Brian’s Annoyances

“It’s time to check-in” said the subject line of the email from Delta Airlines. I got that email about 24 hours before a flight I was about to take. I hadn’t planned to log in until the next morning, the email was a nice touch on the part of Delta so I went to check-in.

Off to Delta’s website. Nope, they can’t check me in, but I can go check-in at Northwest they said. Off to Northwest’s website, nope I can’t check-in there. My tickets are not Northwest tickets, they were codeshare partner tickets so I have to check-in with that partner. Hmmm Catch-22 I think.

For our anniversary I got my lovely wife a pearl necklace. I knew she preferred short necklaces so I got the shortest length they had, 16 inches. Turns out she wanted a choker. With a good return/exchange policy in hand, I went back asking for a shorter one, and was told they didn’t have anything shorter at the moment but I should call back in a few weeks when they got their next delivery of pearls.

More than a few phone calls back and they never seem to actually receieve necklaces shorter than 16 inches. Today I went in to make what I thought was a reasonable request. I pay for a 16 inch necklace and they shorten it to the desired length. Now, this store has full time in-store jewelers. They offer free restringing of pearls necklaces purchased through them (which oddly they recommend every 2-3 years (this is the same establishment that suggests letting them check your jewelery every six months for maintenance.)) So I really thought that this wasn’t an unreasonable thing to ask.

At first they attempted to argue that that wouldn’t be fair that I would be throwing away those two inches (not that they offered a discount). They briefly attempted to argue that I would need to buy a more expensive strand (the words they were spewing forth for this one didn’t make the least bit of sense to me). I even offered to pay for the restringing, they weren’t concerned about that. Why than did it take them 20 minutes to agree to do the thing that I asked for in the first place?

So no matter how I have tried, I can’t seem to get Apple to stop sending me emails with news and announcements. The most recent email was announcing the opening of a store in Modesto CA. Modesto is 90 miles from San Jose (where I live).

Apple stores closer to San Jose than Modesto would include; Burlingame, Emeryville, Los Gatos, Palto Alto, Pleasanton, San Francisco x3, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Stanford, Walnut Creek. And there is also the mothership store itself at Apple Headquarters in Cupertino.

One of the 9 measures I voted on this year was Measure W — which adds a $79 fee to the property tax of parcels served by the school district for the next five years.  About a week ago, I received a phone call from a teacher at the local high school asking me to vote yes on the proposition. She wasn’t just reading from a script, and she was able to answer all of my questions. All in all a very effective method to campaign for the cause.

Two nights ago, I got a robocall (which are illegal in CA, not that the public utilities commission cares) from a group asking me to vote for Measure W.  One of their arguments for supporting the proposition was aimed specifically at renters; it went something like “you don’t pay property taxes and since it’s not your money you should vote for this tax.” The Pro W website has the question and answer: “Do renters pay the tax? No, only property owners who pay property taxes will pay for Measure W.”

This is dishonest and pathetic argument. If I were a landlord, I would add the property taxes into the costs side of the formula that figures out rent. So while it would be possible for me to eat the cost for a year or two, the cost would be passed on to the renter the next time the lease was renewed. I would expect my landlord to do the same, yet still I support this measure.