People Who Shake Hands Too Hard

What's up with people who squeeze your hand too hard when you shake their hand? You know how it goes, you meet someone for the first time, shake their hand as is customary, and they squeeze your hand like they are trying to break it. In some cases, I don't think they are doing it on purpose. They probably aren't aware how hard they are squeezing. Maybe they were told by someone that you should have a firm hand shake and they think this means they should squeeze hard when they meet someone. But in other situations, they might be squeezing too hard intentionally.

When this happens, I would like to set them straight and tell them, "Hey, take it easy there. You don't have to break my hand.", but you can't say something like that to someone you are meeting for the first time without it being offensive and starting out on the wrong foot. So you just have to smile and say, "Nice to meet you" while your hand is in pain.

Can we please do away with the custom of hand shakes entirely? I have never been a fan of shaking people's hands for a number of reasons. I think this custom needs to go away. Something like bowing or a respectful nod would be better. Even just a fist bump would be better than a shake.

Anyway, if you have had someone shake your hand too hard, you know what I'm talking about. If you yourself have a firm handshake, please do a little self reflection and consider if you might be shaking other people's hands too hard. It sets a bad first impression and people will avoid you if you squeeze too hard.

AT&T DSL Problems, False Advertising, and Frustration

As mentioned on one of my previous blogs, I recently signed up for AT&T DSL service.  So far, I have encountered so many problems, mostly related to service and billing.  You may have noticed them advertising a promotional rate of $14.95 a month for DSL internet.  Sounds pretty good right?  So I get my first bill and guess what, it is $35.00.  So of course I am like what?  I give them a call and they tell me that you have to pay the full price for 2 to 3 billing cycles before they credit your account and start giving you the promotional rate.  They say it is in the terms of service.  I read it carefully and this is what it says:

"Customers purchasing new AT&T High Speed Internet Direct Basic, Express or Pro will pay $14.95 per month for 12 months after application of bill credit. Bill credits will be applied between the 2nd and 3rd bill cycles after initiation of service."

This is not clear and it is in the fine print.  I would consider this dishonest advertising especially when they are saying clearly that "you can get DSL service for $14.95 for 12 months". They don't say, "pay full price for a few months" and then they we will give you the promotional rate.

A quick search revealed that hundreds of other customers are upset by this exact issue.  Here are a few links:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24834245-First-bill-doesnt-have-the-promotional-rate
http://m.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=2157474&page=118
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1020394/?start=720

Now I did write an email to AT&T expressing my annoyance with this billing and they called me back.  They explained that this is just how the system works and that I should be getting credited eventually so that it will bring the overall cost down to what it would be if I were paying the $14.95 right from the beginning.  I'm not holding my breath on that one. Customer complaints have already expressed that they kept getting billed for the full price even ever 2 to 3 billing cycles.  Something tells me I may have to contact customer service again in a couple months.

And the billing is not even the tip of the iceberg with problems I have been having with AT&T.  I wanted to opt out of their privacy sharing policy.  I tried to do it several times.  Guess what, I got an error every time.

I tried to log into my account online.  The only way you can get access is to have them send you a code by email.  Ok, so I request a code.  Guess what, they don't send it.  I tell this to the customer service guy and he tells me the system is broken and I will have to request it again.

In my email to AT&T I had a lot to say about all the issues I have been having.  Surely nothing can go wrong with that right?  Wrong!  Their email system doesn't even allow you to write more that 1000 characters.  That is like a couple paragraphs.  Do I need to send 3 separate emails just to include everything I need to say? 

Cost of Medical Bills is Way too High!

What ever happened that made doctors and hospitals think they can charge outrageous amounts of money for services?  If you have had any medical expenses lately you know what I am talking about.  Now I know doctors should earn a lot for their experience and they have to cover the cost of equipment and employees, not to mention any legal costs that might occur, but still, these medical costs are getting out of hand. I'm talking everything from doctor visits to hospital visits to dentist visits to prescription drugs.

For those who are lucky enough to have insurance, that does help, especially for annual visits where you usually just have to pay a small co-pay.  However, if you need any other tests or work done, prepare to pay an arm and a leg.

Recently, I had a check up and the doctor heard a murmur in my chest and recommended that I have an echocardiogram done to check it out.  Ok, so of course I follow his advice and make the appointment.  The test was basically an ultrasound of the chest which took about 30 minutes to complete. Pretty easy.  They didn't tell me about costs or anything in advance or while I was there.  I just had to give them the form from my doctor.  I figured, I would probably have to pay a co-pay of $30 and the insurance would cover the rest of it.

 A couple weeks later I get the bill in the mail.  It is over $2,000!  What?  How is a 30 minute ultrasound test $2,000?  Luckily the insurance covered a lot of it, but in the end they are still charging me over $600.  I had to pay a deductible of $500 plus a percent of the remaining balance.  Who has that kind of money to just drop on a random test that you doctor says you should get? I don't make a lot of money, but I do manage the little I do have well so I have some saved up, but still, this will take a huge chunk out of my savings.

If I would have known the cost of this test, I might not have had it done, or at least talk to my doctor to make sure it was absolutely necessary.  By the way, the test results were fine, so it basically cost me over $600 for them to look at my heart and say it was fine. 

Why don't hospitals tell you the costs up front?  Even looking on their website, there is nothing about the costs of each procedure.  I did a search on the internet to get an idea of the costs and there was very little information out there on the entire internet.

I mean, you don't go into a car dealership, take a car, and then later get a bill for how much the dealership wants to charge you.  You know how much it is before you buy it, then you make your decision.  This is how most things work whether it is a product or a service.  The prices are advertised.  Why should health care be any different?  Oh yeah, so you don't know how much you have to pay until it it too late.  The medical field is really taking advantage of people in this way.  It's time for a change!

If you read this and have an opinion on the matter, leave a comment below.

Talented Lesser Known Female Singers

With ladies like Gaga and Katy Perry getting so much attention these days, I thought I would share a few songs by women who are excellent singers, but not that famous. 

The first one is Meredith Godreau under her band name Gregory and the Hawk.  Meredith has one of the most beautiful voices in the world in my opinion.  She has a new album coming out soon called Leche, and this is one of the songs from it called For the Best:



Next up is Khaela Maricich who makes music under the name The Blow.  She has not released a new album recently, but I hear she has some new songs and plans to have a new release next year.  Here is one called True Affection:



The last recommendation is a girl that goes by the name Soko.  It is kind of hard to follow her progress online in terms of new music, but here is the one that put her on the map.  It is an emotional song called I'll Kill her:

AT&T DSL and Customer Service

Recently I decided to switch from Comcast broadband internet to AT&T DSL internet because Comcast kept raising my rates.  All I wanted was the basic internet and the cheapest they will give it for is like $43 per month.  AT&T was offering a promotional rate of $14.95 per month for a year, so I thought I would try it out.

I had a very hard time signing up for it.  First, they did not have my address in the system.  They even have the name of my town misspelled in the system, and it is not even a small town or anything.  So I manage to sign up after having to call them up and cancel the 1st order which went through under a different address.

I set it up with my own DSL modem.  Set up was ok, but not without problems.  It took about an hour to get it working. Signing up online is not easy at all.  I still can't even access my bill online.  In fact I just got an order summary saying that my price is the regular price without the promotion.  I call up AT&T, go through all the annoying automated messages and wait on hold listening to even more annoying background noise.  When I get through the guy says that they bill the regular price and then give you credit a few months later.  What?  Why not just bill how much it is?

Oh yeah, and I have to have them send out a confirmation mail through regular mail just to sign up online to view my bill.  So far I am very disappointing with their customer service. 

As for the speed of the DSL, it is actually pretty good.  The download speed is faster than I was getting with Comcast.  The upload and ping time is a little slower, but not by much.  Overall there is not much difference and I have been able to use the internet and even stream videos without any problem.  A couple times it stopped working, but a restart and reboot fixed it.

Also, about the bill, online they said there is no commitment at the promo price, but over the phone they guy says that you need to keep it for a year if you want that price.  The AT&T reps don't seem to know what is going on.  Which reminds me of how at first, they couldn't find my address in the system and ultimately told me they did not service my location.  The only way I got it is when I called them up to cancel the order and they managed to look it up when I told them the reason.

Anyway, the internet works and as long as we get this billing situation figured out I will be satisfied.

Bad People

I am so tired of the bad people in this world.  What do I mean by bad people?  People who are disrespectful.  People who think they don't have to follow the rules.  People who ruin life for all the good people that have to be exposed to them on a daily basis.

I encounter these kinds of people everyday.  It usually happens at work, and since it is a school, it is usually the students.  It is amazing how many bad kids there are and how often they do things that are wrong or inappropriate.  I happen to work at a good high school so this is troubling when there are so many bad kids in a school that is supposed to be one of the good ones.  If this is true, I can imagine the kind of trouble that goes on in the not so good schools.  This is really disturbing especially when you realize that this is the future of our society.

A couple things I say sometimes are "I cry for society" and "Society makes me sad".   This is because the world is not as good as it could be because of the people who bring it down. 

Now of course there are still good people and those will hopefully keep society civilized and tolerable.  It's a shame that the good people have to suffer as a result of all the bad people.  Where is the justice?

One of my mottoes is "Good things happen to good people", and "Bad things happen to bad people".  Basically the idea of Karma.  I really hope this is true.  Good people should be rewarded and bad people should be punished.  Sometimes it doesn't seem like that happens, but hopefully in the end it will somehow either in this life or beyond.  

If I could be anything at all, I would be a superhero with unlimited power and abilities.  I would use my powers to bring justice to the world and make it a better place.

Imagine a world of Utopia where everything is perfect, everyone is happy, there is no stress, or pain, or things that go wrong.  How nice would that be?  It will never happen, but it is a nice idea.  Still the world can be better. The good must persevere and hopefully have an influence on others to become good as well.

Good Customer Service: Jewel Osco/Albertsons

I recently bought some floss at my local Jewel but when I opened it, the roll of floss was missing.  They had contact information on the back in case you are not satisfied with the product, so I sent them an email explaining the situation.  They responded quickly and sent me a coupon to cover the cost.  They also sent me 2 replacement flosses for my troubles.  This is a perfect example of good customer service.  They went above and beyond to correct the problem.  I will continue to be a loyal customer to Jewel for my weekly groceries!