You know, we could all take some pointers from Tracy on the art of embellishing our resumes.
Eerie Similarity Number 5: Cheap Crap
In light of Mike the Maintenance Man’s experience with his PTlies shirt that we created on Cafe Press, we were reminded of another similarity between Pink Truth and Mary Kay.
Cheap Crap.
Directors are constantly handing out cheap trinkets to consultants who reach their goals or are top seller in their unit for the week.
But unlike directors, Tracy expects people to shell out good money for her inferior goods.
Tracy sells the same kind of junk on her site. The Pink Truth shirts are sold through her Cafe Press store. The same thin, crappy-quality shirt we made for PTlies. It only took one look to see what over-priced junk those shirts are. Yet apparently Tracy expects her visitors to support her site by shelling out money for poor quality merchandise such as this.
More on Tracy’s Background Checking
I spoke with one of our readers (Cheese) who previously posted about Tracy’s FLETC training.
She and I were discussing Tracy’s use of the background-checking services. Part of the puzzlement over this is the fact that Special Agent PTLies signed up for NetDetective just to check out the service – and it wasn’t that great. NetDetective is one of the better online background checking services, so this confuses us.
How did Tracy get all that info on Melissa (like her DMV information)? NetDetective didn’t provide the level of detail we saw in Tracy’s messages– even the upgraded version, as far as we could tell.
So we were speculating based on the fact that Tracy is willing to mislead other people about her authority. She regularly tells people she’s an “investigator”, rather than an accountant or CPA. She purposely wants her site visitors to think she’s a Private Eye – but would she also deceive a background checking service?
Here’s Cheese’s comment:
“There are lots of services like netdetective.com out there. Most give basic info (name, DOB, POB, residence, credit info, etc.) and some may give more info to “qualified participants”. Meaning those who can prove they have an actual need for the information (creditors, collections agencies, etc.). Now Tracy may very well qualify as one of these folks if she’s needing info for a legitimate Sequence, Inc. customer, but using her title as a forensic accountant to help her get access to information about MK people is completely unethical. Maybe not illegal, but definitely unethical.
When I was working as a federal investigator I had a badge that I showed EVERYONE I spoke to before I began an interview. I had to introduce my self with very specific wording (Hi, I’m XXXX XXXXX and I’m a special investigator retained by the XXXXXX.) My badge was in a small 3 1/2 x 5 black leather flip-style wallet. The metal badge was affixed to the outside. On the inside were my credentials with a photo ID. My creds stated that I was a Special Investigator working on behalf of the U.S. federal government on XXXXXX. I think it said something about me meeting all qualifications to conduct background investigations, yadda, yadda, yadda. I can’t remember the exact wording. But it very clearly identified me as an investigator.
In XXXXX of this year I started my current position as a XXXXXXX. On my last day in the field I had to turn in my badge. Am I still qualified to work as an investigator? Sure. Am I an investigator? No. Do I call myself an investigator? No.
Now would I get in trouble if I told someone I was an investigator? It would depend on who I was talking to and if it would change their perception of me.”
Interesting….
And You Thought Mike Was Hot!
It’s been a hot summer here.
There’s nothing like hanging out at the pool to cool off and that’s just what I did Friday afternoon.
There’s a beautiful pool within walking distance from my virtual office, so I took the afternoon off to enjoy it.
I know. Whoopie!
Just hang on a minute.
So there I was, sitting in the shade and reading. Minding my own business.
Suddenly I hear “May I be of service?”
I looked up and found myself staring at this:
Whoa! What was this?!
“Excuse me?” I said, trying not to drool.
“I am Paolo the Pool Boy.” he said. “Would you like a towel or some sunscreen for your shoulders?”
I just couldn’t believe my eyes! I had to know.
“Paolo!” I said. “Where’d you get that shirt?”
Paolo chuckled and his six pack quivered ever so slightly.
He handed me two towels and sauntered away, leaving me sitting there with my mouth open.
Paolo…
Rearrange the letters and you get… “A Pool.”
How perfect. How absolutely perfect.
I’m heading back there this afternoon.
I need to cool by a pool with Paolo.
It’s just so hot here.
Mike the Maintenance Man is Upset
I hate to see a grown man cry.
(Okay…I think it’s sexy.)
But when it’s Mike the Maintenance Man, it just breaks my heart.
I was out in my virtual hallway, perusing the choices in the virtual snack machine, when I heard someone approaching.
It was Mike.
He wanted to tell me how flattered he was to have his picture on the site. He loved the women lusting over him (of course).
Then he started to choke up. “My shirt is falling to pieces” he said.
“What? Your PTlies shirt?” I asked.
“Yes” replied Mike. “You know, I love that shirt because I love this site. I didn’t want to say anything at first, but when I got it I noticed that it was a little thin. The quality just isn’t very good. “
Well, I had noticed this when Mike showed up in my virtual office that day. If you look at his picture again, you’ll notice it too. The shirt is pretty see through, though I know you ladies didn’t mind.
Look again, and you’ll notice the crappy quality of the screen print. See that thick rectangle underneath the print? Terrible.
I told Mike this and he nodded in agreement. Then, wiping away a tear he said “When I stuck out my chest to show off my shirt to the guys in the Maintenance department, that screen printing cracked.”
Sheesh!
This is the shirt we made in our CafePress store. Real top-notch quality, eh?
Now we’re really glad that CafePress jerked our shirts. There is no way we want to put our name on something of such crappy quality. What a rip off.
Maybe the Pink Truth site doesn’t mind their supporters paying a premium price for such sub-standard goods, but we do.
Our Motivation…..
In the past we’ve been accused of being petty.
We’d like to point out, however, that internet harassment is no small thing. If you’ve ever been stalked or bullied by someone online, you know how it feels.
Some of these activities are illegal as well. When Tracy Coenen pays for background checks and then uses the information she gathers to terrorize others on the internet, that is grounds for contacting the authorities. We use all electronic evidence at our disposal to reinforce any claims we make regarding Tracy and her online behavior.
Again: we are exposing a bully here. If you are not one of her victims, then consider yourself lucky and carry on.
Tracy is famous for saying she stands up for herself and doesn’t take any crap from anyone.
And we say : DITTO.
Happy Anniversary to Us!!
Special Agent PTLies is 2 months old!
Let’s take this moment to reflect on another super spy, who’s almost as hot and fabulous as us:
Rowr.
Got It Just In the Nick of Time
I was sitting in my leather chair in my virtual office yesterday and suddenly the door swung open and I found myself staring straight at this:
Holy cow!
The first thing I noticed was the chest hair. Then my eyes moved downward and I saw the shirt!
It was Mike the Maintenance Man in a ptlies shirt!
How could this be, when Cafe Press slapped our hands and took them out of our store?
Well, Mike’s quick, that’s how.
He saw those shirts and he just had to have one, so he ordered one up the first day we made them. Now he’s wearing it around here nearly every day.
That Mike…
He’s crazy!
Guess Tracy Didn’t Like Our Shirt
Remember our cute little shirt we made in our Cafe Press store?
Tracy didn’t like it.
We got a cordial email from Cafe Press about a week and a half ago and it started out like this:
“Dear Shopkeeper,
Thank you for using CafePress.com! “
Look out. Way too happy, we’re thinking. Somethings up. By golly, we were right.
The email continued:
“In accordance with our Intellectual Property Rights Policy, Tracy L. Coenen on behalf of Pink Truth provided us with a notice stating that your use of “PINK TRUTH” and the Pink Truth logo infringes upon their intellectual property rights (trademark). …Accordingly, we have set the content that is alleged to infringe the rights of the third party to “pending status” which disables said content from being displayed in your shop or purchased by the public.
Below please find the contact information for the party alleging infringement.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE
Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting
www.sequence-inc.com
tracy@sequence-inc.com “
(By the way…don’t you think it’s a little weird to complain about trademark violation using the web address and email of another site in your signature?)
Now, this seemed mighty strange to us. Yes, Tracy got herself a few fonts and slapped them on a shirt. Our font was close, but not exactly the same. We could also argue Fair Use ourselves if we wanted to, since it was referencing and parodying another entity.
Here’s the rub: The wording on the Pink Truth site isn’t a logo at all. It doesn’t appear anywhere on the Pink Truth site at all.
Until today.
After a year, suddenly the Pink Truth site gets a face lift and lo and behold! There’s that same little font with the words “Pink Truth” right up there in the left corner.
Isn’t that special…
