Petty Vents

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Very petty vent....

Why do credit card companies waste the time and money to send you a bill telling you that you have a $0 balance? And include a return envelope?

That is just sloppy work by the credit card servicer. The major credit card issuers use intelligent inserting or at least that is what it was called in my day. A setting in the statement inserting script to eliminate the pp envelope on zero balance or zero payment accounts was not set properly.
 
I am venting right now. Maybe it's petty, maybe it's not.

I live in subsidized housing that houses a lot of people who have been through rehab. Most of them are just people who got themselves straight and some of them are just normal people. And some of them are the people you read about on notalwaysright.com .

Yesterday I had someone knocking on my door asking to borrow $3. I said all I had was 20¢. The person then asked me to drive them down to the store. Now, I have two things I don't do here. I don't loan money to people and I don't give rides. I am one of the few people who have a car and it's an old car that I have to keep running as long as I can, so I try to do a limited amount of driving. I also pay the cheapest insurance I can get away with. It covers virtually nothing, but it's legal for my state.

In the last month, more than a couple of people have asked me to give them rides and a few of them more than one or two times. Since I don't like getting dressed and going out when I don't have to and because I ration my gas pretty carefully, plus I don't really feel like being anyone's personal chauffeur, I turned everyone down. I tell people I hope they understand I can't play favorites so I won't be giving anyone rides.

So I explain that again and the person wanting the $3 goes off. Today I'm doing my laundry (takes $2 in quarters) and I meet this person in the hallway. This is the conversation that ensued:

Him: Where'd you get the money to do laundry?

Me: I saved up my quarters.

Him: But you told me yesterday all you had was 20¢.

Me: I did. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, I had the quarters, but I needed them for my laundry today.

Him: Well, I don't know why you would tell me you only had 20¢ when you had money for laundry.

Me: Why would I? I wouldn't have loaned you that money anyway, because I needed it to do laundry.

Him: Well, the reason I was asking was because I needed to do my laundry. I think if you had money you shouldn't have lied to me. I really needed to do my laundry.

Me: I hate to tell you this, but no matter how bad you needed to do your laundry, you couldn't have done it anyway because I wasn't going to loan my laundry money to you.

Him: I don't know why not. That's really cold, saying you don't have any money so you don't have to loan it out to someone who needs to do their laundry. *takes off*

:shock:

Some days it's not worth chewing through the straps.
 
Next time let the person know that they can purchase a scrubbing board like their grandmother used, at the local hardware. They still make them. That and a bar of yellow soap along with some elbow grease will do the job. :angel:
 
^^^^ Yep, it's best to stand your ground, be firm, and have a blanket rule about loaning money and giving them rides.

+1. It's not your responsibility to take care of others needs before your own. It must be a very difficult situation though, to come face to face with those who want your money and free taxi service. I'm so sorry, RR. Take care and above all, keep yourself safe. (((hugs)))
 
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I have a free government cell phone. I get 120 minutes a month and then for five dollars more out of my own pocket, I get and additional 120 minutes. I try not to use them all in one month. So I like to make calls from my computer. But it is in the same room where the television is. In order to make the call, I have to turn the sound on the TV to mute. Having Pirate underfoot 24 hours some days is beginning to wear thin on me. There is not much to do here except cook, clean house and watch TV. Now that the good weather is starting to come around I am hoping that he tries to go out for walks or see some of his friends. As long as it is not raining. On rainy days, he falls a lot. the neuropathy has really done a number on him.

I want my life of living alone back. I am one of those folks who like living alone. Pirate right now is in the best of health that he is ever going to be. Time for him to find his own housing. The clinic where he goes has a social worker whose job is to help people who are disabled, senior citizens, etc. find affordable subsidized housing. In his own way, he has been a tremendous help to me financially. Now it is time for him to put his money where it will do the most good for him, not me. It is time for me to turn into a nag. "Make an appointment for housing with the social worker." Did you call the social worker today?" Nag, nag, nag. :angel:
 
I am venting right now. Maybe it's petty, maybe it's not.

I live in subsidized housing that houses a lot of people who have been through rehab. Most of them are just people who got themselves straight and some of them are just normal people. And some of them are the people you read about on notalwaysright.com .

Yesterday I had someone knocking on my door asking to borrow $3. I said all I had was 20¢. The person then asked me to drive them down to the store. Now, I have two things I don't do here. I don't loan money to people and I don't give rides. I am one of the few people who have a car and it's an old car that I have to keep running as long as I can, so I try to do a limited amount of driving. I also pay the cheapest insurance I can get away with. It covers virtually nothing, but it's legal for my state.

In the last month, more than a couple of people have asked me to give them rides and a few of them more than one or two times. Since I don't like getting dressed and going out when I don't have to and because I ration my gas pretty carefully, plus I don't really feel like being anyone's personal chauffeur, I turned everyone down. I tell people I hope they understand I can't play favorites so I won't be giving anyone rides.

So I explain that again and the person wanting the $3 goes off. Today I'm doing my laundry (takes $2 in quarters) and I meet this person in the hallway. This is the conversation that ensued:

Him: Where'd you get the money to do laundry?

Me: I saved up my quarters.

Him: But you told me yesterday all you had was 20¢.

Me: I did. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, I had the quarters, but I needed them for my laundry today.

Him: Well, I don't know why you would tell me you only had 20¢ when you had money for laundry.

Me: Why would I? I wouldn't have loaned you that money anyway, because I needed it to do laundry.

Him: Well, the reason I was asking was because I needed to do my laundry. I think if you had money you shouldn't have lied to me. I really needed to do my laundry.

Me: I hate to tell you this, but no matter how bad you needed to do your laundry, you couldn't have done it anyway because I wasn't going to loan my laundry money to you.

Him: I don't know why not. That's really cold, saying you don't have any money so you don't have to loan it out to someone who needs to do their laundry. *takes off*

:shock:

Some days it's not worth chewing through the straps.

I'm glad you said no. If that person had no money for laundry why would they need a ride to the store? With what?

It's NOT your problem they're fresh put of rehab. Rehab is supposed to fix stupid. Not to to have the exited rehaber's bothering you to the point of harassment as he did!

You said no and that's where it should have ended.
He pushed the point that has me wondering what his true motivations were. "How much money does she keep in petty cash around the house?"
You see what I mean? That's a safety issue.

I think your a nice person. Not a piece of linoleum.
The best thing to do is avoid him. Keep up with what your doing.

On a side not here* not long ago the police has arrested an aggressive panhandler at an intersection stop light. When they searched him they found that he had well over $1,800.00 on him.

So you were right not to give him your money. Your door probably wasn't the only door he knocked on that day.
 
I am venting right now. Maybe it's petty, maybe it's not...
Wow, that's not only annoying, it's scary. Like Munky pointed out, you have to hope that this neighbor's confrontation doesn't make him think that you hide money and he needs to find it. I hope you have a building manager that you can notify. Perhaps they can add an extra lock to your door. And provide a tall, dark, and handsome body guard? :brows:


..Rehab is supposed to fix stupid...
Sorry, Munky. You can fix practically everything, but you can't fix stupid.
 
A number of years back a reporter asked street people who were rattling paper cups for donations how much money they are able to collect in one day.

Not surprising, many of them reported over $1,000 a day. Now if they are out there every day, that makes $7,000 tax free per week. And to think of all the days I dragged myself to work.

There were several other little tidbits as to what was considered prime spots to collect the most money. Where they get the most harassment from the police. Etc. :angel:
 
When it rains...

I'm not in the wrong thread because I'm not talking weather. When driving home from the second of two trips to the oral surgeon last week (root canal, two trips, $1981.70 + $470.25), Himself said the "low air" light for a tire came on. Same tire he had just filled the night before. Stopped at our mechanic, who swapped the flat tire with the emergency donut, and sent him on his way. Just got a call back today. Our mechanic had been calling around for a replacement tire because the one that came off Himself's car could not be fixed. Oh, well, that's about $200.00 for the new tire. Meanwhile, Himself is getting ready to schedule an appointment with the dentist to get his crown. Making him king will cost about another $1200.00 :wacko:

Meanwhile, down in the basement, this laundress moves a load of hand towels from the washer to the dryer, pushes the button, and...carrr-rrraaaap. No "start". Nothing. Dead. Geez, I got only 20-couple years of service from that thing. :glare: Hung the towels on skirt hangers and across the bars on pants hangers and have they all over the basement, hanging off of heating duct straps and water lines. I've been looking at dryers at Lowe's online, finding that we'll take a $350+ hit to the budget by the time they figure in the tax. I'm hoping they have perfectly serviceable units available in their scratch-and-dent aisle. Everyone please cross your fingers, OK?

It's a good thing we're just dull people who go nowhere and do nothing exotic with our lives. At least we have money on hand for emergencies. But please, no more emergencies for a while!
 
Gee whiz, CG, sounds like when it rains...

Hoping for no more emergencies!
 
Gee, I wish you were a little closer to NH. At least you could save on the sales tax. My son lived up in Methuen at the time when I needed a new vacuum and a washer. And he owned a pickup truck. So I placed the order on line and he went up and picked them up for me. Saved me quite a bundle alone on sales tax. Now I have a grandson that lives in North Andover. Again, the same arrangement. Every two weeks he goes up there to get cigarettes for Pirate and myself. Then brings them down here. Sometimes he has the two kids with him. I save money on the tax and get to see the two kids if they don't have anything planned. Such as track, cheerleading, Boy Scouts, and anything other activity you can think of. Or if my GS hasn't been called into work as a firefighter. They do all their grocery shopping up there. Mainly to buy taxable items. And the prices on the food seem to be less expensive up there. Specially the fresh produce. In the area you live, RI and CT, the sale tax is higher than here. Somewhere is all of these problems that keep popping up, there has to be a break for you. Sending up a word or two for you. It is time you got some smooth sailing. Sunshine and nice weather due for you. :angel:
 
Thanks for the well-wishes, ladies. As I type, darling Himself is pulling apart the control panel on the dryer. Between the 20-year-old owner's manual I dug out of the files and the videos he watched online, he's troubleshooting the thing to see if it's fixable so we don't have to replace it. I might complain about the man, but he is a gem. Sometimes diamond, sometimes CZ, but a gem nonetheless. :LOL:

Addie, even if we had a van, the cost of driving a dryer from NH to southern Worcester county isn't worth the time or money. Besides, between a $10. off coupon I got from Lowe's plus the 5% discount we get when we use our Lowe's credit card, it's like we won't pay any tax. I'm hoping our daughter is able to find a nice "friends and family" deal for us when she calls the CT store. She's going to do her best sweet-talking since she also works for Lowe's. If not, we'll just suck it up and buy something. :neutral:

You know, as annoying as this is, it could have been much worse. The start switch might have worked, but something might have ignited inside the controls. By the time we found out a load of towels in the dryer was on fire, we would have had a whole lot more troubles than just needing to buy a new one. Sometimes a problem just might be a good thing. Gotta think positive, right?
 
I'm glad you said no. If that person had no money for laundry why would they need a ride to the store? With what?

Who knows? Friends to loan him money? Write a check for cash back?

I learned to say "no" a long time ago, even though it's hard for me because I also want to believe there's good in people. But I also have a selfish streak and so while I find I'm fighting with myself once in a while, the selfish me can take a strong practical stand once in a while.

Wow, that's not only annoying, it's scary. Like Munky pointed out, you have to hope that this neighbor's confrontation doesn't make him think that you hide money and he needs to find it. I hope you have a building manager that you can notify. Perhaps they can add an extra lock to your door. And provide a tall, dark, and handsome body guard? :brows:

A tall, dark, handsome body guard would quit the day he saw who he was supposed to protect. :LOL:

Not to worry. This is a single room occupancy building and as it receives federal funding, the rules are pretty well laid down. You know going in that if you smoke inside your room or if drugs are found in your room, it's an automatic 10 day vacate notice. We need to activate the locks with our card before we can get in. They're VERY strict on not letting in people we don't know and everyone follows that rule, from what I've seen.

Once in the building, the doors are heavy and I always have the deadbolt on mine when I'm in the room. The biggest problem to me is the bathroom. I have to share a bathroom (sucks, totally) and for now, my bathmate wouldn't steal or anything. Having said that, she's afraid she'll need medical emergency care one day and so leaves her door unlocked AND she drags home the weirdest people (she's been written up for that). So I always have my bathroom door locked as well.

I really don't have to worry about losing any money because I don't have any. Fifty cents in pennies and maybe $4 in quarters is all I ever have in cash.


I want my life of living alone back. I am one of those folks who like living alone. Pirate right now is in the best of health that he is ever going to be. Time for him to find his own housing. The clinic where he goes has a social worker whose job is to help people who are disabled, senior citizens, etc. find affordable subsidized housing. In his own way, he has been a tremendous help to me financially. Now it is time for him to put his money where it will do the most good for him, not me. It is time for me to turn into a nag. "Make an appointment for housing with the social worker." Did you call the social worker today?" Nag, nag, nag. :angel:

That could be hard, Addie. I had a friend who invited someone to stay with her temporarily. Three years later she ended up selling her house to get her to move. And don't forget the law. In some states if someone is living someplace for 30 or more days, you have to use the eviction process if they don't want to leave, and that can take ages.

I enjoy living alone as well. I always say, if I ever got married, we'd buy a duplex together and he'd live in one side and I'd live in the other. Maybe share a dining room or a bedroom, but not much else!
 
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I was surfing You Tube and heard this.

Holy cow. I've changed, but yet I haven't changed. Life is is such a challenge, such a joy, a one-day-at-a-time bugger ...

I'm so glad to be alive, no matter my mess.

I have small issues. I get up in the morning and hope I remember where my glasses are.

A friend came over, and told me I had gone through nothing.

I had a blood clot in my brain, I've gone through nothing?

I could have died.

She said, "You know nothing. My son is in jail for forgery."

Ouch ... maybe she has a point. But at least he's alive with no health issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJzcpUKKxzM

I've learned ... some days are diamonds and some days are stones.
 
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Leaving Miami. Or rather we were supposed to leave at 3:40. It's 7:40. We are still seating on the plane, with no information when we would move. It's raining outside. I thought planes nowadays can fly any time. I guess I thought wrong.


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Leaving Miami. Or rather we were supposed to leave at 3:40. It's 7:40. We are still seating on the plane, with no information when we would move. It's raining outside. I thought planes nowadays can fly any time. I guess I thought wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Discuss Cooking

You've been sitting on the plane for 4 hours? Wow. Be sure to stand up and move around. Don't want blood clots .
 
No, on the plane only for hour and a half. But now we are back to gate.


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