Light a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.

As Wells Fargo has moved into the 21st Century so have their banking options. Being a former employee of the Banking giant I am no stranger to the many wondrous products and services the love to offer. Even while on the phone with Customer Services you can expect to receive pitches. But they do have some products and services that have made my banking experience tolerable enough (barely) to pay a $35 overdraft fee even when I have a couple thousand in another account (or $10 overdraft fee if you have a credit card attached as Overdraft Protection). And so I shall list:

The offer Online Banking at their convenient Main Website. I hate going in so this has been great for me.

The offer free Online Bill Pay for students (or at least they did when I opened my account).

The offer recurring transfers between accounts for routine transactions. A great way to save money.

A new product that they launched not too long ago was their lightweight mobile website. www.wf.com.

These are the regulars.

Stick with me, I’m trying to be positive before I lay into them …and here we go.

Recently I noticed that you can have the Wells send you an email or a text message triggered by account states. Meaning that if I drop below $100 dollars in my checking account, I can get a message notifying me and I can be more careful with my money. (Did you know that all Wells Fargo locations are financed with Fees they collect from their customers? At least that is what I was told in Orientation five years ago.)

No problem, right? A great way to stay on top of your money, or at least that is what I thought until I set up the very scenario mentioned above (along with a couple of others). I receive the alerts, which is what the service is designed to do, HOWEVER I RECEIVE THEM AT 3 AM.

The first one I assumed was a fluke so I thought nothing of it. However, I have been receiving them for 6 months now and every one of them is in between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning.

“Now Stephe, why don’t you just turn them off?” Well, I sleep through them now, because I’m used to them. But my wife doesn’t.

“Six months later?!” I can hear you say. Well, my wife is patient (or afraid of me).

So I got on the website like a good customer and tried to find out how to change the time… no dice. Nothing on the subject. So I called Customer Support, and after offering me a new product they transfered me to the Online Baking department. After a wait and another product offer I was transfered to the Mobile Banking department. After a verbal disclosure that he was going to offer me more products and services I was told that the notification time could not be changed.

I repeated back to the rep, “So what I hear you telling me, and please correct me if I’m wrong but, if I’m going to receive the messages I have to do so at 3 to 4am?” He stammered for a bit and then recited something about “the time our servers switch over…” So I said that what I was hearing him say was “Yes, only between 3 and 4.” He didn’t rebut so I thanked him for his time and ended the conversation.

On that note, I’ve been thinking about starting a cellphone company that only provides services from 1 am to 5 am. Or an airline that only flies on Friday the 13ths and September 11ths.

My point is: I recognize this is an optional service that I am opting into, however it is unusable by the population at large. I cannot imagine someone interested in this unless they work the swing shift or they are avid ravers.

Advise: Wells Fargo if you would like to make a service to attract the younger, tech savvy customers to bank with you I recommend making it usable.

P.S.- Oh, and if I wanted to open another CD or get a Visa Debit Card for another of my accounts I’LL TELL YOU. Thanks.

I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.
- Clarence Darrow

What my wife affectionately refers to as “InfoTainment” is one of the many reasons that I do not watch TV.

InfoTainment |ˈinfō-tərˈtānmənt| -noun

•Useless information paraded as useful for entertainment purposes: Fox News is 70% infotainment.

•(A contraction of “information” and “entertainment”)

A problem I find with mainstream television is the blur of pertinent information and entertainment information.

Click Here to See Vid

Just after this appearance on Fox, Montel William’s 17 year show was canceled.

It continually amazes me that after a moment of insight what was once so mundane and typical is transformed to odd and Jamais vu*.

Picture from www.illustratorworld.com

*(French: “never seen” opposite of Deja vu)

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” -Marie Curie

My most recent insights have been from an educational film from a Professor at the University of Massachusetts named Sut Jhally . I watched a graphic but extremely enlightening interpretation of how the media (particularly the Music/Music Video Industry) and our culture are intertwined and interact. The film is called Dreamworlds 3.

The film discusses how music videos have moved from a cultural fringe to the mainstream, and how this change has effected our society in the form of cultural stories and cultural acceptability. The film shows footage of riots and group molestations caught on film and the startling, almost exact, similarities in some music videos.

The most moving and, and to be honest, the most disgusting part of the film discusses how the objectification of women in the media (in the makers opinion) is changing the inner understanding of how young girls view themselves and the world.

I would suggest it to any adult.

This film deals with subjects and content that is not for children or adolescents.

The film brings a type of accountably and rational that I have sensed lacking from our “mainstream” media. We should be holding makers and broadcasters of this content accountable for what they are encouraging.

This is you Viacom (in the form of MTV and BET), Sony BMG, Warner, and Universal.

Watch at your own risk, anything you watch.

Thank you Mr. Sut Jhally. I appreciate your thoughts.

        The Scooter Lounge is the best and, in my opinion, the only place to buy or repair a scooter in Utah County. The guys there have sold me parts for my scooter a couple of times over the last 3 years. They are great, honest, and will be inconvenienced a little just to do what is right for YOU, the customer.

        This last summer I got 3 flats on my scoot and didn’t have any cash. (Now, in telling all of you this I don’t mean to imply that you should do the same, but with that said…) The guys at the Scooter Lounge let me use their pry-bar to get my tire off of the wheel to replace the tube. They let me use their pry-bar in their shop for FREE, and they were really cool to do so. Granted I  bought the tire from the Scooter Lounge, but come on, no where else would that happen.

         Point of Story: This guy Farzad Fard is screwing them over. He has written them bad checks and now is threatening a law suit because they decided to do the public a favor and let everyone one know, who reads their blog, that this guy won’t pay.  

Mr. Fard I hope you get your just deserts from your actions.