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.
