Citibank

Recently Congress decided that credit card companies were taking advantage of their customers.  As a result, Congress passed new regulations pertaining to the credit card industry.  However, the credit card companies cried that they “needed time to prepare their systems” for the new changes.  They were given 10 months to get ready and then the new rules would take effect.  Now what in the hell did Congress think was going to happen during this grace period?  Did they think that the credit card companies really needed time to prepare their systems?

Well, this is an example of what is really happening.  Citibank sent a letter recently saying that in order to continue offering credit card services, they were INREASING the interest rate on all cards to 29.99%.  WTF?  This is preparing their systems for the changes?  Well of course it is!  They are adjusting the terms for accounts BEFORE they have to start abiding by the terms that Congress has laid out for them.  In other words, Congress got played by the credit card industry.

Oh, I did forget to mention that Citibank has a rebate program for interest.  If you pay on time every month, then you can get 10% of the interest paid back as a rebate to your account.  What a deal!  Do the math on that one.  You pay 29.99% interest on the money you owe.  Then they will give you back 10% of what you paid.  When you are doing the calculations on that, remember that credit card companies NEVER let things work to your advantage.

Boss Engrossed in the Internet

My boss has become totally engrossed in the Internet.  WTF?  Are not the employees supposed to be the persons using the web to an extreme at work?

I don’t know what is going on here, but he will zone out seated at the computer on the sales floor surrounded by customers and then appear as if he is completely unaware of the customers presence.  It is rather amazing, the sheer focus with which he uses the net.  I, for one, have never really been able to concentrate like that on one particular activity.

The Shack

RadioShack has now decided to go by the moniker “The Shack”.  As many of you may already know, many techies have ridiculed this decision.  I myself have had many laughs about this choice.  These silly “image change” choices have almost always ended with the company going away, being sold to some other company, or changing back to the old way and trying to forget about the “great change”.  For some reason, I feel that the first two examples may happen in this case.  The electronics retail business has become pretty sketchy in the brick-and-mortar arena.  There are just too many cheaper alternatives.

Took a Little Break

I have been on a little break, plan to resume my nonsense soon!

Truely Annoying

Do you have anything that is truly annoying to you?

I think that maybe I have too many things that annoy me!  Of course, if I didn’t then maybe I would not be me.  I would instead be a mindless follower.

At the moment, there is someone 30ft away from me typing on a keyboard.  It is one of those modern keyboards that make almost no noise when used properly.  You may as yourself, “How does he know that this person is typing on this nearly silent keyboard?”.  And the answer, because this person is a 2 finger, hunt and pecker that is bashing the shit out of that keyboard.

I must say that it is truly annoying!

Anyone else who needs to let off a little steam, feel free to send a comment!

WTF?

I mainly use this place as a place to bitch.  And I can tell you that I have not been bitching enough lately.  So I resolve to bitch more.

I have decided to try and write a book.  If I can’t get someone to publish the book, I will just do one of those self publishing things.  At least I will be able to say that I once published a book.  While I am pretty sure that no one will want to read the thing, I think that it does have a little potential.  If nothing else, what I plan the book to be about will make a good guide for just about anyone in the customer service industry.

Well, off I go!

Downadup / Conficker

There have recently been a spate of articles about the Downadup / Conficker Worm in the tech media and regular media.  Upon first hearing about the worm, I was impressed with its abilities.  There was a patch to prevent the worm put out by Microsoft, so I thought that it would be interesting to see how it propagated.  If a system was updated and patched, there shouldn’t be a problem.  Any security expert worth their salt will tell everyone to keep Windows systems updated and patched.  Many even recommend that a novice allow the Automatic Updates download and install the monthly updates automatically, without user intervention.

The security researchers at F-Secure have stated that this worm has the potential to infect up to 1/3 of Windows PCs.  This is due to the systems having not been updated, even though the patch was available in October.  That is a lot of computers.

Now for a personal perspective.  4 out of 4 of the systems that have been brought in my store in the last week, have been infected with this little beauty.  It becomes pretty obvious when the AV / Malware products that the customer is using will not update.  Of course, none of the system had been updated for quite some time.  One I believe had not been updated since purchase.  So I guess the message has not gone mainstream.  Only the “geeks” update their systems.

The question is, “How do we get the ‘average joe and jane’ to keep their Internet connected Windows PCs updated?”.

WTF People?

This woman brings her grandkid into the store on an irregular basis.  In other words, every once in a while.  The kid is a complete little asshole.  I mean it!  He may be young, but his manners, even for his age, are complete shit.

The only reason they every come to the store together is to rent movies and occasionally a video game of some kind.  Today the kid came in and began a campaign of destruction in the video section of the store.  The grandmother did nothing.  An employee asked if he could not move all the video cases around the store.  OK!

The kid finally picks out a couple of movies.  The total is $4.70.  He then proceeds to pull out a change bag and dumps it on the counter.  WTF?  That is mean.  The clerk holds him temper and calmly counts the change, which happens to be all nickels, and the total is $2.95.  The kid starts to argue that he thought he had $3.00.  FINE!  In either case, the kid doesn’t have enough money for the movies.  So now he turns on the charm.  He wants grandma to fork over the money for the movie.  Of course she does.  This despite the fact that the entire time he was here, he was a disrespectful little …..

I want to know WHY people don’t start taking responsibility for their kids?

The Idiocy of Wi-Fi Continues

23 January 2009

After listening to TWIT, Security Now and several other podcasts that are relevant to the tech industry, I have heard that more and more people and businesses are using WEP and WPA on their wireless networks.  While WEP is certainly NOT the best solution, it is something.  WPA is widely considered the minimum protection by many, if not most, of people who care about the use of wi-fi networks.  I certainly encourage my customers to use it when they purchase a wireless network setup.

Now for the “IDIOCY”!

A phone call came into the store shortly before we opened today.  The person on the phone states to me that he works for a local business and gets his wireless from a different local business.  He is having trouble connecting, because the router is over 40 feet away and goes through several walls.  Well that can be a problem.  He wants an antenna that will “improve” his connection.

The first thing I ask is if he actually has permission to use this connection.  He states that he in fact does have permission.  OK.  I tell him that we do carry some antennas that “could” help, with emphasis on the “COULD”.  We discuss the type of wi-fi adapter that he has to determine if one of the antennas we have will actually work for him.  He tells me that he has a desktop PC with a wi-fi adapter in the back.  I as if it is USB, and he tells me that it is not USB.  Well, it sounds like we can help.

When the guy shows up in the store, he has a different story about the wi-fi adapter.  He actually looked at it and turns out it is a USB adapter.  Since he is not giving me the “tech toy hacker” vibe, I don’t even suggest soldering on an antenna to the USB device.  He says that it might help if he was to get past one of the walls and wants to know if we have an extension cord for USB.  We can do that, so he purchases one.

During to course of our conversation, I was able to get more info on his “wireless setup”.  He business and “several” other businesses all use the high speed DSL connection that it paid for by one of the local businesses.  This is probably against the “terms of service”.  He did tell me he has to put in a “security code” to connect to the wireless.

Now for the scary part.  The business that they are all using for their wireless connection is an insurance company.  I know quite a bit about the network used in the insurance company, because I know who installed the network equipment.  He was told that the owner of the business wanted a wired/wireless network for “in office” use only.  There would be 2 wired users and 1 wireless user.  Only the office staff would have access to the network.  It was setup with a WPA key for the wireless user to prevent anyone from using the network that was not part of the office.  Windows file sharing is in use on this network and none of the shares have passwords as per the owners requirements.  This means that anyone connecting to the wireless network has access to the shares on the original network setup for the insurance company.  I repeat, anyone connecting to this network can now SEE the files that have been shared by the insurance company.

25 January 2009

I wrote the original post above two days ago.  I was amazed and a little upset at the time and thought that the person who came in the store may have had incorrect information or somehow figured out that WPA key from the insurance agent and was using the wireless network without permission.  I was, however, wrong in this assumption and the original information was correct.  The insurance agent is giving out the WPA key to his wireless network so that the other businesses around him can share the connection.  He pays for a business class internet connection from a local ISP, then splits it out with the neighbors.  He is using consumer grade equipment, a Linksys WRT54G, to create this wireless connection.  The Windows shares are still unsecured as the insurance agent is unaware of how to change it and seems unwilling to do so.  This is unfortunate as the shared data is there for to taking by anyone who is able to connect to this network.  I have to hope that the people who have access to this data are honest people.

The moral of my story is this, if you are going to go to the trouble to secure your wireless, please don’t just give the key out to whomever.  If you are going to be benevolent and share an internet connection that is connected to a network, by all means, protect sensitive data.  The sharing of your network should not give everyone the keys to the kingdom.

A Business Lesson on Time

Today after work I hurried to the local emergent care clinic.  Since I work 30 miles away it takes about 30 minutes to get from my place of work to the clinic, which is in the town that I live.  The phone book stated that they were open until 5:00PM, so I figured that I would get there at close to 4:30PM.  That would give me a little leeway and not piss off the people working at the clinic.  I manage a business and know how it is when someone walks in the door at the very last minute with something semi-complicated.  While my appointment would be pretty straight forward, I didn’t want to take the risk.

Well I arrive at the clinic at 4:34PM.  As I am walking to the door I notice a sign saying that they “DO NOT ACCEPT ANY PATIENTS AFTER 4:30PM”.  Well, naive me, I walk in anyway, because there is no one sitting in the waiting room and I think that they would make an exception for 4 minutes.  Wrong!  The lady in the lobby tells me that they are closed and stop accepting patients at 4:30PM.  I look around.  There is the lady in the lobby that appears to be picking up.  There is a receptionist at the check-in desk, sitting and waiting.  The physicians assistant who is the person that I would see is standing in the doorway behind the receptionist having a conversation about a movie that she wants to go see.

Now I am the one that is pissed!  But I know how to behave when faced with adversity.  I tell the lady sprucing up the lobby thank you and turn to leave.  She asks if I am feeling okay.  Is it something that can’t wait.  WTF?  I say that I will be fine and walk out to my car, get in and drive off.

I recount this story for a reason.  This group of people have taught me a very valuable lesson.  I am too nice.  Actually all the people that I work with are too nice.  We say “OK” to people that say “F-U-C-K YOU” when the tables are turned.  A very valuable lesson indeed.  Tomorrow, I am going to work and direct my employees that we are not going to be so nice anymore.  If it is 8:30AM and we don’t open until 9:00AM, we are not going to open the door.  Hell, we are not even going to answer the phone until 9:00AM.  People need to learn their place.  We are the people in charge of this store and we do what we want.  9:00Am is 9:00AM, you will not be served until then.  If someone is wandering around our store at 8:55PM and we close at 9:00PM, we will just ask them politely to make a selection now or leave the store.  We have lives too, you know!

The previous paragraph is in jest of course.  There are just too many alternatives in our line of work to be an asshole like that.  But man would it not feel good!