Absurd and Askew

After a hassle with my bank this morning, and a weekend incident that I might as well toss in for good measure, I thought I'd do a little bitching this morning. Feel free to ride along.

Let me start with this morning. I made my car payment on Friday over the phone. My loan is with a credit union and they're a bit behind-the-times, technologically speaking. My life is virtually paperless. The credit union doesn't have a way to make an electronic payment online unless you have a checking account with them, which I don't. I have to either transfer from my bank, which can take up to 5 business days to go through so I hate that option, or I can drive to the credit union and make the payment, or I can make it over the phone for a $10 fee (whatever with that... that's something to bitch about another time). I opted to make it over the phone this month because I couldn't get over to the office to make the payment in person. I made my payment to them via my checking (debit) card.

They called me this morning and said that Friday's transaction was getting declined with no explanation. I verified the information with them to be sure they didn't have a wrong number, expiration date, whatever. They had it all right. I was looking at my checking account balance online and there was nothing wrong there. There was no reason the transaction should have been declined. I hung up with the credit union and called my bank.

My bank proceeds to tell me that it's being declined because I have a daily spending cap on my account and that transaction was over the cap. Huh?!?! I've had this account for 10 years. I've never had an issue with this before, and I know I've spent well over that spending cap within a day on numerous occasions. He said that it was just a fraud protection thing and promptly raised my cap.

I can understand the whole premise, but why had I not run into this before in my 10 years with this bank? He said it wasn't a new thing. What most irritated me is that I never approved that spending cap. They never asked me if it was ok to set it at that amount or should it be changed. Shouldn't I have been allowed to determine what the spending cap is on my own checking account?


I called the credit union back and the transaction went through without a problem. I just don't appreciate that I had to spend time this morning straightening out an issue that could have been avoided if my bank had given me the opportunity to chime in on what my spending cap should be on my checking account. Irritating... and it's Monday morning, which at least triples the irritation. It probably wouldn't have bothered me so much if it was Friday. :)

Now I have to bitch about something that happened over the weekend. This is solely my opinion. I'm not speaking for anyone else.

As anyone who knows me knows, my husband is a musician and many of our friends are in local bands. This past Saturday, we went to see some friends' band play at Whiskey Dick's. When we got there, we found out that a couple of country bands (Justin Moore and Emerson Drive, to be specific) were in town doing a show at WCOL's Country Jam. They had finished their show and had called up Whiskey Dick's to see if they could play there for the remainder of the evening. No pay, on the fly. Whiskey Dick's is one of the few country-friendly bars in Columbus. Our friends' band is rock, though. It was cool of these two national acts to want to do this because they were giving their fans a treat (being able to see them in a more intimate setting), they weren't asking for any money, and they brought in a nice pack of people (their fans) that were paying cover, from which our friends' band was getting paid. So far so good, and really no biggie at that point.

Then they showed up.

Anyone who knows me also knows my very low tolerance for arrogance. Confidence is a great thing, but arrogance makes you look like ass. Before I start, I want to say that I did meet one of the band members for Justin Moore and one from Emerson Drive and they were both very nice, very polite. No problem with either of them at all. I had a problem with the couple of them who strutted in with an attitude and then proceeded to tell my friends' band that they could only play for a half-hour. Big of them, don't you think? My friends were intending to play one set... an hour... and then give them the stage. That's more than reasonable. Keep in mind that they had the whole night booked for themselves before these national acts placed their call to the bar.

So they played their half-hour and let the national acts have the stage. Now here's where I get to my real beef about this. Not one single person in either of these bands said thank you to the band whose show they just highjacked. One simple sentence would have sufficed: "Thank you to so-and-so for letting us highjack their show tonight." Not one word was mentioned. Absolutely no respect shown whatsoever for the musicians who just gave up their spot for you at a few short hours notice.

In the future, these two bands -- Justin Moore and Emerson Drive -- might want to keep this in mind. I applaud these after-show shows that give your fans the opportunity to see their favorite bands in a more intimate setting. More national acts should do it. It shows great respect for your fans. However, if you're highjacking a local band's show to do this, you should at least have the respect for the local musicians you're bumping to offer up a simple thanks to them. It's arrogant of you not to do it. It would only take a minute of your time to mention it to the crowd. You might not think it's important. I say that not doing this simple little thing says a lot about your band and it doesn't reflect well on you to the people who were there to see the band whose show you highjacked. I don't care if you're Hank Williams, Jr. or Garth, I would expect the same from them, too. No one is above a simple thank you, and this local band deserved a thank you from you.

Am I being too judgmental about this because I have such a pet-peeve about arrogance or am I right for thinking they should have at least offered up a thanks in this situation?

Lately I've been looking around for a good deal on some new furniture for our deck and, like the savvy shopper that I am, Craigslist has obviously been included in my search. Very often on there I come across "rod iron" patio sets or tables and it makes me giggle every time I see it. I think it must have started with one person spelling it that way and others taking the cue that it's the correct spelling and including it that way in their own posts. Surely, not that many people think it's "rod iron." FYI for anyone who actually does think that's the proper spelling... it's wrought iron.

Ok, ok. I see how people might be confused. It sounds like "rod" when you say it fast enough, and it actually looks like a bunch of rods welded together. I guess I can see how people would jump on the "rod iron" bandwagon. And it does amuse me, after all, so no harm, no foul.

However...


Today, I was perusing Craigslist once again and came upon a new one that made me chuckle (instead of just a giggle). It was someone selling a "Chip N Dale" armoire. I kid you not. That's exactly how it was spelled. What was most ironic is that the poster spelled "armoire" correctly. I suppose that word was just difficult enough that he (or she) couldn't figure out how to write it without looking it up. Chippendale is easy. Just go for the most obvious pop culture reference.

So my question is: was the "Chip N Dale" armoire crafted by a pair of cute little chipmunks, made specifically for a pair of cute little chipmunks, or does it come with a pair of cute little chipmunks? Should I send the poster a message and ask, do you think?

Maybe it's my age, or maybe it's my OCD (it causes the mind to race with repetitive thoughts), but every once in a while I get into this mode of questioning my purpose. What have I done? What haven't I done? What more can I do? What significance does it have in this vast and complicated world anyway? Does any of it truly have any meaning at all? Is it enough? Will it ever be enough?

I suppose everyone goes through these questions from time to time. Maybe it's not that unusual after all. For me, however, it seems like my mind gets stuck in that gear for a while and not having the answers to those questions drives me mad.

I'm your average person, living an average life, working an average job, with an average family. So what have I truly done in my 41 years that has significance... and then, how much significance does it really have when all is said and done?

I've spent quite a bit of time on volunteer work over the years. I've worked in pet shelters and for dog rescue groups. I've organized several charity fund raising events. I've donated money to organizations I believe in. I've voiced my opinion on topics about which I feel strongly (I'm nothing if I'm not outspoken). I've used my design skills to design and sell a whole mess of t-shirts promoting pet adoption and spaying/neutering and the banning of puppymills and the like (the more people who wear them across the country, the more the word spreads).


All of this, and yet it always comes back to the one most important question for me: is this my purpose or is there something else I should be doing that I've been missing all along? I want to make a difference in the world, not just flow with it. I don't want to be a bystander. I want to be involved. I think the real question is, why do I sometimes feel that I haven't been involved enough despite the fact that I have a pretty good track record of putting myself out there and trying to make a difference?

I wonder if it really just comes down to my mind "playing tricks on me." I'm a perfectionist -- always have been -- but I'm most critical of myself. You could say I'm my own worst enemy. Maybe I'm just seeing myself as not doing enough because nothing I do is ever good enough for me.

In the days when all I did was live and breathe writing and painting, people would give me sincere compliments on my work and I would immediately point out all the flaws in it. I didn't want them to give me credit for good work when I didn't feel it was perfect enough to warrant a compliment. I finally got past that frame of mind, or so I thought. Maybe I never really got past it. Maybe it just shifted from my creative endeavors to my life in general.

Damned OCD making me obsess over stupid thoughts like this. Did I mention I tend to over-analyze everything, too. That's not the OCD in me... that's the Virgo. :)