restaurant letter grading

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/loophole-lets-unhealthy-restaurants-post-passing-letter-grades-1.3056687

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/city-steps-up-efforts-to-thwart-restaurant-inspection-bribes-1.2913503

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/dirty-dining-manhattan-nabes-that-serve-up-the-most-health-violations-1.2671873

all of us has attended school and all of us have taken exams in school.  when the teacher is there everyone follows through on their behavior or else you'd get in trouble.  during exams, teachers at times may step out of the classroom and head somewhere else, such as heading to the teachers lounge to pick something up or maybe a bathroom stop and the list goes on.  when the teacher leaves the room, she can either ask a teacher next door to keep watch at her students while she is temporarily away or leave the students unattended while she leaves the room momentarily.  in either case, the students are left open for anything.  now during an exam in class, most students would ask other students for answers and solutions to any of the questions they have a problem with in the exam.  in other words, students are cheating while the teacher is away.

now lets compare this to the grading level that are given to restaurants in nyc.  i have and am currently working at a restaurant and can tell you that there are things where we do violate the regulations and is often on a daily basis, such as failure in providing experation dates on used products or simply over label an expired label with a new label.  the general process of an inspection is that inspectors can stop by your location at any time either with a notice or as a surprise.  it wouldn't matter on either.

lets start off with a notice.  managers or owners would be notified that they would be visited by a health inspector and would make necessary arrangements to insure that the restaurant is in accordance to standards.  btw, just because the inspector says they're coming at a particular day doesn't necessarily mean they are coming.  it just means the restaurant needs to keep an eye out and remain vigilant in standards.  when the inspector stops by, everything or most of the standards in the store are meet in accordance to the standard and the restaurant is given a passing grade.  so basically, the restaurant can be as dirty as they'd like before the inspection and manage to pass as they prepare to meet standards on the day the inspector stops by. 

the second is surprise inspections.  with surprise inspections, managers and owners panic and start to force everyone to perform standard maintenance, that means they would tell workers to start cleaning up, put labeling dates, etc....  this is important because it shows to the inspector that the workers are doing [or rather trying] their job in meeting the "A" grade standard.  here's an example, suppose an inspector says that there are no dates on a storage container.  the managers could say that the employees are currently busy and would make a label when it is no longer busy, or as the manager would have shown that the employees are trying to provide one but the inspector came at a bad moment and the employee never had the chance to make a expiration label.  so during a surprise inspection, restaurants are able to pass as they are providing cover up and bullshit to the inspector. 

passing the inspection is easy.  all of us have went to school and all of us have used or follow a list of rules and proceedures.  passing the inspection is all about following a check list.  when we go to the store, we make a list of things to buy and when we get those things, we mark them out on the list and move on to the next.  when we do our school work or our jobs, we make a mental [or written] check list of the things that needs to be accomplished.  it is not complicated to pass the inspection when you follow the check list and that is all there is to it.  restaurants that fail the inspections should be closed because they are too stupid to follow a check list. 

update on aquaclear 110 ebay problem

About a week ago [around the 7-8th of january 2011], i received an email message from ebay stating that i have mistakenly left the wrong feedback for the aquaclear 110 filter that i bought from pond passions outlet [ http://myworld.ebay.com/bottomfisher/ ] in ebay.  in return for changing the feedback, she would send a replacement unit for the one that was damaged.  of course, i didn't act immediately to this offer, especially when she mentions of here customer satisfaction, while such a thing wasn't provided when my filter case was damaged due to her mistake.  i sent her an email informing her that she has 1 week to send me a replacement unit, until then the feedback will remain.  it's been over a week [a week and a day] and i haven't received anything.  clearly, be very cautious with this seller on ebay, she does not stand up to her claims. 

lets take here oath of customer satisfaction that she posted on here ebay webpage and make some puns with it,
" ... I TAKE PRIDE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE. I ALSO GET A LOT OF CLOSEOUTS. I WOULD NOT BE HERE IF IT WERE NOT FOR MY CUSTOMERS. I HAVE MANY RETURN CUSTOMERS. I HOPE YOU WILL BECOME MY NEXT ONE. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING...POND PASSIONS OUTLET. "

there is no customer service as i have provided the example with the broken filter case due to their mailing neglect.  she would not be where she is if she had not screwed the customers on their purchases.  she says they have a lot of returned customers, which is likely true because when the customers receive a damaged product, they will seek you out for a refund.  in the end, she hopes that you will become her next target to get suckered. 

in the end, i did receive a replacement filter case from hagen, the manufacturer of the aquaclear filter brand.  the customer service representative informed me how the warranty did not cover the replacement of the broken filter case, which got me worried.  i told her that the ebay user have ditched me and she eventually asked for the receipt, which i provided as well as other documentations to illustrate who she is.  in the end, i informed the customer representative that though the warranty may not cover the filter case replacement, wanted her to inform the company that this ebay authorized retailer should be inspected.

7 genesis manuals for $7 with $14 shipping

i bought 7 sega genesis game manual from ebay user whtnja [ http://myworld.ebay.com/whtnja/ ].  the manuals were for;
earthworm jim 1
golden axe 2
incredible hulk
sonic 2
animaniacs
seperation anxiety
zombies ate my neighbors

i left a negative feedback for all of the items won.  the reason why was due to unnecessary charges for shipping.  as the title of this post suggest, i paid $1 each for each of the manual and it totals to $7.  the problem is that i paid a total of $14 for shipping.  $14 to ship out game manuals is pretty steep which is the reason for the negative feedback.  additionally, i bought 14 manuals from another ebay user and i only paid $2 for shipping.  clearly the difference of $14 to $2 is a big difference.  so he ripped me off and i left him a negative response for it.  when i received the package from the guy, it was in a bubble wrapped envelope and the postage was .44 cents.  big rip-off.

the guys response to my negative feedback was,
"Buyer didn't read shipping info or ask about shipping. Unfair neg. feedback"
on the item page, it was never mentioned about combined shipping and when i e-mailed him about combined shipping, he never respond back.  so nothing was ever mentioned and a no response means i don't know the answer on rather he combines shipping or not, which means it's open water.  after the end of the auction, i asked for him to re-total everything and that was when i found out that he did not combine shipping.  i even asked specifically about combining shipping again by re-totaling the cost and he did not respond.  i paid for the cost and i left him a negative feedback because he knew what he was doing, that is to say that he was ripping me off.  so is it an unfair negative feedback?  NO!

bad ebay purchase of aquaclear 110

ebay user: bottomfisher [ http://myworld.ebay.com/bottomfisher/ ]
ebay store: pond passions outlet [ http://stores.ebay.com/pondpassionsoutlet ]
Name: Michelle McCord

I recently bought an aquaclear 110 for $66 with shipping included on the 25th of December and received it on wednesday the week after.  I opened up the package and found the case of the filter cracked in two places.  The first crack is at the top where the filter outputs the water and the other is a crack at the bottom of the filter.  I contacted the person immediately when i saw the crack and they responded rather quickly for a picture.  I sent several pictures through email and the person never replied back.  According to the description of the product, it is under warranty by Hagen, the makers of the aquaclear filter.  I sent an email to Hagen thinking that the company would replace the broken filter case.  Hagen replied that they would not replace the case because the person I bought it from is not an authorized dealer.  To make things short, I'm stuck with a broken filter case that will be replaced out of my own expense because of neglect by the seller.  Beware of this ebay seller. 

Here is a link to a person who also had a similar problem like I did with the same ebay seller [ http://www.ripoffreport.com/pet-shops-supplies/michelle-mccord-pond/michelle-mccord-pond-passions-b6235.htm ].

Here is the picture of the crack on the filter.  There is another crack on the bottom [about 2 inches long].  However, it is not visible to take a picture of the bottom crack because it's on the edge and it's hard to see on picture.