Ethic Soup

Verizon Succumbs to Consumer Anger : Scraps $2 'Convenience Fee'

 

Yesterday, Verizon announced its customers would have to pay $2 fees for making payments via phone or online with a credit card.  Today, Verizon shouted a mea culpa and scrapped the controversial fee. About the quick, one-day, about-face:

VERIZON SAYS IT REALLY LISTENS

 "At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers," Verizon CEO Dan Mead said in a statement.

Uh huh. But, they sure do have short memories.

You would have thought that the big bananas at Verizon had observed what happened with Bank of America recently. Well, of course, they did!

CORPORATE ARROGANCE

But, corporate arrogance made them think they could get away with it -- charging a fee for every payment that subscribers make on their Verizon phones or online with their credit cards. But that's what they said was going to happen come January 15th.

Good News: Secret Santas Pay for Strangers' Layaway Bills

THE SPIRIT of Christmas can be seen in the smiles of children and this holiday is made more happy for a number of children -- and adults. Growing numbers of Secret Santas are popping up at layaway counters in stores across the country.  

They are paying the layaway bills for strangers who haven't enough money to pay for and pick up the presents that the stores are holding for them. And many are doing so anonymously.

The first incident reported in the media happened in Plainfield Township, Michigan, two weeks ago. At a Big Kmart, a 30-something woman walked up to the layaway desk, pushing a shopping cart full of toys she was going to donate, reported Money MSN.

DONOR INSISTED ON ANANIMITY

The shopper asked if she could pay a few customers' layaway contracts, only asking that the orders include toys and that she could remain anonymous. She randomly selected three and ended up paying about $500 -- all but $10 on each ticket.

Gossip Should Be Guilt-Free: It Can Be Healthy and Boost Positive Hormones

Let's hear it for a good 'chinwag' and a bit of 'tittle-tattle'! That's what the Brits call 'gossip.' 

New research finds that gossip actually has some surprising health benefits.

More than senseless bad-mouthing, gossip can provide social cohesion and enhance feelings of well-being, reports the The Daily Telegraph (UK).

"Gossip isn't scandal and it's not merely malicious," said Pulitzer Prize Poet Phyllis McGinley. "It's chatter about the human race by lovers of the same."

Similarly, broadcast journalist Barbara Walters offered: "Show me someone who never gossips and I'll show you someone who isn't interested in people."

GOOD NEWS: Anonymous Woman Pays Water Utility Bills for 17 Families

 

IT CAN BE a wonderful world. It's nice to have this belief reinforced during the holidays, which can be a time of despondency for many, especially during an economic crisis when so many have lost their jobs and can't even pay their utility bills.

Not having running water, a basic need, is a low blow. Needing to take buckets to a neighbor's house for some of their water, so you can flush your toilet, can be a humiliating chore.

To get clean you have to wash in the sink in a convenience store's bathroom and pray they don't ask you to leave because you can't buy anything.

Just hearing about the woman in Iowa City, Iowa, who insisted on remaining anonymous, has been inspiring to many. 

The woman walked into City Hall to pay her own water bill. Then she donated $1,640 to pay off the delinquent balances of 17 families, to ensure that they would have running water over the holidays, reported the Iowa City Press-Citizen. 

FCC Finally Fixes Earsplitting Volume of TV Commercials

FINALLY, yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission  unanimously approved rules that will require cable operators and TV stations to quiet those thunderous TV commercials.

More than a year ago, September 2010, Congress passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act, giving the FCC the job of ensuring that TV commercials aren't louder than TV programs. Next, we, the listening public, had to keep sticking our fingers in our ears at commercial-time because nothing changed.

WE CAN'T BE C.A.L.M. FOR YET ANOTHER YEAR

But, it's still not going to take effect for yet another year. Supposedly, the new rules start next December, in 2012. That's when cable operators and TV stations will have to make TV commercials no louder than the TV programs. What's with the hold-ups, deferrals? I think it's just part of the definition for government.

Consumers have been complaining about the excessively loud television commercials for decades -- decades.

 

NTSB Calls for National Ban on Cell Phones and Text Massaging While Driving

Today, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a full ban on the use of cellphones and text messaging devices while driving because it's simply too dangerous. Hallelujah! It's about time!

In the last 10 years, the NTSB has sought to limit the use of portable electronic devices while driving, including bans for beginning drivers, commercial truckers and school bus drivers.

SAFETY-CRITICAL EVENTS

In a study of commercial drivers, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found a "safety-critical event" is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing or accessing the Internet, reports CNN.

But, the newest recommendation would ban non-emergency phone calls and texting by drivers of every vehicle on the nation's roads and highways -- disallowing both hands-free as well as hand-held devices.

Follow-Up: Another Face Burned in Surgical Fire

          Tommy Beams, Washington State,latest burn victim of surgical fire 

 

It was just a few days after a similar horrible surgical fire in Florida, that a man undergoing routine surgery in a Grays Harbor Community Hospital, Washington state, had a fire erupt on his face  -- while he was unconscious and under anesthesia. Tommy Beams (pictured above)was burned on his face and head. 

Beam was undergoing a one-hour procedure to remove a bump on his head when he said his oxygen mask caught fire. He was rushed to Harborview Medical Center after the accident last Thursday.

"The physical pain is tremendous," Beam told the Baltimore Sun. "My lips, my face ... on fire."

Woman's Face Catches On Fire: Surgical Fires Are Under-Reported

                Photo courtesy of the ECRI Institute.

SURGICAL FIRES happen too often -- 550 to 650 fires every year, estimates the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit health services research agency. Actually, fires in hospital surgical suites occur much more frequently in reality.

Incidents of surgical fires are "significantly under-reported," according to The Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S.

HEAT, FUEL & OXYGEN

In the fire triangle -- heat, fuel and oxygen -- all three elements often come together in the surgery room, yielding disturbing consequences. "... surgical fires are certainly one of the most frightening and devastating experiences for everyone involved," says The Joint Commission. 

More than half of surgical fires happen inside a patient's airway or on the patient's upper body; around 10 percent of surgical fires actually happen within the body cavity; and a quarter of surgical fires happen on other parts of the body, reports MSNBC.

 

FAA Chief Babbitt Resigns: Good Riddance

  

      Randy Babbitt                                          Michael Huerta

   The Guy Who's Out                                The Guy Who's Now In

 

The Ethic Soup post yesterday was about FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, 65, being put on a leave of absence by Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, following charges against Babbitt for driving while intoxicated -- on the wrong side of the road -- at night.

He was arrested and released, pending a February court appearance. Luckily, Randy Babbitt was stopped before he could kill someone.

Today's follow-up post is that Babbitt is out and Deputy Administrator Michael Huerta is in as FAA acting administrator.

 

FAA Boss Charged as Drunk Driver: Randy Babbitt Placed on Leave of Absence

               Police mug shot of Jerome "Randy" Babbitt

 

The police mug shot is of a veteran pilot who flew 25 years for Eastern Airlines and is now the Federal Aviation Administration's administrator Jerome "Randy" Babbitt. Looks like a picture of pride and defiance to me. Can't see any guilt, or even embarrassment. Instead, I see an expression that looks like a kind of bravado, a "smug mug."

I bet that he figured he was so damn important that he would be let off, free to go, records expunged once they realized who he was.  Instead, he was placed on a leave of absence.  

THERE YESTERDAY, GONE TODAY

The police mug shot is not the picture that used to be on the FAA bio page for Babbitt -- the one with him in a suit and tie, with the American flag behind him. The key official for the FAA no longer has his bio on the FAA official website. Oh, it was there yesterday. But, it was gone today: "We're sorry, the page you requested could not be found."

Thankfully, the cops got him off the road before he killed.