well that’s a pisser
You go!
After hosting half the known world for Thanksgiving, we felt like we deserve a break. So we’re going out to the Unfancy Thai Place on 12/25.
And we’ve had no Christmas carols, other than the LP my kid gave me: the Charlie Brown’s Christmas soundtrack. I texted him and said “Thank you for the only Christmas album that ever existed.”
And no presents. My wife acquiesced to allow stocking stuffers, but they’ll be things like Hand Warmers, Mixed Nuts, and Twizzlers.
I was at the store today and really wanted to get the wife a small jar of edible green goo that was near the register. It was labeled “Reindeer Snot”.
Oh, that’s awesome! I’ve been wondering what to send my parents for Christmas this year. This is it!
Holy cow, it goes from bad to worse. The arthritic thumb joint was a known problem, and it just took a lot of ibuprofen and a lot of cold packs to help me deal with the almost-daily snow shoveling.
But I woke in the middle of the night to a right shoulder that hurt like a m- … hurt like a s- … hurt like a very bad thing. Took forever to subside. Dr. Google lists everything from gall bladder (which I knew) to pleurisy and rotator cuff injury, and so on. Signs, symptoms and history point strongly to some sort of overuse injury.
I’ve got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, but still have to dig out a car and clear the driveway just to make it there.
This comes on top of my wife apparently dropping her debit card, which was found by an enterprising individual who cleaned out our checking account. The bank moved (all the) money from savings into checking, so now we’re overdrawn by less than $200. We will deposit cash to cover that. But only after we dig out enough to get there.
That was how I spent my birthday.
Yep, I already had that part worked out. On this particular press, the little notches that are supposed to position and secure the disk are extremely shallow; if the slightest amount of batter gets on this surface when changing disks, the new disk will not seat properly, preventing the entire base from being screwed onto the body of the press. This allows small amounts of batter to squeeze by the disk, turning whatever shape you’re trying to press out into a blob. 
Oh, geez! What a list. That totally sucks.
{{{{Nyvaak}}}}
Thanks, Yllaria. I just keep reminding myself that we’re still awfully lucky compared to lots of folks. It’s always good to keep perspective.
I hope you didn’t mean that the bank just kept automatically transferring savings to checking and the thief kept spending until they’d all-but cleaned out both accounts. That would be extra special double-sucky.
I’ve always been a little leery of automatic overdraft protection for that reason. Not that it would happen as I described, but that it might.
Bastards. Humanity is why we cant have nice things.
Bastards. Humanity is why we cant have nice things.
Truer words were never spoken.
As for transferring the money, that’s something I’m going to have to discuss with the bank. They noticed late in the day that “we” were spending large amounts at successive stores (including Game Stop and another store noted for selling lots of burner phones).
They called. We talked. The card was quickly deactivated. What I’m not sure I understand is why successive amounts were transferred (overdraft protection) for transactions they knew by then to be fraudulent. I will be inquiring closely.
The bright side is that when I Google the subject, it looks like FTC rules limit our liability to $50, because the fraud was detected soon enough.
But the return of the funds will take a while (including paperwork at the bank and a police report). That leaves us going into the last week before Christmas with nothing in the bank.
Nothing we can’t manage, but pretty crummy nonetheless. And my poor wife is taking it hard. She’s quite rattled over the whole thing.
I’ve been the victim of theft and fraud before. It really shakes your confidence and removes your sense of security. It takes a while to recover. You get shaky and sick and can’t relax. It’s a mix of dread and adrenaline. I sympathize. Hopefully things work out long term when it’s all over and in time it’ll just be a story you tell.
Thanks, Atamasama. I’m sure you’re right. In time it will be, "remember the Christmas when . . . "
Yikes. I think I’ll be transferring a huge portion of my checking account into savings soon (which I and overdue for anyway.) That is a hell of a cautionary tale. You think your money in the bank is… safe, but I guess not always.
I hope it all gets sorted for you quickly. And the pain goes away. And things just generally get better.
Many banks, including mine, offer to set up an auto-transfer where if your checking account is too low for any particular check, debit card, or ATM transaction, they will “helpfully” transfer enough of your money from savings to cover. Thus saving you the embarrassment, hassle, and expense of overdraft fees.
Sounds good until your checking account develops a “leak” and both accounts get drained.
Yeah, this is why I no longer use a debit card for anything except the very few times I need to obtain cash from the credit union ATM. Plus, my daughter’s debit card has been hacked recently, several times, and each time the credit union locks her funds to prevent more potential fraud until they get it sorted, which prevents her from accessing any of her money until they release the hold (meaning Mom has to cover her immediate bills and payments until this happens).
My sympathies, @Nyvaak. I know the feeling, having lost my wallet nearly two weeks ago, almost certainly to a pickpocket since it hasn’t turned up. I guess the bright side is your limited liability, even if it takes a while to get the funds restored.
And likewise to you, @Atamasama. Being a victim of theft sucks big time.
But if I may be permitted a chuckle about my own predicament, after getting over the initial shock and panic of realizing that I no longer had my wallet, I realized that I had moved all my plastic – credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards, anything to do with money, even some paper stuff that was credit-card sized – into my special credit card wallet that I keep separately. So that in fact my concern about the wallet was mostly a knee-jerk reaction until I realized that there was almost nothing in it of any value. I entertain myself by imagining the thief wallowing in their disappointment! (There was some cash in it, but very little, since I hardly ever use cash.)
Thanks. It hasn’t happened for years now and with luck it won’t happen again.
Worst was when I was poor, working minimum wage part time, I withdrew cash to make a down payment on an apartment and it was stolen out of the employee break room. So I know a coworker stole it.
That helped lead to me being homeless for the first time (briefly). Bad memories.
But that was a loooooooooong time ago, like ancient history, It makes me so grateful for today when I own my own beautiful home.
One of the infuriating things is that, due to the march of “progress,” my credit union will no longer issue a simple ATM card. If I want to be able to get cash outside of banking hours, I must have a card that is ATM / debit / credit.
And the PIN for the debit card provides no security. I learned today from Mrs. Nyvaak that all you have to do is hit “enter” after inserting the card and it bypasses the PIN entry. I presume that makes it a credit transaction, rather than a debit.
When I was walking around Morocco, I kept my cards and cash in a thin front pocket card case.
The “quote-wallet-unquote” in my back pocket was full of used-up gift cards, friends’ business cards, and a $2 bill. I’m still disappointed that no one tried to take it…