It was late, I was tired and my dryer was broken.
I needed a heating element for it, or at least I thought. I’ve not had a lot of experience fixing dryers, but I’m a fairly intelligent person, can follow directions and can fix things if I know what is wrong with them.
So naturally, I think I’ll ride down to the local home appliance store, in my case that’s the Lowe’s Home Improvement store, to get the parts I need.
I waited for the only worker in the appliance section to finish two phone calls, then asked him where the dryer heating elements were, since I couldn’t find them on my own.
He gave me a card and said that they didn’t have them in stock, but that I could order it via the telephone. Looked like a Lowe’s card, I assumed it was Lowe’s since the guy represented it as such.
Made the trek back home and gave the company a call. Ordered the part, which ended up being ~ $65.00 shipped. Seemed high, but certainly was cheaper than buying a new dryer.
In a few days I got the part, replaced it, noticed the packing slip said “Appliance Parts, Albany NY”. Lowe’s is based out of NC, where I live. So I got to thinking, did Lowe’s take advantage of my customer loyalty? I trusted Lowe’s to give me a quality (and the right) part at a reasonable price.
The part ended up not fixing my problem, so as I should have done earlier, I did research online and found out that either the thermostat or the fuse could be the culprit of my dryer problems. And to my surprise (and disgust) Amazon said I can order both WITH a dryer heating element for a total of ~ $40.
I’d been hornswaggled.
I’m still not sure if this is just a subcontractor, since they tried to push other crap at me when I was making my order, or if this is a division of Lowe’s. I’m still researching that.
It’s my fault for not researching the prices online before I purchased it. I was tired, frustrated and wanted to get this ordered as quickly as possible so we could get our dryer up and running quickly.
I trusted Lowe’s Home Improvement – a mistake I will not make again. From now on, I will take the extra time to drive a little farther to Home Depot or Sears for anything I may need, just because of this horrible customer service incident.
Don’t make the same mistake I did.
Rudeness is destroying the world. Well, at least the Mall.
August 25, 2009
You know, I can’t hardly stand going to the Mall any more. People have gotten to the point that the only way they could be more inconsiderate and rude is if they were to throw feces in your face as you walk.
1) scooting over – You’d think that people mastered this in grade school, but as many of us know, they did not. You know they see you coming, you know they see you also have no room, yet they don’t care if you run into the wall or store fixture. Why not?
2) impeding someone’s path deserves an “Excuse me” – What ever happened to “excuse me”? If you step in front of someone’s path, do it quickly, and say excuse me. NEVER walk out of a store blindly into incoming traffic and go against the grain. That is extremely rude.
3) stopping in the middle of the mall walking area – If you stop in the middle of the mall walking area – and I mean just dead stop and scratch your ass or to ponder what that moist feeling in your undies is, then expect to get run into. This is one of the more rude things you can do at the mall, and one of my pet peeves. If I’m behind you, you may get ran over by a stroller or two.
4) hogging the isle – We’ve all seen someone hogging an isle. Sometimes it’s a woman with a stroller or cart parked precisely in the middle of the isle while she looks at something 20 feet away, or sometimes it’s the pot-bellied middle aged man picking his nose as he tries to figure out which camera he likes best. The proper way to look at something is to pick a side and look. If you need a closeup, move in closer. Be aware of those around you.
5) reign in your damn kids – The mall is not a racing track, playground, or otherwise experimenting place for your 2-3 year old kids to act like wild animals. If you and your herd content to walk shoulder to shoulder as slow as possible, expect people to be pissed off at you and make nasty comments under their breath. If you do allow your toddlers to walk, at least hold their hands.
6) hold a door and don’t let it slam in someone’s face or sneak through it as they are holding it open for their pregnant wife – This has happened to my wife and I on occasion: Someone letting the door hit us nearly in the face/stroller (while the wife was pregnant no less) or you are holding the door open for your kids/spouse and someone jumps IN FRONT OF THEM to exit/enter the building. I don’t mind holding the door for you, but if you disrespect my family in that manner, I may even CLOSE it on you on purpose. Every time this happens, I can hardly believe someone would do that, but yet, it happens every-so-often.
The best thing you can do folks, is teach your kids respect and manners for others – even if no one shows it towards you, teach them respect. That is your duty. It is your duty also to be aware of your fellow shoppers and mall patrons.
Hardee’s ad too racy for television … at least in N.C.
July 22, 2009
“The A-hole just tastes funny”.
This ad was deemed “too racy” for some N.C. franchisees to broadcast.
Yesterday I posed the question via Twitter ( @bradthomas ) “would you pay to read your local paper online? be honest. if so, how much?“. Since I’ve also got my twitter account linked with my facebook profile, that question was also broadcast there as well.
Several of my friends, many of who have or still work for newspaper companies have weighed in:
“Nope, not at all. Free content is everywhere in the world, why would I pay for news I can find elsewhere?”
“hell no”
“no becasue you can read free stuff online anywhere, why pay”
“That’s a big negatory there compadre’.”
Brad Thomas: What if it were local content that nobody else currently covered?
“shoot, i can get that right here on FB for free”
“That’s the thing. For people to pay, it must be something they can’t get anywhere else. I think this will only work in certain communities, however. Take Fort Mill, for example. There are 40,000 people (mostly affluent) who live in the township and, despite there being three newspapers that “cover” them — The Observer, The Herald and the Fort Mill Times — none of them provide daily coverage unless something big happens. I think this would be a great place to experiment with a pay-only model. And I think it would work.”
“police here in winston shot a bear not 3 miles from my house and i found out about it on FB before any of the media reported it online….it would have to be hyper-local, community interest content, but i agree that it’s possible”
Brad Thomas: I think the only way I would advocate paying for local content would be if it was expert analysis or some in-depth investigative reporting. Perhaps exclusive, time sensitive content nobody else has. And even then, I wouldn’t pay more than a couple bucks a month tops.
“I agree. There are so many magazines now generating decent content from a community human interest level. Some are putting complete articles online. Anything’s possible, but…sure would be tough to pull off, I think.”
Brad Thomas: So, what we’re saying is — we’d pay for certain kinds of content — but for all intensive purposes, no, we wouldn’t pay for the content found in a daily newspaper. Right?
Brad Thomas: I’m being honest, there is currently no daily newspaper in North or South Carolina that I would pay to read online.
“I will never pay to read a newspaper online…”
“That’s the way to go. It’s inevitable. It doesn’t make any sense to give away free news. People will have to pay to read news in the near future.”
“It’s too late. There are too many places where people can get their news online for free. The TV stations are taking over in terms of traffic and there’s no way they’d ever try to charge for content.”
“Charging for news is committing suicide for anyone who tries it.”
“You pay for the paper, you pay for food, you pay for gas, why shouldn’t you pay for online news? Reporters work hard to get you those stories. Shouldn’t they get paid for their effort.
Many newspapers already charge for online content in Europe and it works great because people are willing to pay if the content of a story is interesting. It’s gotta be local and it’s gotta be exclusive. But charging for online content is the future whether people like it or not.”
” …except there are PLENTY of folks willing to do the work in getting the news to you for free. It would have to be something magical, unique and in high demand for anyone to be able to charge for it. I just don’t see anyone doing that. It would take an amazing group of folks and an amazing amount of resources to pull it off.”
What do you think? Would you pay to read your local paper — as it stands today — online?
Live blogging my trip to Charleston
June 18, 2008
I’ll be live blogging my trip to Charleston, S.C. tomorrow via Twitter. I will not be live blogging my actual meeting, the happenings of which will be confidential, but I will be blogging the trip.
You can read the updates either on my right sidebar here or via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bradthomas.
Brad’s 2008 Link Extravaganza
May 1, 2008
I post my bookmarks once a year to have a record of them. I’m sure some folks will find them useful
Adobe – Photoshop Express (beta)
ESPN – Carolina Panthers Local News – ESPN Local
Salisbury Post | Salisbury Area Ad Portal
Insoshi: open-source social networking platform in Ruby on Rails
Create Resizing Thumbnails Using Overflow Property | Css Globe
FOX Sports on MSN – NFL – NFL Draft Video Central
FOX Sports on MSN – NFL – NFL Draft Video Central
abc7.com: Bear attacks, kills animal trainer at facility in Big Bear City, Calif. 4/23/08
ID Selector – Making OpenID easier
Developer's Guide: Data API Protocol – YouTube APIs and Tools – Google Code
Digital Web Magazine – Creative Use of PNG Transparency in Web Design
coffee2code.com » Blog Archive » Plugin: Author Image(s)
Goal Line Blitz – Beta – American Football MMORPG
Weblog Tools Collection » Blog Archive » Global Variables and the WordPress Loop
The Ultimate Guide to the WordPress Loop | Theme Lab
Dynamic Drive DHTML Scripts -DD Tab Menu (5 styles)
ESPN – Carolina Panthers News, Schedule, Players, Stats, Video – NFL
flickrSLiDR – Embed Flickr Slideshows within Your Site
Category:WPMU « WordPress Codex
Publish RSS feeds on your WordPress site without plugins | WordPressGarage.com
1 Pixel Out » Audio Player WordPress plugin
What's Needed in 2008: Serious Newsroom Cultural Change
FlashDen – Download Stock Flash, Audio, Video and Pixel Fonts
ESPN Widget Center | NBA Widgets
JS-Kit: Customizing the Comments widget
Sony | Cyber-shot DSC-H7 Digital Camera (Black) | DSCH7B | B&H
ThinkGeek :: Micro Stainless Steel Digital Camcorder
Motorola V365 Cell Phone – Wireless from AT&T, formerly Cingular
Facebook Developers | Facebook Developers News
Web Hosting Talk – The largest, most influential web hosting community on the Internet
Forums and BB Software : Revolution Theme Support
play sudoku online for free — sudoku on a new level — sudokular.com
Weather, Local Weather, National Weather, International Weather & More | Reuters.com
AP Online Video Network | Inline Video Player
BroadCam Video Streaming Software – Stream Live Video Over The Internet
Integrating using the Ning Authentication APIs – Ning Developer Network
Crowd Favorite : Task Management Software | WordPress Magic | Custom Web Development
A List Apart: Articles: CSS Design: Taming Lists
Sony Ericsson – Mobile phones – Overview – W580i
Unexplained Mysteries :: Paranormal Phenomena and the Worlds Greatest Unexplained Mysteries
The Georgetown Times | Georgetown County, SC Community News Paper
Nextel | Sprint Power Vision Ultimate Pack
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines
Photos taken in Salisbury on Flickr!
CHARLOTTE BOBCATS: MyTV12 To Broadcast 15 Games Locally
Movable Type 4 installation step by step with screenshots – SuperXM
Learning Movable Type | Tutorials and helpful tips for the Movable Type web publishing system
Sony | HDR-SR8 HDD HD Camcorder (Black) | HDR-SR8 | B&H Photo
Media News – TV Ratings – Television Programming
Apple – iPhone – Rate Plans for iPhone
Creating a Business Plan and Attracting Investors – FAQ’s
Commercial Appeal : Memphis News, Business, Homes, Jobs, Cars, & Information
After the Fire – Der Kommissar – Music at Last.fm
Am I Right – Misheard Song Lyrics, Latest Additions
Market research & statistics: Internet marketing, advertising & demographics – eMarketer
DMNews.com – The News Leader in Direct, Database and Internet Marketing
How I Explained REST to My Wife
I want to use my social network's APIs on an external website – Ning Documentation
IAB – Interactive Advertising Bureau
MediaShift Idea Lab . Ready? Here's My Formula for Online News Success | PBS
Amazon.com: RCA EZ201 Small Wonder 60 Minute Point-and-Shoot Camcorder (White): Camera & Photo
InternetNews Realtime News for IT Managers
AdReady — Build, run, and optimize banner ads
MarketingVOX – The Voice of Online Marketing
BuddyPress — Creating a Social Network based on WordPress MU
Traction Software, Inc. | Front Page
Movable Type Publishing Platform
Blogtronix Enterprise 2.0 Blogging, Wikis, Documents, RSS, and Corporate Social Networking – 1.877.BLOGTRONIX
Blogtronix is a secure Enterprise 2.0 collaboration platform that integrating blogs with wikis, RSS, communities, analytics, and corporate social networking. Blogtronix is the award-winning platform that’s easy to use, scalable and can be delivered either on-demand or as a software. Our applications range from internal corporate collaboration to global user created communities.
Movable Type Publishing Platform
21Publish – Multi-User Blogs for Business and Communities – Home
The turnkey solution to start your own customized network of blogs.
Dynamic Drive DHTML Scripts- Ajax Tabs Content Script (v 2.0)
Dynamic Drive CSS Library- Bold CSS Buttons
Dynamic Drive CSS Library- DD Color Tabs
Dynamic Drive CSS Library- Shade Image Tabs Menu
Dynamic Drive CSS Library- Chrome Menu Bar
Dynamic Drive CSS Library- Solid Block Menu
Homepage – Concord, MA – The Concord Journal
Homepage – Concord, MA – The Concord Journal
The Boston Globe Online – Boston.com
Complete coverage from today's edition of the Boston Globe newspaper
IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star | Indianapolis news, sports, business, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Indianapolis, Indiana
Central Indiana News – IndyStar.com is the home page of Indianapolis Indiana with in depth and updated Central Indiana local news. Stay informed with both Indianapolis news as well as headlines and stories from around the world.
Atlanta News, Sports, Atlanta Weather, Business News | ajc.com
Get Atlanta news, sports, Atlanta weather, entertainment, business & political news and more from the Atlanta Journal Constitution – we know Atlanta best! /
Home – Rockford, IL – Rockford Register Star
Home – Rockford, IL – Rockford Register Star
Breaking News | Headline News | Current – New York Post
Breaking news, headline news, current news – NYPost.com. Your online resource for breaking and headline news, current news on U.S., international, entertainment, business, and more.
San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate
Find local news & information, updated weather, traffic, classifieds, sports scores, real estate, jobs, cars, food & wine, travel, entertainment, events and more on SFGate.com. Connect to the Bay Area community.
Chicago news, sports, photos, video, blogs, Chicago weather, business, travel, tourism, entertainment and jobs — chicagotribune.com
Chicago Tribune is Chicago's number one local newspaper for everything from breaking news and Chicago travel to Chicago real estate information.
Los Angeles Times – News from Los Angeles, California and the World
Los Angeles' leading online source for local, state, national, world, entertainment, and sports news. Plus jobs, real estate, cars and shopping information from the Los Angeles Times.
Spartanburg, South Carolina | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Based in Spartanburg SC, GoUpstate.com is the Web site of the Spartanburg newspaper the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a merger of the former Spartanburg Herald and Spartanburg Journal. The site covers Spartanburg County as well as Cherokee County, Greenville County and Union County
Home – The Advocate
stamford advocate features local news business stamfordadvocate sports classified living and health
Connecticut News, Sports, Entertainment, Obits — Courant.com
Connecticut news from Connecticut's premiere newspaper The Hartford Courant. courant.com provides a wide variety of world, national, state, and local news. courant.com also features weather, sports, business, jobs, and more.
NHRegister.com
Read the New Haven Register for in-depth, breaking news about Southern and Central Connecticut.
washingtonpost.com – nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines
CDC: Drug-resistant staph deaths may surpass AIDS toll – CNN.com
October 16, 2007
CDC: Drug-resistant staph deaths may surpass AIDS toll – CNN.com
Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. The report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.
How scary is this?
Mychal Bell of Jena 6 fame had FOUR previous offenses, ordered to juvenile hall for probation violation
October 12, 2007
Per CNN.com –Mychal Bell of ‘Jena 6′ ordered to juvenile facility
” But Judge J.P. Mauffrey agreed with prosecutors that Bell had violated the probation he was given for four previous juvenile offenses, including two simple battery charges, the sources said. Bell had been placed on probation until he turned 18.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who has championed Bell’s case, denounced Thursday’s decision as “revenge” by the judge and called on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco to intervene.”
Britney Spears at the VMA’s. Wow.
September 10, 2007
It’s amazing how many people have beautiful lives giftwrapped for them and squander it. If you haven’t been following the Briney Spears spiral over the last few years, welcome a) to earth, b) back from your coma.
Last night’s VMA appearance, we won’t call it a performance, was her latest moment of embarrassment.
Poorly lip-synched, poorly choreographed and little effort to perform. It was brutal. Don’t take my word for it. View it online — Britney Spears 2007 VMA appearance, “Gimme More” Live.
The look on her face… was she high? Did she just not care? Or is it that how she acts when she’s embarrassed? Is it possible for Spears to be embarrassed? I think that’s a valid question that needs answering.
I can’t attest to the whole show. I just watched the first 15 minutes. I couldn’t stomach much more than that. Very poorly produced, directed and designed from top to bottom.
Let’s not forget Sarah Silverman either, who blasted Spears directly after her performances. Calling Spears’ children mistakes and continuing to denigrate the woman’s children on LIVE TV shows what little character she has, herself.
Drink mishap at Chipotle
October 6, 2009
We went to lunch today to celebrate my friend Kevin’s birthday. He chose Chipotle, located at 2921 Providence Rd in Charlotte, NC.
Chipotle cup. Innocent enough, right?
I ordered my burrito, got my cup and went to get my drink.
I put the cup under the Dr. Pepper fountain, hit the lever, and drink exploded all over my arm. Not thinking anything of it, I put my cup under the Coke and filled it with drink.
I enjoyed my lunch, enjoyed my drink.
It wasn’t until I got back to the office and I finished my drink that I noticed there was something at the bottom of my cup:
Chipotle mishap
The Nozzle had exploded and fallen into my cup, without my knowing.
Gross? Kinda. At least the nozzle looked clean.
Should I keep the nozzle? I haven’t spoken to them yet. They might need the nozzle back for their machine.
Still, kind of grossed out. If this kind of thing can happen to my drink, what could have fallen into my food?
Tagged: chipotle, gross, nozzle