A Christmas Irony

While hunger is a very real problem in this country now (an estimated 1 out of 7 of us are on food stamps), I need to pick another bone with - who else - our eminent news source, CNN, about its choice of finding the right words, or in this case pictures, to accurately describe the situation of, well, anything.

In brief:  Don't use an overweight kid to describe starvation.  

But why?  Don't fat kids get hungry, too?  

Of course.  I'm not belittling the fact that while more of us are going hungry, there's even more of us with expanding waistlines, becoming the fattest nation on the planet.  Out of this abundance, we are still worried about our kids having enough to eat.  I must also point out that, perhaps, overweight kids are probably in more danger of being both fat and hungry at the same time, since cheap food is also quite fattening.  How easy is it to spend a few bucks off the Dollar Menu at McD's and feed your entire brood for less than ten bucks?  Yup, that easy.  When money is tight and you need to feed a lot of mouths, the options diminish quickly.

But most folks can't get past the meaning of the picture of a fat kid:  Fat equals full.  Skinny equals starved.  When you're coming down to advertising your product, as CNN must do like all other businesses, we are being presented with an irony, even if it may turn out to be true.  Fat kids in need of more food?  Isn't there something better out there than a stock photo of a child sitting in front of an empty plate, probably looking at the buffet just behind the camera crew?  

Social Media Nibbles Back, Spits Out

Remember how I closed my BofA account?  I wrote a semi-snarky letter and did my homework, copying the appropriate executives and feeling immensely satisfied about taking my drip in their wages out in one swipe.  Well, apparently it got someone's attention.

A peon from the CEO's office called me back and left a message on my phone.  I was curious now - someone had actually called me?  Amazing.  I wondered what they wanted.  I called them back at 4:35 p.m. on a business day; already gone for the day.  Left a message.  Peon called again the following morning while I was running errands.  I finally called him back again and got him in person, and here's what eventually transpired:

Peon:  "Mrs. LaDow, we received your correspondence and I am in the process of closing your account."

Me:  "Thanks."

Peon:  "There's just a few details we need to take care of.  When you closed your account, you did it five days into the new cycle.  Therefore, you accrued some interest on that balance, and you'll need to pay that balance before we close the account."

Me: "... Oh-kaaaay."

Peon:  "So if you just go ahead and do that, then we can take care of all this for you, all right?"

Me:  "Yeah, GREAT.  Thank youuuuuu."

Peon:  "Goodbye."  Click.

They think of all the details, don't they?  Accruing interest on a daily basis instead of a monthly basis is super convenient.  I bet he was sitting there in his satellite office somewhere in North Carolina, happy to get another several dozen dollars out of my pocket before bidding my business adieu.

At least they got the hint and spared me another sales pitch.  I'm sure they'd be able to find the transcription of my phone calls with them a few months ago when their "customer service" branch refused to work with my astronomical APR and thought I needed credit counseling.  Of course, once they transferred me to their choice of credit counseling services and the service found out about my spotless payment record and income, I wasn't approved for the service even if I had wanted it.

Yes, take a bite out of BofA if you can, but spit it back out.  Quickly.