Proficiency exams at work.

I hate tests. I know that tests are an everyday part of life, but they do not always accurately reflect the knowledge of the test taker. Anything can influence how we feel on any given day, and I don't agree with the way that some of the tests are designed.

After saying all of this, I had to take a proficiency exam for my job recently. I don't have a problem with this in the general sense because I know that it is required as part of evaluating my position. What I don't like, is that the test is clearly not designed for my department or position.

I work in the billing department at a hospital. I don't interact with patients, doctors or nurses. The proficiency exam was geared toward people who deal with patients, or are doctors or nurses. The questions on this exam were totally irrelevant to my position. I wish the exam had questions that applied to me. Maybe then I wouldn't hate these exams so much.

When your boss makes stupid decisions

One of my bosses has recently decided to stop all phone calls for her department. She has decided that if any phone calls need to go to an individual, that these calls need to go through her first. This is an example of micro-managing at its best.

The thought process behind this change is crazy. We don't work in a factory or a place where there is no access to telephones. These phones are available for everyone's use when necessary. This is a way for her to control her people. It makes me angry because when there are so many more important issues to be handled, she has time to filter phone calls, but not solve problems.

Telemarkerters

Before the national do not call registry, I remember getting phone call after phone call from telemarketers. I always remember I ended up hanging up on them because when I would tell them I wasn't interested they would continue to harass me and try to keep me on the phone. When I have told them again and again NO, I mean NO and by your harassing me doesn't make it easier. It really pisses me off that people don't have the respect to accept that you have said no, and I believe they should be hung up on when they are harassing you. They can be very demanding and pushy and it just makes me get that much meaner. I'm so thankful for the do not call registry the government put in to place!

Pregnant People at Work

I know that it is a natural part of a woman's life to have a child. I don't know a woman that doesn't want to have a child, and I am happy to see someone bringing another life into the world when they are ready to. The only problem I have with this is when it affects your work at work. I know there are the typical sicknesses with being pregnant, and I can be understanding. I currently have a co-worker is is 8 weeks pregnant and does nothing but complain how bad she feels. She continuously sits in the chair or floor while I'm getting my ass stomped and doesn't have a care in the world. I have talked to my direct supervisor and we ended up calling employee relations because he wasn't sure how to handle the situation. He wanted to say something to her, but at the same time you have to be careful of what you say because you never know when you might have a law suit on your hands. Employee relations told us to remove any chairs from the pharmacy and make sure we were not doing all the work, but to make sure our customers got served. My pharmacy manager is going to speak with her this week and I hope that things will get better, otherwise the next 7 months is going to be true hell.

I want to suggest that when attempting to correct a bad situation, proceed with caution. No one person or company needs a lawsuit over their heads because of the matter a situation was handled. I learned that it is always adviseable to ask for others input before proceeding an issue.

Stress at Work

I've recently realized that being stressed at work is something that needs to be avoided by all cause. I understand that there are going to be times that are more stressful then one another, but when you show you are stressed you tend to show it to your co-workers as well as customers. I have an employee who is consistently using curse words and storming out of the pharmacy because she is so stressed. I'm not sure why she acts like this, but it's something that she has always done. I have tried to talk to her and get her to calm down, but I'm not getting anywhere with it. I usually can when she's getting ready to blow and send her outside for a few minutes to calm down, but there are times when I can't stop her. I have learned that the best way is to remove yourself from the situation for a minute and try and get yourself together. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Verizon Wireless

Of the companies that I have to call the most for customer service (Comcast, Dominion, Capital One, Wachovia & Verizon Wireless) I would have to say that Verizon Wireless has some of the best people working for them. I called the other day and I spoke with a guy who was VERY helpful. I just called to ask him one specific question and I ended up talking to him for over 30 minutes because he was so helpful that I figured I could just take care of everything that I needed to at that time. I even ended up getting 250 free minutes! This wasn’t an isolated incident. I can’t recall calling Verizon Wireless and having a problem with anyone at all. Everyone there has great customer service in my opinion. On the other hand, I have found out that when you go into a Verizon Wireless store it is a totally different case. Some of those people are the most annoying ever. The people at the call centers are great though!

Good Job!

I think that it is important for workers to receive positive feedback from their employers. If they are doing what they are supposed to be doing or going out of their way to do something extra I think they should receive recognition for what they do. In my opinion there are a lot of people who don’t do what they are supposed to do because they feel like no one shows them any appreciation for what they do. There is such a large focus on correcting people who aren’t doing the right thing that the people who are doing what they are supposed to do often go under the radar.

In my position I keep a daily log of the errors that cashiers make. I also make sure that I note the cashiers who are doing everything right because I feel like it serves as a form of encouragement for them to do what they are supposed to do.

How do you want to be greeted?

There is a large debate going on in the business world about whether or not customers should be greeted with “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas”. It has been said that the amount of money a consumer spends in a store depends on which of the two greetings they receive. Personally, I don’t pay much attention to that. They interviewed some people on the news and I found it interesting that most people actually had a preference as to which one they preferred. One person said they prefer “Happy Holidays” because it refers to the holiday season, not just Christmas, which is only one day.

How many of you pay attention to which of the two greetings you receive and do you actually tailor the amount of money you spend to the greeting that you received? Which greeting would you prefer?

Ageism in the workplace

We recently had a store meeting at my job and one thing that the store manager talked about was people coming to work when they are scheduled and everyone being on time for their scheduled shifts. He then pointed out two people that he says are always on time for their scheduled shifts. Both of these people happened to be over 50 years old. This made me think about the presentation that was done on older people in the workplace.

I work in retail and a lot of employers there are both students and workers. During mid-terms there were a lot of people who called out because they said they had tests to study for. Older workers are not college students and they don’t really have many other factors that prohibit them for going to work.

Young people work hard to go to school and work and I think we should get more credit than what some employers give us.

Staff Meetings

Staff Meetings. Oh what joy they can be. I used to think that they were useful until the last few years, but I decided we were going to have one to see if we can clear some things up at my work. We decided on a time and location and made sure everyone signed and knew that they had to be there. Out of my twelve staff members, one never showed and two were more than 15 minutes late. I'm not sure how you can conduct a meeting when some of your people aren't there, but we went on. I then realized that my direct supervisor and I had a list of things to talk about and as we were talking about them some of my staff decided they would turn the "open forum" into nothing more than a bitch session. Everyone wanted to tattle tail on one another and so forth. I finally got frustrated and told them that we were all adults and if you couldn't act like an adult at work and now then you might as well put your two weeks notice in and move on. I believe staff meetings would be efficient if and only if people take what is discussed out of the meeting and put it into their every day work. This meeting was a week ago and I have yet to see any improvements in the issues we discussed at the meeting. Once again, I believe they are useless.

Holiday Time and Customer Service

As we are fast approaching the Christmas time, I have to continue to remind myself that people are going to be a little more impatient then usual. When I was talking to a coworker the other day, she made the comment how she hated the holiday time because people were always so demanding and pushy. I know that everyone has a lot on their mind and all they can think about is not having the time to have it all done. I remind myself and others that in order to help with the process put a smile on your face and help everyone out as quickly and efficiently as possible. They will learn to understand that we're all busy and that we have to do things a certain way to make sure all policies and procedures are followed. Make sure to do your best and keep your cool when you have that unruly customer who just wants to be served like it's a fast food joint.

Question about our class

Hey whoever who can answer! (Ugh this is weird, it won't let me enter!) But anyway, how do we access all the other blogs again? I used to have it very convieniently located on my Bb alert list, but I've recieved way too many alerts that the blog alert disappeared on the list. I went to our announcement page, but it was blank. Does anyone know...?

Holidays

Holidays are the special time of year for people to enjoy time with their families and friends. When work is involved, that is not always the case. It is hard to get time off this time of year. Employers want people to stay on the jobs so that they can make more sales, but most people sort of slack off when holidays pop up.

It is really hard to have a balance when work life interferes with home life. To all the people who have mastered the balance, thank you. It is a job that most people have a hard time doing. So on this day, have a happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family and friends.

When Your Old Job Wants You Back

Once again, a blog about my sister. I know, but she just has really interesting stuff that happens at her jobs. Anyway, my sister quit working for Company A in June of 2006. She went through the proper protocols and gave her two weeks notice. When this happened, she was asked to do an exit interview with her hiring manager. This woman was very unprofessional. She was mad at my sister for quitting, she didn't like the reasons that my sister gave for moving on to another job, and she made a point to let my sister know that she would never, ever hire her to work at this company again.

Fast forward to October of 2007. My sister has been working at Company B for a year and a half now. She received an envelope in the mail from her former job with a boomerang toy inside. She read the letter that she received from the company. The same lady that didn't want to ever hire her again made a point to let her know that she could come back. The letter basically stated that Company A has great benefits and would love to have her as an employee again. The thing that made my sister throw the letter in the trash, however, was this lady's last shot at her. She addressed the letter to my sister as MR instead of MS. How rude!

OUCH! MY HEAD IS HURTING!!

On Sunday I was scheduled to work but I couldn’t go in for personal reasons. J I work in the cash office, which basically means that someone HAS to do my job. On this particular day they couldn’t find anyone to come in (there are only about 2 people who are trained). So, that meant that the manager on duty had to count down the registers and also process the deposit from the previous day.

When I got to work on Monday morning EVERYTHING was soooo screwed up and I had the worst headache ever! Basically I had to go back and fix everything from the previous day and also do work for the current day as well. The registers were showing up as thousands of dollars over, which obviously was incorrect and I was very upset. I ended up fixing everything but my question is what if I get sick and can’t make it to work? Will this happen every time? What if I quit? I think they should have more people trained to work in this position just in case something like that does happen. And it will also save me a headache!!

Partying With Co-workers

I hate to continually talk about my sister, but she has so many great examples of what not to do at work.

Once I had the opportunity to attend one of my sister's company picnics. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and network. I actually got a couple of job offers as well. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway to get to the point. A few of the coworkers took this opportunity to act out of control. As a matter of fact there was an incident with one alcoholic coworker who dropped his three year old baby on the ground and it rolled down the hill. Yeah, it was horrible. The baby had this huge bruise on his head and it was really because of his dad's negligence. It just made me realize that even though it is a company picnic, coworkers are still taking note of how you react in certain situations. Because of this I decided to make a list of what not to do at off the clock company functions.

1. Never forget that you are in a work environment even though you are not on the clock.
2. Dress appropriately. Don't dress like a stripper when you work in a conservative environment.
3. Monitor your alcoholic content.
4. Go outside your comfort zone and meet new people. Remember this is a chance to network.
5. Relax and have fun. Enjoy yourself, after all it is a party.

Customer Service

The other day I was at work and had a lady come through our drive thru and want to purchase Plan B (the morning after pill). This is now over the counter and available with out a prescription to anyone over the age of 18; however, we have to see a state issued ID in order to sell it. I told the customer in drive thru that it was our policy that we do not sell over the counter items through the drive thru. She got very upset with me and squealed tires out of the drive thru. I thought she was just pissed and wasn't going to come back.

About five minutes later, the woman showed up inside with her nasty attitude. I was beginning to wait on her and asked her for a photo ID. She said to me, "Why do you need that, do I look like I'm under 18?" I said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry but it is law that I have to check your ID if you look under 40. It's just like when you purchase tobacco or alcohol." She then commented to me that she had purchased the pill several times before and had never been carded or required to come inside of the pharmacy. I once again explained that policy was we had to sell it in the store and have a photo ID. She threw her ID at me and said does it look like I'm under 40? By this time, I was really frustrated and told her that when I card most people they are appreciative because it makes them feel younger. She then demanded to know who's policy was it and what I was going to do to change it. I told her that it was our store's policy and it wouldn't be changed because we are following the law. She then began to cuss and threaten to call corporate on me and have them take my job away. I politely said, "Ma'am if you would like to file a former complaint you can call 1-800-289-5463. They will be able to take your concern down. " I then thanked her and told her to have a great day.

As she was leaving the store, we heard her cussing all the way out the door. My co-workers turned around and I were like I can't believe you gave her the complaint line. I said I'm not worried, I was doing my job by following the law. I then laughed and said, since she really is over 40 maybe she should use a little more commen sense and she wouldn't need to purchase the plan B as often as she does. I'm sure when she called the complaint line they got her information and were going to send her a $25 gift card, but I don't care. I am following the law and if she doesn't like it then she can take her business else where. I was proud of myself for not overly going off like I sometimes do. I have learned to kill these asses with words of kindness! Just remember, treat others like you want to be treated!

When a Co-worker Snaps!

What do you do when a co-worker snaps?

My sister recently experienced a situation where the woman that she works with just went slam off in the office. The co-worker, who is known as the "crazy lady," raised her voice and started yelling at a superior in the office. She went into a tirade about why her manager could not "tell her what to do." She screamed at the lady and ran out to speak to another manager about her situation. This made my sister very uncomfortable since she sits directly beside this woman.

Now everyone knows how stress can cause bad situations at work. We even have phrases that depict this such as "going postal." Well the crazy lady came to work with a gym bag, but never works out. She has started doing things that are seemingly cries for attention. She usually wears makeup and has recently stopped wearing it. She purchased new dogs. She even has been starting arguments with other co-workers. When does this stop?

So now my sister feels like a hostage in her own workplace. She has to walk on eggshells while dealing with the crazy lady. She is scared that she may even come to the workplace and do something desperate. So what does one do in this situation?

This was supposed to be a comment to the entry below, but it ended up being long so I’ll turn it into a post.

I think I’ll start out by saying that at times I actually dread calling into a company for questions/comments just because I dread having to deal with their automated system. Automated systems are not good when they cause such an effect on customers.

With that said, I am obviously not a fan of the automated system because sometimes they just become too much of a complex maze and you become stuck in the call with no way to transfer out.

And then, that eventually amounts to disconnection.

At times, I’d finally have the system transfer me to the correct department, but they installed the wrong number into the system to dial or something, so that also amounts to nothing in the end and almost as bad as disconnection.

Other times, you are actually stuck on one prompt (b/c the system cannot understand you) and they will not move you forward! At times, I’d actually have to compromise in saying I live in Goochland just to get through that ridiculous process! And then when you actually get to a person, they ask for that same information all over again that you’ve already given to the automated message system (i.e. phone number, county, etc. etc. )….so what was the point of giving it to the automated system in the first place and stalling time? Also, OMG when the automated system starts to respell everything because the automated system is a SLOW speller.

Of course, all these apply when the automated system is implemented incorrectly. However, even with a correctly implemented automated system, I still prefer to speak with an actual person because the automated system essentially gives you general information. Almost each and everytime I am calling, I have very specific questions (unless the general stuff cannot be found on their websites/brochures/pamphlets/letters/etc.) so the automated system is no help to me there. In terms of when I need a reading of my balance, I usually can check that online. If I am calling in purpose, I usually will be following up afterwards with specific inquiries related. So again, the automated system is of no help there.

Also, being able to speak to an actual person is just traditional. It’s one of those things that shouldn’t disappear from the future. For example, I don’t think we can ever go COMPLETELY paperless because some things are just better to read and handle on paper despite great technological advances.

I’ve called in companies before where there is no automated system, and seriously it takes less than a minute in those experiences to be transferred. However, if there was an automated system, it’ll usually take at least a minute or more before you are actually transferred to the right place.

Also, I recommend companies to limit options to 3 at a time.

Also, it may be important to note that my experience with the automated system has usually been with internet and phone service and of similar companies, not stores/small offices (where the inquiries are much more simpler and therefore the automated system works efficiently) and movie theaters for listing.

Press 1...

Automated systems were brought up in class one day and I’m curious as to how many people would rather their call go straight to an associate than use an automated system.

I am a believer in automated systems that are implemented correctly. Most of the time when I call a company I don’t want to speak with a person, I just want to get the information that I need. I have worked in a call center before and it also helps decrease the call volume because people can get a lot of the information they want from the automated system. There have been times that the automated system went down and people would say oh, I just wanted the automated system, could you transfer me?

The problem with automated systems comes when they aren’t user friendly. I called Comcast today with a question about my statement. The automated system said to press 1 for internet, 2 for cable or 3 for phone. My problem was that I have the Triple Play so I have all three of these services on one bill. My problem wasn’t with one exclusive service. I just picked one and I was on hold for so long that I ended up hanging up. It was a little annoying.

Wow!

Something that is so entirely inconsiderate is when a friend of an employee comes to visit the employee during work, and proceeds to carry DEEP CONVERSATIONS + RANTS with that employee during that employee’s shift, instead of during that employee’s break. Again, the keyword here is deep. This is not a “oh hey, how have you been doing?” exchange type thing. And that employee happens to be working at like a fast food/coffee shop instead of some corporate office where the pace is more lax. Usually when one enters a fast food/coffee place, the idea is to place an order, grab it, and go. Hence, the "fast food" in the name fast food restuarant. Some coffee places even have a drive-thru because, again, the idea is to grab your order and go. The idea is not to lounge and wait around, unless there is a long customer line. The wait time then would be understandable.

Oh my God! And then that employee looks afraid to interrupt the friend and take your order quickly before continuing their genuine lengthy conversation.

I think that there is always a time and place for such things, and here, the fact of the matter is that the employee is obviously working at a workplace. Therefore, work duties should be priority.

I think what was the most interesting was that these were older employees. Actually I think the more interesting thing is that I would have been more forgiving had these employees had been younger considering that they are more inexperienced and that therefore, they probably don’t know better. However, these were older employees so I am surprised they did not know how to make the difference in that situation.
I feel that both people are at fault, although the employee has more fault. The friend, especially being an older person, should have realized the location and situation and maybe paused the conversation to make things easier for the employee. If that failed to happen, then the employee should have halted the conversation for a quick moment to take the customer's order. I say that the employee has more fault because ultimately the employee is at work and has a higher responsibility of making the correct decision to represent her workplace and employers.

Favorite Grammar Symbol Entry

I am wondering what my favorite grammar symbol is. Actually, was that sentence I just typed incorrect? It ended with 'is'. Someone please tell me! Or maybe I can ask Meriah in class.

Anyway, back to my favorite grammar symbol. That is a hard decision! I like almost all grammar symbols! They all have meaning and are very significant in their own ways. So actually, I am going to conclude that I cannot choose. I think I will pick the period. Because it's the shape of a sliced piece of pickle.

I wonder why, unlike the Spanish, we do not precede our sentences with the question mark or the exclamation mark. I wonder if it's because we do have question words such as what and who. The what and who words precede the reader that it will be a question sentence in the end. But what about the exclamation mark? That would be nice to prepare the reader. If one is reading something brand new out loud, it'd be nice to know that the sentence will be an exclamation sentence so you can prepare your voice according, whether it be surprised, shocked, scared, whatever.

Remember when you were little and looking at the clouds and pretending the clouds made images of random things like elephants, etc? How many of you have seen a comma cloud?

Hey, someone should be an exclamation mark for Halloween!!

Co-Worker Relationships

My sister has a terrible coworker that she dreads working with. This woman does many terrible things while on the job. She has a set schedule, but has been caught stealing time. She comes to work late and leaves early. This woman actually lies on her time sheets to get 40 plus hours weekly. She also does inappropriate things. She compared the death of our uncle to her dogs. The next week she showed my sister pictures of a Ku Klux Klan rally. Needless to say my sister has been very upset.

Now my sister has issues of dealing with this woman who sits right next to her. She has let her immediate supervisors know that she is very uncomfortable dealing with this woman. She ignores her and avoids her at all costs but she steal has to work with her everyday. I have learned that sometimes we may have to work with people that we do not like, but in an ideal world we should still be able to get along with them.

Transferring!

I hate it so much when you just get transferred and transferred again and again when you call a company for technical support or whatever else. It really should not have to be that hard or time consuming. Something that could have been accomplished within 5 minutes ends up taking an hour and twenty minutes! Actually, has ANYONE ever heard of good technical support these days?? I honestly do not think it exists, except maybe our CPS people.

By the way, I wonder why AOL became for free. I think this has been a while ago though. Apparantly the only difference is that paying members get free technical support. Well, their technical support is seriously bad so LOL! As soon as I found out this was the only difference I called to get free AOL immediately. Everyone else should too.

Who you know!

I have learned that it is not always what you know, but who you know. Networking is a fundamental process in the business world. A lot of times people gain employment opportunities by being affiliated or knowing someone who is in the field. I have seen this time and time again in my own place of employment.

Although people like to think that their resumes and experience help them in their career search, a lot of times it really is just your social contacts. Sometimes just making that connection in an interview, or passing that business card along can be the one thing that could skyrocket your career when the right person is involved. So always be aware that anyone and everyone could possible be that career maker or breaker.

Authority

I think it's correct to say every one likes to be promoted.

People celebrate when they get promoted!

Promotion means you have done a great job and you deserve to become promoted!

However, along with promotion also comes with a higher level of responsibility.

It seems like some people who get promoted really like authority, but have a hard time accepting the responsibility that comes along with it.

Something to ponder about!

Conflict

I think we all know that conflict ultimately is undeniable. I believe that in a workplace there must be friction in order to get things done. I have never witnessed a workplace where everyone was very buddy buddy and conflict never happened and things still got done efficiently. That is and would be too good to be true.

I remember once thinking about an organization (that will not be named in this entry) that really had a lot of improvement to do. So, I got involved with the organization because I wanted something to be done about it. At the same time I was involved, I was also observing a lot. I realized that the reason why this organization had such major flaws was because the leadership was lacking. There was a person who was the leader of the organization, but I am not sure if he even saw himself as a leader.

It was quite an experience...

Challenging the Process

There are so many characteristics a true leader should have. Charisma is a big characteristic. Other characteristics include honesty (credibility), responsibility, and etc. because this list definitely goes on. It is also clear that the good and effective leaders (those who stand out from the rest) also challenge the process. This is why they go to new heights and are so successful. They think outside the box, challenge the process, and are successful in doing so. We marvel at these leaders today.

However, I think it's interesting how we were (at least once!) taught to be subordinates. When we were little, everyone was taught to do things a certain way. The ones who did not question those ways and followed those ways were looked favorably upon. Those who questioned (or maybe...challenged) the process were labeled as rebels and looked unfavorably upon. It's interesting how what was once a bad thing could end up as very good thing to have later in life.

First Article

I didn't realize some things were that complicated!

We haven't had our discussion in class yet, but I'm still not sure how I feel about hiring older people. I think I feel this way because of the precedents set.

I did not think the first article was completely valid. It probably is for the most part, but it will not be true 100% of the time. I feel that qualified young applicants are still capable of most of the qualities mentioned in the first article. On the other hand, I know some older people who violates some of the qualities mentioned in the article. This is especially true for those who feel that respect does not have to be earned, but rather, comes only with age.

As far as being a role model, wouldn't it create an awkward atmosphere if you have one older employee (a new hire) amongst a bunch of young employees? That actually might create some tension.

I did not realize the labor costs are reduced before reading the article. That might not necessarily balance out the negatives if there are negatives though.

I do believe though that a great benefit of older workers is that they are less likely to "job hop." But then again, this isn't necessarily true each and every time.

Big Mistake is Quite Embarassing

One of the most valuable things that I have learned about business is to be careful and PROOFREAD what you are writing before you hit the send button in e-mail. I remember, I was working at Ukrop's as a pharmacy tech and I didn't do this. We had a floater (relief) pharmacist at our store filling in for our pharmacy manager and there was a problem with a customer that she had been trying to handle. Once our pharmacy manager came back, we had a question about what the situation was and needed to get in touch with her. Unfortunately, when you're a floater pharmacist you're never at the same store and it's sometimes virtually impossible to catch up with them. I decided I was going to send out a mass e-mail asking her to call the store. I started the e-mail and put the subject as, ____ please call store 499 ASAP. I then wrote in size 24 font in the body of the e-mail Bitch please call store 299 ASAP. I never looked over the e-mail and hit send. I should have written, Bich please call store 499 ASAP as this was her name, not Bitch.

When we got the e-mail ourselves, I realized that I had made the mistake and about fell out in the floor. I wanted to die laughing because of the stupid mistake, but then again I didn't think that would be very appropiate. Needless to say, I got MANY responses from this e-mail including from the pharmacy supervisor. Luckily, everyone had a sense of humor and just shrugged it off, but I was quite embarassed.

I ultimately learned that I need to double check everything before hitting the send e-mail button. From this experience, I learned that I need to slow down and take my time and think before doing anything. I'm just fortunate that everyone laughed about the situation, because I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have a job afterwards. I can tell you now that I really concentrate and take my time before sending out things like that now.

Website offers to sell daughters for marriage

I learned that some businesses are legal even if they don't seem to be morally right by reading the article below about buying a bride. This business was interesting in concept because men can actually go to a website and pay to marry teenage girls. The website also offers services for parents to list their daughters for marriage at a price of their choosing.

I was shocked and outraged at this website until I read the purpose of this fake business. This website was used to show how the marriage age in certain states may be outdated. Some states allow kids to get married at the age of 13 as long as they have parental consent. This website was used to demonstrate how this may be an issue that needs to be looked at and updated by individual states. The funny thing is this website was not real but people really attempted to do business with the people listed on the site.

Please feel free to look at the article below.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20781129/site/newsweek/from/ET/

You can't raise my interest rate!!

The main thing that I have learned about businesses has come from my experience working with a company that I will not name. I worked for them for over a year, and basically I realized that companies can do almost anything they want to do as long as they inform you and give you the opportunity to opt out of the changes. The company that I worked for increased the interest rates on all of there accounts.

They sent out notification to each and every customer saying that your interest rate will go from x.xx to x.xx on this day and you have until this day to opt out. That would have meant they would have closed their accounts and they would not have been able to use them but they would not have been subjected to the higher interest rates either. I would say a very large number of people called to our offices complaining but everything was done right by law because they informed them of the chances and each customer had the chance to say no. I haven’t worked with the company for a few months now but I did see on the news the other day that a lady was very upset because her interest rate went up 7 percent.

While this change may eventually affect the number of customers they have, they feel they still are a very competitive company and that most people will remain loyal to them. Personally, I feel they won’t lose too many customers over the change because overall, most people are happy with their service.

Testing

Texting at the Speed of Sound

Our company was founded by four intelligent college students who were looking for a new efficient way to text message their friends. Started in 2007 at Virginia Commonwealth University, our founders came up with the exclusive feature of VoText technology. We manufacture a voice texting cell phone, which enables the user to speak their message for outgoing text, as well as hear their incoming text messages. While this new technology helps drivers text safely it is also convenient and accessible to all users of this product. Through the improved technology, users will be able to text at the speed of sound.