What Drives My Road Rage August 1, 2009

I’m a pretty calm driver, not much given to road rage or maddened careening and cutting off of my fellow drivers.  (My episodes of road rage mostly culminate in a shouted “you are a MORON!” and the occasional hand signal (unless you’re my mother in which case I never resort to hand signals, I don’t even know what that means).

Actually, in the interest of full disclosure (and so that this post makes some sense) I should point out that I’m not particularly prone to road rage directed at other drivers.  The radio on the other hand, well that’s another matter entirely.

I’ve mentioned my annoyance at certain radio commercials before but there’s a new one that drives me up the wall.  It’s a debt consolidation  commercial as the majority of the really offensive commercials are (followed closely by diet commercials and then those for used car dealerships) and the thing that gets me is the reasoning, laid out step by step as if it’s the most logical thing in the world and it’s a wonder that I didn’t come up with it on my own.  It goes something like this: 1. the credit card companies have been “sticking it to you” (that’s a quote) for long enough.  2. Now the government is bailing them out 3. so you shouldn’t have to pay them.

In his book On Writing Stephen King said something to the effect of, no writer should ever say “I just can’t express it in words” because we’re writers and that’s what we do, express things in words (so if you find that you can express it in dance, I guess it’s time to switch careers).  I think Steve’s a pretty smart guy, and he certainly knows his craft so I’m not going to disagree with him.  But I am going to continue to call myself a writer (of sorts) while professing that I don’t think I can express how much the above line of reasoning irritates me.

Let’s take it apart shall we?

1. The credit card companies have been “sticking it to you” for long enough.  Exactly how are the credit card companies “sticking it to you?”  You got a contract, it was your responsibility to read said contract (I know that none of us really does but whose fault is that?) you signed said contract therefore you are obligated to abide by said contract.  I’ve gotten, skimmed and signed my fair share of these contracts and without exception the deal is something like this, well lend you money and you ‘ll have to pay it back with interest.  The amount of interest varies as do some of the penalties but well, that’s the deal.  Now I’m not the champion of the credit card companies, in fact I think that the entire money lending industry is evil and immoral. (Except what you do Chris, you are in the only decent sector of the whole evil thing and even your sector has been run by a lot of immoral folk more interested in making money than helping their customers for the majority of … well forever.)   But the morality (or lack thereof) aside, they are pretty straight forward in what they do and what they expect.

Now, I’ve been on the wrong side of credit card penalties.  A few years ago I missed two credit card payments to two different credit cards.  (I had written them in my checkbook, I had entered them on the spreadsheet I just hadn’t actually sent the payments.)  As soon as I realized my mistake, and make no mistake about it, it was MY mistake, I called both companies to see if they would waive my penalties (they’ll do that sometimes).  Company A.  said, “no problem, we’ll take that late fee right off and have a nice day.”  Company B said “we’ll take off part of the late fee but it’s still going to cost you about $30.  The amount owing to that particular company was only about $12 if I remember correctly (which I probably don’t) so I wasn’t too happy about that but well, I signed the contract, I made the mistake, so I put on my big girl panties and paid the bill (and then promptly closed the account) all the while vilifying company B and praising company A.  Until I got my next bill in which credit card A, the card with, up until that point, the lowest interest rate of any of my cards, and saw that my little bitty interest had suddenly gone from something like 9% to 32.5%.  I wasn’t happy about it.  The rate was too high, the bill was more than I could pay and I ended up refininacing my house because of it, but not once did I suppose that the credit card company was at fault.  They weren’t sticking it to me, they were running a business.  Is there anyone out there that views credit card companies as anything other than sharks?  I doubt it.  So here’s a tip, swim with the sharks and you’ll occasionally get bit(ten).

2. Now the government is bailing them out. Now I’m not really in favor of bailouts of any kind, but well, you’ve got a company that you promised to pay later so that you could have that new pair of jeans now so they paid the store that had the jeans and you took them home but when it came time to actually pay for the jeans you, well not YOU necessarily but a lot of people, refused to pay.  That leaves the company out of that cash and without the jeans.  I think they deserve one or the other and I wonder how most consumers would feel about having their lattes repossessed?

3. So you shouldn’t have to pay them. What? Please someone tell me how this makes sense!  Other people didn’t pay causing the company to nearly go bankrupt, resulting in a government bailout because the government’s not going to let one of its country’s major industries (and make no mistake, Credit is one of the county’s major industries) implode, so now, even though you had been paying up until now, you shouldn’t have to any more.  Gaaaaa!!!!!!

Can we please stop being victims and take a little, just a tiny bit of responsibility for our actions?!

I’m not trying to condemn those who get themselves into credit trouble, as I mentioned before, I’ve been there.  Nor am I saying that it’s somehow wrong to try to work out a deal with your credit card companies to get your rates lowered, maybe come up with a new, lower one time pay-off amount, I’ve done that too, and I took the credit hit for it.  But I never once thought that it was the credit company’s fault.  The fault, well, I suddenly find myself wanting to quote Shakespeare.

Yay! and Grumble Grumble Grumble October 3, 2008

I’ve been given this award:

This blog invests and believes, the proximity. [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]. They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate? Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.

And the thing that’s even more cool about it is that it was Madhousewife who gave it to me and I didn’t think she even really liked me.  (I’m tempted here to do the Sally Fields but I just don’t have it in me this morning.)  I am delighted by the award but I’m not going to pass it on to the 8 friends that I’m supposed to because I’m hemorrhaging and I don’t feel like it.

And now, lest you are overwhelmed by my gushing, I have something to complain about.  Have you seen this? (There is a little bit of language for any of you who are a little squeamish, mom.)

I find it tiresome.  Aside from the celebrity propagandizing which I hate but I’m not going to go into this morning, I hate what they’re trying to do.  I hate the idea of a bunch of kids who saw Jennifer Aniston tell them to vote, registering and voting.  If you have to have Ellen tell you to vote, tell you that you need to register in order to vote, then obviously you have no idea what you ought to be voting for.

Sure, healthcare for everyone who needs it regardless of their ability to pay sounds wonderful.  But I work in a hospital and believe you me the hospital and the doctors are going to need to get some money from somewhere.  Lower taxes?  Great absolutely, sign me up.  But what does that mean?  Where is the government going to cut that money out of the budget?  And then there’s the war and the economy and abortion and stem cell research and energy and the environment and…  It takes a lot of work, a lot of study.  First to find out where you stand and then to suss out where exactly the nominees stand (and they’ll make you work for that information).

Call me elitist (no seriously, come over to my house, look at my hood and call me elitist) but I believe in a democracy run by people who actually find out about, and form opinions on, issues.  I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t done nearly as much of that work as I ought but I at least know that I need to.  Did you watch it?  They’re talking to people who don’t even know that they need to register first!  Do you really want someone who can’t figure that out on their own being a part of the decision making process concerning where this country is going?

I don’t want to rock the vote.  If you just want to vote because Leonardo DiCaprio told you to then please, don’t vote!

In Which I Expose My Ignorance August 14, 2008

Green Day has made millions of dollars decrying the ignorance of the American public and I totally agree!  “Don’t want to be an American idiot, One nation controlled by the media.”  I sing along, I wave my arms, love it!  Look at all these people who have no real idea what’s going on.  They watch American Idol and Desperate Housewives and don’t even know the difference between a republican and a democrat.  Naturally, I feel somehow exempt from this indictment.  I’m socially conscious, I think things through, I’m educated, that’s obvious isn’t it?  I do listen to Green Day after all.  *Snort*

I like to believe that I’m smarter than the average bear, and maybe I am but I do absolutely nothing with that.  I am the stereotypical American.  It is possible, probable even, that I read a little more than the average gal (because reading Janet Evonovich novels is obviously a sign of superior intellect and social consciousness) and I can honestly say that I have never voted for an “American Idol” (something I can’t help but throw in there because it makes me feel somehow virtuous) but I don’t have any idea what’s going on with Russia and Georgia.  Heck, I didn’t even know how to spell Georgia, I had to look it up! ( I know it seems obvious but it could have been Jorja or something.  I don’t know!)  I didn’t even know there was a country named Georgia.

I grew up just outside of Washington DC, my father has worked in government on either national or local levels my whole life.  I have no interest in politics.  I like to give those two facts a cause and effect but if I’m really honest maybe I have no interest because I’m not responsible enough to take an interest.  I do know the difference between a democrat and a republican though.  Democrats, like Barack Obama and Kristen Day are pro-abortion and republicans, like John McCain and Rudy Guiliani are Pro-life.   Oh, wait…  (Before you write me a scathing comment follow the links.)

In my defense I did watch a little of the news the other night (I hate the news!) and the guy was reporting from Beijing on- wait for it-  FAST FOOD!!!!!! I kid you not, he went to Beijing and he prepared a report on McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC (not too popular with the Chineses apparently).  Is it any wonder that I hate the news?  Granted that was the local news but CNN, which is on all day at the hospital, isn’t really much better.  The news there runs on a roughly 45 minute loop and I can’t tell you how many reports I’ve seen about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton but it’s a big number.  Isn’t there a war going on?

And when they’re not reporting on Lindsey Lohan, it’s teacher who are having sex with their students and other pedophiles.  I work in a childrens’ hospital, I don’t need more things to worry for my kids about.  i know it happens, offer a solution or keep your mouth shut.

Maybe, probably, that’s the real problem.  I find the news depressing, (wars and rumors of wars much?) and politicians are people so their positions are confusing (unlike mine as stated here which are crystal clear) and I already expend a vast amount of mental energy in a day on things like what’s for dinner and where are my shoes, I just don’t have time for “news.”  But It’s becoming more and more difficult to feel superior when I hear things that implicate the ignorant American Masses.

The only solution, for my ignorance,  I can come up with, assuming I want to, is to *gulp* start reading the newspaper.  So that’s my goal.  I’m starting small.  For the next week I will try to read one real article a day about real news. This, unfortunately excludes stories on the fast food in foreign countries and the relative chances of the dancers on “So You Think You Can Dance” (I’ll still read that one, I just won’t count it).  I don’t get the paper and I’m too cheep and lazy to start but I figure if I look I can find some decent stuff online right?  Well, you read it here, so now you can hold me to it.

Or maybe I’ll just go check out Fearless Fourteen and wonder why I occasionally hear stuff about Georgia and Russia.  What are Russians doing in the southeastern United States anyway?