More, he doesn't mince his words. Read on:
Goddamm Barnes & Nobel!!! I decided to do my online book shopping at B & N rather than Amazon because Amazon was one of the heavy donors to GWB’s campaign while Barnes and Noble had sent more of its money to Kerry. This despite the fact that Amazon makes buying cheaper and gives more discounts. But I followed my heart. It was my little sacrifice.
I staked it out mostly on gift shopping. There is no easier way to answer the question, “What do you want for your birthday Dad?” I’d just say I want a gift card from Barnes and Nobel. Hey, I never even paid attention to how big a card each kid bought.
I bought some stuff. Then today I found I had three cards. One was for 30 bucks, one for 25, and a third had $1.98 left over. That more than covered the two books I want. When I finally hacked and clacked my way through the purchasing process, including resetting my password because I couldn’t remember that I wasn’t “case sensitive” (oh mea culpa! I’m going to fall on my sword!) I learned that I couldn’t combine cards for one purchase.
Naturally I couldn’t argue with the person who took my call. She had been trained by a robot and was just waiting for me to say “fuck” so she could become indignant and hang up. My Mormon daughter-in-law showed me how she won each inane argument that way so I was prepared. I did sputter a bit at that but she pretended to give a damn. Then she transferred me to the complaint department, whimsically called “customer service.”
Guess what? They were closed but, “Your call is very important to us. please leave a brief message and we’ll get right back to you.”
I was reasonable but possibly loud in my “brief” message: “HEY, YOU HAVE A PISSED OFF OLD GEEZER IN CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA. I HAVE THREE OF YOUR GIFT CARDS WITH VARYING AMOUNTS OF MONEY. I WANT TO BUY TWO BOOKS FROM YOU. I CAN SHOP WITH AMAZON BUT I PAY THE EXTRA TO AVOID SUPPORTING A POLITICAL EMPIRE I DISAGREE WITH.
"I JUST LEARNED THAT I CANNOT COMBINE CARDS EITHER ON THIS DAMN (I didn’t say fuck) COMPUTER, OR IN YOUR GOSH DARNED (nearly choked on that) STORES.
"I AM A WRITER AND BUY LOTS OF BOOKS. IF I GET REALLY LUCKY I’LL SELL ONE OF THEM THROUGH YOU. IN BOTH CASES I TRULY BELIEVE YOU OUGHT TO BE HONEST WITH THE PUBLIC.
"WHEN YOU BLACKMAIL ONE INTO BUYING EXTRA CREDITS IN ORDER TO USE A CARD YOU ARE CHEATING THE CUSTOMER. THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE, AND IT’S ONE I’M SURE YOU HAVE PLANNED IS FOR A CUSTOMER TO SIMPLY WALK AWAY AND YOU KEEP THE UNSPENT AMOUNT.
"THAT’S NOTHING MORE THAN HI-TECH, CORPORATE CRIME. PERHAPS NOT ON THE LEVEL OF WHAT KEN LAY DID, BUT I’LL NOT TRY TO MINIMIZE THE DIFFERENCE IN AN ARTICLE I WILL BE SENDING OFF TO THE WASHINGTON POST, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND SAN DIEGO UNION UNLESS I HEAR FROM YOU NEXT MONDAY.
MY NUMBER . . . . . . .
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