There have been such suggestions (thank you, guys), but apparently Jophiel is more interested in arguing and saying I’m an incompetent or fearful driver than actually giving constructive suggestions.
Apparently, Jophiel is incapable of comprehending that I can dislike something without being afraid of it, unable to do it, stressed out, or otherwise unable to handle it. So I’ll say it one more time: I can handle driving the Trollway, I just intensely dislike doing so. My dislike does not make me afraid, stressed out, or unable, it just means I think the drive sucks.
Sorry, it’s not normal driving, even if for some people driving it is a normal part of their day.
Really, you gitta chill out OP. You are really coming accross as a jerk in this thread, unlike any other thread that I’ve read your comments in. It’s like you’ve started your road rage during the planning stage.
Honestly, I’ve never had any issues with the tollways. Drivers there are usually pretty good. It’s I-94 on weekend nights that can get a little hairy with speeders going 20+ mph over the speed limit coming up on either side of me. The tollway is usually my preferred method for getting to and from the northwest burbs because it’s a pretty calm drive vs the non-toll I-94, plus there’s convenient oases/rest stops along the drive for refueling, snacks, and drinks.
Jophiel was not trying to help me. The poster who called me a whiny bitch was not trying to help me. There were suggestions for alternate times of day, alternate routes and the like - those people were actually trying to help. I do appreciate them. I do not appreciate being told I’m incompetent because I don’t like something and see no reason to be “nice” about saying so.
Explain to me how your opinion of my anonymous posting on a message board is in any way going to affect my life. My “reputation”? This isn’t a reality show, you aren’t going to vote me off the island or anything. Hell, even if I was venting under my real name it’s not like I the sole anti-fan of the Trollway. Seriously, have fun Pitting me, it’s hardly the first time someone has done so.
It’ll erode how much people here will take you seriously. But you’re right, it’s just an anonymous MB. It’s what you make of it. Apparently you want it to be your personal whining/rant blog.
No, I think you fail to see that $30 for me does represent a significant financial hardship at this point in my life.
Which, by the way, is why I’m working my ass off and taking business trips, so I can advance in my current employment and no longer have to worry about dropping $30 bucks for a luxury or convenience. (I did, in fact, get granted a small raise this week, in significant part because I am willing to do this sort of thing) The fact you do not believe I am that poor is not my fault.
I also fail to see how pointing out a serious billing problem is “over-reacting”.
I’ve been here 15 years. Anyone who wants to view my rant-to-whatever-else ratio is free to do so. Ranting is, in fact, one of the reasons post here and we even have something called the BBQ Pit although ranting does occur elsewhere. You’ve been here long enough to be a charter member, you should know that. I’m hardly the only one expressing displeasure on this board. I’ve also been considerably more vitriolic than in this thread. In other words, nothing new. I expect I’m taken just as seriously or not as I was 5 or 10 or 15 years ago.
In other words, I don’t change my mind or opinion solely to make other people happy or like me more.
Yeah, and as mentioned before, it does not require access to your bank account. I-Pass is set up as its own account. When you buy the $30 transponder, $20 goes into this account. The $10 is a refundable deposit. If you give back your transponder, you can get your $10 back. You do not need to give any banking information. You can choose to feed the account manually, via cash, check, money order, credit/debit card, or I-Pass gift card, whatever you are most comfortable with. I originally had it set up to manually replenish, but it became a slight pain in the ass to keep track of my account balance, so I set it up to auto-replenish. The lights on the I-Pass lanes, though, will also let you know when your account gets below a certain threshold (I believe maybe $10). In this case, the blue and yellow lights will go on to inform you your balance is getting low. (Blue light means successful transaction, yellow light means unsuccessful transaction, blue-yellow means low balance. Obviously, if you are using open road tolling lanes, you do not get this feedback.) You can also add and subtract additional vehicles to your account, so it’s not tied to a particular car, as well. Hell, maybe this is slightly naughty, but I’ve added my parents to my account when they needed to use the tolls and didn’t even give them the transponder–the violation is checked against the plates and then automatically credited to my account.
I DO realize. You think you’re the only one here who’s been down on their luck financially? When you’re rubbing nickels together to just keep the furnace running? Creditors all over your back? In debt with the IRS? Run out of places to turn to for help or relief? Working their ass off to not even make ends meet? A Family of four to support? One with special needs? Etc. etc. etc.
The above poster was merely offering a suggestion. You didn’t have to drudge up all that sorry ass baggage and pretend like you’re the only one here having hardships. I believe you’re poor as dirt. But, you derail your own threads with this tired vitriol all the damn time. It’s tedious and just sounds like you weren’t interested in advice after all, but just wanted another reason to complain.
A non-jerkish person would take the suggestion, say thanks, but it won’t work for my situation. Yet, here you go again.
That’s a pretty inventive summary of this thread. Prior to the I-Pass suggestions NOTHING in your posts suggested that it might not be a good fit for your situation. In fact your post about how it’s hard to get over for the cash tolls and also having to open a store in Milwaukee indicated the opposite. Given that the route/timing suggestions seemed to have been exhausted, an I-Pass seemed an obvious way to lessen the pain.
Those suggestions were responded to quite rudely and your response to being called out was to complain that instead of suggesting I-Pass we should have provided tollway driving tips. Tips that would only be useful to someone who has never driven on it before, which you clearly already had That and complain about the signs.
I don’t think anyone has called you a whiny bitch. I said you were “bitching about having to move over to pay cash for the tolls” which is hardly calling you a bitch. I did say your posts where whiny, which they were.
That and complain about the signs.