Hack The Rippers

There are some present day "rippers". These are the nasty guys who take you in with promises of something "free" and when you have filled in all the blanks at the bottom, in fine greyed print lies the sting. Most of the time there is so much of this poisonous print that you don't bother to read it all - one I got into was 68 pages long, I kid you not. Somewhere buried in the midst of this flood of unnecessary verbiage, you are told that if you "agree", you will, yes, receive the material free or close to it for a time and after that, your credit card will be charged automatically for additional use of the service. To get out of it, is complicated and difficult and involves the close reading and following of instructions that are often not printable. I have been caught a couple of times. It was all my own fault because I tripped over my ego and thrift and ended up pleading with my credit card company to deny the charges. What had occurred is that the company without informing me according to what I "agreed" upon, immediately charged my account even though I was not informed by my credit card company that the charge had gone through on line. When I told the cc company that I did not intend to pay and asked them not to charge interest if I did not, they told me they would have to charge interest as that is their "policy". When I asked them why since I had informed them the matter was "in dispute" they told me there was nothing they could do about it because I had "agreed" to the company's fine print. The charge was big enough that I called them and complained and fortunately I have a phone plan that allows me unlimited calls to the US because the woman I spoke to often asked to be excused and she disappeared. Finally I told her that I intended to keep the line open for years if necessary so she had better help me and NOW. She went to the "manager" and I did get my money back, not all of it but I considered it a lesson well learned. From now on, no company gets my credit card number and I am much smarter. End of tale. Message is - watch out and read ALL of the fine print or don't shell out your cc info.

Having A Nice Day

My idea of "a nice day" is doing what I want to do. I don't need to be waddling in amongst a lot of people even family or friends but I do like the company of one particular one. Being with another isn't necessary either to enjoy " a nice day". A nice day alone, means getting up as early or as late as you wish, sitting around in a fuzzy bathrobe, having a cup or two of coffee laced with Baileys and a good book. Feet up, good light, windows open and in the back ground the sound of birds and the wind in the trees. Thaaat's a "nice day". Store clerks wish one a Nice Day and I hope look at their customer and try to guess what their "nice day" would be. Or is it simply a line that pops out automatically just as your receipt does. Then there is "take care", another useless phrase that is slipped into each sale with absolutely no commitment whatsoever. Why don't these dear people say something about the weather or current events or about what you've purchased like the grocery clerks do. I love their line, "I bought this once and loved it".  A comment like that begs "what did you like about it?" or "is it worth the price?". But that would begin a longer conversation and they don't have the time even if they wanted to speak to you in the first place. A clerk I met recently had a staccato line that she ripped out so quickly and at length that before you knew it you came in one side and were whipped out the other like a bullet. You couldn't get a word in edgewise, not even a humm or a huh. Now that young lady was an original. My fellow purchaser noted the young woman's pitter patter and thrust in a comment before the pre-recorded speech emanated from her machine gun lips. She was taken aback. Someone had found her out. She actually smiled and made an original comment to my fast friend. Likely it was her "customer of the day" worth gaggling about in the coffee room before she donned her jeans jacket and left for the world outside. Anyway, Have a good day - or night - or life!

Moving On

For sure, it's a tough go Moving On but what else is there? Everyone gets to a point where it all seems hopeless and there is nothing out there "so why not end it all?". Hey, ending it isn't just about you. It's about hurting everyone you know and some people you don't know all that well. Realizing this, what you are really doing is taking your problems out on everyone else and trying to make them feel rotten. It is a retaliatory move and no one will remember you in a nice way. Ever. All they will do is pity you and who wants that kind of memorial after working so hard to carve out your niche in Life. One  that you intended to be memorable? Okay, so you didn't actually try to carve out a niche, however, just being there, is your niche.  Everyone counts, everyone matters and you do, too. More than you know. No one can make you feel better about your present situation but you. Moving On means closing the door on something you don't want to look at and focussing on yourself. What are your needs that don't lie behind that closed the door? And I don't mean rush out and become a joiner necessarily. If you are a loner, read or play computer games, take a walk, write a letter, write a journal. Anything else but opening that door. It works. One of my widow friends says life is not worth it and she leaves the door open constantly. It's all she sees or wants to see. As a result, she is ill most of the time, sees life as grey and wallows in her misery and tries to drag everyone she meets down with her. In short, she is a bore and worse, someone everyone needs to avoid. Other people who have suffered loss are to be admired for their ability to overcome. They have learned to close the door and not leave it ajar. Not even a peek. They are too busy opening other doors, maybe not as nice, but they are at least progressing down that long hall way of doors. It's not to say there are down times when the bad door flies open but if you are strong enough, you can slam it shut again, turn you back to it,  and move back down the hall finding other doors. Life has so much more to offer than the alternative.