This morning, while reading an article in The New York Times on my Amazon Kindle Fire about new devices Amazon was releasing, I said to my wife: “There is an announcement of new Alexa hardware.” My Kindle then spoke: “What do you want me to announce?” to which I replied “Nothing, Alexa, Cancel,” which was followed by my voice from the Kindle saying “Nothing, Alexa, Cancel.”

This afternoon, I was eating lunch in the kitchen when our female Jack Russell mix started to make noises to tell me it was time, in her opinion, for me to feed her even though I was in the middle of my own lunch. I picked up my iPhone to heed her request and said “You’re a whiny little bitch” to which Siri replied “I don’t know how to respond to that.”

So, beware. Alexa and Siri are always listening. Sigh.

I got my cc bill from AMEX today and saw an interest charge of $181. Since I don’t buy things “on time,” I called AMEX. Note that I have been an AMEX cardholder since 1960 and that I have gold or platinum cards. The representative told me that I had underpaid the last statement by $50 and that an automatic charge goes into place even if one underpaid by $1. Really? Really?

In looking back at my Quicken account from AMEX for that period, I saw that one $50 charge never was downloaded. So, my Quicken balance, I thought, was what should be paid. My error. But $50 too low and $181 interest? Mind you that the total AMEX bills we pay monthly are fairly large and are always paid before the due date.

In the past, when I’ve made an error (put in wrong number by accident) on cc bill, I have never been charged by any cc company. The rep I talked to said this was the policy of “all credit card companies.” Hmmm. But he did say that because of my “long relationship” with AMEX that he’d have the interest charge reversed. Gosh, how wonderful.

I did a chat with another AMEX rep after the first one. Told him of the issue. He said he’d try to do something about this with the back office. Really, the automated system should somehow be changed or the policy be revised for cardholders (and spenders) like us. You don’t treat longtime customers like this if you want to keep them.

ADDENDUM: I got an email questionnaire from AMEX and responded with my thoughts and complaints. A day or two later, I received a telephone call from a higher-level customer service person who listened to my story, was sorry it was originally handled the way it was (she had reviewed the first telephone call and the later online chat with another representative). She also told me that it was possible that there would be "trailing interest" charged to my account by their automated system but that she would monitor the account and make sure it was credited. Was a fruitful conversation and really good follow-up to the online questionnaire.

Restaurant Reservations: By now, you’ve probably heard about our Santa Fe restaurant reservations issues. If not, briefly, I make reservations in advance. For one of our Santa Fe restaurants, we found out through Open Table it was closed due to a change of ownership … would not reopen for a few months. For another, Open Table warned us it was closed and we found out there had been a fire in the kitchen and they were remodeling. So, made two new reservations and it was fine.

We’re in Birmingham now. Before I left home, I made a reservation at a restaurant about 15 minutes from the hotel. Last night we got the car and headed that way. First, there was rush hour traffic to contend with. Then there was an accident blocking one of the highway lanes. And then it poured down rain. Poured down.

Pulled off the highway and headed last leg to the place when two police cars with lights on came around us. Guess where they and a fire engine or two were heading? Yep. Our restaurant. It was now closed with staff all standing outside in front. Found out later they had “an event” in the kitchen with lots of smoke that triggered the alarms and, thus, all the vehicles with flashing red lights.

Rain abated. We headed back to hotel. Traffic better the other direction. Gave car to valet at hotel and went across the street to a recently opened Indian restaurant where we had a delightful dinner…and no reservation.

Lots of text messages are sent out to several people as a group. Seems to me that these messages mostly fall into two categories:

1. A question is asked of the group such as “Are you free on xxx to go out for dinner?” Or “Did you get the message I sent with attachments?” Or something similar where an answer is solicited. For these, please respond only to the sender of the group email and not to everyone.
2. Some group messages are meant to be shared. “Loved all of us being together tonight. Thanks.” “Need to know who is willing to bring what foods to Joe’s house next week. Here’s a list of what’s needed” In these, it’s implied that responses should be shared among the recipients rather than just to the sender.

Some of the above also applies to group emails. The basic idea is, then, to think about the message (or email) itself and whether it’s appropriate to respond to everyone or just the sender. Always sending to everyone means our mobile phone keeps beeping and beeping as everyone does the same thing.