Category Archives: Justifiably Intemperate Rants

The Supreme Court: Duped, except for one…

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Laughing all the way...

Laughing all the way…

On June 1st, the Supreme Court rendered a decision favoring a girl by the name of Samantha Elauf over retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. News coverage was widespread, and nearly every publication I read had virtually the same recital of the facts.

Simply stated, this young Muslim woman applied for a position at Abercrombie in 2011. The assistant manager felt she was an excellent candidate, but both he and the store manager were concerned that her wearing of a hijab would fail to exemplify the stores “look policy”. Her application was thus declined. Enter the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). The arguments of the case went back and forth on the technicalities of who knew what when. Ultimately, Elauf was awarded $20,000. The Court of Appeals overturned it, and the case wound up going all the way to the Supreme Court.

Here’s the thing that gets me. Elauf, according to her LinkedIn page, was employed by retailer Forever 21as a Visual Merchandising Manager from 2008 to 2015. So, being in the business means that she had to be familiar with the culture and style of Abercrombie; just look at their ads and their shirtless staff. Why would a girl with her upbringing and religious persuasion want to work in a store that goes against her grain? This point was also brought out by fellow blogger Pamela Geller – the woman who brought you Garland, Texas. If she was gainfully employed at the time, why did she just happen to pursue a change in jobs to Abercrombie? This year she finally did move to Urban Outfitters, but not before leaving a ruckus in her wake.

This is contrivance in its purest form. This is not a win for the freedom of religious expression. This is not a win for equal opportunity. This is not a win for social justice or discrimination. This is religion being forced down our throats. Do I approve of the style of Abercrombie? Not really. I remember the days when it was an amazing purveyor of fashion and accessories, not where a bunch of boy-toy types flaunted their hairless chests – thank goodness they’ve moved away from this. But, it makes me crazy that the Supreme Court (except for Clarence Thomas) wasn’t able to see through the ruse.

Patriotism Reborn?

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Photo by Paola Pozzaglia

Photo by Paola Pozzaglia

I’m not really a flag-waver. Oh, I once was, believe me. I used to sew American Flag patches on my jackets, I had a sign that read “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” hanging over my desk, my biggest dream was to join what was then called the Navy underwater demolition team (UDT); it has since evolved into a unit known as the SEALs. Once, after being on assignment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a period of seven months, I had to fly to the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast to visit the Brazilian embassy. On the way, I passed the American embassy which had our flag waving from the rooftop; it brought tears to my eyes.

As I got older, and hopefully a little wiser, I began to see signs of mold eating away at my country from the inside. I saw it in the way we were conducting foreign policy. I witnessed how my fellow countrymen acted while overseas, and it was often followed by a sense of embarrassment, especially since I was also witness to how people from other countries, notably European nations, behaved. My flag-waving desire began to wane. Quickly.

It hasn’t really gotten any better as the situation, especially our internal divide, gets worse. Having said that, I wrote a post about ISIS the other day. It naturally garnered some invective toward the United States. I found myself growing irritated over their comments, but answered each comment in defense of our nation. I think it has something to do with: it’s my country so I can make fun of it if I want to, but you can’t.

The irony of that is the myriad problems we face within our country makes me even angrier than it did before. Why? Because we need to be the best damned country on the planet, that’s why. We need to be the guys who wear the white hats like the old cowboy movies.

Is this a resurgence of my latent patriotism? Did it take the insults from people in other countries to stir my pot? Maybe, just maybe…

Wells Fargo Fraud Prevention – Who Protects us from them?

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WF

Today is Thursday. This past Sunday – that’s four days ago – I was in a store and decided to buy something for my girlfriend. No problem, I use my Wells Fargo credit card and pay for the item. About twenty minutes later, we decide to buy one more thing in the same store. I attempt to pay for it using the same card.

No go.

I just shook my head in frustration and pulled out my American Express card – lucky, since I didn’t have another credit card with me. Sometime later, Wells Fargo leaves me a message that Fraud Prevention wanted to speak with me. I called them. I went through the litany of giving: my card number, my social security number, my mother’s maiden name, my date of birth, the billing address on the card, and the security code on the back of the card. I verify all the charges I’ve made, both in person and the ones I made online. Everything’s copacetic – I continue with my long-standing relationship with Wells Fargo.

For about an hour.

My girlfriend and I go to Dick’s Sporting Goods. She finds something she wants, but it’s not in her size. No problem, they can order it and have the item sent directly to our house. Wow, that’s fantastic. I pay for it with my Wells Fargo credit card. A short time later, still in Dick’s Sporting Goods, I attempt to pay for what we originally went there to buy in the first place.

No go.

It turns out the order from the store billed from somewhere in Pennsylvania and I’m in a retail location in New York. No worries, Fraud Prevention is on the case and puts a block on my card. I call them again, repeating the same litany as before. Everything seems copacetic – I continue with my long-standing relationship with Wells Fargo, albeit with a little more grumbling.

We go to lunch. I pay for lunch with my now-cleared, ready-to-use Wells Fargo card. No problem. By early evening, my girlfriend and I are tired from shopping and go to the diner for a light supper. I think you see where I’m heading here. I can’t call them again because I’m afraid I will have a heart attack right in the diner. Once more, my American Express card comes to the rescue.

So here we are today, Thursday. I finally summon the nerve to call Fraud Prevention to see what’s up with the card. We do the now familiar litany, verify all my charges, including the ones I’ve already verified, but this time there’s a catch. The wizards at Fraud Prevention now insist that I take myself and my Wells Fargo card to a local branch so I can prove who I am and to prove that no dastardly deeds have been committed using my account. I work in lower Manhattan. The branches near my home don’t open before I leave for work and are closed by the time I get home at night, so the nearest one is ten miles away from me. I explain this to the yahoo’s on the phone, but they claim ‘there is nothing they can do to lift the block’. So I take the train up to midtown. By this time, I’m ready to rip the platform managers head off.

There is much speaking between Fraud Prevention and the manager who checks my face against the picture in my passport. Once more, Fraud Prevention wants to speak with me and the litany is performed right in front of the manager. I am now able to recite the answers to all the questions without waiting to be asked. We review the transactions. They unblock the card. Is everything copacetic? I have no idea. My long-standing relationship with Wells Fargo has been marred by a form of treatment I have never experienced in over forty years of banking, and that includes a career as a financial controller/CFO.

If the employees who work in the Fraud Prevention departments are so unable to locate their backsides with both groping hands, how can we expect any kind of quality service? I understand they are trying to protect us from the baddies who lurk among the threads of the cyber world, but that shouldn’t mean the complete failure of common sense when confronted with proof positive and even worse, sending customers physically out of their way to prove their existence.