Joy Nash is my new hero.


If you haven't heard of this wonderful, funny lady, go to youtube and look
up the video entitled "A Fat Rant". Joy is a large lady (all 224 lbs. of
her) and one of the few large women comfortable in her big skin. She makes
a lot of valid points and breaks the stereotype that so many people have
about fat people, that we eat way too much, that we are lazy and that we
don't care about the way we look.
I'm here to tell you, folks. I eat normal sized portions. I eat lots of
vegetables and fruits, as well as lean meats, wheat breads, and whole
grains. I may not do any type of structured exercise, but I work 40 hrs. a
week on my feet, running around and lifting things. And, I'm fat. I
refuse to hide my body under tent dresses and big shirts. I wear
form-fitting but tasteful clothes that I find pretty and that reflect my
own unique style. Too many times do I find that clothing stores have
clothes that I like but don't go past a size 14 (I wear a size 18-20). My
response? I don't shop there. My money speaks volumes. The average sized
woman in America today is a size 12. Doesn't that make me above average?
(hehe). Just because I'm fat doesn't mean I'm not healthy, either. Just
like being skinny doesn't guarantee health as well.

Fat people of the world, stand up and shout, "I'm fat! I weigh (insert
weight here, mine's 195 lbs. at 5'2", just so you know), and I'm proud! I
can go and have a slice of cheesecake or an ice cream sundae if I want! I
refuse to be made miserable by my weight!

End of story, please see the video. I hope it will change your mind about
us.

Recently, there has been a certain letter that has been bashed to death,
but for some sick, twisted reason, the author of said letter along with the
efforts of an anonymous poster whom I assume is the author's alter ego seem
to refuse to let this letter go the way of the dodo.

Why is there such need for such blatant ego self-gratification? The term
"beating a dead horse" seems to apply here, but like Baron Frankenstein,
even though his monstrous, bloated, horrific creation needs to die in a
fire while trapped at the top of a tower, he feels the need to keep it
alive and breathing in a disgusting mockery of life. Since by addressing
the letter specifically would myself be adding fuel to the fire, so it has
been pointed out to me by the aforementioned anonymous person, I'm posting
it here, in my blog, where the only one that benefits from the posts is me.
Ha.
For any of you who have made an alter ego identity just because nobody else
was affirming your idiotic claims, so you felt justified to make a xerox
copy of yourself hiding under the banner of anonymity, for shame! You have
now confirmed to yourself and everyone else that you have no life, no
friends stupid enough to support your lame-brained actions, and no shame.
I know that being on the Internet affords one either anonymity, or the
ability to re-invent oneself into an ideal person. Fake is still fake, no
matter how you slice it, call it, paint it, or hide it.
BTW, if you have an issue with what I'm saying, call me out. I stand
behind what I say unless you can prove me wrong, which I guarantee you will
be difficult, as this is %100 opinion. I leave my replies open, go ahead.
Knock yourself out. At least if you're wasting time trying to engage me in
a verbal battle, the zombie letter will be slowly sliding off the list into
it's well deserved grave.

R.I.P., Zombie Letter.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to "Business Letters 101". Today we will be
discussing the ways to draft a letter suitable for posting on PFB, since so
many of you seem to have lost that point completely. I hope this will be
useful for frequent posters and new visitors alike. Dora, Virginia, I'm
afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm pretty sure that neither
one of you would get the point of this class and I'm certain that you don't
want to waste your time and mine.

OK, now that that's done, let's begin, shall we?

The majority of the letters posted on PFB, if you have noticed, are
complaints. This is a sad state of being, when more people are wont to
complain about something bad rather than compliment something good. Well,
you have an issue you wish to bring to a company's attention. What's the
first thing you want to do, class?
That's right! Take a few minutes before starting to compose yourself and
calm down. Try to remember all the facts and details before you begin.
Names, dates, times, places, things that were said, all will be very
useful. If it helps, make notes of these things before you begin writing.
Now that we've done that, class, what's next? Yes, writing the letter. I
recommend using a word processor program to draft the letter, then copy and
paste. This method helps to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors, and
makes your letter look more professional. Now, keep in mind, we are NOT
writing the Great American Novel here. The people reading your letter want
clear, concise, and to the point, not an entertaining article. They can
buy a copy of People for that. Allow me to demonstrate.

"Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my displeasure with the ABC restaurant's management
staff. I went there on MM/DD at around X:XX p.m. with my significant other
to have dinner. We ordered blahblahblah and yadayadayada. Our food
arrived 45 minutes after we ordered and it was cold, and I did not get the
side order of yaketyyak I asked for, even though it was on the bill that we
received. I asked the server, Jane Doe, about the delay and requested that
they re-heat our food, but she was rather rude and didn't say anything. We
spoke to the manager, John Doe, but he was very unapologetic and did not
stay to speak with us, much less offer any recompense.
Please reimburse me the $XX.XX that we paid for the meal.

Thank You,
Robert Roe."

See? Short, clear, concise, and full of detail. No race/status cards, no
excessive demands. This is a good idea of how a business letter shoud
read. Most likely this person will get what they are asking for, and if
this is indeed a good business, a bit more for their trouble, even though
all they asked for was a refund of their meal. Personal expressions, like
"pain and suffering", and "I have never been treated so horribly! It was
torture!" do not have it's place in a business letter of this type. If a
phrase can be repeated with your hand on your forehead while swooning, and
it makes sense, it's probably too dramatic to include. This is business
letter class, not drama class. Drama does not get you more stuff, it gets
you ignored. Leave out personal descriptions of yourself or your status.
This can look like using the race/status card. Companies don't care if you
are a Hispanic veteran of Vietnam, or if you are a CEO with a doctorate in
business. You're still people, just like everyone else. Excessive demands
are also a no-no. It is insensitive to demand someone be fired over this,
or to ask for a lifetime of free product. Ask for what you lost, no more,
no less. Also, leave out the bad words and the pseudo bad words. These do
not look professional at all. "Freaking", and "treating people like crap"
have no place in a business letter. Refrain from personal attacks. Those
cause people to become defensive and once again, they will ignore you.
Just like I have said before, clear, concise, to the point. Like Jack Webb
from "Dragnet" is quoted as saying, "Just the facts."

All right, class, I want you all to draft a business letter in the manner
that I have discussed here. They will be due tomorrow. Thank you, and
everyone have a nice day.

Throughout history, the development of technology and advances in
engineering have all served one purpose; to make our lives easier.
However, this age of instant gratifications and ease of labor has a cost.
The cost is the backbone of society. Look at the differences 30 years ago
and now. Parents were able to spank children (even in public, oh no!) when
they misbehaved. Now, if that were to occur, the parents would be thrown
in jail and child protective services would place the children in foster
homes. Result? The kids run wild as there are now no real consequences to
their behavior. Now, parents have to find other ways of controlling their
children's behavior without resorting to corporal punishment. What did
they use in it's place? Bribery. What does that install in a child's
mind? "If I want something, all I have to do is misbehave and they'll give
me something to shut me up." See something familiar? No more do people
believe that in order to get what you want, all you have to do is work hard
for it. Now, it's act like an ass for it.
Here's another casualty of this sort of attitude: personal responsibility.
People used to be taught that anyone else's property (including public
property) is to be respected. Nowadays, people have absolutely no respect
for anything that isn't theirs. That also goes with things like frivolous
lawsuits. People can't accept personal responsibility, especially when
there is money involved. If something happens, it's someone else's fault.
I've often referred to stupid lawsuits as "the new national lottery". As
long as there are greedy lawyers to handle these asinine cases, they will
be around.

I've really got to agree with you. Sometimes kids need to be spanked. I
was. I'm not saying my parents boxed my ears every night for the hell of
it, and I was a pretty good kid, but if I did something really bad (telling
my doctor to go take a flying eff... , purposely getting myself lost in a
department store...), they'd give me a bit of a whack on the butt, and
explain what I did wrong.

Last time I was on a plane, there was a six-year-old behind me pinching her
mother. "Don't pinch Mommy! Stop that, and I'll buy you some candy." What
did the kid do? Waited until she'd eaten the candy, and then resumed with
the pinching.

From the wcbstv.com website:

"(CBS/AP) CHERRY HILL, N.J. Six men described by federal prosecutors as
"Islamic militants" have been arrested on charges they plotted to attack
the Fort Dix Army post and "kill as many soldiers as possible," federal
authorities said Tuesday.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday there is "no direct evidence"
that the men have ties to international terrorism.

"They are not charged with being members of an international terrorism
organization," Snow said. "At least at this point, there is no evidence
that they received direction from international terror organizations."

Asked if those arrested had any links to al-Qaida, Snow referred questions
to the FBI and the U.S. attorney, but said those officials "seem to
indicate that there is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist tie."

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the men viewed Islamic training
and weapons videos on the Internet.

"What concerns us is, obviously, they began conducting surveillance and
weapons training in the woods and were discussing killing large numbers of
soldiers," Boyd said.

The six were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden later
Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael
Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. An
afternoon news conference was also scheduled with federal authorities.

Officials said four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in
Jordan and one in Turkey. All had lived in the United States for years.
Three were in the United States illegally; two had work permits and the
sixth is a U.S. citizen.

The men were identified in court papers as Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Dritan
Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka, Serdar Tatar and Agron Abdullahu. Checks
with Immigration and Customs Enforcement show that Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka
and Shain Duka are illegally living in the United States, according to FBI
complaints unsealed with their arrests.

Five of the men lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb located about
20 miles from Fort Dix.

"They were planning an attack on Fort Dix in which they would kill as many
soldiers as possible," Drewniak said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because
documents in the case remain sealed, said the attack was stopped in the
planning stages.

The men also allegedly conducted surveillance at other area military
institutions, including Fort Monmouth, a U.S. Army installation, the
official said.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie told him
one of the suspects had a job delivering pizzas to the base and used that
opportunity to scout out the possible attack.

"He delivered pizzas to the base and that gave him the ability to map out
the who, what, where, when and why of their activities," Smith said.

Smith said the men had been under surveillance for 16 months and practiced
their attacks in the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. He said
they also watched Osama bin Laden videos.

Smith said they videotaped their practice sessions, and got caught when
they brought it to a retail store to get copied onto a DVD. A store
employee saw the tape and contacted the FBI, Smith said.

The men were arrested Monday trying to buy automatic weapons. The sale was
a set-up by law enforcement authorities who had been investigating the men.


Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. It also housed
refugees from Kosovo in 1999.

At the main gate of the sprawling Army base, military police officers
ordered reporters to leave the area immediately.

U.S. Rep. James Saxton, who represents Fort Dix, said the base, along with
adjacent McGuire Air Force Base, has been on its highest security alert
level.

"This serves as a stark reminder that the threat of jihadists around the
world and even here at home is very, very real," Saxton said. "It is not a
threat that exists only in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East."

Jeff Sagnip, a spokesman for Saxton, said Fort Dix typically has 15,000
people, including 3,000 soldiers, while McGuire, which is adjacent to Fort
Dix, has about 11,500 people.

Soldiers at Fort Dix have been training for warfare in Iraq and
Afghanistan, Sagnip said.

"Everything is a replica of what they would face in the field," he said.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the once-open Fort Dix has been
closed to the public. There are heavily armed guards at entrances, along
with X-ray machines

Yet the main road through neighboring Cookstown cuts through the base and
is accessible to the public. A half-dozen locations on the base, including
at least two where soldiers were conducting maneuvers Tuesday morning, were
only a few hundred yards off the main road and accessible to anyone.

James Logston, a retired military employee from Mount Holly who worked at a
military base in California, said determined terrorists probably could
succeed in attacking a U.S. military base.

"It could happen, sure," he said at a convenience store just outside the
base's main gate. "After a while, people start getting slack and something
could happen. This day and age, nothing surprises you."

Debbie Vesper, who works at a school just outside the main gate, also was
not surprised Fort Dix was targeted.

"It seems these days they want to be a threat to something a large as
possible, an entire institution rather than just a small threat," she said.


The description of the suspects as "Islamic militants" was causing renewed
worry among New Jersey's Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New
Jersey were rounded up and detained by authorities in the months following
the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but none were connected to that plot.

"If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the
fullest extent of the law," said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented
scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. "But when the government says
'Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and
militancy are synonymous.

"Don't equate actions with religion," he said."

I saw this this morning as my boyfriend was getting ready to go off to work
at Fort Dix, where he works as a medical hold transport dispatcher. If
these lunatics hadn't been caught, I could have been making funeral
arrangements today. Why do people think that doing things like this is
justified in any way? Hurting innocent people? Why? I just...I can't
write anymore, I'm just in shock.

OK, so besides the fact that I made a screw-up in my previous blog post's
title (hence part of the idea for this blog post's title), I'd like to
address the topic of mistakes. Everyone who's human makes them, yet why is
it we seem to be so intolerant of others' mistakes? It's like the fart
thing; we all fart, yet it's a point of ridicule if others do. Is it that
we try to re-direct any possible negative feelings towards ourselves by
shoving them onto others? It's like nobody's entitled to have a bad day or
an attitude but yourself. What happened to empathy and sympathy? In this
world of "gimme, gimme, gimme, now!", we have lost sight of what is truly
important; working together as part of a whole, and not the self-centric
people we are becoming. People make mistakes. It happens. Too often
that is forgotten. You'd be surprised, a little sympathy goes a long way.
Next time someone you are dealing with makes a mistake, instead of pointing
and yelling, "Hey! You screwed up! Shame on you for being a flawed
human!", maybe we should just smile and say, "Hey, that's OK, it happens."
I would be willing to bet there would be a change immediately.

(Thanks to Harleycat who inspired the title)


Why is it people are so afraid to talk to managers when they have a
complaint? Is it truly the ease of taking "abuse" from an inadequate
employee (whether it be actual or perceived) then waiting until you are
home to voice your discontent to a faceless, judgeless computer monitor?
Why the heck should you be unwilling to actually speak to a human being?
Have we gotten to the point that it is easier to interact with machines?
Or, is it the case that people nowadays think that they are so important to
the company that they won't waste their time on a lowly location manager,
but rather take their complaints to the huge company itself? I don't get
it. Really. Just talk to the freaking manager. What's the worst that can
happen, they pull out a gun and shoot you? If you truly have a legitimate
complaint, the manager at the location there has the most clout and pull to
be able to actually do something at that very moment. They can also fix
the possible situation so that hopefully it won't happen again. A manager
cannot fix a problem unless they are aware of it. They can talk to the
disgruntled customer, ask relevant questions, find out the info they need
to know and dispense recompense (sp?) immediately. They can discipline the
errant employee or dispatch someone to fix the broken thing, whatever the
problem may be. Hearing complaints second-hand lessens the power the
manager has over that situation. They don't know for certain what
happened, as very few customers include all the necessary details and
information the manager may need. They aren't given the option or ability
to observe the problem first-hand and take the correct course of action.
What's the corporation going to do? Send you a coupon or a gift
certificate and move on. Whoopdedoo. Guess what, the location manager can
do that and so much more. Ideally, by skipping the location manager
completely, the customer is actually losing out on things they could have
gotten, and maybe deserved. Face it, who doesn't like to have their butts
kissed now and then? (heh).


Please, people, I beg of you, take but 5-10 minutes out of your busy lives
and bring your complaints to the manager on duty. This is your way of
improving customer service in stores.

Thank you.

OK. After reading some of the most recent postings, I have come to the
conclusion that PFB needs a "shenanigans" button. Something we can push if
we think the complaint is not a legitimate one. Maybe a type of vote, how
many PFB users think it's legit or shenanigans. I must admit, some of our
OP's have understood the error of their ways after it having been pointed
out to them, and to them, I give kudos. It takes a special person to be
that receptive to be able to say, "Hey, they're right." and admit they made
a mistake. Congratulations to you, you have become a better and richer
human being for that, and I applaud you. Now, then there is the troglodyte
category, of which is populated by the entitlement "folks" (out of
politeness, I'll not use the "wh*re" word), the "I'm always right no matter
what you say" people, and the "dumber than a box of rocks" people. Some of
the OP's fall into one or more of these categories, and to them, I beg,
please, for the love of humanity, do not have children and spread your
idiocy. Or, if you must, immediately adopt them out to a more intelligent
household. Reinstate empathy. We need it.

One of the things that makes me FUME is people who whine and rant about
stupid crap to a company then have the audacity to gloat when the company
sends them a letter of apology. This letter, which I refer to as the
"Bedbug Letter", is reported as an urban legend, but I see it seems to be
alive and well and being read and gloated over by OP's.

The following is an exerpt from snopes.com's reference to the "bedbug
letter":

http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/bedbug.asp

"Apology letter sent to a wronged customer is marred by attached
instructions to send the recipient the standard grovel.

I once asked a LAME in Cairns if the tropical climate caused any peculiar
aircraft maintenance problems.

He thought for a moment and said, "Yes, cockroaches, because they thrive in
all the hidden recesses despite blazing heat on the ground and chilly
temperatures in flight, and can really make a mess."

Then he told me a story about a businessman who woke up some years ago on
an international flight only to find a giant cockroach crawling down his
cheek. He was so revolted by this that he filled in a complaint form
about the incident and sent it off.

Some weeks later a letter from the airline's Public Relations Manager
landed on his desk. It was an outstanding example of the practitioner's art
and convincingly explained the airline's strict precautions against such
pests before admitting that, in very rare circumstances, bugs did get on
board their airliners, but when they did so, it was always somebody else's
fault; the unhygienic dumps they had to land at, or when they had to rely
on contractors for servicing, or when carried aboard in passenger's hand
luggage.

Then to show how repentant the airline was, the PR manager invited the
business man to present his letter at check-in when next he flew, when he
would be automatically upgraded to first class.

After carefully filing the letter, the business man crumpled up the
envelope and pitched it into the waste paper basket. As it landed he
noticed something inside it. So he retrieved the envelope and withdrew one
of the ubiquitous Post-it notes used nowadays to write messages in every
office around the globe and apparently enclosed in error by the PR
Manager's secretary.

It was his instruction to her to, "Just send this jerk the standard
cockroach letter."


A wealthy gentleman was badly bitten by bugs while riding on a certain
railway line. Arriving at his destination, he wrote the company an
indignant letter and received a prompt reply. It was, said the letter, the
first complaint the company had ever had of this nature. Inquiry had failed
to reveal any explanation for this unprecedented occurrence. Nevertheless,
a number of new precautions were being taken to make absolutely certain
such an unfortunate incident never happened again. The letter was signed by
a high official of the railway.

The gentleman was well satisfied with this reply and was returning it to
the envelope when a slip of paper fell out onto the floor. The hastily
scribbled note on it read: "Send this guy the bug letter."

Here are some variations:
Both the method of transport (airplane, train) and the type of pest
encountered (bedbug, flea, cockroach) vary from telling to telling.
Some versions situate the bedbugging in a snooty big-city hotel.
The bedbug letter has been part of contemporary lore since the 1920s, as
this example from 1927 shows:

Recurrent is the story, or perhaps it is the incident itself, of the
gentleman who moved into a new apartment, to discover the presence of water
bugs. He immediately dispatched a wrathful letter to the renting agent. In
reply he received a lengthy communication in which the agent expressed his
deepest grief, his intention of taking up the matter with the owner at once
and his assurance that nothing remedial would be left undone. A careless
secretary, however, had enclosed a note which read: "Miss Fraser, send
this guy the bug letter."

Its age notwithstanding, it continues to update itself, with overnight
travel by Pullman car replaced by long distance journeys by airplane, and
paperclipped instructions upgraded to Post-It notes.

Did a real event spark off this legend? Possibly. Brunvand reports on a
1992 letter from the corresponding
secretary of the George Mortimer Pullman Encomium Society in which it was
claimed the bed bugging took
place on 4 March 1889 to a Mr. Phineas P. Jenkins, a salesman of
pig-iron products. After spending a night in the company of far too many
bedbugs (which in my book would number "one"), Jenkins penned a note of
complaint to George M. Pullman, President of the Pullman Palace Car
Company. In return, Jenkins received a wonderfully detailed and heartfelt
apology from Pullman. Its effect was undermined, however, by the enclosure
of his original letter, across which Pullman had handwritten "Sarah Send
this S! O! B! the 'bedbug letter.'"

An interesting incident was recorded as a news story in November 2000, and
there's little reason to doubt it. Ian Payne wrote the BBC to request a
season of Jean Simmons films and the autograph of Lorraine Heggessey. He
received back a short letter saying it could not consider a Simmons season
at this time. Attached to it was a Post-It note reading: "Nutter,
polite fob off &; no autograph."

The BBC has since gone on record as saying, "We have apologised
unreservedly to Mr. Payne. We have tried to find out who wrote the post it
note and we have compared the handwriting from the officers and we cannot
find anybody's handwriting who matches it. We are mystified at this."

Though this is not quite the bedbug story (a recurrent condition was not
being passed off as a one-time occurrence), the element of a customer's
written communication being responded to with a polite letter marred by the
inclusion of a "send this guy a fob off note," thus revealing the real
sentiments behind the response, is close.

Barbara "apology excepted" Mikkelson"




I'll say it again: YOU ARE NOT THAT SPECIAL; GET OVER YOURSELF!

Re: Aimeyir, or Stuff You Didn't Care If You Knew About Me Or Not.

Hello, everyone. This is my first blog on this site, so I thought I'd
start it off with a bit of backstory. I am currently 36 years of age as of
this posting. I have worked on and off in various foodservice and retail
service positions since 1990, from employee/asst. manager at a BK to owning
my own deli, customer service representative at a Wal-mart to my current
(but temporary) occupation at another deli/convenience store. I was raised
with the traditional German work ethics: You work for what you get; take
only what you need; give out politeness and kindness so you can get some
back, etc. I have spent many a day in tears and exhaustion trying to deal
with the unreasonable customer, and frustration in trying to understand
just why they are justified in treating their fellow man in such a horrible
manner. There's an old saying I recently came across that rings true to
all of this. It said something to the effect of, "The kindness of a person
is judged not by how they treat their equals, but by how they treat those
they percieve to be below them." Because of my experiences in their shoes,
I go the extra mile in situations where I am dealing with those "assisting"
me. I smile, say please and thank you, and do what I can to help. I've
been known to carry dirty dishes to the counter instead of leaving them on
the tables. I clean my messes. I don't yell, scream, shout, make
unreasonable demands, or take things personally. Why, you might ask? I am
one person among many. If I cannot get along with my fellow man, then I am
doomed to be alone in my misery. Yes, I might nitpick at one point while
overlooking the general issue. I err as well; I am human. But, my
ultimate goal is to alleviate my frustration and that of my fellow worker
by trying to show you our world, to make you understand why you might be
making your fellow man suffer needlessly over your petty demands.

/two cents.