Scamming Walmart

September 2nd, 2008 | by | random

Sep
02

Let me begin with the following: I have not tried this, nor will I.  Unless they hire me to, hint hint.  This is just a write-up of a scheme I heard about.  The lady telling me about this works as a customer service representative, and specifically handles returns in the customer service area of the store.

There is a nationwide scam being run to steal money form Walmart.  This may not seem like much of a revelation, until I describe the method being used.  Undoubtedly, this is also being perpetrated at other stores, but Walmart is a face you know.
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Your Rules Do Not Apply to Me

July 7th, 2008 | by | random

Jul
07

A couple of days ago, I wanted a barbecue.  Having lived for three years in an apartment in Arizona, I have been completely unable to own a barbecue, under penalty of flogging by the Fire Marshal.  Now, having moved to Florida to an apartment that allows them, I wanted a barbecue.

So, I went to get one.

Walmart was the destination of choice.  The barbecue I found and wanted was the Char-Broil 2-burner.  Walmart had exactly one.  It was the floor display model, but I still wanted it.

So, I grabbed the barbecue, and wheeled it over to the checkout counter near the gardening section.  I was politely informed that the barbecue, being the floor model, would need to be approved for sale by the manager.  The checker called to ask, and another associate (image simulated) to check out the grill.  The grill, I was informed, was in perfect working order.  I was also informed, at about the same time, that the manager would not approve the grill to be sold.  The associates put the grill back on the display floor.

Then I took it.
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Better Form Processing

June 16th, 2008 | by | coding

Jun
16

This is a much condensed version of the original post.

Usually, processing form data means getting either POST or GET data from a form, and trying to figure out, in code, what you have, and then do something with it.  This can be easy or complicated, depending on how much is being passed in.  Email address only? Easy.  Checkboxes, optional fields, and so on, all together?  Pain.  Often, a lot of form processing is done with stacks of “if” statements.  This sucks.  Here is a better way:

From now on, I want you to name all of your “real” form elements (ones that have data that could change, so not buttons) using the name you would have given then, plus an array name, that they will all share.

So,

<input type="text" name="username" id="username" />

becomes

<input type="text" name="formdata[username]" id="username" />

Why?  Instead of having one array ($_POST), you’ll now have two ($_POST and ‘formdata’, within $_POST).  Your buttons and other “static” form elements will still live in $_POST, but everything containing data that needs handling will be in the ‘formdata’ array, which you can access as $_POST[formdata].
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