Dear Ace: You know that large digital display on 29N near Fashion Square Mall that shows the temperature? Is that thing accurate? When was the last time the temperature was
calibrated?—Urma Stat
Urma: Why yes, actually. Ace knows exactly the display of which you’re speaking. In fact, he can be seen on that side of town a lot as of late, visiting with a lady friend. They spend a lot of their time together in the New Balance store, as Lady Friend is a runner and Ace likes to do what he can to support her physical fitness. …But he digresses.
In order to get a good read on this situation, Ace e-mailed Shannon Staton (say “Shannon Staton situation” three times fast, Ace dares you), who is in charge of maintaining the digital display in front of the bank. Ace made sure to ask her your questions, Urma, and then he threw in a few of his own pertaining to the time, which is also displayed, for good measure. Shannon gave Ace an abbreviated, icy-cold answer.
“We maintain all aspects of the sign on an as-needed basis,” she said. But, that didn’t really get to the heart of the question as Ace had anticipated, so she offered this: “Unfortunately in some instances, [correcting the time and temperature] occasionally takes a little longer than we’d prefer.”
Now, Ace can dig the ice queen thing, and he understands the purpose of corporate mumbo-jumbo, but to have his questions ignored? Doesn’t she know who he is? So he wrote back. Only this time, the answer was slightly colder and slightly more vague.
“All I can tell you is that it is handled through our corporate office and their vendor of choice.” So, from what Ace can deduce, it sounds like the local branch maintains the digital display, but problems with the time or temperature are under the jurisdiction of the bank’s corporate office. No word on when the temperature was last calibrated (and thus maybe you shouldn’t take the displayed temp too seriously), but Ace thinks it’s mighty hot in here. Or is it just him?
You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 19 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.