Newspaper Guy

Ok…do you have a guy, at your grocery store, that tries handing out free newspapers?? I do and I feel bad for the guy because no one ever takes them….or even really looks at him and he is there doing this most times I have been to the store. So, yeah, finally I decided to take a paper….which obviously was a mistake, because obviously he is not just handing out free papers. He asks if I have a subscription to the paper to which I reply I do not….and then asks if I would like to sign up for one and, now I feel like I was just trying to get a free paper.
Somehow I become engaged in a debate on why I do not have a subscription to the paper….which my response was that I travel too much….and then we had to debate over just ordering the Sunday paper. The guy is looking at me like I seriously stole the paper, I took from him….which I wasn’t even going to read, anyway….Honestly. I only read the paper when I travel.
I swear to God, he did everything but ask me….”If you had no intention of ordering the paper, why did you just take one”
So….my lesson is don’t just take the newspaper, from the guy at the grocery store, to be nice.

Uncovering Flaws in Security System

There are definitely some glitches in the system set up for an ADT alarm system. It seems like common sense, or maybe I am just paranoid?? Actually I doubt that I am paranoid, if anything I am actually too trusting…..but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice some flaws in how secure a system is.
For instance….when you sign up for the alarm system you have to give the sales guy the password you tell ADT when they call to make sure you are alright. Ok…so there is one stranger, that knows where I live, that also knows my password.
Then when the tech guy comes out….you end up having to tell him the password, too. The tech guy knows where I live….and happens to have spent 6 hrs in my apartment yesterday setting up this system. He obviously knows my apartment….and the inner workings to the alarm system.
After the system was FINALLY installed….the tech guy took me thru the tutorial. He said he was going to turn the siren off so we didn’t have to listen to it while we went thru different features. That is where I first challenged him on the safety of it all. Because all he did was pull a tiny wire off the inside of the system box. So I asked if that is all you have to do to turn off the alarm. Immediately he got defensive and said, well yeah…but then proceeded to go into all the tamper alerts the system triggers if you try to ‘open’ the box. Ok, fair enough….that question is dissolved.
Later we come to the part where he explains the ‘Duress’ code. It is a pre determined code by ADT which he shows me. So I ask if I can change it. He acts like no one has ever asked that. I find it hard to believe that I am the first person to ask that. He is really confused why I would want to change the code…and I point out that basically everyone that works for ADT, or has an ADT system obviously knows the ‘Fake Duress Code’.
Apparently I am permitted to change it, but he highly recommends I do not….probably because he highly wants to kill or rape me one day….maybe both.
The last thing I challenged him on was the remote that goes with the system. Basically the guy just spent 30 mins telling me about all this high tech stuff that will save my life, but with a simple remote I can turn the system on and off without a code, at all??
So I said….hmmmm….So if I use the remote I don’t have to punch in a code? To which he says…”That’s right” and I proceed to say….then the duress code really doesn’t have any purpose at that point does it?
This series of questioning was very confusing to him. He really had had enough of me by that point…but really I mean you would kind of have to be stupid to carry around the remote to your alarm system…I think I am going to burn mine.
I don’t think I was being paranoid either….I think those were legitimate questions. And fyi….I have already changed the code and the password…and I don’t care if you are Spencer Reid….you will not guess my password.