When Rocky and Zach rolled up with a camera to the 140 Conference road trip at Scotty’s Brewhouse downtown, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to show off my mole…
My first and last purchase from Thrifty
While my trip in my rental Hyundai went great, I was very much annoyed by the fact that Thrifty “got me” with fine print.
With a low budget for my trip, I was looking for the best deal possible and was happy to find one online with Thrifty. The descriptor next to the price indicated that the miles were UNLIMITED. Having rented from other companies in the past, I assumed that “unlimited” meant exactly that. Upon my arrival to the rental store on the North side of Indianapolis, and after casually chit chatting about my trip to NY with the Thrifty associate, I was then informed that I had to pay extra $10/day for my trip because I was traveling further than the immediate neighboring states. Turns out, the mileage was indeed “unlimited” - but only as long as I limited my trip to a handful of nearby states.
It was too late for me to look for another company (which I knew would cost me less based on my prior research), so I was forced to pay the extra hundred bucks and go with Thrifty.
Was I really expected to be looking out for a catch? Is this the way an honest company should conduct its business? Is Thrifty even an honest company? Or does it inspire people to turn into deceitful customers? What if I did lie to the Thrifty associate and told him I was traveling from Indiana to Ohio? Would it have saved me the $100? Probably. But to be honest, I dislike having to lie in order to save…
I would much rather deal with an honest company that is transparent with their pricing.
It was my first experience with Thrifty, and, unfortunately, in my book this brand is now associated with greed and deceit. It also made me aware that I need to be more alert when I’m dealing with car rentals - which is quite unfortunate considering I believe that the customer-business relationship should be an honest and healthy and mutually beneficial one.
Jealous?
I neat look into my Motherland…. created by Bill Crandall.
The Waiting Room is the working title for my long-term photo series from Belarus. I’ve been shooting there since 2000, first driven by simple curiosity about this place supposedly stuck in a Soviet time-warp. As I spent more time and tried to really understand the situation on a more nuanced level, I realized that an underlying question was one of identity. Namely, how Belarus’ historically weak sense of national identity is a big part of what put them on a whole different evolutionary track than their geographical neighbors. If they face east there’s chaotic Russia, to the west is the expanding EU. Neither model feels like a good fit to many average Belarusians. Some chafe under the current political situation, but others fear change and are to some degree compliant with the status quo.
But the frequently-applied ‘frozen in time’ label is not quite fair. All places change, just in their own way and at their own speed. Belarus is no exception. I was there twice in 2009, and had a sense that Belarus is somehow finding itself, on its own terms, for better and worse. It isn’t becoming an appendage of Russia anymore than an outpost of Europe. It is becoming Belarus.
I hope this series gives a feeling of a people struggling to emerge, but not quite getting there. Not just yet anyway. The Belarusian people seem to understand that change will come when and how it will come. The fog of history hasn’t yet dissipated. In the meantime, they wait, and live.
My (American?) dream.
Here’s a little insight into my soul.
I’ve been contemplating a lot about the direction I want to take my life… My childhood dream has been to become an Oscar-winning filmmaker. Bigger part of my twenties though, I’ve been trying to live the “real life” - school, work, bills, and all that “exciting” junk that we all learn to occupy our minds with. My childhood dream weakened and receded into the farthest corner of my mind.
Luckily, I stay in touch with my soul and I keep honest with my heart. My heart told me, why not live your dream? Why not become an Oscar-winning filmmaker?
Indeed, why not?
