Rant for the Day (keep it clean)

[Neb]

Ben, Take it out side and soak/wash it with fingernail polish remover (Be careful that stuff is wicked flamable). Then wash it with good soapy water (again outside!!!). It may work. It may soften the legos, but it is worth a try...

Urban

I may try that after I get the sort finished. I do have about 3 gallons of acetone on hand ( good for removing layout fluid for machining) but the Google search said it will do damge to the legos.

Ben

 

[Peanut]

Been waiting for things to calm down from my surgery to post this one. For the surgery I got a hotel room for a couple of nights, night before and night after the surgery. The hotel was 2 blocks from the eye hospital. It was a Hilton, nice hotel with all the amenities. They had a nice restaurant, room service, free shuttle service, everything I might need.

The civilian eye hospital (south) does the eye surgeries for the VA. The VA hospital is 1 block from my hotel. In between my hotel and the civilian eye hospital.

2 years ago for my 1st eye surgery I had to have an uncle drive 2hrs one way and escort me, sit and wait through the surgery, then walk me to the hotel. Really stupid for simple cataract surgery in only one eye.

For this surgery, my surgery coordinator said to tell the nurses my hotel would send their shuttle van when I called them. I told them… you’d think I’d committed some kind of major crime. This was totally unacceptable.

Then began a series of phone calls between my surgery coordinator, her boss, the nurses in pre-op and my surgeons which lasted 2 hours. They actually put my surgery on hold while these never-ending phone calls took place. Meanwhile I was laying on a gurney in pre-op with an IV in my arm. I actually dozed off at one point, slept about an hour.

Finally, the surgery coordinator’s boss said she would personally escort me to my hotel after post-op. This satisfied the nurses and surgeons.

Except there was one more step after my surgery no one having the big pow-wow noticed. The VA has an eye clinic on the 5th floor of the civilian hospital. Per normal procedure, after I woke up in post-op and everything checked okay… A VA eye clinic staff member came and got me with a wheel chair, then rolled me to the eye clinic.

I had an eye exam by a VA doctor. She put a plastic guard over my eye then called in my prescriptions (3 kinds of eye drops) to the VA pharmacy across the street in the VA hospital. The doctor told me to pick up my prescriptions and then call the eye hospital for my escort on the shuttle van to my hotel.

So, un-escorted I took the elevators down to street level, walked across the street to the VA hospital found the pharmacy, picked up my eye drops. The pharmacist told me how to get the shuttle bus stop. It happened to be on the north side of the VA hospital.

So, after all the phone calls, delayed surgery, getting my medications I arrived at the shuttle bus stop, one block from my hotel. I could actually see my hotel! One block away!

I thought to hekk with this and walked to my hotel! This evolution wasn't even in the same zip code as dumb... it left stupid on a curb then drove across town!

Edit to add… This eye hospital is a level 1 trauma center. It’s one of only 2 eye trauma centers in the country with a fully staffed ER that’s open 24/7. People come here from other countries, fly in from out of state. The surgeons are some of the very best in the country.

The idiocy I described is due liability/malpractice insurance… Lawyers are responsible for what happened to me.

 

[Terri9630]

Got just an email from the DMV. The stupid Govoner has restricted operations again and the appointment I had tomorrow has been canceled. I scheduled that appointment 3 months ago!! I guess my DL will just have to stay expired......

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

In Ontario, the gov. shut everything down and issued a blanket statement that DLs and car registrations no longer expire until further notice. When I moved to BC, and applied for my new license, they tried to ignore my driving history and issue a newbie license because my Ontario license was expired.

I had to have a lawyer write a letter and I received full credit for my new license. It was because the BC government also runs all auto insurance and could have charged more then the usual astronomical sums for an old new driver.

 

[Amish Heart]

That's a sneaky trick, Clem

 

[zannej]

My friend's fiance is scheduled for her trial tomorrow morning & she hasn't even heard from or met her attorney yet. They never gave her his phone number. She shouldn't have been charged/arrested in the first place but now she's having to go to trial & hasn't even had any counsel yet.
She was attacked in her own home by a teenage brat who was much larger than her. This is a "stand your ground" state & she defended herself. The injury the brat suffered was not even caused by her-- the brat tripped and fell & hit her head but claimed that the girl throwing her phone at her caused the injury. The police didn't even do the bare minimum investigation & arrested her for "2nd degree battery". They detained her for more than 72hours without bail (which is illegal). Kept her almost an entire week without bail. So they violated her rights. If she could afford an attorney to sue them for it she would. Her first court appointed attorney never answered her calls & never spoke with her so she was assigned a new one. Same thing. She wasn't even given that attorney's phone number. So she's expected to be ready for trial tomorrow when her attorney hasn't even talked to her to get witness statements, make a list of people to subpoena etc. Mind you, the clerk of courts dropped it to a misdemeanor but that is still a criminal charge and still comes with fines. The "victim" is on audio and in text stating she wanted to drop the charges but the cops would not let her. A witness saw the brat fall and hit her head & noted she wasn't bleeding when she was shoved out of the house (she was shoved bc she was pummeling the crap out of the girl & trying to knock her down so the girl defended herself by shoving her outside).
It makes me wonder how many other people don't hear from their attorneys until the day of the trial. This court place is so disorganized. When she was being arraigned my friend heard his sister's name being called out & bc she wasn't there they issued a bench warrant for her. My friend immediately contacted his sister afterward & she said she never received a summons. I've talked to other people who said they never received summons either. But this court likes to make $$$ off of fining people.
Another attorney who gave some advice (but who was too expensive to retain) said that they never should have charged her in the first place & this was all BS. I suspect the attorney she has now plans to try to get her to take a plea instead of going to trial. I'm going with her and I will verbally ream him if he tries that. First off, the "victim" was committing theft & trespassing & instigated the violence. Second, the injury was not caused by the defendant. Third, this being a "stand your ground" state, she had every right to defend herself. She's 5' and weighed 80lbs (she put on a few pounds when she was pregnant but has since lost it again). The other girl is 5'4" and weighs 140lbs. The brat was stealing her shoes-- actually kicked her while wearing the shoes-- and never returned them.
I think Barney Fife would have done better investigation than the clowns from the local PD. They have a reputation for being lazy & only caring about busting druggies who didn't buy drugs from one of their own. They write off murders as suicides or accidents bc they are too lazy to investigate & they wouldn't even dust for prints or contact parish authorities over burglaries. They are so inept it really pisses me off.
I'm hoping they will drop the charges but I'm also expecting them to be a-holes & try to get fines & such. She doesn't have the $ to pay the fines though bc she can't pass a background check to get a job until after the trial & her fiance can't work bc he had a stroke & has multiple blood clots in his head that need to be cleared before he can safely return to work again.

 

[Meerkat]

My friend's fiance is scheduled for her trial tomorrow morning & she hasn't even heard from or met her attorney yet. They never gave her his phone number. She shouldn't have been charged/arrested in the first place but now she's having to go to trial & hasn't even had any counsel yet.
She was attacked in her own home by a teenage brat who was much larger than her. This is a "stand your ground" state & she defended herself. The injury the brat suffered was not even caused by her-- the brat tripped and fell & hit her head but claimed that the girl throwing her phone at her caused the injury. The police didn't even do the bare minimum investigation & arrested her for "2nd degree battery". They detained her for more than 72hours without bail (which is illegal). Kept her almost an entire week without bail. So they violated her rights. If she could afford an attorney to sue them for it she would. Her first court appointed attorney never answered her calls & never spoke with her so she was assigned a new one. Same thing. She wasn't even given that attorney's phone number. So she's expected to be ready for trial tomorrow when her attorney hasn't even talked to her to get witness statements, make a list of people to subpoena etc. Mind you, the clerk of courts dropped it to a misdemeanor but that is still a criminal charge and still comes with fines. The "victim" is on audio and in text stating she wanted to drop the charges but the cops would not let her. A witness saw the brat fall and hit her head & noted she wasn't bleeding when she was shoved out of the house (she was shoved bc she was pummeling the crap out of the girl & trying to knock her down so the girl defended herself by shoving her outside).
It makes me wonder how many other people don't hear from their attorneys until the day of the trial. This court place is so disorganized. When she was being arraigned my friend heard his sister's name being called out & bc she wasn't there they issued a bench warrant for her. My friend immediately contacted his sister afterward & she said she never received a summons. I've talked to other people who said they never received summons either. But this court likes to make $$$ off of fining people.
Another attorney who gave some advice (but who was too expensive to retain) said that they never should have charged her in the first place & this was all BS. I suspect the attorney she has now plans to try to get her to take a plea instead of going to trial. I'm going with her and I will verbally ream him if he tries that. First off, the "victim" was committing theft & trespassing & instigated the violence. Second, the injury was not caused by the defendant. Third, this being a "stand your ground" state, she had every right to defend herself. She's 5' and weighed 80lbs (she put on a few pounds when she was pregnant but has since lost it again). The other girl is 5'4" and weighs 140lbs. The brat was stealing her shoes-- actually kicked her while wearing the shoes-- and never returned them.
I think Barney Fife would have done better investigation than the clowns from the local PD. They have a reputation for being lazy & only caring about busting druggies who didn't buy drugs from one of their own. They write off murders as suicides or accidents bc they are too lazy to investigate & they wouldn't even dust for prints or contact parish authorities over burglaries. They are so inept it really pisses me off.
I'm hoping they will drop the charges but I'm also expecting them to be a-holes & try to get fines & such. She doesn't have the $ to pay the fines though bc she can't pass a background check to get a job until after the trial & her fiance can't work bc he had a stroke & has multiple blood clots in his head that need to be cleared before he can safely return to work again.

My goodness hope he sees a dr soon.

 

[zannej]

My goodness hope he sees a dr soon.

He was supposed to be taken to the ER the night he had the stroke. He heard a loud POP in his face & went blind in his left eye. Fiance called 911. Paramedics came and assessed him. Said he should see a doctor but it wasn't life-threatening & refused to take him to ER bc they were over capacity with Covid patients. Regular doctor told him to see an eye doctor ASAP & threatened to beat his a$$ if he didn't go. She then contacted as many doctors as she could until she found one that could give him an appointment the next day. So 3 days of eye doctor appointments only to be told nothing is wrong with his eye so it's neurological. Needed an MRI but Medicaid wouldn't approve. They said only way to get it would be to go to the ER. So, I took him to the ER and it took 7-1/2" hours. They called "code purple" (over capacity on emergency patients), code sepsis, & he heard people wailing and screaming while he waited. They finally did the MRI about 6 hours after he got there & then he had to wait for results & discharge. He was told he needs to follow up with a neurologist. I hope he doesn't go to the one my father went to. That guy was a jerk. So, we're waiting on neurologist appointment to be scheduled (I might have to get on his case to make sure he's not the one who needs to schedule it). I don't have much, but I'm going to go to the bank and get enough $ to cover his bills after court tomorrow.
Hopefully they can clear the clots safely.

 

[Neb]

He was supposed to be taken to the ER the night he had the stroke. He heard a loud POP in his face & went blind in his left eye. Fiance called 911. Paramedics came and assessed him. Said he should see a doctor but it wasn't life-threatening & refused to take him to ER bc they were over capacity with Covid patients. Regular doctor told him to see an eye doctor ASAP & threatened to beat his a$$ if he didn't go. She then contacted as many doctors as she could until she found one that could give him an appointment the next day. So 3 days of eye doctor appointments only to be told nothing is wrong with his eye so it's neurological. Needed an MRI but Medicaid wouldn't approve. They said only way to get it would be to go to the ER. So, I took him to the ER and it took 7-1/2" hours. They called "code purple" (over capacity on emergency patients), code sepsis, & he heard people wailing and screaming while he waited. They finally did the MRI about 6 hours after he got there & then he had to wait for results & discharge. He was told he needs to follow up with a neurologist. I hope he doesn't go to the one my father went to. That guy was a jerk. So, we're waiting on neurologist appointment to be scheduled (I might have to get on his case to make sure he's not the one who needs to schedule it). I don't have much, but I'm going to go to the bank and get enough $ to cover his bills after court tomorrow.
Hopefully they can clear the clots safely.

@zannej

And others

These are great examples of why we should have an emergency fund in place to handle these out of the blue events.

While we never "know the form of the destructor" we need to be able to handle them.

For our part I was poor when my son ran into some issues and had to rely on a public defender. We only met with them 10 minutes before the trial!

Latter I was able to get his record expunged but his convection should never have happened.

Prepping is not only buying guns and saving up food but extends to being ready for anything. That includes the boring topic of finance.

I am a fan of Dave Ramsey who preaches being debt free and offers a plan and techniques to do so.

Follow his plan and legal issues are a bump in the road and not a disaster.

Having a lawyers on your side makes a world of difference. Lawyers suck exempt your own.

In all humility,

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

@zannej

And others

These are great examples of why we should have an emergency fund in place to handle these out of the blue events.

While we never "know the form of the destructor" we need to be able to handle them.

For our part I was poor when my son ran into some issues and had to rely on a public defender. We only met with them 10 minutes before the trial!

Latter I was able to get his record expunged but his convection should never have happened.

Prepping is not only buying guns and saving up food but extends to being ready for anything. That includes the boring topic of finance.

I am a fan of Dave Ramsey who preaches being debt free and offers a plan and techniques to do so.

Follow his plan and legal issues are a bump in the road and not a disaster.

Having a lawyers on your side makes a world of difference. Lawyers suck exempt your own.

In all humility,

Ben

Ben, this is the truth. We should all have emergency funds. Some people who have a nickel in their pocket cannot sit still until that nickel is spent, gone.

 

[Haertig]

My friend's fiance is scheduled for her trial tomorrow...

She is in her own home. An unwanted individual breaks in to steal her shoes. And begins beating her. She defends herself by throwing a phone. The police show up and arrest the homeowner for throwing a phone at an attacker assaulting her and trying to steal from her in her own home. They throw her in jail for a week without bail. The prosecutor charges her. She goes to trial tomorrow without an attorney. The attacker is (apparently) allowed to go free.

There has got to be more to this story.

 

[Supervisor42]

There has got to be more to this story.

Keep it simple.
When she goes before the judge she only has to state 2 things:
1. She pleads not-guilty. (this is important)
2. She was denied access to an attorney.

Everything else will mean nothing.
Even if her name is Jeffery Dahmer, she will walk.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I may try that after I get the sort finished. I do have about 3 gallons of acetone on hand ( good for removing layout fluid for machining) but the Google search said it will do damge to the legos.

Ben

Okay, Ben it's been a while, I'm dying to know, did you dissemble the space ship or not?

Now for my Rant....
Why is it when you tell someone they are spending more than they have in their budget, they get mad at you? It's not like I'm spending their money.

Reminds me of the old joke about the lady when the teller tell's her she's overdrawn and her response is ,"How can I be overdrawn? I still have checks left?"

I know, it's an old joke, pre-debit card... 2 Debit cards on one account, now theres and idea that's sure to lead to a fight!

 

[Neb]

Okay, Ben it's been a while, I'm dying to know, did you dissemble the space ship or not?

Now for my Rant....
Why is it when you tell someone they are spending more than they have in their budget, they get mad at you? It's not like I'm spending their money.

Reminds me of the old joke about the lady when the teller tell's her she's overdrawn and her response is ,"How can I be overdrawn? I still have checks left?"

I know, it's an old joke, pre-debit card... 2 Debit cards on one account, now theres and idea that's sure to lead to a fight!

No sir. But i did complete the sorting.

Ben

 

[zannej]

To clarify some things: Cops in my town are extremely lazy & won't even do the bare minimum to investigate. The trespasser didn't break into her home but she was trespassing by staying after being told to leave multiple times. She was allowed to come over after school while her mother was at work but she started stealing & overstayed her welcome. She claimed she wanted to be there bc she was scared after an alleged attempted rape (which turned out to be a lie). When she showed up after school, she was wearing the fiance's shoes that she had stolen from her house. She started getting attitude with the fiance & calling her a "hoe" and being disrespectful. She was told to return the shoes & leave. She refused. Another guy who was crashing on my friend's couch went to go get the brat's shoes so she could trade them. Due to another person on the phone plan failing to pay his share of the bill, their phone service had been cut off so the fiance couldn't call anyone. She physically went to the brat's mother's workplace & asked her to come get her daughter as she was refusing to leave, was making threats of violence, and was stealing her shoes. The mother told her to do whatever she had to (including putting her hands on her) to get her out. Said she could drag her out by the hair for all she cared. So, the fiance returned from talking with the mother to tell the brat multiple times that she needed to leave. The other guy was away to get the shoes. The fiance made the mistake of putting her hand on the brat's chin to turn her head toward her to get her attention bc the brat was ignoring her (this is something I saw her do before when I was visiting & the brat didn't have a problem with it & it was done gently). The brat then kicked her in the stomach hard (knowing she might be pregnant while doing so) and knocked her back. She doubled over and threw her phone at the brat. It bounced off her head and fell behind the couch. The brat then jumped up and started pummeling her, knocked her into the wall, and tried to knock her down. She then pushed the brat out the door. This was the point where witnesses came in. (Although one lied to the cops & said he saw nothing). The guy who was returning from going to get the shoes saw the brat fly out the door, turn around, "trip over her own two feet" and then fall down toward a wrought iron post on the porch. She put her hand over her head and got back up & the fiance yelled "Get the f*** off my porch, b****!" and shoved her off the porch. The brat started screaming & rolling around on the ground until the guy told her to shut up & "get (her) fat a** in the car". When she took her hand away from her head she started bleeding. The second shove was never related to the police as the neighbors lied & said they saw nothing. Now, a few things about my friend's fiance: 1. She is dumb as a stump & doesn't know her rights. 2. She has bipolar disorder which makes her prone to violent outbursts & was not on medication at the time. 3. She has ADHD & it was nearly impossible to get the full story out of her. She can't keep her thoughts together enough to explain things in a coherent manner or in chronological order. 4. She has anxiety disorder & panics. Anyway, when she realized the brat was bleeding, she went inside and got a sponge (they don't have bandages) and the other guy took the brat to her mother & then to the hospital. The brat lied about the injury & said it was caused by the phone & failed to mention she fell & hit her head. The mother called the cops & said the fiance busted the brat's head with her phone. The fiance admitted to throwing her phone at the brat & they arrested her. They failed to notice she had no blood on her, although they saw that she had red marks from being attacked. The brat was charged with simple battery & the fiance was charged with 2nd degree battery on a minor. The cop who arrested the fiance didn't like her. All of the other cops at the precinct said they never would have arrested her. The next day they kept lying to us about whether or not the judge had signed the arrest warrant & then claimed it was signed some time in the evening after courts were closed & she was taken over to the prison. Turns out the judge signed it early in the morning & they were wasting time bc they didn't want to run out their clock on when she had her bail hearing, but then they didn't care bc there was some local fair in town & they shut down the court on that Friday & it was closed all weekend & they didn't get around to her on Monday so she finally had her hearing on Tuesday (she was arrested on a Wednesday).

Anyway, she met her attorney a few minutes before court. He refused to even attempt a defense. Refused to attempt to ask for an extension & have discovery & call witnesses. None of the prosecution's witnesses showed up. The "victim" was in custody again either for committing crimes or bc her mother is abusive (her mother strangled her and spent less time in jail before bail). They should have dismissed the case given there was no evidence & I was there to testify that there was no blood, the photos of the brat's injury matched the curve of the wrought iron, etc. They wouldn't even hear it. They said they would drop it down to "disturbing the peace by fighting" and charge a small fine and court fees. By "small" they meant $100 & court fees are $240. Quite the racket they have going to get $. Her attorney didn't even ask her if she wanted to accept the plea- he just went up to the judge and said she was accepting it & she was too scared to argue. Judge didn't even get her name right.

We knew that the judge wouldn't listen to anything about her not having spoken to her attorney bc another defendant was there for his trial & his attorney (who just lost an election trying to run for judge) didn't even bother to show up & they wouldn't dismiss the case. The defendant said he had called the attorney multiple times & never heard back from him. Said he wasn't in the office & he left voice mail after voice mail asking to be called back, but never was & now the guy didn't even show up. Judge chewed the defendant out for not "trying harder" to talk to his attorney. Guy worked 2 jobs & didn't have much free time. He asked for a dismissal & they literally laughed at him. They said they would reschedule him for "February 17, 2020". Nobody bothered to tell the judge it should be 2021.

One upside is the jerk attorney who didn't bother to show up lost the election. He robo-called me late at night before the election and early in the morning on the day of the election. Made nasty remarks about his opponent (who beat him in a landslide). I didn't hear the whole commentary as I hung up.

 

[zannej]

I was only going to have 2 more rants, but the mention of an emergency fund reminded me of how some poor people can't even scrape that together. My friend couldn't save up an emergency fund bc stuff is constantly going wrong. His vehicle broke down, his truck got hotwired & damaged to the point it was cheaper to get a new truck than to fix it, same person who hotwired it also stole his previous truck & ruined the motor, someone stole his debit card & emptied his account (twice), his grandfather stiffed him on money he owed, he had to pay several of his grandfather's bills to keep his phone turned on (he eventually gave up paying bc he couldn't afford it & had to get a new phone plan so his monthly phone bill went up). His fiance lied to the courts & said he wasn't paying child support when he was (but they didn't even give him a day in court & have ignored his filings from over a year ago about her fraud). So they started taking half his paycheck for child support even though he pays for more stuff for his daughter & his ex won't work & lives in his trailer rent free. My friend can't afford medical insurance so he's on Medicaid & for some reason they billed him for his daughter's insurance and garnished literally all but $2.37 from his paycheck. His power company keeps billing his bank a week early & his bank allows it which causes overdraft fees. He really needs a new bank. His lack of $ makes it so he has to pay more in overdraft fees (his bank keeps allowing businesses to do automatic withdrawals after he's told them not to but the bank won't budge on removing the fees & he can't afford a lawyer to fight it). Poor people get charged $ for being poor. His mom stole from him, his grandfather ripped him off on insurance $. Wouldn't even pay for the ruined carpet, carpet pad, mattress & boxspring he urinated all over when staying at my friend's house. Old man gets a pension, rental income, & just got $100k from the insurance to fix up his house but wouldn't spot my friend a dime to help him out-- nevermind that my friend worked on his vehicle for free, often bought parts for him with promise of being reimbursed & then never got paid, etc. Old man makes a lot more $ than he does but mooches off of him. It doesn't help that his ex took out 3 credit cards in his name and maxed them out so she ruined his credit. Even if my friend had an emergency fund it would have been blown on multiple things going wrong-- roof leaking, the overdrafts, his mom stealing the $ for the property tax, his ex's bs, etc.

So, on to rant #2 about Medicaid: My friend has a life-threatening condition that needs urgent treatment from a neurologist but not a single neurologist in the state takes Medicaid. I understand that Medicaid won't pay them & they lose money, but people literally die bc they can't get treatment. My friend has multiple blood clots in his head & has been blacking out & falling down, gets weak after going down some stairs, & can't work. His job just told him they are replacing him so he's getting laid off bc he can't work & who knows how long it will take for him to get disability (if he can even get approved). It's pathetic that people can't get necessary treatment bc of lack of $. I know they aren't supposed to refuse treatment, but here they do. I'm hoping we can find some sort of charity place or university hospital that can help him. He needs those clots cleared asap. The longer they are in there the more danger they pose.

Rant #3 which we can chalk up to #firstworldproblems. Only ISPs I can get out here are satellite. I have tried everything else available- nothing else works. It's either crappy satellite with crappy customer service or crappy satellite with decent customer service. I have the latter after putting up with the former for 10 years. Bc satellite has people over a barrel & bc Net Neutrality got nixed, my ISP gets to charge up the wazoo for bandwidth & get away with ripping people off on it. They advertise 150Gb of data but if you read the fine print, it's not actual Gb. They go by every 1,000Mb (when it should be 1024). Now, 24Mb may not seem like a lot until you multiply & see that it comes out to 3,600Mb, which is a little over 3.5Gb. So, we essentially get screwed out of 3.5Gb every month. Again, this might not seem like much, but my ISP charges $10 for 1Gb of data if we want to buy more data. So that is about $35 (if they even sold half-gigabytes) of data. If we go over the limit we get throttled so the internet barely works. They mostly throttle images & videos. They pretty much always throttle videos on other plans but we got a legacy plan they no longer offer. They cap people at 420pi on plans that cost the same as mine. They cap them at 720pi on ones that are more expensive. My plan is $112/mo with taxes (my state charges tax on internet but calls it a "fee"). Right now I'm throttled & am having a very hard time loading images & posts.

 

[Amish Heart]

Whatcha doing up so early, zannej?

 

[Haertig]

Zannej, I think you may need to be a little more skeptical of the story your friend is telling you. The story was getting more and more unbelievable as it went on, and then your friend evidently informed you "his bank keeps allowing businesses to do automatic withdrawals after he's told them not to but the bank won't budge on removing the fees & he can't afford a lawyer to fight it". There is no bank in the world that is going to let anybody take money out of your account against your express wishes (except maybe for court orders). Quite the opposite - you have to go through an approval and setup process for anybody, any business, to be able to withdraw from your account. Your friend had to authorize automatic withdrawals. And he can un-authorize them in a heartbeat. It certainly does not require a lawyer. Even the middle-of-nowhere Bank of Hillbilly Hills would be shut down in a microsecond if they were giving away money from peoples accounts without consent.

 

[Supervisor42]

Zannej, I think you may need to be a little more skeptical of the story your friend is telling you. The story was getting more and more unbelievable as it went on, and then your friend evidently informed you "his bank keeps allowing businesses to do automatic withdrawals after he's told them not to but the bank won't budge on removing the fees & he can't afford a lawyer to fight it". There is no bank in the world that is going to let anybody take money out of your account against your express wishes (except maybe for court orders). Quite the opposite - you have to go through an approval and setup process for anybody, any business, to be able to withdraw from your account. Your friend had to authorize automatic withdrawals. And he can un-authorize them in a heartbeat. It certainly does not require a lawyer. Even the middle-of-nowhere Bank of Hillbilly Hills would be shut down in a microsecond if they were giving away money from peoples accounts without consent.

But you have to give Zannej credit (banking pun).
When she throws down a rant, she definitely gets her nickels-worth .
When my wife walks into the bank with me in tow, they scatter like she's carrying an M-60.
They know it will NOT end well!
Only been in twice and the manager knew me by name the second time even though I was wearing my mask.
Banks have zero power over you, the customer. They are actually slaves to do our bidding.

Don't make me use the whip. I'm pretty good with it

.

 

[Sparky_D]

Support your local gun stores!

I was searching high and low for a specific firearm that my wife would feel comfortable shooting on a regular basis.

Having found nothing at my favorite haunts (or their distributors), and not willing to pay the extra to have it shipped from one FFL to my preferred and have to pay separately for the background check, I opted to order it online from a large chain store.

The firearm took a week to get from the warehouse to the store and I arrived on 10/13 to fill out the required background check paperwork.
It typically takes 6 to 10 business days for an approval, based on my previous experience.

After almost 4 weeks after not hearing from the vendor, I called to inquire.
I was told my 4473 Federal Background Check form was expired and I'd have to fill out another (apparently they're only valid for 29 days).

On 11/12, I return to the store, fill out the form again, and proceed to wait again.

Well, today, I stopped by the agency that does the checks for my LEO department and they told me it had been approved "in November". They couldn't be more specific.

A quick call to the vendor and after a bit of a search, they found my approval, so off to the store I go...

After waiting an hour, I finally get to the counter and start the release paperwork.

I glance at the approval sheet and see that the approval came back on It was approved11/25/2020! TWO WEEKS AGO!!!

So, support your local gun stores! They actually CARE about the customer.

 

[Haertig]

So, support your local gun stores! They actually CARE about the customer.

Some do. Some don't. We have both types here.

 

[Supervisor42]

...
Having found nothing at my favorite haunts (or their distributors), and not willing to pay the extra to have it shipped from one FFL to my preferred and have to pay separately for the background check, I opted to order it online from a large chain store.

The firearm took a week to get from the warehouse to the store and I arrived on 10/13 to fill out the required background check paperwork.
It typically takes 6 to 10 business days for an approval, based on my previous experience.

So, support your local gun stores! They actually CARE about the customer.

It does matter.
I ordered a G43 for the Mrs at our LGS (when everybody had nothing in stock) and it took months to come in.
When it did, we went to pick it up 2 miles away. She filled out the INSTANT background check paperwork and they keyed it in.
It cleared in 10 minutes and while we were waiting, the girl was calling 3 other customers that they had a G43 in stock.
I asked them how many they had. Their reply: "just that one".
As 'motivated' buyers, we left with it 10 minutes later.

 

[Amish Heart]

It's easy peasy here, too

 

[zannej]

Haertig, normally I'd agree with you. It sounds far-fetched but he showed me his bank info where they allowed the withdrawal & showed me the date the bills were due. It's a very small local bank & they don't even ask for ID when he goes to withdraw money. They often don't even give him a withdrawal slip. He just tells them how much he wants & they take it out. We also caught them trying to say he was depositing less than he handed the clerk, but we corrected her & she counted again (she was off by $100). I have gone to his bank with him. They are clowns. I've told him that he really needs to get a different bank bc the one he goes to sucks. I have actually been in the car with him (driving) when he talked to the bank teller about how they keep letting his ISP & other companies charge him before the billing date & then overdraft his account. I don't know if they don't put things in their computer systems right, or if their computer systems suck, or if it's employee error or what. But it does happen.
As for some of the withdrawals where his account got cleaned out, it happened at ATM machines. He went to a gas station & after leaving realized his debit card was missing (he has diminished sensitivity in his hands so he can't feel if something slips out of his hand). While he was still in the gas station parking lot, his card was used to clean out his account & actually overdrafted it. The camera system was conveniently broken. He was pretty sure it was the clerk who took it but couldn't prove it. He filed a police report but bc there were no cameras, the cops said they couldn't do anything about it & the bank said unless they had the culprit & video, he couldn't prove it to them.
My internet hasn't been working well at all during "peak hours" & I've been waking up in the middle of the night/early morning.

Today's frustration involved my friend's fiance trying to get her phone back. Local PD never relinquished her phone. She asked for it back now that her case is closed & they told her she can't ever have it back. She then called the courthouse & they said the cops had to give it back. She had to go see the DA & he had to fill out paperwork & get her to sign it and told her they had to give her the phone back & that her case was done so they had no reason to hold her phone. She went back to the police station & apparently they only have one person who handles evidence and she had left for the rest of the week. I sort of suspect they have misplaced the phone (they misplaced some of her belongings when they first arrested her & took a few days to find them) and are trying to buy time to find it again so they don't get in trouble for not handing it over. They told her to come back Monday morning to get it. I will say that with her anxiety meds she's been remarkably calm. I got more worked up over it than she did. And she's someone who used to have full blown panic attacks over stuff like this. So those meds are really working.

 

[havasu]

Today, I have no complaints, therefore I will not add anything into this thread.

(but I did!)

 

[VThillman]

Today, I have no complaints, therefore I will not add anything into this thread.

(but I did!)

Mark, your are a mature man. When one reaches post-maturity, one always has complaints (it's remembering them that's the problem).

 

[havasu]

Spoke too soon. Sitting at the eye doctor with 40 other people, waiting to have my eyes checked. I keep thinking that now I have a Cadillac insurance policy and never need to go here again. Why I don't walk out now is on my mind. Seems to be another 3 hour wait. Honestly. I hate this place.

 

[Weedygarden]

Spoke too soon. Sitting at the eye doctor with 40 other people, waiting to have my eyes checked. I keep thinking that now I have a Cadillac insurance policy and never need to go here again. Why I don't walk out now is on my mind. Seems to be another 3 hour wait. Honestly. I hate this place.

I once had a dr. appointment. Had to take time off work to go. Got there, waited and waited. Of course no one had the courtesy to say anything about the wait. Finally I went and asked about my appointment. Dr. wasn't in, at the hospital delivering a baby. WHAT? I took time off work to sit in the waiting room and not one office employee called to let me know in advance or even mentioned it when I got there? So when I asked that, I was the bad guy for questioning them. "This one is having a fit because she has had to wait." I left the dr. office and never went back. There are other doctors in this world.

 

[Meerkat]

Mark, your are a mature man. When one reaches post-maturity, one always has complaints (it's remembering them that's the problem).

Not for me I remember all of em pretty good. Sometimes too good.

 

[Neb]

I once had a dr. appointment. Had to take time off work to go. Got there, waited and waited. Of course no one had the courtesy to say anything about the wait. Finally I went and asked about my appointment. Dr. wasn't in, at the hospital delivering a baby. WHAT? I took time off work to sit in the waiting room and not one office employee called to let me know in advance or even mentioned it when I got there? So when I asked that, I was the bad guy for questioning them. "This one is having a fit because she has had to wait." I left the dr. office and never went back. There are other doctors in this world.

Ever notice that we are not people when we enter a dr office?

"We have a sprained ankle in room 2"

I walked out of an emergency room with head nurse chasing me down the hall yelling"You have to sign this release!"

Ben