The Hi John Letter

I received a “Hi John” email.

Not as devastating as a “Dear John” letter but a bit bewildering as my name is not John and I don’t use a John de Plume when I write.

The email was in response to a query about them recently starting to send me blank emails. They are a company that emails job listings that match my abilities, education and interests.

Some of you may remember that I went down to Manpower (before we had to be politically correct) and took a government test to determine what field of endeavour I was suited for.

I managed to fall outside any of their categories.

Some of you may think this is the reason for the blank emails, but no. For years the daily emails have contained several jobs that if so inclined I could turn my hand to.

And then, blank pages. It was as if they were wrestling with the monster known as writer’s block.

I wrote them and said not to worry as I had a job, but, it did not put them in a good light since employers listed with them in hopes that their next bright star would peruse the listing and apply post haste.

I guess I am not the only one receiving nothing on a daily basis because they wrote back saying they are aware of the problem and are looking into it. And as if to drive the point home that things are not well with the company, they started the email with “Hi John”.

I predict a job opening in Quality Control. Not that I’ll see it listed.

Update

They got back to me, addressed me by my correct name and the next day, as promised, the job listings they sent me showed up in the email. Bonus: The empty advertising block was at the bottom where it will not bother most people unless they wonder why they are not the target market and what they are not the target market of. Probably something really good I bet.

The End Is Nigh

Dress your loved one in the best End of the World fashion 

Apocalypse Livestock Tee
by damccaskill

Have your own herd. Dress the whole family for the grand finale

Apocalypse Livestock T-Shirt
by damccaskill

Carry On My Wayward One (sung to the tune of the Kansas song)

Or We’ll get back to you 3

My Adsense account was cancelled because of “no spend”. And here I was under the impression that it was supposed to be bringing in money, not require me to spend money. I guess Google is taking a page from the other arm of their Empire, YouTube, and the demonetization of the Youtubers who built them but didn’t quite cut the mustard as far as number of subscribers. So long and thanks for all the views, no money for you

This is not a story about that

This is my ongoing trials and tribulations with Freedom Mobile cell phone so-called-service.

I asked about some of the solutions I had put forward, them setting up calling over wifi on my model of phone (which would have helped countless others), exchanging my phone for a phone that they support wifi calling on, loaning me a Weboost or other signal booster (like American ISP’s do), them using the 700Mhz range in my area to penetrate my apartment as I apparently live in a 

Faraday cage. Offering me a better plan. They didn’t. 

You might say “Buyer beware” or “Carpe Jugulum” or some Latin sounding thing for “it’s your own damned fault for getting stuck with a service that sucks”, but I had done the research. Their coverage map with orange indicating “LTE high speed like you wouldn’t believe *may not work until a few months down the road **and then some”, covered my area like there was a two for one paint sale at Home Depot.  

I paid off my “Tab” in preparation to move to a provider that could get me a strong enough signal in my own home so I could actually call and receive calls. It was a small amount.

All of a sudden they were offering me a better plan. X number of dollars and NO OVERAGES. I can call long distance in Canada and the States and it won’t cost more. I can text all over the place and my bill doesn’t go up. Home network, Away network, doesn’t matter. Same price. 

The sneaky thing is their tech support told me to change my phones settings to only use the Home network.

  No chance of ending up on the Away or Roaming networks.

Is the service any better? I have tried recently to dial out when I was in a mall parking lot out in the open and the phone showing Home and full bars. It did not connect.  I tried from my work in the city. Would not connect. Tonight in my apartment it says Home and one bar. It connected. Nice surprise but reliability over astonishment is preferred.

And the bill since getting the better plan?

Not what they promised but I expected there would be a discrepancy during the switch from the old plan. Still, the cheapest bill in months. We’ll see what next month brings.

Here is something we sell on Zazzle. We also sell it on Amazon but it is harder to find there. 

I Tried to be Good but There Was Bonfire & Beer T T-Shirt
by ladybuglane

We’ll Get Back to You 2

Or be careful what you wish for

When we last left our hero he was embroiled in a battle to unlock his phone and get decent cell service from his provider Freedom Mobile.

Much later than the promised (but not expected) 10 days later, someone did get back to me and the gist of the communication was that I needed to go to one of their stores and their tech support could help with the unlocking. 

   I went
             They couldn’t

In fact they said I had to go to their store in another city. Only 20 or 30 minutes away but another city all the same. 

        I went

The tech guy said he couldn’t do it due to confidentiality and security reasons but he could tell me how to get the information I needed and then I could unlock the phone myself.

At this point I forget all the convoluted steps he said I had to do to open the secret specific hidden screen on my phone. It may have involved a bag full of chicken feathers and standing on one leg. 

I have the bag of feathers but my balance is not so good so I just Googled YouTube for instructions on how to get to the secret specific hidden screen. Two minutes later I was the proud owner of my own unlocked phone. The service was still lousy but it was unlocked and lousy.

Back to the coverage issue

Tenacious as I was in unlocking the phone, I decided to let things slide for a while. Then I heard that there was a 700MHz band that some cell providers have. 

This band, for some reason, can penetrate trees, walls and neighbours more easily than whatever Freedom is using so I inquired of their helpdesk if and when they would be using that band. Their answer was a less than satisfying,           “We don’t know”

I was seriously thinking that I would start looking at which of the mobile providers was the lesser of several evils when my phone rang. At my home

I checked the cell towers with an app called OpenSignal. There was a new tower near my home. 

Not only could I now hear from recruiters but I could order pizza without walking to the field across the street.

             The end of my cell phone woes?

Remember the beginning of this post when I said be careful what you wish for?

I am receiving calls. According to one caller, if I don’t contact a certain number within a short time, Revenue Canada will issue a warrant for my arrest. I talked to the real Revenue Canada. They said they couldn’t be bothered. Not sure if I am relieved or insulted.

The other call I get might be in Mandarin. I recorded the lady who calls and talks to me in Chinese, ran it through Google Translate and I may be in trouble with the Chinese Embassy. Or there is a two for one on General Tao Chicken. I’m hoping for the latter.

After all that a drink might be in order. I'm more of a Bacardi guy but...

This Might Be Wine

This might be wine Two-Tone coffee mug
by ladybuglane