Dillard's lays off minorities by the hundreds today.

Today I received notification that hundreds of Travel Agency employees will be laid off immediately. The leisure travel department, for use by Dillard's customers is closing because of being an "under functioning department", Randy Hankins, VP of Dillard's told me. He spoke to me as if I were a gnat, and gave rude, canned responses. He was totally uncaring that most Travel agents are minorities, mainly women. One woman I spoke to, told me she had been employed there 20 years, was a single mom and had no idea what she was going to do. We all know good paying jobs are easy to find when you're over 50. Yeah. Mr VP said that employees had a choice of moving to lower paying jobs on the sales floor. GREAT! So if you give a damn, cut up your Dillard's card and send them to the Dillard's brothers. But don't try to call them, we don't rate high enough to speak to them, but we can sure pay their salaries, can't we? Say BAAAAH little sheep.

Humana in trouble?

Rumors that Humana is in trouble seem to be spreading. Humana has been denying more claims to patients, refusing to pay as a secondary insurance,when a primary insurance pays part of a bill, instead of paying the rest. stating that the primary insurance had already paid what they would have, instead of paying the balance, as other secondary insurances do. Closing offices, and not filling vacant positions, leaving offices understaffed, causing patient care to suffer. Requesting proof that any emergency room visit was not the cause of an accident, so that they can pawn the bill off onto someone else. Even denying Diabetic patients Januvia, because it wasn't tested with insulin, even though insulin resistant patients have shown great gains in blood sugar control with it. Now these Diabetic patients of Humana have to go back to poor sugar control and pay the ultimate price of blindness and kidney failure. But what does Humana care? They only end up paying for dialysis and hospital bills. Next..medicare. All I can say is their stock has already dropped to half in the last year. You might want to think twice about getting any kind of coverage with them.

Sears,PayPal,Lowes,others,outsource customer service to other countries,loose customers.

PAY ATTENTION PayPal, Sears,Lowes, and others who outsource your customer service to India and other countries. Customers are tired of being treated rudely by so-called customer service reps who simply repeat policy over and over to customers, like a parrot, instead of problem solving. In India and other countries, women are second class citizens, so when a woman calls in, and gets a male rep, she often gets talked down to.
I cut up my $5, 000 Lowes home improvement card, who touts being an American company, after going a round with a man in India over a payment Lowes did not credit me. Several people I know no longer accept PayPal, because of the same problem with their customer service department. One customer, who forgot to add a discount code, called PayPal this week to ask them to add the discount, or to cancel the transaction, so she put the transaction back through. PayPal refused, and when she asked for a supervisor, she was told that the representative was the highest authority she was allowed to speak to. How nice! No doubt this man ownes PayPal, since he was the highest person there. "not allowed" indeed!

Sears, shame on you too! A company who USED to have a fabulous customer service department, now has overseas reps who don't even know what a refrigerator is!!! I spoke to a supervisor who didn't know the difference between an appliance warrenty and a home warrenty policy. I spent two hours on the phone this week and after speaking to: Jece,who dissconnected me because she clearly did not want to deal with the problem,Gary who also disconnected me,Jason who disconnected me when I finally asked for a supervisor,Adrian 52953,who disconnected me when he tried to cold connect me to someone else, Adrian again, Angelo,Samantha, a supervisor who didn't know the difference between an appliance warrenty and a home warrenty, even though I patiently tried to explain it to her three times, and she said she would get her supervisor and dissconnected me,Joey, who transferred me to Terminex pest control, because he didn't know what a refrigerator was,Alex who told me I was a "Wise Ass " because I asked for a supervisor, then put me on hold and never came back, Brian, Saqued,David,at the main Sears customer service number, who after telling me he was getting a supervisor,put me back into the phone tree I just came from. Then Irene, then her supervisor Armi who then sent me to...Safety recall?! By now it was after 7pm and my local store was now closed so no refrigerator today. More spoiled food. All the other customer service numbers were also now closed for the day. I filled a BBB complaint, but again had a rep who could not understand my complaint. which, briefly, was that my home warrenty sent Sears out to repair my Jenn Aire fridge, but the parts were no longer available, instead of telling my home warrenty that they could not fix it, the juryrigged parts from another brand of refrigerator, but it still will not cool properly, and it is running non-stop and I am throwing spoiled food away. But all this woman asked me was if the refrigerator was running at all, and then told the BBB the fridge was fixed. So let these companies know that this is not acceptable! I just cut up two more credit cards from Capital One, also for this reason. At least Wells Fargo, whom I bank with, still has
American based customer service reps.

Popular breast cancer, elbows out others.

Breast cancer gets over 80% of funds raised for cancer, according to the Today show. There are all sorts of foundations and grants to help people with breast cancer pay for bills, like the Leroy
Butler Foundation, who even paid off one woman's entire mortgage, but if you have something else, well, good luck. Some forms of cancer only have amputation as a treatment. The Lymphoma and Leukemia Foundation gives you $500.00 a year. Cancer Care gives you $100.00 aa Year and it takes days, even weeks to fill out the paperwork. Hardly worth it. I wrote the Leroy Butler Foundation, to see if they would help someone with another form of cancer, they didn't even reply with a form letter.
So if you are raising money for cancer, how about all the underfunded, less "popular" cancers? If you are say, Bill Gates, how about giving money to help all the other people with cancer, who also have mortgages, especially the single men and women who don't get other sources of help that people with children do? Do you have any idea how awful it is to have cancer, and be alone? Knowone to help or care? When I got two kinds of cancer last year, I kept thinking of Blanche DuBois, who says, as she is being led away to the insane asylum"Whoever you are,” Blanche says, to the doctor “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” But that was a long time ago, when strangers were kind.

ABC "News", lieing about McCain..Shame on you!

You know, I know that the news media has decided that Obama is going to be our next president, even Saturday Night Live did a skit on it. I resent anyone telling me who I should vote for, but the news media also knows that most Americans are lemmings that follow everything they hear, instead of checking candidates out themselves. But when the media flat out lies, or tweaks the truth, well that should be illegal. I thought the yellow press went out at the turn of the century. Here is an email from one of my sources.
Subject: Fw: ABC News lies
Just in case you happened to see the ABC News (if you watched ABC News) with interviews of 5 military folks in Iraq - 3 planned to vote for Obama and 2 for Hillary; no mention of any McCain supporters. Well, here's the "Rest of the Story."
My niece, K. stationed at Baluud , Iraq , was assigned with others of her unit, to be escorted/guarded/ watched out for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain's recent trip to Iraq . K. and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI's walking past. They kept count of the GI's and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI's who they planned to vote for, in November, '08.
54 soldier's said John McCain,
4 for Obama and
2 for Hillary. K. called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing near Raddatz and maybe they'd see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see K. Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn't a glimpse of K, but got a hell'ava view of skewed news.
After a dissertation on McCain's trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI's being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November;
3 for Obama and
2 for Clinton . No mention of the 54 for McCain.
Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone...YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM! It's Time for America to Speak up! We're letting the USA slip through our fingers....WAKE UP!!

I agree. And the McCain staff should take ABC "news" to task for lying about this.

What the Presidential candidates need to know

First of all, Obama, stop waffeling. Your stand on anything blows in the wind. Even if you don't become President this time, take a stand and stick with it, people will respect you more. Hillary would be your best choice for vice president. People, don't vote for Obama just because he is black. Read any one's web site the is running for any office. Know who you are voting for and why.
FMLA needs to be amended to include siblings.
Shutting down NASA for five years will cost tens of thousands of jobs, Mr. Obama. In Stanly county, NC. the Michelin plant is the last large manufacturer, since thanks to NAFTA all the textile plants closed, and this plant makes the Space Shuttle tires. So 600 good paying j0bs, gone. Did you know that when you promised Louisiana more jobs, that the components for the next Space Shuttles are being made there? More good paying jobs in Louisiana lost. Not including thousands of jobs in Florida and Texas. Contractor jobs, tourist industry driven jobs. Shut down NASA and turn the unemployment ranks on it's ear. Does your staff know this? No, because I asked them.
What will happen to the space over our heads if we aren't up there for five or more years? Ask the military.
For the rest of you, what did we get from the Space Program? Hmm, let me hit the highlights. Cell phones, medical telemetry, medical diagnostic PET and CAT scans, contacts for vision, corningware to cook in, asbestos free fireproofing, weather satellites, Doppler radar, Kevlar body armor, so many things we use every day. Not including military superiority that keeps us free.

McCain, did you know that 25% of the mortgages in this country are owned by unmarried women? And women are the most vulnerable to loose their homes, mainly because we still do the same jobs and get paid less then men. Too bad you can't get Hillary as your running mate. Also, there are 196 million single people in this country. According to the Today show.

Welfare reform. How can someone get SSDI because of "stress". Or even Diabetis, without complications? If you aren't even on any prescription medications, why should you qualify? And on the flip side, when a person is on SSDI because of a chronic illness, such as cancer, and can work from time to time, why does Social security make it so hard on them? When someone worked for a few weeks last year, their doctor, employer, and they had to fill out tons of forms. They are threatened with losing it. It certainly would make me think twice before I worked again. You should encourage work, because every month they work, they don't draw money from Social security.
Children over 16 should not get welfare, they are old enough to work, and should. The rest of us did, and paid our way to school as well.
Encourage young women not to get pregnant and young men not to father children. Welfare is full of young mothers. Give them money to go to college instead. It's cheaper.
Don't let illegals qualify for welfare because they come into the country and have a baby here. Welfare should only be for citizens, and if the baby is a citizen only because they are born here, then they get aid and know one else does, not even the mother. So the baby would get food and supplies, but not the whole family. This will encourage parents to become citizens, and stop the swelling of welfare ranks because of loopholes in the system. Don't give drivers licenses to illegal aliens. If you do then terrorists will have access to valid ID.
Streamline college. why take two years of fluff courses, take two years of courses you need for your major and get a BA in two years instead of four. Use grade school for a good base of knowledge and culture. You end up with more people with a higher education because it costs half as much and takes half the time.
Separate FEMA from Homeland security. Anyone applying to FEMA now faces two background checks, instead of one, which during Katrina, caused an 8 week delay in getting people in the field. Give FEMA employees benefits. Didn't know that did you?
Disaster on-call employees, or DAE's only get pay and per diem. And only when they are deployed. In large disasters, FEMA employees have to drop what they are doing and be gone from home for up to 18months. No employer will hold your job that long, so you loose your health insurance, 401K, etc. Also, they can go years between deployments. Which is why most FEMA employees are retirees. Over age 65. They do great work, but 100 hours a week is hard on anyone. They need an age diversified base.
Here's how you do it. FEMA employees will have the option of buying health insurance and participating in a 401K plan, just like other federal employees, using the same providers. When they are not deployed, they have the option of continuing to pay for the health insurance out of pocket, but at the group rate, just like someone on an unpaid leave of absence does now. They can contribute to the 401K by paycheck deduction, or bank draft when not deployed. This way they have coverage, and more folks can become on-call FEMA employees, and be there, when we need them. And taxpayers will save, because FEMA DAE's are only paid when deployed.

Well, I have to go, blog you folks later.

Being Single, the bias against us.

Hi, I created this blog because in this world, unless you are a celebrity, wealthy, or have children, know one cares about you. Why you say? Well, we all know rich and famous folks get breaks because they get special treatment from zero percent interest rates, to lighter or non-existent prison sentences. People with children get benefits simply because they have children, that people that don't have children don't qualify for. Look at Extreme Home Makeover. When did they last help someone who is single? How often does Oprah help single people? When you apply for assistance, it's almost automatic if you have children, almost non-existence for people who don't. Some places don't even ask you to prove you have kids to get help. I have had co workers who got free groceries, free toys and clothes, simply because they have kids. Some go from place to place and load up, because many places don't check. I had a co worker who got a fully furnished Habitat for Humanity house. She made more than I did, got food stamps, free Christmas toys, free Christmas and Thanksgiving meals, and all because she had two illegitimate children. And the father of one of the children lived with her. She said if they got married, she wouldn't qualify for most of her "free goodies". So in this country, being moral doesn't pay. Spreading your legs and having bastard children, pays very well. Some places even offer parking for pregnant women, schools have loans just for parents, special work hours for people with children, etc. Where are the school loans just for singles, the special hours for us?
If you get sick, the medical community does not know what to do with you either. When I got two kinds of stage four cancer, last year, the hospital had the delema of wanting to discharge me, but because I was too sick to drive to my home, an hour away, they freaked out. Don't you have children? They asked, "no, I've never been married," I told them. But don't you have children? The case worker asked again. What about an ex-spouse? What about friends? Well, they work and they don't want to make a two hour drive, either. No cab service to my city, and FMLA does not extend to siblings. Yep, FMLA will cover you if your children, spouse, parents or grandparents are sick, but how stupid is this, not your brothers or sisters?
I called my Senator, Elizabeth Dole and Congressman Robin Hayes's offices, but they don't care either. I even spoke to Mrs.Obama, but curiously someone who claims to be patriotic, did not come onstage until AFTER the Pledge of Allegiance was given, said she would "try to remember" the problems single people have with health care. Yeah, right. Well, I remember there was another woman who tried to meet with all the presidential candidates to talk about health care for lengthy illnesses and guess who, yep everyone but Obama met with her. So you can forget this dude caring about anyone but himself. The Senator from SC said it all when he said Obama would do anything, say anything to further his agenda, and that agenda is to be President.
This will be the first time I have ever voted Republican for President.
More on why, later. Back to being single.
Single people, ever go to one of those time-share sale pitches? The first thing they ask is do you have a spouse. I bought from the place that didn't ask me. Fontana Village, NC.
And speaking of buying, just because you are single, you almost never qualify for a low interest home loan. So you pay sub-prime rates. Now how does is make sense to charge people who have lower income, because they don't have two incomes, more interest? As long as they have a history of paying rent or mortgage payments on time, they should get the best rates. Besides, how many homes go into foreclosure because of divorce? A great majority, I know, because I worked in mortgage default.
So single people don't count for much. even though statistically we work more hours, call in sick less, spread fewer germs, because we don't spread germs from our kids to everyone around us, are more productive, because we aren't on the phone to our kids all day, and do more volunteer and disaster work. (Most Red Cross disaster and FEMA employees have grown children or are single.) And we probably take better care of our pets. Since we have more time to devote to them. So wake up world! We should get more. I am sick and tired of being called MRS, by everyone. And I don't do business with anyone who asks if my husband is with me or at home. Nor should any single man put up with the opposite. Why should we pay double if we go on a cruise or tour, alone? I swear, the next tour I go on, and I have to pay double, because I am single, I'm going to demand twice as much. Why not, I'm paying for two. So I want a seat beside me that is empty on the tour bus, double the food, and twice the luggage allowance. So there, travel industry!
There should be benefits only if you are single, because we don't have children on welfare, and we should pay fewer taxes because we don't have kids in schools. Single people should qualify for Habitat for Humanity and other services. We deserve a nice place to live too. We have to eat, we celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving. We exist and we vote. And I no longer watch Oprah or Extreme home makeover, or anything else that excludes single people.