" Sounds like another good reason not to let your tank get below half-full. (One is reputed to get better mileage on the top half of the tank, plus there is the peace of mind of never having to worry if you'll run out before you get where you are going).
"

" Just_Venting,
You are talking about an "Authorization Hold".

See Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_hold

A similar thing happens when you pay at the pump for gas. You swipe your card and the gas station immediately puts an authorization hold on your account for $75. Once that hold goes through, (while you are seeing "Authorizing" displayed on the screen), you are allowed to pump. After you get done pumping your gas, and you have spent $50, the hold is changed to an actual charge of $50. This is the basic transaction model for all credit card purchases, especially when the actual final charge is unknown.

If you are lucky enough to require more than $75 of fuel, you will have the distinct pleasure of having the pump shut off and then needing to swipe the card again, which I have done.

I am sure the $75 figure varies from station to station, and probably fluctuates with gas prices so that it is not too high and not low enough that the double-swipe is common. "

" justventing -- I am not a lawyer and don't know for a fact, but that does NOT sound legal. I hope you pursue it -- did you keep the "receipt" with this small note? Maybe take it in to the police, or give a call to the Better Business Bureau.

Thanks, Rich -- I had noticed the movie links had gone away some time yesterday afternoon. I get problem reports for stuff like that myself -- some vendor will think what a great idea it is to turn on some service that messes everything up on our end and I get users complaining like crazy. (I feel your pain ;-) "

" I went to a local restaurant today and had a good meal. The prices are much higher that before and the portions were smaller. The restaurant is a very popular one on Grant ave.
Anyway here is my concern. On my receipt there is a small note saying a charge 20% higher than the actual amount on the bill will debited, but the receipt does not show the extra 20% even though it charged . In other words if the bill was 50.00, they would charge 60.00 to my account. If I chose not to add a tip on the bill, the 20% would be ducted in a few days, and the actual amount of the bill will be correct. They are using this money for a few days. If you use your account and pay another bill you could bounce a check if the funds are tight. Does anybody know why they are doing this? Are they writing themselves a tip? I really want to know what kind of business trickery is this ? Anybody know?
"

" No particular comment. Just Happy Valentine's Day to all! We're keeping it simple - just a quiet evening at home by the fire, enjoying each other's company - that's the way we like it. I hope everyone else has a pleasant evening. "

" In fact, I do like getting constructive criticism back from users.

The "seen this yet" feature is automated, of course. When we added in our cinema-source feature, "Seen this yet" picked up on the articles from there. I have since blocked them from "seen this yet" listings, as it seemed there were more movie writeups in there than articles on the entire site + ap! More than half of the "seen this yet" articles were turning up as movie links.

As far as the "cursed" flippers are concerned, you will be able to switch the flipping on and off as a user preference eventually. "

" Thanks, cm -- you too!

I did read the Malloy article, and thought, gee, my guy doesn't believe in ANY holidays and never gives gifts on those days (though he is so generous he'd give you the shirt off his back even if it were the last one he had).

Well, did he surprise me! "Farmer Guy" took Number Two Son and me out to dinner last night -- for Valentine's Day, but in keeping with his principles, not ON Valentine's Day. I'm not complaining!

Boy, do they serve huge portions at the Wall Street Cafe -- I had enough for dinner, for lunch today, and there's enough for lunch tomorrow too, LOL!

BTW, "Farmer Guy" also listens to my Tales of Two Cents, but hates computers and though he often has comments, he refuses to post online. He was very unhappy when they cut Two Cents from the print version.

Thanks for the kind words, Karl. I'd add, especially when the majority of my posts here today are in defense of myself against spiteful personal attacks. "

" stevedallas--so what if Farmer's Gal has "something to say about everything"???
Since when is being eloquent, well-informed and opinionated a crime? "

" On a brighter note: Happy Valentine's Day! Did anyone read Molloy's article? Funny yet true! lol. "

" I find you annoying gal, You have something to say about everything! And this is not a forum its 2 cents, but you think it a dollar! "

" see farmer gal should talk this stuff out with farmer guy. "

" A "customer" is any person who uses your product, including, for example, patrons of a public library. A "customer" is a person you serve with your product, someone you want to keep coming back.

If The Citizen wants to keep selling advertising on their site, we have to look at it or advertisers won't want to shell out. The "payment" may be indirect, but we are all customers, whether we are putting our hands in our pockets directly or not.

Is there no one here who understands basic customer service? "

" My feelings are mixed on the AP articles. It's nice having them there, because lots of times I wouldn't see them otherwise. However, I am not much on "bells and whistles" or things that jiggle around on the page on their own.

And I do find it annoying that:

A) If you follow a link to an AP article, about 30-50% of the time the article is already gone,

B) If you want to look at it again you are SOL because it's gone or

C) they can't be indexed because it isn't The Citizen's content. (I understand the technical "why" this is so, but it's still annoying to see content via The Citizen as a portal, but then not be able to get back to it from the same portal later).

But the links to the IMDB aren't AP content, they aren't even reviews of movies playing locally, they are just links to basic information about random movies, many of which people reading this paper won't be able to go see, rent or view in any other way.

I'm hoping someone from The Citizen will chime in eventually with a rationale and explanation for their presence here at all. (Or maybe just make them go away!)

And believe me, I had noticed the lack in the area of organization. After all, that's what librarians do -- "Technical Services" librarians (like myself) organize information for future retrieval, while "Public Services" librarians work with patrons to help them retrieve the information they need. Both are experts on the structures for organizing information in such a way as to make it most logically retrievable. It's probably my own background that makes this less-than-optimal organization so annoying. I find a lot of the public have incredibly high tolerance for poor design.

I've just tried to couch my grumbling a little more constructively, but I still get taken to task for it -- sigh. "

" you are only a customer if you pay for it farm gal, the web site is free! "

" I agree, Farmer's Gal--this whole "flip" thing mechanism of the website here SUCKS! It's too enigmatic and annoying. YOu can't find what the hell you may have seen just a minute or two before, and forget trying to get BACK to something you HAVE seen!
Who the hell came up with this nightmare??? And why haven't they listened to our complaints about it? It's like selling a paper with no page numbers on the bottom and no "sections"--just masses of information, poorly organized! "

" Most website designers LIKE to get feedback on the design of their site -- what is liked, what isn't, what works well, what confuses people, etc. That's how the website designer hones the site to be user-friendly and to meet the needs of the users.

Remember -- the customer is always right. Good service doesn't tell the customer they don't have any business complaining if they don't like something.

That said, the links to random movie info are taking up space that used to be filled with links to articles, and they are out of place in the menus for "Articles you haven't read yet" because they aren't articles. They aren't even reviews of current movies, and some of them are difficult-to-obtain foreign or old movies, so I can't see any logic to having them here at all.

It's a free country and I can question anything I like, and I can be put out if the editorial staff can't be bothered to address their customers' concerns. If they care about customer satisfaction, they DO need to explain it to me. "

" If you don't like the selection then don't pick it. Unless you are an policymaker of the Citizen I don't think they need to explain what they do to you. "

" Question: What's with the links to random movies which have been appearing in the "Articles you haven't read yet" section the past few days? I look there for *articles* I might want to read, not IMDB movie info (If I want movie info, I go directly to the IMDB myself).

Who selects the movies? It's all very odd, and so far as I can tell, unexplained. "

" Yeah AJ....I say let's tax the "Perrier" out of those overloaded folks....by the by....what percentage of the one percent is Republican?? "

" Go look in the window of Kalet's. Then tell me it's "a valuable piece of property." Stardust is doing the City a favor by taking on the task of demolishing that wreck. It's a savvy move by Quill, et. al. getting the City out from under the cost of demolition. Point of information...if I'm not mistaken, Guy is a Republican. "

" december 21 ,2012 11:11 "

" The top 1% of Americans who make more than 10 million earn 49447.36% more than their proportional value to population and pay 81665.9% of the tax burden relative to their population yet pay only 60.55% of their proportional value of tax relative to income compared to the poor under $5000 per year who pay 5224.56% of their tax burden relative to their income.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, July 2007 "

" The "people that need medication" obviously include the disgruntled neocon who posted that thing about the "Hopi and Mayan predictions"!?!? Thanks for a good belly laugh! LOL! "