Apr 07
(Picture is from stock.xchng.)
I never like Rogers services since the very first beginning; but unfortunately I am one of their customers. For those who don’t know, Rogers is the biggest (and only?) GSM operator in Canada. There is another GSM operator, Fido; but Rogers bought them a couple of years ago. So… I don’t have any other choice.
Yesterday, I called Rogers customer care because my caller id doesn’t show up.
- First, I dialled Rogers customer care number (1-888-ROGERS1).
- There was an automatic answering machine, “Welcome to Rogers… blah, blah…. How can I help you?”
- I answered “Talk to representative”.
- The machine asked another question, “What kind of help do you need?”
- I answered “Technical support.”
- …
- I felt very stupid talking to an answering machine….
- …
- A couple of minutes later, a real human being was on the line, “Thank you for calling Rogers technical support. My name is …. May I have your phone number, please?”
- Okay… I gave her my phone number.
- Then she asked another question, “For verification purposes, may I have your date of birth and postal code, please?”
- Okay… I gave her my date of birth and postal code. I am not sure why they need that information. She doesn’t even know what my problem was.
- …
- A moment later….
- …
- I explained that I am having a problem with caller id.
- She asked me, “What kind of phone do you have?"
- I said, “Nokia N95 8GB”.
- Then… she said, “Sorry sir, technical support for Nokia N95 8GB is handled by another department. It is considered a PDA. Let me transfer you to the right representative.”
- …
- Oh my God…. I was very sure this has nothing to do with my phone. I was very sure it is a problem with the network… somewhere.
- …
- Waiting for another representative….
- …
- Still waiting…
- …
- After 15 minutes…
- …
- Someone answered my call.
- …
- After explaining my problem again, the representative asked me to remove the battery and reboot my phone. Oh boy… I was really sure there was nothing wrong with my phone.
Anyway… Rogers customer care just drove me crazy. 
Apr 05
(Picture is from Wikpedia.)
This is actually an old story from New York Times, Trying to Live on 500K in New York City. It’s been a while since I read the article, but then forgot to post it on my blog.
So… imagine a banker at Wall Street with salary of $500K / year. Can he/she afford to live in New York City? Here is the breakdown:
- Take-home pay after tax is $293,000.
- Mortgage payment for modest-three bedroom apartment, which was purchased for $1.5 million: $8,000 / month or $96,000 / year. According to the story, $1.5 million apartment is not the top of the market at all.
- Maintenance fee for the apartment: $8,000 / month or $96,000 / year.
- Many executive has cars and drivers which can cost at minimum $75,000 / year.
- Private school for two children: $64,000 / year.
- Cost for grocery: $425 / 10 days or $15,000 / year.
If we sum up all of the costs above, we’ll get $346,000…. Those still costs don’t include clothing, vacation, etc. So, how can this executive live with salary of $500K / year.
That’s why; don’t be surprised if you see many Wall Street executives receive million of dollars salary. Interestingly, they might even have enough saving for rainy days. Once they got laid-off from their firms… (guess what will happen).
Jan 15
Some of you may have heard that Nortel, once the biggest company in Canada, filed bankruptcy protection yesterday.
Some analysts have predicted about this possibility for quite some time. For me, I just couldn’t believe that the biggest company in Canada about 8 years ago is worth nothing now. It’s just totally crazy.
Honestly, I didn’t know much about Nortel before I came to Canada. I knew it is a big telecommunication company; but that’s about it. When I came to Canada, I met some new friends and many of them used to work for Nortel.
There is a story about a friend of my friend who used to be a millionaire during Internet bubble because he owned Nortel stock. After Internet bubble, he basically owned nothing.
A success story of (once) the biggest Canadian company is now over. I feel so sorry to Nortel employees who have to live in uncertainty for the next couple of weeks (months). Good luck to all of you… I wish I could do something better.
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