The Daily Peeve / Rant

[iris lilies]

Rant: I went around Hermann yesterday looking for Christmas cards. Ideally, I wanted Christmas cards that featured Hermann scenes as this is a picturesque little town.

I visited three stores, all of them little touristy stores full of crap you don’t need. They all had exactly the same kind of cards: pop up cards made in China. Nothing with local scenes, and not even any Victorian type village-in-the-snow scenes.


One store did have all packs of cards that were line drawings of a few historic buildings. So I bought two packs of those, colored in some green and red sections, drew a wreath, and called it done. But this is a needed business opportunity, Christmas cards featuring Hermann. My own neighborhood has two artists who furnish our local stores with local images on cards for Christmas

The reason I am seeking about 35 cards is it I have decided to send Christmas cards to everyone on the blocks I cover as a block captain. I want to send a holiday greeting to everyone, and Christmas cards seems a little bit nicer than my usual email messages.

[Teacher Terry]

I wonder if most people are still sending cards. I quit about 15 years ago.

[SteveinMN]

I wonder if most people are still sending cards. I quit about 15 years ago.

Actually, they are. And, contrary to the widespread perception that millennials are mired in debt and glued to their portable devices and "killing" industries left and right as a result, greeting cards are not one of the losers.

IL, I rarely see the local cards in the touristy stores. The other day I found a card with local scenes at a local supermarket; that's the kind of card I expect to find at an independent store that's known for reselling "makers" products (locally-made clothing, handicrafts like cutting boards and trivets, local artisan food, etc.).

Or ... you yourself could take a picture of Hermann that you like, make three dozen prints of it, and mount each print to a blank card. Too late for this year, I know, and you might have to go mail-order for the card blanks, but I've sold sets of note cards for fundraisers doing this. It works. Maybe not quite as cheap as mass-produced cards, but not much more expensive and you get exactly what you want.

[iris lilies]

I wonder if most people are still sending cards. I quit about 15 years ago.

Well, some marketer thinks they are sending pop up cards.

We received around a dozen. We are also getting cards for the people who lived in our Hermann house before we did. Fortunately it is easy (tho probably illegal) for me to drop them off at the public library in Hermann. That is where the mom of the family works.

I dont normally send out xmas cards but this year it is about communication with my blocks. I also wrote messages, signed my name, stuffed and mailed around 350 xmas cards last month for Bulldog Rescue.

For someone who doesnt send out xmas cards, I sent out a lot of xmas cards. Haha.

[ToomuchStuff]

Rant: I went around Hermann yesterday looking for Christmas cards. Ideally, I wanted Christmas cards that featured Hermann scenes as this is a picturesque little town.

I visited three stores, all of them little touristy stores full of crap you don’t need. They all had exactly the same kind of cards: pop up cards made in China. Nothing with local scenes, and not even any Victorian type village-in-the-snow scenes.


One store did have all packs of cards that were line drawings of a few historic buildings. So I bought two packs of those, colored in some green and red sections, drew a wreath, and called it done. But this is a needed business opportunity, Christmas cards featuring Hermann. My own neighborhood has two artists who furnish our local stores with local images on cards for Christmas

The reason I am seeking about 35 cards is it I have decided to send Christmas cards to everyone on the blocks I cover as a block captain. I want to send a holiday greeting to everyone, and Christmas cards seems a little bit nicer than my usual email messages.

There are licensing issues with this. I have a friend who is in charge of her late fathers house that is on the national historic registry and they have a deal with Hallmark cards. Two years ago, she found out Hallmark had taken and made new products and hadn't done what they are required to do, that was quickly straightened out.
Dana Forrester, an artist I know, also has to acquire rights, since so many of his images contain locations.

[iris lilies]

There are licensing issues with this. I have a friend who is in charge of her late fathers house that is on the national historic registry and they have a deal with Hallmark cards. Two years ago, she found out Hallmark had taken and made new products and hadn't done what they are required to do, that was quickly straightened out.
Dana Forrester, an artist I know, also has to acquire rights, since so many of his images contain locations.

I didnt violate any copyright laws because I purchased the cards. Copyright law allows me to use those products then as I wish. The restrictions are in reproducing the images.

If you are talking about trademark, that doesnt apply here.

[razz]

A friend does beautiful line drawings of local scenes. They are very accurate and pricey. I must ask him if he has ever considered making cards out of them for the reasons that you just mentioned.

[ToomuchStuff]

I didnt violate any copyright laws because I purchased the cards. Copyright law allows me to use those products then as I wish. The restrictions are in reproducing the images.

If you are talking about trademark, that doesnt apply here.

The laws I am talking about, deal with the image taker that uses the image in a for profit venture; not the buyer.

[iris lilies]

The laws I am talking about, deal with the image taker that uses the image in a for profit venture; not the buyer.

Dude, its either copyright or trademark you are talking about, and copyright is limited to artistic expressions that are in a fixed form. If anyone owns the copyright to your friend’s house it would be the original architect who fixed plans on paper. . But maybe you are talking about a photo or drawing she made of the house?

If not,

Perhaps your friend has some kind of contract wih Hallmark that works with a trademark, but it also could be an agreement outside of copyright/trademark laws. Just a contract between the two parties.

Speaking of this, many months ago and artist contacted me saying that she had made a drawing of my house and asked if I interested in buying it. I guessed from this that she was genning up business and that if I said yes I’m interested in that art piece, she would quickly do a drawing of it. Since I can draw my own house if I put my mind to it, I am not interested.

[Lainey]

First rant of 2019, but, I finally saw up close a fast food worker get hollered at by a customer. Customer is male, 50ish, and having a fit because he said they got his order wrong. Worker apologized and said the sandwich he wanted would be x amount extra since he was charged for a cheaper sandwich. He complained loudly that since it was their fault he should have gotten the sandwich for free. She explained again she'd have to charge the difference, and this is where he blew up and leaned far over the counter and pointed a finger in her face that he knew the owner and would make a personal complaint to him, etc. Then he stormed out keeping the food they'd given him.
At this point the worker went to the back and when she came up front a few minutes later I heard the shift lead tell her that she handled that very well (meaning she tolerated having this clown go nuts on her).

Another data point: it was during a very busy lunch rush, but all of the counter staff I saw were very polite and most importantly, were reading back the orders to each person. So it's possible the order was given wrong, the order was misunderstood, or the workers mixed it up.

Despite that, my rant is: When did it become okay to go berserk over a sandwich mistake??

I've been reading online about how fast food workers say that baby boomers are the ones most likely to do this. I've never personally done anything like this, but I'm ashamed for being in that cohort that is likely to have these blow-ups. No wonder no one wants to be a service worker if this is just a typical day at a minimum wage job.