Author Archive: The Observer
When Will Blockbuster Finally Go Under?
It seems that the Blockbuster stores in the area are closing faster than the Orioles can lose a baseball game. Is it any wonder? They have been struggling against cable, NetFlix, and RedBox for years. This competition was the impetus for them to waive the late fees several years ago. In what appeared to be [...]
OPINION: DUI Licence Plates
Like That Will Solve The Problem One of the bills being considered by our illustrious legislators this year is to issue special bright yellow license plates for over 2000 strong habitual offenders. Yes, you read that right, there are over 2000 drivers in Maryland right now who have had three or more convictions for drunken [...]
OPINION: Are Our Children Safe? Predators Amongst Us?
Over the past few years, there has been a disturbing increase of people in authority becoming g involved is sexual abuse of minors and young adults. What is happening to our society when we can no longer trust our teachers, our police officers, our attorneys, our religious leaders, and sometimes our own family? This is [...]
Mall Warning
Image via Wikipedia Watch Out For Non-Bargains Borders, the huge bookstore in the Annapolis Mall really needs to learn a lesson in pricing and in customer service. After the holidays, one would expect there to be some sales. After all, the entire mall seemed plastered with sings proclaiming 60% or 70% off. Apparently at Borders, [...]
Opinion: Sex Offenders A Problem
It has only been a few days since we buried Sarah Haley Foxwell who was abducted, killed, and left to rot in a field at the hands of sex offender. It has only been a few months since David Benjamin Raszewski abducted a child from a playground and raped her as her babysitter was frantically [...]
Opinion: Has Big Brother Gone Too Far?
TSA In A Tizzy Over Security Directive This has no real local connection, but there may be some national ramifications. In a nutshell, a colleague of mine, Christopher Elliott, has been following the events succeeding the Christmas bombing attempt of the Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit. In his quest for clarification of the new “rules”, [...]
Opinion: Reverse Racism
White Firebomber Gets 15, Black Killers Get 5 Without doubt, the murder of Christopher Jones polarized the area. Sure there may have been some gang connections, but nothing warrants the senseless beating of a 15 year old and leaving him to die along a residential street. During the fallout, there was a firebombing in Odenton [...]
Opinion: Was Justice Served?
Or Was Shropshire Railroaded? By now all of the local papers (here and here) and blogs (here and here) are abuzz with the news that soon to be former Alderman Samuel E. Shropshire of Annapolis was convicted of sex crimes against a midshipman. Some will thumnp their chests in victory and feel that society and [...]
Bank Of America’s Workaround
When In Doubt, Send The Fee Out The reader who brought us our latest Bank of America rant, has followed up with us again with proof of the audacity of Bank of America and their renegade fees. Despite making a written request to be a part of the new program (effective October 19, 2009) that [...]
Comcast Rocks Is Doing Better
A Comcast Update As many readers know, Comcast has not been a favorite company of this site. Between the service interruptions, the service outages, the lack of any real customer service; we were determined to make the move to Verizon and their FIOS product. Today, we give them a pat on the back for doing [...]
Bank Of America: Predatory Banking
Bank Still Gouging Customers Despite Pending Legislation One of the most popular articles at Eye On Annapolis was the one on the outrageous fees imposed by Bank of America. Well it seems they are at it again with a vengeance. A reader sent us an email detailing his latest run in with the bank that [...]
Customer Service Fail: Wawa In Edgewater
Wawa Drops Ball Usually, Wawa has a very friendly staff. The food is good. The value is good. The gas is cheap. But this morning, something went dreadfully wrong at the Wawa store on Route 2 in Edgewater, MD It was about 7:10 am and my daughter wanted to get a breakfast sandwich. We went [...]
Where Did That Ad Come From?
Have You Been Spammed? On Wednesday, people who had signed up for The Capital’s Breaking News Alerts by email got a surprise. A big solicitation for Park Place. Everyone understands the need for advertising, but we were unable to locate any clauses that address that in their Privacy Policy nor is it addressed in the [...]
Strike Three Comcast–You Really Suck
Yet Another Outage UPDATE: Went to the local office and they are as apathetic as they come! I asked how big the outage was, they did not know. I asked how long. They did not know. Asked about a credit for the down time and they said they don’t do that. Way to go Comcast! [...]
More Bank Of America Antics
Bank Of America Asks For Thumbprint Of Armless Man Since our Bank of America rant seems to be favorite of our readers, this news story jumped right out. From The Huffington Post: All Steve Valdez wanted to do was cash a check from his wife during his work break. Bank of America insisted that Mr. [...]
Once Again Comcast Sucks
Comcast Can’t Keep It Up Their service that its! Just a quick rant. Was on the phone, my customer all of a sudden begins to say “hello?”, “hello?”. She can’t hear me at all. I hang up and lo and behold, no dial tone on any of the lines. Internet is fine, television is fine, [...]
Comcast Sucks
Major Outage, Comcast Clueless While Verizon is likely not any better, Comcast certainly showed their true colors Saturday (insert sarcasm here) afternoon. Sometime near 4pm there was a complete cessation of all services in the Annapolis area–television, internet and telephone. After about an hour, a cell call was placed to Comcast which was promptly answered [...]
Trigger Happy Cops
Recent Shooting Raises Questions Last week, another contributor to this blog made a post about the recent increase in police shootings in Anne Arundel County. While that particular piece did not attract any comments (yet), there has been a firestorm in the comment section of The Capital. Just this past weekend, The Capital reported that [...]
Marquardt’s Monthly Wine Whine
The Capital’s Editor Explains It seems that The Capital has a new monthly column, where the Editor, Tom Marquardt lays ink to paper and attempts to explain his way out of some crazy decision made by The Capital. This Sunday’s column was a perfect example. Shropshire Issue Apparently, The Capital took some heat on running [...]
Job Hunting: Where Are The Manners?
Employers Ignoring Applicants Yesterday, I was speaking with a friend who is hitting the pavement hard seeking a job. He is hard working and not above taking a downward step to learn a new trade or position. He has an effective (so CareerBuilder.com says) resume, comes across very well. He is respectful, well dressed, punctual, [...]
Dear Giant Grocery Store
Dear Giant Foods in Bay Ridge Center– You are thisclose to losing a customer to Shopper’s or Safeway! The upgrade was a hassle. You re-arranged everything on me. But hey, I can adapt to change and it is ok for now. The technology is cool. I am getting used to the little handheld scanners and [...]
