Quick Stops

Via Instapundit, I see some poor mope compares Obama to Truman and actually believes it's possible The One can win the same way Give 'Em Hell Harry did.

Perhaps.

But not until The One mans up and changes the nameplate on his desk from "I Never Met A Buck I Couldn't Pass!" to:


Between you and me, I don't think that's at all possible.
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Oh, man! I love the whole Jack Reacher series, and this news is so wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin:

He is certainly a huge celebrity, but as far as size goes, Tom Cruise is not exactly big.

However the 49-year-old movie star's next leading role is playing giant Jack Reacher in the film adaptation of Lee Child's thriller book One Shot.

Check out Reacher's stats, per the novelist himself, here. If you can, with a straight face, 'splain me how they can turn the Poison Dwarf into that towering giant of a man, I'll buy your cocktails for a month.

Count me among the many who will be boycotting this one.
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Right to Your Door

I had to order a catered lunch for a meeting I was hosting on Tuesday of this week. I decided to do something a little out of the ordinary for a corporate lunch, and ordered Chicago-style hot dogs and cheeseburgers from Gold Coast Dogs through our corporate account at Seamless Web.

I placed the order on Monday afternoon to make sure that there was plenty of time. I scheduled delivery for 11:15 a.m., and giving a 15-minute leeway on either side of that time for delivery. I added in a tip for the delivery person, as well.

On Tuesday, my well-laid plans went sideways.

Here's my email to Seamless Web:

I am writing to let you know that delivery of this order was one hour and ten minutes late.

My receptionist called at the 20 minutes late mark and were told that they thought it was a pick-up order [even though there was a delivery fee, delivery instructions and a tip written right on the order form], and that they’d send it right over.

I personally called at the 40 minutes late mark and was told: 1) I’d “have to be understanding” because it was their very first order through Seamlessweb; and, 2) the driver was on the way.

When I called at the 60 minutes late mark, I again got the “have to be understanding” song and dance and reassurance that the driver was on his way. I informed the person who answered the phone that I wanted to speak to a manager who gave me another “you have to be understanding” song and dance. I informed him that I have a blog, a Facebook account, a Twitter account and am very familiar with Yelp and Metro Mix, and that if I didn’t get satisfaction for an order that I assumed (rightly) would arrive cold, I wouldn’t hesitate to express my displeasure on ALL of those outlets, as well as on the SeamlessWeb website.

That got me a promise that I’d be hearing from the General Manager ASAP.

At the one hour and ten minutes late mark, the order arrived, tepid and soggy.

I still have not heard from the General Manager of Gold Coast Dogs.

I never once heard the words, “I’m terribly sorry, Miss. We’ll get this fixed right away.”

I never once was offered the name of a specific person to talk to about this problem.

The nearest Gold Coast Dogs location is close enough that I could have walked there and back at least five times in the time it took to get this order delivered.

I do not believe we should be charged for this order. Furthermore, SeamlessWeb should be having a very frank (no pun intended) discussion with the management of Gold Coast Dogs if Seamless is going to continue to use them as a vendor.

I would like a telephone call from someone at Seamless to confirm that this matter is being given priority attention. I am holding off on letting loose on the various social media outlets listed above until the end of business today, but won’t hesitate to express my displeasure if there is no redress.

Thank you.

Here is Seamless Web's response:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I’m very sorry to hear your order with Gold Coast wasn’t exactly Seamless! I spoke with the restaurant and have confirmed this shouldn’t be an issue for the future. Also, they have approved a 30% discount off your order which I have already applied. For our part I would also like to off you a 25% off code for your next Seamless order, which I hope goes far more smoothly. If there is anything else I can do for you please do not hesitate to let us know! Have a wonderful afternoon.

I'm still boiling mad that no one from Gold Coast Dogs called me to apologize -- as promised. Yeah, I took the discount, but the order really should have been totally comped. Their customer service is absolute crap as far as I'm concerned.

Seamless did their best, but they're more concerned with fixing things going forward, and I'm more focused on them making me happy. Which I'm obviously not.

I've used Seamless for other orders and never had a problem. Gold Coast Dogs, on the other hand, I'll never use again and can't recommend at all. And I'll be linking this to my Facebook and Twitter pages, too. Re-post Facebook or re-tweet, won't you? I really do want them to feel some heat on this.

I'll let you know if I ever get an apology -- which I absolutely deserve.

Drive-Bys

Quotes of the Day:

[B]acon fat would make a doorknob taste good.... - Pat Bruno

... and...

The Internet does many wonderful things -- it lets you buy stuff, find stuff, send messages. It's here, and you can't fight technology. But it also puffs oxygen onto every cruel, nasty instinct that ever smoldered within a human heart, granting both the shield of anonymity and a chance to vent in public. - Neil Steinberg

Too right.
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That blaming the voters thing I was cheesed off about? Neo-Neocon and the folks at Pajamas Media think I'm right:

No doubt Obama sees himself akin to a coach at halftime when the team is down in the score, talking tough to the players to motivate them. But he is not a coach; he is actually the star player. And voters are not team members, they are observers who don’t like what they see.

But don’t take my word for it; listen to some voices on the left, including David Dayen, who writes:

"…I’ve never seen a politician run an election with the message “Don’t be stupid, quit your bitching and vote for me.”… There’s a reason that strategy has never been employed: because it’s so insane to think that open berating would inspire a voter to action."

President Tin-Ear's beginning to sound (and look) like a pissy, prissy old headmistress in a second rate girls school, and he's losing traction on both the right and the left.
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And that $150 million Bright Start loss I've been jumping up and down about forever and ever? Seems like folks are finally waking up and making it a campaign issue:

Candidates for Illinois treasurer sparred Thursday over losses in the office's $2 billion college savings program as political fallout drips down the ballot from the U.S. Senate race.

Republican state Sen. Dan Rutherford blamed Democrat Robin Kelly, the treasurer's chief of staff, for $150 million in losses in a Bright Start College Savings plan fund that was billed as conservative to parents.

"If you have a fund that is on the trend dramatically to lose … I (would) have my personal guy on the phone saying, 'What the heck is going on here,'" Rutherford told the Tribune editorial board.

But Kelly said "we were on top of it" and blamed a "rogue" investor who put money in mortgage-linked securities outside of the fund's parameters in 2008. The treasurer's office later recouped $77 million in a settlement.

The fund losses have dogged Kelly's boss, Democratic Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, in his campaign for U.S. Senate against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park.

It's about time. But I'd like to see Alexi answer the same questions, as he was the one ultimately responsible for this mess.

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Live in Chicago and don't have a water meter because you're afraid you'll be billed more? Think again:

For years, Mayor Daley has maintained that non-metered houses would get less-expensive water bills if they had meters. He's set up a program so they can volunteer to have meters put in their homes -- at city expense. He's even giving a seven-year guarantee that they won't pay more than they do now....

Those with meters pay $2.01 for every thousand gallons of water -- one of the lowest rates in the nation.

City officials say they can install up to 15,000 meters year. At that rate, though, it would take 20 years to put a meter in every home -- if everybody wanted one.

"If the answer is everybody get a meter,'' O'Connor said, "they don't have the capacity to get everybody a meter."

Go get one.
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Giggle of the Day: