Black Hills Bagels Blog

Saturday night, April 24th one of our own staff, Lauren Hahn along with 14 friends had their Prom Night Dinner here at BH Bagels. Decorations of Blue and Silver filled the front room and transformed our “western” motif into a “Night out on the Town”. A buffet style meal was enjoyed by the students along with music to help make this night more personal and special to each one there. It was a great time had by all!

What a day — after the Health Department Inspector left (they come every six months), I answered the phone. It was an AT & T Operator telling me that she was interpretting for a person on the other line who was was messaging her because he was hearing or speech impaired. She repeated verbatim what he typed — here’s how it went…
AT & T “My name is Dennis, I want to order 150 sandwiches for my mothers birthday. I will have a private courier pick them up April 23rd at 2 pm.”
Me “What kind of sandwiches – you can choose any assortment – turkey, ham, beef, chicken salad – we make everything to order.”
AT & T “Chicken Salad…how much will that be including tax?”
Me ” $1230.” ( I am reasonably suspicious but was giving the benefit of the doubt because he was after all….impaired).
At & T “Okay, I will put it on credit card. The private courier does no accept credit card so you will need to add $890. additional to the credit card and then send the $890 cash via Western Union to the Courier at the address will give you. What will the total amount on credit card be?”
Me “$2320.00″ (I know this is a scam but decide I need to get as much info as possible)
At & T “Okay…here is my MasterCard number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Exp datexxxxx…do you understand you will have to wire $890 cash so the private courier will pick up the sandwiches?” “Also, I am hearing impaired so the only way you can communicate with me is through my email which is xxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com”
Me “Yes”
At & T ” Run the credit card now while I am on the phone.”
Me ” Sorry, but the amount is too much to kay without an ID. I will need a picutre ID which you can fax to me while we wait on the phone.”
AT & T Operator says “ohhh…he hung up”
Me” Operator I need your ID and a phone number so I can call the police.”
AT & T “My C # is and the customer service number is 800xxxxxxxxbut you should know it’s against the law for AT & T to track and give out phone numbers…there is no way the police can get this number.”
Me “Operator surely you must realize this is a scam?”
AT & T Operator “It’s against policyand the law for me to say anything except to repeat exactly what the caller is telling me.”

So I called RCPD and two wonderful officers came by. I had typed the info for them. Several businesses have received calls like this…no one has been stung so far but the businesses hang up before they get any information that can be tracked.
What’s the solution? It’s costing businesses, taxpayers, individuals whose cards are being stolen and even the credit card companies a lot of money –love to hear your thoughts.
debra

“The Committee” held it’s monthly meeting Tuesday night. The Committee was formed nearly 22 years ago. I am a founding member – actually we are all founding members. It remains my favorite and most worthwhile committee. The meetings are generally 3 hours and usually over dinner. The food and beverages are always beyond gourmet. Ask Joan Martin for her Lemon Drop Martini recipe! The meetings are filled with the hot topics of the day. Sometimes we break into small two or three person groups but most of the discussion is while we are all gathered around a table enjoying the food and the evening. Everyone participates in the discussion and all views are acknowledged and appreciated . We’re like a high profile, PHD level Think Tank – except we are low profile and no one has a PHD. I think someone in our group has a Masters but I could be wrong.
The discussion always includes our family, work and community events and functions in which we are involved. A big portion of our meeting involves politics – local and national. The Committee members are well read, attend many meetings and forums and interact personally and professionally with all levels of government. (Okay…none of us personally knows the current President. ) Tuesday night’s political discussion centered around Rapid City Council and Mayor. We discussed the pros and cons of various decisions including the Downtown Destination DID, billboard moratorium and even council junkets. We made decisions and solved most problems including whether to buy a Kendall or a book! Julie Annicchiarico gives kudos to the library when it comes to downloading books for the computer. We set the date and place for our next meeting and were adjourned by 9:30. Perhaps families could take a que from The Committee…or maybe The Committee took a que from our own families growing up. I would love to hear from you –
debra

I really mean it — I hope you are having a wonderful and Blessed Easter with family and friends. We are closed today. one of four Holidays we are closed – we are open 361 days a year . I slept in till 5a.m. this morning. Jack and I went to Mass – it was practically standing room only and in a few minutes we head to a sister’s house for a big family dinner. This Easter our Niece Cydni and her friend Jericho are visiting from college. Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter Minnesota is a relatively small private college about 10 or so miles from Mankota. Cheryl and Cheree (twins) are making prime rib for dinner — should be interesting. The trick is time and temp. I’ll let you know how they do. I’ll take some good wine and great coffee just to be on the safe side.
debra