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February 9, 2005
Musing of the day:
American businesses are taking it on the chin
in the publicity department these days. Management
is seen as greedy and self-serving, pitching out
retirees’ health benefits but reserving highly
inflated golden parachutes for themselves.
Stockholders, by and large, have watched this
miserable state of events unfold over the past two
decades or so and been unconscionably silent about
it. “Ethics” has become such a squishy word that
our legislators cannot even agree what they are
supposed to do with it! Honesty and integrity must
be in short supply, indeed. I do hope those
desirable human attributes are not stone cold dead
entirely.
If the little details get screwed up, it
makes me wonder about the big details and how they
must be doing. For instance, I have had a Winn-Dixie
V.I.P. card for many years. Nobody at the checkout
register ever knew what that card was or what to do
with it, but I still insisted upon using it. When my
card expired at the end of last year, I threw it out
because I am no longer a stockholder in that company
and so had no expectation of being sent another
card. Then in mid-January or so I got a letter from
corporate Winn-Dixie explaining that my expired
V.I.P. card was still good until 2006. Well, this
was an embarrassing example of poor planning,
wasn’t it? I thought, “What the heck,” and
wrote Winn-Dixie back that I had already trashed my
expired card, but if they wanted to send me another
one, I would probably use it. I received a letter in
response advising me that I have to be approved by
the Regional Office and if I am approved, I should
get a new V.I.P. card in about three to four weeks.
Does that beat all? I never requested that card in
the first place, they just sent it to me. They
thanked me for writing and asked me to accept a
coupon for use on my next trip to my local
Winn-Dixie store, which the numb-nut “Customer
Response Representative” forgot to include in the
envelope.
Years ago Winn-Dixie used to pay a dividend
every month on the theory that their stockholders
would go spend that money in the Winn-Dixie stores.
Well, things have sure changed from those days! They
went to quarterly dividends to save postage and then
to no dividends because other supermarket chains are
eating their lunch. The founders of that company are
probably whirling in their graves.
* * *
I have purchased a new pair of eyeglasses and
a new pair of prescription sunglasses and just about
fell over unconscious when I got the bill: $1,079.
And that is with a discount of $106, I guess because
I purchased two pairs at the same time on a cloudy
day and came in on a Tuesday in the second month,
wearing green. Highway robbery is what this is, my
friends…if contact technology has advanced to the
point where disposable lenses are a mere $18 a
month, why do eyeglasses cost this much? Somebody in
this supply chain is making obscene amounts of money
off of us blind folks. There ought to be a sign in
these eyeglass stores that says, “Bend Over! We
are about to politely screw you and we’ll keep a
straight face when we tell you what this stuff
costs.”
* * *
The United Peachtree Corners Civic
Association (UPCCA) has a new Web site that is full
of information about the Peachtree Corners area and
the civic projects of UPCCA. Visit www.UPCCA.com
when you have a chance. The next UPCCA general
meeting, all are open to the public, is February 28,
2005 at 7:30 p.m. at Simpsonwood Conference &
Retreat Center, 4511 Jones Bridge Circle in
Peachtree Corners. Gwinnett County Commission
Chairman Charles Bannister is the speaker.
This is a good opportunity to hear his views on
Peachtree Corners and the county as a whole. Good
time to ask him any questions you may have as well.
The UPCCA meeting on March 28, 2005 will
feature “The Future of Peachtree Corners” and
will include presentations from John Riddle,
vice president for marketing of Gwinnett Hospital
System; Mary Kay Murphy, Ph.D., Third
District School Board Member; Rick O’Brien,
president of Technology Park Atlanta; and someone
from the county planning division, still to be
determined. It promises to be a valuable meeting,
chock full of information for homeowners.
The UPCCA meeting on April 25, 2005 will deal
with “Curb Appeal” of your house and yard. Eric
King, landscape architect from Piedmont
Landscape, is back by popular demand; the first
UPCCA program he did on “Curb Appeal” was
extremely well received even though it was on a dark
and stormy night last year. Hope the weather is
kinder this year.
Hope all is well. Thanks for reading.
020905
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