Archive for the 'WTF' Category
The Road To The Whitehouse
Really?
I’m not sure when or where it started, but I’ve recently become increasingly aware of the use of the word Really, or the phrase Really, (pause) Really as an expression of disapproval.
It typically surfaces in casual conversation, something like this:
MAN #1: “Hey Bob, I’m glad I caught up with you. How did the meeting go last night?
MAN # 2: “It was terrible. Check this out. I presented our proposal just like you and I had discussed, and the guy didn’t understand the concept. And I’m like, Really…I mean…dude…Really.”
Notice I did not include a question mark at the end of Really. It probably should have one, but I’m trying to demonstrate by written word the voice inflection that accompanies this use of Really.
It’s not the type of Really that is spoken (or asked) in a manner consistent with surprise or excitement, such as when you tell your kids you’re taking them to Disneyland and they exclaim, “Really!?” Nor is it spoken in a manner of wonderment or inquisitiveness, as in when someone might share a secret with you and you reply, “Really?” as in “Oh my!”
The “New” Really is spoken with an inflection that is more consistent with a statement than a question, but it is used in the context of a question. It usually carries a veiled condescending tone and a very slight questioning inflection.
I’m not sure if it a regional thing here in the Pacific Northwest, or if like many new expressions it started in California (or some other part of the country) and it’s just making it’s way here. Often times we’re, “Late to the party” so to speak, tucked away in our little corner of the country.
Have any of you noticed this seemingly new and increased use of the word, Really? If you’re like me, once you’re aware of it, you’ll be noticing it all the time.
Or maybe I’m the one late to the party, and this has been around a long time.
Pumping Ethel
That’s an old adolescent joke, I know…
For those of you too young to remember, the higher-octane gasoline used to be called “Ethel” instead of “Super” or “Premium” as it is today. The name “Ethel” was derived from the additive tetraethel lead, which boosted octane, reduced engine ping, and helped lubricate valve guides. Its use was discontinued for environmental concerns back in the 70′s.
But that’s not what I wanted to vent about today. What irritates me to no end is how it takes damn near as long to put the last 50 cents worth of gas in my car as it does the first $19.50.
WTF?
It seemed to start right about the time gas prices went way up the last time around, as if it was some sort of psychological tool. With higher prices it took a lot less time to put $20 or $30 or $50 in the tank, so I speculated that maybe it was a way to make it seem like it took the same amount of time to fill up.
When I find myself standing out in the wind and the rain and the cold with places to go and things to to, and it’s taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R to put in that last little bit of gas I paid for, it just pisses me off. And don’t try to tell me it’s to reduce spillage, or to prevent sudden stops and/or impacts on the pump gear. I’m not buying it. If that was the case they could slow down the pump for the last 5 cents, not the last 50-plus cents. On some pumps it’s even worse.
Yeah, it’s a small, trivial issue. But I’ve got a $25-per-day gas bill for my commute, so I spend a fair amount of time at the pumps…and with each passing day it just continues to infuriate me.
Ok I feel better now.
Not.
Welcome to Washington State.
A friend of mine was pulled over the other night by an officer of the Lakewood Police Department. Seems my friend was unaware he had a burned out tail light.
I’ve got no beef with the officer nor the Lakewood Police Dept. If you follow the news, Lakewood is where four officers were shot and killed at a coffee shop back in November of 2009. If anything, they deserve our respect and gratitude…but I digress.
My friend was also unaware his driver’s license was suspended.
Without going into a lot of detail, his license was suspended as a result of not completely paying for a ticket he received after a snow and weather-related automobile accident last Winter (for not wearing a seatbelt). He sustained a concussion in the accident, and has very little memory of that day.
A few months later he learned of the citation from the accident when a collection agency came calling (he never received a ticket in the mail). He paid the collection agency off – or so he thought - and went on with his life as usual. Then he was pulled over for the tail light, and the suspension came to light.
It seems there was still $29 left on his balance to the collection ageny, and as a result his license was suspended for not paying off his ticket. According to the collection agency, the $29, “was on record in a different office” than the one he was dealing with.
There is a new law in effect in Washington State that if you are caught driving on a suspended license, your car is impounded for 30 days. His car is now behind barbed wire and chain-link fence, accumulating storage fees that will total (according to the towing company) about $1700 by the time he is eligible to redeem his vehicle, plus a $100 fee payable to the Lakewood Police Department.
Furthermore, unless he can come up with 1/2 the estimated bill within 5 days of the impoundment, his car will be deemed “abandoned” and processed for auction.
But we’re just getting started. My friend is also facing a potential maximum penalty of $10,000 and 3 months in jail.
He doesn’t feel his car is worth the $1700 he will owe for it by the time he’s eligible to pay for it, so he’s considering just giving it to the towing company and letting it go to auction.
That’s all fine and well, except if the car only goes for $700 at auction, he’ll still owe the towing company the $1000 balance…or you guessed it…his license will be suspended again.
I understand the intent of the laws in our state, and the tough stance on driving with a suspended license. Habitual offenders, dangerous or wreckless drivers who endanger our safery need to be dealt with firmly.
But my friend is a good guy who honestly overlooked a $29 bill. It’s literally going to cost him his car – his only car - and now has the weight of possible jail time and excessive financial penalties hanging over his head as well.
Somehow, we need to find some balance and equity.
I know, I know…it’s not like he’s been falsely accused of murder and awaiting execution on death row, but I really feel for the guy.
And there’s nothing I can really do except write about it.
Westboro Baptist Church
I’ve long wondered about these ass-clowns at the Westboro Baptist Church, and what makes them tick.
Recently, I wrote to a friend of mine and asked him for his views on the matter. My friend is a bit of a spiritual coach for me. He is a devout Christian, and one of the best men I’ve ever had the good fortune to know.
My question to him was:
“When you have time…help me wrap my brain around the whole Westboro Baptist Church thing. Are they simply our equivalent of extremists, like the terrorists are to the Muslim faith? When you have time, no hurry.”
Several days later I received the following reply. I felt compelled to share it here. I know we’ve somewhat avoided religious topics on this blog, but I found his insights quite helpful.
“Stu,
Long time no chat. Hope things are well with you and yours. Incredibly the summer is almost over (…but then I guess we say that every year about this time). It just seems to happen a bit quicker every year!
Anyway, sorry for the delayed reply on this. It’s a very good question so I’m glad to give you my perspective on it. Every time I see a piece on the news or an article regarding Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church I cringe. It seems rather evident that they traffic largely in hatred and sensationalism, freely declaring to one and all (as if appointed to do so by the Lord Himself) that God hates this and God hates that.
While there is absolutely no doubt from many references in the Bible that God is all powerful, all knowing and above all holy, in telling us about God’s character one of the primary ways He is described in several places in The Book is that ‘God is love’. Never do we find a description that states God is hate, yet if you were to learn about God only from these folks that’s what you would likely conclude.
A while back I did a bit of searching and reading about Fred Phelps and all indications are he had a very troubled upbringing in a very dysfunctional home. He had a few semesters in the Seminary then eventually became an attorney and from the outset took a very combative approach to practicing law. Eventually he was barred from practicing law in his home state and then some time later on the federal level as well, essentially for using overly aggressive and unprofessional tactics which employed personal attacks against his adversaries, an approach he still uses today. And although I have certainly never been present in his home, reports indicate that he behaves in a similar way toward his family with both verbal and physical abuse.
All that to say he appears to be an individual with some severe dysfunction in his life and he appears to have turned that anger and vengeance on the world, and done so in the name of God. Although God is indeed holy and His Word is clear that He will judge sin, the primary point of judgment of mankind will be whether we have surrendered our life to the Lord Jesus Christ, accepting His death in our place on the cross and endeavoring to live in obedience to Him, or if we have essentially ignored Him (however politely we do it) and have lived our life independent of Him thereby having no covering for our sin when we eventually enter His presence. Obviously the first condition results in being welcomed into God’s presence for eternity and the second results in eternal separation.
The true character of God can be seen in the infamous John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”. Elsewhere the Bible says that it is God’s will that none should perish but that all would come to repentance. While on earth Jesus clearly demonstrated His tender heart toward lost humanity when He wept over Jerusalem, lamenting their resistance to all the times He had attempted to draw them close to have a real relationship with Him (Mt 23:37).
This heart for the lost is supposed to be in clear evidence in the lives of the followers of Christ as well. It was Jesus who said ‘by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another’. In 1st Corinthians 13 we are told that the greatest characteristic we are to exhibit is love. And not just love toward others of faith but how much more toward those in unbelief and lost in sin. How are the lost ever to be attracted to a relationship with the only One who can forgive and save them if they are repeatedly told that He hates them??
In Jesus’ day, the folks He was consistently the hardest on were certain of the religious leaders, the ‘holier than thou’ Pharisees who looked down their noses at others quite confident in their own self-righteousness. But it was these very leaders that Jesus told His followers to beware of and do not be like. How can this be? The Big Kahuna’s? Their fatal flaw was their pride and trusting in their supposed ‘righteous living’ oblivious to the fact that we are all lost without humbling ourselves before God and receiving His forgiveness.
These same religious leaders lived in expectation of the coming of the long promised Messiah, yet when they looked directly into His face not only did they not recognize Him, but it was they who plotted His execution to remove the bright light of His life which had exposed their utter hypocrisy and their lost condition.
The time will indeed come where God will judge sin but He certainly doesn’t need man’s help to do it. Until then followers of Christ are called to be His ambassadors reaching out to the lost in the love of God to encourage them to reconciliation with Him. The Westboro folks never exhibit any of this compassion for the lost that I have seen, only the condemnation that the Pharisees of old so quickly displayed. There appears to be no evidence that they, like Christ, genuinely love the lost and desire to reach out to them to help them come to know Christ so they can become free from whatever ensnares them.
The Apostle Paul exhorts us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness & faithfulness” In other words a genuine disciple of Jesus will demonstrate these characteristics. Elsewhere he tells us that “by their fruits you shall know them”. I’m certainly not Mr. Phelps’ judge, but from my observation I am not seeing much of the fruit of the Spirit in his life.
We have all seen people in this life who thirst for and thrive on controversy. But, the fact that they may do it from a pulpit doesn’t necessarily make them legit. To be sure, the true preaching of the Gospel will always be controversial because God does call us to repent, to turn away from sin and serve Him, and quite frankly humans do have an appetite for sin of all kinds. But when the message is consistently delivered with so much apparent anger and hatred you can be sure this is not a reflection of God’s heart of compassion. God calls man to repent because He loves us and knows that sin will ultimately have devastating consequences, and not because He hates one group or another.
As for the similarity between Phelps and Muslim extremists, I would say that there are numerous verses in the Quran that authorize hatred and violence against ‘the infidel’ whereas that is not the case in the Bible. Therefore when certain Muslim ‘extremists’ carry out violence they believe they are duly authorized to do so, but when people like Mr Phelps act hatefully they do so based on their own very distorted interpretation of the Scriptures.
Sorry to give you such a long dissertation but I thought it was important to lay out some of what the Bible says on the subject to put things in proper perspective. Hope this helps.
Blessings my friend,
Tom”
Feds raid Gibson guitar factory…
You’ve got to hear it and see it to believe it.
Your tax dollars at work…
I would appreciate everyone’s assistance in sharing this blog post. I will share to my Facebook wall when completed, and if everyone would click share and pass it on, I would be most thankful. Perhaps SOMEONE affiliated with U-HAUL will have a Google Alert set up for their company name and see this. –Thank You!
THE LONG STORY:
A few years ago, our daughter and her boyfriend were residents of Vancouver, Washington. When a promising new job opportunity presented itself in Las Vegas, our daughter and her boyfriend placed the bulk of their personal belongings in a storage unit operated by U-Haul - located at 2460 NE Andresen Rd in Vancouver, WA – and moved to Nevada.
As will happen from time to time, the happy couple experienced some financial difficulties – and on a few occasions in 2010 we paid their storage bill for them.
On 3/5/11 an unexpected new charge appeared on our bank card from U-Haul Storage in the amount of $677.83. It turns out that not only did U-Haul retain our bank card information from a previous payment we had made, but opted to charge our card without authorization.
I called the storage facility and spoke to a man who knew nothing about the charge, and by all appearances seemed uninterested in discussing the matter with me. I told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to do whatever it took to insure no further unauthorized charges be made on our card, and that our bank card information be purged from the system.
We contested the unauthorized transaction through our bank and attempted to have the charges removed from our account with no success. I wrote to U-Haul’s corporate offices via the main website (through both the Public Relations Link and the online Contact Us Form on this page) to protest the charges, and my correspondence was never acknowledged, let alone replied to.
At this point we decided to let it go. The money was going towards our daughter’s storage unit after all, and she had promised to pay us back. We would be reimbursed in either case. Although it did not sit well with me, it wasn’t the end of the world – but it certainly was harbinger of our next dealings with U-Haul.
Our happy couple eventually parted ways but remained in touch. He moved to Colorado, and she moved back home to our hometown. She started college while working part time as a barrista and all was well for a while.
Our daughter lost her job after being injured (off the job) and asked us again for help with her U-Haul storage bill, which had become delinquent after she had lost her job. Needless to say we did not hold U-Haul in high regard by this time, but agreed to help our daughter. She was concerned about losing her personal property.
On July 20th or 21st I called the U-Haul facility on Andresen Rd in Vancouver, WA and spoke to a woman by the name of Karen. I explained the situation, but did not bring up the previous issue regarding the unauthorized charge. I asked Karen what our daughter owed, including any late fees, to bring her current.
Karen told me that $763.79 would bring the unit current again. I asked Karen how much time we had to get this done. Karen told me the storage unit was, “In lien status, and scheduled to go to aution on 8/2/11.” Karen said a notice had been mailed on 7/12/11, and again that very day, advising of this.
–I know this is a l-o-n-g post. Thanks for hanging in there with me!
At that time I confirmed that our daughter had authorization to come down, pay for the storage, and remove the contents. This was a bit of a gray area, as the storage unit was rented in the boyfriend’s name, and he was now living out of state. Karen told me yes, so I reserved a 17′ U-Haul truck for the following weekend. We made the necessary plans to drive 150 miles, pay off the storage unit, pick up the rental truck, load the contents and bring them back to our house for safekeeping. Our only other option was to allow the storage unit to go to auction. That week I reorganized our basement to make room for all the stuff.
Upon arrival at U-Haul we were initially, “Helped” by a Mr. Brent Pelky, who held the title of Field Relief Manager. When we shared with him our daughter’s situation he told us that no auction date had been set for our daughter’s storage unit! When we attempted to share with him what Karen had told us on the phone, he abruptly and rather forcefully stated, “I SAID A DATE HAS NOT BEEN SET!” He then added, “…of course if you don’t pay it will eventually go to auction, but there has been no auction date set.”
We were dumfounded. At this point Mr. Pelky said he could offer us a 50% settlement on the storage bill to close out the unit. All he needed was the boyfriend’s permission, since the storage unit was in his name. We explained that he was in Colorado, and that this weekend he was in the mountains in an area of no cell phone reception…but that we would try to reach him.
Mr. Pelky then said we had 24 hours to reach him, and to just have him fax a copy of his ID and permission – and gave us their fax number. We explained to him that we had already driven 150 miles to get there, arranged for extra labor (we had brought 2 extra people and our daughter), and that we could not spend the night in Vancouver.
Mr. Pelky then informed us we could pay the whole bill and access the storage unit now, or wait on the boyfriend to fax his permission to accept the 50% settlement offer and get in then. With that Mr. Pelky started to leave. We asked him where he was going, and he said “I’m off for the day.” We told him we would keep trying to reach the boyfreind.
We were next assisted by Ms. Heather Suhama, with the title of Assistant Moving Center GM. Facing at least 4 hours of truck loading and having no intention of staying over in Vancouver (our helpers needed to return home that night), we felt we had no other option at that point but to pay the bill in full so we could gain access to the unit and start packing - hoping that before we finished, we would reach the boyfriend. We gave Heather $430 in cash and a check for $299.80 for the storage unit. We also gave her a bank card for $168 plus $9.95 for the truck rental, bringing the grand total to $907.75.
Then we were told that since Tara did not have a key it would be another $50 to have the lock removed.
We were about at our wit’s end by this point. Ms. Suhama said that’s just the way it was…unless we could convince one of the yard hands to do it for us.
We made arrangements to have the lock removed and began loading the truck. Shortly after this we were quite relieved to hear from the boyfriend who was back in cell phone range. He said he was on his way back from the mountains, and said he could be at a fax machine in 90 minutes - well before U-Haul’s closing time! The boyfriend said he would send whatever was needed, no problem.
We returned to the office and spoke to Ms. Suhama. “Good news!” we said. “The boyfriend is on his way back from the mountains, and can have the papers faxed over well before closing time.” Ms, Suhama said ok (she had been present during our discussions with Mr. Pelky and was familiar with our situation). She said all she needed to do was to call Mr. Pelky and get his permission.
We thought it rather odd for her to need to ask Mr. Pelky for his permission to honor the offer that he himself had made us - but we stood by while she called him.
When she got off the phone she informed us that Mr. Pelky said “You were given a choice: Choice A or Choice B. You took choice A. The offer is no longer available.”
We were stunned.
We finished loading the truck and left for home.
A couple days later I was able to reach a lady by the name of Lori who I believe was in the corporate regional office. I shared the entire story I just made you suffer through. I then said that, ”In light of the unauthorized charge to our bank card, the misrepresentations made as to the storage unit going to auction, and the offer extended us by your Field Relief Manager, I am requesting this offer be honored and that we be reimbursed 50% of the $763.79 storage bill.”
Lori started to say, “If you can get the boyfriend to fax…oh wait, can you hold while I check on something?” I said yes.
About 5 minutes she came back on the line. She said that U-Haul had violated their own policy and should have never released the contents of the storage unit to anyone without the signed permission of the contract holder. And she said there was nothing more she could do for me.
This brings us to an interesting place, doesn’t it? Seems to me U-Haul has openly admitted that they may have put themselves in a position of legal liability in an amount far exceeding the $381.89 I was asking for.
I have no intention of recommending to the boyfriend that he initiate legal action. I do intend however to do whatever I can to insure that U-Haul will lose at least $381.89 in lost rental business and loss of reputation, hence this blog post.
There are plenty of other self-storage facilities out there, and plenty of other truck rental providers - including Budget Truck Rental, Ryder and Penske to name a few.
Please help me spread the word by clicking the “Share Button” which appears beneath this blog post in the “Comments” section. If you’ve read this on Facebook, please share and post to your wall – and encourage your friends to do the same. If nothing else, we can spread the news and I’ll feel satisfied that I took $381.89 in business from U-Haul even if it doesn’t end up in my pocket.
Thanks for your help, and letting me bend your ear :-)
ps: and one final message for U-Haul…if by chance you decide to do the right thing, I too will do the right thing and update this post with the good news. You can reach me through the ESARSEA tab at the top of this blog.
Weiner Pulls Out
Sorry, my sophmoric sense of humor couldn’t resist typing that headline.
It’s too bad he blew it. I saw him in somewhat of a favorable light back in August of 2010 with this post. Looks like Weiner has fallen on hard times though. Oops! Sorry again, I just can’t help myself. I guess there will be one less member in the congressional gym. Ok, ok…I’ll stop.
Issues…
…some people have them.
Recent Comments