The Power Went Out Again

Our power went out again today. This is not the first time it has gone out. At one point we were left without power for nearly 7 hours. Yet, it's not our fault. The transformer on the corner is actually the culprit, so unfortunately we are not the only ones who are experiencing the frustration of losing power so often.

Now I'm not all that familiar with how the electrical problems work, but I would assume the electric company is responsible. Sure, they've been out there every time to temp fix the problem, but the next week they are back fixing the problem again.

While it's more frustrating that anything, the main worry is, what happens when they're unable to temp fix the problem. Will we lose all of our food? Will we be the ones responsible for replacing it? My husband seems to think so. However, I do not. I don't think we should be replacing food for a problem that isn't our doing.

I remember when I lived in base housing in New Jersey and we lost power. Once everything was said and done and the power was back on, almost everyone on base had lost all of their groceries. So to correct the problem, the base refunded us with shopping vouchers at the commissary. It was nice to know that they weren't making us replace our own food.

So I would assume the electric company would need to do the same. We've already had one incident where the power was out for a very long time, I'm just worried that it will happen again!

Blogging for a Company Without Guidelines

Sending opportunities to potential bloggers is great. What's not great is when complete guidelines are not including with those opportunities, and the bloggers are the ones who are blamed once an opportunity is submitted.

Bloggers enjoy what they do and when we're offered an opportunity to get paid for blogging, we enjoy it even more. However, when bloggers are treated with disrespect it becomes a problem. We don't want to blog for someone who sends us an invite to an opportunity, doesn't include the right information in the opportunity, expects bloggers to guess at it and then gives negative feedback for not being the right kind of blog.

If we're not the right kind of blog, don't send us an invite to the opportunity asking us to participate and then give negative because you didn't include the full guidelines for the opportunity in the first place. If you continue to run a company this way, you'll find that bloggers won't be interested in working for you, or listen to what you have to offer or say.

The downside of When a Company Updates Their Policy

It's way too easy to get caught up in the excitement of getting paid through an ad blogging company. Unfortunately, there can be times when that company decides to update their policy and drop you like a hotcake because they feel like it. I have yet to be dropped by a company, but I did have one update their policy not too long ago. And to be honest, I'm not very pleased.

While I understand there has to be a boundary on what a blogger can and cannot except as far as ads, I don't think a company that they blog for should be allowed to choose who they can and cannot blog for. Let me explain.

A while back, I received a message from a company stating that if I took any outside positions that had been part of the company's ad clients in the past, I was automatically dismissed. Okay so I can understand that the company doesn't like competition. But here's my question that the company never bothered to answer. What happens if I've established a relationship with a client for paid ads that are not a part of that company and never have been, and then what happens if I recommended that client to that company because they were looking for more exposure.

The reason I asked that, was because I did exactly that! Now, am I going to get dropped like a hotcake from the company because I'm still working for that ad client outside of the company? I don't know and I certainly never got a response to my question. It kinda makes me wonder whether it's worth working for the company or not. Right now I'm not going to complain, simply because the pay I do get from them, helps keep food on the table and that's what's important.

ATT Wireless In Need of a Makeover

About 4 months ago my cell phone provider went from Cingular wireless to ATT wireless. Since then, they've given me nothing but trouble. In those past four months I have had to call ATT wireless on a monthly basis due to one problem after another. The first problem I had was they kept changing my rate. I had two phones with a family plan, but since I only needed one phone, I dropped ATT's family rate plan to a single rate plan. The next month, my rate went back up to the family rate plan. I would call, have them change the rate back to single, and the next month it would be back to the family rate plan again!

Finally after about 3 months someone with brains, fixed the problem. After that, I had no more problems. But then, last month I noticed my ATT wireless contract had been changed to 2009 instead of 2008. I had wanted to update my phone in April since the contract was suppose to end then.

So, I called ATT wireless once again, only to be informed that someone in their company had set up a new phone and account without my knowledge, just to gain commission. After about 2 hours of waiting and getting the mess straightened out over the phone, ATT wireless changed my contract back to 2008. Unfortunately, due to all of the screw ups, in order to update my phone I will have to call ATT wireless to upgrade my phone instead of ordering online. I am told I can also order at a local store, but that store will have to call ATT to verify that my contract does indeed end this month and I can upgrade my phone. What a hassle!!!!

Not only that, but they've just raised their text message rates twice in less than a year!!!

I must say, I'm very disappointed in ATT wireless at the moment and wouldn't recommend them to friends or family. The only reason I still have an account with them is because my husband is a customer and since ATT wireless doesn't charge to call other customers, it's a nice convenience for the both of us. I am planning however to drop their text messaging service, since it's about $1 to send a receive a text message. Too expensive for my taste!!!

All I can say is, ATT wireless is definitely in need of a makeover!!!!

Working for a Better Place

The company I work for could definitely use some sort of useful work function and a way of cutting costs without cutting their employees or their paychecks. There are so many things they can do and I believe with the help of Prophix's business performance management they can eliminate many of their problems.

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