access to your e-mail accounts. Your accounts may hold e-mailed information regarding logins to different accounts that you do business with. DO NOT respond to this e-mail if you get it.

Notice how they cover ALL of the major e-mail accounts like Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail. Notice how they sign it Microsoft AND Yahoo. Right! Please do not provide ANY information to these scumbags! Here is the e-mail to watch for:


Dear Account User,

This message is from the yahoo/Microsoft Inc to all our yahoo, hotmail and gmail account users. We are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of yahoo, hotmail and gmail accounts.

In view of the above and in order to give our account users better services, we are carrying out account validation in order to ascertain anonymous email accounts users as well as update current users.

If you are still interested and want to continue using your current email account, you are hereby requested to kindly fill your login information in the space below. Upon the successful filling of the information, your account will be upgraded and continue to function as normal.

* User name: ...............................
* Password: ................................
* Date of Birth: ...........................
* Country or Territory: ....................

Warning!!! If you fail to provide the required information within 72 hours of receipt of this message, we shall have no option than to delete your account permanently as one of the anonymous email accounts users.

We apologize for any inconveniences this might have caused you.

Sincerely,

Microsoft/ Yahoo Account Services
Copyright © 2010 Microsoft/Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved

Be safe out there!

Mary

ALERT: Chase Bank Phishing E-mail

Here is an example below of a "phishing" email I received under the Chase Bank name. If you happen to receive one of these, DO NOT click on any of the links (they are disabled in this post) and do not enter any of your account information!

Forward the email to abuse@chase.com.

NOTE: I have added an Update below.
============================================

Chase Bank : Your Online Banking Profile Has Been Changed

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 9:41 PM

From: "Chase Bank Alert"
Add sender to Contacts
To: undisclosed-recipients

Dear Customer,

Due to the high number of fraud attempts and phishing scams, it has been decided to implement EV SSL Certification on this Internet Banking website.

The use of EV SSL certification works with high security Web browsers to clearly identify whether the site belongs to the company or is another site imitating that company's site.

It has been introduced to protect our clients against phishing and other online fraudulent activities. Since most Internet related crimes rely on false identity, Chase Bank went through a rigorous validation process that meets the Extended Validation guidelines.

Please Update your account to the new EV SSL certification by Please enter your Chase Bank Online ID and then update form."/ font"

(Failure to verify account details correctly will lead to account suspension)

Thank you.
Account Customer Service

==========================================================

UPDATE: I received a comment from someone who works for Verisign's Extended Validation SSL program. Read his comment below. He basically states that the consumer has to do absolutely nothing to take advantage of EV SSL certification. All you need to do is to make sure that your browser is updated to the latest version.


The EV SSL technology turns the URL bar green (or you see a green padlock) when you are on an encrypted page. It is designed to prevent phishing attacks. So, if the site you are on has the EV SSL and the green URL bar disappears or padlock is not green, it may indicate a fake site or phishing site. Take it as a WARNING and investigate before providing any information to the site.

If any email tells you that you have to click on this or that to verify your information, it is very well a phishing site. Be careful out there!

I received two phishing emails in August that "appeared" to come from Bank of America in reference to a call I made and they had the date of the call! That really gave me the creeps, in addition to the fact that BofA does not have that particular email address of mine and there is no way BofA would have it. Of course, I forwarded those to abuse@bankofamerica.com.

To due dilligence on the net,

Mary

RANT! Racism and e-mail forwards

I have a cousin who is maybe a couple years younger than I am. She's my mother's brother's kid on the Italian side of the family. About 3 years ago, I gave her my e-mail address. That was back when I thought we'd have some sort of friendly relationship, you know, go grab lunch or browse the malls once in a while.

However, all this woman does is forward crap to me. Some are stupid cartoony e-mails asking me to forward to 8,456 of my closest friends in 10 minutes or something unlucky will happen to me. I can imagine losing 8,456 friends in the following 10 minutes if I did that.

Some forwards tell me that I will make a lot of money, run into a large fortune and get really rich if I send it to 10 of my friends now. She forwards them and she's not any richer! LOL

The WORST e-mails she forwards to me are those that "appear" patriotic, yet are masking hateful racism. Her latest e-mail that she sent me TODAY bashed Muslims. And Obama. I can't even bring myself to copy and paste it here for you to read, it is so offensive to me.

Several other e-mails that she sends me have had the theme of bashing Mexicans. It's like she's obsessed with Mexicans. It is no surprise that on those particular mexican-bashing e-mails, she leaves off her "best friend" Cyndi who happens to be a Latina.

I immediately "called her on it" the first time this happened. I replied and said, "I see you conveniently left your "best friend" off this one!"

I have sent her responses back more than once when the forward is bashing those who don't speak English. I tried to reason with her that our great grandfather came over from Italy and did not speak English. His gravestone is engraved in Italian.



That part of the family is so proud to be Italian. I am disgusted by that part of my family tree. That one particular uncle and his racist kids.

So, today, I made yet another request that she stop now from forwarding racist e-mails to me. I have replied in the past that I do not and will not subscribe to her family's point of view and to leave me off these forwards.

What are my options?

Many people believe that the old DELETE button works best.

I can BLOCK her from sending me emails.

My Favorite Option:

I prefer to speak up. I firmly believe that silence can be mistaken for complicity in thought or action. Saying nothing, she does not get to know me. Remaining silent, she continues to believe that her actions are okay, that it is perfectly acceptable to be racist, to send out hate for entire groups of people.

My mother used to "coach" me on the way to my uncle's house, to not say anything that would "cause a rift in the family" or "make waves." I had a heated discussion with my mother that I think they need to hear another point-of-view. I told my mother that I don't understand why what -I- might say would cause a rift. What about the things THEY say?

I stopped going to all family functions where this branch of the family would be in attendance. I haven't seen them since I walked out of a banquet hall on January 2, 2010. I don't miss them.

I'm about peace and love. If you cannot feel the love for everyone and the different cultures on this earth, then you are not someone that I want to be around. Simple as that. I have choices too. I will never change how those people think about the world, but I can choose with whom I associate.

Now that's freedom!

Mary