Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2005
Grapes, grapes, the musical fruit...
Someone gave me grapes today, but the grapes gave me gas. Really bad stinky gas. I had no idea that grapes were so closely related to beans.
Yesterday, I went online to check my bank statement. I�m extremely paranoid about someone borrowing my identity and/or stealing what little money I have. For this reason, I check my statement at least 3 times a week, either online or over the phone.
Last night, I went on to see if the checks I�d mailed for the bills due at the beginning of the month had been cashed. I noticed immediately that an extra $100 had been taken out and the record said that Check 099 had been cashed.
That immediately raised a red flag, especially since my check numbers are in the 400s and I�m pretty sure that my very 1st check ever was numbered 101. I started to freak the fuck out and quickly got my bank on the phone.
The guy was really nice and he was able to figure out who �took� the money. It was Sa11ie Mae, the company that holds my student loans. That $100 was taken out of my account electronically on Nov. 28th, but then they had also cashed the check that I�d mailed them on Dec. 1st. He suggested I called them to sort it out.
After all the stupid automated prompts, I was finally able to connect to a real, live person that works at SM. I explained to her my concerns, but I might as well have been talking to my cat. She looks at my account and says that a payment was electronically withdrawn and another was posted a few days later. Exactly what I told her. So I asked her again why a payment was electronically removed. She tells me that I signed up for automatic payments, which is not true.
Someone as paranoid as me DOES NOT sign up for automatic payments. I don�t care how inconvenient writing and mailing checks are. I still do it because that way, I am the only person who has control of when money leaves my hands.
I tell her that I have never signed up for this service, yet she still tries to convince me that I did on September 1st. So I ask her, if I signed up for auto payments in the beginning of September, why is this the first time, 3 months later, that money is being electronically withdrawn. That doesn�t make any sense. And she didn�t have an answer for it. Then she tried to tell me that the payment on 11/28 was taken out for November�s loan payment, which again didn�t make sense since all the month�s payments are due by the 5th of the month, and November�s payment was cashed on Oct. 30th. At this point, we got disconnected. And I really, truly believe that she hung up on me because as obviously wasn�t as dumb as most of the people she usually deals with.
I call back, and once again it takes me five minutes to get through the prompts. They connect me to a different lady. I ask her to transfer me back to the other lady, because of course I wrote her name down, and now I really want to give her a piece of my mind. This new lady tells me that she�s not allowed to transfer me, so whatever, I tell her the exact same thing I told the other one. She puts me on hold for about 30 seconds, then comes back on and asks, �Would you like us to credit the money back to your bank account? It was our mistake, and we promise it won�t happen again.� Thirty-fucking seconds! Why couldn�t that bitch I talked to first done that. Instead she�s arguing with me that I paid them 4 times my monthly payment in the space of two days. Does that even seem logical?
I told the lady that they can leave the money where it is and just make sure that something like this never happens again and to make note that whenever there is a payment due, they will receive a check from me, unless I call in to say otherwise.
I can only imagine if I was one of those people on a super tight budget who had to wait for the next paycheck to do basic things like getting food. Losing a $100 like that would be crippling. I�m glad that Job#2 and my measly 4% raise are keeping me from that point.
Other things that piss me off besides people fucking with my money:
- people who don�t pull over or stop for ambulances or cop cars
- people who have no fucking common sense
- people who tell bold faced lies
- people who take credit for work they didn�t do
- people who are selfish and think the world exists for only them
- people who think that lots of money makes them special
Okay, rant over.
I went to the gym after work and I did 40 minutes on the elliptical. That�s the most cardio I�ve ever done on a machine. I burned just under 400 calories. And to think, a couple weeks ago, I could barely do 20 minutes. I guess that kickboxing class is really increasing my stamina. Honestly, though, a big part of it was because I was so engrossed with the first episode of the Gaunt1et: 2. Man, what a train wreck. Those people have no shame, but I thank them for keeping me on the elliptical for 20 extra minutes.
Right now, I�m watching Drawn T0gether. What a great show. It�s so fricking funny. It�s a cartoon on C0medy Central that is basically a Real World House filled with different cartoon characters who have to live together. It�s much better than the crap that has become the Real World, because at least the cartoons don�t take themselves seriously and don�t all secretly want to become actors.
A show with David Spade....I think it�s time for me to go to bed.
summerroll at 12:40 a.m.