My two cents

Mar 5, 2005

I’ve written only a few letters of complaint to store managers or letters to the editor over the last 20 years. This weblog aside, I’m not one to make waves. But in the last few weeks, I’ve begun to share my thoughts a bit more strategically.

I wrote this letter to the editor of the News & Observer:

Regarding Jeff Danziger’s “With the Troops” syndicated cartoon of Feb. 21 and Public Editor Ted Vaden’s Feb. 20 column on blogging, you’ll be happy to know that the Triangle Bloggers Conference on Feb. 12 gathered more than 140 bloggers, journalists and community organizers from across the state to talk about how Weblogs can build community, inform the citizenry and empower minority populations. And contrary to Danziger, we were all wearing clothes, thank you. I’d encourage readers to visit blogtogether.mistersugar.com to learn about the vibrant and diverse group of people who write Weblogs in North Carolina. Very few of us are conspiracists or armchair generals. Anyone can blog, and in this state you’ll find parents and politicians, students and seniors, writers and artists and so many others expressing themselves through their Weblogs.—Anton Zuiker

And this message of complaint to the management of A Southern Season:

I’m a regular customer of A Southern Season, and quite the booster of your fine establishment. On Friday morning, I stopped in with my one-year-old daughter to buy a few items (your darn chocolate corner calls me back every week!), as well as a croissant and bottle of orange juice. I pulled up a chair in the corner of the café to quickly and quietly give my daughter a nibble on the croissant, and was promptly chased away with the admonition that the café doesn’t allow customers to eat food items from the main store. Seems a reasonable policy—from the management point of view. But as a customer, I felt unwanted; the waitress didn’t even bother to ask me if I wished to order something, like the hot chocolate I’d wanted when I sat down. Little Malia and I retreated to the cold outside patio. Please consider allowing a bit of flexibility in your café policy, and please suggest to your staff that they approach potential customers with a bit more foresight. Oh, and do keep the chocolate section well stocked. Thank you, Anton

Anton Zuiker ☄