A Couple of Headaches

This weekend that just passed isn’t one of the better ones for me.  I experienced a couple of headaches, both unexpected and both gave me quite a cause for concern.

Let me start with the first and potentially bigger headache.

I do a lot of online transactions as a matter of convenience.  I pay my mortgage, utility and credit card bills online all by way of direct deduction from my bank account.  I also do quite a bit of shopping online too, especially when buying books, CDs, clothes, and gifts for friends and relatives.  In conducting all of these transactions, I’ve always made sure that the websites I transact with have the security checks in place to allow for a safe and secure online experience.

Thus, I was unpleasantly surprised and concerned when I was informed by a Chase representative last night that someone had tried to use my MasterCard account to make four unauthorized purchases this past Friday.  One of the purchases was at a gas station and the other three were with a supermarket chain.  All took place in Chicago, Illinois.

All three supermarket bills ran in the hundreds of dollars.  Based on an analysis of my purchase history, those transactions immediately triggered a fraud alert within Chase’s system which in turn, prompted them to call me at home to ask me if I had authorized such transactions.

I told the lady representative that I had neither any knowledge of those purchases and nor did I authorize someone else to make those transactions for me.  Thus, the Chase representative and I agreed to immediately close my account.  Thus, Chase will issue me a new MasterCard credit card with a totally different account number within the next few days.

I’ve always been very careful transacting business online.  In spite of that, the fact that someone was still able to access my account number information causes me quite a bit of concern.  I’m just thankful that the people at Chase had an efficient fraud alert program in place I hope that there’s not much else to this and I hope that whoever did this did not gain any further access to my personal information.  I will keep track of all charges against my credit cards and other accounts in the foreseeable future in order to make sure that no other unauthorized charges or withdrawals take place.

Now on to my second headache.

I went to the supermarket yesterday for my weekly food shopping.  As I passed by the refrigerated section of the supermarket, I saw some sushi on display.  Since I haven’t had some in a while, seeing those sushi rolls made my mouth water.    Thus, I decided to buy one pack that consisted of eight sushi rolls made up of 4 salmon rolls and 4 tuna rolls.

Needless to say that once I got home, I immediately helped myself to those sushi rolls.  As I started to eat, I noticed a bit of sourness in their taste.  I immediately checked the pack’s label for the expiration date.  The date showed that there was still a day left prior to expiration.  The rolls tasted quite strange but against my better judgment, I went ahead and finished the rest of them.

I went to bed Saturday night feeling nothing unusual.  However, around 4:30 a.m early Sunday, I woke up to an awful headache.  Yes, my headache was that bad that it was able to rouse me from what had been a deep sleep.  I tried to go back to sleep but the pain won’t let me.  I massaged my temples by instinct even though I new that doing so won’t really provide any relief.   It took me another hour before I managed to lull myself back to sleep.

I managed to sleep for four more hours but the headache was still there when I woke up.  I knew then that I was having another bout with mild food poisoning.  I knew it to be so because this is how my system dealt with this problem in the past.  The headache was but a symptom of something else that was going on within my system.  My system did a good job of fighting the poisioning but the stress drained my body of quite a bit of energy, thus the awful headache.  The headache often persists until all the foreign chemicals are drained from my body.

As a result, I had to spend a good part of  Sunday in bed.  There were some things I had planned to do (especially my morning walk) but I had to skip those because I had an awful headache to deal with.  It was so bad that not even a couple of Advils could subdue it.

Thus, it was a weekend of headaches for me.  Hopefully, it will also be a weekend of lessons learned.  I hope you all had a weekend much better, happier and productive than the one I just had.

Looking at His “Package”

For a department such as ours that is made up of supposedly boring people in a supposedly boring profession, I must say that it is extremely rare that we have a dull moment.  This little story is one example why.

A male junior staffer, I’m going to call him Daniel, walked into my office one morning last week to express a certain “concern” he was having with one of the female senior staffers in our department.  For the sake of our story, I will call this female senior staffer Kate.

But first, let me give you some background information on both individuals.  Both are relatively new to the department.  Daniel joined us in October of last year while Kate joined us in January of this year.   Both are very intelligent, driven and hardworking individuals.  Kate hails from Georgia in the southern part of the United States while Daniel was born and raised in New York.  Kate is about 29 years old while Daniel is slightly younger at 24.  Kate stands about 5′8″ while Daniel is about 5′9″.

Anyway, Daniel walked into my my office to complain that Kate has been making him feel “quite uncomfortable”.   He had worked under her (no pun intended) on a couple of projects in the last three months.  In our group, a project, from start to finish, has  an average life cycle of four weeks and thus, Daniel had worked under Kate’s lead for about eight weeks in the past few months.

He complained to me by citing a few examples as to why he’s uncomfortable with her.  In his examples, he mentioned that:

1. Kate often looks at his “package” (the crotch area of his pants) whenever she talks to him;
2. While leaning over his shoulder one time to view what was on his computer monitor, she had placed her hand on top of his and proceeded to move the computer mouse in order to move the cursor to a  particular part of the screen;
3. She supposedly caresses his shoulders every once in a while while chatting with him; and that
4. He had caught her listening in to his phone calls with his girlfriend.  He found out about this because after he was done talking to his girlfriend over the phone, Kate came over and asked questions that were very specific to what Daniel had just discussed with his girlfriend.

He told me that he finds it hard to respect her as a Team Leader because of her actions.  I asked him then if he had let her known that her actions bother him.  He told me he hasn’t.

I tried to play the devil’s advocate by attempting to point out to Daniel that it could be possible that she didn’t intend any malice in any of her actions; that maybe, that’s just the way she is.  Plus, as mentioned earlier, Kate came from a different region of the United States.  As with every other country in the world, people that come from different regions have their own ways and sensitivities.  That could be true in this case.  Thus, I’m wondering if maybe, just maybe, that Daniel could be misinterpreting her actions.

Daniel was intent on bringing this matter up with our company’s Ethics Officer.  But I advised him that I think it would be fair for everyone concerned if he sit back for now and see if the same problem with Kate shows up again.  If it does, I advised him to immediately let her know, as a warning, that what she’s doing is bothering him or making him uncomfortable.  If that doesn’t stop her, then he has all the right in the world to report the matter directly to our Ethics Officer.  Daniel agreed and that’s where we are right now with this situation.

It wouldn’t be fair to Kate if I allowed Daniel to immediately report this matter to the Ethics Officer.  Kate deserves a chance to deny or dispute an allegation before it gets raised to a higher authority.  Holding off on reporting this matter is the prudent thing to do given the current circumstances.  None of the other guys in our department who have dealt with Kate have reported being on the receiving end of any unprofessional acts or unwelcome advances from her.  Thus, Daniel’s source(s) of discomfort with Kate could be a matter of perception or that he may be more overly sensitive to what she does as compared to the others.  Thus, as far as I’m concerned, Kate, is to be considered innocent for now.

Went Shopping

Office was closed Friday before the 4th of July and thus, I decided to do my little part to help revive the badly ailing American economy.  I went out this morning to do a little shopping. 

I was badly in need of a few pairs of pants and some shirts and thus, with the weather cooperating, I drove out today to a small outlet center about a half hour’s drive from my place.

Since today was the start of the July 4th holiday weekend, a lot of stores were offering very good discounts on their merchandise.  I bought a couple of pairs of cotton, wrinkle-free pants at a 40% discount at the Brooks Brothers outlet store shown above.  One thing I’ve always done whenever I shop for clothes is never pay for them at full price.  I always wait for a Sale to come along before I shop for clothes.

A shot of a few more stores in the same section of the outlet center I was in.  I got my shirts at a Timberland store in an adjacent section.  Timberland had a good deal going for I was able to buy my shirts at a 30% discount.

I wish I could show you more pictures but this photo and the one before it were the only ones I took while I was shopping.  However, both photos reveal a few things about me as a shopper.

You don’t see a crowd of shoppers in either picture.  Whenever I go shopping, I always make it a point to go early.  I often begin my shopping around 10 or 10:30 a.m., way before the crowds roll in.  I can’t stand crowded areas and situations because I have a very low tolerance for the rude and uncivilized behavior a good number of misguided animals (yes, that’s what I call them) display when they take advantage of such situations for their own selfish ends.  Thus, I avoid them like the plague.

In addition, shopping early provides me with three distinct benefits.   First is the availability of parking spaces.  I get to choose where to park my car instead of fighting for a spot or spending a good amount of time looking for one .  Second, I often get better service from sales personnel.   At that early hour, they’re still usually in a pleasant mood due to the fact that they still haven’t been stressed out by unpleasant, whiney or rude customer(s).  Third, beating other customers to a store means I have more and better items in front of me to choose from.  This is the part I love best because a lot of the “nice” or “nicer” stuff are still available for sale.  I hate having to come in late in the afternoon or in the evening and having to deal with “leftover” stuff.  At that point only the not-too-good items are left.  No way.

Lastly, as a shopper, I’m the “in and out” type.  Before I drive out to a store or a mall, I make a list of the items I need.  I then drive out to the place and once there, I go straight to the rack, aisle, or section that has the stuff I need.  I pick the stuff up, inspect it, pay, and head for the nearest exit.  It is quite rare that I hang around a store to check the other items on display.

Thus, with my shopping ways, I am often done before lunch time.  I then treat myself to a good lunch as a reward to myself (naks!) for yet another relatively stress-free shopping experience before I head home.

This is how I shop.  How about you? 

Funny Sign

On the second level of Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal is a small establishment called Drago Shoe Repair.   I pass by it every afternoon on my way up to the fourth level to take my bus ride home.  Anyway, it has a sign that is prominently displayed above the Cashier’s Register that for some reason, never fails to bring a smile to my face whenever I read it.  The sign is a simple one that says:

“WE ARE NOT GOD

BUT WE DO SAVE SOLES.”

Funny.