One Hundred Twenty Six: AT&T, Tmobile

So ATT has failed in its attempted acquisition of TMO. The timing of all this was good for me. Last summer I migrated from ATT to TMO. The merger had nothing to do with my decision. Rather, the ATT cell coverage for calls was so bad in my area I would literally have 2 or 3 dropped calls per day. ATT eventually agreed to waive early termination fees as well as a few hundred dollars of past due monthly bills, which I had strategically stopped paying.

Now I see that ATT will be paying TMO $4 bilion. Boy, am I glad I'm not an ATT customer now. I'd be really pissed off if I knew I was paying part of that break up fee.

One Hundred Twenty Five: Charitable Solicitations

Few things irk me more than private, for-profit businesses that solicit my business or lecture me about charitable giving. "Buy a five dollar bottle of water and we'll give ten cents to starving children!" It is probably some moronic Harvard MBA who comes up with this baloney. Only this morning I received an email from my bank haranguing me to give them money, food, and clothing so the bank can distribute it to the "needy."

All these companies are making excellent returns on my business. Let them give away their own money. How are these companies able to be a better arbiter than I of who should get my donations?

These not-so-thinly-veiled self-serving scams only reinforce my long held position on charitable giving: I never give any money to anybody who asks me for it. Don't ask, and you've got a shot.