I had a really poor experience with FedEx once as well. It was also the only time that I had an item that I ordered shipped through FedEx, too. The tracking information stated, for three days in a row, that the driver attempted to deliver my package but no one was home to leave it with. The thing was, there was someone home all day, every day and no driver had ever shown up. I ended up talking with a FedEx supervisor and with the company that I had placed my order with. I knew it wasn't the company's fault, I just felt that they had a right to know that FedEx was screwing over their customers. Basically, it could still hurt their business because FedEx wasn't delivering their products to the customer. I finally got my stuff, and the company that I had placed the order with made a note on my account to ship any and all future orders through UPS at not additional charge. Since I've never had a problem with UPS, I accepted it.

@KJones: I work for a very small bank and we use the pens with a string. However, if a customer doesn't want to use that kind of pen, we just offer one of our own. We don't care if the customer ends up taking it. That's so stupid that you've actually been told, "You might steal it." Big deal. It's just a pen. Maybe it's that way at the bank I work at because it's just a small, one branch bank, so it matters that the customers are satisfied. Who knows.

I've noticed that for many of my bills that I pay over the phone system, there's a fee if you pay with a card. If you pay with an electronic check, then there's no fee. I just go with an electronic check. There was only one time where using the automated phone system annoyed me. I called Sprint to pay my cell phone bill, and was told by the system that Sprint's billing system has changed and I would need to call a different number to get to the phone payment system. Because I wasn't expecting to have to write down a number, I didn't catch it. I had to call back, listen through the options again, and then get the number. I called the new number, went through the steps, and basically hit a wall when the system asked for either a passcode or a PIN number (I believe). I had to guess what my passcode or PIN number was, since the old system never asked for one. I kept guessing wrong, so the system finally transferred me to a representative who, after confirming who I was, gave me my "passcode." This turned out to be my password for my online account. I couldn't figure out why I would need to enter my password from my online account to pay over the phone, but I didn't say anything. The representative went ahead and took my payment by electronic check (sorry, Steve). The only thing that irked me a little was that the representative asked for a check number. I just thought, why would you need a check number? I'm not actually giving you a check and I'm sure as heck not wasting one of my checks by having to void it when I'm paying over the phone. I asked the representative why she needed a check number and she just took the payment without it. I've never been asked for a check number before, as the payment goes through as an electronic debit, something like a debit card. Go figure.

I work at a bank, so I have to deal with every kind of currency. Call me old fashioned, but I can't stand the dollar coins. Not any of them. I like the dollar bill, it's thin, light, and fits neatly in a wallet. I've helped many people at my bank who didn't even know that the U.S. Mint came out with these new coins. Really, I don't see the dollar bill going away any time soon. Same with the penny. Just too many people like them. Just like Deserthiker said, people don't like change.

This is exactly the reason why I went ahead and cancelled my cell phone contract. I know I have to pay a $200.00 early termination fee, but in the end, I will be saving around $1,000.00 by not waiting until my contract has expired. I went ahead and bought a prepaid cell phone since I don't hardly ever use mine. I'll just keep buying the minimum amount of minutes whenever I have a little extra cash. With the service provider I went with, your minutes and service expiration date are rolled over as long as you buy more minutes before the old minutes expire. I can still browse the internet, have voicemail, download ringtones and graphics, and send/receive text messages. Of course, that costs minutes (or as they put it, airtime). But if my minutes continue to grow, big deal if I lose minutes by doing that stuff. Also, it's a great way to avoid all those taxes every month.

I am really getting sick of all these recalls. We hear about pet food recalls, recalls on food for people, vehicle recalls, and now, toy recalls. Christmas is coming and I'm scared to death to buy anything for my three-year-old cousin. Basically, all the food that's been recalled I buy. Also, the pet food I bought for my dogs was one of the pet foods that was recalled. Apparently, I have a horrible track record with buying food (human or pet) that doesn't get recalled for something. With my history, what are my chances on buying my cousin a toy that doesn't get recalled?

Even if the glue used for these Aqua Dots was made by a different company, the company that is using the glue for this toy has a responsiblity to make sure the product they ordered from another company is safe. By using the glue, and not making sure there wasn't anything wrong with it, they became liable for any problems just as the company that is actually producing the glue has made themselves liable. I don't blame the parents for not wanting to replace the product with a different one. I wouldn't accept anything from them either after this.

Just on a side note, however. I was watching the news one evening when they were discussing the issue with Aqua Dots. They were showing a girl who had swallowed some. This girl looked like she was at least ten-years-old. How is it that a ten-year-old child doesn't know not to put something like that in her mouth?