Van Buren Movers, Inc: I Just Have to Vent!

On Friday we hired a moving crew from Van Buren Movers, Inc. and they were scheduled to arrive @ 12pm (noon). The moving company called @ 10am to ask if we were ready for them to come at that time. We already had an appointment @ 10, which is why we scheduled the movers for 12. So my husband told them we were busy, which is why we schedule for 12 and if we finish earlier we will call them, but please plan on arriving @ 12 as originally scheduled and they agreed. He called back @ 11:30 and told them we were ready and they said they went to another job (wtdt@?) and would be there in an hour, meaning 12:30. So my husband wanted to see if another company was available, but I suggested we just wait bc it was only a 30 minute difference, so he agreed. So when 1:30 arrived and they were still not there, my husband called back and the dispatcher told him the movers were on the way. Then, the movers called @ 2:10 and said they were 10 minutes away.
Since we believed the movers were 10 minutes away, my husband left @ 2:15 to go meet them. When I arrived @ the house behind my husband @ 3pm, I was very disturbed to see only his car and not a moving truck? So I called the dispatcher myself. I told him I needed to understand how a customer has a noon appointment but three hours later, there are still no movers. He told me he was "sorry for the inconvenience." Do you know how much of an understatement "inconvenience" is??? It is THREE hours later sir!!! THREE! So he says, "Do you want to argue or do you want to know what happened bc I don't have time to argue." So now I'm just mega confused bc I don't know how me asking him how this happens and telling him that a simple apology is unacceptable as it is 3 hours later means we are arguing?! So I told him I was not arguing (mind you, I NEVER raised my voice talking to him) but I needed to know how this happens. He proceeded to tell me that the movers had two appointments, us @ 12 and another @ 4, but bc the people (who were originally scheduled for 4) were ready @ 10, they called both parties and whoever was ready first is who they go to first. So I ask, "Even though we have appointments?" Then, he said the movers do what they want to do, regardless of the schedule bc they are more focused on the money than the customer. WHO SAYS THAT TO A CUSTOMER???!!!
The dispatcher proceeds to tell me that he will compensate us for our lost time w/ a discount. Oh, I forgot to mention that bc we are renting our house out, the family who was waiting to move in had their moving truck loaded and ready to go @ 3pm bc they thought we would be out by then, and we originally thought the same. Because they were being held up and charged by the hour, we now have to pay for their movers for the extra hours AND we missed our cable installation appointment messing w/ Van Buren.
So when they finally arrive @ 3:30, the two movers say, "Hey, how you doing?" and keep moving. So I'm like....ok? Is no one going to address the lateness??? So I ask him if he knew we had a noon appointment and he says, "nah." So I tell him what the dispatcher said and he says the dispatcher told them to go to the other place first and that the dispatcher is lying. OK, so now the dispatcher blames the movers, the movers blame the dispatcher, and no one is accountable. It was spilled milk @ this point, so I let it go for the moment while they loaded the truck.
Background: My husband wanted to use this moving company bc we'd used them in the past when we moved in together. At that time, they moved my husband's stuff from his downtown condo and my stuff from my Smyrna apartment into our townhome, unloaded everything and put the bed together all within three hours. That was especially great bc they have a three hour minimum charge, but they were able to get two people moved, from different parts of the city, all to one spot in three hours. I tell you all of this to say, it took the dudes on Friday three hours JUST to load the truck from our townhome? They were moving slow on purpose, even after arriving @ 3:30 for a noon appointment. THEN, they ran out of gas and barely, I mean barely, made it to the gas pump across the street. Then got "lost" behind me when following me to the new house, which is seven minutes away. My husband had to go back out and meet them bc they were headed in the total opposite direction. At this point, my super laid-back husband is mega antsy bc his liquor company was sponsoring a party, which was an hour outside of the city, and he still had to get there.
When we finally arrive @ our new place, the older guy pulled me aside and said, "it is our policy to collect the money before we unload the truck." I'm wondering why he is telling me and not my husband? Oh yeah, bc this is some bullshit Lah-Doe (remember when Joe Jackson was on Geraldo's show?) So I told him to talk to my husband about it and he nervously agreed. Although he talked to my husband the whole time, his bitch ass came to me for payment??? Hmmmm. So my husband came in the kitchen to talk to him and he told my husband that he would ONLY charge us for six hours and not charge us for the heavy items. WTF??? There is a charge for heavy items all of a sudden?! Its moving! The majority of the stuff is "heavy" AND you never mentioned a heavy item charge before now, nor were we charged for heavy items the last time we used Van Buren. So we had him call the dispatcher and tell him we need confirmation on the discount bc the movers are saying they can't unload the truck until we pay, but we don't know the final amount bc we need our discount and now the dispatcher is yelling @ ME???
The mover said he was going to call the police bc we were refusing to pay. I told him I would call bc we are not refusing to pay, we need an amount and we are not to be charged for six hours when 3 and 1/2 were spent waiting and another hour was spent on getting gas and getting "lost." So I called the fuzz. They came and asked for both sides of the story. I told her everything then she asked for his side. She also asked him how we were supposed to pay him first if we can not get confirmation from the dispatcher on the discount amount. The officer asked my husband to call the dispatcher again, which he did numerous times, getting no answer. So she made the mover call him and he answered right away and proceeded to LIE and say he confirmed that he would only charge us $70 and hour instead of $75 and not charge us for the heavy items. Oh snap! $5 off!!! WTFever???!!! So the police said that bc they state it is their policy to collect payment first, we have to pay, even though we were never told that and it was no where in writing. In fact, it never came up until we got to the new place. She stated the matter was civil and we would have to take them to court, so we said fine and she was about to leave.
Next, the mover told my husband that we could call tomorrow to get our stuff, but he's not unloading it. So my husband told him he was not leaving w/ our stuff, so the mover ran after the cop car and told her my husband was threatening him. So now she's annoyed and asked for everyone's license. We all gave her our license and she went to run them. My husband and I were standing there laughing @ this point bc we could NOT believe this was actually happening. So all of a sudden, dude comes back and says, "You know what? It's late, all of us are tired, we'll just take the money you have for us." Oh, really? Now that the cops are running licenses you want to come to an agreement? Bet! So they unload the truck and break the kitchen table leg in the process. They said they would repair it and bring it back tomorrow (Monday). I pray that is true. We are still going to court though.....

Madea Goes to Washington (to save Obama, but not really)

Where is Madea when you need her??? See, if this were a Tyler Perry movie, it would be just about time for Madea to come save the day! I can see her now, walking super fast & furious, wig in place, lip poked out, frying pan in one hand, shotgun in the other, as she rambles on about how ain't nobody gonna be bothering her baby. In this movie, her "baby" is President Obama. Madea is pissed bc every time she turns on the TV that damn-dere media is a'harassing & a'falsifying, & a'lying on her baby and she knows it ain't fair. Madea knows the media got the American people looking at her baby like he's some kind of wimp who easily compromises and doesn't live up to his campaign promises. She knows his mama raised him to be a good boy who thinks; using his brain at all times, even when it seems like he should lead from his heart. Because his heart is in the right place, she knows his logic will also include the best interest of the people, but she is going to make sure everyone else knows what she knows about her baby.

This week when Madea saw her baby on TV having to defend himself yet again to the American people about compromising on the tax cuts and it was the final straw! She popped right up from her chair and starting marching toward that press conference bc she was ready to bust some heads in defense of her baby. When she burst through the doors of the press conference, she saw that Obama was agitated, stressed out and replying more aggressively than normal to the reporters' questions. "Look, I did what I had to do for everyone to be in the best position possible," was his stance and Madea nodded in agreement. Obama was so happy to see his life-saving matriarch as he felt so badgered and defeated. She ran through the aisles, slinging the frying pan at the heads of the reporters and right when she was about to bust the first cap, the room cleared. "Madea!," Obama exclaimed, "I'm so happy to see you. You are always right on time." Madea reached out and hugged him saying, "Now you know Mama always got her baby's back." They walked away arm in arm and she told him they would go see the pastor next.

As any Boondocks fan knows, Tyler Perry has a plot formula for his movies and he's sticking to it! So here's the part when God and the church become involved. Madea wants to take Obama to the pastor bc everyone doubts Obama's word, although he is the president. But if its one thing Madea knows about her people, its that they will listen to whatever Pastor says. Many doubts can be eased by the simple phrase, "because the pastor says...." Because if the pastor says it, it MUST be true...duh! But her baby is only the president of the United States...that's all. Because Madea always saves the day (along w/ the help of the church), she is ready to put her plan into motion. She will have the pastor relay her baby's message to the congregation this Sunday, then everyone will be back on his side and all will be fine. Go Madea!

If only it were that simple. President Obama made a decision this week that is already being labeled as the demise of his presidency. The media is dry roasting him bc he agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts, which gives tax breaks to the wealthiest 1% of the nation. So now, the Republicans are still talking about him, but this time as if they have defeated him, and the Dems are pretty mad. The Dems are so mad they are meeting to discuss revolting against the president's decision. Time and time again, the stereotypical story of the Black man being saved by God and Grandma makes us believe this is the happy end of the story, especially in Black families. But Madea can't save Obama this day, nor should she have to.

Barack Obama is our president and we have to learn to respect and trust him, while giving him a chance to do his job. I do not agree w/ the Bush tax cuts or the compromise, but my faith in Obama leads me to believe that he knows what he is doing and under the circumstances, its his best. I am not an expert on national tax budgets, so I have to trust those in his campaign who are. I don't understand why people listen to whatever the doctor, lawyer, insurance company, and especially the pastor says, but we are so quick to disagree w/ and jump all over our president (who is actually speaking from fact)? We put him in office bc we need him to support us, but do we support him? Are we whiny babies, now used to instant gratification, who naively assumed he would fix eight years of damage in two??? Hmmmm? Are we?! Whatever the case is, I have never seen the Dems get this rowdy against Bush and he made many HORRIBLE decisions, but they are ready to rise up against their own over one decision?! A huge decision, yes...but only one nonetheless.

The average American person doesn't even understand why they are mad at Obama over the compromise, they are just mad. The same media we accuse of being too saturated and over-the-top, is the same media destroying the credibility of our president and we are going for it. Pay attention! You hear negative comments about Obama often bc the Republican agenda ensures you do, but why are you letting their smear campaign on Obama work on you? Do your own research! Would people respect Obama more if he were a White man or a Black woman? Is the only position of power a Black man can have and be listened to as a knowing leader that of a pastor/preacher?

Obama has tolerated more disrespect that any president can imagine. I believe the fact that he is a Black male directly relates to that. Because men are supposed to lead us, and not gun-toting grandmas, we have to let him do just that. Give him the respect you would give to Madea, Pastor or even George so he can continue to flourish as our great leader! Yeah, the tax cuts suck, but so would not extending unemployment benefits. We can support, even if we don't agree....

Brickfoot Bristol Beats Barbie Brandy?

So, I'm still not over this whole Dancing w/ the Stars (DWTS) thing. What am I referring to? The fact that Brandy was not able to go to the finals b/c she supposedly had less votes that Brickfoot Bristol Palin?! Yes, Brickfoot is her new name b/c she has about as much grace as a kangaroo w/ bricks strapped to his feet (paws, hooves, flappers, whatever!). So how does the graceless penguin beat the coordinated barbie when she is clearly not as talented on the dance floor??? Well, they tell us b/c Brickfoot had more votes than Brandy. I don't believe you.....you need more people!

One of the first signs that this was straight BS is the fact that they asked Brandy to come back for the finals and do the dance she and Maks were working on immediately upon announcing that she lost. C'mon son! If you know she deserves to be there to perform her finals dance, you know the audience (live and TV) want to see her perform, and that she is WAY better than Bristol, do the right thing and bring her back for the final three and let Bristol watch from the section for big-back bears! OK, I'm being mean...sorry (I guess). I was glad Brandy did not oblige and that she bowed out gracefully, although I know it was super hard for her. Another sign of the BS was the fact that week after week, the outfits became skimpier and skimpier for the women, BUT for some reason, Bristol has more material draping her legs than the week before? She is receiving special treatment bc no one else was able to hide their two left feet w/ long black capes pretending to be dance outfits.

Please note, I am not the president of Brandy's fan club or anything, but I consider the way she was treated as an injustice. I don't like injustice and I have to speak out against it when I can, even if its in my little 'ol blog that maybe four whole people will read, lol. I still feel better about calling it out! So what's really bothering me about this whole thing??? The straight pol-luh-tick-in son! For those who don't get my humor, what I mean is I am really pissed Brandy was voted off before her well-deserved finals performance due to politics. I don't care what you say, that was nothing but politics! Although it is just a TV show and seems to be no big deal to intelligent people, I believe the "voting" on DWTS is reflective of the current political environment of the US, which is a little scary. There...I said it!

For some reason, Tea Party (TP) members are voting their asses off while everyone else sits around talking about how crazy they are?! Whether it be for extending tax cuts for the wealthy, stopping unemployment benefits for those who still do not have jobs or Baby Brickfoot, the TPers are a united, motivated front. Sadly, they are now a force to be reckoned with...they actually have power?! Yikes! Amazingly, the new TP members of Congress had no plans for how they were going to implement everything they talked about in their campaigns. It's like lying on your resume, getting the big, fancy job, and staring @ the computer on your first day bc you have NO idea what the hell you're actually doing! Yeah, it's like that but still they are not held accountable. Republicans and TPers weasel they're way out of media interviews and tough reporter questions, yet the Democrats are persecuted daily in the media. Super wack. If you really pay attention to the America the TP claims it wishes to restore, you will freak out and vote w/ a sense of urgency next time. YOUR RIGHTS ARE AT RISK!!! But I digress...this is not the platform for the revolution.

The crazy thing is ALL we have to do is vote. The majority of Americans would rather give a tax break to the middle class as opposed to the wealthiest 1% and extend unemployment benefits for people that are still unemployed. But although most Americans feel this way, it is not obvious in Washington, D.C. Why? Because enough of us did not vote on Nov. 2nd and from this point forward, we have to do better. The TP is like the loud mouth girl down the street who is yapping away, but you KNOW she can't beat you, so it doesn't matter. The only thing it takes to halt the TP "movement" is votes. That's all, just votes.

So next time pick up the phone and vote for your winner and do not assume enough people are voting your way. So yeah, its just a TV show, but DWTS is just an odd example of what the TP can do if we do not also form a united front. If we couldn't keep Brandy on the dance floor, how will we keep Barack in the oval office?

Still Drinking Kool-Aid

So I sat down to watch Chocolate News on Comedy Central®, hosted by David Alan Grier, formerly of In Living Color. I also watched D.L. Hughley Breaks the News on CNN® and I hate both of these shows. I know hate is a strong word, but the content of these shows invokes strong emotions within me...seriously!

In this day and age, I think it is sad to see two accomplished African-American males further undermine my people by perpetuating those negative stereotypes we see played out over and over again in the media. I have to wonder why b/c I view both of them as men that should know better. David Alan Grier was educated @ Yale University for crying out loud and he is running around on TV acting like a damn fool. Sketch comedies can be funny w/out making Black people look ignorant and dumb, right? The more I watched his show, the more I respect Dave Chapelle for leaving Comedy Central® when he did. He got it right; he knows some jokes are to remain amongst our people and no amount of money is worth the bad media. Way to take a stance Dave! Others don't understand and laugh AT us, believing what they are viewing depicts how and who we are as a people.

D.L. Hughley has an even larger audience on CNN®, a respected news network where people all over the US tune in on TV and the web for the latest in the news. These people most likely did not watch Comic View or see Kings of Comedy, understanding his background in comedy. So when they see him for the first time on CNN® and he uses a pimp to depict Freddie Mac, it’s all bad! Here’s why: As an avid news watcher, I tune in to all networks to get the varying opinions on today’s issues. I even watch Fox News Channel® b/c we need to be aware of what everyone is saying, everyone! Many discussion forums on Fox News (I’ve seen it w/ my own eyes; heard it w/ my own ears…last week) consist of panel members that blame the housing market crisis on people that “went out and bought houses they could not afford.” Now we know those people were victims of predatory lenders, but it doesn’t matter to them. Many of those people started out w/ affordable mortgages, but when those rates flipped, their payments nearly doubled and THEN they could not afford their homes. It’s very easy for people like Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity to say, “I did the right thing. I invested the way we were always told. I built my credit. I didn’t live beyond my means.” Well, my friend’s aunt did the same, but w/out being raised to invest b/c she grew up poor, struggling to finally have a “fair” credit score, and only earning $35k a year, she lost her first home @ 52 years old, after only having it for four years. I wonder if D.L. considers this type of situation and the extreme bias out there when he sits w/ his writing team to come up w/ his skits and jokes.

Why can’t they be like John Stewart or Steven Colbert when reporting the news? Or even Keith Olberman or Rachel Maddow on MSNBC? Not because they are White, but because they don’t consistently make Black people look foolish. Like these hosts, they can put an objective, comedic spin on the news, but keep the ignorant Black stereotypes out of it. A press release by Comedy Central Corporate Communications (2008) posted online @ Yahoo! Finance says Chocolate News “fills TVs Black hole.” FOR WHO??? I am Black and his show only offends me! In an interview w/ the NY Times about his new show on CNN®, D.L. Hughley said, “I barely even know how to read. I’ve got a G.E.D. (Itzkoff, 2008).” Shut up D.L.!!! Someone thought you were intelligent enough to offer you a show on CNN and you minimize your intelligence w/ such ignorant statements…ugh! With an astonishing 50% or greater of black males dropping out of high school before graduating…that’s right, 50% (Umah, McMahon & Furlow, 2008), it would be better for you to let them know they can and should make it in life, not say you can’t read.

Oprah is an awesome show host and she NEVER uses such foolery. Many people respect her, tuning in daily to listen to what she has to say, not just Black people. Why can’t David and D.L. be more like Oprah, just neutral w/ their content, not using ghetto, stereotypical crap for laughs? It’s called “cooning” and they are still getting our men to coon in 2008, oh brother. D.L. showed a clip of a young Sammy Davis, Jr. looking like the little happy, good Negro boy while singing w/ what D.L. said was a pork chop in his hand. D.L., you might as well have a pork chop as well…and some kool-aid…and watermelon…and ribs...and fried chicken. But then we’ll get upset when Republicans create a horribly racist “Obama Buck,” even though we help add to these stereotypes about ourselves. Why would David Alan Grier wear tight, leopard-print draws and dance around on TV looking like he’s just “a-shucking-and-a-jiving?” I can’t call it, but I want both shows off the air, especially when there are still undecided voters out there.

References

Uwah, C., McMahon, H., & Furlow, C. (2008). School belonging, educational aspirations, and academic self-efficacy among African American male high school students: Implications for school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 11(5), 296-305.

COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications. “Filling TV's Black Hole:
David Alan Grier's 'Chocolate News' Premieres on Comedy Central(R) Wednesday, October 15 at 10:30 P.M.” 9/24/08.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080924/ny34957.html?.v=1

Itzkoff, David. “For Once, CNN Takes News Less Seriously.”
(2008). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/arts/television/25hugh.html
Opinionated

Response to Grimm's "Is Hip-Hop Dead" Blog

I'm glad you noted that we have to teach the kids. Actually, that's where it all stems from. Our kids are out there every single day, struggling with ethnic and sexuality identity issues and it's as if there is no one there to help. They don't know if or where they fit in as Black youth in America. So many of them want to be more than the stats we all hear about, but they really don't believe they can be or know how to be. They're psyche is all fucked up. This lack of faith and self-worth is more damaging and common than people in our community realize. Our kids that are exceling academically and socially are heavily outnumbered by those that are ignorant and lack adequate resources. Our kids are fighting against images that beat them in the head w/ the ideas that they are hoes, thugs, baby mamas and daddies, violent, lazy and hopeless. That's why they all "wanna sell bricks and bang", or do whatever it takes to hang w/ the dude that's "making it rain." They spend more time w/ media images than they do w/ family members, especially parents.In school, they are misunderstood by teachers and administrators who are not properly trained to be multiculturally competent. They treat our kids as if they are those ignorant, lazy hoes and thugs who will never amount to anything and don't deserve a fair chance. The number of Black youth that are in Special Education classes in US public schools disproportionately outweigh the number of white kids classified in Special Ed. This directly correlates to the population of Blacks that significantly outnumber whites in our jail system as kids w/ academic problems usually become adults w/ legal problems. Schools and jails are just two segments of the systemic US that seem to work against Blacks, especially our males. We can not rely on schools or jails to raise or rehabilitate our youth, we must become overly involved in our kids lives ourselves. "Our kids" meaning ALL our youth.

Speaking of knowing your history, they don't know it...at all! They definitely do not learn it in school and there is no one to teach it to them b/c their parents don't. Do you teach yours? In the state of GA, all kids have to pass a series of tests in core subjects (Engligh, Math, Science, Social Studies and Writing) to graduate high school. Even if they complete all courses required to graduate, they will NOT get a diploma until they pass all parts. There are kids that remain in limbo, working at Wendy's, waiting to pass this test b/c although they are "done" w/ high school, they can not move on to college just yet. Guess which kids mostly make up this group??? If you said Black, you got it! Even though they are highly outnumbered by whites in GA schools.Every Black person has a role and hip-hop artists have the role of raising the consciousness of our youth to these issues that impactour community as a whole. Although these artists sit on BET forums and say it's the parent's responsibility, they know parents are working two and three jobs, stressed out, depressed, sick, tired and many drunk, high or incarcerated. According to them, they survived the struggle too, right? But no one wants to be accountable, especially our men. Black men need to step up and be leaders and providers, raising healthy families instead of multiplying broken families. Our "dads" are absent even we need them as the head teacher of the household. We all have the responsibility to teach the kids something. What will you teach and to whom???