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Post by impulse on Aug 3, 2023 21:07:40 GMT -5
I'm sorry for your loss, Cody, and sorry for the circumstances of you finding out.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 3, 2023 22:47:09 GMT -5
To me at least, this seems like a problem that could and should be resolved with one or two phone calls to Amazon's customer service (and maybe also your credit union). That you actually have to seek the aid of outside legal counsel for something like this is ridiculous beyond words. You mean their outsourced "customer service?" Yeah, good luck with that one. My late wife had her dealings with that mess. My account got locked out, due to similar nonsense and I just flipped them the bird and order through alternative methods that don't involve Jeff Bezos and his blood money. However I don't have any digital purchases or libraries through them. For good reason, as I never liked the terms of such things, nor do I trust cloud servers. Call me cynical; but, I learned one valuable lesson in the military and that was Murphy's Law is absolute: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Plan for it and don't trust anything to work as advertised. That lesson has stood me well for the last 30 years. Murphy's Law's corollaries: "And it will go wrong at the most inopportune time" and "Murphy was an optimist"
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 4, 2023 5:03:33 GMT -5
Well, @#$%! I just found out that my aunt died, nearly a month ago! She was my mother's younger sister and I knew she had some health issues, Sorry for your loss. This is the age where our loved ones begin to pass. Sucks that you found out way after the fact.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 4, 2023 5:04:05 GMT -5
My condolences, cody.
Words of wisdom.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 5, 2023 8:59:20 GMT -5
So many seemingly confusing signs (then again, I’m not a train driver):
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 7, 2023 9:31:41 GMT -5
I was listening to BBC West Midlands earlier today, and I caught one anecdote from a caller pertaining to a restaurant table she and five friends had booked. When it came time to pay the bill, there was a heated discussion about how one guy had had a lot more to eat and should pay more. There was an argument, which restaurant staff had to sort out. Hardly conducive to a good night out, eh?
The BBC DJ asked if people eating together should have some sort of “unwritten agreement” about how much they should have, so as to make sure a bill can be paid equally without any tension.
I haven’t been in that situation. I once had a meal with friends at the Holiday Inn - this was years ago - and there was a starter, main and pudding. We paid equally. We ate equally. Well, sort of. I mean, I’m sure my friend Pete had 89 peas on his plate whereas I seemed to have 50 or so peas. I’m sure he had an extra roast potato, too. No, I jest. The meal went well. I’ve had other meals, which have gone smoothly.
In an abstract sense, I could understand a potential source of tension, e.g. if one guy has a fairly big starter, a much bigger and more sophisticated meal, and 6 drinks, then I could see how some might think he should contribute more. However, in the abstract is one thing, real life is quite another. No meal should be a source of tension.
The only time I was slightly irked - and this was years ago - was when I went out with my ex-partner to a pub. She wanted to introduce me to her colleagues. They were all very nice, but I offered to buy folk a drink. I rarely drink alcohol for professional reasons, but when I do, it’s usually a pint of Foster’s (I know, a weak drink as some tell me). But I groaned when I looked at my debit card bill, because my ex-partner’s friends were having cocktails, shots, and drinks I hadn’t heard of. Ouch.
So, when it comes to the rare occasion of drinking with a friend (or more than one friend), I am very much of the “buy for others only if you are drinking the same” mindset. If I meet my best friend, he will have a pint or two of something, and I’ll do the same. I’ll buy one for him, he’ll buy one for me. And if we both have pie and chips, that’s an easy bill to split. However, if you’re meeting a lot of friends, and those friends include people who like expensive shots and cocktails, I don’t necessarily want to be paying for that.
Anyone else have any experiences in any of the above?
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 7, 2023 22:04:21 GMT -5
In my outings, we have always paid for our own meal, rather than split the check, except for something like pizza and sodas or beer.
As for drinks, I consider it a bit uncool to be ordering high dollar dinks on someone else's tab, unless they tell you to go nuts. That's just common courtesy. You want some $50 cocktail, you pay for it!
I don't drink much, so that situation hasn't reared its ugly head. When I have been out with friends, drinking, it was usually pitchers of beer and maybe appetizers or something similar, not martinis or something that requires a degree in chemistry.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 8, 2023 4:54:10 GMT -5
I went to a reggae festival years ago with a friend - and he brought his friend along. After the festival, we went to a pub, and I offered to buy everyone a drink, but my friend’s friend said something like, “No thank you, I have an expensive drink in mind, so I’ll cover it.” And I appreciated that.
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 8, 2023 5:33:01 GMT -5
Years ago, I went to eat with a group and when the bill came, one of the females stated that she was only going to pay 20 dollars. Well, I have 2 thoughts about this: she only barely paid what she ate without tax and tip, and she was person that didn't have the finances to go out. She shouldn't have gone out if she couldn't afford it. It was a fairly big group of about maybe 10 people.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 8, 2023 5:57:39 GMT -5
On a not-entirely-unrelated note, I experienced something similar to what we’re discussing. My previous profession was clerical (public sector). An admin woman on the team I worked on was responsible for the tea fund. Every month, we’d give a modest and fair amount to her, and she would buy all the tea, coffee, milk, sugar and biscuits for the office. It worked really well; you paid your modest fee, which allowed you to have all those things to hand.
Anyway, at one point, the woman threatened to stop organising the tea fund as some people were being really foolish. My desk was next to hers, and I witnessed some people looking to pay less each month. These are the kind of things such people said:
“I don’t really have milk in my coffee, may I pay less?” “I only really drink 2 cups a day, and I’m not always here on a Friday, may I pay less?” “I saw someone else pouring some milk on cereal.”
Fact is, this woman did a good job organising the tea fund and fetching the items. Without her, we’d all be buying our own stuff. The tea fund was modest. I didn’t quantify anything, nor did I count things. I saw the fund as convenient; it meant I could grab a tea bag, coffee jar, carton of milk, spoonful of sugar, or a biscuit at any time. For the modest fee, it was acceptable.
What people were doing (not all colleagues) was wrong. It’s petty beyond belief. Also, how would this woman have quantified it? Were people going to count each spoonful of sugar? Was one guy, who was often out on the road each Friday, going to get a discount due to his absence? How do you quantify it?
Plus, it could lead to tension. Someone was already complaining about other people's usage. Under a system with different payments, one person might feel resentment because the finance guy had 5 or 6 cups of tea rather than 3 or 4. And could some people barter? Might the guy who doesn't put sugar in his coffee argue for a discount based on that?
So it's best to keep it simple, I feel. And it's the same with eating out. My family and I went to an eating place for my mother's birthday. No one bartered or complained; we just enjoyed it.
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Post by Cei-U! on Aug 8, 2023 6:21:27 GMT -5
I'm having surgery on my right eye this morning at 8:30. It's a laser procedure to remove some scar tissue that's built up since my cataract surgery in '09. It should reverse some, if nit all, of the degeneration in my visual acuity that's been bothering me for the last couple of years (the main reason I haven't done much serious writing as of late). The left eye will follow at a later to-be-determined date.
Cei-U! I summon the sharper focus!
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 8, 2023 6:33:58 GMT -5
Best wishes with the surgery, Cei-U.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 8, 2023 7:07:00 GMT -5
I'm having surgery on my right eye this morning at 8:30. It's a laser procedure to remove some scar tissue that's built up since my cataract surgery in '09. It should reverse some, if not all, of the degeneration in my visual acuity that's been bothering me for the last couple of years (the main reason I haven't done much serious writing as of late). The left eye will follow at a later to-be-determined date. Cei-U! I summon the sharper focus! Best of luck with the procedure!
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Post by Cei-U! on Aug 8, 2023 16:46:26 GMT -5
The surgery went GREAT! I haven't seen this good (or is that well?) in years... and that's with only one eye done. Waiting the two weeks til they do my left eye is gonna be excruciating.
Cei-U! I summon the whole new world!
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 8, 2023 17:19:00 GMT -5
You're looking good and seeing well! Great news!
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