Updates

First, I've neglected to mention that I do have the GIS data that the City of Billings promised me. First thing I noticed was that there wasn't anywhere near as much as the GIS manager tried to tell me there was; second, it didn't take anywhere near as long for them to provide it as he suggested it might. I've had the chance to go through and have a look at it, and I'm actually somewhat impressed with the attention to detail and thoroughness the city is showing.

Second, as regards my Good Deed, I got a letter in the mail a few days afterwards -- from the pastor of the church the lady goes to. In it, he thanked and congratulated me on being a decent human being (my words), and wished me well. Apparently, she told pretty much everybody in the congregation about what happened.

Finally, my blitzkreig of eBay doesn't seem to have done the slightest bit of good; not only did the stuff remain listed until the respective auctions ended, but even MORE unrelated crap turned up. Between eBay's unresponsiveness and PayPal's willingness to summarily freeze accounts without explanation, I'm about this far from telling both of them to get stuffed.

So, it's been a mixed bag since my last post. :-)

Ummmm... whoops?

Golly-gee willikers.

It seems that the school district accused of spying on students was just misunderstood.

Really.

Is true.

What actually happened is that the laptop was reported stolen. They haven't bothered to produce any documentation of that; we should just trust them, apparently. Besides that:

• They didn't do anything wrong,


• They only did it 42 times,


• And they aren't going to do it any more, anyway.

The image that brought this whole thing out? Whoever it was that told the webcam to take a picture managed to catch the kid while he was involved with the notorious gateway drug of... Mike and Ike candies.

This whole thing is looking more and more like the school district made an abysmal choice in installing the remote-monitoring software, shot themselves in the foot by trying to punish the kid for consuming what they thought (but didn't bother to verify) was illicit drugs, and are now doing a singularly bad job of trying to justify what they've done and put the best possible face on it -- instead of just standing up and admitting that they screwed the pooch all along the way.

Damn fine way to set an example, folks...

(un)Express Lane -- redux

Got an alleged response from the twerps at Albertsons.

I say "alleged" because it didn't respond directly to what I had to say, made no promises, and was about as generic and mealy-mouthed as it could be. To wit:

Thank you for contacting us regarding your latest shopping experience at your local Albertsons store. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We strive for continued customer satisfaction and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused you. We appreciate you taking the time to share your comments with us. Your comments have been sent to the Store Director. If you need further assistance please contact us by phone at 1-877-932-7948 or via email.

Sincerely,


XXXXXXXX

(the name has been redacted to protect the poor schmuck that had to send it out).

Dumb bastards -- don't they know that the only way they've got to fight Wal*Mars is by offering something 'Mars doesn't? Namely, customer service?