John’s Blog

Edward M. Kennedy (Reuters photo)

I am considerably sadder today than I might have imagined at the passing of Senator Kennedy. Early this morning as I drove to work, I kept hearing more and more about what he’d done, and it finally started to dawn on me that he’d passed away overnight.

I didn’t always agree with his politics, though I like to think that as I got older (and smarter?) I tended to agree with him more and more. I was raised in a decidedly Republican environment, registered in 1972 as an Independent, and voted my conscience. I voted for a wide variety of candidates: Republican, Democrat, Independent, and hell, even Libertarian for various offices over the years, but I think I always voted for Ted.

The scion of a privileged family, he could have taken a different path – an easier path. But he chose to take perhaps the most difficult path he could, one of dutiful public service. Lots of folks are saying today that it’s just the way Ted was wired. That’s what he was meant to do.

Ted was a stand-up guy. Others will do a much better job than I eulogizing him, but I just wanted to publicly acknowledge that no matter his methods, he was always trying to help out the Average Joe. And that’s pretty admirable.

We’re going to a family reunion today, for my mother’s side of the family (the Wadsworth side) although the Wadsworths are pretty much extinct at this point, so it’s really the family of my mother’s half-sister who is organizing it. No matter.

I figured “What is more family reunion-ish than deviled eggs?” They’ve always been around at every other family reunion, summer picnic or what-have-you. So I bought a couple of deviled egg plates, each with the capacity for 20 eggs, and a couple dozen eggs. Deviled eggs. Easy, right?

I awoke this morning knowing that Peg had cooked the eggs for me last night (while I was playing radio – sweet). I went back into the radio shack/office, sat down, made a few more radio contacts, and then Googled “deviled eggs”. Well, as in all things, there are specialized web sites. The Deviled Egg Gourmet in particular caught my eye. I read through the directions for cooking eggs, peeling eggs, and the like. Very interesting. Turns out my mother had it all wrong for all those years.

Then I turned to the recipe section. I had two trays, each capable of holding 20 deviled eggs. The recipes I found used six eggs. OK, a little quick division. 40/6 = 6.6666. So that 1/4 cup of mayo is now 1 2/3 cup, the salt scales up likewise, the dry mustard, the pepper, the vinegar, too. I added a bit of ground hot pepper, a quarter cup of sweet relish, which I drained to keep the mixture on the stiffer side. Few things are more disgusting than deviled eggs with a soupy filling.

Well, I mixed that up, and it was pretty loose. I added the reserved four egg yolks, and it was still about the consistency of a thin cake batter. Grrrrr. I knew I should have just gone with the Betty Crocker recipe. I checked, and Betty calls for 3T of mayo instead of 1/4 cup. Yep, that extra T of mayo was what did me in.

I heard Peg stir upstairs, and went up to ask if there was anything I could do. She’s pretty good at knowing recipe recovery paths (not that there’s any particular reason, mind you, that she should have any experience in pulling a recipe back from the edge of disaster, except perhaps from watching me cook for 33 years).

I explained my process. 40 deviled eggs, recipe for six eggs, so I scaled everything up by 6 and change.
“Nope. Only four. Half-dozen eggs to two dozen eggs is a four-to-one increase. You didn’t have forty eggs.” Boy did I feel stupid. It wasn’t, you might guess, the first time.

(She promised not to tell. But I thought it was pretty entertaining, so I’m ratting myself out.)

By this point, the stores were open again so I ran out and got another two dozen eggs, and started over.
So that’s $6 I’ll never see again. I still used most of the eggs she cooked for the whites. She had peeled them too, and more carefully than I had. I swapped out a few of the more off-center eggs and replaced them with some of the more on-center eggs that I had cooked, and filled them with a really fancy squirter that Peg had gotten at a Pampered Chef party. So that part was fun…

Please just follow along…

John:
I used my debit card at dinner last night, and my wife used hers at a grocery store later in the evening. This morning at breakfast, my card was denied. I went to the local ATM a few hours later to get some cash, and again, the card was denied.

I communicated on-line with one of your reps and got cards reissued
(yes, my wife’s card was no longer active). The rep (”Desmond”, if
that’s of any matter), informed me that there was no indication that
there were debit cards associated with the account.

I can understand if the magnetic stripe gets damaged the card won’t
work, but I do not understand how your system can “forget” that we have debit cards. My sister, who also banks with BoA, claims this same thing has happened to her three times in the past two months.

Can you provide an explanation for how your system can “forget” that I
have a debit card? That would seem to me that an incorrect database
update occurred, and I don’t know how that can happen in this day and age.

Thanks for any information you can provide.
<------------------------------------------------>
Harley:
Dear John A. Griswold,

Thank you for your inquiry dated 8/8/09 regarding the debit card. We
will be happy to assist you.

We understand your concern about the debit card. Allow us to apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced in this matter.

However, Please be informed that at your request, we are sending you a new debit card ending in – ****. You should receive your card on 8/17/09 through U.S. Mail. The card is being sent to the following address:

34 Cambridge St
Ayer MA 01432-1361

If the mailing information is incorrect, please provide us with an
updated address to which the card should be mailed and we will update
our records. The card mailed to the incorrect address will be cancelled
and a new card will be sent. Please remember to activate your new debit card at any Bank of America ATM by using the new PIN , which is being mailed to you separately.

You may now activate your new debit card in Online Banking. Just click
on debit card settings located in the Checking and Savings section on
the Customer Service tab and complete the information requested.

For your reference, to find the banking center nearest you, please use
the ATM and Banking Center locator on the Bank of America Web page at www.bankofamerica.com. It is located on the lower left hand side of the page.

Please remember, Bank of America offers Total Security Protection. This
service is free and automatically available for all Bank of America
consumer credit cards and debit cards. It features zero liability if
your card is lost or stolen. For extended information on this service,
please visit (some web link)

For more information regarding the old debit card ending in – ****, we
recommend you to contact at 1.877.833.5617. We are available twenty four hours a day and seven days a week.

We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. If we may be of further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. Thank you for choosing Bank of America.

Sincerely,

Harley K
<----------------------------------------------->
John:
Thank you for your response, but you didn’t answer my question.

Desmont, the first agent I contacted, said that your system showed that my wife and I didn’t even have debit cards. Yet, less than 24 hours earlier, we used them. That would indicate that sometime between 8PM on Friday and 9AM on Saturday, your system “forgot” that we had debit cards.

I want to know how this can happen.

Thank you again for your quick response, but I really would like to have
my question answered.

Sincerely,
John Griswold

<------------------------------------------------->

Adrian:
Dear John A. Griswold,

Thank you for your inquiry dated 8/9/09 regarding the debit card. We
will be happy to assist you.

We apologize for any confusion regarding the debit card transactions.
Our records indicate that your debit card ending in -**** was closed on 8/8/09 and a new debit card ending in -**** was issued. You should received your card within 8/17/09 at the following address:

34 Cambridge St
Ayer MA 01432-1361

Our records indicate rejections on your transactions on 8/8/09 as the
card was blocked. However, up to 8/7/09 the transactions were
successful.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide information on the debit card for your
co-owner because the owner of the debit card and the owner of this
Online ID are different. The Online ID provides you with security and
verification to perform updates on an account you own by e-mail through Online Banking.

Please have your co-owner sign in using her Online ID and send us an
e-mail requesting the updates. We will be happy to assist at that time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If we may be of further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing Bank of America.

Sincerely,

Adrian D

<------------------------------------------>

John:

Once again, thank you for your quick response to tell me that my old
debit card was rendered useless and a new card has been issued.

However, once again you have failed to answer my primary question -
Why did my card become useless? How did this happen?

There has to be an explanation.

You are doing nothing at all to convince me that Bank of America is
where I should do my banking.

Please escalate my question, along with the trail of queries and useless
responses, to a supervisor.

Sincerely,
John Griswold

<--------------------------------------->
John C:

Thank you for your inquiry dated 8/10/09 regarding the debit card. We
will be happy to assist you.

Allow us to apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced in this regard.

Our records indicate that you are listed as a Private customer.
Regrettably, we are unable to complete your request through e-mail for
security reason. In order to assist you better, we request you to us at
1.877.556.2171. We are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, Eastern Time.

We once again apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If we may be of further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing Bank of America.

Sincerely,

John C