Some random thoughts … with just five weeks before pitchers and catchers report.
– Learned an important lesson last week. Cell phones are only inexpensive when you initially buy them, at the ‘promotional rate.’
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The other day I rushed my favorite – and only – pair of blue jeans down to the washer, where a dark load had just gotten started. So what’s that got to do with the costs of cell phones? Well, my small, lightweight, exceptionally convenient (but not water resistant) cell phone was in the front pocket of those jeans. When I asked at the retail dealer about replacing it with a $40 cell phone, the salesperson had to stifle a laugh.
“You don’t have any $40 cell phones in this store?” I asked. “Like the ones I see on the wall over there – the ones with the $40 sticker attached to them?”
“No, those are just promotional prices,” she said.
So I learned a valuable lesson. Check those pockets, because $139.99 is a lot to spend to get a pair of pants washed.
– This Wednesday night (Jan. 12) marks a monumental event in the capital city. Stanley Weiss’ Hotel Providence and its accompanying restaurant, L’Epicureo, are opening. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri is expected to be on hand for a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony.
– If you’re someone who speaks on behalf of your company or organization, take note. Accountemps has released a survey of the most annoying terms and phrases in the workplace. So check your notes, and if any of these shows up in your next speech or press release – shame on you: “At the end of the day.” “Thinking outside the box.” “Synergy.” “Paradigm.” “Metrics.” “Redeployed people.” “Win-win.” “Value-added.” “Customer centric.” “Core competency.”
– It’s not such a good idea to make a doctor’s appointment the first week of January. Trust me on that.
– With the new year, the Providence Journal has instituted a new policy – paid obituaries.
It’s easy for me to take a shot at the Journal here. We don’t run obits, and so, this is not an issue at this newspaper. But I’ve been reading – and enjoying – the Journal for 30 years. It has earned the right to call itself Rhode Island’s community paper. That’s why it is so disturbing to think that as part of an effort to boost revenues, the Journal is now charging for obits.
The spin on the move is this. It’s a good thing for the public, which can now have more control over the copy in the obit, as it has become very much an advertising vehicle. But consider other aspects of this issue.
First off, who controls the copy? Who gets to say when something is inappropriate? Who checks the facts? Not only the obvious ones, but the subtle ones. The ones that say someone was the leading force behind starting an organization or the author of a book, the starting shortstop on a championship team.
Who’s to say what can get in the paper with revisionist history gone wild?
And think about something else. What about all the people who really can’t afford to pay for an obituary – the people from the poorest of our neighborhoods? These aren’t going to be cheap.
During the week, they are going to cost nearly $7 per line, or nearly $100 per inch. On Sundays, it’s nearly $8 per line or $110 per inch. Go ahead, get out a ruler and add it up.
What about the folks who see a $400 or $500 or $600 bill and say, ‘Nevermind’? They’ll just be gone. A legal notice is all that is left to remember them.
The Journal can point to some other papers that already do this. But that doesn’t make it right.
