You know how sometimes you don’t have any mojo to write for your blog? You might comb Google Reader and others’ blog posts looking for inspiration. Or, you might cut tear sheets out of your fave ‘zines and bookmark other pages online. For naught…something is amiss…life’s malarkey is happening, and the positive ‘tude (this is Soulati-‘TUDE! after all) isn’t there.
I’m talking about myself…haven’t felt it, been crushing it for clients, and my time to write is spent just trying to breathe. This post is one of those where I have to clear the cobwebs of annoyances from my brain matter to yours. If you want to clear your head in comments and add what’s bugging you, too, feel free! We can all get some clarity heading into the weekend.
1. . A man in Troy, Ohio adopted three boys (and was on his way to adopting a fourth) and he sexually abused each. He also gave them to his friends (three men) to do the same to these innocent children (I don’t know their ages; I can’t fathom knowing this). News today says FBI is looking into this case. Who is helping the children, damaged for life?
2. Also in Ohio, a young teen boy picked up a gun and randomly shot kids inside the school. Three teens are dead. My heart for the families who lost their child. I have to stop writing this because I’m going to break down.
3. Bogus Subscription Offers. On a lighter note, the Wall Street Journal sent me two subscription offers the same day – one addressed to me and the other to my company. The former cost $231.72 for a year, and the latter costs $374.40 per year. And, I’ve received a call from a telemarketer to renew with an entirely different annual fee. Can you cough and say “bullshit?”
4. . Big news in the WSJ yesterday, “Doctor Accused of Big Medicare Scam.” This jamoke bilked us (because our insurance premiums pay for crap like this) of $350 million over a five-year period in Dallas. It is considered to be “the largest Medicare fraud scheme by dollar value linked to a single physician.” Home health agencies and the office manager were involved, too.
5. Who isn’t perturbed by this? I read the U.S. is exporting gas because demand is down; meanwhile, pump prices are at highest levels in awhile and who’s getting rich off people who are just flippin’ tapped out with every business’s higher prices for gas getting paid by consumers?
6. . I know someone who took herself off statin drugs; she was having incredible and crippling pain in her legs. After speaking at length with her physician (she fired that MD) who didn’t care to listen, mom decided to stop taking the drug one day. Her range of motion has improved, she has more energy, and she’s so angry she lost two years to pain. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a story, “FDA Warns on Statin Drugs,” but “the concerns aren’t expected to prompt doctors to stop prescribing statins.” I’m so concerned for our aging population; PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS ARE NOT THE ANSWER.
7. I tried to take advantage of low mortgage rates, but because the property appraiser decided my home was worth shit, my deal fell through. My credit is higher than required; the financial are not the issue. It’s the loan to value ratio on all of our homes; we’re all stuck. The Wall Street Journal yesterday (are you seeing the pattern here?) had this story, “Home Prices Hit New Depths.”
8. Banks Suck. is going to pass along a new consumer charge. If those who have a checking account with this second-largest financial institution don’t opt-in for online banking, then a charge will be assessed. That’s today’s top story in the Wall Street Journal.
9. Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Any worker on the frontlines of corporations who engages directly with customers is forced to act overly polite and unnatural just so they can get top scores on customer satisfaction surveys. When a bad survey rolls in, that employee is blacklisted regardless of the demeanor of the customer during the transaction. Maybe that customer is in a bad mood and always completes surveys with a negative score? Everywhere we turn, we’re asked to go online and complete a survey about our customer service and you can win a shopping spree or iPad! Employees should not be scored on a customer satisfaction survey alone; employees should not get a 1 percent raise due to a permanent bad survey in his or her file. (I know someone at Allstate with this exact experience.)
10. What’s #10, dear readers? I’m getting agitated anew writing through these top nine. Add yours below and clear your head of gobbledygook.
Yep, gas prices are making me crazy. Actually a bunch of the other things you listed do to, but I have to limit my stress level for the moment.
@TheJackB Breathe…lie down…get a massage…yes…we are parents with hearts, and that kills me every day.
Good grief, stop reading the Wall Street Journal, Jayme! Sad news, yes, but I had to laugh when you said, “Are you seeing the pattern here?” I don’t have a 10 (presumably because I haven’t read the WSJ today) but 9 is enough for me, thank you.
I sometimes think much of the media thinks the only newsworthy items are the ones that make people avoid any other news for the rest of the day while binging on chocolate ice cream with a thumb on the remote control. And I often think it’s working.
@ShakirahDawud During an election year, I try to disengage. I can’t stand all the junk we’re exposed to and the polarization of this country is worse than ever. I think this post helped clear my head for a minute…heh. I think it also did it’s job to stress out others, like @TheJackB down below!
My… that was quite a disturbing start to March…
I think I have a 10 and it is just as awful. About 4 months back; the local police while on patrol noticed a pair of legs on the balcony of a high rise building. On closer inspection they found that the pair of legs belonged to a 3 year old sitting at the balcony. When they went over to the apartment and no one answered; they broke in and found the little girl all alone – both her parents working and they left her in the house for about eight hours at a stretch. They were left with a warning.
Four months later; last month that little girl falls to her end; her parents, despite the warning, had left her alone again. Where is the world going to?
@Hajra Oh, Hajra…I’m glad I missed this earlier (although I’m sorry I did because I didn’t reply to you sooner), but this story breaks my heart…parents like these need to be punished seriously for their crime of child abandonment.
Such a relevant post for what I’ve been dealing with recently! I can’t stand when leaders of companies, organizations, etc. don’t respond to emails promptly! I was working with a student organization on campus on a potential collaboration event and needed the president of my organization’s advice and help but he never responded my emails and I had to hunt him down. It made us look so bad to the other organization that we weren’t prompt with out response and made us look uninterested and disorganized
@asdupre Hunh. I am preparing a post on gatekeepers. Not a good experience, either. If you don’t mind, I’d like your permission to use this example above…? I, too, had a terrible experience with my peers in PR gatekeeping. Not good. There are such consequences about that, and people sometimes just don’t care!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Of course! Sorry for the delay in response…midterm week 🙁