@snackness I don't know how long you're willing to drive for it but... I know a great place in Florida full of gators and snakes and animals that will eat anything... 24 hours there and nobody will recognize that there was ever a body to begin with. >.>
@cassite said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
...I mean, I guess? I've got a whole slew of chronic illnesses, and if I'm well enough to push that cart around the store, I'm well enough to push it the ten-to-fifteen feet from my car to the return.
The intent of that copy/pasta isn't for your one-offs that you haven't done it, it's measuring the fact that you're capable of empathy for the person whose job it is to clean up after you. I have certainly not had enough spoons on given days to return the cart, but on those days, I felt like an asshole about it. Because it was an unspoken rule, because I was breaking it, and because I was making more work for someone.
As far as I can tell, that silly copy/paste isn't saying "If you ever see a shopping cart out of place, you know an asshole did it." It's saying, "Know the ramifications that your actions have on other people."
Or maybe this just pisses me off extra because the tiny grocery store I shop at has a cart-returner who's friendly as hell and in his seventies, and imagining him roaming through the rain in 2c weather for stragglers makes my heart literally break.
Anyhow.
^^This^^
Having worked at Wal-Mart and having to chase down carts, sometimes halfway across the parking lot, while being horrifically underpaid for any part of that job, AND dealing with my own issues? Sucks. More often than not, the people working AT Walmart? Also suffer from things like chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, etc. and we still have to schlepp our asses around and gather up the carts. It sucks. It sucks all around. I'm also a single mother. I've absolutely had to put my son into his car seat, load the groceries... and then I locked the car with my son securely fastened in his seat, so I could push the cart down to the return so I wasn't being 'that guy'. Because I've worked that job and had to deal with that hassle. The problem with 'but my X' is that everyone wants to be the exception. So whose 'X' is more important? Is your depression rating higher than my own? Is my fatigue worse than yours? We have to be willing to be decent people and allow that everyone has an 'X' and acknowledge that we need to be willing to push past it to do the right thing.
@tinuviel When you end up in the hospital physically bleeding and with burst testes from arguing philosophical points here, I want to know.
@insomniac7809 Agreed! I hate surveys of any sort for an application. If you want me to go through a personality profile, please do so after you've whittled down the number of applicants so you can pay a licensed person to conduct an actual personality profile and not just these stupid surveys that everyone fakes through anyways.
@nyctophiliac Yes. Yes absolutely. I cannot wear wool, no matter how 'soft' it is, it feels like a brillo pad to me. I tend to buy shirts that are pre-washed because that 'new shirt' stiffness irritates me. I have refused to wear tapered leg jeans for decades because it bothers me to have the excess fabric scrunched up around my ankles. If a tag is out I must must flip it in, having it against the back of my neck is unacceptable. There are more. SO many more. Soft washed cotton and chenille are about the only two things I know for certain I can tolerate at any time.
I work for a company who sends almost daily emails about the 'resources' available to us and how 'we're all in this together' and videos from upper management that's being taken outdoors from their vacation home on Lake Tahoe or their 6 bedroom flat near DC. People who want to tell us how 'proud' they are of us for all of our work and how they 'understand' how difficult this is for us. And then they go on to congratulate other upper management for their efforts and innovations without ever acknowledging, let alone addressing, the people on the phones. We had a meeting with two of our upper management about two months ago. They both claimed that we could 'email them anytime' and talked up how they'd been responding to people. I have yet to receive a response to my email. Not even an acknowledgement of having received it and reviewing it for follow-up at a later date.
If I call out more than two days in a row, I'm supposed to contact HR to look into starting an STD or FMLA claim. Only there's no general email or phone number for our HR department, and the person that handled my last claim has since left the company. I was never informed who, if anyone, took her place. I just received an 'inconclusive' result from my rapid response COVID test this morning, and have been informed by my doctor to treat it as a 'positive' result until the sendoff results come back. I've gotten no direction or assistance from HR or management on how they want me to proceed.
Oh, and this past year, I was expected to use my own personal time, off the clock, to finish my PMP (the self-assessment metric by which my yearly raise/bonus is determined). They insisted we finish them over the holiday week, that we were working full schedules, and we were schedule 30 minutes to complete an assessment of a year's worth of metric scores and our belief on why we should get scored a certain number, and why we deserve that number. This was on a completely new system that they gave us an additional 30 minutes off the phones to learn.
The resources available to us are only to be accessed 'on our time'. Meaning we have to SCHEDULE time off, using our precious PTO to actually access the resources they are trying to pat themselves on the back for providing. My 'office' has been my bedroom, home office, and workplace since March of last year. I have no additional space to put either computer anywhere else. I have lived in a 13x13 room for nearly a year. But yes, 'we're all in this together'. Sure. I make a fraction of what they do, my tax return this year will be pitiful because I got two stimulus checks. But 'we're all in this together'. My job is in danger if I can't get my doctor to send in notice that I'm to stay at home, resting, for the next week. But hey, 'we're all in this together'!
Don't do this. Any of it. Communicate, clearly, even if its not what people want to hear. Be honest, even if what you have to tell them isn't good news. Provide your people with leeway in a difficult situation. Have their backs. And for the love of God, please don't push the party line. Don't tell your people 'we're all in this together'. Because that implies a level of equality that simply doesn't exist between different levels of employees. And we know it.
Be up front. Be honest. Don't let your people 'slip through the cracks'. Make sure they are getting heard, and make sure they get the follow-up they deserve.
@wretched So much this. My cleaning schedule is sporadic and haphazard. My budget is usually a tangle of creatively moving funds around between accounts to ensure everything gets covered. Remembering appointments is a nightmare as I'm either an hour+ early or forget it entirely.
But when my mom sliced her arm open installing storm windows, I was on the phone with 911 and letting them know what happened and where to go while applying a tourniquet to her arm... at 13. When she had to be rushed to the hospital two years later for ruptured ovarian cysts, same deal... packed her into the car and looked up the best way to get to the hospital and drove her down on my learner's permit.
Emergency situations are so much easier to deal with, requiring quick, decisive action for a relative short amount of time. Its one of the few times my body can keep up with my brain as the adrenaline dump lets me act at the speed of my thoughts.
@greenflashlight So, sadly, this is never really portrayed in any of the shows. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Smallville, even the animated Superman... their posture, tone of voice, body language, even the way they walk... never changes between Clark Kent & Superman. At most you will see Clark Kent acting slightly more bewildered than Superman. So really, they've done a terrible job of portraying Clark Kent across every show, movie, and cartoon since 1978. Christopher Reeves is the ONLY true Superman specifically because he's the ONLY one to showcase the difference between Clark and Superman. If you ever watch Batman: TAS or Superman: TAS or even Justice League... anytime you see Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent in the same room, Clark damn near alpha-challenges Bruce every time. Like they full-on mangrip handshake and glare at one another, often with Clark scowling as if he's two seconds away from laser-gazing Bruce right out of existence. Its... pretty ridiculous. Which is why there is now the constant 'how tf do people not SEE that this is just Superman in glasses and a cheap suit?!'.
@macha So as someone who works in the car finance industry (Hi Volkswageeeeeeeen!), a few tips.
Quick Protip about loans and cosigners... whoever has the higher credit score will be listed as the 'primary' 9 times out of 10. But the cosigner has equal rights and privileges regarding the loan and account.
As cosigner you are absolutely able to verify and make payments on your own, you just have to know the amount you want to pay. So I would immediately contact Capital One and raise a BIG stink. Demand managers, insist on speaking with them. Make sure you get a copy of your contract to have in front of you. Demand an email and/or physical address for their legal department AND credit department as a repossession absolutely dings you and stays there for AWHILE. If you send via email, save a copy for your records. If you mail physically, do so via certified mail or Fedex/UPS so that you have tracking and confirmation of receipt. Track the days and follow up with them if they don't follow up within the timeframe provided by company policy (they have to provide you the timeframe, its a legal requirement).
Speaking of credit! Don't listen when they say they can't remove the mark. You may have to provide proof that you had the funds available to make the payment, but it is not your fault that some idiot rep wouldn't verify and take payment. But if you can show that you had the funds available to make the payment when you called in, you can demand they pull and review the call where the rep refused to verify account and accept payment. They are legally required to accept payment from anyone on the contract, whether you are primary, secondary, whatever. To refuse to accept payment is to break the terms of the contract. Their consumer credit team may insist on a letter in writing documenting what happened, including any documentation you can provide as to your ability to make the car payment (usually bank records showing your balance on the day payment was due). They will be required to respond to you within 30 days in writing. If you can prove that the lack of payment was through no fault of your own, they will have to cover the costs of the repo themselves, return the vehicle, and remove any derogatory marks from your credit report. It can take some time for those marks to be fully removed and you will absolutely want to stay on top of the credit bureaus to ensure they do so with 30 days of the notice being sent out by the CC team.
Aaaaaaaaaand bankruptcy! You are listed as the cosigner on the loan, they cannot refuse to verify or accept payment from you, active bankruptcy or not. Especially as the bankruptcy does not affect your credit or your ability to pay for the vehicle. That said, a lot of CSR's do not understand how bankruptcy works and they will panic and refuse to speak to anyone but the primary/customer in bankruptcy. This is a mistake. A very nasty one. If you get someone refusing to verify you, insist on a manager/supervisor. Never be afraid to escalate, this is your money, your credit, and YOUR life. One party's bankruptcy does not invalidate the contract that you signed.
Get a lawyer, get a lawyer, get a lawyer. Reach out to free/reduced cost legal aid available in your area. if you reach out to them, if you have exhausted all other means? Get a lawyer, provide them with a detailed accounting of the steps that you have taken to try and pay the vehicle on time, and the steps you have taken to rectify Capital One's mistake. Provide as much documentation as possible. Make sure you have a fax number for Capital One's legal department and provide it to your lawyer. Should you get representation, they will deal directly with Capital One and you will deal with your lawyer. As soon as you have informed Capital One that you have retained an attorney and provided them with the attorney's details, they have to deal with the attorney and only the attorney. They cannot call and badger you about payments, or the vehicle, or the repo costs. If anyone tries, log the date/time on your cell phone, screenshot it, email it to your attorney.
Places that offer auto loans, be they banks or financial institutions, have a set base of laws and requirements they must abide by. Capital One has broken that be refusing to accept payment from a legally authorized signer. Take them to the cleaners.
@thesuntsar He DOES. Just like.. the BEST hugger.
@Crawfish I will pay monies for additions to Porter-cat in the form of abs and beard.
I GOT MY ORIGINAL TODAY! It's even better than the scan made it look!!!
@crawfish I love love love love them! SO AMAZING!
@testament I also watch Dr. Pimple Popper. OH! And Botched!
@tributary said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
@too-old-for-this said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff
@Deviante Yeeeeeeeeeeees. Sorta like how I watch House Hunters. I love hearing what the couples each do for a living, and what their 'budget' is. XD
"My husband is a professional dog walker, and I used to teach kindergarten, but with our first baby on the way, I've decided to give into my passion in art. We've got a real strict budget of $1,200,000, and I'm so excited to see what we can do!"
"My name is Jack, and I teach the blind how to yodel. This is my wife Diane, and she sells her eco-friendly homemade mudpies on Etsy. Our budget is $750,000 and we can't wait to find our forever home!"
@crawfish I may have sniped your Etsy and ordered before the post was up. I must have more of the artwork!
@testament Never regret giving @Crawfish your money for more catraits. I've purchased so many, and I still have one huge Super Sekrit one being worked on... and my most recent alt is being cattified! Best happy money I've spent in YEARS.
