Jellyn's Collection of Curiosities

I was browsing around, trying to see which stores might have something I'm looking for. Checked out drugstore.com, wound up on Sears.com, checked out Aubuchon hardware and Walgreens, because they're right downtown and easier to get to than Sears. Then I took a look at CVS.

Well, I tried to. But CVS is keeping secrets. Want to know if they sell something? They won't tell you. Want to know where the nearest CVS is? They won't tell you. (Though I guarantee you there's at least three within two miles of wherever you are right now.) Want to know if they have job openings? They won't tell you that either. They won't tell you squat.

Not if you're using Opera, or any number of other browsers they've randomly decided they 'don't support'.

Dude, I don't care if your website looks ugly. I don't care that it displays some things improperly. I don't care that this or that button or widget may be broken. I. DO. NOT. CARE. I doubt it works perfectly in any of the browsers you do claim to support.

You think every customer who walks in your store has a perfect experience? That they find what they're looking for right off, for the price they want? That they're able to purchase it speedily, with a minimum of fuss, and are served with a friendly smile?

Will you slam your door in the face of everyone walking up to your store who doesn't know exactly what they want and where to find it? Of everyone who doesn't have the money to buy it at the price you're asking? Of everyone who's going to frown and scowl at that friendly smile? Or are you going to take their business, because it's a for-profit enterprise you're running and their money is as good as everyone else's?

Because you slammed the door in my face. You didn't even give Opera a chance to show me your oh-so-wonderfully-crafted website. You didn't give me a warning that it would work imperfectly and then let me take my chances. You just said:

You have landed on this page, because we do not currently support your web browser and/or browser version.

Our site currently supports the majority of Mozilla-based and Internet Explorer browsers on Windows and Macintosh systems. However, we do not support Opera, Beta versions, or recent releases of some browsers. We hope to remedy this in the near future.

You slammed that door with a polite "Thank you for visiting!" Well, thank you for nothing.

Plus, you have the nerve to call the DENIED webpage upgrade.htm. Sorry, going from Opera to Internet Explorer is not what anyone in their right mind would call an 'upgrade'. I have lots of other names for it. I won't share them here.

You know what? I think ranting about this on my blog isn't quite enough. I think I'm going to make use of one other sentence you included on this ill-conceived page.

If you have any questions or require additional assistance please contact us by email at customercare@cvs.com.

You know what.. I do have questions. And since you won't let me see your site, I require additional assistance. I am going to bug you at this address to ask my silly little question. Do you have the product I'm looking for? And if you answer that, or even if you don't, as long as I know you've received the Email, I'm going to ask you another question. I'm going to ask where my nearest store is. When I'm done with that, I'm going to ask what that store's hours are. And after that, I'll come up with some other silly little question that I could presumably have found on your website in 10 seconds. And I'm going to keep doing it until you let me into your site.

I urge anyone else gets redirected to upgrade.htm after following this link -- http://www.cvs.com -- to do the same.

It may not save the pygmy chinchillas starving in Africa, but it will give me satisfaction.

One of my mailing lists is debating the 'hoax' at Logan airport. I don't think I'm ready to jump into a potential flamewar, but I have decided to post my two cents here.

Here's a CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/21/bomb.hoax/index.html

And here's a blog with a geek-centered view of things:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested.html

Here's another article:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201808203

I'm going to quote from this last one, since it has phrases that other articles had in it.

"Cops arrested Simpson, 19, on Friday after she reportedly walked into Logan International Airport with a fake bomb made of lights, wires, and putty strapped to her chest."

I looked at the picture of it. Where's this 'putty'? And it was not 'strapped to her chest', it was part of the shirt. Who thinks it looks like a 'fake bomb'? My image of a fake bomb is a round black thing with a fuse sticking out of it. Or sticks of dynamite wrapped up with a timer. If I was making a fake bomb, it would look like one of these two things.

"The spokeswoman could not say whether the school is contemplating any disciplinary action against Simpson."

Excuse me, what? How do her actions at the airport, entirely unrelated to MIT, require some sort of disciplinary action on MIT's part?

This article didn't have the quote about how she's lucky she didn't end up in the morgue. That line is just so unbelievable!

When I was a kid, I had a headband with blinking lights on it and a nine-volt battery attached to it. I might still have it somewhere. So if I dug it out and put it on and walked into the airport, am I putting my life at risk? And it would be all my fault if the security people shot me with their machine guns?

Yea, maybe you should think twice about wearing electronics into the airport IF YOU'RE CATCHING A FLIGHT. Since you'd be going through the security checkpoint, you can reasonably guess there'd be a hassle about it. Do you take it off to put it through Xray? Do you take it off so it doesn't trip the metal detector? Does someone have to come over and inspect it? Maybe.

But she was just meeting someone at the airport. How much thought do most people give when picking someone up at the airport? Money for parking. The flight information so you'll know if the flight is delayed or which spot to best wait for your friend. That's about all I'd think about. I wouldn't stop and think about what I was wearing or what I was carrying.

How would they have reacted if she'd looked more Caucasian? What if she'd been older? Younger?

This article says things more eloquently than I just did. You should read it and the BoingBoing entry if nothing else.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/09/boston-airport-.html

I know, maybe it was all a publicity stunt for Duracell!

We're one step closer to Star Trek, and Harry Potter!

Canadians can regrow teeth and bones.

Hopefully in a dental office near me before I lose any more teeth.