1. This is this cat
2. This is is cat
3. This is how cat
4. This is to cat
5. This is keep cat
6. This is an cat
7. This is idiot cat
8. This is busy cat
9. This is for cat
10. This is forty cat
11. This is seconds cat

Now go back and read the THIRD WORD in each LINE from the top down.

Gotcha!

What I saw left me speechless. Apparently, to get through the back doors of the Chicago O’Hare International Airport, one would only need a card that you swipe and get access to (pretty much) everything. Quite standard procedure you might think. How about if I told you that there’s hundreds of former employees of the airport, law enforcement agencies and companies who have contracts with the airport for certain services (such as cleaning) who have never turned in their cards after leaving their jobs? Cards that are still working. Nobody bothered to cancel them or try to get them back.

What does all this mean? Well, any former employee still has access to the back stage of the airport. Any of them could get on any plane without a problem. From this moment on just use your imagination as to what could happen. Oh, and to help you sleep better on your next flight from O’Hare, one of these former employees is a guy with 3 aliases, a bunch of arrests and, if I’m not mistaken, a couple of convictions as well. How did this guy get such a job in the first place? Anyway, sweet dreams!

The whole thing started with the guy who reported the news finding, in a dumpster, a bunch of files of former employees of one of the companies that provides services for the airport. These files contained social security numbers, addresses, bank accounts (for direct deposits) and other personal information.

Now, I’m not for going crazy over security issues. But when I see that basic measures are not beeing taken by some (disabling a card belonging to a former employee or shredding documents that are being trashed – which I believe is not that hard to do), I kind of can’t help but think: “Why the heck do I need to take my shoes off when I go through an airport security check point, when others (with questionable backgrounds) have such easy access to an airplane?” and “Thank God I’m self employed and I don’t have to trust a stupid comapny with my personal information!”

God help us!

U.S. viewers get caught up in the “Who Shot J.R.?” cliff hanger on the soap opera series, Dallas, which is solved on a November 21 episode, drawing a record numbers of viewers

I must confess I’m a bit disappointed. I was hoping more exciting things took place that year. Oh well…

Now, before we go ay further, I must confess I’m on both sides here.

First of all, my sick little head can’t stand non stop crying kids. I don’t even want to think about the times I’ll have my own. This part of parenting will most likely be a living hell for me. I do wish similar things happened more often. I, probably, would have been the happiest customer of this airline at that time. Told you I’m sick…

On the other hand, I can’t even think what my reaction would have been if something like that happened to me. Are ya kidding me??? Especially since it seems the folks were not even given enough time to calm down the girl.

These being said, needless to say that the airline appologized and gave them back their money and offered them free tickets to their desired destination. Of course the offer was turned down. Although, it might have been a good financial decision to accept it. I bet they would have never had such problems from this airline again. They would have had their behinds kissed.

The whole story just drove me crazy. Not necessarily on its own, but rather because it reminded me of my own problems and frustration with certain companies I’ll never do business with again.

Here’s the thing: God forbid, we as customers, make a mistake. They treat us like dirt. Like scum bags. And the list of “appelatives” could go on forever. Am I exagerating? Maybe. But that’s how I feel like. On the other hand, when “they” make one, they beg and beg and beg for forgivness and understanding. “It was a mistake.” “We’re sorry, but our system was down.” “We appologize for the inconvenience, it was a mistake on our behalf.” And so on. I’m pretty sure you can come up with your own.

So what should one do? At first, since I’m a (very) understanding person (no, for real) I was inclined to forgive them. NOT ANYMORE. Especially when it happens again and again. And especially after realizing I would not be treated the same way.

How many times have you missed a payment on something, or have been late with it? Simply because you completely forgot about it or you didn’t get your bill in the mail and just overlooked it (while there’s solutions to such problems, it’s not the place here to talk about them, and, common, we’re all humans and make mistakes). Has any of them cut you any slack? I doubt it. If in your agreement it says that in such cases you lose the 0% introductory APR, you can bet your behind that it’s going to happen with the precision of a swiss watch. Just an example.

In the very few cases when they do cut you some slack is because the law makes them to. Such as not reporting you to the credit bureaus right away.

I’m in no case advocating not paying your bills or your credit card or your mortgage etc. I’m just furious about the one way preferential treatment these businesses expect from us.

I am also aware of the fact that there might be no practical solution to the problem.

I am also aware of the fact that whenever there’s some mistakes on their behalf, they happen (in most cases) because of the human factor which is prone to mistakes.

And most likely the people to be blamed for such mistakes will get their share of problems. That’s not what I’m expecting from them. No. I just want to be cut some slack myself every once in a while. I just want to be treated with respect even if I call 100 times for a problem, especially when it doesn’t get solved (you’ll see what I’m talking about).

Since that’s not gonna happen, all I can do is decide to not do business with these companies (when that is possible – you’ll see there’s some situations when it’s not the best thing for me) and talk about them here. Will I get any change of attitude from them? Yeah, right! But at least I can let it out. I can tell others how certain folks understand to do business. And you’re more than welcome to bring your own contributions (especially by commenting). Please be civilized though.

These being said I will pretty soon start listing here the posts in which I’ll be writing about such situations. So make sure to check back and read about them.

A few days back I had a post about a cat who got lost on New Year’s Eve. Not wanting to make the post too long and boring I decided not to talk about another thing that crossed my mind.

What if the cat ran away?

I know that most pet owners love their animals. Unfortunately, without realizing it, some of them put the poor creatures through some real sick ummm… things (couldn’t find a better word and didn’t want to use an ugly one).

I remember when I was a little kid (about 4 or 5 years old). I spent that summer at one of my grand parents (in the country side). They had a kitty cat. I loved it so much that I wanted to have it with me in bed during my afternoon naps. You should have seen the trouble I went through to make sure that she was comfortable and stuff. However, every day when I woke up she was not there. It was making me so mad. I almost hit her once or twice.

But I kept insisting. Until one day my grandma saw me. She almost killed me. “What are you doing? She’s an animal. She has her own places to sleep and the other cats to hang out with. She’s not a toy, boy. Leave the poor cat alone!”

Ever since I stopped desiring to have a pet. My grand parents did. And I used to play with them when I was visiting. But they live on a farm. The animals have their freedom. They can do whatever they want whenever they want to. My grand parents still feed them (you should see how the cats and dogs know exactly when it’s time for food; they never miss it) and they still are attached to them (if anything happens to any of them, they would take them to the doctor). But, they give them the liberty an animal needs.

I know! They’re cute and stuff (I love them too). But they’re not toys. They’re not robots. They need to run and walk and take a dump when they feel like it not when we have the time to take them out.

And if I can understand those who live in a house with a nice backyard where the animal (cat, dog) can go whenever feels like it, I absolutely oppose having them in an appartament/condo. It’s like a cage. It’s like you living in a larger than normal cell, with everything you wish, with the chance of seeing your family whenever they have time for you, but being able to get out of that cell only when someone has the time to take you out. How would you like that? I, for one, would hate it! I believe they have a name for something somewhat similar to that: house arrest.

And now I see this video on YouTube about training a cat to use the bathroom (and a few more with cats actually using it)?

ARE YA KIDDING ME?

Live the poor animals alone.