Not if I can help it. But I'm just one guy. If you agree that this should not die a quiet death from apathy, please send an email demanding to know why customers should put themselves at risk due to CITGO's refusal to take meaningful action--especially since we have so many other choices when it comes to where we can buy our gas. Please encourage pro-gun blogs to push this, and if you have a blog, please take up the cause and rally your readers.
Here's my follow-up email to "Customer Service Representative" Bruce McCall:
Dear Mr. McCall,
I see that Keith Olbermann gave your Gary, IN station manager an award of sorts on a recent MSNBC program, although I doubt being a candidate for "worst person" is the sort of press you folks covet:
Third on the list was the manager of a Citgo station in Gary, Ind., where a woman was robbed at knifepoint while filling a church van with gas. When she ran inside and asked the clerk to call the police, he advised her to use her cell phone because of a store policy that instructs clerks not to place such calls because they could anger the criminals.
You made noises about "de-branding the station" in the form letter you sent out to those of us contacting CITGO with our outrage, but you never really committed to doing anything about this. I replied to you 12 DAYS AGO asking when you would let the public know how this has been resolved. So I will again ask you, publicly this time:
When can we expect an announcement from CITGO on how this has been resolved?
David Codrea
Citgo probably will not reply, and it will not do anything about this. The franchise holder will not do anything either. None of these heads-up-their-ass companies will do anything because no one will force them to do so. Powerful morons run a lot of companies in this country, and the only thing they will respond to,or understand, is brute force. If their bottom line takes a hit, if their marketability suffers(bad press,nationwide) that will be the only thing that will jar them into action,albeit delayed,insufficient,and only motivated by a desire to return to their former position, or a better one. These people have no morals, and they are spiritually bereft. Don't expect anything other than hostility, and ignorant behavior.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, Sean--but if enough people email McCall, who knows?
ReplyDeleteWhat's guaranteed is they WILL do nothing if people do nothing.
Isn't it worth a minute of your time?
-Sarcasm - ON, again,- FULL BLAST!-
ReplyDeleteAt least they replied to yours the first time! I've been anxiously sitting by my E-Mail box for days -and still nothing!
You don't think their avoiding me do you?
David--then post that on your blog and send them your link--tell them you expect an answer.
ReplyDeleteI just saw where Sears and Target responded to customer pressure to put "Christmas" back into their stores, instead of "Holidays." Companies know that with competitive choices, they only need to lose a small percentage of customers to hurt their bottom line and give their competition an advantage.
Irate correspondence works--but only if enough people join in.
Well, I may not have been irate, but the following is my email to Citgo.
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose I could be more formal with an inside address and proper salutation, but I just don't respect you enough.
You took too long to provide an answer as to your reaction to the tacit approval of your branded stations aiding and abetting armed robbery of your customers, ala Gary, In. So I will no longer be doing business with any Citgo station, nor will I buy or use any Citgo product. Further, I will persuade as many others as I can to join me in patronizing retailers that don't share your affection for predators of your customers.
Doesn't sound like a big penalty, does it? I have eight adult children, they have children, some of which drive. They all have friends and cousins and aunts and uncles. Not counting my children there will be twenty others, at least, at my house on Christmas day and some before and some after. I will be sure to mention your passive support of the criminal element hanging around your branded station.
How is that handled, by the way? Do the armed robbers draw straws? Is there a lottery? Or is it just a rotation? You know, the last one to rob one of your customers goes to the bottom of the list and a new guy gets to take his turn at not having the police called. Must be tough to keep track, it sure seems like you find it very difficult to take any action to thwart this abysmal behavior.
I wish your family a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday if you celebrate other than Christmas. Just be sure and not take a chance on ruining it by patronizing a Citgo station.
Sincerely,
xxxxx xxxxxxx*
* I did sign it with my name.
Now that's what I'm talkin' about.
ReplyDeleteThanks, straightarrow.
Awesome comments.
IT MIGHT INTREST YOU TO KNOW CITICORP IS ALSO A BIG CONTRIBUTOR TO GUN CONTROL INC,AS WELL AS HALLMARK,CONOCO-PHILLIPS,AT&T.AND ON AND ON.
ReplyDeleteWANT THE REST OF THE STORY JOIN THE NRA .
anonymous, I've been an NRA Life Member for almost 20 years now. Unfortunately, aside from a list that's not kept current (for instance, they still list Eisner as CEO of Disney), they don't say much about WHY a company or person is considered anti-gun.
ReplyDeleteAlso, because of a history of compromises, undeserved "A" ratings for politicians, and outright betrayals of the Second Amendment, I can't recommend anyone joining NRA.
I used to belong to NRA, but I got tired of LaPierre writing and lobbying for gun control laws and telling me we had won a victory, then asking me for more money so we can have another "victory" of that stripe. See project Safe Neighbohoods, Project Exile, ad nauseum. Not to mention NRA's lobbying for placing all school children in harm's way to keep schools gun free. Who the Hell is going to stop the crazies, when they are the only ones armed? Not the police, they wouldn't even enter the school in Columbine, even though the shooting was still goign on. Unlike Pearl,Ms. where the principal of the school stopped the shooting rampage when he retrieved his illegally stored gun from his car trunk on school grounds. LaPierre didn't rush any of these creeps with his empty hands. He sure as Hell was the main reason the Pearl,Ms. school's principal, though, could have been prosecuted for a felony of having a firearm on school property.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the good citizens of Ms had better sense than LaPierre or our elected officials and the local prosecutor correctly read his political future if he charged this hero.
It is not a victory, nor even a compromise (one should never compromise principle, ever) when you agree to give up some if they won't take everything they want this time. "We want it all, oh,well, alright, we'll only take half now, but you get nothing in return except you get to keep what we didn't take this time. We'll compromise. But we'll be back later." That is not compromise. LaPierre was only too willing to accept what he called compromise, but wasn't.
Compromise is where one side gets part of what they want and the other side gets part of what they want. It is not compromise when everything on the table belongs to just one side. Like our second amendment rights. Which may not be compromised in the first place.
This is surrender, incremental surrender to be sure, but surrender nonetheless. I can surrender my rights all by myself without paying someone to do it for me while dragging it out to solicit more payment for the privilege of being surrendered by professionals.
I'll stop here, because I don't care to get angry all over again at the betrayal of myself by the NRA and LaPierre. Where I may respect an enemy, I detest a betrayer.