IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

Touch Screens - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

It's almost enough to make me wonder if I exist. "I think, therefore I am." may not be a sufficient explanation for the apparent fact that if I touch an icon on a smart phone's touch screen, for the most part, nothing will happen.

I went to a medical lab the other day for some blood tests and in the same vein, pun intended, there was this fairly large touch screen with an array of icons through which each patient was supposed to sign in. No matter what, I could NOT get any of those icons to respond to my hand. I would touch one, I would touch one and hold my finger there for a few seconds, I would just tap one and pull away quickly, but it was all to no avail.

Eventually the receptionist noticed my consternation and came over. With no difficulty, she tapped all the appropriate places to get me signed in for my appointment. Then I sat down and waited to be called and as the minutes went by, I saw several other patients come in and use that same touch screen with no apparent problems.

Do you remember the Dracula movies starring Bela Lugosi? We learned from those films that a vampire can't make a reflection in a mirror which now raises a question.

Would Dracula have been able to use a smart phone?

Werner Klemperer - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Quite a few years ago, I, my wife, her brother and his wife were in Bloomingdale's. The gals were looking at clothes so I found a couch near the jewelry counter and sat down.

While on that couch, I saw a man make a purchase at that counter and in the course of his conversation with the clerk, she asked him where he lived. His answer was Los Angeles. If he had his choice, he said, he would be living in New York but his work and business made that impossible. He finished his transaction, turned around and as he did so, our eyes met for just a moment and then he left.

Right after that, my brother-in-law came to me and asked if I had noticed "Colonel Clink". No, I hadn't but that man whom I had not recognized was Werner Klemperer. The two of us then spoke to the clerk to ask if the sale transaction showed that name and when she saw that it did, she went "Oh my God! That was Colonel Clink!". She hadn't realized who her customer was.

I suspect that when he and I had looked at each other, that he was expecting to be recognized but when I didn't respond, he simply went on his way.

CVS Pharmacy on A Sunday, Part 4 - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I gave up on Tuesday, June 20th, after spending more than two weeks trying to resolve the prescription snafu regarding "Paul". I had spoken with several CVS staff members and gotten essentially nowhere.

Still, I suspect that it may have dawned on one staff member that perhaps "Paul" had never received his prescription at all. I sensed what seemed like a certain vocalization of realization and horror. Of course, I have no way of knowing one way or the other.

The lesson to take home from all of this seems to be that if you make an arrangement to be notified of a prescription's readiness, no matter from where, make really certain that your contact information has been properly noted. Ask the pharmacist/clerk/technician/cashier or whoever it is you're conversing with to recite back your phone number(s) or e-mail address or whatever else you will be depending on to receive your notification.

CVS Pharmacy on A Sunday, Part 3 - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Friday, June 9th came and went. Saturday, Sunday and Monday came and went too with no response from CVS. On Wednesday, June 14th, I again used the CVS website to register my concern.

The following e-mail came in response. Again, I was asked to contact Kristen.

On Friday, June 16th at 9:30 AM, I again called 1-800-746-7287. The phone was answered by a woman named Shalom who then passed by phone call along to another woman named Chezka.

I told Chezka of my prior effort to contact Kristen and that I was now going to assume that Chezka herself could converse with me with the full authority from CVS that would have been the case if Kristen were available.

I explained the entire history starting from that first phone call of June 4th and I was understood. My sense was that Chezka was somewhat alarmed that perhaps "Paul" had never received his medication. She would check on that and also, I offered my assessment that the CVS database had been non-functional and needed remediation.

I sincerely hope this situation has ended, or will end, well.

CVS Pharmacy on A Sunday, Part 2 - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Continuing this story, the following phone call came to me on Tuesday morning. It was the same information that a prescription was ready for pickup but in a man's voice this time and of much better audio quality. I was able to discern the full name of the intended recipient. I will still use just the first name of "Paul" however.

A short while later, this e-mail arrived: '

At 3:20 PM, I again dialed the 516-676-1334 number and spoke with "Seena" but again, there seemed to be no way to identify "Paul" in order to correct the readiness message error.

On the morning of Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 10:55 AM, I called the 800-746-7287 number in the above e-mail and asked to speak with "Kristen". She was not available, but instead I conversed with "Ponisha".

I explained the issue at hand, that this prescription which had been ready for pickup on Sunday was apparently still waiting for pickup as of Tuesday and that, in my view, this delay could possibly present serious medical harm to someone.

Credit where credit is due, Ponisha did take the issue seriously and also said that I would be telephoned by the District Manager within forty-eight hours (by sometime on June 9^th) in order to further discuss this.

Also however, my own phone number would now be deleted from the list of numbers for which such readiness phone calls would be made so that this present series of notifications intended for "Paul" would no longer come to me. At my concern over impacting my own status at CVS, she said that my own phone number could be restored to the active list the next time a prescription was being made ready for me.

Reluctantly, I chose to accept my own phone number's removal. One consequence of that removal would be that I no longer would know if "Paul" had gotten his prescription or not.

Friday, June 9th, came and went with no call from the CVS District Manager.

We are looking at a situation where a prescription was ready for someone on Sunday but not dispensed, on Monday and then on Tuesday and still not dispensed. I am appalled that CVS has apparently not acted as I would expect them to act on behalf of their customer's medical well being.

This could have happened to me and my loved ones as well. I do not intend to simply let this matter drop.

CVS Pharmacy on A Sunday, Part 1 - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

On Sunday, June 4th, at 9:04 AM, I received a wrongly dialed, automated phone call from CVS Pharmacy, 206 Glen Cove Avenue, Glen Cove, NY 11542, phone number 516-676-1334, to notify "Paul" that a prescription was ready for pickup.

The message had been recorded on my answering machine so I called it back, but the pharmacy was going to be closed until ten AM.

At 10:24 AM, I again called the above phone number and was told by the woman who answered that there was no way to identify "Paul" in order to correct the error. There was no way to make any "change to an order". I pressed the issue further and was told to call 1-800-SHOP-CVS which translates to 1-800-746-7287.

I called that second phone number and discovered that CVS there was closed for the day. No call would be accepted until business hours the following Monday morning. I called back the first number and reached the same woman.

She told me that she had no way to track the customer's identity. The only available information was my own phone number which was clearly of no remedial use.

The upshot of this situation is that "Paul" was not properly notified of the prescription's being ready. Any possible medical consequences of a delay in getting the medication to its intended recipient are unknowable, but I find the adverse possibilities horrifying to contemplate.

I next went to on line to CVS to file the following complaint. The automated reply showed an e-mail address by which to contact "customer care":

From the above, I sent an email to customercare@cvs.com as follows:

There was no response to my e-mail from CVS until the evening as follows:

The medical welfare of the patient for whom the prescription was needed struck me as being no apparent concern to staff at CVS. Any attention on the part of CVS would simply have to wait until Monday's business hours opening.

On Monday morning, I again telephoned the CVS at 516-676-1334 but this time a woman who answered my call was able to look at the record of my having been telephoned. Unfortunately, all she could find in connection with the Sunday phone call was my own name and phone number (Some years ago, I did obtain prescriptions from the CVS in my own town), one of my son's names and my own phone number. As to the prescription itself and "Paul", nobody had yet called in about that and the prescription had not yet been dispensed to its intended recipient.

I put forth the statement that my name was not "Paul" and that it was necessary for CVS to delve into this matter in earnest to correct an apparent data entry error and to make a diligent  effort to get the medication to the person who needed it.

I can only hope that really happened.

Fraud Again - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

This call came in on my answering machine. The recorded message is shown just below this photo.

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(A woman's voice.) This is an important call from Account Protection Services at American Express. We're calling (A second woman's voice.) xxxx (Return to the first voice.) about your American Express card to verify recent charge activity and to ensure your account is protected. Please call us at 800-382-0613. That's  800-382-0613 or you may call the number on the back of your card. If calling, please enter your account number when prompted to ensure your call is transferred appropriately. If you have already addressed this concern, you may disregard our message as no further action from you is required. Thank you. Goodbye.

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I see this call as a ruse intended to make you recite your credit card number which if you did such a thing, would lead to much well publicized kinds of badness.

I decided to look up the two phone numbers above on the "800Notes" website and there, I found several entries referring to fraudulent callers. Also however, there were other entries saying that callers from these numbers were legitimate.

I'm personally convinced that this is indeed attempted fraud and that the perpetrators are entering bogus commentary in that website to deceive potential victims.

Please don't fall for it. Caveat callee.

"Home Removal" Security Tag - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

This particular "Home Removal" anti-shoplifting device was encountered at a retail store.  This device is not meant to be removed by a store clerk at the cash register but instead, it remains attached to the purchased item and is supposed to be removed by the customer at home.

With anti-shoplifting issues acknowledged, use of this device is, in my view, unwarranted.

Following the instructions on the tag itself, it was extremely difficult to disengage this tag from purchased clothing.

Step one of the removal process is to cut off a plastic tab at one end. Even using a very sharp shears, making that cut required a great deal of effort. Step two, trying to "slide" the upper section of the tag off of the lower section was also extremely difficult.

Adding injury to insult, garment damage was discovered from a metallic pin. A hole got put into the garment's fabric..

A further issue at that store comes about from the following text on the garment's label.

If upon getting this tag off, you happen to discover that there is a defect in the garment, that garment cannot be returned or exchanged. Getting the tag off means having to destroy the tag when cutting off that plastic tab and it may not be possible to assess a garment defect until after the tag has been removed.

Succeed in getting the garment separated and you own it, any defects and all.

This experience has convinced my wife to never again purchase any item to which an anti-shoplifting device such as this one has been attached and never to unknowingly accept a sales condition like the one shown here.