Man....you GOTTA hand it to Google......
When you think, quite literally, that they HAVE ALREADY done it all......they keep inventing, innovating, and kicking the rest of the Internet's arse......
A wet dream for us Geographers: New, updated Google Earf!!!
Too cool......I had installed Google Earf about nine months ago when I had seen it at work when I used to work for The City of Portland! Just fell in love with it....then, though, shit was really blocky and raw in lower density areas, like what, by U.S. standards, would be some smaller towns in Europe......shit, I couldn't even see the Rynek Glowny in Krakow!!
Hopefully, the update fixes that!!!!
And now......SPORTS!
Can't believe it's late June and my Rocks are ONLY 2 games out of first place in the National League Western Division!!!!!!!!!!
Damm, so, when I go to see 'em play in a few weeks from now......does this mean that the game might actually MEAN something????
Edmonton lost......again, Stanley Cup does NOT belong in NASCAR/Redneck/Mullet land......but, hell, I give up!!
U.S. has to beat Ghana Thursday (who, oddly enough, stunned the Czechs, 2-nil...these same Czechs gave the American team a clinic on soccer last week three-nil)....and the Italians have to beat The Czechs, and then Jupiter must enter into retrograde and Mercury must enter into Virgo's ninth house within the next week!
Then the U.S. makes it to the round of 16!!!!
Sticking it to the working poor.....
Fascinating piece in the paper in the town I grew up in about legal scams put out on the working poor. Kinda interesting why it's out NOW....since ever since I can remember, there was pretty much nothing BUT working poor in that city......
Now, before the right-wing free-market dipshits go off on me with the usual bullshit like:
"NO, Ernie.....you see, these people have BAD credit! And these places provide a SERVICE exclusively for these types of folks!!!" "Otherwise, where would they get ca$h in an emergency? Or, what about when their washing machine breaks down??? Do you think they're really going to go to Sears and grab one really quick on their Sears Charge Card?????? See, Ernie....SEE??? These places serve a purpose and a niche."
.......I worked in one of these places......I used to manage one of these places....and shit, the stories I can tell you about the higher-level management of this company specifically (I ended up suing them as a former employee and winning in court) and this industry in general......and if anybody with a singular solitary OUNCE of moral right inside them can keep a straight face and sincerely believe it when they say "These rent-to-own and Payday loan stores serve a needed 'service' to some segments of our community"....then I'll have seen it all.
Whilst this is generally a very informative piece and it IS an article that helps serve a purpose, it does a great job of telling you what the actual costs are!
For example, I would go to Teelak Distributing (a electronics distributor on Broadway in Buffalo), pick up a VCR (OK.....so, this is in, like, 1991 dollars) and (wasn't supposed to do this) I'd check out the invoice.
All right........
Now, we (the Rent-To-Own store) would get tagged $189.95 for the VCR. OK.
THEN, somebody would walk into our Rent-To-Own store, and ask what that VCR would be for ca$h outright. We'd tell them "Oh, let me take a look on our computer....they are just updating the new sales this week (when, simply, in reality, we were playing "tetris" on that computer)."
"Ahhh........this week, the computer system says it's on sale for our cash price of $519.95!!!"
THEN, we'd get those coming into the store that are like "Ahh....yes, you know, I need a [TV/Video camera/computer/etc./etc.] for a very short term situation....ooooh, maybe two weeks."
You were trained to scoop 'em out! If they were minority, sort of flashy dressed, etc. then they weren't going to return it in two weeks!!!! They were just going to keep coming back and paying the weekly rental payment. You just nooded your head to them and said "OK, sir, now, let's just fill out the paperwork....."
If the person was white, and dressed like they just walked out of the 'burbs, then this person DID need it for literally two weeks, WAS actually going to bring it back, and this was NOT a ca$h cow!!!! So we'd say: "Ahhhhh, DARN!!!! We JUST rented out our last [TV/Video Camera/computer/etc./ etc.]!!!!! SOOOO sorry, sir!"
"Well, what about that one on the shelf???"
"That's a......aaaaaah......display piece. Yeah, that's it....a display piece....yeah. The guts are all fake....it's not a real product!!"
"Oh....golly!! Feels real heavy for a gutted-out fake dummy piece....."
"Ahhh.......oooooh......uhhhhh, yeah, that's to give the appearance of realism to the customers so that our merchandise doesn't appear flimsy."
"Actually, Sir, I hate recommending our competition, but [Rent-To-Own/Aaron's/Rent-A-Centre/etc./etc] actually specialises in short-term rentals and their stock is a lot larger than ours......"
......and we'd send the dupe to the dupes!
So, then we'd get the ca$h cow$!! The people who's sign the long-term rental agreement, and for that VCR that we paid $169 for, and we'd sell it ca$h outright for $419.95, these unfortunate individuals would sign up for $9.99 a week for 104 weeks!! Thus, the VCR that they could have gotten at K-Mart or Rosa's or wherever for $229.95 ends up costing them $1024.95 grand total after two years!
Cute, eh?
then, they had another emergency....so baby's new pair of shoes (or baby's new doctor visit bill) kicks in, and then they haven't quite got the funds to cover this week's $9.99 VCR payment.
OK....welp: TOUGH SHIT. Give it back to us (as we'd crowd on their front porch in a veeeerrry intimidating manner)......and they literally would give it back to us and that would be that! The single Mom paid 24 weeks rent on that VCR, we come get it, we had collected literally $240.00 worth of rent in the last six months from it, and here we come now to repo it back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, wait, then.......we just got $235.95 for renting that thing for six months!!! We (us at The Rent-To-Own store) paid $189 for that tokoshuko Made-in-Hurry model VCR!!!
Hell.....I'd then toss it to my assistant, tell him to pur fresh battries in the remote, give it a quick clean-up......
...and VOLIA!!! We is NOW renting a USED VCR for, yes, you got it: $9.95 a week......same as a new VCR!!!
"AHHHH......but Ernie, these people you rent to aren't exactly the cream of the crop. You must have lost a lot of stuff thru theft and such that you never did recover!!!!!!!"
Yeah......literally, in three months (before I started getting really morally and ethically sick of working for these skumbags), I pushed 384 items!!!!!!
We lost two VCR's, one stereo set and we had to take another customer to court for a non-returned TV set!
So, that's what, then......a less than two percent loss rate???
Verses what.....a 400%+ markup????
Just fucking sickening.....
The company upper management I worked for was quite derogatory. The store was in a predominately African-American Neighbourhood, and some of the terms the senior-level managers would refer to Black folks as was revolting! The first of the month was referred to as "Mother's Day", which implied that the base of our clients who happened to be on Social Assistance were accused of just squeezing out puppies to get an increase in their Social Services cheque.......and, when we went to go repo something, we'd joke on the ride there "You don't pay : It don't stay!" "Don't gots da dough : Shit's gotta go!"
It was just fucking sick......not one of the more honourable periods in my life.....no, not at all because I took part in any of this behavior (obviously I did not!), but rather because I knew where my weekly paycheque funds were coming from.......
-E-
When you think, quite literally, that they HAVE ALREADY done it all......they keep inventing, innovating, and kicking the rest of the Internet's arse......
A wet dream for us Geographers: New, updated Google Earf!!!
Too cool......I had installed Google Earf about nine months ago when I had seen it at work when I used to work for The City of Portland! Just fell in love with it....then, though, shit was really blocky and raw in lower density areas, like what, by U.S. standards, would be some smaller towns in Europe......shit, I couldn't even see the Rynek Glowny in Krakow!!
Hopefully, the update fixes that!!!!
And now......SPORTS!
Can't believe it's late June and my Rocks are ONLY 2 games out of first place in the National League Western Division!!!!!!!!!!
Damm, so, when I go to see 'em play in a few weeks from now......does this mean that the game might actually MEAN something????
Edmonton lost......again, Stanley Cup does NOT belong in NASCAR/Redneck/Mullet land......but, hell, I give up!!
U.S. has to beat Ghana Thursday (who, oddly enough, stunned the Czechs, 2-nil...these same Czechs gave the American team a clinic on soccer last week three-nil)....and the Italians have to beat The Czechs, and then Jupiter must enter into retrograde and Mercury must enter into Virgo's ninth house within the next week!
Then the U.S. makes it to the round of 16!!!!
Sticking it to the working poor.....
Fascinating piece in the paper in the town I grew up in about legal scams put out on the working poor. Kinda interesting why it's out NOW....since ever since I can remember, there was pretty much nothing BUT working poor in that city......
Now, before the right-wing free-market dipshits go off on me with the usual bullshit like:
"NO, Ernie.....you see, these people have BAD credit! And these places provide a SERVICE exclusively for these types of folks!!!" "Otherwise, where would they get ca$h in an emergency? Or, what about when their washing machine breaks down??? Do you think they're really going to go to Sears and grab one really quick on their Sears Charge Card?????? See, Ernie....SEE??? These places serve a purpose and a niche."
.......I worked in one of these places......I used to manage one of these places....and shit, the stories I can tell you about the higher-level management of this company specifically (I ended up suing them as a former employee and winning in court) and this industry in general......and if anybody with a singular solitary OUNCE of moral right inside them can keep a straight face and sincerely believe it when they say "These rent-to-own and Payday loan stores serve a needed 'service' to some segments of our community"....then I'll have seen it all.
Whilst this is generally a very informative piece and it IS an article that helps serve a purpose, it does a great job of telling you what the actual costs are!
For example, I would go to Teelak Distributing (a electronics distributor on Broadway in Buffalo), pick up a VCR (OK.....so, this is in, like, 1991 dollars) and (wasn't supposed to do this) I'd check out the invoice.
All right........
Now, we (the Rent-To-Own store) would get tagged $189.95 for the VCR. OK.
THEN, somebody would walk into our Rent-To-Own store, and ask what that VCR would be for ca$h outright. We'd tell them "Oh, let me take a look on our computer....they are just updating the new sales this week (when, simply, in reality, we were playing "tetris" on that computer)."
"Ahhh........this week, the computer system says it's on sale for our cash price of $519.95!!!"
THEN, we'd get those coming into the store that are like "Ahh....yes, you know, I need a [TV/Video camera/computer/etc./etc.] for a very short term situation....ooooh, maybe two weeks."
You were trained to scoop 'em out! If they were minority, sort of flashy dressed, etc. then they weren't going to return it in two weeks!!!! They were just going to keep coming back and paying the weekly rental payment. You just nooded your head to them and said "OK, sir, now, let's just fill out the paperwork....."
If the person was white, and dressed like they just walked out of the 'burbs, then this person DID need it for literally two weeks, WAS actually going to bring it back, and this was NOT a ca$h cow!!!! So we'd say: "Ahhhhh, DARN!!!! We JUST rented out our last [TV/Video Camera/computer/etc./ etc.]!!!!! SOOOO sorry, sir!"
"Well, what about that one on the shelf???"
"That's a......aaaaaah......display piece. Yeah, that's it....a display piece....yeah. The guts are all fake....it's not a real product!!"
"Oh....golly!! Feels real heavy for a gutted-out fake dummy piece....."
"Ahhh.......oooooh......uhhhhh, yeah, that's to give the appearance of realism to the customers so that our merchandise doesn't appear flimsy."
"Actually, Sir, I hate recommending our competition, but [Rent-To-Own/Aaron's/Rent-A-Centre/etc./etc] actually specialises in short-term rentals and their stock is a lot larger than ours......"
......and we'd send the dupe to the dupes!
So, then we'd get the ca$h cow$!! The people who's sign the long-term rental agreement, and for that VCR that we paid $169 for, and we'd sell it ca$h outright for $419.95, these unfortunate individuals would sign up for $9.99 a week for 104 weeks!! Thus, the VCR that they could have gotten at K-Mart or Rosa's or wherever for $229.95 ends up costing them $1024.95 grand total after two years!
Cute, eh?
then, they had another emergency....so baby's new pair of shoes (or baby's new doctor visit bill) kicks in, and then they haven't quite got the funds to cover this week's $9.99 VCR payment.
OK....welp: TOUGH SHIT. Give it back to us (as we'd crowd on their front porch in a veeeerrry intimidating manner)......and they literally would give it back to us and that would be that! The single Mom paid 24 weeks rent on that VCR, we come get it, we had collected literally $240.00 worth of rent in the last six months from it, and here we come now to repo it back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, wait, then.......we just got $235.95 for renting that thing for six months!!! We (us at The Rent-To-Own store) paid $189 for that tokoshuko Made-in-Hurry model VCR!!!
Hell.....I'd then toss it to my assistant, tell him to pur fresh battries in the remote, give it a quick clean-up......
...and VOLIA!!! We is NOW renting a USED VCR for, yes, you got it: $9.95 a week......same as a new VCR!!!
"AHHHH......but Ernie, these people you rent to aren't exactly the cream of the crop. You must have lost a lot of stuff thru theft and such that you never did recover!!!!!!!"
Yeah......literally, in three months (before I started getting really morally and ethically sick of working for these skumbags), I pushed 384 items!!!!!!
We lost two VCR's, one stereo set and we had to take another customer to court for a non-returned TV set!
So, that's what, then......a less than two percent loss rate???
Verses what.....a 400%+ markup????
Just fucking sickening.....
The company upper management I worked for was quite derogatory. The store was in a predominately African-American Neighbourhood, and some of the terms the senior-level managers would refer to Black folks as was revolting! The first of the month was referred to as "Mother's Day", which implied that the base of our clients who happened to be on Social Assistance were accused of just squeezing out puppies to get an increase in their Social Services cheque.......and, when we went to go repo something, we'd joke on the ride there "You don't pay : It don't stay!" "Don't gots da dough : Shit's gotta go!"
It was just fucking sick......not one of the more honourable periods in my life.....no, not at all because I took part in any of this behavior (obviously I did not!), but rather because I knew where my weekly paycheque funds were coming from.......
-E-
posted by CN250 at 9:21 PM
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