Seattle TV station KIRO, like a lot of media organizations, has sponsored links on their front page. This is all well and good, since you have to pay for the camera(wo)men and the antennae and the pixels somehow. The problem is that sometimes sad news stories and contextual advertising lead to… hilarity.
seattle
This Grocery Store Truly Understands Tax Season
By 3.5.09
Reader Kevin took this photo at a Fred Meyer store in Seattle. It seems like they understand tax season pretty well.
16-Hour Flight From Hell – "You Can Either Stay Onboard, Or Get Arrested"
By 1.22.09
A six-hour flight from Mexico to Seattle turned into a 16-hour ordeal after intense fog caused the flight to be rerouted to Portland.
UPS Coughs Up $50 But Still Hasn't Delivered Your Daughter's Christmas Present
By 1.11.09
Reader Michael wants to know why it’s taking UPS almost a month to ship his daughter’s Christmas gift from Los Angeles to Seattle. Michael thinks his package might have been eaten by the snowstorm that broke Seattle a few weeks back, but UPS swears that they have the gift and that this is all a simple matter of “the driver forgot to put it on the truck.” Worried that it that it might have been faster for a messenger to walk between Los Angeles and Seattle with his daughter’s present, Michael decided to launch an Executive Email Carpet Bomb at UPS executives.
Update: 41 46 Million Americans Drink Pharmaceutical Waste
By 9.13.08
If you weren’t one of the 41 million Americans drinking water contaminated with sex hormones and pharmaceutical waste, welcome to the club! Testing prompted by the AP’s damning investigation has revealed that another five million people, including residents of Reno, Colorado Springs, and Chicago, now sip the potentially dangerous pharmaceutical soup.
Pour Some Hate Juice On This Obnoxious Diamond Ad
By 6.11.08
Apropos of today’s Worst Company In America matchup between DeBeers and Exxon, Wesa Anderson sends us this EE Robbins diamond ad seen on the side of a Seattle bus. See, the way it works is the more you spend, the more man you are. No girl can resist a big rock. Hey, maybe I should make extra cash drafting taglines for EE Robbins.
Storage Company Disappears With Everything You Own
By 4.18.08
Kyle wrote in looking for advice after a storage company disappeared with everything they owned: Short story: We had 8160 pounds of personal items in storage with Wright Way Moving & Storage of Kent, Washington (not a self-storage place, a pallet-style warehouse storage place).
Drunk Passenger Gets Jail Time, Has To Reimburse American Airlines $7,757
By 2.18.08
The first sign that Russell Petrie was too drunk to fly was probably when he boarded the plane and yelled “let’s party and have some drinks!”
Mother's Blog Spawns Investigation Into Unsafe Car Seats
By 2.8.08
When mother Debbie rented a car from Advantage Rent-A-Car she was surprised to have to paw through rows of shoddy, dirty, car seats, some missing parts, to find one that worked. When she complained to the manager, he insisted that the car seats were thoroughly cleaned and inspected after each use. Her blog post about the issue caught the eye of the local news station, who did an investigative report on the matter. Following the report, Advantage-Rent-A-Car conducted a company-wide inspection and cleanout of its seats, and instituted new policies to make sure they rent only clean and safe car seats. ” This was a huge change for the company and a fantastic and very satisfying result from my perspective,” writes Debbie. Inside, her 10 tips for working with a local news team to resolve your consumer complaint.
TSA Detains 5-Year-Old As National Security Risk
By 1.9.08
A 5-year-old boy was detained as “security risk” because he had the same name of someone on the TSA “No-Fly” list. The TSA had to conduct a full search of their persons and belongings. When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn’t passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him. Pretty insane. If you’re ever mistakenly on the No-Fly list, here’s how to get off it.
From $2 Million To Foreclosure On An Ameriquest Subprime Mortgage
By 12.5.07
Frances Joy Taylor had had about $2 million in assets, which she intended to leave to her church, before she met a businessman named Tyrone Dash. Dash took over her affairs and “methodically liquidated or leveraged almost everything she owned: her bank accounts and securities, her insurance policies, her credit cards, her two apartment buildings and, ultimately, her home,” says the Seattle Times. Frances suffers from Alzheimer’s.
FDA: Glow In The Dark Shrimp "Not A Food Safety Issue"
By 11.3.07
Seattle shoppers want to know why the FDA won’t investigate bioluminescent shrimp appearing at local Thriftways and Quality Food Centers.
Unable To Overcome Stain Of Breaking Into Mentally Disabled Customer's Home And Stealing $70,000, Dealership Closes
By 10.4.07
Remember that Seattle used car dealership that broke into a mentally disabled customer’s house and stole $70,000, and turned out to have a history of on the job drug-use, shady tactics, and abusing mentally handicapped customers? Seems the new owners were never able to overcome those little besmirches on its good name and the dealerships are closing. Huling Bros, consider this your auto de fe.
Pat's Plumbing Charges Guy In Wheelchair $550 To Remove Dispoable Razor From His Toilet Trap
By 9.19.07
My name is Pat. I recently needed some plumbing done on my toilet. It was clogged, and we couldn’t get anything to work for us to get it unclogged. I looked through the online websites in the area of plumbers. Holy crap, here is Pat’s Plumbing.
Blogbath Erupts Between Seattle Republican Activist Stefan Sharkansky And Waitress
By 8.28.07
So up until a few seconds ago I had no idea who “Stefan Sharkansky” is, or that Seattle had any Republicans in it, but apparently they do and you don’t want to be a waitress pissing ’em off by helping anonymously pen a partially facetious blog complaint that they let their child loudly run around the restaurant and then only tipping 10%…
"Public" Intern Pickets Sprint Store For Reader
By 8.23.07
An intern over at The Stranger (we love The Stranger) has been picketing a Sprint store for a reader who wrote in complaining that he had not received his $30 rebate.
Seattle To Require Calorie Labeling At Chain Restaurants, Cut Trans Fat
By 7.20.07
Seattle will be going trans fat free, according to the CSPI. Not only that, Kings County is also adding a calorie labeling requirement similar to that of NYC. NYC is currently being sued over the regulation by the a restaurant group representing most fast food chains. Subway has complied with the requirement and their menu is being used as an example in court.
Mad Pizza's Hold Music: "Yeah, I'm a gangsta, but still I got flavor"
By 6.19.07
Forget muzak, Seattle-based Mad Pizza decided to spice up their hold music by playing N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police.” Clint Brownlee over at Seattlest made the discovery on Sunday night while trying to order a pizza.
When the Mad Pizza dude picked up the line again we were conflicted–should we ask if he knew (or cared) what people on hold were hearing? Should we pretend to be offended and hang up? We stammered and, lacking the adventurous nature of our 15-year old self, just ordered a pizza.
We would gladly listen to N.W.A rather than the bland mix of soft jazz or lite rock most companies use to avoid offending anyone’s delicate sensibilities. Do you care what you listen to while on hold? Tell us in the comments. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
