February makes us shiver with each new rant it delivers

The BBQ Pit
281

The darling boyfriend departed the other day for a week long ski trip, 1100 miles away. I got a text yesterday morning that he’d finished breakfast and was about to hit the slopes for the first time since they’d arrived… then nothing at all for 12 hours. Just when I’d decided it might be time to drop a quick text to the trip leaders, I got a text from the boyfriend! Huzzah!

Seems he’d had a minor disagreement with a tree, earning him a trip down the mountain strapped to a back board being dragged by a ski mobile and then an ambulance ride to the hospital, where he’d spent almost the entire day. He hit on his back, between his shoulder blades and neck, and is in a brace ‘for a while.’ He’ll have to see his PCM and a neurologist to decide how long ‘a while’ is.

He’s on his way home now, and I’m sure I just can’t wait to see the footage from his helmet cam. (sigh) As flatlined can attest, I’ve got my work cut out for me- there’s nothing worse than trying to keep a Marine stationary for any length of time, and he HATES being babied. (double sigh)

282

I just got off the phone with my dad and stepmom. Dad had a stroke back in December, and has only made it home from the hospital this week. While I’m checking on him, the conversation turns to internet/computer problems they are having. My stepmom is complaining about someone “being on the computer with her”. I’m thinking she’s talking about people piggybacking on their Wi-Fi, so I make suggestions to change the router password, etc. Then she says something about “ever since those Microsoft people called” - what?!?! “Did someone from Microsoft call you to help with your security?” “Yes, and ever since then I’ve had problems. I paid $279.00 for 6 months, but I need to delete them off of there.”

Motherfucking scam artists preying on seniors who don’t know any better! They are almost completely housebound. She does all her shopping online. Lowlife scum who give bottom-feeders a bad name.

The best I could do was to tell her to delete whatever it is on her laptop, and start using her Kindle Fire for any online purchases, after she changes all her passwords. I also told her I wasn’t sure that deleting whatever would really get rid of them, and frankly I think she’d be better off just getting a new laptop - which she wants to do anyway.

Goddamn sonofabitching bastards!!!

283

Eeeep! She needs to change her credit cards, and possibly her bank account, too! Oh, no.

They got my mom, too. Screwed her laptop up and so far OK on her financials, but she did report the fraud on her credit card and they sent her a new one with a new number. I think she dodged a bullet there, but man she felt stupid, pretty much realized it just after she hung up with them and realized it was after 10pm and what would Microsoft be doing caller her at that time of night? Yea, Mom, what.

284

I have an elderly relative who has almost fallen for the Windows scam several times…fortunately for her, she doesn’t do very well when it comes to following computer directions over the phone.

I’ll remind her about this again when I talk to her this weekend. She left a message yesterday telling me that she wants a Gmail account, but her home page is set to Yahoo. :expressionless:

285

My mother has been saved at least once by her absolute trust that any problems her computer has can be fixed by her children. On one hand it’s a pain in the ass, but on the other, phew!

286

Stand in line, not on line.

Your item is for sale, not sell.

287

I thnk maybe “in line” and “on line” are regional.

288

Yes. I hear “on line” from friends in NYC. It sounds really strange to my western Pennsylvania ears.

“For sell” is just this side of illiterate though.

289

This is good news in a sucky situation. I’m sorry you are too sick to risk visiting her, that must be breaking your heart.

290

And let’s add the related “skittish”, ***not ***“skiddish”.

291

Yes you do. And you guys can go to the city with me while I get a hero from the deli. I’m having a garage sale later.

:smiley:

292

It’s a bird! No it’s a plane! No it’s SUPERMAN!

Was that the hero you were referring to?

293

flatlined, I am glad you did not drown in the shower.

294

Thanks :slight_smile: It was touch and go for a while. Happily, we both seem to be out of the woods now. I won’t share the TMI details, but at least the critters helped.

bobkitty anymore news about your boyfriend? How’s the relationship with his mom. If its good, threaten to call her when he’s trying to get up and move when he shouldn’t. As a last ditch resort, do call her and tell her what he’s doing and why he shouldn’t, then hand the phone to her. I never had to actually call my beloved butthead’s mom, but I did threaten it a couple of times. It always resulted in sulky compliance.

295

Yep. “In line” is from the region where people are right, and “on line” is from the region where people are wrong.
:stuck_out_tongue:

296

I don’t know, it was kind of skiddish out this morning, after last night’s snow.:smiley:

297

No no no, that’s “slippy”.

298

The thing that drives me nuts is when people write “lightening” when they mean “lightning.” They’re both valid words, but with different meanings.

Also, I don’t like the word “drug” being used as the past tense of “drag,” but I think that may be more of a regional thing than an actual error.

299

To my neighbor across the street. Because of the snow, I do appreciate that you have to pull into your driveway at a funny angle this time of the year, and therefore to give you more room, I agreed to parallel park my vehicle a little further down the street.

OF COURSE . . … it might make it easier for you to turn into your driveway . . .
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. . . . .IF YOU FUCKING SHOVELED IT FOR ONCE.

But that’s OK, I’ll walk the extra 40 feet in subzero weather while you kick back drinking hot chocolate instead of grabbing that shovel.

300

Then there is my heating oil company. We have prepaid service, but somehow we ran out of oil Friday night so I called the oil company, and for the next 5 minutes gave them my name, address, zip code, phone number, blood type, shoe size. “OK” says the operator, “your account number?”

I didn’t know my account number.

“Oh sir, we can’t send out the truck without an account number!”
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WAIT a minute. You have all my information I just gave you, its 2015, and your computer system doesn’t just cross reference to our account number??? And YOU are the people I am relying on to use proper temperature-use calculations to determine when I get my automatic oil deliveries so every pipe in my house doesn’t freeze?

Fortunately, I spotted a receipt nearby and found my account number, and help was on its way.

The next day, I noticed the technician only put a little bit of oil in and primed the heater, and got us heat again . . . . so, wondering if I was going to be getting enough oil to last, oh say, the next 48 hours, I called the oil company again. But, A-HA, this time I was READY. With my account number in hand, I boldly dialed up the oil company, and told them I had a question about an oil delivery, the I thrust my chest out, beaming with victory, and let the dispatcher know I HAD MY ACCOUNT NUMBER READY: Here we go: 4----1----
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"The name on the account sir?

"Address?

"Phone . .

YEP, the same fucking questions from the night before. THEN, she has the stones the stones to ask for the account number!

Not only THAT, she didn’t have any info about my delivery in front of her, she just repeated my query, and said someone would call me.

Its now Sunday, I don’t know if I have enough oil, no one has called, and I am now wondering aloud if my oil company has its head firmly up their ass in the middle of the coldest weather we have had here since 1888.