Simply random stuff

[Clint Eastwood]

Also, avoid putting checks in the US Postal System like the plague, if possible. We sent a tax payment to the IRS and someone stole the check, along with everything else, out of the mail box in front of the post office. The thief didn't even bother to wash the check. He simply made a mobile deposit into a personal checking account. The bank accepted the deposit even though the check was clearly made out to the United States Treasury!!!

The bank is a real PITA. They want forms filled out and notarized before they will do anything. They are putting us through all this crap even though they can see that the check was made out to the US Treasury and signed / deposited by some dude named Angelo into a personal account.

We started using direct electronic payment some time ago, but this theft took place before then, and we were unaware of it until the IRS came looking for their money. Take a look at the back of every check you write that gets deposited to make sure it went to the right person.

Sorry for the rant.

Another thing that bugs me that my bank(and other companies)does is the constant survey request..."how did we do"...I go to my bank and use my debit card(outside the bank) and I need some smaller bills so I go and get them from a teller...by the time I get home I have a survey in my email account...I mean giving someone some smaller bills isn't like open heart surgery...does it really rate a survey? Same thing when I go to the Doctor...I wouldn't mind if it was just a rating...not several pages..

 

[mandrix]

I went to my bank and tried to get a mortgage loan on my soley owned property. Well worth triple or quadruple what I was asking for; I needed a new roof and to pay off / consolidate some bills.
Turned me down flat. Hate them but wife doesn't want to change banks.
Now they pester me with "home loan" crap in the mail. Pisses me off.
We seldom send out checks. If local we stop by and pay. Otherwise all online.
I'm ever vigilant about all things credit. Cause no one tells you anything until it's almost too late then they make you jump through hoops to fix it, as noted above.

 

[ar surround]

...and I need some smaller bills so I go and get them from a teller...by the time I get home I have a survey in my email account...I mean giving someone some smaller bills isn't like open heart surgery...

LMAO!! When I ask for smaller bills from the teller, they ask to see my ID. Yeah, that $20 that I want to swap for fives and singles must be counterfeit. Of course, we are now expected to tip every time a person behind a counter hands us something; so maybe I should ask them to change a $20 for three fives and five singles rather than doing it at my bank.

 

[JediJoker]

Of course, we are now expected to tip every time a person behind a counter hands us something...

Don't like tipping service workers? Then let's pay them a living wage, as is the custom in Europe and elsewhere. North American tipping culture is pretty much unique and only exists because we refuse to acknowledge economic reality.

 

[mandrix]

I understand the plight of small shops trying to pay employees a living wage. It's either raise your prices or pay employees little. Can be a Catch-22.

What I don't understand is why we let large corporations constantly screw us on wages that can well afford it.
During/After the pandemic, CEO's were literally laughing at the profits they were making by jacking up all the prices because "their supply chain" BS.
Yeah that was true in some instances, and Trump's Aluminum embargoes put small businesses OUT of business. But often times it was just an excuse for more profits.
Big business and many politicians don't give a rats ass about any of us. Money and power, power and money, corrupts absolutely.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Don't like tipping service workers? Then let's pay them a living wage, as is the custom in Europe and elsewhere. North American tipping culture is pretty much unique and only exists because we refuse to acknowledge economic reality.

 

[Bill B]

Don't like tipping service workers? Then let's pay them a living wage, as is the custom in Europe and elsewhere. North American tipping culture is pretty much unique and only exists because we refuse to acknowledge economic reality.

Actually, the price of going out to eat at all, has finally escalated to the point that people have changed their habits. They are going out less across the board. Not sure what the answer is, but anything that raises the overall cost of dining out, will just result in more closures.
I'm not sure how you define what a "living wage" is monetarily, but the overall idea in this country was;
If you aren't making enough, take on more responsibility to work your way up the ladder, become a manager. Or go get additional training and schooling, to learn something that will allow you more opportunity.

The key is to make work a priority in your life. Maybe not the most important, but important enough where you have to really have be the best you can be.
And sometimes not do something you want to do because you need to prioritize work ahead of it.
Too many people want to show up at work. Do the least they have to. Never make an effort to get to the next level. Spend too much time on their smart phones, etc., and collect their checks.

 

[mandrix]

Actually, the price of going out to eat at all, has finally escalated to the point that people have changed their habits. They are going out less across the board. Not sure what the answer is, but anything that raises the overall cost of dining out, will just result in more closures.
I'm not sure how you define what a "living wage" is monetarily, but the overall idea in this country was;
If you aren't making enough, take on more responsibility to work your way up the ladder, become a manager. Or go get additional training and schooling, to learn something that will allow you more opportunity.

The key is to make work a priority in your life. Maybe not the most important, but important enough where you have to really have be the best you can be.
And sometimes not do something you want to do because you need to prioritize work ahead of it.
Too many people want to show up at work. Do the least they have to. Never make an effort to get to the next level. Spend too much time on their smart phones, etc., and collect their checks.

Yep. My Daughter is working 6 days a week managing a retail store. Salary, with bonus "if" she can prod the employees to just do their job and not call off work.
She has told me many horror stories about those that "just show up" and make little effort. Finding competent employees is, besides the grueling hours, the bane of her existence.
I worked my ass off all my life since age 16 and barely made what fast food workers in some places now get: I say good for them!
But I've been retired many years now. My investment is my home and property.
More education is fine if you have time. If you're struggling to make a living it's not always possible, no matter what anyone says or thinks., especially working shift work.
I was lucky enough to sneak in some courses here and there full time while living a very low rent life. What you do. Lots of thin sliced balogna sammiches. lol. Stay lean and mean.
My first year out of the Army I worked 80-100 weeks. My wife hardly saw me at times. I slept in the locker room often then back to work. Always, and still do, have that work ethic even at my age.

 

[zdjh22]

Time for a palate cleanser. I caught this pair of bald eagles with a telephoto from my deck a couple of weeks ago.

 

[mandrix]

Time for a palate cleanser. I caught this pair of bald eagles with a telephoto from my deck a couple of weeks ago.
View attachment 107484

So cool. We don't have many here these days.

 

[zdjh22]

So cool. We don't have many here these days.

For a couple of years there was an osprey nest in that same tree, and in the summer I would hear the babies crying out for food. Occasionally I see osprey fishing in the adjacent lakes, so I assume there’s plenty available for the kiddos. These eagles also catch a lot of fish (and rodents and rabbits). Even the coyotes here have learned to fish from our rearing ponds (I live at a private trout hatchery).

 

[mandrix]

For a couple of years there was an osprey nest in that same tree, and in the summer I would hear the babies crying out for food. Occasionally I see osprey fishing in the adjacent lakes, so I assume there’s plenty available for the kiddos. These eagles also catch a lot of fish (and rodents and rabbits). Even the coyotes here have learned to fish from our rearing ponds (I live at a private trout hatchery).

Trout...it's what's for dinner. Dig it.

 

[zdjh22]

Trout...it's what's for dinner. Dig it.

We’re mostly catch and release but you can catch and eat as many brook trout as you want (they can take over by overpopulation).

 

[ar surround]

Don't like tipping service workers? Then let's pay them a living wage, as is the custom in Europe and elsewhere. North American tipping culture is pretty much unique and only exists because we refuse to acknowledge economic reality.

New Jersey's minimum wage is $15.13 per hour, which is one of the highest in the US, yet only about half of what is considered a livable wage for a single person in this state. The globalization initiative sent most of the decent paying US blue collar jobs to cheap labor countries. So the person who formerly could be trained for one of those jobs is now serving lattes at Starbucks.

In your area, you may or may have not seen the kind of stupid shit that goes on here. When we buy something at a shop in Newark Airport, there is no one around to pay when you check out...sometimes there is no one even present in the store. You scan your item at a kiosk and the screen asks if you want to leave a tip for the imaginary cashier. Sick.

 

[mandrix]

Some years ago a retired California multi millionaire (hedge funds) said at the time the minimum wage should be 26$/Hr. It was given little import but bears repeating.
I would surmise based on whatever his criteria, it would be > 30$/Hr by now.
Charlie Daniels had it right.

 

[ar surround]

Actually, the price of going out to eat at all, has finally escalated to the point that people have changed their habits. They are going out less across the board. Not sure what the answer is, but anything that raises the overall cost of dining out, will just result in more closures.
I'm not sure how you define what a "living wage" is monetarily, but the overall idea in this country was;
If you aren't making enough, take on more responsibility to work your way up the ladder, become a manager. Or go get additional training and schooling, to learn something that will allow you more opportunity.

The key is to make work a priority in your life. Maybe not the most important, but important enough where you have to really have be the best you can be.
And sometimes not do something you want to do because you need to prioritize work ahead of it.
Too many people want to show up at work. Do the least they have to. Never make an effort to get to the next level. Spend too much time on their smart phones, etc., and collect their checks.

Like I said in my last post, most of the good paying blue collar jobs are gone from these shores. Not everyone is meant to be a white collar executive, but could be trained for a highly skilled blue collar position...if it existed.

 

[mandrix]

Like I said in my last post, most of the good paying blue collar jobs are gone from these shores. Not everyone is meant to be a white collar executive, but could be trained for a highly skilled blue collar position...if it existed.

Yeah and there is for sure nothing wrong with being a skilled blue collar worker. Keeps the economy going.
Jobs that some look down on, I've had. I welded and did layout/fab in a job shop for years. If any one thinks it's just burning rods, then tell me how many kinds of cast iron there is and how you weld them. Farmers depended on me to weld their combine parts correctly and for my welds not to break.
Nirod? raw cast rod? 7018? skill baby.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Time for a palate cleanser. I caught this pair of bald eagles with a telephoto from my deck a couple of weeks ago.
View attachment 107484

Oh man how good is that view. Thanks zdgh22

 

[ar surround]

I welded and did layout/fab in a job shop for years. If any one thinks it's just burning rods, then tell me how many kinds of cast iron there is and how you weld them. Farmers depended on me to weld their combine parts correctly and for my welds not to break.
Nirod? raw cast rod? 7018? skill baby.

Oh, how I wish I had learned how to weld! Now you've got me going, Boonie. I've always understood that welding cast iron involved a bit of black art. Wrought iron isn't difficult, but cast iron is another story.

 

[JediJoker]

...the overall idea in this country was;
If you aren't making enough, take on more responsibility to work your way up the ladder, become a manager. Or go get additional training and schooling, to learn something that will allow you more opportunity.

The key is to make work a priority in your life. Maybe not the most important, but important enough where you have to really have be the best you can be.
And sometimes not do something you want to do because you need to prioritize work ahead of it.
Too many people want to show up at work. Do the least they have to. Never make an effort to get to the next level. Spend too much time on their smart phones, etc., and collect their checks.

And it's a broken, misguided system. Pure capitalism is predicated on infinite growth, which is impossible on a finite planet that is already overpopulated. It's long past time for a change. Romanticizing slaving away for a paycheck that doesn't even cover the cost of living is, frankly, disgusting.

You scan your item at a kiosk and the screen asks if you want to leave a tip for the imaginary cashier. Sick.

If there are no workers, then there's no one to tip. That is greedy and dumb. But to complain about tipping service workers who rely on those tips to survive, and not offer an alternative solution, is also "sick."

I'm sure this whole discussion is about to get deleted. Too political.