A couple of (oh, so very interesting) things.
Today I got a letter from Comcast stating that they are adding another $200 for "unreturned material" to my bill. I can only assume that they mean the cable box, for which they sent us a UPS label, and in return, Brad put the cable box in a cardboard box and dropped it off at a UPS pick-up station, using said label. So you'd assume they'd check to see if the box had been sent before charging me. No, I guess I wouldn't assume that. Yet somehow I managed to let this upset me. I got all depressed that I had a monster giant bill to pay, even though I knew it wasn't accurate, and that I would have to call them to figure this out. (I hate calling anyone, let alone impersonal corporations.) And guess what? The bill I got in the mail "may not reflect current payments accredited to your account." Instead I owe them $20 and some change. N00bs.
Also in the mail today was a letter from my bank. After my parents ranted and raved about the promotional points they get for using their debit cards as credit cards during their everyday purchases and therefore receiving awesome prizes in the mail, I thought, hey, I should do that too! So I tried to sign up at my bank. Unfortunately, the letter today in the mail said, sorry, your account is not eligible. We apologize for any inconvenience. What? There was nothing about eligibility on the website! And to top it off, there was no explanation in the letter. Just that I wasn't allowed to sign up. And I got all down on myself. Again. I'm not eligible? I'm not good enough? I had to pass a test or a credit report or something, and I didn't? Thankfully, my rational self saved me from my depression and went online to read the terms and conditions. It turns out that after April 30, 2011, free checking accounts are no longer eligible. Isn't that kind of ridiculous? I don't know anyone who doesn't have a free checking account. In fact, I'm kind of shocked that anyone at all still pays to have a checking account, especially through my giant corporation bank, which runs promotional advertisements all the time yakking about their amazing free checking. I've never paid to bank. I had a free checking as a student, and then a free checking as a non-student. I'm not about to start paying now! Jerks.
Moral of the story: Stop getting upset about stupid things, Verity. Everything's going to be fine, so just calm down.
Anyway. Enough about that. In other, unrelated news, I read this article online today. I found it interesting for a few different reasons. The author starts out by saying that the economy is killing our dreams because we're all too worried we won't even be employed next month. Okay, I can see that. But by the end of the article, he's talking about how it's really a comfort thing. We don't want to leave our homes and our club memberships and yadda yadda yadda for the discomfort of achieving fun and interesting dreams. But see, that can happen in any kind of economy. As a child we think, yeah, let's go sail around the world! But when we grow up and realize exactly what kind of commitment that is, it seems less appealing. Really? Live on a boat for an indefinite number of years? Hmmmm. This isn't to say that I don't think you should sail around the world for 6 years straight. If that is indeed your dream, I imagine that would be totally worth it. (Even if this poor, tortured soul is doomed to drive a Honda for the rest of his life, instead of his precious Audi. Life is so rough, you know?) I'm just saying that the economy is just another excuse for those of us who love to find excuses. Of course, several of my dreams seem to include access to a large amount of money, which, truthfully, still seems ridiculously impossible to save. But I could do it, if I really wanted. I could get a side job, work crappy hours, put every paycheck from side job immediately into savings, and be able to afford that road trip around the country. So maybe the dreams don't all happen at once. Maybe it takes several years to achieve all these goals. Again (I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately), no real point here. Just some random thoughts.
You're welcome, by the by, for the second post today.
Also in the mail today was a letter from my bank. After my parents ranted and raved about the promotional points they get for using their debit cards as credit cards during their everyday purchases and therefore receiving awesome prizes in the mail, I thought, hey, I should do that too! So I tried to sign up at my bank. Unfortunately, the letter today in the mail said, sorry, your account is not eligible. We apologize for any inconvenience. What? There was nothing about eligibility on the website! And to top it off, there was no explanation in the letter. Just that I wasn't allowed to sign up. And I got all down on myself. Again. I'm not eligible? I'm not good enough? I had to pass a test or a credit report or something, and I didn't? Thankfully, my rational self saved me from my depression and went online to read the terms and conditions. It turns out that after April 30, 2011, free checking accounts are no longer eligible. Isn't that kind of ridiculous? I don't know anyone who doesn't have a free checking account. In fact, I'm kind of shocked that anyone at all still pays to have a checking account, especially through my giant corporation bank, which runs promotional advertisements all the time yakking about their amazing free checking. I've never paid to bank. I had a free checking as a student, and then a free checking as a non-student. I'm not about to start paying now! Jerks.
Moral of the story: Stop getting upset about stupid things, Verity. Everything's going to be fine, so just calm down.
Anyway. Enough about that. In other, unrelated news, I read this article online today. I found it interesting for a few different reasons. The author starts out by saying that the economy is killing our dreams because we're all too worried we won't even be employed next month. Okay, I can see that. But by the end of the article, he's talking about how it's really a comfort thing. We don't want to leave our homes and our club memberships and yadda yadda yadda for the discomfort of achieving fun and interesting dreams. But see, that can happen in any kind of economy. As a child we think, yeah, let's go sail around the world! But when we grow up and realize exactly what kind of commitment that is, it seems less appealing. Really? Live on a boat for an indefinite number of years? Hmmmm. This isn't to say that I don't think you should sail around the world for 6 years straight. If that is indeed your dream, I imagine that would be totally worth it. (Even if this poor, tortured soul is doomed to drive a Honda for the rest of his life, instead of his precious Audi. Life is so rough, you know?) I'm just saying that the economy is just another excuse for those of us who love to find excuses. Of course, several of my dreams seem to include access to a large amount of money, which, truthfully, still seems ridiculously impossible to save. But I could do it, if I really wanted. I could get a side job, work crappy hours, put every paycheck from side job immediately into savings, and be able to afford that road trip around the country. So maybe the dreams don't all happen at once. Maybe it takes several years to achieve all these goals. Again (I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately), no real point here. Just some random thoughts.
You're welcome, by the by, for the second post today.
I like your random thoughts. I think people just sit around and make excuses all day - that seems pretty boring to me. Anyway, about getting those letters. I'm sorry. I know it's dumb to get upset about those things, but I do it, too! Like today I was crying about Niko getting accepted into daycare full-time when we only wanted part-time. Then, I was like who cares? So he sits on the part-time waiting list for a while and I get to hang out with him all day for a while longer. Yay! I've had to make so many impersonal calls lately - I hate it, but it feels so good once it's over. I'm dreading calling the cable company next month when our promotional year is over and the bill skyrockets by about $50. No fun! See? I can do random thoughts, too! :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought the same thing about the guy driving a Honda instead of an Audi. When he starts driving a 1987 Chevy Nova, then I'll feel for him. There's a Twitter account called First World Problems and it's just tweets like, "My remote ran out of batteries to I had to stand up and walk over to my flat screen to change channels manually." That whole article seemed like one long First World Problem. Boo hoo for his SO rough life.
ReplyDeleteUnexpected news like that always freaks me out. It's not like I've got an extra $200 laying around! I just got ANOTHER bill from the hospital from my car accident (really?? 10 months later and I'm still getting bills??) and I haven't dealt w/ it yet b/c I'm just not in the mood to deal w/ insurance and hospitals.