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Message left today at the Travelocity Customer Service web site:

Quote:

Today I had the opportunity to remain on hold for the Travelocity Customer Service phone line for almost three and one-half hours during three separate calls while trying to cancel an imminent reservation. The time spent actually speaking to representatives during these calls was approximately ten minutes; the rest was time on hold.

I have three comments based on this experience.

An oldie but a goodie.

After the brutal battle of Kalinga, the Emperor Ashoka was so overcome with remorse that he renounced bloodshed and embraced Buddhism. As part of his penance, Ashoka went to monasteries across the country. At each monastery, he would leave munificent donations of gold coins. At one monastery, the emperor left behind one solitary gold coin. When his perplexed followers asked him to explain, Ashoka said that the abbot of the monastery was a great man but he did not share his knowledge with others.

The recent passing of a friend and former co-worker at Delfin Systems, assimilated in the 1990s by Titan Corporation and later by L-3 Communications, prompted a search for the old Delfin logo. Thanks to Dona, Vance, and Ray for making these available.

Joining TotalHR today is our newest member of the "Ten Most Unwanted" companies: ActiveLifestyle. Featuring breathless prose and vanity appeal, ActiveLifestyle has also abused the Internet with unwanted advertisements supposedly resulting from a bogus opt-in. Behold (sans links, of course):
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Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:59:58 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Active Lifestyle
Reply-To: Active Lifestyle

To: xxxxxxxx@felix.org

Symmetra RM UPS with XRThis UPS was removed from service on 21 November, 2009 at the now-defunct Vineyard Bank at Hazard Center, San Diego. It is a high-reliability, high-capacity system suitable for use in a small to medium business for protection of critical Information Technology assets such as servers or surveillance systems.

I have a personal email address here at felix.org that I've used since 1996. It's never been used, EVER, for e-commerce or business -- it's strictly for friends and acquaintances. Therefore, any UCE/UBE I receive at that address is by definition, SPAM, and any businesses contacting me via that address have gotten it by nefarious means and are therefore members of the Hall of SPAM.