Political Discussion

My experience with corporate America today.
This may seem trivial but I think it sums up what's wrong with USA.
Full disclosure I have lived here over 20 years.
I took today and tomorrow off work for a break and to get some stuff done.
After, I decided to go to a British themed restaurant/bar named 'The Pub' to watch some English soccer, drink some beer and eat Fish & chips. Happy to spend a couple hours there and spend $50 or so.
I walk into an almost empty bar and ask to watch the soccer which is not currently playing. I'm referred to the manager, a 21 year old girl, who happily hears the word soccer and changes all the TV's to a Panama international game I think. I politely explain that EPL is on NBCSN or Peacock and since this is a British themed pub could I watch that. I was told that corporate control the TV and she could only change it to what they dictated. I asked if they had a subscription to NBCSN and she said yes but she isn't 'allowed'.
My response was to leave, buy a 6 pack and watch at home. Ugh!
 
There's such a thing as corporate english-themed-pubs in the US? We've only got two in Miami -- Churchill's and The Pub (there's others but they're irish pubs and we have a few bierhauses for catching matches) -- but I've never heard of a corporate chain of british pubs. Seems like such a specific thing.
 
Englishbob said:
My experience with corporate America today.
This may seem trivial but I think it sums up what's wrong with USA.
Full disclosure I have lived here over 20 years.
I took today and tomorrow off work for a break and to get some stuff done.
After, I decided to go to a British themed restaurant/bar named 'The Pub' to watch some English soccer, drink some beer and eat Fish & chips. Happy to spend a couple hours there and spend $50 or so.
I walk into an almost empty bar and ask to watch the soccer which is not currently playing. I'm referred to the manager, a 21 year old girl, who happily hears the word soccer and changes all the TV's to a Panama international game I think. I politely explain that EPL is on NBCSN or Peacock and since this is a British themed pub could I watch that. I was told that corporate control the TV and she could only change it to what they dictated. I asked if they had a subscription to NBCSN and she said yes but she isn't 'allowed'.
My response was to leave, buy a 6 pack and watch at home. Ugh!
Click to expand...

I can tell you why corporate does not allow them to put on certain channels. I've had to deal with this when I was in retail management 10 years ago.

The issue a commercial for a competitor might come on. And they can't have that. The approved stations they allow to be displayed they know are safe from having any of their competitors commercials run. They consider it a conflict of their interest to have commercials from a competitor run in their establishment.

And if as a manager you allow one of those stations to be displayed, and you get visited by regional or corporate management and they see one of these channels on it's not good for the Manager. They usually get a written warning on their file.
 
yukbon said:
There's such a thing as corporate english-themed-pubs in the US? We've only got two in Miami -- Churchill's and The Pub (there's others but they're irish pubs and we have a few bierhauses for catching matches) -- but I've never heard of a corporate chain of british pubs. Seems like such a specific thing.
Click to expand...
Apparently they are owned by thetavernrestaurantgroup. Maybe The Pub in Miami is too?
 
RenegadeMonster said:
I can tell you why corporate does not allow them to put on certain channels. I've had to deal with this when I was in retail management 10 years ago.

The issue a commercial for a competitor might come on. And they can't have that. The approved stations they allow to be displayed they know are safe from having any of their competitors commercials run. They consider it a conflict of their interest to have commercials from a competitor run in their establishment.

And if as a manager you allow one of those stations to be displayed, and you get visited by regional or corporate management and they see one of these channels on it's not good for the Manager. They usually get a written warning on their file.
Click to expand...
The sad part is 'ThePub' is only 2 miles from my house and I enjoy the vibe. But they pissed me off now and i won't frequent it again. There are other options.
 
I've just a heard a horror story about something that happened to a co-worker of mine.

Back when she was 18 she was involved in a car accident that resulted in her being transported to the hospital by ambulance. She was under her fathers insurance at the time and that insurance 100% covered the cost of ambulance rides. Her father took care of all the insurance related stuff and bills.

Fast forward 8 years, and when she was 26 out of the blue she had her entire federal tax return garnished to pay for the ambulance ride.

Here is what happened. Apparently they took down her address incorrectly and could not locate her to bill her for the ambulance ride. They send the bills directly to the consumer and not insurance. Once you get the bill you create a claim with your insurance and they cover it. Because they never got a bill and ambulance rides are covered her father never thought anything of it.

The debt was eventually handed off to a collection agency. And that collection agency never made contact with her or her father as well.

They eventually took it to court. But never located her and therefor never notified her of the court date. Since she was a no show at court the judge ordered it to be garnished.

Her father was livid. She described her father as someone who never loses his cool or swears. And when he was on the phone trying to straighten this out he was yelling and dropping f bombs left and right.

His insurance would not help. Too much time has passed and the window to make a claim has long closed. Not to mention his daughter was no longer under his insurance which is another issue in it self.

When contacting the city they too were unable to help. He argued if they never billed him his daughter shouldn't have to pay the bill. They said there is nothing they can do, the debt had already been sold so that the city could recover its money. He would have to contact the debt collector to work this out.

The debt collection agency was only interested in working out repayment plans for the remaining balance. They wouldn't waive the debt or refund what was garnished.

He contacted his lawyer, but because his daughter lost a court case for not showing up, even though she didn't know she had to show up, it would be a tough, long and expensive battle in court to try to resolve this in court. And there is a good chance even still they would not get the money back that was already garnished. His advice was it's not worth pursuing as it will be a long headache and probably cost you more in the long run than trying to recover the money that was already garnished.

She ended up never getting the money back that was garnished, and having to pay off the remaining debt which included legal fees for having to go to court.

She wants to know how they can never find her to bill her, or contact her, or let her know of a court date. Yet have no problem finding her when it comes to taking the money out of her tax return.

This also never hit her credit report until after the IRS garnished her tax return.

The tax return being garnished was the first sign / they ever heard that where were issues with the billing of the ambulance ride.
 
In other news from the Senate Democrats today, they just shaved off $100 from the expanded unemployment benefits.

House bill was an extra $400 a week.
Senate bill is now $300.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
In other news from the Senate Democrats today, they just shaved off $100 from the expanded unemployment benefits.

House bill was an extra $400 a week.
Senate bill is now $300.
Click to expand...
This could potentially happen (depending on Manchin) Rob Portman submitted an amendment and the GOP is trying to sway Manchin to support it. They would also need the support of the rest of the GOP but you’re jumping the gun as it hasn’t been voted through yet. There are something like 500 amendments proposed to the bill and it is possible that the UI benefit could still be altered but nothing has been voted through yet.
 
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RenegadeMonster said:
In other news from the Senate Democrats today, they just shaved off $100 from the expanded unemployment benefits.

House bill was an extra $400 a week.
Senate bill is now $300.
Click to expand...
Wasn't yesterday supposed to be the day Trump became President again? Has your dad said anything yet?
 
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