Monthly Archives: October 2011

Another Reason I Hate My Bank

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

I have been having a problem with the web site for my bank, which after many years of working OK suddenly decided a few weeks ago that it really didn’t feel like downloading my transaction information into Quicken any more.

Yesterday I finally broke down and called the bank to see if they could sort it out. I hate calling the bank because every time I want something it takes over an hour and I have to speak to three or more people. Indeed, I spent five minutes with the first tech, then got escalated to Trish, a nice tech from Level 2 tech support. Eventually I was able to convince her that it actually wasn’t working. But her attempt to actually solve anything was frustrated by the fact that the bank, having just rolled out a redesigned of their entire web site yesterday, wasn’t actually serving many downloads because something had crashed.

So we made an appointment to talk on Thursday. Seemed like a positive experience on balance. But not so fast! Today I get a call from a different tech, informing me that Level 2 is not making appointments to talk to people, so the first tech would not be calling on Thursday. Yes, he called me when I wasn’t free to talk to say they wouldn’t be calling me when I was free to talk. And, oh yes, systems are still down, so no point doing anything today either.

On the positive side, the more-than-one-hour-and-three-or-more-people rule seems intact.

Posted in Shopping, Software | 2 Comments

Amygdala is Back! (Impairment of Contracts)

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

His fans will be glad to know that Gary Farber seems to have overcome the problems in his life long enough to take up blogging again, and has a stemwinder of a post in Papers, Please on the new Alabama anti-undocumented-immigrant statute.

I had not being paying enough attention, because until he pointed it out, I had not known that among the many jaw-dropping features of this piece of punitive xenophobia is this bit, hidden in plain sight in the New York Times:

Among the other sections Judge Blackburn upheld: one that nullifies any contracts entered into by an illegal immigrant; another that forbids any transaction between an illegal immigrant and any division of the state, a proscription that has already led to the denial of a Montgomery man’s application for water and sewage service; and, most controversially, a section that requires elementary and secondary schools to determine the immigration status of incoming students.

Nullification of contracts? Er, what about this little section of the Constitution, in Art. I, Sec. 10, para 1:

No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.

(emphasis added). Surely that’s relevant?