The Best Hacking to Date?

It was rumored this week that the latest company to be hacked into was Staples.

 

Honestly, I am not surprised as I mentioned that this would happen back a few months ago.

 

Apparently, the company has the authorities looking into this hacking, but has not made any official announcement regarding any hack on its credit card system.

 

The word is that the affected area was the northeastern part of the U.S.  This would mean possibly that the areas would include New England and possibly New York and further.

 

Since no other details have been given, I am not going to speculate on the scope of the hack, but I expect that Staples will release that information soon hopefully,

 

However, it should be noted that Staples has been the only company that has not formally come out and admit to being hacked after it was announced publically by a third party security blogger.  This leads to a couple of questions:

 

• Why is Staples reluctant to admit to the hack?
• Are they afraid of losing sales?
• Are they afraid that their stock price will plummet on the formal news as other companies have already have happen?
• And most importantly, are they afraid it will be over for their company?

 

 

While I can’t answer any of these questions, it should be of no surprise to readers of this blog that Staples is in denial of any hack to their company.  After all, Staples is known for their underhanded ways of doing business and of course all of their lies.

 

I expect to report back in some future post when more is known about this hack, but until then we are all left sitting on our hands.

 

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

 

To those of you who follow this blog through the Blogger service, this message pertains to you.  This site is at http://louisbrowntruths.blogspot.com/.

 

For those who go to the above mentioned site, this will be the LAST post to that site.  I have been thinking about ending support for this site since the WordPress version has caught fire.  However, my answer was made much easier over the last few weeks for the following reasons:

 

• Microsoft has discontinued support for Microsoft Live Writer, which was the main program that I used to post to Blogger. Many of the add-ons haven’t worked for months so the posts got no exposure through Facebook or Twitter.
• There were only 2 known followers to that blog site. Supporting 2 followers is impractical given the time it takes to make a version for Blogger.  If I had more followers, I may have continued to post to that site.  It just is not practical.
• Finally, Google search only shows my WordPress entries and not the Blogger posts. It is ironic for an application owned by Google doesn’t even show up in their own search results.

 

So overall unless you stumbled upon the blog, you would not even know it existed.  I feel that the time saved in transferring the blog over will allow me to spend more quality time in the WordPress version.  Hopefully, no readers feel slighted by this elimination.  All of the posts will remain on this site until either Blogger is closed down or they decide to close my site down due to inactivity.

 

In a way, I feel sad about ending that site as this is where it all began but I believe it is the best for everyone.

 

 

 

 

Half-Year Reflection

Please note:  This week’s writing is being posted in all my blogs as it is important to all of my published blogs.

 

You may have noticed that there has not been a blog post in any of my blogs for the last couple of weeks.  There are a few reasons for that.

 

Among the most important reasons are the following:

• Weather plays havoc with my equipment so I remain offline and disconnected when the heat is high.
• My brain had run out of ideas to write about for a while.
• I was evaluating the stats to determine the future of my blogs.

 

Certainly anybody who has been reading my blogs recently will realize that I have had a difficult last couple of months.  While I tried to put as much of a positive spin on what was happening around me, it seemed that I failed with that attempt.  I don’t feel that I really did anything wrong, I was just misinterpreted.

 

As I mentioned in the past, I am always open to topic ideas in any of my blogs.  So far, I have received only 1 idea which I plan on discussing in the next month or so.  I am also open to guest bloggers who want to step up and write articles for any of my blogs.  Since this has been a one-person operation, sometimes my quality seems to have waned at times.  If anybody is interested in submitting ideas or wants to be a guest writer, feel free to email me at the address at the right.  Please note that I accept both anonymous and named submissions, if you want the credit for it.

 

My other thing I have been doing is re-evaluating how frequently I post to my blogs.  Usually, my writings have been on Wednesdays allowing me to judge the acceptance on Thursdays.  Lately, it seems that the numbers have been fairly light and the lack of “likes” and comments make me wonder what the public really want and what they don’t.

 

So, effective immediately, I have decided that I will be publishing a lot less in the foreseeable future.  My plan is to update my blogs approximately twice a month per blog.  However, this number could go up or down depending on desire of topics and anything that I come across that I deem to be important to discuss. I also plan on staggering the posting of my blogs so that both are not posted in the same week, but that could change as well. This choice was not easy, but I felt that it was in everybody’s best interest including my own sanity.

 

Overall, I expect that both the “Staples” blog and the “Rants” blog will continue for a long time as long as I take it a little slower.  Hopefully, everyone will agree on that.

 

 

Earnings Slips Again, But the Money is Free Flowing

Well, here we are at the end of another quarter and yet another big disappoint from Staples.

 

Is anybody surprised that the company continues to miss the sales estimates quarter after quarter?

 

I certainly am not the least bit surprised.

 

Of course, as they have done for past quarters, they blame the weather.

 

How long are they going to continue to blame something that never changes?

 

Seriously, it is time to admit the truth.

 

YOUR SALES SUCK AND NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE THAT!!

 

Do I make myself clear on that one?

 

What really irritates me on this is that other companies use the same lame excuse as well.

 

Certainly, places like Home Depot and Lowe’s can blame the weather in places where a lot of building takes place.  It is understandable in that regards.

 

Target and Sears can’t really blame the weather either as they also continue to have suffering sales.

 

So what is really wrong here?

 

The answer is that Staples is clueless about their future.

 

When I read the transcript to their last earnings report, they stated that they didn’t have the information about the back-to-school season yet.

 

Ok, if this is not the most obvious lie in the world than I don’t know what is.  They claim that they won’t know the plans until early July.  To make matters worse, they say that no company is ready for back-to-school this soon.

 

Excuse me.

 

I remember back in the Woolworth days, we started getting all the back-to-school merchandise in before the old school year was over.  In fact, we even started having some of the flyers start trickling in as well for the season.

 

In fact, when I worked for Staples, the same thing was happening there as well.  To say that they don’t know is either providing that Chairman/CEO Ronald Sargent is either an idiot or just blind to see what his company is really doing.  Of course he must take his lead from Obama as he is clueless as well on what is going on in the world around him.

 

Now on another front, Staples is handing out bonuses to their executives for “trying to turn around the company”.

 

Of course, this is dumb as well as sales continue to drop and slump to lower levels every quarter.

 

As an example of the payouts, pinhead Sargent got a $300,000 bonus for a total compensation of $10.8 million, a 40% increase over the past year.  This is at a time when the employees get fewer and fewer, while the fat cats at the top get more than plenty to live on.

 

So overall, Staples continues to slip all around, while freely handing out its profits to the top brass.

 

This all leads me to think that this company is definitely on the road to failure.

 

What will they blame next quarter, Godzilla, anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Open Letter to Tanya Lee H.

Writer’s note:  I am writing this week’s post to all my blogs as I feel that it is important not only to me, but also to those who have those long unanswered questions about me.  Some of the information presented here may be offensive to some people.  Reader discretion is advised.

 

Dear Tanya Lee H.:

 

In 11 days on May 25, 2014, you will be getting married in some place called Diamond Bar, California.

 

The bad news is that it is not to me.

 

The worse news is that I feel that it is a HUGE mistake.

 

Of course, you could say that I am jealous that it is not me that you are marrying.

 

However, after stalking your future husband’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, it appears that this guy is nothing but a self-centered jerk.  I am basing this solely on what I have read and seen online of this guy.  I feel that this wedding is more of a matter of social convenience rather than the true love that we (yes, us) could and should have had.

 

Let me now rewind the story back a few years ago when we first met.

 

I had been working with your brother Rob for a few years when you started working as a cashier at Staples.  During your employment with Staples, we talked all the time when we weren’t busy.

 

We learned a lot about each other.  So much so that I felt like we belonged together.  I thought that possibly that you felt the same way.

 

But something bothered me.

 

There were some things that you said to me that disturbed me.  While I don’t want to mention them here, I internally questioned your social stability.

 

After having been through other toxic relationships in the past, I was personally scared of what life would be like if we were alone together on a date or something like that.  I really wanted to be with you, but felt that working together would violate company policy and I think you felt the same way.

 

Then the day came.

 

You decided to quit the company.  I dreaded this day ever since I learned it was going to happen.  I was bothered that I was losing my best friend and confidant.

 

It was on that last night together that you hugged me and gave me your telephone number.

 

This was actually 2 firsts.  Nobody had ever hugged me before.  Don’t laugh – it is true.  The funny thing was I finally felt loved for the first time in my life.

 

The second first was that Tanya gave me her telephone number.  Again nobody has ever given me their number before much less a female.

 

However, and it was a big however, was she said to me “call me if you want”.  These words became etched in my head like as if she really was interested, but may not be interested.

 

To say I was confused by this would be an understatement.  I was actually set back as if she was pushing me away while at the same time wanting me.

 

Then the worse thing happened.  I lost her phone number.  Make that I misplaced it and it got cleanly washed away.

 

So I could not call her.  The phone number was not in the book and I had no way of reaching her.  All of a sudden my life turned to crap.

 

For weeks, I was hoping that you would return back to Staples so that we could talk about getting together.

 

But it didn’t happen.

 

Disappointment was mounting.

 

Then one Tuesday, while at the mall, I saw you at the late Waldenbooks store sitting on one of the benches looking at a book with a female friend.  I tried hard not to be seen by you as I did not want to embarrass you or your friend.

 

Luckily, I was able to leave the store without being seen.

 

About a half-hour later, my luck ran out.  I was at Best Buy with my mother shopping and you were alone and noticed me.  I remember I was looking at “The Mummy” DVDs and you focused your radar on me.

 

This is where everything went wrong.  You asked me why I didn’t call you.  I tried to be diplomatic in my conversation with you especially since I had my mother with me and she did not know about you.  I tried to tell you that I wanted to talk later someplace alone.  It appeared that you wanted none of that.

 

Then you stormed off out of the store.

 

At this point, I had a choice.  I could leave my mother in the store alone (mistake) or I could chase after you and talk to you right then and there (possibly a bigger mistake).  I decided to choose the former.

 

Sadly, at this point, I never saw you ever again.  Over the next couple of weeks, I continued to spindle downward with no bottom in site.

 

Then it happened.

 

I was driving home one night from work and I was listening to the radio.  This song came on the radio that struck me like lightning.

 

The song was “So Yesterday” by a girl named Hilary Duff.  Suddenly, this song related to what happened between me and Tanya.  This song wedged in my head so much that I could not shake it.  The more I heard it over the next couple of days, the more I related to it.

 

At this point, I decided to learn more about this Hilary Duff girl.  I found out that she was the star of a popular Disney Channel show “Lizzie McGuire”.  I decided to watch an episode just to get a feeling for what this girl was really like.

 

Then it happened.

 

I was hooked on Hilary.  Like a druggie, I could not get enough Duff.  I bought CDs, DVDs, magazines, books and anything else with her in it.

 

I was obsessed.  It became so bad that I asked Best Buy if I could have a large poster of her when they were finished using it.  I did the same at f.y.e. with a poster they had as well.   I also asked there if I could have the “Lizzie McGuire Movie” video display when they were done with it.  They allowed me to have it.

 

At this point, it seemed that I was completely obsessed with Hilary, even going to the point of carrying the lyrics of “So Yesterday” in my pocket and reading them when I was depressed.

 

I was also joining as many online groups as I could from Yahoo to feed my desire for pictures, comments or anything else related to Hilary.

 

It would be obvious at this point I was not only obsessed, but crazy about her.  Some online groups shunned people like me for being “too old” for being a fan.  I told them that real fans came in all ages.  Certainly, I was not alone in my beliefs.

 

Then the big one happened.

 

Lizzie McGuire was done, but my obsession was not.

 

I had to find a new outlet for social relief.

 

So I started watching other Disney shows at the time such as “Suite Life of Zack and Cody”, “Hannah Montana” and “Wizards of Waverly Place” among others.  I quickly became obsessed with these shows as well.

 

I would buy as many of the teen magazines as I possibly could every month even though I was really too old for them.  It became apparent that I needed an intervention.

 

Before that would happen, I started watching shows on Nickelodeon as the shows on Disney Channel became stale.  Once again, my obsession with kid and teen shows grew.

 

At this point, much of my thoughts had turned away from Tanya.  However, one day while on the old MySpace, I decided to friend her out of the blue.  It appeared she either rejected me or ignored me.  At this point, I also noticed that she was living somewhere in the Midwest.  This bothered me as it seemed she wanted nothing to with me at all anymore.

 

So with no future with Tanya and no intervention, I was further encouraged with my admiration for people like Hilary over the remainder of time that I remained employed at Staples.

 

After leaving Staples, I decided that I was finally going to join the new social media revolution.  I signed up for Facebook and Twitter.  Quickly some of my old work colleagues friended me on Facebook and soon I would be using Twitter extensively as well.

 

Then I decided one day to look up Tanya on Facebook and Twitter.  I noticed on Facebook that she had since moved to Sherman Oaks California.  On Twitter, she had an account, but she has never tweeted.  I am only one of four of her followers.  I wonder if she knows that I am following her there even though she has never tweeted anything.  I also noticed that another one of her followers was a guy named Dave V.

 

So I decided to investigate him.  What I saw I didn’t like.  Then I did more and more reading about him, the less I liked.

 

This brings us up to the last couple of months.  I decided to Google Tanya’s name and I found out that she was engaged to this Dave guy.  Imagine the fact that I was completely heartbroken beyond belief.

 

So she moved 3,000 miles away to get away from me and then get engaged to someone else.  It appeared that my chances with her were over.

 

However, I still needed an output for my emotions.  So, a few months after starting my anti-Staples blog, I decided to start a new blog discussing virtually any other topic.  Ironically, many of those postings have been about teen shows just to help me cope with my social loss.  I know that many people have always been confused why I discuss these types of shows more than adult shows, but now I hopefully have cleared up the method behind my madness.  It is just my way of producing my own intervention or something like it.

 

Overall, Tanya’s wedding will not have my blessing under any circumstances.  I feel that I was shortchanged in this relationship as she refused to listen to me that I really wanted her, but I could not contact her because she was not found in the phonebook or any other method.  I don’t feel that I was to be to blame for this relationship failure, but a huge misunderstanding between 2 people.

 

Lastly, I still have those posters of Hilary on my living room wall and the “Lizzie McGuire” is still in my bedroom filled with all those teen books and video tapes from back in the day.

 

Tanya, you may be so yesterday, but I still wish that you would be really part of my tomorrow.

 

I am hoping someday you will get to read this and know that I still really care about you despite being so far away.  I wish I could right the wrongs of the past.

 

Sincerely,

 

Louis Brown

(your best friend from Staples)

 

Half Year Assessment

Here we are:  near the half-way point of the year.

 

Ironically, I have heard some very extreme comments aimed at me in the last few weeks.  Some have bothered me and some I find downright annoying.

 

First, there seems to be a couple of trends I have heard:

 

• Staples is eliminating many full-time positions in exchange for more part-time positions.  Many companies are doing this same sort of thing, but it doesn’t appear to happen as rapidly.

 

• Staples stores that get new management seem to target one certain full-time employee and aggravate them until they either quit or force them to get fired.  The latter was my case exactly.  The bad thing is that much of this is unwarranted, unjustified or in my case both.  This is a growing trend I have heard a number of times in recent weeks.

 

Second, there seems to be concern by some commenters that I am unaware of the facts regarding the company:

 

• As I have pointed out in the past, everything that I write is either based on personal experiences or information that is provided when I write a posting.  If I feel that a correction is needed I will do it in a future posting, not re-edit an existing post.  The reason for that is that I want to make people aware of the incorrect information that is/was available at the time of that particular posting.  Certainly, Staples has the right to change any information they want to at any time for whatever reason.  However, the one thing they can’t change is the truths that I tell them about my personal experiences.

 

• Which leads me to this:  One recent commenter didn’t seem to like this blog because it was “bashing” with false information by an uneducated, rude person.  This right here is just the type of person that Staples embraces as their ideal employee.  Certainly this person not only understands the purpose of this blog, but doesn’t like the hatred that I am spreading with it.

 

I have no intention of stopping or changing this blog in anyway whatsoever.  In fact, since I extended this blog to WordPress, the number of followers has increased significantly.  I believe that there are many people who hate the company as much as I do.

 

In the coming months, I plan on advancing my own story (hopefully), but I also like to stay current with the lies and scams that Staples does along with other retailers out there.  As always I accept all comments and will post them accordingly.  Let me make clear, however, that rudeness will not be tolerated under most circumstances.

 

I am proud of how far this blog has come since it began 3 years ago.  Because of you, the followers, it continues to grow.

 

As always, thank you for your ongoing support and tell everyone you know to follow this blog.  Together we can put Staples out of business once and for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Raising Maine’s Minimum Wage to $8.50 is a BAD IDEA

When I was thinking about what to write today, I saw this breaking news item:  Maine wants to raise the minimum wage from its current $7.50/hr. to $8.50/hr.

Now, of course, some may be saying “big deal”.  However, this little cost could add as much as a few hundred dollars every week to payrolls that are already stressed in this weak economy.  Doesn’t anybody think that this will lead to more cutbacks in jobs and possibly higher unemployment?

Another downside to this is that some employees who have been with a company for a while will see absolutely NO change in their wages so those workers will have less of a pay gap from their fellow employees.

I saw this happen during my time at both Woolworth and Staples.  It seemed that new employees and recent hires were aggressively getting more money than I was.  Not that they surpassed me, but their gains were much more accelerated and it was troubling that they should get increases when I didn’t.

This brings me to my point:  With so many companies like penny-pinching losers like Staples give out raises that are usually under 25 cents, why would they ever want to see an increase of a $1 to their part-time employees and their remaining new full-time employees?

Also consider wait staff at restaurants.  These people would also see a boost in their minimums just to make it to that level if they don’t get the money in tips.  I see the strong possibility that food prices at restaurants will go up substantially to compensate for the difference, as if things like Obamacare won’t cost companies more than companies can afford.

Overall, I am all for the increase, but it is a business killer and may force some companies to not hire new employees.  This is just another excuse for companies to keep huge profits and screw the employees just like Staples does.

New Enhancements to this Blog

To further enhance the experience on this site, I have added categories and tags to every posting I have ever done.  This includes the ones integrated from the old Blogger site.  No tagging will be done on the Blogger site as it will eventually be shut down.  Hope you enjoy the new enhancements.

Important Change–Move/Expansion to new site

Within the next week, this blog will be expanding/moving to a new home.  The new home will be with WordPress.  The biggest reason why is that this site just has not had any comments since it started over a year ago.  I feel that moving the blog to WordPress will allow for a much larger audience and will spread the messages that I want to tell.

I have yet to decide if this site will continue on or just be discontinued completely.  My thought was to mirror the two sites while feasible then at some point ending this blog site.  This is not in the immediate future however.

My disappoint with Blogger is compounded by the fact that the current version of Windows Live Writer has been not as cooperative as I would like it to be.  It is still a better editor than many of them out there and most importantly it is FREE.  Until I find a free alternative to WLW, I will continue to use it to post to this site.

Again, my plans are not to shut down this site for now but mirror it until further notice.  I will be giving the URL as soon as I get it active.

Let me remind everybody that comments are always welcome and hopefully the change will reach a much larger audience.  I feel it is the best for everyone.

Q & A

I love the site where it is.  Why the change?

People.  I want more people to read the blog and I feel it is the right move.

What happens to the old posts?

I will be moving the old posts to the new site possibly, but this site will remain an archive for all the old posts.

What will the new layout look like?

If you have read my other WordPress blog, then the layout will look familiar.  They both will use the same layout to standardize my approach to blogs.  I was never really happy with the Blogger layout, but it was the best from what there was to choose from.

Can I comment on this change before it goes into effect?

Yes.  The comment period starts now and will continue through the end of September.  However, the new site will be active before the end of the month.  Comments will be in consideration of whether to continue the site here or mirror the two sites.

Why such short notice of this change?  Shouldn’t it have been a longer period of time?

I have been giving this a lot thought for a long time and with the overwhelming success of my other blog, it was a no-brainer decision.  I wanted to implement the change as soon as possible.

Can I still follow like I did on Blogger?

Most definitely as I expect even more followers within a few months.

Can I become an author of your blog as I have a lot to say as well?

Just send me an email at the address on the right side or send me a message on Facebook and we can discuss it.  I am always open for the input of others on retail topics.

Will there be more frequent updates?

My plan for this blog and my other blog is to write at least one post per week sometimes more depending on what comes to mind.  Hopefully, I will get that one per week at least accomplished, but things do happen which may delay some postings.

Can I use any information I get from your blogs for my own use?

I do not limit the use of information of my blogs.  All I ask is that if you use the information give me the respect to credit me to the information used.  However, information that I use from others will be used anonymously as to protect the identities of their providers.

Can I cry now?

Go ahead and do it.  Its going to be a rough road ahead for years to come.

Holiday for Me–Not By Choice

Because of some technical difficulties in the program that I use, there will be no posting this week as much as I would love there to be.  Apparently, the program I use just decided not to work properly and I spent some time to get it working again to some extent.  It is always wonderful when things don’t go as planned, but that is life no matter how bad it gets at times.  However, my WordPress blog has a new post because I write directly in that program.  So join me again next week for a new post (hopefully—internet willing)!  Thanks for your continued support as I work through the issues that I have with this f#&^$ program.

New Blog Created!

I have created a new blog that deals with virtually every other topic that is not retail or Staples-related.  NO topic is off-limits and every topic will be a surprise and no clues will be given as this blog will be free form and free from any sort of order.

Bookmark the blog and visit today!

Visit

louisbrownusa.wordpress.com

Thank you!