On the Take Back the Beep thing

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I applaud David Pogue for actually deciding to do something about the asininity of the cellphone companies. But I feel like this Take Back The Beep is not really the right front to attack on. Though it is a front that is probably winnable and that’s probably why he picked it.

But honestly, who the heck cares about cellphone voicemail? I’ve, for the most part, given up on leaving voicemail especially on cellphones. Let’s face it whatever it was you were calling about probably isn’t going to fit comfortably in a voicemail. Which means the message is, “call me back when you get a chance, bye.” The missed call indicator does that pretty well as it is. Once I know you are not around I hang up. At this point I’ll either try an alternate number, send an email, or send a text message. This approach mostly stems from the fact that an ever growing minority of people I call won’t even bother to listen to their voicemail anyway. I do listen to mine, but usually I have to call the person back anyway so what was the point of leaving the message? So it would be nice if we didn’t need to worry about the air time wasting messages, but let’s face it voicemail is on it’s way out. So even if consumers win this fight they aren’t really winning that much.

No, what I think consumers should get really really pissed off about is text message charges. Text messages are, for all intense and purposes, free to the carriers and yet they charge a ridiculously high data rate for them. Not only that, they double bill that data rate charging both the sender and the receiver. (They do this on phone calls also). Nowhere else but the US cellphone industry are both parities in a communication charged for it. It’s ridiculous. The companies charge a gouging fee to both parities (and all carriers have the same fee at this point, there is no competition on this) above and beyond what they charge for “unlimited data”. Seriously, if company started charging cellphone industry markups in the wake of a natural disaster there would be felony charges. Clearly it is not “unlimited data” text messages and MMS are just data, and yet those don’t fall under unlimited data, they are an extra charge. It is highway robbery and I think if there is a battle to be fought this is where to do it. Something that will only become more important in the future. Something that is ludicrously expensive for what it is and something about which there is, at least, the appearance of collusion and price control.

So what do you all think? Fight the good fight for voice mail? or Fight the good fight on text message charges? Let’s at least try and put a stop to double billing? How on earth does it take 40 cents to send a text message. Why I could very nearly send you a letter for that price. And at least a couple of post cards.

Thought for the day II

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You’ve probably already heard about this story:

A recent college graduate is suing her alma mater for $72,000 — the full cost of her tuition and then some — because she cannot find a job.

Trina Thompson, 27, of the Bronx, graduated from New York’s Monroe College in April with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology.

On July 24, she filed suit against the college in Bronx Supreme Court, alleging that Monroe’s “Office of Career Advancement did not help me with a full-time job placement. I am also suing them because of the stress I have been going through.” …

As Thompson sees it, any reasonable employer would pounce on an applicant with her academic credentials, which include a 2.7 grade-point average and a solid attendance record. But Monroe’s career-services department has put forth insufficient effort to help her secure employment, she claims.

“They’re supposed to say, ‘I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right — can you interview this person?’ They’re not doing that,” she said.

She suggested that Monroe’s Office of Career Advancement shows preferential treatment to students with excellent grades. “They favor more toward students that got a 4.0. They help them more out with the job placement,” she said. …

Asked whether she would advise other college graduates facing job woes to sue their alma maters, Thompson said yes.

“It doesn’t make any sense: They went to school for four years, and then they come out working at McDonald’s and Payless. That’s not what they planned.“

Some may condemn Ms. Thompson for having unreasonable expectations during a deep recession; for asserting facially frivolous legal claims; for making obviously absurd statements, like how it’s shocking that students with A averages are “favored” over those with B- averages; and for generally failing to understand that, regardless of what she may have “planned,” the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley — i.e., life isn’t fair, welcome to the real world.

But I say, forget all that. This woman is an American hero. Why? Because, especially now, during a time of economic gloom, we need simple morality tales populated by straightforward, obvious villains. And that’s exactly what Trina Thompson is. She’s a cardboard character whom we can simply plug into the age-old “damn kids today and their sense of entitlement” storyline, without any alterations or complications. And that’s not all! Oh no, it gets even better, because she merges that old chestnut with the equally appealing “damn lawyers today and their litigious bulls**t” storyline. That’s two instances of righteous outrage for the price of one! Not since the A.I.G. bonuses has there been a story this delightfully outrageous! BRING THE HATE!!

In an odd way, Trina Thompson serves a similar purpose in our nation’s psyche as Chesley Sullenberger III. At all times, but especially at times like these, we crave not just straightforward heroes, like Captain Sully, but also straightforward villains — people we can unabashedly look down upon with disdain. The world is complicated, but these narratives aren’t, and we like that. As simple and straightforward as Sully’s heroism was, Ms. Thompson’s anti-heroism is equally so. There’s no complexity to it, no nuance, just a glaringly obvious example of somebody being obnoxious and contemptible.

Somebody give this woman a medal. She has, in our nation’s hour of great need, selflessly offered herself up as the sacrificial lamb whom America can castigate without guilt or caveat. And so I salute you, Trina Thompson. By being a complete idiot and jackass — but, more than that, by being a complete idiot and jackass in a completely formulaic, predictable way — you’ve made us all feel better about ourselves, and made this crazy world seem a little more simple and understandable. Well done, madam. Well done.

Now shut up and get a job. 😛