Nomination for Jerk of the Year Award

I'm really surprised that people don't show more initiative at times. Perhaps I need to get back into doing web sites and create this one: Jerk of the Year Award. Basically, there are some people out there who just have nothing better to do with their time than annoy (or attempt to annoy) others, and we need a place on-line where we can point these people out.

As you know, one of these such individuals is Peekskill Councilwoman Mary F. Foster, who recently spent some energy in an attempt to to create an issue out of nothing.

Then, we have the likes of Pete Tubbs, who I gladly nominate for the 2007 Jerk of the Year Award. You see, PT (as he apparently likes to be called) responded to a post I had made on craigslist, seeking technical assistance for a friend's computer. Here's the text of the ad I put up:

Hi, I'm an IT professional and have already fixed what otherwise needs to be done on my friend's computer but there's just one more thing. I could do this but would probably be easier for someone else to do so (I shattered my hand a number of years back and the long-term effects are starting to show up).

Here's the problem:
When you press the power button on front of the mini-tower (it's a Compaq/HP), it pushes in but the actual power switch has loosened from its seating so it just pushes the switch back into the tower casing, instead of pushing the switch to make contact and turn the computer on/off. The area of the case where this is located is very cramped and small (thus, the reason it would be easier for me to get someone else to do it) but all in all, we're talking about maybe five minutes of your time. For the time being, I've used duct tape (the universal fix-all, right?) to secure the switch but I know that it's just a matter of time before it comes loose again.

Please let me know how much you would charge to come to my friend's house in Throggs Neck (Bronx) and install a permanent fix to this tiny problem. Again, this should take about 5-10 minutes.

Thanks much.

So the good PT felt it necessary to respond to my ad. This is the email I received from him:

From: Pete Tubbs pt@petetubbs.com
Date: Mar 14, 2007 1:58 PM
Subject: Need someone to replace power button on front of computer
To: gigs-293536301@craigslist.org
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

Hmm……..


I shattered both my feet and I can still walk.


Why not just admit you are no professional at all in any field and you have no clue what the hell you are doing.


Then have your friend be prepared to pay at least 200 bucks for anyone to travel to the god forsaken Bronx.


Because you won’t find anyone in that area that could even turn a computer on much less fix one!


Why not just go buy a whole new tower for $39 bucks and transfer his pc to the new tower Mr. IT Professional? HUH?

Aside from the attitude, great use of white space, don't you think? But let's take a look at his suggestion of buying a new tower and replacing her current one. First, as this is a Compaq PC, I most likely would have to get a Compaq case, because these PC manufacturers like to "customize" their cases in a manner so that using a "standardized" mini-tower case well, just won't fit quite right. But secondly, and more importantly, is that I was trying to find an inexpensive solution to a very inexpensive problem. Why get an entirely new case when a $0.05 (that's five cents) part is what's broken? Why spend $40 on a case when spending $20 to fix it would suffice? I believe that the throw-away mentality that society has created is to blame for this: when something breaks, throw it away and get a new one; don't bother fixing it. But in many instances, things are fixable and we needn't throw them away (or freecycle them, or what not).

Now, I will admit, this response to my ad got my goat a bit, and I fired off an email to PT that was based on my emotional response. Here's what I shot back:

From: Peter C Frank
Date: Mar 14, 2007 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: Need someone to replace power button on front of computer
To: Pete Tubbs

How Nice For You That You Can Still Walk. How Long Ago Did You Shatter
Your Feet? Can You Still Run, Jump, Leap, And Dance? Is Your Mobility
Limited In Any Way Whatsoever? What Do YOU Do For A Living? Do You
Have Skills And Abilities For Every Position And Task In Your Own
Field? You Must Be Quite Fortunate That Shattering Your Feet Has Left
You In The Same State As Beforehand. You Must Feel Very Sure Of
Yourself That You Would Take The Time To Write Such A Lenghty Email
Offering So Many Useful Suggestions.

The formatting isn't the greatest, as I sent that from my mobile phone using Google's Gmail's extremely fantastic mobile email application, where the options for formatting messages aren't all that great (however, it's great to be able to use). However, I thought I had gotten my point across. I mean, people are individuals; we are all different, and we each have our different limitations. As I stated, I could have gotten the job done for my friend, but it would have been difficult and, quite frankly, with everything else I'd done for her, I didn't feel that it was worth the difficulty it would have posed for me to do this when someone with more agile fingers could have gotten the job done in less time, and with less difficulty. Obviously, this point was lost on PT, as he sent this in response to the missile I fired back at him:

From: Pete Tubbs
Date: Mar 14, 2007 4:26 PM
Subject: RE: Need someone to replace power button on front of computer
To: Peter C Frank

Yep, I can run, jump, dance, do the hustle, and break my foot off up your
ass if I care to.

Yes I am proficient in every aspect of my life.

And yes I am smart enough not to waste bandwidth with a stupid question.

And it ain't nothing to type a few paragraphs for me, not really something I
would call lengthy.

But for you with your decrepit hand, I bet it was quite painful for you to
reply.....

Was it?

I hope it was, because for such a dumb witted post, you deserve to
suffer.....

Have a good one numbnuts, no one is going to fix your stupid power button.

Now then, I really was tempted to respond to this. Really, I was. I'm human, after all and, as a human being, I have emotions and at times act upon them without first thinking such actions through. But this time, logic prevailed. Instead of firing back another quick, emotionally-based missile, I decided to look into this Pete Tubbs. Here's what I've found:

He has a really crappy web site (all flash and no substance) where just about the only useful thing on it is his resume. And from his resume, we learn that he graduated from John Dewey High School, located in Brooklyn, NY, and that he's held a number of positions as an Edgar operator working for some printing companies in NYC, as well as maybe a financial services firm or two. Oh, and his resume says that he lives at 1901 ½ AVE B, Fort Pierce, FL, 34950 with a phone number of 772-408-0298.

Now, if we take a look at his web site records, we see some different information:

Registrant:
Pete Tubbs
1905 Voorhies Ave.
Brooklyn, New York 11235
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: PETETUBBS.COM
Created on: 04-Jun-06
Expires on: 04-Jun-08
Last Updated on: 06-Mar-07

Administrative Contact:
Tubbs, Pete ptubbs@optonline.net
1905 Voorhies Ave.
Brooklyn, New York 11235
United States
(646) 247-7807

So what does this tell us? For one, PT uses cablevision for his Internet provider. Two, more likely than not, as he's providing a Florida address on his resume, he either just moved down there and is keeping tabs on his hometown, he maintains two residences, or he lies about them (or maybe some other things that aren't worth mentioning). Three, he hasn't owned his web site for very long, so he's new to creating web sites (and from his first foray, I'd say he hasn't done that good of a job). And finally, since this is the only information I was able to pull up about PT on the web, it tells us that he keeps his jerk-award-winning activities fairly covert.

So thus serves the purpose of this post, to expose to the world at large through the Internet exactly how much of a jerk Pete Tubbs truly is.