06.01.08
Posted in Anecdotes at 5:09 pm by Administrator
We have all heard the expression: “I’ll do it, when I get around to it.” Somehow, no matter what we plan to do, we often do not get around to just doing it. What is “it”? “It” can be making a new quilt, or washing the kitchen floor, or taking a stroll, or a myriad of other things. We all have too much to do in our daily lives. We should concentrate on those activities that are the most beneficial to us, even if finishing even one task makes us feel good.
When my brother, Jack, lived in Vermont, near a company that made and sold wood products, he bought some wooden coins with the words, “Round Tuit.” He gave some of these to family members, saying, “Now, you have no excuse. You can do whatever you’d like because you now have a “round tuit.”
Sadly, I’ve misplaced my round tuit, which probably accounts for the fact that, no matter how hard I work, I never get around to doing everything I’d like. Lately, I forget birthdays, and don’t mail greeting cards, or stay in contact with friends as much I would, were I not so totally consumed in my current project.
To be easy on myself, I have to realize that I have only limited hours, every day, just like anyone else. I have to hope that my work is appreciated and that it will have some longevity. That would be the best case scenario. However, on the chance of being able to do more, I’ll have to look for that “round tuit” enabler. I’ll seek it where it hides, “when I get around to it.”
Patricia Cummings
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05.28.08
Posted in Anecdotes at 11:34 pm by Administrator
My mother has been dead for three years, yet today, in my mailbox, there was a notice sent to her. Since I was her Durable Power of Attorney, in life, I took the chance of opening it without fear of breaking the federal mandate not to tamper with someone else’s mail.
On her behalf, I learned that the bank, once again, is changing its name. I also found out that they are going to (try to) continue to treat their customers well and enhance the overall banking experience. The letter was signed by the president of the bank, someone whose name I could not say … or spell … if my life depended on it.
This piece of mail left me with an odd feeling and I could not help but ponder the fact that when one is six feet under, stocks, mutual funds, and bank accounts matter little. Money will not buy a person even one more minute more than what has been pre-determined in the Book of Life.
I poignantly recall the fact that when Mother had her heart attack, she had all of $16.00 left in a checking account, her only money, and had gone through all of her other assets, without anyone knowing. She had also run up a credit card bill of thousands of dollars, just to buy simple things like food and medication.
While she was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes, I sat here, like a dummy, explaining over and over again to paid collection agency officials that the credit card bill would be paid immediately, as soon as her farm sold. The creditor had to wait awhile, but the day of the “closing” was the same day their pay-off check went into the mail. In the meantime, I was badgered. I said, “Hey! I pay my bills!” Nobody was listening.
You see, that is the trouble. No one at all is listening. You can tell your woes to an answering machine until the cows come home. Perhaps a cow is the animal getting the message, and not making sense of it. Don’t get me going!
There is a lot wrong with corporate America, including the fact that J.C. Penney, whom I mentioned last month, is still under the impression that I have an account there. I do not. I never will. Last Saturday, I received a form to fill out for their investigation> into why I don’t think I should pay the charges. Simply put, I said, “This card is NOT mine.” Are they dense?
This is too much. Letters to dead people. Bills that I didn’t run up on accounts that I don’t own. We won’t even dwell on the number of Paypal scam letters I receive per week, and I DO report every one of them. One can’t even die to get away from junk mail. My Dad received an advertisement for life insurance twenty years after he’d been gone. I should have framed it! Can you top that?
Patricia Cummings
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05.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Anecdotes at 1:13 am by Administrator
I was having a fair to midlin’ kind of a day today, doing some cleaning, laundry, and computing. Around noon, the mail arrived. There was nothing of a personal note, but there was a curious bill. I thought, “Hmmm … JC Penney … but I don’t have an account there!”
I immediately recalled the deadbeat that has the same name as me, and how our credit reports got so tangled up within the last few years. It even seemed as though I was a bigamist, as you may recall, as two husbands were listed. I wondered if she was at it again.
I opened the bill to see what I had “bought.” The curious encoding seems to indicate online purchases. Funny, nothing was shipped to this address. Yet, there was my name, and my address, but this was not my transaction, nor my account!
So, I began calling. On the first call, I got a woman speaking in Spanish who said that the number I called was “indisponsible.” I tried to call any and all associated numbers, “tried” being the operative word.
Each time, after going through countless choices, pushing this button or that, I reached a few “people” (the kindest word I can use here). They all demanded my “social” and my birthdate. I don’t casually provide my “social,” as that is a sure ticket to identity theft. I did give my birthdate to one individual who said, “That’s not what is on THIS account!” I said, “Exactly! As I told you, it is NOT my account.” He still needed my “social.”
He transferred me to the “Fraud department,” except I was not connected to a real person but to another round of putting in the account number for an account I don’t own, and pushing 1 for this, 2 for that, etc. It made me dizzy. It seems that I tried to call JC Penney about twenty five times, including calls placed to my local store where I (stupidly) thought I might reach a real person with some actual gray matter between his or her ears. I was mistaken- it was a futile effort.
So, I guess the next step is to take this situation to the police, and then to the Attorney General. These “people” at JC Penney have no idea that I’m not going to put up with their mistreatment. I do not plan to ever do business with them again. In fact, I rarely enter the store, as it is, and when I do, I pay cash. They won’t miss my business.
I’m not sure if this was an “honest mistake” or what it was, on their part. All I can process right now is how frustrated and angry I felt to be pushed around by a bunch of apes, demanding my “social.” I stated that they are just “a voice on the phone.” Who am I to know that they are on the up and up? I probably won’t “go postal” but I sure understand people who do. I, for one, “ain’t gonna take it … any more!” The authorities can deal with their insolence.
P. C.
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