Good morning! I am determined today will be a good day too...

Something must be in the air, my hubby went to Starbucks this morning to pick up coffee. I am totally enjoying that now.

I am glad to know it is just not me....I have not been able to get the station to play since last night.

Hey I put the garbage out without being told....does that count?

It's a rainy day here today but it smells nice and pure out there. Everything is really green which means I have to mow again allready. Half the office is gone for the Holiday weekend so it should be pretty quiet or really busy we'll see.

Sparky wrote:

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Hey I put the garbage out without being told....does that count?

It's a rainy day here today but it smells nice and pure out there. Everything is really green which means I have to mow again allready. Half the office is gone for the Holiday weekend so it should be pretty quiet or really busy we'll see.

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You might want to send flowers before she wakes up and reads the forum.

 

good morning everyone! tulsa metro right now is cloudy and 71! today's high will be around 86...

i feel so worn out this morning like i could use the rest of the day to sleep, and my sinuses and chest is feeling a bit congested. so sleepy...

office energy is calm and pleasant this morning...

Yay Sparky! Good job on the garbage.

I got the boy to the sitter. This is the same sitter that we used for his first six years of his life. When we were there last, things were a little sour between us. She must have thought we'd never be back as she got rid of all his records. We have to sign all the papers again and she needs another copy of his shot records.

Also while dropping him off, she said "I don't remember if I mentioned this when we talked before, but I've raised my rates since you were last here too". Uh, no, you didn't mention that.

I got a new web hosting order today. They requested the domain "yangtextile.org", the email address is henry_andrain@yahoo.com, and the credit card is a "David Ciattoni" in Florida.

So, we've got "yang" which sounds Chinese.
"Henry" which sounds American.
"Ciattoni" which sounds Italian.
Oh, and the IP number traced to Nigeria.

Uh, sorry, but I'll not be able to fulfill your request for hosting at this time.

What went wrong with the sitter last time Web?

I'm excited too. right now its only 51 degrees, but sunday is supposed to be high 60s and then mid 70s for Sunday and  Monday.

MzHartz wrote:

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What went wrong with the sitter last time Web?

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I don't know that it really went "wrong" as much as I realized that it was not as I thought it was.

The deal with day care is that to "hold your spot" you pay for your kid if they are there or not. Thats the rule and I knew that.

The thing that got me was that when the boy was in preschool, (three days a week) he didn't go to daycare until 11:30am. I thought our bills were kind of high so I started keeping track. I found out that she really was trying to get every possible dollar out of us. If we were 10 minutes past the hour to pick him up, she charged us for an extra 1/2 hour. Even though he wasn't there the first 3.5 hours of the day, she'd still tack on extra at the end of the day.

What it came down to was that any time there was a question on something she would always refer to "the contract". "Well, according to the contract you signed, this is right". "Accornding to the contract, blah, blah." I guess it hurt me that after 6 years of her being part of our son's life, it still came down to the fact that we were just "a contract" to her.

Another thing that I didn't agree with was when she decided that she should be paid for her vacations. "You all get paid vacations, I should too." I said "Oh really? I get paid vacations?" She said "Well, you don't because you are self employeed." I said "You're right, I'm self employeed, just like you are." She felt it was different for her situation, but because I had issue with it, she'd only charge us for 1/2 of her vacation since only my wife got paid vacations. She even wrote up a change for the contract for that.

That last year we were there when she started bringing up "the contract" with every little thing, I took a copy of that vacation change as well as invoices which showed the full vacation charges to her and asked why she had continued to charge us for full vacation time rather than 1/2 of it. I said that even though she had agreed to only charge us for 1/2, we didn't complain about it. She said that shortly after the initial agreement, we later agreed to void the addition we had signed regarding the full vacation pay. She claimed she had a signed form by us for that but she couldn't find it. She never did produce that void of the change that she claimed existed because it didn't exist. We saved everything in a file and it didn't exist. I'm pretty sure she knew that I knew she was lying about that and instead of admitting she was wrong, she tried to save face by turning it into a lack of trust on our part. I said "Its just that if we are going to live and die by "the contract", I think it should apply to both parties and not only be pulled out when you need it."

It was just one little thing after another that made me realize that in the end, we were just "a contract" to her. Once I realized that, I was disappointed and hurt enough that we decided to try another daycare last summer. Our son had a great time there. This summer, the other lady was full. Its not really that there are hard feelings, its just that now I realize where we stand with her.

She is a good daycare provider and I know she will take good care of our son so rather than going some place we don't know about, we went back to her. I just made the assumption that after six years, we had become more than just another job. I was wrong. Knowing that now, I think we'll get along just fine. Also, its only for three months during summer break.

Part of it too was another lady that takes her kids there. This other lady worked at the same bank as my wife when the bank was bought and the then the president and vice president went and started a new bank and took many of the employees with them.

The lady that had the job closest to my wife's (a different lady) wanted to go with the new bank so she started rumors about my wife to try to make her look bad. My wife didn't know anything about all this until she realized that those that went to the new bank who she used to consider friends (including the other lady that used the same daycare) suddenly thought ill of her over these untrue rumors. My wife finally got one of them to tell her why she was suddenly and outcast with them.

There is no doubt in our minds that this other daycare mother was yapping to our sitter becuase at that same time all the stuff was happening, the sitter changed banks and got really cold toward my wife.

That was also a disappointment that the sitter would believe false rumors and she then clearly begin to play favorites with both us and our kids based on something that had nothing to do with her.

And . . . .

My DSL speed hasn't happened either here or at the church yet so I called again.

This time, I got a guy who really sounded like he knows what he's doing. He said the pricing the other lady told me was all wrong. He said he can see the notes where I called, but no order was actually placed into the system for either account.

After we got done, I was able to increase my speed for the same price by entering into a two year agreement. I really didn't want to do that, but cable internet here is WAY more expensive than DSL for slower speeds so unless something drastic changes, I can't see wanting to switch away from DSL within the next two years anyway.

For the church, he looked at everything together and by changing to a long distance plan that fits our needs there better, he was able to save enough money on the long distance that its paying for the upgrade to the fastest speed there too.

Now, I have to wait until Wednesday again for that to happen . . . assuming it really will this time.

Ok, my fingers are tired now.

Happy Thursday all! I just got a chance to catch up with a work colleague visiting from Spain - it was so nice to see her! I have lunch with an old colleague who now works in Women's Outreach, and it'll be nice to compare notes. Unfortuantely, I then have a process meeting to follow all the pleasantries of the day.

Hello everyone!  Had a very busy day at work today; am glad it's now behind me and I'm at home alone to chill out for a bit.  Last night we went to my youngest daughter's Band banquet and got info for band camp this year.  I don't think she'll be going this time around.  Camp price went from $100 last year up to $375 this year for one week away!!!  And her teacher says any kid that doesn't go to camp can't be in band class......hmm, we'll see what the principal and school board says about this! I'm pretty ticked off about this huge increase in cost....her teacher was my oldest girl's teacher for the past 4 years; he held camp at school every year and the price was $100 for the week.  He transferred to a different high school this year (which happens to be where my youngest girl goes) and now all of a sudden they have to go away to camp to learn their music and drills and if they can't afford to go, they can't be in band class at school.  Needless to say there are a bunch of ticked off parents right now!   

Heading up to the cabin tomorrow for the weekend.  I'm in dire need of some time away from home! 

Nope, but that's ok with me.  Also don't have a phone up there either.  I won't pay for those things when I'm not there year round to use them.  I take my cell with me though in case of an emergency. 

Thanks JD.  I'm really looking forward to getting outta here for a few days. 

My youngest girl packed her swimsuit.  She said she's going for a dip in the lake no matter how cold the water is.  I'm not that brave....the ice just went off the lake a few weeks ago; that water will be freezing cold!!! 

Web, your story reminds me of this that my ma-in-law sent me... i don't know if it's a true story, but reading about your ordeal, how could it not be...


Some people are really stupid!


This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual Service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge.

The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now its somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank.

Here is the exchange :

Family Member: 'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.'
Citibank: 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been.'
Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?'
Citibank: 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!'
Family Member: 'Do you think God will be mad at her?'
Citibank: 'Excuse me?'
Family Member: 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?'
Citibank: 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.'

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member: 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?'
Citibank: (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'
Family Member: 'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given)
Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'
Family Member: 'Sure' (Fax number was given )

After they get the fax:

Citibank: 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.'
Family Member: 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'
Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.' (What is wrong with these people?!?)
Family Member: 'Would you like her new billing address?'
Citibank: 'That might help.'
Family Member: ' Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'
Citibank: 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'
Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???



(Priceless!!)