Law And More

FCC, Please Pay Attention - My SECOND AT&T Ernestine Moment (should telecommunications executives face criminal charges as do food industry ones?)

AT&T is no longer a monopoly. 

Yet, within less than a month I have had not one but TWO Ernestine moments.

Those experiences were frequent back then when AT&T was the only telecommunications game in town.

The seeming indifference at that time was symbolized by Lily Tomlin's character Ernestine.

The first Ernestine moment happened on November 29th, both in AT&T retail (6000 Mahoning Avenue, Austintown, Ohio) and its support line (800-331-0500). Here are the soul-wrenching details.

In response, the power that be who oversees OH - Shaun Nork - contacted me. He listened. At the time, just having AT&T listen satisfied me. Emotionally, I filed away the ordeal as over. 

Shame on me. Ernestine returned yesterday. Through email I received this receipt from AT&T for payment of a bill for an account I assumed had been closed on November 29th. Here it is Download Attpaymentreceipt. 

My concerns were:

• The account wasn't closed
• This was a charge I should not have to pay
• The charge will continue to recur and be deducted from my bank checking account via direct deposit
• The billing on the new account (a downsized smart phone replacing the iPhone) would not proceed 
• The new account, because of an unpaid bill, would be shut down.

I called the AT&T help line listed on the old account - 800-331-0500.

Two account representatives later over a time frame of two hours, the problem wasn't resolved. I was in terror that mismanagement would result in shutting off my new account and I would be left without a phone which I needed for my business.

Yet, obviously, this wasn't a complex issue that would have to be handled by the transactional lawyers at Cravath Law Firm. 

Totally unhinged, I called Nork. Then and since then no return call. I left the voice mail that this had turned into a regulatory matter.

Yes, I was having chest pains. And, yes, my age puts me in a protected category.

A recovered alcoholic who hasn't had a drink in decades felt powerless against having that first drink, again.

Sweet jesus, I thought to myself, help me.

Next, I further disrupted my work day by driving to the AT&T retail in Austintown.

There, the manager and a salesperson explained what should have been on the receipt or told to me by the account representatives I had reached at 800-331-0500.

• The account was closed in the midst of the normal billing cycle.
• Therefore, a bill was issued.
• The full amount for a total cycle was charged.
• I would received a return of the over-billing by check, within about four weeks.

So, after almost three hours (including drive time), the problem was addressed. 

Or, so I hope.

I don't know.

Regulators in telecommunications should assign mystery shoppers to both AT&T retail and its phone help lines.

When it comes to negligence in the food industry, criminal charges are made and executives go to prison.

Why not apply that same model to telecommunications. Wireless service is as much a necessity of life in the 21st century as food. My hunch is if some AT&T members of the C-Suite go to prison sales and customer service would improve - significantly.  

The chest pains let up about 90 minutes after I left AT&T retail.

I didn't have a drink of alcohol.

At 7:00 P.M. I attended a 12-step meeting I hadn't planned on going to. After all, I have assignments to complete before the long Christmas holiday.

The dog jumped up on my lap when I cried. 

Reflection: Personal injury lawyers might find they can file class action litigation based on the alleged harm done by the current seeming Ernestine ethos. Judges who have experienced that kind of trauma are likely to certify the class. 

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Trump Administration - Conservative Drudge Report Curates All Those Negative Developments

The Drudge Report is a successful business that, unlike most digital native media, will keep scaling. 

Yes, it's a conservative site. But as soon as Donald Trump began behaving erratically it curated negative coverage of the antics. Otherwise the site would lose its credibility - and traffic. 

Today, much of the left side contains curated items about now-U.S. President Trump's worsening legal problems. The headline is how chief of staff John Kelly, hired to impose order to the White House, is going. Here is the link.

The real news on the Drudge Report is that it has made the imploding Trump Administration its main news. That calls for the return of the flashing blue light. 

The possible end of TrumpWorld could be accelerated by the plunging stock market. Soon enough most of us will be too scared to check the numbers online of what's happening in our portfolios. Yes, it can get that bad. And the Drudge Report won't miss a trick on capturing the links to that story.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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Legal Marketers - The New Versions of Willy Lomans

The world of business had changed. Willy Loman hadn't changed with it. He assumed gladhanding would close the deal. The resulting despair and suicide are chronicled in the Arthur Miller's drama "The Death of a Salesman." 

That same phenomenon is overtaking sales today. The 21st century version of that could be called digital gladhanding. Those trying to promote products, services, brands, causes or themselves monopolize social networks. On the front lines are legal marketers. They could be representing law firms of all sizes. Also they could simply be solos representing themselves. 

On those platforms they compulsively post likes, retweets, shares, and comments. Their objective is to get attention. However, usually they become perceived as pests.

The internet has changed.

When communicating on it had been very new, the supposed experts presented case studies how the likers landed jobs, new business, and interviews with media because they were highly visible. Also, it was noted that investing in leaving well-thought-out comments could and did get the eye of those who mattered.

Incidentally, it was through that that some bloggers got hired at Gawker. That was a hot media property before lawyer Charles Harder got in the loop and won a $140 million jury verdict for the plaintiff in "Hogan v. Gawker."

That was then. 

Now, all those likes and more can be as annoying as the pop-up ads. Most of us can differentiate from a like or a comment from those who are sincere and those hustling us for something, anything. 

The emerging mindset among professionals such as myself is: Leave us alone. The exception is if you want to conduct business with us. Then we are totally open to conversation starters. 

Takeaway: In this era of internet over-communication, no, you don't want to be among the digital gladhanders. That tarnishes your legal brand.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

When Public Relations Firms Have Public Nuisance Defendants as Clients - The 5 Do-Nows

Here is the article I published today on Odwyerpr.com on how public relations firms have to manage clients' public nuisance litigation.

Being sued for creating a public nuisance automatically brands defendants the bad guys.

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Brotherly Love & Twisted Sisters - "Dateline" and "20/20" Have to Feature More Cases Involving Siblings

The brother did it.

Or. The sister did it, of course.

The Jersey Shore case of Paul Caneiro, 51, raises the issue of brotherly love - allegedly gone very wrong.

He faces four counts of first degree murder for allegedly shooting and stabling to death his brother Keith, along with the brother's family. He has entered a plea of not guilty. On the record he contends he loved his brother and the extended family.

In addition, there is the arson crime which allegedly was the finishing touch on what might have been a situation of sibling rivalry.

The brothers owned two businesses together. They were pest control service Ecostar and tech company Square One. Here are more details from the Daily Mail. 

As yet, the public knows little about what could have allegedly triggered this violence.

But, those of us who are part of families - and who isn't - have experienced the underlying tensions.

On true-crime shows such as "DateLine" and "20/20" tainted relationships among siblings are not the usual fare.

More often, it's the husband who did it.

Last night, on "DateLine," though, it was the wife in Ashtabula County, Ohio who was convicted of offing her husband with antifreeze. Earlier, there had been the case of the wife who "accidently" killed her husband while they were hunting. A judge in a bench trial in Canada let her off.

In addition to lapses in brotherly love, there are also the feuds or pathological silences among sisters. Call the syndrome Twisted Sisters.

My family's MO has been to leverage silence. That's so Italian.

Where I grew up in ethnic Jersey City, New Jersey, I observed patriarchs of Italian clans wordlessly leave the sidewalk when coming near an enemy, then get back on after there was enough distance between them. 

For a decade I had not spoken to my older sister Camille Klinga.

Somehow I emotionally and physically got pulled back into the loop when she was dying.

It's been 15 years since I spoke with my younger sister Anne Murga-Ring.

About eight years ago I received an email from her. I did not reply. 

Having regretted revisiting the undertow of bad feelings when I circled back into the family as Klinga died, the odds are I will not be part of Murga-Ring's last moments. Nor will she be part of mine. As in most dysfunctional families, a lawyer is in charge of my end of life issues.

All this goes back to the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Cain had a resentment. That was the end of Able. 

Actually, aren't all close relationships fraught with danger - emotional and physical?

In May 2014, I assessed my renewed acquaintance with former Seton Hill Class of 1967 classmate Kathleen Huebner as not good for me. Understatement. To the present time, in my head I do a King Lear on the heath, feeling more sinned against than sinning. 

Within 30 days of the happy reunion with Huebner in Pima County, Arizona in April 2014, I made a list, checked it twice, and, fortunately, in these digital times we can terminate whatever with unfriends, delete, blocks, and more. That is a way of killing them softly, with no law-enforcement intervention. Those who think like lawyers can also warn of taking legal action for harassment.

Overall, I have come to fear human closeness. The darkness in it has become so palpable. Or, perhaps I have soaked up too much "DateLine."

During the holiday season I will drive back to Holy Name Cemetery on Montgomery Street in Jersey City. I need to tell my mother that I forgive her.

However, I will add that I am not ready to take that step with my sisters, not yet. The inner drama of family relationship gone kaput is too exciting theatre to surrender easily.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Drudge Report Caves to Cohen Plea as Tipping Point in TrumpWorld

Conservative Drudge Report is more a news business than a mouthpiece for the alt-right.

So, it's no surprise it curates the most explosive analyses of the implications of the Michael Cohen plea. Here is the one from Grabien on how media outlets are giddy about this tipping point in TrumpWorld.

The issue is not that the ratting badly damaged Donald Trump's legal defenses in the Mueller investigation. Instead the speculation is about if he will finish his term in office. 

Yes, in a sense, it's over. Expect lots more ratting. After all, insiders in TrumpWorld notice that Cohen will only serve a six-month sentence.

The only surprise is that the Drudge Report didn't post its flashing blue light to signal how much trouble the Trump Administration is now in. 

The news will now track the deepening of TrumpWorld woes. If the Drudge Report wants to continue to scale its business it will be among the most prominent trackers.

Reflection: Will the alt-right come tumbling down? At stake is not only power. It's money, plenty of it.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Ernestine the Operator - Her Ghost Seemingly Hovered Over Austintown, OH AT&T Retail

AT&T is in competitive space. Understatement.

Before I decided to swing by its Austintown, Ohio retail branch I had considered Verizon and T-Mobile. But, since I had been contracting with AT&T for wireless service for several years, I defaulted to habit. 

Immediately, I regretted that yesterday. I felt back in the era of Ernestine the Operator. Her ethos of customer service was take it or leave it - and she knew we weren't able to leave it.

The night before I had called the AT&T branch on 6000 Mahoning to get information about switching from an iPhone with the many features I wasn't using to a more simple (less expensive) one. The account rep was helpful.

When I went into the store the next morning, I thanked the sales clerk for the information the night before. Holy cow, I perceived he barked at me, saying he hadn't been working last night. Nice start to a sales transaction. Where has gracious gone?

Things got worse. A seemingly bad attitude was just part of it.

For instance, I asked him to explain how to operate the phone. It wasn't until I had returned to my home office that I found out his explanation wasn't comprehensive. Understatement. I took out the directions in the box. OMG, they were way way off. Cute.

I need my phone. I rushed back to the store. I asked for the manager. She showed me the features I needed to know. At least more than the sales rep had. In the process, she noted that I was "yelling." You bet I was.

I am now the loudest voice in the room about the shabby sales and customer service at AT&T. I contacted the powers that be at AT&T Mobility about that specific account representative. 

Meanwhile, last night I had to call AT&T technical four times about how to navigate the texting feature. Neither the manager nor the formal directions had been useful on that.

Takeaway: Shop around before sticking with your current wireless service provider. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

Owen Labrie, Preppie Whose Future Got Stuck, Requests New Trial

For the second time, Owen Labrie has requested the New Hampshire Supreme Court grant him a new trial. The major argument is inadequate defense the first time around. Here are more details from the media.

His elite future, including a free ride at Harvard, got stuck when he was convicted of a felony. Essentially that was for the crime of using a computer to lure a minor into sex. There were also misdemeanor convictions but none for rape per se.

The scene of the crime had been St. Paul's School, an expensive prep school in New England.

The minor had been Chessy Prout, who later revealed her identity. They had both been students there. She was a freshman, he a senior. Now 20, she went on to publish a book on the experience and, predictably become an advocate for a cause. Her whole identity will likely be shaped by that one high-profile experience. That happens all the time.

His lawyer Christopher Johnson contends the original legal team did not adequately present the facts about the use of computer. The reality was, Johnson told the judges, that Labrie did not intend for his online communications with Prout to result in sex. 

Currently Labrie is in jail for violating terms of probation. A journalist had spotted him on a train at a time when it was later than his curfew. That resulted in being jailed. His lawyer also asks for early release from incarceration. The conviction had saddled him with the label of sex offender. Therefore, his future continues to be bleak. 

The Labrie saga transfixed the nation. It showed the ugly underbelly of a prep school which is a feeder pool for supplying the establishment with the next generation of leaders and managers. Labrie seemed arrogant. Prout seemed like a privileged cry baby. Many rooted for neither.

The media, such as glossy Vanity Fair, had a ball opening up the preppy school ethos for detailed inspection. However, no one anticipated any drop off in applications to establishment incubators such as St. Paul's. The networks formed there are too important to future success. Also, having that academic credential on one's resume is a forever-plus.

Since then there have been myriad versions of sexual scandals at other elite prep schools. Most involved faculty and administrative misconduct and cover-ups from decades ago. There have been smirks about these schools for scandal.

Labrie attended St. Paul's on scholarship. It has been puzzling what inner forces or external social pressures drove him to blow his shot at joining the establishment. He had been successfully passing for "one of them."

It was the tormented novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald who observed the rich are different from the rest of humanity. He died of an early age of alcoholism. Perhaps Labrie was similarly tormented about the gap between who he was and where "they" were. Did he feel like the kind of Jay Gatsby character Fitzgerald created?

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

"The Inventor" Explores Psychology of Deception - Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos

How so many were duped by Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes still remains a mystery. They range from Henry Kissinger to Rupert Murdoch.

Yes, the dynamics and details of the elaborate con were provided by The Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou.

He broke the story in that newspaper.

That was despite how hard Holmes' celebrity lawyer David Boies huffed and puffed to not have the first expose published. Eventually it seemed to tarnish the Boies brand to have been associated with Holmes. Yesterday, he announced he was stepping down from leadership of the law firm he founded Boies Schiller. Here is the coverage in Law.com.

Eventually Carreyrou published the book "Bad Blood." A feature film derived from the book could be released in 2019.

But, the hunger to understand still exists - so much so that a second feature film will also be released about that saga. It's "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley." The movie will have its debut at Sundance in Utah in 2019. Directed by Alex Gibney, it will explore the psychology of deception. Here are more details from TechCrunch.

A third probe into this kind of collective delusion has been Dan Lyons' book "Disrupted."

Fifty-something Lyons was laid off from his journalism job at Newsweek. To provide employer-paid health insurance for his wife and two young children he grabbed any job he could.

It turned out to be another example of tech startup magical thinking. More a cult than a contrived fraud it made no business sense. 

His next job stop was Gawker. And we all know how "Hulk Hogan v. Gawker" represented the beginning of the end of digital native hipster fun and profit, posing as journalism. 

Will all this analysis prevent the next tech con? The odds are against it. When I was interviewing sources for a book on tech entrepreneurship I asked why was so much money being risked. Most of the time there was no guarantee of reward.

The answers ranged from the anticipation of fast wealth to wanting to be close to the action. Those needs cast spells. That kind of voodoo has become standard. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

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Nichol Kessinger and Amber Frey - Was Wife's Pregnancy Tipping Point?

Before wives become pregnant in shaky marriages they should reflect that having a child on the way might have been the tipping point in the murders by Scott Peterson and Chris Watts.

Both did in their pregnant spouses.

Watts also included in that package their two young daughters.

Even in more stable marriages, a pregnancy can cause extreme stress. In my years in recovery, that often has been a trigger for a relapse back into active alcoholism. 

Watts' mistress Nichol Kessinger might also be able to connect some dots on all that. A book could result. Wealth might follow. 

The Daily Mail reports that once Kessinger became aware of the murders she did a Google search on Peterson's mistress Amber Frey. The police tracked down her online inquirers regarding how much Frey made on a book deal and if she became financially comfortable. 

Kessinger likely senses she had a good story to tell.

What the police also turned up is that before the Watts' family went missing Kessinger did a Google search on the mechanics of anal sex. Earlier, she also had began shopping around the internet for a wedding dress. 

But what will sell the book is not so much anal sex and the dashed hopes of a young woman but probably the layers and layers of complexity embedded in Watts' inner wiring. Criminologists will be doing plenty of interviews with Watts, if he doesn't commit suicide in prison or is offed by those who don't like child/fetus killers. 

In addition to his affair with Kessinger, Watts had been involved with a male lover.

Why didn't he prevent the conception of a third child, especially since discovery turned up that the family was experiencing financial distress? Mortgage payments hadn't been made. Before her death, the wife's credit card was rejected when she tried to do an online purchase. 

Whatever made him assume he could get away with murder? Frequently, that has been a collective psychosis among frustrated husbands. Divorce just doesn't resonate with them. Or, it seems a dumb option. 

Kessinger could have unique insight into the many facets of Watts. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com