Is Kay Jewelers Stealing Diamonds From Customer?

Do some employees of Kay jewelers steal, or
at least do incredibly clumsy work?
A growing drumbeat says yes. 

Every kiss begins with cubic zirconia, apparently.

CBS Money Watch has a disturbing story about allegations that Kay Jewelers is taking expensive diamonds and gems from jewelry people bring in for servicing and replacing them with chief knockoffs.

Aimee Picchi (a fellow Vermonter!) writes that a number of people have reported the thefts. There's even a Boycott Kay Jewelers Facebook page. 

The Facebook page consists mostly of people complaining of shoddy work on jewelry at Kay's and other chain jewelers owned by parent company Signet Jewelers.

CBS Money Watch cites a report in BuzzFeed News about one woman, Chrissy Clarius, who took her $4,300 engagement ring to Kay Jewelers every six months as part of their gemstone guarantee program.

When nobody could find the diamond's certification number at one trip to Kay's, Clarius grew suspicious, took her ring to another jeweler and found the diamond had been replaced by moissanite, a cheap stone.

I really hope employees at Kay's are not stealing diamonds. According to CBS Money Watch, Kay released a statement saying they have "rigorous processes in place to help ensure this won't happen." The jewelry chain said it is "actively reviewing this issue."

BuzzFeed News also reports Kay is facing an onslaught of consumer complaints from people who bring in their jewelry for repairs and get them back looking worse than before the repair.

To me, all this sounds like a retail chain cutting corners with inexperienced workers, cheap goods and crappy customer service, all in the name of maximizing profits.

Like many (but not all!) companies, I suspect Kay is burning themselves with short term, quarter-by-quarter thinking. That sometimes temporarily results in ever increasing profits.

That is, until consumers get the memo on how people think the stores are crappy. Then there's a cascading series of financial troubles that can bring down these types of retailers. I noticed Picchi cited stock prices falling as much as 11 percent last week due to disappointing earnings for Signet Jewelers

The CEOs and top mucky-mucks tend to come out of this type of situation with huge bank accounts from their sky high executive pay, leaving a trail of unemployed former workers, angry customers and angry shareholders when things go south.

There outta be a law....

A Turnaround: "Shelter Dogs" Now In Short Supply

Some parts of the country have a shortage of rescued
dogs available for adoption. But this silver lining
has a potentially dangerous cloud.  

Here's some good news/bad news: Shelter dogs are now the new Hot Thing.  

As National Public Radio reports, the demand for dogs now outstrips the supply of those available for adoption in many states.

That means more people are adopting shelter dogs.

Instead of being euthanized, most of these dogs that were abandoned or lost their previous human companions are getting new homes and new lives.

Rescue organizations should take a lot of credit for this. They're good at social media, and they routinely release YouTube videos, post news of successful rescues on Twitter, Facebook,  Instagram and other sites, and raise funds to do their pet adoption work.

So it's a good thing right?

Well yes, but.......

However, humans, being what they are, are both good and bad. The generosity of people who take dogs into their homes is one of the wonderful things people do.

But there's always money to be made from shortages. That's where the potential bad people come in.

Many rescue groups search far and wide, including overseas, to obtain dogs for adoption. That's not necessarily a bad thing. A Russian or Iraqi dog deserves a good life as much as an American Fido does.

But what if you get unethical traffickers? People who kidnap dogs from happy homes in other countries and bring them here.

The NPR story doesn't really get into that aspect of trafficking.  However, there's a mad rush to bring dogs to the United States for adoption. Some of these dogs might be sick or worse.

Some of the dogs coming from other countries turn out to have rabies. Patti Strand, Director of the National Animal Interest Alliance, told NPR:

"We've had a dog with rabies come in from Iraq. One came in from India, another from Thailand. We've had a dog from Puerto Rico that wound up in a shelter in Massachusetts with rabies."

Plus, a Vermont family reportedly ended up with a rescue puppy in 2013 that had rabies. The dog was euthanized, and I'm sure the experience was traumatizing for the family. At least the situation was caught in time before any family members got sick and died.

Also, some organizations place dangerous dogs, ones with serious behaviorial issues, ones that bite and attack, with unsuspecting families.

Many of iffy dog adoption organizations are not necessarily evil, just irresponsible, cynical, ignorant and naive, says the National Animal Interest Alliance:

Strand writes on her organization's Web site:

"For some shelters, saving a dog's life has become a bigger priority than protecting the public from sick or dangerous dogs. Whether they misapply the no-kill shelter philosophy, try to achieve ever higher live-release rates or are simply ignorant about dog behavior, a growing number of these shelters place dangerous dogs with adopters."

Some leading mainstream shelters and rescue organizations are speaking out against irresponsible actors, Strand said, which is good news. Some state governments are also looking at tightening laws to ensure dogs from out of state and overseas are subject to stringent health examinations and registrations.

I guess all this is just another example among a zillion that every silver lining has a cloud, and every cloud has a silver lining.

Just go hug your dog friend today, OK?

Study Confirms What We Already Know: Internet Trolls Are Totally Annoying Sadists

Here's a news flash for you. Internet trolls, those idiots who clutter up social media and web sites with hostile, inane, persistent drivel and just make pests of themselves, are sadists and psychopaths.

New study confirms what we know:
Internet trolls are as hard to eradicate
as cockroaches. And just as unpleasant.  

Yes, yes, you can tell that by just reading the trolls' so-called comments, but now a scientific study backs that up.

According to the Washington Post, Canadian researchers said that "trolling correlated with higher rates of sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism, a certain lack of scruples when it comes to deceiving or manipulating other people."

The Washington Post goes on:

"....the intriguing thing about this new study by researchers from the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and University of British Columbia is the idea that trolling behavior springs not from the opportunity provided by the Internet, but from innate characteristics people possess both online and off."

CNN elaborates:

"...  trolls are offensive for the sheer enjoyment of it. Or, in Internet parlance, "for the lulz"

'Trolls operate as agents of chaos on the Internet, exploiting hot button issues to make users appear overly emotional or foolish in some manner,' the article reads. 'If an unfortunate person falls into their trap, trolling intensifies for further, merciless amusement. this is why novice Internet users are routinely admonished, 'Do not feed the trolls'

More from the study: "That bodes poorly for efforts to tame the trolls. It also suggests, somewhat ominously, that there are lots of "everyday sadists among us."

Yeah, it is scary the sadists have been among us all along. But the Internet is letting them shine. Since psychologists say it's hard to cure sadist of their mindset, I guess we have to find the most effective way to fight them off.

Which brings us back to feeding the trolls. It seems the sadist trolls get the most pleasure from our reaction to them. So if we don't react, we deny them that pleasure.

Maybe this next point indicates some sadistic qualities I have, but it gives me some satisfaction to not taking the trolls' bait, to imagine they are upset with me for doing so.

Then again, I've thrown them a bit of a bone. After all, I'm complaining about trolls in this post, I am reacting in a limited way. So it's a nice compromise. I'm happy. The trolls, if not happy, are as happy as they are going to get.

Sadly, there's no real way to get rid of trolls leaving their bile on blogs, websites, forums and social media. You can block them, which is a lot of work. You can bar comments, which takes away the give and take of the Internet. You can ban anonymous comments, which I suppose helps a little.

Any other ideas out there among readers to rid of us of the trolls? Or at least shut them up?

Tobias Bass, 10, Is The Perfect Antidote To Those Horrible N.Y. Kids Who Trashed House In Illegal Party

Last week, I told you about that former NFL player whose vacation home was trashed by a few hundred teenagers who decided to have a huge party there.

Awesome kid Tobias Bass, 10, is the perfect antidote
to all those jerky partying kids in New York
who trashed a house.  

Six of the teenagers have now been charged, and more arrests are likely. 

Brian Holloway had put Tweets, photos, Instagrams and such the teens posted from the party on line in hopes of identifying them and getting them to apologize and maybe help clean up.

You'd think that might make the kids and their parents a bit remorseful and make some amends. Instead, some of the parents threatened Holloway with lawsuits or worse for putting the photos on line, instead of, say, getting the kids to take responsibility for their actions.

Few, if any did, so he authorized the sheriff's department to start making arrests. One of the people arrested was a kid Holloway had taken in at times because of a lousy home life.

That's the thanks he gets, I guess.

The whole thing has made me and many others depressed about the youth in this country. And their parents.

Before things got too hopeless, though, we get this brilliant ray of sunshine from Oklahoma.  There's an athletic little kid, Tobias Bass 10, who felt bad that his brother Titus 11, can't go out and play because he has cerebral palsy.

So, the enterprising Tobias wrote a letter to the Oklahoma News9, the local TV station, and asked for a favor.  Tobias wanted to run a 5K race and push his brother in a jogger pusher so the two could participate together. But his mother couldn't afford an adequate jogger pusher.

In his letter to the News9 anchors he wrote: "Can you go to the news and not ask Oklahomas to give me anything, but can someone loan me a jogger pusher so I can pus Titus in the 5K?"

Notice Tobias didn't ask people to donate a jogger pusher. He just wanted to borrow one. He didn't want a hand out. In his letter, he also offered to push other disabled kids in events like the 5K, as a means of paying it forward.

The reporters at News9 were only too happy to report on a perfect story that came to them, instead of having to hunt for one. So they did.  Here's the video of News9's report on Tobias (Warning: Kleenex alert, you might need some)



And as you can tell by the report, News9 also got an outfit called Oklahoma Able Tech to give Tobias and Titus a pusher stroller.

News9 was also there last night when Tobias and Titus ran the 5K. They finished strong. The money quote after the race from Tobias was this, regarding his brother: "He actually gets to be like all these kids around me. He actually gets to live life."

If only the kids, and their parents from that party at the ex-NFL players vacation house had just a billionth of the moral fiber of Tobias Bass

Kid Dances Incredibly, Meditates on Bullying, While Another Kid Just Suffers.

Every once in awhile, I'll share in this blog a video of a really cool, talented dancer doing his or her stuff.  I'm kinda fascinated with great dancers. I guess it's to make up for my dancing abilties, which would remind one of a rat with epilepsy.

This video one is different.

Yes, the kid's dancing is incredible. Supposedly he's 12, but the control he has over his body is just amazing, like he's been practicing for 30 years.
But the video tells a story of bullying, of suffering, of people around kids who don't have their best interests at heart. You want to believe the story line, that the kid perseveres through the awfulness, and finds his mojo in dance. So much so that other people come around to him.

Happily ever after.

The video is really a work of art, not just because of the dancing.

Now for a reality check. The video above is a fictional storyline. Inspiring, beautiful, artful, yes. And the dancing is certainly real. But real life, unfortunately, doesn't always end well. I hate to be so depressing, but there you go.

The reason I'm being Debbie Downer is the video below. Because as far as I can tell it's real life. And it's far from pretty or inspiring or hopeful.

Apparently, some shoppers in a Vineland, N.J. Walmart heard an awful mother yelling at her daughter. Supposedly, you could hear it all over the store, and it lasted a long time.

As everybody seems to do nowadays, somebody whipped out a video recorder, and caught the mother in what looks like a deliberate attempt to make the young girl take a nasty fall from a shopping cart.

It's painful to watch, but do it anyway. It's a sad commentary on what looks to be a little girl's lousy childhood:


As people confront the woman, she says "I didn't mean to do that one."

That one, lady? Does that mean you regularly pull mean, injury causing abuse on your young daughter? Is it a coincidence there's a pink cast on the girl's arm? Or did you cause it?

In the video, you see people who saw the incident confront the wicked mother. Those confrontations are well meaning of course. What are you supposed to do when you see something like that?

But it escalates, and the mother who pulled the cart out from under her daughter makes excuses, and resorts to yelling, out of control. That's what bullies do to discourage people who confront them.

While this is going on, look at the daughter. The mother makes gestures to comfort her, but it looks fake, and the girl knows it.  All the yelling from everybody makes her an embarrassing center of attention, and she just wants to fade away.  If anybody in the world needed a hug, a safe place, the girl is the one.

She knows that, probably, she's not going to be rescued. And since everybody made a big deal out of the abuse, she knows she will get more of it at home. It will be her fault, of course, at least in her mother's twisted view.

I haven't been able to find out what happened to the girl and her mother.

Maybe I'm assuming everything incorrectly, but to me, that's how things usually work out, unfortunately.

What will happen to that girl?  Somehow, I doubt it will be a Hollywood ending, like the kid in the dance video who finds joy in his talent. No matter  how smart or talented the real little girl is in that sad video from Vineland, New Jersey, there's no escape, or so it seems.

Will she have the strength to make it to adulthood? Will she be a damaged adult, one who either shrinks from the world or becomes an abuser herself, because that's the only thing she knows?  Or was this just a rare, bad moment,?

And will she find the strength to soar, like the kid in the dance video? I sure hope so.