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OBSERVATIONS AND OPINIONS
What you will see in this section are my views of the world around us. The views of each individual are based on upbringing and past experiences among other things.
Brita and I have had the relatively unique fortune of living roughly half our lives in Europe (Sweden) and the USA (North Carolina). Not only that - we have also had the opportunity to travel to many other countries and states often meeting the regular people in those places.
The obvious conclusion of all that, is that people all over the world have a lot in common. Most people try to make a good life for themselves and their families, but there are bad elements everywhere. People who think that all the good people are in their own country and all the bad folks are in other countries, are simply narrow-minded.
Different people have different things that they like or dislike. Three things that I really dislike are arrogance, abuse of power and hypocrisy. I applaud honest people who try hard to do their best and who show consideration for other people.
If that sounds like a sermon, let me hasten to declare that I have absolutely no allegiance to a political party or religious organization. I am totally independent, and I try to make my own decisions on issues of interest to me. I also feel that it is perfectly all right for other people to have different opinions, and I am happy to discuss the issues with anyone. You won’t find me blindly following ’my team’ whether the team is a political party or a church. I am usually not very impressed with people who just follow their ‘flock’.
So, why do I bother to document opinions and observations? Well, I want to share out-of-the-ordinary experiences with others. It may be some very positive experiences which other people may also benefit from knowing about. It may also be negative situations which may serve as a warning for other people.
I mentioned that abuse of power is one of my hot buttons. Unfortunately, our society seems to be getting more and more mean spirited, and people and organizations who think they have a little power try to take advantage of other people.
The average person has little influence in a world where money is used to bribe politicians to accommodate the donors. ‘Democracy’ is a nice word to use in speeches full of platitudes, but it isn’t really practiced much any more.
One of the few things we as individuals can do, is to give the abuses publicity. The Internet with its bloggers offers hope.
In this section, I tell stories from my own perspective. Perhaps, they may be of value to someone. Let me put a small, but probably not unusual story right here as an example:
In my SPRINT bill for July 2005, I found a new charge of $5.73 for ‘Operator Assist. Network’. They specified 1-800-713-9078 for billing inquiries. I called that number and was told that the charge was for a collect call from a payphone in Pennsylvania.
I told the operator, “this is impossible - we have never received such a call, and it is just myself and my wife here.”
“So you are disputing the charge?”
“Of course.”
“OK, I will credit it next month.”
It could be that the operation was just sloppy, but it could also be a scheme, based on the assumption that most people don’t notice or care. If you do it to one million customers and only 5% of them notice what happens, it adds up.
So, now we come to the August bill from SPRINT. Not a trace of the credit for the non-existing call. This time I called SPRINT, not Operator Assist. Network and told the male operator the story. He checked my record, found the item on the previous bill and no message from Operator Assist. Network.
“I will make sure that the credit goes through next month, and we will also charge them a late fee.”
In tennis we call this Double Fault. First, they charge for a non-existing call, then they drop the ball on the crediting. Does anyone believe that the crediting had been ‘found’ if I hadn’t called?
Pigs might fly.
For more stories in this section, click on an item in the following, growing list of titles:
LEGAL IMMIGRANTS
ONE BANK + ONE INSURANCE COMPANY =
TWO BASTIONS OF ARROGANCE
C-SPAN - A NATIONAL TREASURE
LIVING IN THE ‘BIBLE BELT’ -
AND BELIEVING IN GOOD
A GREAT INTERNET SMALL BUSINESS
ANOTHER GREAT WEB BUSINESS (NETSHOPS)
MY SOAPBOX
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
EXERCISE FOR YOUR BRAIN + GREAT THERAPY
IN TUNE WITH THE EVENT
PEOPLE TO PEOPLE, HEROIC STORIES
THE BING CROSBY INTERNET MUSEUM
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