Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyles and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Remember customer service?

Please forgive an old slap who grew up in sleepy Clearwater, pining for the experiences he enjoyed at Siple’s Garden Seat, The Sandy Book Store, The First National Bank of Clearwater and the service his dad insisted he provide when working at the family business. Today, just for kicks, try calling your bank and getting an answer or getting a person you can understand at your credit card company*. In fairness, our personal bank, Regions, is top notch; the bank we have to use for some community service – not so much. One of the credit card companies we refer to, Citibank, used to excel at customer treatment, now you get third world service. Sadly, a card we used for two decades issued by Capital One was sold to Goldman Sachs, who while seasoned financial folks, are raw rookies in the credit card service biz. Do we have to keep putting up with this? In some cases like the non-profit yes, but in things you control like changing credit cards, there are still options and perhaps someday companies will realize that before it’s too late.

*The folks at Discover Card, which he had never used before, pride themselves in providing customer service using agents exclusively in the USA – and it shows!

 Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Kudos to the Pinellas County School Board for their selection of chief academic officer Kevin Hendrick as their new superintendent. Hendrick has spent nearly all his career in the district allowing him to hit the ground running. He is also a product of the Pinellas School System – a graduate of Largo High, a minor flaw in his resume which this CHS grad is willing to overlook.

And a Rave to County Clerk Ken Burke for refusing to fund what amounts to a “Commissioner for Life” (See TBRR 2/27/22) lawsuit filed by the Pinellas County Commission.

Headline from our far left leaning local newspaper: “Providing baby formula for babies held at the border is a legal requirement”. And providing formula for babies living legally within our borders isn’t?

Who’s running; who dropped out; what District am I in? 2022 is the most confusing year for voters in decades.

Our quote of the week comes from the 5:05 Newsletter: “You can’t control the drilling, shipping, storing, refining, buying, selling, trading and taxing of oil and then say you don’t control oil prices.”

Related (and showing our age) at one of his “kid jobs,” your Humble Blogger pumped gas at the princely sum of 29.9 cents a gallon – approximately the amount of last week’s increase.

Further related, it seems that our acquaintances who didn’t have kid jobs (pumping gas, mowing lawns, flipping burgers) in their youth all became liberals.

.

This week in 1883 (5/24) New York’s Brooklyn Bridge is dedicated by President Chester Arthur. The bridge was designed by John Roebling, whose great grandson was noted Clearwater engineer Donald Roebling.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Something in the Atlanta Journal Constitution we wish other papers would replicate – Ten Days Out – a neat feature giving you a head’s up on popular events occurring down the road so they don’t sneak up on you, or go unmentioned all together.

We give a Rave to Publix, McDonalds and other bay area firms for recognizing their 2022 high school grads. These kids had it tougher than usual during their four high school years.

Answer: Donald Trump. Question: (and yes, we know there are a lot of fill in the blank options here), but the question is: who was the last President to have a pet less White House?

Related: years ago in the White House, President Gerald Ford’s dog had an accident. A White House steward swept in to clean it up. President Ford waved him away, saying “no man should have to clean up after another man’s dog.” Can you see other recent residents of the White House doing that?

You’ve lived in the Bay Area (or anywhere else) a long time if you signed your checks with either a Parker or Sheaffer pen. Today, Parker pens are now made in France and Sheaffer is a subsidiary of the Cross Pen Company.

New entries in baseball coverage so-so

Using admittedly devious means, we got a look at the two newest entries in the ever increasing fragmentation of major league baseball coverage last week. Frankly, there is little to recommend the Apple+ coverage. It features very inexperienced broadcasters, meaningless and confusing statistics on screen while ignoring things like batting averages, ERAs etc. The picture quality was good, but that was about it. Peacock, while not great, is better. One of their strengths is putting two color men around the play by play announcer – one from each participating team, giving you solid analysis rather than the Cliff Notes presentation you usually get from national announcers unfamiliar with your team. It’s not a new idea, ABC did it back in the 70s with their World Series coverage, but it’s effective. More relevant graphics, but still not worth the extra fees for only a couple games you’ll miss this summer.

NEXT UP: Americans we admired; A.J. Foyt; Six Buck Joe

052222/667

 Sorry, we are unable to respond to comments.