Traditionalist

I can't really explain why this bothers me but it does bother me. Am I hopelessly traditionalist in thinking that a head of state should first meet with the head of state in the hosting country before going off and toasting with business leaders?

It's all symbolic fanfare crap but isn't that how it works? It's kinda like traveling 12 hours to the town where your grandparents live and going straight to the strip club to meet your buddies without stopping first to see them and have dinner.

Check out the look on Bill's face in the pic. The look of "I am going to make a shithouse of money doing business with you and your country" (-:

Bogus

Am I the only one who has noticed the scam going on in retail outlets from WalMart to CVS. Most of them have taken to this simple and devious method for raking in what must be a staggering amount of money under the noses of unsuspecting customers who know no better.

It evokes thoughts of the scam from the movie Office Space. You know, the one from “superman III” ;-) They take a small amount of money but do so on multiple transactions. The overall net must amount in the millions added to their bottom line when all is said and done.

It all started up around 3 or 4 years ago when I started noticing that the interfaces and functionality of the credit card machines changed all-of-the-sudden at WalMart. After that, I started noticing the same switch in the screens of my transactions in other locations such as CVS.

They had reprogrammed the credit card machines to pull the ‘pin number’ screen right after the successful swipe of debit cards. Prior to that, the user chose credit or debit, and if you chose credit, it pulled up the signature screen. Now, you swipe, then it pulls up the ‘pin number’ screen and if you don’t take the extra step to cancel out, it charges you for a debit card transaction and part of this charge goes right into the pocket of the retail outlet.

It amounts to pennies but imagine the numbers of people who don’t know, forget or just blindly put in their pin because there are no clear directions presented to them in the interface at that point in the transaction. Multiply this times the numbers of people who fall into the trap and you have added a substantial amount of money to the retailer’s pocket.

Don’t fall into the trap. Go the extra step and cancel out of the ‘pin screen’ if you are using your debit card as a credit card. This might just be one of those rare cases where poor usability is working in the favor of the perpetrator. Shame on these retailers for pulling the wool over the eyes of so many.