Family photos and police harassment.

Sooo, during my last month or so, we got a flyer from the school.  "FREE 11 x13 portrait with $10 sitting fee at YOUR KID'S SCHOOL!!!!" 

Sweet- the boy and I haven't had pictures made in eons, and with the new BabyGirl in our life, we couldn't really pass it up.  We made plans, and told the boy told comb his hair and wear nice jeans.  He's 11 and don't give a damn 'bout the way he looks.  So he had to have a bit of dirt knocked off.  Looked quite repectable.  We had the photos taken and we got the proofs a few weeks later.

Good picture, no?  We were happy with it and chose it for our free picture.  "FREE", meaning, that after you add enough postage to send the fucking .7 pound package of proofs back and add $5 "handling" fee, you get an 11 x 13 for "FREE".  Now, I'm a business minded guy and undertand scratching for the next few dollars of invoices, but this shit ranks up there with the soulless fucks who do phone surveys when you're at dinner with your family or the old AOL "you can't quit us, bitch" tactics.  Complete and utter horseshit.

So, imagine my surprise when I look at prices to see what kind of money to get a decent package if we want to send them to friends and fam.  The cheapest package is $120!!!!!  For THREE 5x7s!!!  These guys are running an extortion ring.  Again, I know that they're trying to swing a buck, but you don't roll to a working class neighborhood and expect the residents who send their kids to a PUBLIC school to pay those kinds of prices.  Bring your prices down and you'll have a shit-ton of revenue.  I actually wrote them a note in the order packet stating the same.  I still haven't gotten my 11 x 13.  So I'm fighting the man. 

I own an Epson Perfection 1200 scanner and a copy of Photoshop Elements.  And my need for sleep is secondary to need for petty vengeance.

800 dpi scan and five hours of clone stamping, selections, painting and blurry eyes, I was done enough to call it acceptable.

So, while I don't condone or endorse doing this yourself, I felt it was necessary to recoup my postage and "handling" fees. I really would have purchased the photos from the hard working folks, but they had shot for the gold ring in the brass ring arena. 

And as karma dictates, I now have to spend that money on a speeding ticket I got on the way to work on Thursday.

Ain't that a bitch?

Ain't nothin' to a G.