Idiot on Patrol

The current issue of the Sentry, a newspaper issued in the South Portland/Cape Elizabeth Maine area, features an article on South Portland Police Officer Detective Chris Todd. The article goes on to say how wonderful this guy is and how professional he is. The article goes on to say that he won Officer of the Year twice in the last 5 years.

Now here is my beef:

I had an encounter with at that time Patrolman Todd. My encounter was in regards to Staples. I not only found him unprofessional, but also somewhat of a jerk. I will describe details of the incident in a future post, but essentially he wrote me up in a report against Staples, well after the time that I was employed with them. Apparently, a former friend/employee didn’t like a posting on a social media site even though it had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with them whatsoever. Nor did it name any names either. This was strictly a case of paranoia that went haywire with idiots panicking for no reason.

Certainly, this gave Staples ammunition against me in regards of my future case that I had against them. Both Staples and Officer Todd both were idiots to accept Staples’ false claims against me with NO PROOF of any wrongdoing.

So how does a loser like Officer Todd get awarded? The reason is simple: the department is crooked. At least some parts of it are. I believe that amongst those not on the up-and-up is Chief Ed Googins, who purposely allowed only an edited version of my file to be released to me. However, I already HAD the full-UNEDITED version in my possession, which left out important details regarding my mental state of mind.

Yes, you read that right: they were making assumptions about my mental condition based solely upon a social media posting.

At this point, I think most would agree that this just so wrong in so many ways. But, unfortunately this is how the department works. Make assumptions whether right or wrong and hope for the best.

Isn’t this how many police murder innocent victims and then do an internal investigation and discover (SURPRISE!) that they did nothing wrong! I believe that this is the same approach that Los Angeles Police took against Christopher Dorner in his quest to clear himself of any wrongdoing. Sadly, Mr. Dorner was killed either by himself or by the area police that burned the cabin he was held up in. Is this the way our justice system works? Apparently.

On another front, why should Officer Todd receive Officer of the Year, twice no less, for his incompetence? As with any type of award like this, there is always some political agenda behind it. In a future post, I will discuss my relationship with the Employee of the Year award.

Personally, if I had my way, I would have both Defective, I mean Detective Todd fired along with Chief Googins for their failure in being able to dismiss the false charges brought against me from the lying company Staples.

But then again, if you have been reading this blog all along then you already know what a lying company Staples is and I will have much more to say in the future.

Another Newsweek Subscription Update–It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Yesterday, I received an email from the company that presumably holds my subscription. The news just keeps getting worse. They stated that, since I really never “paid” it, I am entitled to NOTHING!! This means that neither company seems to care about REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE and both would rather lose a customer than satisfying a customer. I have sent both companies one final email hoping one will cave with a solution otherwise I will be reporting this incident to the Better Business Bureau. I believe that this has gone on for way too long and shows complete irresponsibility of both companies. My recommendation is that if anybody out there has a Newsweek subscription, don’t renew it. This company deserves to die once and for all. If they gave up on the print media, then we should give up on them as well.

Love in the Workplace

Today is the perfect time to talk about an odd subject: love, specifically, love that happens in the workplace. Valentine’s Day is not the only time that love can happen for better or worse.

For me, it usually meant for the worse. Only once in my life have I ever attempt to ask out a girl. Quite honestly that didn’t go well. After several weeks of being flirted with in her workplace, I got up the nerve to ask her out. Instead of being accepted, I drowned in her excuses why she can’t go out with me. Amongst the reasons were no time, going to school, and the obvious not want to. Ironically a couple of weeks later, I found this girl with a much better looking guy than me. I have the feeling that looks had more to do with the rejection than anything else. Thankfully I have not seen her in over 15 years and I could not be happier.

However, over the last 10 years 2 girls asked me out. One of the girls only was looking for a relationship for sex only. Yes, she stupidly said that she just wanted sex and nothing else. If anyone thinks that this is inappropriate, then you are in full agreement with me. Obviously I turned this girl down despite the fact that she was kind of a sexy girl, just not an overly beautiful girl. Ironically, she quit the job less than a month later and went to work at another retailer. She worked there for about a year before completely disappearing off the map. Approximately 2 years later, she entered the store where I worked and came through my line and I noticed by her charge card that she has since got married. Maybe she found somebody who would fulfill her “request”.

The other girl who asked me out gave me her phone number on her last day of employment with me and wanted me to call her, however she really didn’t seem interested in actually liking me. She seemed more interested in telling me about her problems and the meds she was taking. Quite honestly, she scared me despite how much I really wanted to like her. I never called her at all and when she caught up with me at the local Best Buy 6 months later. She gave me the 3^rd degree right in front of my mother who I was out shopping with that day. After stating her case and I told her that I wasn’t going to call right away, she stormed off and never was seen again. I tried several times over the years since to friend her on Facebook, MySpace, and even follow her on Twitter. Ironically, she has never tweeted, but I follow her anyway. I wonder if she even knows or cares. If I had the opportunity I would love to have her back, but I don’t expect it since she seems to have a new boyfriend and now lives 3000 miles away in California.

So overall, I have never been lucky in the whole relationship thing and the future doesn’t look bright. However, I recommend care to be taken when a relationship seems weird like the ones I have mentioned. Until things change I will continue to be the U.S.A.’s most unloved person. Thankfully Valentine’s Day comes but once a year.

Response from Alternative Company of Newsweek Subscription

Just minutes ago, approximately 3 business days later, I received a response from the company that holds my subscription. Here is their canned response:

Hello,

Unfortunately, we provide you with technical support for this subscription. Furthermore, we are not authorized to offer any other subscription in place of this one. We can only cancel the subscription all together. Please contact Newsweek directly as they are the only ones who may be able to offer you an alternative option to this subscription. 

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

M2 Mags Customer Support

It seems to me that I am being treated like a ping-pong ball between these two companies. Nobody wants to take ANY responsibility for just how bad this product really is. It is sad when a customer can’t get any satisfaction for what would seem like a very simple problem. What gets to me the most is that nobody wants to be a big boy and just offer an alternative to the crappy digital format. I really am not asking for a lot, just something in return of my remaining subscription. Is that really so hard to do? Apparently, for these companies it is. Depending on the result of my response email, I will be filing a complaint with the BBB as this is just bull! Stay tuned…

Latest on Newsweek Subscription Problem

On late Monday, I received another email from Newsweek customer service. This email pointed me to the company that ACTUALLY holds my subscription. I sent an email out to them late Monday afternoon and as of yet have not heard back from them.

What really bothers me most about this so far is that: Why did it take 5 emails to get this information? Is Newsweek afraid of losing a subscriber or don’t they just care anyway? Right now I am still extremely angry of this whole process, which should have been resolved weeks ago. Stay tuned…

Youth Disrespect

It’s a sad thing when a local Miami court appearance makes national news. However, the court appearance of Penelope Soto was nothing short of ignorance and total disrespect.

Granted, Ms. Soto may have been confused as to the entire procedure given that she was playing with her punk red hair during the entire proceeding. She may also not know how to respect those in the legal profession either.

One thing was clear though; her behavior was unprecedented and certainly uncalled for.

Sadly, her behavior is not uncommon with today’s youth. Just go to your local mall and stand in one spot for a few minutes. Notice how many youngsters knock into you and not even realize it and worse not even apologize for doing it. Yes, the kids are either so absorbed with their friends or their cell phones to pay attention to the real world around them.

So who is to blame for this?

• Parents. Many parents are so self absorbed with their own things they could care less about what their kids are doing. Sadly, I have seen many new parents who should not even be parents because their own values are terrible.
• Friends. Peer pressure is a big contributor as many will follow the same path of their friends thinking (wrongly) if its ok for them, then its ok for me as well.
• Teachers. Unfortunately, they are not teaching real life values in their curriculum leaving it to parents to teach children how to handle themselves in real world situations.
• Social Media. Twitter, Facebook, and even MySpace could be culprits as the youth sees things online and think it must be ok to act that way.
• Reality TV. Remember when MTV showed music videos? Today, it is the home of the most socially demeaning actions of today’s youth. Youths see this and think this is how life should be.

Some may question why I am mentioning this in this blog. The reason may not be simple but sadly many retailers hire youthful employees who are so self-absorbed and so rude that they could care less about the customer and care more about other things. What is even worse is that in many of these stores, the management either doesn’t care or isn’t around to watch the employees. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I have walked out of a store because an employee just didn’t care at all. If Ms. Soto is the face of the future, we are all in big trouble and something must be done now to fix the problem. The judge in her case just made matters worse by giving her 30 days in jail with no social implications. Someone like Ms. Soto should be cleaning garbage on the side of the road for 30 days instead. This would send the right signal to the youth of today and hopefully a sign to tomorrow’s youth as well.

Update on Newsweek Subscription

On Sunday, I received the following response from Newsweek:

Dear Mr. Brown,

Your subscription has been transferred to the digital edition of Newsweek. Your subscription will not be transferred to an alternative print publication. Please verify if you wish to cancel the remainder of your digital subscription.

It appears that the company is offering NO alternatives to make me really happy.  I have requested what amount they will give me if I take their "Money Back Guarantee".  I will keep you posted in this bad customer service issue.