Category: General Nonsense || By

It was a little quiet around here last week (too quiet, as they say in the cowboy movies).

The reason (besides plain old laziness) was simple. I've seen the server logs for tubecityonline.com, and traffic plummets on weekends and during holidays. (It's not exactly the most popular website in the world anyway.)

That tells me, by the way, that a lot of you are reading The Almanac at work. Just wait'll I tell your boss.

But I've been around, and I hope your Christmas and New Year's were pleasant.

. . .

Remember recently when I ranted a bit about locally owned businesses that ignore their customers? Allow me to vent my spleen at a national business that does the same thing.

My brother has a birthday, and I had two great, can't-miss ideas for presents. He's become a hockey fan in the last couple of years, so my first idea was to snag a couple of tickets to a Penguins game for him and his buddies.

Ha ha ha! Did I and Ticketmaster have a nice chuckle over that one. For the remainder of the season, they have almost nothing available except for $40 "standing-room only" tickets. And even then they can't guarantee you won't have an obstructed view.

. . .

Basically, if you buy any Pens tickets from Ticketmaster right now, you're paying $40 for the right to visit the Mellon Arena.

That's some racket they've got. Have I mentioned lately that your tax money is financing a new arena? I can't wait to see what ticket prices are in the new joint.

Yeah, I could have dealt with one of those ticket brokers that advertises in the back of the newspaper classifieds, or as I call them, "thieves." Look, I love my brother, but I wasn't planning to declare bankruptcy in 2008.

. . .

My second idea for a present was ... well, I'm not going to say, exactly. But what I wanted to buy him is sold by a large, publicly-traded national chain, and the description of the product is in the chain's name.

I visited a few of the bigger Mon Valley outlets of this national chain, and looked for the product that's in its name. They didn't have any.

I finally asked a clerk, "Where are the (products in the name of the store)?"

. . .

The clerk said: "Oh, we sold out at Christmas. Would you like to buy a (completely different product) instead?"

"No," I said. "Are you getting any more (products in the name of the store)?"

"I dunno," he said, "but you can order one from our website."

"Do you only carry one variety of (products in the name of the store) now?" I asked.

"We carry a couple of different ones on the website," he said, "but we only carry one model in the store now."

. . .

Picture this scenario: You go into Pizza Hut and order a pizza.

"We're out of pizza," the waitress says. "Would you like spaghetti?"

"No, I want pizza," you say. "This is Pizza Hut."

"We sold out of pizza," she says. "But you can go to our website and order a pizza, and they'll ship it to you."

Look, I don't like Pizza Hut's pizza that much. If I have to look somewhere else for a pizza, I'll get a better one, and I sure won't waste my time with Pizza Hut any more.

. . .

That's why my brother is going to get his birthday present a little bit late, and I hope he understands.

I wound up ordering a better (product in the name of the large national chain) from one of the large, national chain's competitors ... an independent retailer called Universal Radio in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

And --- by the way --- Universal is a locally owned business. (They're "local" to Central Ohio, that's all.)

I've bought from Universal before, and if you have a gadget buff in your family who might like a nice AM/FM portable, or a digital shortwave set, or something similar, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

And as far as Radio Shack goes, they can kiss my Hungarian butt in 2008.

. . .

You, on the other hand, have my very sincerest wishes for a safe, happy and prosperous New Year.

I have some big plans for tubecityonline.com and The Almanac this year, so stay tuned.