NEVER JET HOT

For when you want to know who is calling, what the company is calling about (and what they want), without having to call them unarmed for a battle of wits. 800notes.com comes in mighty handy. Lots of other consumer links there too.

Our local "consumer guy", Herb Weisbaum, is really scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to come up with "How to spend less on those last-minute gifts" tips. Get this; First, be skeptical of all sales. Sometimes the discounts aren't what they seem to be. "Because they're not based on the MSRP, the manufacturer's suggested retail price, but on a made up original price," said Shop Smart's Lisa Lee Freeman. What do they think the MSRP is? Somewhere along the line, someone has to pull a made-up price out of his or her ass. It's all made up. But wait! There's more; If you're shopping online, do it first thing in the morning. Shop Smart says you'll get the best deals that way. "They often offer good deals early in the day. That's when traffic is lighter so they're really trying to grab people and get sales," Freeman said. Yeah right! Like we have time to fart around with the website all day. I don't know ...

Took my ancient 91 Explorer to the Emissions check station, it still passed, even after almost 300 thousand miles. The guy seemed like he thought I should be so very proud, maybe give an acceptance speech, but I wanted to get out of there in case it decided to belch some smoke ala "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". You never know with these older cars. Seems unfair that my sister in a more rural part of the state does not have to get emissions checked to get vehicle tabs. She is fond of driving $500 Vista Cruisers and other land yachts that her husband picks up on Ebay or at auction, or maybe the good old Little Nickel Ads. They usually have rodents living in the glove box, lost the key you can start it with a nail- You know what I mean. I'm just jealous because I don't have the negotiating skills and I'm a sucker for a giant purple gorilla.

Best Buy manager calls police on guy trying to return a Tony Bennett CD Apparently mellowness is non-refundable. Best Buy employee even claimed it was a LAW that CD's could not be refunded. I had heard something else about Best Buy employees calling 911 because someone tried to use a $2 bill. I hope those Kitcat clock people don't come after me with the law (See Klock saga below) We really need to bring back customer service, courtesy and friendly, helpful sales people. Is that asking too much?