I had a line on my Verizon Family plan that I wanted cancelled. The contract was ending, we didn't use the line anymore. Pretty simple.
I went into the Verizon store to make sure my wishes were clear and I wouldn't have any problems. My current billing period was about to end (5/6/2010) and the contract ended 5/14/2010. Verizon charges a month ahead so I thought this would be straightforward. The rep in the store (very helpful) told me I would have to call after the billing cycle ended. He gave me the number and told me what to hit in the phone menu
On May 15th, I call Verizon and go through the process. I am told, no problem, we will put it in the system and everything will be handled at the end of the bill period. Ten minutes, ready to go, thank you very much.
Then I checked online and saw that, indeed, my line would be cancelled but not until the end of the billing period. I would have to pay for the full month although my contract ended seven days into the month. I assumed this was an oversight on the part of the original phone rep so I stopped into my local store on the way home. Here is where things got sideways. The lady in the store (again, trying to be very helpful and courteous) told me the only way to resolve it was to talk to someone on the 800# because they couldn't really override their instructions in the store.
Back on the phone. This time I get Katrina. I recite my problem. Her response is, "That is our standard process. It only cancels at the end of the month." I responded poorly and angrily. After a couple of minutes of discussion around this lazy, customer hating business practice. I asked for a supervisor. Katrina responded with, "That won't be necessary, I will terminate it on the date you wish and credit your account". I am confused but that clears quickly. She explains that the system is set up only to terminate at months end but they are able to manually override that and she will do that for me.
I complain a little about the bad business practice of her superiors and the lazy system implementation that caused this problem (I do that for a living so I feel entitled to vent, even when the audience doesn't really care). Then I remember Katrina is doing me a favor. After about 3-5 minutes of work in the system, Katrina has terminated my contract and credited back the amount for that line. I thank her and let her know I intend to send an email regarding her outstanding customer service. I hope actually helping me does not get her in trouble.
But on a serious note, how many customer has VZW screwed out of $10-15 on occasions like this. Ridiculous business practice and I hope enough people read this to put a stop to their anti-consumer behavior on this matter.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
The NBA still sucks
I have watched, maybe, three hours of NBA basketball this year but it is a large enough sample to remind me that I hate the NBA.
A couple of examples:
A couple of examples:
- Who carries the ball more than Rajon Rondo? I know the guy is quick. Moves like he is on roller skates. But it is a lot easier to go around people when they are not sure if you just stopped your dribble. Seriously. Just call it. Doc Rivers will (probably) not shoot at you.
- Okay, except maybe Steve Nash. I mean, damn. Just call the carry every now and then.
- Fouls are totally subjective. You would get solitary confinement for some of the things I see go uncalled. Then someone sneezes and it is a double technical. Try to hide the crappiness. Maybe you should just go with totally random. Make it fun for us.
- Coaches whine constantly. I don't care if you think your getting jobbed. It happens every day. You need to get a sense of humor.
Bad shooting, wrestling substituted in place of defense, bad officiating.
I know. "Back in my day..." whips me, too. I am not saying it was better in my day but it was different. I don't like the new world. Change sucks.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sour Grapes
It doesn't matter what I call it, it will sound like the title anyway. The views and opinions stated in this blog are not the opinion of Jennifer Shockley-Daniels and do not represent her. (but she really, totally, agrees with me)
I can't believe Jen lost the election
When I left the RRISD Administration building, I thought the election was over. Fourteen-point lead after the early voting and Williamson County was outvoting Travis 2-1 in turnout. I wasn't ready to call it yet but, inside, I thought it was done. So I get home, everyone is excited and enjoying a lovely Saturday evening together. Friends, TexMex, and something to celebrate happens to be one of my favorite Saturday night combinations. I chatted with everyone a few minutes, talked about the lead and what it might mean, had a taco and tried to decide when to start throwing people out of the house.
After forty-five minutes of catching up with everyone, the phone rang. Jennifer checked the caller ID and went to the other room. Everyone immediately worried that something bad was happening. After three or four minutes, Jennifer comes out with a shocked look on her face. She pauses for effect, then says, "That was Dr. Chavez calling to congratulate me on the 'win' and discuss what's next." Cheers, hugs, handshakes, and some tears. Relief, at last.
Jen followed that statement with a warning to everyone that the election was over yet, all boxes had not been counted, so let's not count our chickens just yet. Prophetic.
Being the worrier I am, I started watching the Williamson and Travis websites. As the first votes from the day started coming in, we still looked really strong in Williamson - Good News. The first Travis results weren't as reassuring. As the night dragged on, it got closer each time results were posted. The last update went up and we were nine votes behind. I thought, "This can't be write. She couldn't overcome that kind of deficit." Then I started looking at the precincts. Jennifer had won or was close to winning in 90% of the precincts. The 10% directly adjacent to Westwood High School were overwhelmingly pro Catherine. That was our biggest worry throughout the campaign -- and it was coming home to roost.
I tried to convince myself there were still some votes out there but I just couldn't will it to happen.
How Elections are lost
We'll never know because we can't talk to the individual voters, but I firmly believe this election was decided by a single issue and a single constituency. Westwood parents wanted a change to district policy and they wanted it badly. Many Westwood parents want the district to change the policy for Class Rank reporting on official transcripts. State law requires that all Texas high schools must rank the top ten percent of their class. These students are eligible for automatic acceptance to state universities in Texas. Seems like a good thing.
The problem at Westwood is, according to the parents, the hyper-competitive environment at their school. Many graduates of Westwood that finish outside the top 10% or even 25%. Although their class rank is lower, their overall achievement and test scores allow them access to some very good (very expensive) schools...and there is the rub. Those expensive schools may penalize or preclude new students from scholarship opportunities based on class rank. On the surface, this seems like it is certainly worth the districts consideration and bares the attention of administration and the school board.
So, when a Westwood parent asked Jennifer what she would do, she gave that exact answer. We would look at the facts, consider the implications, and make the decision that is best for the district. The resounding response (in email and on the Westwood parent web forum) was "That's not good enough!". Jennifer's opponent, on the Westwood web forum, responded with, "The first step in fixing this problem is voting for me". Apparently, making an informed decision was not what they wanted. Promising to fix the problem regardless of the facts was the quickest way to their heart and vote. I guess Jen should have pandered but that is not her long suit as most of you know.
Postscript
So, in the end, we finished with a 5 vote deficit. Almost 3000 votes and 5 made the difference. Even if you ignore the fact that Williamson County uses a machine with a known high error rate to count paper ballots (as you can see here, here and here), a gap that small seems like a pretty good reason for a recount. If this was anything other than a school board election you would hear cries of 'DISENFRANCHISEMENT"..."TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION"..."HANGING CHAD"!
Okay, maybe not 'hanging chad', but you get the point. But it is a School Board election so the only recourse is for us or Jennifer's campaign to cover the $6,000-$10,000 in costs to do the recount. That would not be a good use of our money or the money of the great supporters and contributors we met along the way. Maybe the board will reconsider their current position on how recounts get paid for in elections this close, but that doesn't change this year.
The elections was close and I don't think Jennifer would change a single thing she said or did. For those who know her or have gotten to know her during the campaign, I think that is her greatest attribute. Hopefully, next year will get here soon and we can do it all again with some better results.
Meanwhile, we are revamping Jennifer's website and you will be seeing some exciting changes there soon.
I can't believe Jen lost the election
When I left the RRISD Administration building, I thought the election was over. Fourteen-point lead after the early voting and Williamson County was outvoting Travis 2-1 in turnout. I wasn't ready to call it yet but, inside, I thought it was done. So I get home, everyone is excited and enjoying a lovely Saturday evening together. Friends, TexMex, and something to celebrate happens to be one of my favorite Saturday night combinations. I chatted with everyone a few minutes, talked about the lead and what it might mean, had a taco and tried to decide when to start throwing people out of the house.
After forty-five minutes of catching up with everyone, the phone rang. Jennifer checked the caller ID and went to the other room. Everyone immediately worried that something bad was happening. After three or four minutes, Jennifer comes out with a shocked look on her face. She pauses for effect, then says, "That was Dr. Chavez calling to congratulate me on the 'win' and discuss what's next." Cheers, hugs, handshakes, and some tears. Relief, at last.
Jen followed that statement with a warning to everyone that the election was over yet, all boxes had not been counted, so let's not count our chickens just yet. Prophetic.
Being the worrier I am, I started watching the Williamson and Travis websites. As the first votes from the day started coming in, we still looked really strong in Williamson - Good News. The first Travis results weren't as reassuring. As the night dragged on, it got closer each time results were posted. The last update went up and we were nine votes behind. I thought, "This can't be write. She couldn't overcome that kind of deficit." Then I started looking at the precincts. Jennifer had won or was close to winning in 90% of the precincts. The 10% directly adjacent to Westwood High School were overwhelmingly pro Catherine. That was our biggest worry throughout the campaign -- and it was coming home to roost.
I tried to convince myself there were still some votes out there but I just couldn't will it to happen.
How Elections are lost
We'll never know because we can't talk to the individual voters, but I firmly believe this election was decided by a single issue and a single constituency. Westwood parents wanted a change to district policy and they wanted it badly. Many Westwood parents want the district to change the policy for Class Rank reporting on official transcripts. State law requires that all Texas high schools must rank the top ten percent of their class. These students are eligible for automatic acceptance to state universities in Texas. Seems like a good thing.
The problem at Westwood is, according to the parents, the hyper-competitive environment at their school. Many graduates of Westwood that finish outside the top 10% or even 25%. Although their class rank is lower, their overall achievement and test scores allow them access to some very good (very expensive) schools...and there is the rub. Those expensive schools may penalize or preclude new students from scholarship opportunities based on class rank. On the surface, this seems like it is certainly worth the districts consideration and bares the attention of administration and the school board.
So, when a Westwood parent asked Jennifer what she would do, she gave that exact answer. We would look at the facts, consider the implications, and make the decision that is best for the district. The resounding response (in email and on the Westwood parent web forum) was "That's not good enough!". Jennifer's opponent, on the Westwood web forum, responded with, "The first step in fixing this problem is voting for me". Apparently, making an informed decision was not what they wanted. Promising to fix the problem regardless of the facts was the quickest way to their heart and vote. I guess Jen should have pandered but that is not her long suit as most of you know.
Postscript
So, in the end, we finished with a 5 vote deficit. Almost 3000 votes and 5 made the difference. Even if you ignore the fact that Williamson County uses a machine with a known high error rate to count paper ballots (as you can see here, here and here), a gap that small seems like a pretty good reason for a recount. If this was anything other than a school board election you would hear cries of 'DISENFRANCHISEMENT"..."TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION"..."HANGING CHAD"!
Okay, maybe not 'hanging chad', but you get the point. But it is a School Board election so the only recourse is for us or Jennifer's campaign to cover the $6,000-$10,000 in costs to do the recount. That would not be a good use of our money or the money of the great supporters and contributors we met along the way. Maybe the board will reconsider their current position on how recounts get paid for in elections this close, but that doesn't change this year.
The elections was close and I don't think Jennifer would change a single thing she said or did. For those who know her or have gotten to know her during the campaign, I think that is her greatest attribute. Hopefully, next year will get here soon and we can do it all again with some better results.
Meanwhile, we are revamping Jennifer's website and you will be seeing some exciting changes there soon.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Well-deserved Rest...sort of
We took a day off from campaign work today to catch up on some family things and it could not have been a better day. Trying to squeeze a complete campaign into just a few weeks (thanks Run-Off Election), we have really been booked pretty full but we needed a day to keep the important things on track so, as we usually do, we crammed everything possible into our day. Usually, when we do this, it ends poorly to say the least. But not today...
Layne's House
After doing a few things around the house we headed out to spend some time with all Rob's dad and look at some of his memorabilia from World War II. He had lots of great pictures and articles from his time in the European Theater and the things he did immediately after the war. Sherwin is a treasure and has lived a life to be envied. He fought in a war, played (albeit, briefly) in the NFL, succeeded in business, raised a great family, and is a joy to visit with. I hope I hold up that well.
Skye's Birthday
We followed that up by heading over to my youngest niece's birthday. The whole family there and fun for everybody. I am amazed at what wonderful young lady Skye has become. Seeing her run around with her friends and be a 'big girl' makes me proud. I know all our kids are good kids but Skye has grown up so much in the last year it is hard to believe. I hope she loved the cake Aunt Jenji made her. The bite I stole while she was playing was great. Then Jen and her mom went to visit Grandma in the hospital while the kids and I took...
A Walk in the Park
First we filled up the car and washed it to try to make Jen's super busy week a little easier. Then we went to Central Park. No, this one, not that one. There are few things better than a beautiful spring day in Austin walking around the park with the kids. When you add to that a band playing @ Central Market that allowed me to hear a performance of 'Rhapsody in Blue' during our walk, you have a truly spectacular end to my day 'off'.
I hope everyone is having some spring days like these because when summer gets here, we will need those memories to get us through. Everybody have a good week and GO VOTE.
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