The Unending Quest for Ratings

 

December 7, 2025

 

I’ve been to the auto shop, a doctor’s office, and a laboratory lately. They all did fine work. I paid, thanked them, and left.

 

And have been harassed ever since by emails asking me to rate them. Ignoring the emails doesn’t work. They just keep asking. Any goodwill I harbored toward them is burned up by the email bombardment.

 

Note to all these places:

 

If you do a lousy job, I’ll let you know. If a particular employee does an outstanding job, I’ll let you know that, too. (Really.)

 

Otherwise, give it a rest.

 

 

Right Back Atcha

 

December 7, 2025

 

I gave a goodish amount of money to a non-profit in September. Shortly after that they had a membership drive and asked me for money. People who donated during the drive would get little knickknacks worth almost nothing, but people who had donated prior to that didn’t.

 

I got 2 more letters after the membership drive letter. One began, “A few weeks ago I sent a letter asking you to donate, but I haven’t heard from you. …”

 

I wrote on the letter, mimicking their format, 

 

“In September I sent you $XXX. Then you had a membership drive, but apparently my contribution wasn’t at the right time, so no mug or knickknack followed. Now you’re asking for more.

Stop.”

 

It killed me to waste the money on the stamp, but I did it. Striking a blow for freedom from solicitations.

 

 

 

Who Should Be More Nervous?

 

December 4, 2025

 

I was a little unhappy to read that Waymo is planning to deploy driverless cars in St. Louis. Just what we need, I thought—even more disruptions to traffic.

 

But then I thought, “Does Waymo know what it’s getting into? Has it read news stories about St. Louis traffic?”

 

They might want to re-think this.