I stumbled into Robert Munroe’s treasure trove of talented ‘toons quite by accident, and can’t help but impressed.  Sure, some might seem a little obscure, maybe even a bit “geeky,” but what the Hell do you expect from a Physicist and Robotics Engineer? 😉

     Actually, he seems to be a remarkably talented evil genius:

     In case you didn’t get that one…

     And this remarkably astute piece is titled, “How it Works”:

     Regardless, I think it’s clever stuff.  But then, some people consider me a little warped… Others consider me a lot warped… and a handful think I’m not warped at all.  The latter make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

     Check out xkcd.com for more.  😉

Tip: Courtesy of xkcd.com, by way of Paul Simer, by way of Les Jones.

     But fortunately, Donnie Hoyle does.  Check out the First Four, the Fifth), and here’s Episode 6 of “You Suck at Photoshop.”

     Yeah, extended travel can hurt… Especially Uranus…

     When browsing to my favorite news provider, sometimes I realize a screenshot is worth a million words:

     I recalled a beer once.  But now I forget…

     So… 

     Should I order the cheeseburger, or the beer?

     On second thought, I’ll skip it. 

     Right now, I can’t afford to pay attention.

     I’d like to propose a new Holiday.

     Let’s let February 20th be the new, annual “Quit Trying to Make Fill-In-Your-Name-Here Have a Bad Day Day.”  (e.g. “Quit Trying to Make Mark Steel Have a Bad Day Day”)

     That would be cool.  One day, where nobody’s trying to screw up legal processes, steal from, yell at, scream at, libel, slander, backstab, screw over or generally just act asshats to everyone else in the world.

     Sounds like a cool thing, doesn’t it?

     But man … on a day like that…

     Government, Comcast, and most banks would cease to function.

For a few years, my Messenger has been filled with so-called Customers who bother me whenever I get online.  They ask for help, often ask me to login to their servers remotely and fix things, and when it comes time to pay, I get the old, “When I make money, you make money!” thing.

It ires me to no end.

A few others have said, “Hey, we’ll pay you $x to do this website for us,” and then used the old, “We haven’t been paid for it yet,” trick.  Months pass, my questions get ignored, and then they have the balls to come and ask me to do more things for them.  And stupidly, I have.

Still others have said, “We’re hiring you at $x a week, and we expect at least y hours out of you.  Are you game?”
“Certainly!”
I get their billing information, they get their login and password to the billing system and go in and enter a credit card like they’re supposed to.  The scam usually works when their credit card won’t bill, and they ask me to switch them to PayPal billing, which I do.  They don’t bother to pay that one, so I send them an invoice through PayPal.  They don’t bother with that one, either, and meanwhile, they change their passwords on their servers. Scam are all over the Internet. Case in point are those websites that say they can predict your future or read cards for you from across countries. But we know better now, so here’s how to spot a fake psychic.

It’s really annoying, trying to do business with people whose faces you never see, or people who are too far away to get hold of and rip their arms off when they do something like that.

Tonight, one of the standard “When I make money, you make money” freeloaders got an eyefull:

Mark says:
Man, ya know, it’s really bugging me lately. I’m a consultant. It’s what I do for a living. And I just can’t just answer and fix servers for free all the time. I’m just not doing that anymore. It costs $xxx an hour, and I’ve given you something like 12 hours or more and you’ve always said, “When I make money, you make money!” Well, ya know, after a hundred times, it becomes bullshit.

Mark says:
Now fuck off.

Captain Asshat says:
hey!  but I’m not getting paid for this job!
have a nice life loser

Mark says:
Yeah, a loser who you keep asking to fix your servers for free.

Really, knowing that Captain Asshat has never paid me a dime for the work I’ve done — even when he’s said he would — how could he expect anything less?  And, yeah, I have been a loser in the fact that I’ve lost every bit of revenue he’s promised after I’ve stupidly prioritized him above customers who actually do pay their bills.
So maybe I’m a loser — he’s still a deadbeat.

And why should I listen to, “That’s poor customer service!” from an asshat who hasn’t even been a customer?  I mean, by definition, customers usually pay.

So, Captain Asshat, seriously…  As far as “Customer Service,” my skills are absolutely excellent — ask any of my customers who actually pay per agreement.

Now, it’s not that anyone has to pay me to be nice to people.  It’s just that… well… I’m friendly.  I’m extremely helpful.
As a matter of fact, I’ve been too nice.  Too helpful.  Too willing to let too many people take advantage of me.

As far as my business goes … That ends now.  😉

I’m more assertive when I’m working for someone else, and I’m not when I’m working for myself.   That’s a fact.
There’s a point where you have to be an asshole, and start weeding out the freeloaders.  That time past a long time ago, and I have a lot of catching up to do.  *evil grin*

And if you’re not paying me to do any of my “outstanding” work (your words, not mine), you’re gonna get what you pay for as far as “customer service.”  😉