Try to remember...(the month of September?) (Sept. minirants)

[Moonlitherial]

My daughter is spending a school year at a school in Florence Italy. She did a ton of work preparing to live outside the country and yesterday she spent the entire day on the phone with CIBC instead of exploring her new city. You see, she and her 3 roommates all agreed to put their rent money in a single account and they went to CIBC and explained what they needed - the property management company can only take a credit card from North America, debit cards don't work with their system. They could open an Italian account BUT they need an Italian social insurance number to do that and that would require 2 months and several visits to government offices to achieve. So CIBC set them up with a joint account and a VISA debit card for each of them so any one of the 4 could pay their rent. They also explained the limit they would need in order to make their monthly payment.

So, they arrive in Italy, go to pay their rent and it rejects due to limit. One call with the bank straightens that out with a 24 hr delay. They go back to the office to try again and it fails with a new error message. They try on the webpage and that doesn't work. They call me and I try on the North American page and that doesn't work. They call the bank and the first 4 people swear she's doing something wrong that of course it works and they're not seeing rejected transactions. The 5th person finally tells her the truth - European payment systems see Visa debit cards as debit, not Visa and this will not work and never would work.

Luckily I have a never used credit card that will handle her monthly rent so she is setting up a bill payment from their joint account to my credit card and they're going to pay their rent with my card and then when the conversion and fees show up on the account they'll pay that amount but good god. If they just gave her accurate information in the first place it would have been a lot easier to work this out in advance.

This is our last straw with CIBC. Between the hassle when we sold our house, an RRSP that I've requested they move 6 months ago that's still sitting in a basically no interest holding account and this little completely wrong information situation I'm bank shopping. Fuckers I hate bank shopping.

[Nava]

I'm wondering where did she get the information about needing an Italian SSN. What I'd heard from people who'd spent a few months there (but not working there, so no SSN) and what I find on a google is that you can access different types of accounts depending on whether you're a resident or not and you have higher fees if you're not, but not on SSN being an absolute requirement. Some banks (including Bancoposta, the Post Office) only open accounts to residents, but that "some" is key.

[Moonlitherial]

Originally Posted by Nava

I'm wondering where did she get the information about needing an Italian SSN. What I'd heard from people who'd spent a few months there (but not working there, so no SSN) and what I find on a google is that you can access different types of accounts depending on whether you're a resident or not and you have higher fees if you're not, but not on SSN being an absolute requirement. Some banks (including Bancoposta, the Post Office) only open accounts to residents, but that "some" is key.

It was in the information packet the school provided to them. I'll tell her to check around and see if she can find one that's allowed. Thanks!

[Nava]

Crossing all available appendages - hopefully she'll be able to have it solved soon!

[Seanette]

Originally Posted by anya marie

I have cats but they run away when I rattle the pill bottle at them.

I've lost other things to borrowers, probably, because I put some Pop-tarts in a baggie before going out on an errand and never saw them again. I was thinking it might be faeries.

Maybe borrowers and faeries are related?

[Little Bird]

I had a really great interview last week and they said I would hear back from them about a second interview by today and it's already 2.5 hours into today and I still haven't heard from them and I'm pretty sure that means that they aren't going to be calling with good news and I'm really anxious because I really want this job and the more money it will earn me because I've amassed quite a lot of debt over the year what with the little boy being born, my cars both needing tune ups and new tires and the city making me replace my sidewalk and such forth so it would be really awesome if this damn job would just call me back.

[cwthree]

Little Bird, I know the feeling of waiting... waiting... waiting... It sucks. You've got my sympathy, and I hope you DO hear something today.

Now for my rant.

Driver who backed(?) into my motorcycle: Fuck you. You didn't do much damage, but you did break the stem that connects the right rear turn signal to the bike. The replacement is inexpensive and easy to find, but if you'd been paying just a little bit of attention, I wouldn't need to replace it at all.

Honda engineer who designed the wiring on the 1985 Honda Rebel 250: Fuck you and the rest of your team of drunken lemurs with a rusty pineapple. What the hell were you on, that putting the wiring in a box under the fender, secured by three bolts that are only visible if you're a mouse standing on the rear tire (when they're not covered with road schmutz), seemed like a good idea? Oh, and that non-movable, inflexible rubber "boot" that surrounds the junction box and hides all the connections - that sucks too.

While I'm hating my motorcycles, I'd like to give a shout-out to the designers of the 1992 Kawasaki Vulcan. Great job, folks, putting the spark plugs in wells that are both deep and narrow, unreachable by any normal readily available spark plug socket. And you did a great job of making the socket deep, but not deep enough to accommodate my specially-ordered thin-walled socket without removing or damaging a couple of hoses. Excellent maximizing of inaccessibility and inconvenience!

[Mauvaise]

Originally Posted by LavenderBlue

Listen to me little eight year old girl across the street,

When I tell you to put your helmet on while bicycling -- PUT YOUR DAMNED HELMET ON! <snip> If I see you ever again blithely disregarding my instructions I will make sure you don't come near my daughter until you've got grandchildren.

Wait - what? Maybe I'm not getting a clear picture of your relationship with this other child, but while I appreciate you are genuinely looking out for her welfare, unless you are her parent/caretaker, you do not have the authority to make her wear a helmet. She can blithely ignore your instructions all she wants and I would expect a mini-rant from the girl's parents about some crazy neighbor lady thinking she can order their daughter around.

You can prevent her from playing with your daughter, however, if you feel that not wearing a helmet is bad enough behavior to warrant it.

[LavenderBlue]

Originally Posted by Mauvaise

Wait - what? Maybe I'm not getting a clear picture of your relationship with this other child, but while I appreciate you are genuinely looking out for her welfare, unless you are her parent/caretaker, you do not have the authority to make her wear a helmet. She can blithely ignore your instructions all she wants and I would expect a mini-rant from the girl's parents about some crazy neighbor lady thinking she can order their daughter around.

You can prevent her from playing with your daughter, however, if you feel that not wearing a helmet is bad enough behavior to warrant it.

Um . . . WTF?



One of the neighbor's kids was in violation of the law. She was alternatively riding her bike and her scooter without her helmet. This is against the law in our state and endangers her life. She was right in front of my house. Like any normal, concerned parent I yelped at her to put the helmet back on her head.

She ignored me. A few minutes later, I called her mom. Her mom is a friend of mine and thanked me for telling her about her daughter's wreckless behavior. My own eldest child pulled the same stunt last year. Another mother down the block told me that my daughter was on her scooter without her helmet. I had a talk with Eldest. She admitted to the behavior and I took away her scooter for a week. I thanked the neighbor profusely for making sure my daughter didn't wind up with her brains on the sidewalk.

I have no idea why you're offended that I care about the welfare of all children but that's your nuttery not mine. I would definitely want to know if my kid was on a bike or scooter without her helmet. Any neighbor is more than welcome to reprimand my kid to put it on and damned well welcome to let me know if she doesn't. FYI, one of the other neighborhood mothers told me she has chided that little girl about using her helmet several times in the past year.

Are we all supposed to ignore common sense safety rule and let neighborhood kids get hurt?

[Ferret Herder]

Context is awesome. There's a big difference between yelling at your friend's kid when said friend isn't around, versus yelling at a random neighbor kid.

[stegon66]

Dear Facebook friends: no, not all of you, just the partisan Republicans who take great delight in posting anti-Obama memes that describe him as anti-America, troop-hating, etc. Fuck you.

I have to hold my tongue on FB as I'd like to not lose anyone over this, but it boggles my mind that so many decent, intelligent people can fall prey to the hate-mongering coming from the right. Do you really believe that shit in your hearts? Do you? Most of it is not clever or even true, it's just pathetic and it saddens me that you believe it.

Yes, I know the left does it too, but it seems so much more prevalent and over the top when it comes from the right.

[Mona Lisa Simpson]

Originally Posted by BetsQ

Why is making child care arrangements so freaking difficult? Why must it take so much time and energy? I just want to hire someone reasonably responsible to pick up my kid from school a couple of days a week. Is that so much to ask?

Agreed. People with "nanny" qualifications, or 12 year olds are the only ones who apply. right now I am sucking up my husband being more or less self employed, hoping something will change soon.

GAHHHH! Total sympathies.

[Mona Lisa Simpson]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

Sequential posts for the win! Well, it made me snigger, anyway.

I opened two accounts with the Royal Bank about four months ago. They are both closed now, because of the jerking around that was going on. "Oh, we'll just waive those fees for you. No problem." Well, actually, it IS a problem, because I was told one thing and another happened, and I was mislead from Day One. I'm not playing these games any longer. So long, suckers.

The Royal Bank pisses me off more than most of the other banks. I had a long ridiculous episode with them in the mid nineties about transferring and closing accounts in BC and Ontario. (Best quote from that was "you have to go to your own bank, in person to close it, then we can open one for your here. Except I was in Thunder Bay, and my branch which I had never wanted to transfer to, was in Vancouver.) Which was too bad because I had my original account with them opened September 9th 1969, age 1 day.

And I have pretty much been a TD customer ever since.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Ferret Herder

Context is awesome. There's a big difference between yelling at your friend's kid when said friend isn't around, versus yelling at a random neighbor kid.

Yeah, you start yelling at random neighbourhood kids and before you know it, you're branded a Curmudgeon.

The Queen of the World award today goes to the lady in the parking lot with me - we both pulled into either side of nose-to-nose parking spots at the same time, and apparently she wanted me to back out so she could pull through. Not going to happen, lady. My car is nice and small, so even though she was a foot and a half into my spot, I was still able to turn my car off and get out, with my car all in the space.

[LavenderBlue]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

Yeah, you start yelling at random neighbourhood kids and before you know it, you're branded a Curmudgeon.

The Queen of the World award today goes to the lady in the parking lot with me - we both pulled into either side of nose-to-nose parking spots at the same time, and apparently she wanted me to back out so she could pull through. Not going to happen, lady. My car is nice and small, so even though she was a foot and a half into my spot, I was still able to turn my car off and get out, with my car all in the space.

I thought my post made it very clear that I knew the kid in question quite well. But I am definitely working on Cumudgeon in Training status if not actually full blown Curmudgeonhood quite yet.

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by stegon66

I have to hold my tongue on FB as I'd like to not lose anyone over this.

They certainly don't have the same issue.

My position is this: If you're going to be a hatemonger or a name-caller, I'm going to call you out on it.

[LavenderBlue]

Why the fuck does the phone even have a rotary setting? And how the fuck did the baby grab the phone and find it? What the fucking hell are you thinking Panasonic? Are there really morons out there yearning for this shit? What's next? Is there some setting that will turn this phone back into a corded model?

[Mauvaise]

Originally Posted by Ferret Herder

Context is awesome. There's a big difference between yelling at your friend's kid when said friend isn't around, versus yelling at a random neighbor kid.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by LavenderBlue

I thought my post made it very clear that I knew the kid in question quite well.

It did not, at least to me, hence my starting off my post with "Wait - what? Maybe I'm not getting a clear picture of your relationship with this other child..."

[mhendo]

Originally Posted by BetsQ

Why is making child care arrangements so freaking difficult? Why must it take so much time and energy? I just want to hire someone reasonably responsible to pick up my kid from school a couple of days a week. Is that so much to ask?

Offer more money.

[cwthree]

Originally Posted by LavenderBlue

Why the fuck does the phone even have a rotary setting?

There is, it seems, a small but stubborn subset of households that still have rotary phone service. No, I don't know why the phone companies still support rotary dial.

[kaylasdad99]

Originally Posted by mhendo

Offer more money.

She's already having to turn down applications from people with professional nanny qualifications. I somehow think maybe she's already at the price point that works for her. But the 12-y.o. babysitters who will do it aren't qualified, and the ones who are qualified are too expensive.

If there's some level of worker that would be appropriate to hire at her price point (or a nominally higher one), and are qualified to do what she needs, I suspect they would have been applying along with the nannies. In fact, from the fact that nannies are applying at all, I suspect she hasn't posted how much money she's offering.

[Rachellelogram]

I am so motherfucking tired. I just want to crawl under my work desk and take a nap on the floor.

[olivesmarch4th]

Well, I fucked up. My Mom joined Facebook the other day and somehow her page showed her a post I wrote last year that pretty emphatically described the ways in which my childhood sucked. It was pretty brutal. It was my one hope that she would never understand just how deeply my childhood affected me. She handled it probably more maturely than I would have... just a sort of "WTF?" e-mail this morning. I tried to explain and apologized like four times, and she hasn't disowned me or anything, but I know she was hurt by it. She hasn't contacted me since this morning, so I guess she wants some space right now.

I know it's messed up, but I always have wanted to protect her. If I think for some reason she could be suffering, it kills me, and I have just been worrying about her all day. I love her a lot. I'm sorry that I hurt her.

[Cheez_Whia]

Don't tell us. Tell her.

[LavenderBlue]

Originally Posted by olivesmarch4th

Well, I fucked up. My Mom joined Facebook the other day and somehow her page showed her a post I wrote last year that pretty emphatically described the ways in which my childhood sucked. It was pretty brutal. It was my one hope that she would never understand just how deeply my childhood affected me. She handled it probably more maturely than I would have... just a sort of "WTF?" e-mail this morning. I tried to explain and apologized like four times, and she hasn't disowned me or anything, but I know she was hurt by it. She hasn't contacted me since this morning, so I guess she wants some space right now.

I know it's messed up, but I always have wanted to protect her. If I think for some reason she could be suffering, it kills me, and I have just been worrying about her all day. I love her a lot. I'm sorry that I hurt her.

You don't owe your mother an apology for her behavior. That's her fuck up, not yours.

[Ludovic]

Yesterday I learned that the Angels probably own some Hampton Inns because it took me almost an hour to figure out that the Hampton Inn & Suites of Los Alamos is in White Rock. It's not so much the time as the 800 feet less of acclimitization I got last night as Los Alamos is on top of a pretty big hill.

[Sierra Indigo]

Originally Posted by Cheez_Whia

Don't tell us. Tell her.

Did you miss the part where she'd already tried to talk to her mom and apologise and explain, and mom's not talking back right now? There's a point where no matter how much you explain and apologise, the other person is hurt and doesn't want to hear it right at that second.

[flatlined]

I know that Spike knows where the rodent bottles are, because he must be rubbing against the tubes and rolling in the litterbox. I just spent 20 minutes picking concrete out of his fur. I have no idea how Spike survived until he showed up at my feeder. Broken jaw, starving because he couldn't close his mouth lest one of his offset fangs pierced the roof of his mouth and brain dead because of neuro damage.

Of course, I don't know how Lucky, the front declawed, half of his mouth shot off cat, survived either.

[anya marie]

Speaking of motorcycles. some asshole parked a beautiful Harley Davidson motorcycle in the handicapped parking at the movie theater down the road; parked it on the space between the parking space in a way that is going to send the bike crashing to the ground or be towed to the county impound lot.

I didn't take a picture but the Harley was parked on the blue slashing lines between the parking spaces in between us and a full sized van. These were recently painted lines too, so it can't be said that the parking spaces are not delineated properly.

Such a beautiful machine too, blue, chrome, black and steel. Some people may think Harleys are overrated or overpriced, and that's fine.

I was thinking that it was a sad, pitiful, fucking waste that a fine machine like that belonged to such a schmuck, a loser, a moron who didn't appreciate a nice bike enough to park it properly.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by LavenderBlue

You don't owe your mother an apology for her behavior. That's her fuck up, not yours.

I'm leaning the same way. She was hurt by learning how bad your childhood was because of her actions? I think it goes back to her - if she had been a better mother, you would have had a better childhood. I don't see where you need to apologize for telling the truth, olives, even if you never meant for her to see it.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Ferret Herder

Context is awesome. There's a big difference between yelling at your friend's kid when said friend isn't around, versus yelling at a random neighbor kid.

In a lot of the world, there is no such thing as "a random neighbor kid"; any kid within view is the responsability of any adult or older child within view.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Nava

In a lot of the world, there is no such thing as "a random neighbor kid"; any kid within view is the responsability of any adult or older child within view.

I understand that, and the contrast in regional customs is why we had confusion in the first place.

[not what you'd expect]

I love most of my customers, but yesterday a lady got all pissy because we refused to honor a $40.00 gift certificate that was expired, and not for our restaurant!

She promised us she will never eat at our place.

I think I'm good with that.

[Loach]

Originally Posted by Nava

In a lot of the world, there is no such thing as "a random neighbor kid"; any kid within view is the responsability of any adult or older child within view.

I would not suggest you do that around me. "It takes a village" is nice in the abstract but in reality the guy in the next hut could be some asshole that I don't want to even look at my kid.

[Loach]

OK so you take just about the busiest chunk of real estate in the world. You clean it up and bring in big business. You make it all pretty for the tourists. You encourage as many people as possible to walk the streets. Then you make it nearly impossible to find a restroom. I must have looked suspicious sprinting across Times Square but that McDonalds looked like the only place I could go pee. And it only had one toilet. And a line. FU NY

[olivesmarch4th]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

I'm leaning the same way. She was hurt by learning how bad your childhood was because of her actions? I think it goes back to her - if she had been a better mother, you would have had a better childhood. I don't see where you need to apologize for telling the truth, olives, even if you never meant for her to see it.

Well, everything turned out okay. She called me last night to tell me she loves me. It wasn't what I said, but the fact that I said it publicly (I don't usually post things that personal on Facebook... it was actually for a messaging assignment I did last year, and the whole purpose was to explain why I care so much about undocumented immigrants. My experience as an emancipated minor is one of the biggest things that led me down that path.) She said it was embarrassing just having people know about things she's done at her worst, because she is trying to move on now. I can understand that. She also said she understood where I was coming from and she was proud of me. She really is a totally different person than the one who raised me. I went to bed feeling pretty lucky to have her as a Mom.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Loach

OK so you take just about the busiest chunk of real estate in the world. You clean it up and bring in big business. You make it all pretty for the tourists. You encourage as many people as possible to walk the streets. Then you make it nearly impossible to find a restroom. I must have looked suspicious sprinting across Times Square but that McDonalds looked like the only place I could go pee. And it only had one toilet. And a line. FU NY

WAG: Publicly-accessible places where you can pee will encourage more "undesirables" to go there.

[Loach]

Originally Posted by Ferret Herder

WAG: Publicly-accessible places where you can pee will encourage more "undesirables" to go there.

I know. That didn't make me need to pee any less.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Loach

I know. That didn't make me need to pee any less.

Yeah, I understand. Apparently tourists and shoppers are required to have hardcore bladders or something. I loved finding coin-op public potties in Rome the last time I went there (way too long ago).

[Cat Whisperer]

I'm glad to hear it all worked out okay, olives.

[digs]

Originally Posted by Ferret Herder

WAG: Publicly-accessible places where you can pee will encourage more "undesirables" to go there.

After a week there, I wanted to photoshop a traffic sign:

Welcome to
San Francisco
-- restrooms for paying customers only --

One creampuff shop had that sign, but also a "Restroom out of order" sign. I asked (hopping up and down with my legs crossed) and the owner said "Oh, we've always had that sign up. Bathroom works fine."

[Sicks Ate]

Well, I thought that I had lost my driver's license on Monday. Was pretty sure it fell out of my pocket while I was running, or fell out of my hydration pack when I took my phone out to check mileage. So that sucked.

Then Wedesday, I put my debit card in my pocket in the morning. Went for lunch and it was gone. I suspect that I pulled it out on accident while digging in my pocket for something else. Gr.

Nobody has used it, so I guess that's good. But now I have to wait a week for a new one.

The bright side to the story is that while I was looking for my debit card, I found my DL hiding ninja-like between the seat and seat belt in my car. Slipped out of my pocket, apparently.

Now that I've cancelled my debit card, I expet it to surface sometime in the next 2 hours.

[Cat Whisperer]

Sicks Ate, that's an almost-foolproof method for getting something lost to show up again - replace it. Works every damned time.

[BetsQ]

Originally Posted by mhendo

Offer more money.

I dunno. I thought $15-$17/hour was pretty reasonable.


Current mini-rant. The nice appliance delivery guy would not install my new stove in the location of the current stove. Apparently it's too close to the wall and therefore not up to code. Sigh. Option 1: Install a big chunk of stainless steel on the wall. I'm sure that would be beautiful. Option 2: Put in a tile backsplash. I'm sure that would be affordable. Option 3: Continue to live without a functioning oven. Sigh. We'll probably pony up for the backsplash, but I was all excited about having a working oven again soon.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Sicks Ate

Well, I thought that I had lost my driver's license on Monday. Was pretty sure it fell out of my pocket while I was running, or fell out of my hydration pack when I took my phone out to check mileage. So that sucked.

Then Wedesday, I put my debit card in my pocket in the morning. Went for lunch and it was gone. I suspect that I pulled it out on accident while digging in my pocket for something else. Gr.

Nobody has used it, so I guess that's good. But now I have to wait a week for a new one.

The bright side to the story is that while I was looking for my debit card, I found my DL hiding ninja-like between the seat and seat belt in my car. Slipped out of my pocket, apparently.

Now that I've cancelled my debit card, I expet it to surface sometime in the next 2 hours.

Aargh, you just made me realize I've lost my debit card too. D'oh!

[Dr. Girlfriend]

Micro-mini rant...

Dammit Taste of Home magazine, quit sending me these urgent!!! subscription renewal notices every damn week! My subscription doesn't expire until October 2014!

I wonder how many people don't realize that their subscription doesn't expire for a while and renew every time they get a notice? There's probably some little old lady out there who has paid through 2025 or something.

Annoying and a waste of paper. I love the magazine, but geez give it a rest already.

[pinkyvee]

Originally Posted by olivesmarch4th

I tried to explain and apologized like four times, and she hasn't disowned me or anything, but I know she was hurt by it. She hasn't contacted me since this morning, so I guess she wants some space right now.

I know it's messed up, but I always have wanted to protect her. If I think for some reason she could be suffering, it kills me, and I have just been worrying about her all day. I love her a lot. I'm sorry that I hurt her.

Please, do not worry too much about hurting your Mom. You apologized. It's over. Make a date with her and treat her to lunch or something.

I slapped our now adult son across the mouth one time. He was doing important 11-year-old things with his buddies and I called him in to eat, and he shouts "Fuck you!". Without any warning, my hand just struck him across his filthy mouth. Hard. Upside: It never happened again. Downside: It bothered me for years. A swat across the bum is one thing but the face slap is not very cool with me. Last year, when he was 25, I apologized for slapping him across the mouth. He said, "You slapped me? I don't remember that Mom."

Raising kids is harder than you can ever imagine. Especially if you are blessed with a strong willed child.

Olive, don't sweat it.

[mhendo]

Originally Posted by Sicks Ate

The bright side to the story is that while I was looking for my debit card, I found my DL hiding ninja-like between the seat and seat belt in my car. Slipped out of my pocket, apparently.

This happens to me sometimes on the way to or from the gym. My gym shorts are some sort of synthetic fabric, and somewhat slippery. I only take my DL and my membership card, not my whole wallet, to the gym, and occasionally they slip out of my pocket in the car.

The worst is when they not only fall out, but slide down the small gap between seat and center console. Sometimes i have to get a pair of tweezers to get them out again.

[iftheresaway]

Anaamika, Sicks Ate, sucks about your debit cards. I know right where mine is, but that didn't stop someone from charging $1600 worth of Zynga credits to it. Luckily my credit union is awesome and gave me all the money back.

[Cheez_Whia]

Originally Posted by Dr. Girlfriend

Micro-mini rant...

Dammit Taste of Home magazine, quit sending me these urgent!!! subscription renewal notices every damn week! My subscription doesn't expire until October 2014!

I wonder how many people don't realize that their subscription doesn't expire for a while and renew every time they get a notice? There's probably some little old lady out there who has paid through 2025 or something.

Annoying and a waste of paper. I love the magazine, but geez give it a rest already.

I think they are owned by the same folks as Reader's Digest. My dad died in 2007 and my mom in 2008. I'm still getting their copy every month because they apparently renewed every time they got a notice.