I went to a local Subway today, as I do every once in a while. The guy that runs this local shop though has no business being in business. Let’s start at the beginning. Just shy of two and a half years ago, I ordered a couple subs, and I also bought three chocolate chip cookies. Subway’s cookies are usually great. These, however, were stale beyond reason. They were not crispy, not crunchy, they were like ceramic disks. So, I went back later, with the cookies, and mentioned how stale they were, and if I could get three fresher ones. The owner was there, and stared at me, looking stunned. Then he proceeded to argue with me about the cookies without looking at them. I took one out, held it several feet above the counter, and dropped it. It thudded into the counter, with a loud noise, and skidded to the side. It did not break, it did not bend, or dent, or deform in anyway. There were barely any crumbs. He angrily snatched the bag from my hand, and informed me the fresh ones would be done baking in a moment. So, I said thanks and had a seat. A couple minutes later three fresh cookies in a bag landed in front of me on the table. He didn’t set them, or hand them to me, he just tossed them on the table. “There are your damn cookies.” I was stunned, and just thanked him and left.

Six months later, I was in the store, and he was as well, as opposed to other employees. I ordered a few more cookies. This didn’t sit well with him. “Oh, are you sure they’re fresh enough for you?” Six months later, and he’s still griping about three cookies. I said, “Wow. Look, that was six months ago. You served three crapy cookies, it happens, act like an adult and get over it. If you can’t hack a little criticism once in a while, you shouldn’t be in business.”

So, I’m in today, and his son is there instead of him. As I’m ordering the sandwiches, one of them was to have the mozarella cheese on the side, as opposed to being on the sandwich, so it stayed fresher. I was informed this was extra.

I asked, “Wait, the cheese is extra?”
He replied to me, “No, having it on the side is extra.”
I blinked. “Ok, so, if I have you put the cheese on the sandwich, it’s included, but if I have you put it in a little baggie on the side, then it’s extra?”
“Yes.”
“Bizarre. Fine, whatever.” I didn’t feel like arguing about it.

Several minutes later, after finishing the other sandwich, long after that part of the conversation had died a natural death, he then says to me, “It’s extra because he [the owner, this kid’s father] is losing money. It costs him to put stuff on the side.”
This pushed me a little too far. The experiences in this place were just too surreal to ignore. I took the bait. “Ok, it costs him more money to put the topping on the side than it does to put on the sandwich?”
“Yes.”
“So, it’s free if you put it on the sandwich before you give it to me, but if I have you give it to me separately, that costs more.”
“Yes.”
I’m reeling here. This is twilight zone. “No, I’m sorry, this is insane. It doesn’t cost him more. I buy a sandwich, and I can select from this assortment of toppings. There is no magical savings by putting it on the sandwich. That slice of cheese costs two cents whether it’s on the sandwich, on the side, or on my head. It doesn’t cost more because it’s to the left of the sandwich.”
“Well, he says it does and he says he’s losing money.”
I replied, “Maybe it’s because he’s nickle and diming his customers to death, and they’re tired of his lousy service and disposition.”
He steps out from the back of the restaurant office, apparently listening all the time.
“Yes, sir, that’s right. You have lousy service and a lousy attitude. I’d already accepted the extra twenty cents for the cheese and let it go when your sone ressurected the topic to argue. That’s horrible. If you manage to sucker a customer into an extra fee, the last thing you should do is then argue with them trying to justify it.”

People like that have no business being in business.

After four years under German occupation, Paris is now free. Last night, the French 2nd Armoured Division under General Philippe Leclerc was the first Allied force to enter the city, greeted by loud cheers from Parisians after many days of fighting between the Resistance and the German occupiers.

Sixty years ago today, General Dwight Eisenhower gave the go ahead for French General Leclerc’s Second Armored Division to lead American troops into Paris and engage the occupying forces and retake Paris. For the second time in 35 years, LaFayette, we are here!

Woo! I’ve updated some things here at the electron pile. I’ve added four new link buttons for Firefox, Thunderbird, Mozilla, and MozNews (which I help run), and some text links to other parts of the site previously accessible only via magic incantations. I’ve also opened up user accounts for readers to help try and prevent comment-imposters. You can still comment anonymously, but this optional feature gives you some extra abilities. Lastly, it’s also valid HTML 4.01 and CSS, as denoted by the buttons. There is also a stylesheet change, so if things don’t look quite right, hold the SHIFT key when you click your browser’s Reload button.

I have a 1996 Dodge Neon, and I think the fuel pump is dying, but I’m not a car guy. It chokes and sputters going up decent hills, and over 45 or 50 on flat roads on an average day (say, 70 degrees). I can go faster on cooler days, and maybe only 40-45 on hotter days. Like I said, I’m not a car guy, but I think it’s the fuel pump. Now, what do those things cost to replace, I’ve heard around $200, and might there be something less expensive to test first (like you change the thermostat first then your car is overheating on a full reservoir)?

I just had to share this one.

A language where “coward” is an insult marks a possibly dangerous species. — Larry Niven

I rarely pontificate on theology. I do not frequently discuss or debate theology. I even less frequently espouse my own theological beliefs. I find religion to be a very personal issue, and also a very private issue. So, since I will be undoubtedly offensive to someone (as opposed to being offensive to everyone, which I’m fine with), you can click the little link there to read the whole post.
» Continue reading “Theology”

Wow. I previously detailed my experience with SafeAuto, and in that missive I stated I’d manage to get back a measley $21 refund of the $86 they’d stolen from me. They lied, again. I got a check (finally) for thirteen dollars, not $21, but $13. So, to recap, they lied, took my money, never got the policy information, got screwed, lied to again about a $21 refund, and then only gt $13. It cost me $73 to learn SafeAuto Sucks. Boy is that a lesson I won’t soon forget.

These guys were the randomly (and boy do I mean randomly) picked winners who entered via a comment in the previous entry, and the emails where the invites were sent:

Zach (zachspoelstra [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Bryan Simonson (manticor24 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

DNapalm (dnapalm [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Martin Morrison (mam53 [at] cam [dot] ac [dot] uk)

Simon Salzer (gmail [at] sizzite.endjunk [dot] com)

Michael Diestelberg (md [at] winfuture [dot] de)

Happy GMailing, guys. To those who lost, I’m sure I’ll get more, so check back. And keep looking at other Mozilla folks’ blogs for other giveaways.

I have 6-8 invites open right now, and left a note about it on Asa’s blog, after he gave away his extras. He only had some many, so maybe I can help a few folks he couldn’t. I’ll do it the same way. Post a comment that you want one, and in a few days I’ll randomly pick a few. Bribes are accepted and encouraged, although I still make no promises. 😉

PS: Only one “Hey, me!” comment will count per person, so it’s just like those coupons in the paper, one chance per person. 🙂

Oh lord am I sick. I haven’t been this ill is years. I haven’t been on IRC or even reading mail for three days. I’m posting here so no one thinks I’m dead, although I wish I was…