Hi Everyone,
Sometimes things happen to us, that we didn't see coming. Then when it happens, sometimes you scratch your head and ask why? Well that kind of thing happened to me yesterday. Mind you, I did have another topic for today, but yesterday's experience moves it up the ladder to the top rung. So this is what happened and you will want to remember this, just in case it happens to you..
I have an elderly friend who just returned home, 2 days ago, after an extended rehab stay for his knee replacement. The day he returned home, he discovered that his land line phones and TV didn't work. Verizon was called to report the problem. Yesterday, his neighbor called me and asked me to check the phones and TV. I went to his house and lo and behold his phones and TV all worked fine. I said that since he had triple play, the problem was most likely connected to the fiber optic line where it connects to the inside. Or it may be a problem at the connection station. I left and at around 3:00 PM, right at the start of another snow storm, I called him to see if everything was OK. The line was busy, so I hung up. Around 4 PM, I called again and again the line was busy. Now I thought that was strange. He had call waiting and instead of getting a busy signal, you should get a ring until either the person answers or it goes to voice-mail. But that didn't happen. Now I suppose it is possible that one could be talking with someone, while having someone else on hold and then you get a busy signal. So I called again, a few more times, but I always got a busy signal.
By around 6:30 PM, I decided to call the Verizon Operator to have the line checked. The Operator put me on hold and then the computer system picked up. The system did not understand that I wanted to have a line checked. After 15 minutes on hold, after pressing "0" a bunch of times, a real person came on the line. I told her that I needed to have a line checked. She asked me for the PIN number for my friend's account. I did not know it and told the Operator such. She then asked me for his account number. Which again I did not know and I told her. She then asked if I at least knew the amount of the last bill. Wow, strike three I thought to myself. I told the Operator that I also did not know that answer. The Operator then told me that she was unable to test the line without my being able to answer any one of the 3 questions. I asked why? She replied that it was due to privacy concerns. I responded that, where we live, we were in the middle of a snow storm and I didn't want to chance driving. I asked her what were my other options? The Operator told me that I should call 911!? I told her that I had no knowledge of any emergency and that I thought calling 911 was not the appropriate thing to do. She then said sorry that she couldn't help.
So what has this world come to, that one can't even have a phone line tested without some kind of personal info about the account? This just makes no sense at all. This is definitely one of the most absurd Verizon policy's that I have encountered. How is someone supposed to have a phone line checked, especially if there may in deed be an emergency? If you don't have the info, don't even try. Call a neighbor like I did and all was fine, except for the phones.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
The Feds Finally Got Me!
Hi Everyone,
Yes, the title you just read is correct and accurate. The Feds did finally get me and after all this time! I tried for years not to do it but alas, I guess my time was up and I was summoned. Summoned for jury duty in the Federal Courthouse located at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan. I was a call in jurist 5 years ago, which didn't count this year because they can't call you for jury duty within 4 years. Missed by 1 year, c'est la vie. Then last October, the Feds tried again and I got out of it, with a very legit reason. But this time, their letter was a demand that I must appear at the Jury Assembly room at 8:30 AM last Monday. But I still had to call in the night before for confirmation that my services were required. I called the night before and was told that I did indeed have to report. It took me 2 hours and 50 minutes to get to the Federal Courthouse, from doorstep to doorstep. I did make one mistake by getting off the subway one stop early. By the third day I got the travel time down to 2 1/2 hours, so it wasn't to, to bad.
Monday morning, there I was in the Jury Assembly room waiting with probably 300++ other people. There were 2 huge screens where the power-point presentation was showing over and over again. Then a person would make announcements that repeated the same thing that was on the screens. But then a different person asked if anyone was there who hadn't called the night before. I couldn't believe that at least 75 people lined up and about half of them were not needed. I mean, come on, why would you just appear without calling first? Those people were either blind or lacked common sense to realize that right above the phone number and address was a message in caps, to call the night before. Believe it or not, this is not the reason for today's blog. It was the next announcement that took me by surprise. The person in charge of the Assembly room told all that the pay was $40.00/day. OK I already knew that. Then the woman stated that after 10 days on jury duty, the daily pay would increase to $50.00/day. OK I didn't know that, but I really didn't want to be a juror for 10 days. Then the woman dropped the bombshell.......If you are a juror and the total payment to you is $600.00 or more, you would receive a 1099 and owe Federal and State income taxes on the amount. Immediately I heard lots of mumblings from a lot of the people. After it calmed down, the woman said that the majority of trials last less then 2 weeks and the majority of those last less then one week. There was a question from the audience to basically verify the $600 amount. She confirmed it and the questioner responded that it wasn't fair with lots of people agreeing. She replied that, they had to do it since it was the law.
So I get that there is a law about that, but still....? Why would the government want to or need to tax any jurors who made more then $600? Where is the common sense here? Whether you go voluntarily or be summoned like me, this should be an exception to the $600 rule. There can't be that many people who serve as jurors who would make more then $600. So the amount of taxes received is negligible. Since the Feds daily juror pay is so low, don't add salt to the wound by taxing higher amounts. To me, that just makes sense.
On a positive note, I really and thoroughly enjoyed my time as an alternate juror. I won't go into details about the trial, but I learned so much about how our Federal Judicial trial system works. It isn't like the TV show Law and Order. Even the way that the courtroom was set up was totally different from what I thought it would be like. The Judge even explained everything to us as the trial progressed. The only downside for me was, since I was an alternate, I was dismissed immediately prior to the jury deliberating and obviously couldn't participate. Now I don't have to serve in any County, State or Federal Court for another 4 years. I did receive a call from the Court Clerk this past Friday and she told me that the jury had found the defendant guilty on all charges. I definitely agree with the the jury's decision.
Til next week.
Peter
Yes, the title you just read is correct and accurate. The Feds did finally get me and after all this time! I tried for years not to do it but alas, I guess my time was up and I was summoned. Summoned for jury duty in the Federal Courthouse located at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan. I was a call in jurist 5 years ago, which didn't count this year because they can't call you for jury duty within 4 years. Missed by 1 year, c'est la vie. Then last October, the Feds tried again and I got out of it, with a very legit reason. But this time, their letter was a demand that I must appear at the Jury Assembly room at 8:30 AM last Monday. But I still had to call in the night before for confirmation that my services were required. I called the night before and was told that I did indeed have to report. It took me 2 hours and 50 minutes to get to the Federal Courthouse, from doorstep to doorstep. I did make one mistake by getting off the subway one stop early. By the third day I got the travel time down to 2 1/2 hours, so it wasn't to, to bad.
Monday morning, there I was in the Jury Assembly room waiting with probably 300++ other people. There were 2 huge screens where the power-point presentation was showing over and over again. Then a person would make announcements that repeated the same thing that was on the screens. But then a different person asked if anyone was there who hadn't called the night before. I couldn't believe that at least 75 people lined up and about half of them were not needed. I mean, come on, why would you just appear without calling first? Those people were either blind or lacked common sense to realize that right above the phone number and address was a message in caps, to call the night before. Believe it or not, this is not the reason for today's blog. It was the next announcement that took me by surprise. The person in charge of the Assembly room told all that the pay was $40.00/day. OK I already knew that. Then the woman stated that after 10 days on jury duty, the daily pay would increase to $50.00/day. OK I didn't know that, but I really didn't want to be a juror for 10 days. Then the woman dropped the bombshell.......If you are a juror and the total payment to you is $600.00 or more, you would receive a 1099 and owe Federal and State income taxes on the amount. Immediately I heard lots of mumblings from a lot of the people. After it calmed down, the woman said that the majority of trials last less then 2 weeks and the majority of those last less then one week. There was a question from the audience to basically verify the $600 amount. She confirmed it and the questioner responded that it wasn't fair with lots of people agreeing. She replied that, they had to do it since it was the law.
So I get that there is a law about that, but still....? Why would the government want to or need to tax any jurors who made more then $600? Where is the common sense here? Whether you go voluntarily or be summoned like me, this should be an exception to the $600 rule. There can't be that many people who serve as jurors who would make more then $600. So the amount of taxes received is negligible. Since the Feds daily juror pay is so low, don't add salt to the wound by taxing higher amounts. To me, that just makes sense.
On a positive note, I really and thoroughly enjoyed my time as an alternate juror. I won't go into details about the trial, but I learned so much about how our Federal Judicial trial system works. It isn't like the TV show Law and Order. Even the way that the courtroom was set up was totally different from what I thought it would be like. The Judge even explained everything to us as the trial progressed. The only downside for me was, since I was an alternate, I was dismissed immediately prior to the jury deliberating and obviously couldn't participate. Now I don't have to serve in any County, State or Federal Court for another 4 years. I did receive a call from the Court Clerk this past Friday and she told me that the jury had found the defendant guilty on all charges. I definitely agree with the the jury's decision.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Bridgegate
Hi Everyone,
This past week has shown that seemingly intelligent people can and will do the most stupidest things imaginable and then think that they can get away with it. Of course the people I am talking about here are all politicians and we all know how they can act.
This story actually began last September, 2013, when there were 3 lane closures on the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. The lane closures happened in Fort Lee, New Jersey and the closures lasted 4 days in a row. As all the traffic backed up into Fort Lee, it created a nightmare of a monster traffic jam. The Fort Lee roads that turned into parking lots, stopped children on school buses from getting to school on time. It also hindered police from pursuing a person. If there had been a fire, firetrucks would not have been able to get to the fire in a timely manner if they could have gotten there at all.
Fast forward to last week and we learn that New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff and the person Christie appointed to the Port Authority of NY and NJ's board had colluded to avenge political revenge on Fort Lee's Mayor. After a day of silence, (which Christie attributed to his investigating the allegations made by a New Jersey news organization), he held a news conference where he spoke and answered questions for almost 2 hours. Christie immediately accepted blame for the incident and apologized. He stated that he had fired his Deputy Chief of Staff and the PA NY&NJ appointment. What we learned last week was that the Mayor of Fort Lee, a Democrat, did not support Governor Christie's campaign for re-election. So Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff called the PA appointed board person to shut down 3 lanes at the Fort Lee entrance to the GB Bridge to create traffic havoc in Fort Lee. Christie also stated that he was not aware of the scandal until the day before he investigated it. He also said that how could he possibly know what every one of the State's 65,000 employees are doing. He did apologize for the jokes he made when the traffic jams began since he thought it was just from a traffic study.
So on the face of it, it appeared that Christie had done all the right things to try to stay on top of the scandal. He investigated the incident for a day and then held a news conference where he accepted blame for what happened and apologized. Then he said that he had fired the 2 people involved. All seemed right in Christieville. He had done the right thing, but did he really do the right thing? So lets take a look at Governor Christie. Christie is known as a no nonsense, tell it like it is guy with a type 1 personality and who runs a very tight ship. When Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey in October 2012, he was right on top of the situation and worked very closely with the Obama administration to get help to his State asap. But when there was a huge traffic jam for 4 days, involving one of this Country's most iconic and most traveled upon bridge, he made jokes and accepted the explanation given to him that it was caused by a traffic study. For a seemingly intelligent person, Christie accepted that explanation and went with it for months. He never looked into it more deeply or even asked more pointed questions to his staff. A PA spokesperson stated that the PA has never, ever closed lanes to do a traffic study! Christie had to have known that fact, but still he didn't investigate. Why? The PA spokesperson also said that there were communications between, the PA, Fort Lee and the Governor's office. But still Christie says he was not aware of the scandal and what was happening in his own, hand selected, most inner staff? That just doesn't seem possible for a Governor who runs such a tight ship. I do agree with Christie, that no one person could ever know what 65,000 employees are doing. But a good manager, HAS to know what their own hand picked staff is doing at all times. Christie has failed in being able to manage his own staff and proved that even his hand picked staff was not trustworthy. How sad! That certainly doesn't bode well for him in his ability to pick qualified people.
FYI, the news organization that broke this story had FOIL'd, (Freedom Of Information Act) Christie's office for information regarding this. Part of what they wanted were relevant emails. Christie's office replied that there were no relevant emails. Well, low and behold now the emails have surfaced. How is that possible? Who lied and said there were no emails? How stupid for those fired people not to know that emails are permanent??? But how could Christie not have known all of this? If, by chance, Christie really didn't know about this when and after it was happening, there has to be a whole lot more people involved in the massive cover up. It that really possible? I don't think so. Just based on the few facts that we now know, the current Federal and State investigations will undoubtedly reveal more facts that will probably not fare well for Christie. Especially if the investigations prove that Christie lied during his news conference.
As a side note, I found it very telling when, during this morning's Face the Nation news program; when asked about the Christie Bridgegate scandal, Republican Senator Marco Rubio basically said that he had no comment since all of the facts are not known. Had the governor been a Democrat, Rubio would have most certainly demanded his head or at least a resignation. This whole sad story shows what a sorry state of affairs our political system is in; when political payback means screw the people, who you represent, by creating on purpose traffic jams for not endorsing a candidate. When will this insanity stop? This again proves that a lot of politicians just don't have any common sense what so ever.
Til next week.
Peter
This past week has shown that seemingly intelligent people can and will do the most stupidest things imaginable and then think that they can get away with it. Of course the people I am talking about here are all politicians and we all know how they can act.
This story actually began last September, 2013, when there were 3 lane closures on the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. The lane closures happened in Fort Lee, New Jersey and the closures lasted 4 days in a row. As all the traffic backed up into Fort Lee, it created a nightmare of a monster traffic jam. The Fort Lee roads that turned into parking lots, stopped children on school buses from getting to school on time. It also hindered police from pursuing a person. If there had been a fire, firetrucks would not have been able to get to the fire in a timely manner if they could have gotten there at all.
Fast forward to last week and we learn that New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff and the person Christie appointed to the Port Authority of NY and NJ's board had colluded to avenge political revenge on Fort Lee's Mayor. After a day of silence, (which Christie attributed to his investigating the allegations made by a New Jersey news organization), he held a news conference where he spoke and answered questions for almost 2 hours. Christie immediately accepted blame for the incident and apologized. He stated that he had fired his Deputy Chief of Staff and the PA NY&NJ appointment. What we learned last week was that the Mayor of Fort Lee, a Democrat, did not support Governor Christie's campaign for re-election. So Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff called the PA appointed board person to shut down 3 lanes at the Fort Lee entrance to the GB Bridge to create traffic havoc in Fort Lee. Christie also stated that he was not aware of the scandal until the day before he investigated it. He also said that how could he possibly know what every one of the State's 65,000 employees are doing. He did apologize for the jokes he made when the traffic jams began since he thought it was just from a traffic study.
So on the face of it, it appeared that Christie had done all the right things to try to stay on top of the scandal. He investigated the incident for a day and then held a news conference where he accepted blame for what happened and apologized. Then he said that he had fired the 2 people involved. All seemed right in Christieville. He had done the right thing, but did he really do the right thing? So lets take a look at Governor Christie. Christie is known as a no nonsense, tell it like it is guy with a type 1 personality and who runs a very tight ship. When Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey in October 2012, he was right on top of the situation and worked very closely with the Obama administration to get help to his State asap. But when there was a huge traffic jam for 4 days, involving one of this Country's most iconic and most traveled upon bridge, he made jokes and accepted the explanation given to him that it was caused by a traffic study. For a seemingly intelligent person, Christie accepted that explanation and went with it for months. He never looked into it more deeply or even asked more pointed questions to his staff. A PA spokesperson stated that the PA has never, ever closed lanes to do a traffic study! Christie had to have known that fact, but still he didn't investigate. Why? The PA spokesperson also said that there were communications between, the PA, Fort Lee and the Governor's office. But still Christie says he was not aware of the scandal and what was happening in his own, hand selected, most inner staff? That just doesn't seem possible for a Governor who runs such a tight ship. I do agree with Christie, that no one person could ever know what 65,000 employees are doing. But a good manager, HAS to know what their own hand picked staff is doing at all times. Christie has failed in being able to manage his own staff and proved that even his hand picked staff was not trustworthy. How sad! That certainly doesn't bode well for him in his ability to pick qualified people.
FYI, the news organization that broke this story had FOIL'd, (Freedom Of Information Act) Christie's office for information regarding this. Part of what they wanted were relevant emails. Christie's office replied that there were no relevant emails. Well, low and behold now the emails have surfaced. How is that possible? Who lied and said there were no emails? How stupid for those fired people not to know that emails are permanent??? But how could Christie not have known all of this? If, by chance, Christie really didn't know about this when and after it was happening, there has to be a whole lot more people involved in the massive cover up. It that really possible? I don't think so. Just based on the few facts that we now know, the current Federal and State investigations will undoubtedly reveal more facts that will probably not fare well for Christie. Especially if the investigations prove that Christie lied during his news conference.
As a side note, I found it very telling when, during this morning's Face the Nation news program; when asked about the Christie Bridgegate scandal, Republican Senator Marco Rubio basically said that he had no comment since all of the facts are not known. Had the governor been a Democrat, Rubio would have most certainly demanded his head or at least a resignation. This whole sad story shows what a sorry state of affairs our political system is in; when political payback means screw the people, who you represent, by creating on purpose traffic jams for not endorsing a candidate. When will this insanity stop? This again proves that a lot of politicians just don't have any common sense what so ever.
Til next week.
Peter
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