Two Years of the Early PC Revolution in the Great Land
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I've blogged a few times about my early career selling small (PC) systems in Alaska. I don't know why I gravitated to the seamy side of those experiences - other than iI found them really funny and they were in fact some of my earliest successes in system sales.
I basically spent two years of my early career in Alaska, first at ComputerLand and then at a Radio Shack Computer Center. By far my favorite of the two was ComputerLand.
During those two years I really had a rocket boost of a start. Small business was truly excited to be able to harness the new generation of computers and the new kinds of software being invnted almost daily. I'm sure that Alaska was somewhat behind the curve (at that time, Alaska was behind in most technologies), but the people I met were serious and quickly became adept at what they were purchasing.
One of the coolest aspects of my experience was selling into and often traveling to really remote parts of the state to install the systems I was selling. This was really focused on the installation of the hardware at that time, with a much smaller focus on installation and training of software. New users were quite willing to read manuals to get going with their software.
I was installing relatively advanced systems in remote villages such as Bethel, Alaska in buildings and businesses that had no indoor plumbing. More than once I was a "guest" in such places until my "hosts" felt the job had been done to their satisfaction. Business folks in Alaska don't mess around.
Some of my favorite memories of those learning experiences:
- Installing an Osborne "portable" on a sailboat getting ready to sail around the world
- Working with the lady in Barrow who owned the three key businesses in town - the cafe, the bas station, and the Honey Pumper (Septic system pumping and dumping)
- An electrical contracting business in Bethel (loved those folks)
- A marine repair and sales company in Homer, for whom I customized accounting software for marine Point of Sale
- An actuarial in Fairbanks
- A dentist in Palmer (who later offered to back me in business)
- School districts all over the state
I have to say that those first generations of business systems and much of the new software often didn't work all that well - and dealing with the very small capacity floppy disks was always problematic. Still customers took it on the chin and kept on plugging away.
I recall working with a writer in Anchorage who bought literally every word processing software program we carried or could get our hands on at ComputerLand - probably at least 5. That was her living and profession, and she wanted what she used to really work for her.
I sold a terrible system (Altos MP/M) to a law office - unfortunately, my dad's law office :(. My dad was a great customer and always supportive of me, but the fact is that law offices really needed to stick with the specialized systems available to them; PC's weren't ready for the job for law offices until the later 80's in my opinion. I learned a lot installing that system, but it was a bust. Fortunately the senior partner in my dad's firm had redlined the heck out of his bank lease contract, so they weren't stuck with the system - but it was a black eye I did not forget. I'd say Dad had at least three bad experiences buying systems from me however - perhaps a blog in itself. He never said a word about it - I think he just wanted to support my career. Thankfully I finally learned to say "No" and refer him to specialists, but I still appreciate the chance to work with him.
I spent my last 10 months in Alaska outside of the computer industry. A customer hired me away from the computer center to run the system I'd sold them. While this was a career mistake in retrospect, it was one of the most rewarding thing I did because of the great lifelong friendships I made at that company - with people who were very supportive during a difficult period in my personal life. But that's a part of the Fortune story, the last I'll relate about Alaska before moving on to the next phase.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Sunday, February 25, 2018
The Modern Cell Phone Upgrade
Upon visiting a very calm Apple store that was nowhere near as busy as the stores in my area, I got a real chance to play with the current generation of Apple Watch, and actually decided to buy one. This decision was highly facilitated by the fact that I was on vacation, and by the fact as mentioned that this particular Apple store was not very buys, and I had plenty of time with a knowledgeable young lady to assist.
The chain of events that ensued was a real eye-opener in terms of the current IPhone upgrade process.
As to why I actually have been eyeing the Apple Watch for a while: I've always been interested, but have grown averse to being an early adopter. I was also leery of the fact that I can barely see a computer screen these days, much less something as small as the Watch. I have not worn a watch for years for that simple reason. However, I found that I could read the white-on-black clock faces easily - and also that the Watch is compatible with my Dexcom G5 blood sugar sensor, which I monitor frequently. Doing so with the Watch is really convenient.
With the new full cellular capability, I must admit it is hard to resist the "Joe Jitsu Calling Dick Tracy" aspect. It is really amazing to watch the technologies foreseen by Hollywood come to life.
So: Decision made, I purchased my Apple Watch. I chose not to try to use or configure it while on vacation, and waited until we returned home. As always, the unboxing ceremony once I sat down to set up the Watch was quite the experience: You gotta love Apple packaging.
The setup went along pretty smoothly: The Watch paired with my Iphone 6s easily. and I was able to walk through the whole process on the Iphone and did not have to use the small watch screen.
All went well until I went to set up the cellular part. I received an error message that "My phone was not HD audio capable". It gave me a hone number to call for Watch Support, which I did. This was actually calling AT&T (my cell carrier). I reached someone possibly from India, but who was again very professional and knowledgeable (and immediately available) - but who informed my that my Iphone 6S SIM card was not compatible with a functioned needed called "Number Syncing".
Ok. So now I have to go get a new SIM card, which I clearly could not do at 9pm. This also got me to thinking about finally replacing my 6S, which has been having a lot of problems and had been getting slower and slower. I was slightly burned that the first young lady I worked with did not mention this could be a problem (she knew what kind of phone I had).
The next day, I went first to the AT&T store to get a new SIM for teh 6S just in case I was not ready to get a new phone. Again, worked with a terrific and knowledgeable young person that not only helped but gave me the new SIM free of charge.
I then went to the Apple store. My local Apple store (Alderwood Mall) was actually closing for 2 months the very next day for remodeling, and they had only one Iphone 8+ left, which was AT&T specific. Perfect.
For the next two hours, a young man named Spencer patiently helped me as we struggled through the upgrade process. A lot has to happen to upgrade:
- Backing your data up to the Cloud
- Accessing many of the accounts you use with your phone. In my case, this included my Apple account, my gmail account, my Dexcom account, the logins on one of my home Macs, my AT&T account, and one or two others I'm forgetting. Bear in mind all of these accounts have different logins and passwords, all different and any of which would have stopped us in our tracks if I could not remember. Had to go through the "lost password" procedure for Dexcom.
- Many of those services also use 2-factor authentication, meaning they wanted to text me information on my phone for security purposes - yes, the phone that was being upgraded.
- I had to upgrade both the Iphone and the Watch operating system software.
- Because I'd already started the Watch installation on my old phone, we actually had to unpair the Watch and start over on the new phone. (Ultimately, I hd to do this again from home).
- Restoring your data from the Cloud
So what was the net?
Well, to actually use the Watch I purchased, I went through a full 24 hours of effort - probably taking at least 6 hours of my time to complete. Thankfully, every one of my providers really gave me excellent service without which I'd have been hard put to complete the process. Accessing all of the accounts and passwords were the most difficult parts.
As for the result - I'm pretty happy with the Watch, and definitely happy with the new PHone. I opted for the Iphone 8+ over the Iphone 10 based on my nephew Christian's advice, and on feedback I've heard, especially around the face recognition tech. I'll let others be the early adopter on that. The performance of the new phone is truly amazing.
I have to say it is fun to wear a watch again. I've used my phone as a watch for along time, but it's not that convenient. Also, being able to monitor my blood sugar on the watch is very convenient and much easier. I'm looking forward to tracking daily exercise on it as well.
I'm left wondering what future phone upgrades will look like for the average Joe. As a (former) technology person, I have a lot of respect for everything that has to happen in order to transition from one device to another securely. However, this seems far more complex than the last time I upgraded and I've owned every Iphone model since the 2 except the 7). I was asked for my social security number 3 times by 3 different organizations in the process.
I was really struck by the expertise of the young folks that I worked with, and the natural ease with which they handled the issues that we encountered. I was also struck by the staggering escalation of the costs of the devices. Perhaps this just reflects the increasing role they play in our daily lives.
The only data that I know was lost in the transfer was the local Dexcom data - but that's not important, since it is stored in the Cloud for reporting purposes.
When you're purchasing a new device, be sure to ask good questions about whether that device will work with everything you already have. When you're upgrading to the next generation, be prepared with all of your accounts and passwords, you'll need them - and set aside time to go through the process if you want to get back to where you were!
Now I understand my friends that are still on their Iphone 4's and 5's.....
Upon visiting a very calm Apple store that was nowhere near as busy as the stores in my area, I got a real chance to play with the current generation of Apple Watch, and actually decided to buy one. This decision was highly facilitated by the fact that I was on vacation, and by the fact as mentioned that this particular Apple store was not very buys, and I had plenty of time with a knowledgeable young lady to assist.
The chain of events that ensued was a real eye-opener in terms of the current IPhone upgrade process.
As to why I actually have been eyeing the Apple Watch for a while: I've always been interested, but have grown averse to being an early adopter. I was also leery of the fact that I can barely see a computer screen these days, much less something as small as the Watch. I have not worn a watch for years for that simple reason. However, I found that I could read the white-on-black clock faces easily - and also that the Watch is compatible with my Dexcom G5 blood sugar sensor, which I monitor frequently. Doing so with the Watch is really convenient.
With the new full cellular capability, I must admit it is hard to resist the "Joe Jitsu Calling Dick Tracy" aspect. It is really amazing to watch the technologies foreseen by Hollywood come to life.
So: Decision made, I purchased my Apple Watch. I chose not to try to use or configure it while on vacation, and waited until we returned home. As always, the unboxing ceremony once I sat down to set up the Watch was quite the experience: You gotta love Apple packaging.
The setup went along pretty smoothly: The Watch paired with my Iphone 6s easily. and I was able to walk through the whole process on the Iphone and did not have to use the small watch screen.
All went well until I went to set up the cellular part. I received an error message that "My phone was not HD audio capable". It gave me a hone number to call for Watch Support, which I did. This was actually calling AT&T (my cell carrier). I reached someone possibly from India, but who was again very professional and knowledgeable (and immediately available) - but who informed my that my Iphone 6S SIM card was not compatible with a functioned needed called "Number Syncing".
Ok. So now I have to go get a new SIM card, which I clearly could not do at 9pm. This also got me to thinking about finally replacing my 6S, which has been having a lot of problems and had been getting slower and slower. I was slightly burned that the first young lady I worked with did not mention this could be a problem (she knew what kind of phone I had).
The next day, I went first to the AT&T store to get a new SIM for teh 6S just in case I was not ready to get a new phone. Again, worked with a terrific and knowledgeable young person that not only helped but gave me the new SIM free of charge.
I then went to the Apple store. My local Apple store (Alderwood Mall) was actually closing for 2 months the very next day for remodeling, and they had only one Iphone 8+ left, which was AT&T specific. Perfect.
For the next two hours, a young man named Spencer patiently helped me as we struggled through the upgrade process. A lot has to happen to upgrade:
- Backing your data up to the Cloud
- Accessing many of the accounts you use with your phone. In my case, this included my Apple account, my gmail account, my Dexcom account, the logins on one of my home Macs, my AT&T account, and one or two others I'm forgetting. Bear in mind all of these accounts have different logins and passwords, all different and any of which would have stopped us in our tracks if I could not remember. Had to go through the "lost password" procedure for Dexcom.
- Many of those services also use 2-factor authentication, meaning they wanted to text me information on my phone for security purposes - yes, the phone that was being upgraded.
- I had to upgrade both the Iphone and the Watch operating system software.
- Because I'd already started the Watch installation on my old phone, we actually had to unpair the Watch and start over on the new phone. (Ultimately, I hd to do this again from home).
- Restoring your data from the Cloud
So what was the net?
Well, to actually use the Watch I purchased, I went through a full 24 hours of effort - probably taking at least 6 hours of my time to complete. Thankfully, every one of my providers really gave me excellent service without which I'd have been hard put to complete the process. Accessing all of the accounts and passwords were the most difficult parts.
As for the result - I'm pretty happy with the Watch, and definitely happy with the new PHone. I opted for the Iphone 8+ over the Iphone 10 based on my nephew Christian's advice, and on feedback I've heard, especially around the face recognition tech. I'll let others be the early adopter on that. The performance of the new phone is truly amazing.
I have to say it is fun to wear a watch again. I've used my phone as a watch for along time, but it's not that convenient. Also, being able to monitor my blood sugar on the watch is very convenient and much easier. I'm looking forward to tracking daily exercise on it as well.
I'm left wondering what future phone upgrades will look like for the average Joe. As a (former) technology person, I have a lot of respect for everything that has to happen in order to transition from one device to another securely. However, this seems far more complex than the last time I upgraded and I've owned every Iphone model since the 2 except the 7). I was asked for my social security number 3 times by 3 different organizations in the process.
I was really struck by the expertise of the young folks that I worked with, and the natural ease with which they handled the issues that we encountered. I was also struck by the staggering escalation of the costs of the devices. Perhaps this just reflects the increasing role they play in our daily lives.
The only data that I know was lost in the transfer was the local Dexcom data - but that's not important, since it is stored in the Cloud for reporting purposes.
When you're purchasing a new device, be sure to ask good questions about whether that device will work with everything you already have. When you're upgrading to the next generation, be prepared with all of your accounts and passwords, you'll need them - and set aside time to go through the process if you want to get back to where you were!
Now I understand my friends that are still on their Iphone 4's and 5's.....
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Chase Bank and the Half-Percent Return
In which we (hopefully) conclude our Chase Bank saga.
This saga began near the end of my tale, with the disappearance of funds from our Chase Account, and the small drama that followed. But immediately following The Credit Judgement and the Missing Data, there was one last final straw that got us off our backsides and prompted us to flee Chase.
As you'll recall, we visited our branch to review our investment accounts, and discovered our accounts had been frozen because Chase didn't know where I worked. After that was straightened out, we sat down to review our investment results for the year. This was in roughly June of 2017.
Anne and myself both had separate IRA accounts, and that is primarily what we were reviewing.
Bear in mind that at this time, the stock market had been on what amounts to an 8 year rally, and was climbing even higher after the election and in the first months of 2017. Of course, our investment portfolio was not just made up of stocks - we are not super aggressive and have a balanced "moderate risk" portfolio. However, we do have the SAME risk portfolio between the two accounts.
First we reviewed the performance of my IRA investments. They came in at around 5%. Certainly far from spectacular given the 20% stock market rise over the preceding year, but as I said it was our choice to have a balanced portfolio.
Then we reviewed Anne's portfolio. She had received a return of 1/2 percent in the same time period.
The bankers tried to make the excuse that a difference in when the funds were invested was the reason for this discrepancy and the absolutely pitiful performance of Anne's account. They tried to tell us that we have to look at the fund performance "over a 10 year period". Finally, they admitted that particular fund manager had "made some mistakes".
However you slice it, 1/2 percent return during the biggest bull market in history was pitiful and inexcusable. I bluntly told our "team" how I felt about their services and performance and how we'd been treated, and made sure they understood that when we removed every penny of our money from their bank, that their superiors would know why.
And sow here we are at what is (hopefully) the end of my tale. As anyone who has changed banks knows, it is a tremendous hassle to do so when you've sent up electronic banking, automated deposits and transfers, electronic bill pay, investments, and all the other things that can be set up. Most of this has fallen on Anne, and it has been a lot of effort.
It took us some time to decide where our life savings would be secure. We felt that Chase Bank was simply acting as large banks do these days. With the recent Wells Fargo scandal and going back to the 2008 bailouts, it is obvious that the large national banks feel they are untouchable and can do what they want; there is no accountability.
This series has been full to TMI (too much information), but I'll relate that we decided to split our savings between an investment broker, a small (operational) amount in a commercial bank, and some of the balance in a large credit union.
My motivation in relating our experiences was to provide a cautionary tale, as I think we really have to keep an eye on the bankers. Like big insurance, banking is "legislated into existence", protected, and really has control of your access to your own money. They are not playing by any rules that I understand any more.
And yes, I'm ticked off about it. Over the last two years, "our" bank at which we were a "private client" refused us credit, froze our accounts, accused us of wrongdoing because we sold our house and deposited the proceeds, provided horrible returns on our investments during the biggest bull market in history, and allowed hackers (internal or external) to drain funds from our account with no explanation.
Current Status Update on missing funds: We received a letter from Chase indicating they may yet charge our accounts for the inexplicable transactions if they "find them to be valid". We learned that they believe someone called in to Chase and received help from an operator to perform the transactions that paid off credit cards not owned by us. They have not explained how the transaction could have been physically done, who did it, or whose credit cards were paid off. Seems to em that Chase has a really big multi-faceted problem that has nothing to do with us.
We hope this is the end of the story, but we'll see!
Happy Banking!
In which we (hopefully) conclude our Chase Bank saga.
This saga began near the end of my tale, with the disappearance of funds from our Chase Account, and the small drama that followed. But immediately following The Credit Judgement and the Missing Data, there was one last final straw that got us off our backsides and prompted us to flee Chase.
As you'll recall, we visited our branch to review our investment accounts, and discovered our accounts had been frozen because Chase didn't know where I worked. After that was straightened out, we sat down to review our investment results for the year. This was in roughly June of 2017.
Anne and myself both had separate IRA accounts, and that is primarily what we were reviewing.
Bear in mind that at this time, the stock market had been on what amounts to an 8 year rally, and was climbing even higher after the election and in the first months of 2017. Of course, our investment portfolio was not just made up of stocks - we are not super aggressive and have a balanced "moderate risk" portfolio. However, we do have the SAME risk portfolio between the two accounts.
First we reviewed the performance of my IRA investments. They came in at around 5%. Certainly far from spectacular given the 20% stock market rise over the preceding year, but as I said it was our choice to have a balanced portfolio.
Then we reviewed Anne's portfolio. She had received a return of 1/2 percent in the same time period.
The bankers tried to make the excuse that a difference in when the funds were invested was the reason for this discrepancy and the absolutely pitiful performance of Anne's account. They tried to tell us that we have to look at the fund performance "over a 10 year period". Finally, they admitted that particular fund manager had "made some mistakes".
However you slice it, 1/2 percent return during the biggest bull market in history was pitiful and inexcusable. I bluntly told our "team" how I felt about their services and performance and how we'd been treated, and made sure they understood that when we removed every penny of our money from their bank, that their superiors would know why.
And sow here we are at what is (hopefully) the end of my tale. As anyone who has changed banks knows, it is a tremendous hassle to do so when you've sent up electronic banking, automated deposits and transfers, electronic bill pay, investments, and all the other things that can be set up. Most of this has fallen on Anne, and it has been a lot of effort.
It took us some time to decide where our life savings would be secure. We felt that Chase Bank was simply acting as large banks do these days. With the recent Wells Fargo scandal and going back to the 2008 bailouts, it is obvious that the large national banks feel they are untouchable and can do what they want; there is no accountability.
This series has been full to TMI (too much information), but I'll relate that we decided to split our savings between an investment broker, a small (operational) amount in a commercial bank, and some of the balance in a large credit union.
My motivation in relating our experiences was to provide a cautionary tale, as I think we really have to keep an eye on the bankers. Like big insurance, banking is "legislated into existence", protected, and really has control of your access to your own money. They are not playing by any rules that I understand any more.
And yes, I'm ticked off about it. Over the last two years, "our" bank at which we were a "private client" refused us credit, froze our accounts, accused us of wrongdoing because we sold our house and deposited the proceeds, provided horrible returns on our investments during the biggest bull market in history, and allowed hackers (internal or external) to drain funds from our account with no explanation.
Current Status Update on missing funds: We received a letter from Chase indicating they may yet charge our accounts for the inexplicable transactions if they "find them to be valid". We learned that they believe someone called in to Chase and received help from an operator to perform the transactions that paid off credit cards not owned by us. They have not explained how the transaction could have been physically done, who did it, or whose credit cards were paid off. Seems to em that Chase has a really big multi-faceted problem that has nothing to do with us.
We hope this is the end of the story, but we'll see!
Happy Banking!
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Chase Bank and the Mystery of the Missing Data
Continuing a blog series on our adventures with Chase Bank....
A few months after being kicked to the curb on a mortgage loan - after we'd decided to move away from Chase but before we'd done anything about it - we received correspondence from Chase regarding the n"need to update their files with our current data". Anne and I both received separate letters.
Now bear in mind that we'd had our accounts at Chase for years - not just normal banking, but IRA accounts invested through Chase. We'd also had our business accounts there (and still did), and even had a substantial business line of credit that we had never used. In addition to all of these, we had just gone through a complete loan process, which of course included re-providing all of the personal information needed for a loan. Yet, here Chase was asking us to update our information.
The letters even had some urgency to them, vaguely indicating 'government regulators" needed the information.
I must also relate here again the consequences for Chase refusing to finance our mortgage. We'd decided to simply pay cash for our new house. While this was not a comfortable position to be in, we were in the process of selling our Woodinville house and at that point would be OK again. As we had completed the transaction on our new house, we had of course taken the money out of our Chase accounts. Since we had also sold our Woodinville house, we had also put the money BACK IN to our Chase accounts. File this piece of data away for a few minutes.
Anne provided to Chase via telephone what little information they actually wanted to update. They would not allow her to provide the information they needed for me. I was in no hurry to do so, and we had an upcoming meeting with our "investment team" at Chase so I knew I could do it then.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, to the day of that appointment.
We arrived at the bank around 4pm, and sat down to wait for Joe our investment banking contact. Joe was going to update us on the performance of our investments. Anne went up to the teller to get some cash.
She came back a few minutes later with a funny look on her face. "They wouldn't give me any cash", she said. "Our accounts are frozen".
WHAT??
For a few moments i experienced what a lot of people must have felt like in 192 and in the following years of bank failures, on being told their money was gone.
We double checked, including at the cash machine. Yup, our accounts were frozen. Would could not access a penny from any account. The tellers could not tell us why.
Well, we had an appointment with the very guys we needed to talk to anyway, so we got right down to business.
"Why the hell are our accounts FROZEN?", I asked.
Joe and a cohort fumbled and mumbled and checked their systems.
"You haven't provided some needed information the bank has requested," they said.
"And Chase Bank finds that suitable grounds for freezing customer accounts?" I asked. "Do I need to call my attorney?"
They felt they could take care of it and got to work doing so, but I pressed them and the now-present bank manager on the issue.
"Who do you think you are freezing our accounts without so much as a phone call? What does 'private client' even mean around here?"
I was astounded that they could even take such an action.
I finally asked the person "taking care of the situation' just exactly what information they needed that I had not provided.
"We need your current employer", he said.
That's it???
Well, my current employer certainly had not changed since we applied for a loan. I told them this and few other choice observations.
Then, they also indicated that we had made several large deposits and withdrawals recently.
"Do you mean the ones we had to make because we had to pay cash for our new house because we are not credit worthy?" I asked sweetly. "Are those two transactions the SEVERAL transactions you are talking about?"
I relate these blog chapters as a cautionary tale: Banks are not only making no sense in what they do, with many examples of customer fraud and predatory practices - but they feel they can take actions such as freezing your accounts for next to no reason with no notification. They are not accountable, and this has become worse under the new administration in Washington.
If they could casually freeze our accounts for essentially no cause, they could do it to anyone, Freezing an account is a very big deal, and if you have a valid reason for doing so, they don't get unfrozen in 10 minutes' time, which is what happened.
We certainly considered that our intrepid branch team could simply have been fucking with us.
We had certainly let them know how we felt about how we had been treated and what we thought of the "private client" program. We'd also let them know that we'd be moving our assets away from their bank. The timing of our accounts being frozen on the same day as our appointment seemed a bit too coincidental.
After they managed to unfreeze our accounts because they now had the needed critical data, we proceeded on to our investment review - but that's for the (possibly) last blog chapter in this series, "Chase Bank and the Half Percent Return"
Happy Valentines Day!
Continuing a blog series on our adventures with Chase Bank....
A few months after being kicked to the curb on a mortgage loan - after we'd decided to move away from Chase but before we'd done anything about it - we received correspondence from Chase regarding the n"need to update their files with our current data". Anne and I both received separate letters.
Now bear in mind that we'd had our accounts at Chase for years - not just normal banking, but IRA accounts invested through Chase. We'd also had our business accounts there (and still did), and even had a substantial business line of credit that we had never used. In addition to all of these, we had just gone through a complete loan process, which of course included re-providing all of the personal information needed for a loan. Yet, here Chase was asking us to update our information.
The letters even had some urgency to them, vaguely indicating 'government regulators" needed the information.
I must also relate here again the consequences for Chase refusing to finance our mortgage. We'd decided to simply pay cash for our new house. While this was not a comfortable position to be in, we were in the process of selling our Woodinville house and at that point would be OK again. As we had completed the transaction on our new house, we had of course taken the money out of our Chase accounts. Since we had also sold our Woodinville house, we had also put the money BACK IN to our Chase accounts. File this piece of data away for a few minutes.
Anne provided to Chase via telephone what little information they actually wanted to update. They would not allow her to provide the information they needed for me. I was in no hurry to do so, and we had an upcoming meeting with our "investment team" at Chase so I knew I could do it then.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, to the day of that appointment.
We arrived at the bank around 4pm, and sat down to wait for Joe our investment banking contact. Joe was going to update us on the performance of our investments. Anne went up to the teller to get some cash.
She came back a few minutes later with a funny look on her face. "They wouldn't give me any cash", she said. "Our accounts are frozen".
WHAT??
For a few moments i experienced what a lot of people must have felt like in 192 and in the following years of bank failures, on being told their money was gone.
We double checked, including at the cash machine. Yup, our accounts were frozen. Would could not access a penny from any account. The tellers could not tell us why.
Well, we had an appointment with the very guys we needed to talk to anyway, so we got right down to business.
"Why the hell are our accounts FROZEN?", I asked.
Joe and a cohort fumbled and mumbled and checked their systems.
"You haven't provided some needed information the bank has requested," they said.
"And Chase Bank finds that suitable grounds for freezing customer accounts?" I asked. "Do I need to call my attorney?"
They felt they could take care of it and got to work doing so, but I pressed them and the now-present bank manager on the issue.
"Who do you think you are freezing our accounts without so much as a phone call? What does 'private client' even mean around here?"
I was astounded that they could even take such an action.
I finally asked the person "taking care of the situation' just exactly what information they needed that I had not provided.
"We need your current employer", he said.
That's it???
Well, my current employer certainly had not changed since we applied for a loan. I told them this and few other choice observations.
Then, they also indicated that we had made several large deposits and withdrawals recently.
"Do you mean the ones we had to make because we had to pay cash for our new house because we are not credit worthy?" I asked sweetly. "Are those two transactions the SEVERAL transactions you are talking about?"
I relate these blog chapters as a cautionary tale: Banks are not only making no sense in what they do, with many examples of customer fraud and predatory practices - but they feel they can take actions such as freezing your accounts for next to no reason with no notification. They are not accountable, and this has become worse under the new administration in Washington.
If they could casually freeze our accounts for essentially no cause, they could do it to anyone, Freezing an account is a very big deal, and if you have a valid reason for doing so, they don't get unfrozen in 10 minutes' time, which is what happened.
We certainly considered that our intrepid branch team could simply have been fucking with us.
We had certainly let them know how we felt about how we had been treated and what we thought of the "private client" program. We'd also let them know that we'd be moving our assets away from their bank. The timing of our accounts being frozen on the same day as our appointment seemed a bit too coincidental.
After they managed to unfreeze our accounts because they now had the needed critical data, we proceeded on to our investment review - but that's for the (possibly) last blog chapter in this series, "Chase Bank and the Half Percent Return"
Happy Valentines Day!
Monday, February 12, 2018
A Few Moments Enjoying the Quiet Class of Bygone Days
I rolled out this morning to execute my already established weekday routine of retirement. After the usuals and retrieving my coffee, I turned on the talking heads of cable news, expecting the usual repetitive yammering... to a very pleasant surprise: Calm, peaceful coverage of a dignified ceremony to present the official portraits of President and Mrs. Barack Obama.
Normally, this would not be my cup of tea but I found myself very attracted to a few calm minutes watching the Obamas humbly and gratefully, yet with quiet dignity and self deprecating humor accept this simple honor.
Even though I always felt that Barack Obama was handed the worst situation that any president has ever inherited, I felt he steadily and steadfastly overcame those obstacles to lead this country back to prosperity - at a high cost, yes, but that was also baked into what he stepped into.
That said, I was not an Obama fanboy...despite the total opposition he faced from the right. I felt President Obama could have done more, and I felt he threw in the towel a bit early at the end of his term. I always had respect for the President however, and he was treated very poorly by a lot of people.
Listening to him speak today, I remembered that I also felt other things during his presidency that I now miss.
I felt Mr. Obama was a decent man. I knew where he'd be coming from and basic civility and morality.
I felt the President approached the job with humility and respect, and humor - as he did in the ceremony today. I don't remember every seeing him brag or personally bash the opposition.
I felt I knew where Back Obama would be coming from on basic issues of morality, human rights, racism, respect for women, and civility.
I felt Mr. Obama represented this country with dignity and an eye to the long term.
While the Obamas are well off, relatively speaking they are upper middle class working people (at least while in office, like most presidents they are doing better since leaving office) n inflation-adjusted dollars. They felt far more like regular people than today's (self pronounced) billionaires. Watching them adjust to and deal with life in the White House looked like the struggles regular people would go through.
Despite the bag of goods eh was handed, I really don't recall Back Obama blaming those difficulties on W. By contrast, HE is now blamed even though he handed over a booming economy and stock market (This is, when the new administration is not taking credit for those same things).
As I watched the proceedings this morning, I was really struck by the soft-spoken humility of Michelle and Barack, so sharply contrasting with the bellicose blustering braggadocio we see almost every day. It was also refreshing to see a first couple with true respect and admiration for each other (the president referred multiple time to how the artist had captured her class but also her "hotness", which tickled my funny bone).
The class, decency, and humanity of the past and of good leadership is too easily drowned out by the egotistical, brash squalling of the "me first, me only" potential despot with behavioral lines. Every moment they spent in gratitude accepting and presenting their portraits was more powerful than a dozen nasty tweets. As a people, we are too responsive to such negative means., but the calmness and relative nobility of these two people that served their country well calls for more than simply to continue the argument on this page. In the long run, I believe that our better angels will win out over the dangers we face.
I was very surprised that all three of the major cable news outlets, including Fox, seemmed to carry the entire proceeding. None of them were talking over the quiet speeches, which went on for some time. Perhaps the media too was glad from the frantic, high decibel daily drubbing delivered from and to the administration, the congress, and the people thereof.
I am deeply disturbed and concerned by what is going on in government and media today. It truly was nice to have a short break from both. We could use a few more calm minutes in cable news.
Congrats to the Obamas, I thought their portraits were well done.
I rolled out this morning to execute my already established weekday routine of retirement. After the usuals and retrieving my coffee, I turned on the talking heads of cable news, expecting the usual repetitive yammering... to a very pleasant surprise: Calm, peaceful coverage of a dignified ceremony to present the official portraits of President and Mrs. Barack Obama.
Normally, this would not be my cup of tea but I found myself very attracted to a few calm minutes watching the Obamas humbly and gratefully, yet with quiet dignity and self deprecating humor accept this simple honor.
Even though I always felt that Barack Obama was handed the worst situation that any president has ever inherited, I felt he steadily and steadfastly overcame those obstacles to lead this country back to prosperity - at a high cost, yes, but that was also baked into what he stepped into.
That said, I was not an Obama fanboy...despite the total opposition he faced from the right. I felt President Obama could have done more, and I felt he threw in the towel a bit early at the end of his term. I always had respect for the President however, and he was treated very poorly by a lot of people.
Listening to him speak today, I remembered that I also felt other things during his presidency that I now miss.
I felt Mr. Obama was a decent man. I knew where he'd be coming from and basic civility and morality.
I felt the President approached the job with humility and respect, and humor - as he did in the ceremony today. I don't remember every seeing him brag or personally bash the opposition.
I felt I knew where Back Obama would be coming from on basic issues of morality, human rights, racism, respect for women, and civility.
I felt Mr. Obama represented this country with dignity and an eye to the long term.
While the Obamas are well off, relatively speaking they are upper middle class working people (at least while in office, like most presidents they are doing better since leaving office) n inflation-adjusted dollars. They felt far more like regular people than today's (self pronounced) billionaires. Watching them adjust to and deal with life in the White House looked like the struggles regular people would go through.
Despite the bag of goods eh was handed, I really don't recall Back Obama blaming those difficulties on W. By contrast, HE is now blamed even though he handed over a booming economy and stock market (This is, when the new administration is not taking credit for those same things).
As I watched the proceedings this morning, I was really struck by the soft-spoken humility of Michelle and Barack, so sharply contrasting with the bellicose blustering braggadocio we see almost every day. It was also refreshing to see a first couple with true respect and admiration for each other (the president referred multiple time to how the artist had captured her class but also her "hotness", which tickled my funny bone).
The class, decency, and humanity of the past and of good leadership is too easily drowned out by the egotistical, brash squalling of the "me first, me only" potential despot with behavioral lines. Every moment they spent in gratitude accepting and presenting their portraits was more powerful than a dozen nasty tweets. As a people, we are too responsive to such negative means., but the calmness and relative nobility of these two people that served their country well calls for more than simply to continue the argument on this page. In the long run, I believe that our better angels will win out over the dangers we face.
I was very surprised that all three of the major cable news outlets, including Fox, seemmed to carry the entire proceeding. None of them were talking over the quiet speeches, which went on for some time. Perhaps the media too was glad from the frantic, high decibel daily drubbing delivered from and to the administration, the congress, and the people thereof.
I am deeply disturbed and concerned by what is going on in government and media today. It truly was nice to have a short break from both. We could use a few more calm minutes in cable news.
Congrats to the Obamas, I thought their portraits were well done.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Chase Bank and the "You're Not Credit WOrthy" Judgement
Over the past 3 years, Anne and I have had some very revealing experiences that have taught us a lot about what the big banks are really about. Probably the single most startling experience occurred when was purchased our Edmonds home back in 2016.
When I look at how banks treat their customers, I'm always mindful of what happened in 2008, when the people of the United States (AKA, their customes) had to bail out the big banks for ripping off said customers with their irresponsible sub-prime lending practices, on which they made trillions of dollars. The banks were gambling at a roulette table in the casino of the US Treasury, which had kindly passed out "you can't lose" cards to everyone by allowing their bets to be insured.
Here we are in 2016. We owned our home in Woodinville, and the home we were buying in Edmonds was going to require months of remodeling (years as it turned out). We decided to take out a mortgage on the Edmonds house, something we had not done for some time. We were not looking for a bridge loan mind you - we were looking to keep our assets balanced and not too real-estate heavy. This would also give us the flexibility to sell the Woodinville house at an opportune time in the heating-up market coming on at that time.
We frankly did not think twice about getting a loan, we simply assumed that between assets and income we would qualify. Perhaps I've given away the story.
Anee filled out the application at the bank. She worked with a loan officer that somehow seemed to act inexperienced and brusque, something Anne would not normally have commented on to me, being a positive person herself. Keep in mind that we were considered "private" clients at Chase (a program they had pushed on us quite heavily).
Within a couple of hours Anne called me to report that we had been summarily dismissed from consideration for a loan and were not "credit worthy".
Huh?
I called the loan officer to get an explanation of what I assumed was a misunderstanding. She explained that the primary reason we were not credit worthy was because we had not borrowed money in more than 10 years. No, our monthly credit card charges do not count because we paid them off every month.
First Note To self. Banks are only interested in you if you are paying them interest. They prefer customers that are paying their usury interest rates on credit card debt over people that pay their bill every month. Bear in mind that on average banks charge merchants 2% or more of the credit card charges you make every month on your card. That is a lot of money,
I mentioned in my first post in this series that it was uncomfortable to relate some of the details of this story, as it is TMI. But the story doesn't make sense if you don't know that Anne and I have perfect credit scores (over 800), have paid off 4 mortgages together, and at the time of the application had no debt whatsoever as well as a decent portfolio of assets. We felt we represented essentially zero risk to the bank, especially since the mortgage was only for half of the value of the property.
At the same time we were seekling this loan, a family friend who is a single-income household with no assets and a lot of credit card debt secured a mortgage with an absolute minimum down payment.
Second Note to Self.: Banks are not interested in simply being paid back their loan with the contracted interest. They are far more interested in making loans to customers that are far more likely to miss payments, incur late fees and penalties, refinance, and hopefully forfeit their equity through foreclosure.
we met with the loan officer one more time, more from incredulity than anything else. In that meeting she stuck to all her previous guns, but added that the fact that we had a large line of credit at another bank was hurting us as well. "What line of credit?" I asked. Anne reminded me that Bank of America had, without our asking, given us a line of credit several years before. We had never used it and it had no balance on it, yet the loan officer was acting as if it was 100% used in her calculations of our debt ratio, which in my mind was absurd. I said, "No problem! We can cancel the line of credit we've never used". She still indicated we would not be credit worthy for her previously stated reasons.
We had no choice but to walk away shaking our heads. As we had already committed to purchasing the new home, we were extremely fortunate to be in a position to complete the purchase without the financing. Owning two primary residence homes at the same time is a very uncomfortable position to be in.
Third Note to Self: Being a "private client" at Chase doesn't mean squat, as my story will continue to show.
Our "team" at Chase was very indifferent to this entire scenario, and seemed unconcerned with the way we were treated by the loan department. We certainly made up our minds during the process that were were clearly with the wrong bank. Part of what surprised me throughout the process was how our deposits at the bank (IRA's, cash, etc.) did not seem to make any difference in the process.
In days of yore, customer funds on deposit were very important to banks, and determined how much money they had to provide financing to other customers. Over the years, this has really disappeared as banks can leverage fewer and fewer total dollars on deposit to greater and greater amounts of money lent to the bank by the US Treasury - at 0% interest now for many years. At the same time, banks can get away with more and more malfeasance toward their customers, a situation recently made worse by the current administration as consumer protections are being dismantled.
Fourth Note To Self: The customers service motivations of major banks to keep depositors happy and to encourage as much capital on deposit no longer seems to be a driver for the banks.
So what's on the other side of this picture - what could the bank be thinking? Well, the most obvious is that I'm not retired 2 years later. This was not my intent at this time in 2016. Did the banks actuarial and data profile on me (Lord knows what information they have on all of us) show them the likelihood of my retirement? Certainly, it is reasonable to assume that the banks will use all of the data available to them to forecast the future of those seeking financial services...but what result are they interested in? Do they want good customers that are likely to pay off their loans without incident (and also without extra fees and penalties), or do they want customers likely to incur those extra charges? Perhaps also the bank had access to the records that showed our history of paying off mortgages, and the "profit picture" of those early payoffs were not of interest to them. They may also have elt we were just trying for a "bridge" loan, which was not the case.
...
After this had all happened, a very close friend related that virtually the same thing had happened to him and his wife, by Chase, when attempting to establish home financing pre-approval. He'd been with Chase for many years, with a comparable financial picture - but my friend is 20 years my junior, and in the heart of his career. My friend moved all of his business elsewhere.
As a result of this and soon-to-follow incidences at Chase that I'll be blogging about, Anne and I also resolved to move our business elsewhere.
So why am I telling this story, revealing too much information? Because I think something is wrong in the system, and I'm interested in knowing how many others have had a similar experience. Of those few that get through this entire story, many will simply feel that I'm made because I didn't get a loan - which is certainly true. Others will feel that I should stop whining because I "really didn't need the loan". I would say that's not the case, and somewhat beside the point that we should have been able to.
Above all, I feel that the banks are benefitting from free financing by the American taxpayers and their children and grandchildren, while at the same time chipping away steadily at what they should be offering those same taxpayers and customers.
Whew.
Over the past 3 years, Anne and I have had some very revealing experiences that have taught us a lot about what the big banks are really about. Probably the single most startling experience occurred when was purchased our Edmonds home back in 2016.
When I look at how banks treat their customers, I'm always mindful of what happened in 2008, when the people of the United States (AKA, their customes) had to bail out the big banks for ripping off said customers with their irresponsible sub-prime lending practices, on which they made trillions of dollars. The banks were gambling at a roulette table in the casino of the US Treasury, which had kindly passed out "you can't lose" cards to everyone by allowing their bets to be insured.
Here we are in 2016. We owned our home in Woodinville, and the home we were buying in Edmonds was going to require months of remodeling (years as it turned out). We decided to take out a mortgage on the Edmonds house, something we had not done for some time. We were not looking for a bridge loan mind you - we were looking to keep our assets balanced and not too real-estate heavy. This would also give us the flexibility to sell the Woodinville house at an opportune time in the heating-up market coming on at that time.
We frankly did not think twice about getting a loan, we simply assumed that between assets and income we would qualify. Perhaps I've given away the story.
Anee filled out the application at the bank. She worked with a loan officer that somehow seemed to act inexperienced and brusque, something Anne would not normally have commented on to me, being a positive person herself. Keep in mind that we were considered "private" clients at Chase (a program they had pushed on us quite heavily).
Within a couple of hours Anne called me to report that we had been summarily dismissed from consideration for a loan and were not "credit worthy".
Huh?
I called the loan officer to get an explanation of what I assumed was a misunderstanding. She explained that the primary reason we were not credit worthy was because we had not borrowed money in more than 10 years. No, our monthly credit card charges do not count because we paid them off every month.
First Note To self. Banks are only interested in you if you are paying them interest. They prefer customers that are paying their usury interest rates on credit card debt over people that pay their bill every month. Bear in mind that on average banks charge merchants 2% or more of the credit card charges you make every month on your card. That is a lot of money,
I mentioned in my first post in this series that it was uncomfortable to relate some of the details of this story, as it is TMI. But the story doesn't make sense if you don't know that Anne and I have perfect credit scores (over 800), have paid off 4 mortgages together, and at the time of the application had no debt whatsoever as well as a decent portfolio of assets. We felt we represented essentially zero risk to the bank, especially since the mortgage was only for half of the value of the property.
At the same time we were seekling this loan, a family friend who is a single-income household with no assets and a lot of credit card debt secured a mortgage with an absolute minimum down payment.
Second Note to Self.: Banks are not interested in simply being paid back their loan with the contracted interest. They are far more interested in making loans to customers that are far more likely to miss payments, incur late fees and penalties, refinance, and hopefully forfeit their equity through foreclosure.
we met with the loan officer one more time, more from incredulity than anything else. In that meeting she stuck to all her previous guns, but added that the fact that we had a large line of credit at another bank was hurting us as well. "What line of credit?" I asked. Anne reminded me that Bank of America had, without our asking, given us a line of credit several years before. We had never used it and it had no balance on it, yet the loan officer was acting as if it was 100% used in her calculations of our debt ratio, which in my mind was absurd. I said, "No problem! We can cancel the line of credit we've never used". She still indicated we would not be credit worthy for her previously stated reasons.
We had no choice but to walk away shaking our heads. As we had already committed to purchasing the new home, we were extremely fortunate to be in a position to complete the purchase without the financing. Owning two primary residence homes at the same time is a very uncomfortable position to be in.
Third Note to Self: Being a "private client" at Chase doesn't mean squat, as my story will continue to show.
Our "team" at Chase was very indifferent to this entire scenario, and seemed unconcerned with the way we were treated by the loan department. We certainly made up our minds during the process that were were clearly with the wrong bank. Part of what surprised me throughout the process was how our deposits at the bank (IRA's, cash, etc.) did not seem to make any difference in the process.
In days of yore, customer funds on deposit were very important to banks, and determined how much money they had to provide financing to other customers. Over the years, this has really disappeared as banks can leverage fewer and fewer total dollars on deposit to greater and greater amounts of money lent to the bank by the US Treasury - at 0% interest now for many years. At the same time, banks can get away with more and more malfeasance toward their customers, a situation recently made worse by the current administration as consumer protections are being dismantled.
Fourth Note To Self: The customers service motivations of major banks to keep depositors happy and to encourage as much capital on deposit no longer seems to be a driver for the banks.
So what's on the other side of this picture - what could the bank be thinking? Well, the most obvious is that I'm not retired 2 years later. This was not my intent at this time in 2016. Did the banks actuarial and data profile on me (Lord knows what information they have on all of us) show them the likelihood of my retirement? Certainly, it is reasonable to assume that the banks will use all of the data available to them to forecast the future of those seeking financial services...but what result are they interested in? Do they want good customers that are likely to pay off their loans without incident (and also without extra fees and penalties), or do they want customers likely to incur those extra charges? Perhaps also the bank had access to the records that showed our history of paying off mortgages, and the "profit picture" of those early payoffs were not of interest to them. They may also have elt we were just trying for a "bridge" loan, which was not the case.
...
After this had all happened, a very close friend related that virtually the same thing had happened to him and his wife, by Chase, when attempting to establish home financing pre-approval. He'd been with Chase for many years, with a comparable financial picture - but my friend is 20 years my junior, and in the heart of his career. My friend moved all of his business elsewhere.
As a result of this and soon-to-follow incidences at Chase that I'll be blogging about, Anne and I also resolved to move our business elsewhere.
So why am I telling this story, revealing too much information? Because I think something is wrong in the system, and I'm interested in knowing how many others have had a similar experience. Of those few that get through this entire story, many will simply feel that I'm made because I didn't get a loan - which is certainly true. Others will feel that I should stop whining because I "really didn't need the loan". I would say that's not the case, and somewhat beside the point that we should have been able to.
Above all, I feel that the banks are benefitting from free financing by the American taxpayers and their children and grandchildren, while at the same time chipping away steadily at what they should be offering those same taxpayers and customers.
Whew.
Friday, February 2, 2018
Serving the IT Underbelly of Alaska, Part 2: Edna
I've only related a couple of stories regarding my first year in the IT industry at Computerland of Anchorage, and there's more I'll write about that over time. For the second part of this particular tale, I'll skip forward a year in my career to my second "IT" job, which was at the Radio Shack Computer Center in Anchorage, circa 1983 or so.
The Computer Center featured, of course, Tandy/Radio Shack systems. While not as technically advanced as the newer systems coming out, I had an early "thing" for the TRS-90 systems because they were the first systems I'd seen available to consumers, in my local Radio Shack as a teen. I'd dreamed of owning one for years. The first personal computer I owned was a TRS-80 Color Computer. It wasn't the greatest, but it had a nice processor to learn on and some interesting capabilities.
Working at the Center was not the same as Computerland; we did not have the marquee brands and I missed selling Apples and IBM's. Still, The TRS-80 product line was more complete and had more mature software offerings, especially in small systems accounting software.
One day, an older lady cam into the store. She introduced herself as Edna, and said she was looking for a complete system for accounting and job costing . We sat down and were soon deep in conversation.
I recognized Edna - not personally, but as one of a breed of touch, no-nonsense business people - and businesswomen - I'd met and worked with in Alaska since the first summer I'd spent there at 16. Edna was very direct, no-nonsense, knowledgeable and firm - but polite and enjoyable as well.
She told me that she had a club downtown and was expanding to a second club south of town, and that she needed a good system to track construction costs, pay bills and payroll for the new club. Interestingly, she was not interested in training, though she said she'd never used a computer before.
"If I don't figure it out myself my daughter will help me," she said. I got the idea Edna would figure it out herself.
Edna was, however, interested in me personally delivering the system and setting it up. "I want to see everything working when you're done", she stated.
I sold Edna a very fully configured TRS-80 Model IV system, complete with hard drive, tope of the line printer, ultra high speed 1200 baud modem, accounting and office software. She gave me her business card, which only had an address on it, and we arrnaged a delivery time. She bought the computer personally rather than through her business, which was certainly fine.
When the appointed day rolled around, I loaded up my car and headed to the address on the card, toward the downtown area.
Upon arrival, I had to do a double-take. Yep, that's the address...right across from the Sheraton.
Edna's "club" was the Great Alaska Bush Company, and Edna was Edna Cox, founder an famous proprietor, as my father told me when I related the story to him later. "you don't know who Edna Cox is?" I can hear my very-well-connected-Alaska-lawyer Dad saying.
The Great Alaska Bush Company was and probably still is the most famous strip club in Alaska, practically an institution and world famous tourist attraction. While I can't say I'd never stepped foot in the place (a future blog subject featuring Fortune Systems), I had not frequented the establishment. I took my first load of Edna's new computer in through the front door. The club was open, but it was morning and there were no customers there.
I informed the bartender that I was looking for Edna's office. He directed me downstairs, where I noted to prominent signs: "No Admittance" and "Dressing Rooms".
Edna's office was about the size of a large walk-in closet, and was situated literally in the middle of the dancer's dressing room. . The dressing room was quickly filling up with the performers, arriving for the first shift of the day and the busy lunch crowd.
Gentle reader, you may perhaps have never been to an establishment such as the GABC, but if you have then you'll recall the - er...- open frankness with which the performers pursue their profession. This is nothing compared to their no-hoods-barred directness in the dressing area. I was the subject of interest for perhaps 10 seconds until they figured out I was delivering something to Edna. After that, it was like being surrounded by two dozen big sisters in various stages of undress, makeup, bickering squabbles, and bawdy anecdotes that would have been downright humiliating for the the poor customers from the previous evening who were the subject of much derision. I blushed on their behalf.
For the two hours that it took me to do what would normally have been 1/2 hour of setup, I learned more than I ever wanted to about the behind-the-scenes life of those performers, and have spent a good deal of the balance of my existence trying to forget some it. Truth to tell, however, they all seemed like good people, starting with Edna, and I was on a first name basis with many by the time I left.
Edna was very successful with her computer system and I only talked with her a couple of time after delivery. She was also very successful with her second "club". and I would say that's the most interesting delivery I ever made in 30 years of IT.
Happy Memo Day
I've only related a couple of stories regarding my first year in the IT industry at Computerland of Anchorage, and there's more I'll write about that over time. For the second part of this particular tale, I'll skip forward a year in my career to my second "IT" job, which was at the Radio Shack Computer Center in Anchorage, circa 1983 or so.
The Computer Center featured, of course, Tandy/Radio Shack systems. While not as technically advanced as the newer systems coming out, I had an early "thing" for the TRS-90 systems because they were the first systems I'd seen available to consumers, in my local Radio Shack as a teen. I'd dreamed of owning one for years. The first personal computer I owned was a TRS-80 Color Computer. It wasn't the greatest, but it had a nice processor to learn on and some interesting capabilities.
Working at the Center was not the same as Computerland; we did not have the marquee brands and I missed selling Apples and IBM's. Still, The TRS-80 product line was more complete and had more mature software offerings, especially in small systems accounting software.
One day, an older lady cam into the store. She introduced herself as Edna, and said she was looking for a complete system for accounting and job costing . We sat down and were soon deep in conversation.
I recognized Edna - not personally, but as one of a breed of touch, no-nonsense business people - and businesswomen - I'd met and worked with in Alaska since the first summer I'd spent there at 16. Edna was very direct, no-nonsense, knowledgeable and firm - but polite and enjoyable as well.
She told me that she had a club downtown and was expanding to a second club south of town, and that she needed a good system to track construction costs, pay bills and payroll for the new club. Interestingly, she was not interested in training, though she said she'd never used a computer before.
"If I don't figure it out myself my daughter will help me," she said. I got the idea Edna would figure it out herself.
Edna was, however, interested in me personally delivering the system and setting it up. "I want to see everything working when you're done", she stated.
I sold Edna a very fully configured TRS-80 Model IV system, complete with hard drive, tope of the line printer, ultra high speed 1200 baud modem, accounting and office software. She gave me her business card, which only had an address on it, and we arrnaged a delivery time. She bought the computer personally rather than through her business, which was certainly fine.
When the appointed day rolled around, I loaded up my car and headed to the address on the card, toward the downtown area.
Upon arrival, I had to do a double-take. Yep, that's the address...right across from the Sheraton.
Edna's "club" was the Great Alaska Bush Company, and Edna was Edna Cox, founder an famous proprietor, as my father told me when I related the story to him later. "you don't know who Edna Cox is?" I can hear my very-well-connected-Alaska-lawyer Dad saying.
The Great Alaska Bush Company was and probably still is the most famous strip club in Alaska, practically an institution and world famous tourist attraction. While I can't say I'd never stepped foot in the place (a future blog subject featuring Fortune Systems), I had not frequented the establishment. I took my first load of Edna's new computer in through the front door. The club was open, but it was morning and there were no customers there.
I informed the bartender that I was looking for Edna's office. He directed me downstairs, where I noted to prominent signs: "No Admittance" and "Dressing Rooms".
Edna's office was about the size of a large walk-in closet, and was situated literally in the middle of the dancer's dressing room. . The dressing room was quickly filling up with the performers, arriving for the first shift of the day and the busy lunch crowd.
Gentle reader, you may perhaps have never been to an establishment such as the GABC, but if you have then you'll recall the - er...- open frankness with which the performers pursue their profession. This is nothing compared to their no-hoods-barred directness in the dressing area. I was the subject of interest for perhaps 10 seconds until they figured out I was delivering something to Edna. After that, it was like being surrounded by two dozen big sisters in various stages of undress, makeup, bickering squabbles, and bawdy anecdotes that would have been downright humiliating for the the poor customers from the previous evening who were the subject of much derision. I blushed on their behalf.
For the two hours that it took me to do what would normally have been 1/2 hour of setup, I learned more than I ever wanted to about the behind-the-scenes life of those performers, and have spent a good deal of the balance of my existence trying to forget some it. Truth to tell, however, they all seemed like good people, starting with Edna, and I was on a first name basis with many by the time I left.
Edna was very successful with her computer system and I only talked with her a couple of time after delivery. She was also very successful with her second "club". and I would say that's the most interesting delivery I ever made in 30 years of IT.
Happy Memo Day
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