Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Livermore, Privacy, Nixieness
Fancy titles attract bigger budgets. SeanAhern writes: "Following up on last week's Slashdot article about LLNL's role in the new Department of Homeland Security, it turns out that LLNL will not change its role or change hands. Instead, LLNL may become a 'center for excellence,' essentially taking on a research role for the new Department. More information can be found in a couple of articles around the press."
Why not just shout it cashier-to-cashier? jqcoffey writes: "A while ago it was discovered that Best Buy was using wireless LANs to transmit cash register data back to accounting servers. The problem was it was UN-encrypted data. They turned them off for a while and now, according to this Computerworld story, they are back on."
Maglev for the Maglevians! LighthouseJ writes: "The Hampton Roads Virginia paper, the Pilot recently reported that my current school, Old Dominion University, recently installed the very first maglev train in the United States on the elevated track already built the previous school year. This train won't go that fast (40 mph) compared to the bullet trains that travel at 300 mph, but at the same token, it won't be traveling that far. The service has been scheduled to start September 1st.
There is some information I have about the maglev that's not mentioned. First, the school is in a rectangle, with the maglev built in the center length-wise. It connects the main campus with the new construction happening across the major road, Hampton Rd and has 3 stations planned now with more to come as the track may extend in the future. They are building more housing, education and meeting places, and the maglev will facilitate safe transportation across that road for students and faculty."
Can this really be the first Mag-lev train in the U.S.? A nifty project regardless.
When a Rolex just isn't good enough. fixitsan2 writes: "I know this thread has been gone over before, when it appeared at the start of February, but ironically, about the same time as the thread ended a group was started on Yahoo!. Not only was it a fast-growing newsgroup, but the technical standard is extremely high. Covering all aspects of building nixie tube clocks as well as other nixie devices including safe power generation, and all display methods from direct drive to multiplexing, as well as lots of circuits and tube sources.
A quick look at the welcome page will give you a fuller idea of what gets discussed."
You also assume that someone is willing to reconstruct your signature into an image from some garbled-looking digital information. And then they have to learn how to copy your signature at least decently (which would be hard to do, because your signature would probably be pretty messy. Have you ever tried writing on those pads? It's a bitch). Which brings me to another point. Do you think those 15 year old cashiers even look at your hand-written signature to see if it is yours? Not likely. So even if someone got a hold of your credit card, they wouldn't need to have parked outside with a 802.11 card and a laptop and sophisticated software to learn your signature...they could just put anything on the dotted line and the cashiers wouldn't blink!
Naturally, I received a response saying that "the store said that this did not happen." I haven't shopped there since.
December 26, 2001
Richard M. Schultze
Chairman & CEO
Best Buy Co., Inc.
7075 Flying Cloud Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Cc: Allen Lenzmeier
President
Best Buy Retail Stores
Dear Mr. Schultze,
I am writing you in regards to the events that took place today, December 26, 2001, at Best Buy #516 (Alpharetta, GA). First I would like to mention that I don't usually write letters to executives such as you concerning the conduct of low-level employees, but I felt that the events that occurred today warranted such action.
I received two $25 gift cards for Christmas this year, and went to visit my local Best Buy to redeem them. I purchased several DVD movies, as well as a computer cable. My total, after the gift cards were applied, was approximately $65. To my knowledge, retail companies issue gift cards not only for the assurance of a future purchase but also in the hope the customer will purchase other merchandise beyond the amount to be redeemed. I did exactly this with no reservations and came away pleased with my purchase.
As I am sure you can imagine, the store was an absolute zoo due to the holiday season, and the lines at the registers where backed up across the central aisle and spilled over into the music section. As I was exiting the store another customer about seven feet ahead of me set off the alarm, I, however, continued through and as the alarm did not activate so of course I felt that there was no reason to remain on the premises. At that time, a loss prevention employee ran out of the store and demanded to see my receipt. This particular employee, whose nametag read Josh, has in the past demanded I show him my receipt a good majority of the times he is on duty heedless of what I had just purchased and without the reasonable doubt that activating the security gates may imply. Out of these dozen or more "checks," this employee has not once found anything but the items listed on the receipt inside of my bag. Such dogged persistence to search my purchases with no justifiable reason has made it difficult to interact with him not only as an employee but as a person as well.
Today, I had just waited 20 minutes to check out, and another 10 minutes for the clerk to locate the BestBuy.com order I was picking up; I was in no mood to be made to wait a third time. Knowing that there was no reason whatsoever for the employee to continue to subject me to such scrutiny, I chose rather to inform him that I was leaving instead of submitting once again to his suspicions and started walking off towards my car. He continued to pursue me, at which point I became upset that this harassment was still taking place. Rather than maintain a civilized approach to the situation he proceeded to stand in front of my path and grab at my bag. After "bumping" me with his chest and pushing me with his hands a verbal confrontation ensued, during which the employee stated to me "Why don't you go fuck yourself". Following this, I was trying my best to simply escape the situation, since I knew that if he continued to markedly provoke me in this manner, I might lose my temper. That was the last thing I wanted to happen; especially in light of the fact that it was the day after Christmas and I simply wished to enjoy my day off from work with my younger brother. He can independently verify my account if you deem it necessary.
As I was trying to leave, the employee grabbed my shopping bag and refused to release it. In accordance with my desire to avoid any further escalation, I was able to forcibly regain the bag by pulling it out of his hands. By this time, a store manager and several other employees began to approach us in the parking lot. Seeing as none of them had witnessed the event or the actions of the employee, I turned and began to walk to my car, rather than have the confrontation continue with more accusations and yelling. As I was leaving "Josh" continued to yell after me, and the manager called me an "asshole" behind my back before telling me to "never come back." There is simply no excuse for this type of behavior from any retail employee, and certainly not from a Best Buy employee.
In order to demonstrate the extent of my patronage, I have included several documents. First, I have attached a report generated from my Microsoft Money file that details all of the purchases I have made since August using my debit card. According to the report, this total is just over $2,000. Since I only use my debit card about 50% of the time, I have included copies of a number of receipts that I have just been able to locate from around my apartment. As you can see, I am a frequent shopper, and I make multiple purchases per week at your Alpharetta location. I stop by almost every Tuesday to purchase the newly released DVD movies that have recently been made available to the public. As a matter of fact, this is the reason I went shopping in your store today... to pickup a movie I had ordered from BestBuy.com as well as two others that I wished to purchase. The statement the manager made to me that I should "never come back" is disappointing to me.
I know that as an executive, you have many priorities that occupy your time, but I felt that this situation is of such magnitude that it demands the attention of yourself or someone who is directly involved at a district level.
I hope you are able to use this information to improve your customer service, and in through that customer service, improve the customer relationships that are so important for Best Buy to continue to succeed in the marketplace. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your time. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how this situation can be resolved.
Regards,
....