Background Checks at Staples Coming Soon?

Soon it may be required to get background checks at Staples now that 3d printers are now available through them at least online for now. It has been reported that the stores will start carrying the printers around mid-year at around $1300, which is the same price online now.

The problem that I have read about these printers, which I really don’t understand a lot about them anyway, is that they can make virtually any type of object that the user desires. This even includes a working gun that one person made and stupidly posted online the schematic of how to create it. Apparently somebody else even created an assault weapon with this type of printer as well.

Does this mean that we should be worried that some idiot who doesn’t get approved to buy a real gun will purchase a 3d printer and “build” their own instead? My answer is most definitely. To make matters worse, these “guns” don’t need to be registered obviously nor do they have or need any identifiable serial numbers on them.

Even worse than that is that people could possibly get past TSA security with their weapons especially if they are unassembled, reassemble them on a plane and cause all kinds of havoc. The big reason why these guns may pass is that they may look like colored plastic toys and not dangerous weapons. I could imagine if a child got a hold of one of these and decided to play with it.

This all leads to my point of responsible technology. I believe that the printer companies should have some sort of registration program to upload anything to the manufacturer’s secured website before it is printed on the user’s printer. If the printer company finds something wrong with what it is about to be printed, the item won’t be printed. Of course, somebody would find a way around this, but if the printer would only work when “approved” items are to be printed then the threat of possible weaponry would be greatly reduced.

It should be the responsibility of the printer companies to have proper registration of the units, but stores like Staples should also act responsibly if they hear anybody wanting to use these printers in any way that could be dangerous or malicious. Given Staples past ability to act responsibly means that they may sell a lot of printers just for the purpose of weapons manufacturing. Staples probably would not care how many deaths could come from somebody creating something that they shouldn’t.

All we can hope for is that Staples won’t sell many of these printers just for the sake of safety.

Clarifications

I am writing this special post early in the week because I was disturbed by a comment last week regarding a couple of my posts. Basically the person was calling me a liar.

I DO NOT ACCEPT this accusation as this blog is based solely on the lies and scams that Staples and other retailers do and have done. I believe in telling the truth in all cases.

However, one piece of information of my last post was based solely upon the information that I had based upon a misprint in the sales flyer that I had in possession.

The problem was that the Ink Savings card has an expiration of May 2014 not the May 2013 as I stated. Let me assure all the readers out there that I was going with information that I had at my disposal at the time and AT NO TIME did I try to make any deception of this part of the program. However, I still stand behind the rest of the posting as being accurate as this information is in their most current flyer and also on their website. Staples does have the legal right to change any information at any time and correct any typographical errors as they did online with their flawed flyer that I had at the time.

Also, a few weeks back I discussed the new rewards cards and issued links to the programs. Since these links are still valid and the information has not changed, I stand behind the information whether it is valid by the company or not. Again, it is up to Staples to correct their errors accordingly and since then, they haven’t.

On a positive note, they did clearly state that the “everything” does have exceptions and they are now clearly listed in large print in their ad. At least, they did something right.

In conclusion, let me say that I don’t take being called a liar lightly as there are those people out there who are such strong supporters of the company that they will never believe any written here because they are so brainwashed by how the company operates. To be honest, I used to be that way too until I got terminated and finally woke up and saw the reality, which is where I am today. I certainly will continue to post as many non-offensive comments as possible because no matter how wrong the “Staples lovers” are, they still deserve to be heard here.

Staples’ Ink and Toner Pass Scam

Last year, Staples created the Back to School shopping pass. Basically this scam was that you pay Staples to get a 10% discount on your back to school merchandise. I believe the price of this card was $15 but I really don’t remember because I didn’t write about it last year. I don’t know why I didn’t because this was a scam.

Now Staples is back with another money making scam: the Ink & Toner Savings Pass. It started running in the ad that began last Sunday. It is prominently featured on the cover of the flyer with the dreaded asterisk after the title. Basically, it gives a 10% discount on ink and toner purchases or so they say.

The dreaded asterisk points to the center of the flyer at the bottom in EXTREMELY SMALL print. But with a magnifier in hand, I got the awful details:

• The card costs $15. This means you have to spend at least $150 in ink just to get the value of the card back. If you figure sales tax into this, you have to spend even more depending on what your state’s tax rate is.
• It is only good through May 31, 2013. This means you have to get your ink FAST before this offer expires.
• It is NOT good on HP ink and toner. Since the majority of ink sold is this brand, this eliminates many customers from taking advantage of this offer.
• It is not good on remanufactured cartridges. This is less of a problem than it seems as many manufacturers don’t sell these anymore.
• It is NOT valid on online orders or by-phone. Basically, if the store doesn’t carry it or it is out of stock you are screwed.
• Pass can only be used once per day. So if a customer forgets a cartridge and has to come back to the store, it is tough luck on using the card on the same day. Given how evil Staples works, they probably track this and stop a customer cold if they try to use it again even if it is at a different location.

Given all these restrictions is there any wonder why anybody would ever want one these “discount cards” at all? This is yet another way for Staples to rip off the customer, make a profit at the customer’s expense, and most importantly lie to the customer.

I would really be curious if cashiers or other employees have to try and sell this card and if they expect any quotas of sales from these cards. If they do, my suggestion is to stop selling these cards immediately. If I was still employed with them, I would never sell them in the first place, but then again I never participated in ANY of their scams, which is why I am no longer with them.

Is Technology Bringing Fear to America?

Editor’s Note: I am putting this post in all my blogs this week as I feel it is important for all to read.

Yesterday I was asked on one of the social media sites that I belong to the following question: Could you live without my cellphone?

My answer was that I didn’t have one nor will I ever will.

Almost immediately after that I received a comment from someone who I never knew who gave the one word response “lame”. At this point I realized that this person was being offensive and showing their obsession with the technology all in one word. I decided to delete this comment without any further thought about it.

This brings me to the point of this post: Is technology bringing the fear to America?

I believe the answer is simply “yes”. I have a few examples in the last week that proves this idea.

Point # 1:

I believe that if people were paying more attention last week during the Boston Marathon somebody, anybody would have seen the two guys drop their knapsacks near the garbage cans. I think people were so obsessed with either using their phones to film the people that nobody ever looked around to see what was happening behind them. All these people seemed so obsessed with what was going on in front of them that they were not paying attention to what was happening around them. As I have mentioned in previous posts, people on cellphones don’t pay attention period. This is part of the reason why I don’t own one. I want to pay attention to what is around me. I want to experience the world and not just keeping people posted on my doings on Twitter and Facebook.

It seems that the only camera that caught the criminals in the act was a store surveillance camera or at least that is all the FBI is saying they have used.

Point # 2

The stock exchange experienced a minor flash crash last week after a posting from Twitter of an attack on the White House. This was posted from a hacked AP account. Of course, nobody checked any other sources to verify this information and took it as fact and the stock market dropped by 150 points in less than 5 minutes. This leads to the point of should people rely on one place like Twitter to receive their news when there are many other reputable sources of information. Did anyone not think of checking at least one other source? It is sad to think that so many people rely on only source. It is funny how technology can do so much damage so fast.

Point # 3

Last week Congress rejected the expansion of the background checks for gun purchases. What are they afraid of? Being rejected by a system which would prove them incompetent of owning a gun or do they just want to make the NRA happy while causing anger to those who have lost family members especially at Sandy Hook. A system that should be used to protect people is being ignored and not expanded is not the way to go. The NRA is just allowing those who shouldn’t own guns to purchase them under the table with no oversight.

Point # 4

Going job hunting? Filling out that job application now is basically a futile attempt online by dealing with a process that is usually less than satisfying. Since more and more companies are going this route, the application process gets longer and longer and seems to be more of a personality test than a job application. What is worse about this is that many times rejection happens instantaneously and sometimes a few hours/days go by before that rejection happens. Nonetheless the rejection usually happens if you don’t meet company criteria to the letter. Never an interview and never anybody ever sees the application. Only the computer sees your application and they are not the best judge of your character.

In conclusion, people are obsessed with their phones and not paying attention to the real world therefore allowing those that can create harm to do their duty with nobody looking.

People trust unreliable sources thus causing panic when it should not exist. Double checking information with someplace else would alleviate this problem.

Fear of somebody’s past should not be the basis to reject expanding background checks or prevent somebody from getting a job. Sadly it seems that a deeper background check is done on potential employees than is done on gun sales. Does this mean that we can trust people with a gun, but we can’t trust them with our money? Sounds like misplaced priorities to me.

Overall, the fear in America is created by the technology that controls our lives. We should control it and not have it control us. Now is the time for people to put down their phones and look at the reality around them. Otherwise the fear will grow worse and much deeper.

My Apology for the Week

With so much that has happened this week, I have decided not to do any postings this week. I decided instead of making any speculations about any of the events that have happened in the past week to just wait until we have more facts about what happened. I plan on returning to my regular blog schedule next week assuming that there are no worldly events that make that difficult.

I recommend that everyone get information about the current goings-on from as many sources as possible to get a clear picture of what is going on. As I have seen myself, some of the information is conflicting from source to source.

Thank you for your understanding and let us pray for all the victims of all that has happened in the past few days.

Bullying - A Story of a Survivor

Please Note: The following special blog post is being posted on all my blogs this week as I feel it is important enough to be heard on all my blogs. By far, this is the most difficult post I have ever done. Thank you.

I am a victim.

There I said it.

I am a victim of bullying.

Not just once, but at least twice during my years of public schooling.

The first time was when I was in kindergarten. I was knocked to the ground by another kid who was about twice my size. He knocked me down in such a way that my face scraped up against the bricks of the school building. I could not have been bleeding more from my face at the time. I must have cried so much as my mother, the principal and teacher cleaned the blood off my face. This was happening as others around gathered with some laughing at me.

It took me a few days to return to school as if I really wanted to return to school in the first place. The principal and teacher told my mother that I had tripped, when I knew in reality that I was pushed to the ground. The problem was that both the principal and teacher were in denial of what really had happened. The reason was that they really didn’t know how to handle a bully.

Unfortunately, when I did return I continued to be bullied by this kid and it continued on for a couple of years until he was finally sent away to juvenile facility and was never heard from ever again. I thought that I could continue my public education without any further incidences.

This just would not be the case. During my senior year in high school, I was bullied again. This time by another kid who apparently was on drugs and seemingly only goal was to make me miserable. He would destroy my personal property and have his ‘friends’ attack me at his will.

For as many times I reported these incidences to the principal and with plenty of witnesses, the principal did absolutely NOTHING!

Is this the way the education system is so supposed to work? In both cases, nothing was done to end the bullying even though it continued for a long time. It got so bad during my senior year, that I actually prayed to God that something bad would happen to him. Eventually it did. He died in a motorcycle accident just after senior year, which he never graduated. A life wasted, but a life saved as well.

It seems that now many school departments are stepping up and actually being more proactive toward bullying. For me, it was too late, but at least I am still alive. I wish I could say the same for all the others who have committed suicide because of their bullying. Certainly the physical scars remain and sometimes the emotional ones return as well.

I am a victim.

There I said it.

I am a victim of cyber bullying.

Over the last year, one of what I thought was one of my high school friends, has become extremely critical of everything I write in these blogs and questioned my beliefs on anything that I discussed. On the website, formspring.me it got so bad that some of the questions that were being asked were being flagged as potentially dangerous to answer. Anybody who followed me on that site last summer witnessed this entire thing happen. Since this whole thing started on Facebook, it came down to having to block this person once and for all. I had no choice as I had to save what sanity I had and protect myself and fellow readers from this idiot. I probably will never unblock him and probably will never be friends with him ever again.

What I believe is so interesting about this is that this somebody who was my friend during most of my early life and suddenly he changed in a way as to be offensive for everything I do. Seriously who really needs a friend like this in the first place? The bad thing about all this is that there really is NO place to turn to when one is cyber bullied especially if the person does not live locally. They are able to get away with it and there seems to be nothing to stop them except blocking them. It seems that this bullying problem has been solved, for now.

Up to this point, help doesn’t come easy as there doesn’t seem to be anyplace to turn when bullying happens. Oh sure, we can say that we can stand up against it, but unless the bully is somehow put down, the trouble will continue.

I am a victim.

There I said it.

I am a victim of workplace bullying.

Call it harassment, but I call it bullying.

During my last 6 months of employment with the hellish lying company Staples, the store manager Shawn Nichols (I am using his name as to embarrass him), harassed me on almost a daily basis.

The biggest harassment came with me using a stool to sit on when there were no customers around. I had a doctor’s note giving me permission to use the stool, but according to Nichols this was not good enough. He harassed me as to when I would stop needing the stool almost constantly and even requested that I get a MONTHLY note from my doctor to use it. I was even given an approximate 20 page form for my doctor to complete regarding my leg problem of which I was still recovering from.

Since I was still under the doctor’s care, he thought that this paperwork was stupid, but filled it out anyway. He even thought that the monthly note was absurd as well.

One night while I was bored, I looked on the system computer regarding employee policies and NOWHERE did I find any of the ‘policies’ that Nichols was trying to implement on me. It was apparent that Nichols only had his radar set on getting rid of me no matter what.

What made this worse was that a couple of employees were witnesses to this and were surprised by the actions of Nichols.

Eventually in a short 6 month time, Nichols was able to fire me because the quality of my work had declined to the point that to him that I was no longer a valued employee. Of course, who could do any quality of work if they were being lied to everyday and harassed at every turn they made?

What made this worse is that since the only human resources that the company offers is the store management themselves. So how can you complain to them about problems that you have with them? The only solution is for Staples to get a REAL human resource department in each of their stores and handle problems appropriately. I think they will be out of business well before anything like that ever happens.

At the time that I made my grievance report to the State of Maine, Staples had produced a different reason for my termination and it kept changing with every bit of paperwork that they submitted to me and to the state. Apparently, Staples has no idea why I got fired either. Follow my Staples blog here for my ongoing story of my employment history with them.

The bullying from Staples has not ended even as it has been 4 years since my employment with them as I am still unemployed. The physical scars on my legs are just reminders of just how bad Staples was and my health is still not great and I still have to sit a lot of the time because my legs still hurt when standing for a long period of time. I wish their bullying would end so I could go on with my life, but as long as they lie about me, it is still bullying.

So let us review everything here:

I am a victim of bullying

I am a victim of cyber bullying.

I am a victim of workplace bullying.

Two of the three have been solved. One bully got put away. One died. One continues on in its quest of my destruction. Two out of three isn’t bad, but isn’t perfect especially when many people especially the young are committing suicide every day because of the bullying they receive. Something needs to be done and we can no longer afford to just look away. Everybody needs to do their part in reporting it because sometimes the victim can’t do it alone. I really wish that I had more support when I really needed it in two of the three scenarios. The only one that nothing could be assisted in was the online one as nobody could step up on that one.

If I have inspired at least one person in what I wrote here, then I feel I served my purpose. If ever I had a purpose that is. I am a survivor not a victim of what could have happened.

Staples Redefines "Everything" and "Free" with New Rewards Card Program

Staples is at it again with another new scam and lie. Their latest claim is in regards to their “new” Rewards card program. Ripping off the idea of giving 5% back on purchases similar to what Target does with their Red Card is the latest idea that Staples misrepresents. While OfficeMax also has a 5% back program, they make it clear that it is on “QUALIFYING PURCHASES”, whereas Staples claims to be on “EVERYTHING”. However, under inspection of their fine print things like phone cards, postage stamps, and gift cards are NOT included in the program.

Why is Staples emphasizing everything when this is truly not the case? I call it desperation. After all, with the impending OfficeMax/Office Depot merger on the horizon, Staples has to do desperate measures to try to survive, even if it means lying about their program.

Even more confusing is the idea of “Free Shipping”. Under the Teacher’s Rewards card, a teacher must have purchased at least $500 of merchandise to get the free shipping (must get to Plus level of program to qualify). If you need proof of these lies, check out these links: http://www.staplesrewardscenter.com/SORC/UserManagement/Benefits/benefits_base.aspx and http://www.staplesrewardscenter.com/SORC/UserManagement/Benefits/benefits_base_teacher.aspx .

It should be apparent that Staples doesn’t know the definition of “EVERYTHING” or “FREE” as there are catches to both of their definitions in regards to the new rewards card. What makes this worse is that there is no hidden asterisk pointing to any restrictions anywhere in their claims. It is only when you scroll through all the details and then get to the gritty details, which should be upfront, that this latest scam comes to light.

My recommendation to anyone who makes a purchase with a rewards card and is purchasing one of the unqualified purchases, DEMAND 5% in cash from the register otherwise you will sue them for fraud of misrepresenting the definition of “everything”. As far as anyone with a Teacher’s Rewards card, DEMAND that FREE SHIPPING that Staples is also promoting as well. Its time customers get what Staples says not what they hide in the fine print as they have always been known for.

It’s time to put Staples out of business once and for all. This is just the latest scam in a long list of scams that they have created.