$%&^#@

I know the plan was for me to blog more about my recent "Boston Legal" experience, but as John Lennon so wisely put it, "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." I've been derailed a bit.

You ever wake up early in a decent mood and within a matter of minutes, feel like cussing? I promise I won't do it here, but I sure the eff feel like it. I got up at 8 because today was a "telephone business" day. You know, one of those days when you have to handle a lot of personal business via telephone, and suspect that it's going to entail a lot of "on-hold" time? I usually try to save them all up for one day every month if at all possible. So today is that day. I have 6 calls to make - the first one put me into an endless voicemail hell. The second one was resolved quickly and painlessly. Now I'm on number 3, and I've already been transferred three times and am on hold as I type. If I'm still on hold at the end of this, I'm going to have to pay someone a visit and turn into "that woman" (you know the one). I really hate it when I have to go there because my skin color makes me subject to the over-used "Angry Black Woman" label, but whatever - right now I am. And as long as it's righteous anger, I can live with that.

I'm having some financial difficulties at the moment. Yah, I'm sure the economy and the price of gas plays a role, but they're mostly the kind of financial problems that come along with not ever really knowing when I'm going to get paid or how much. It's an occupational hazard, really. Usually I'm fine. I live below my means, and I am careful with the few pennies I have, but I've had some unexpected expenses, and I'm trying to handle them but it's hard to make payment arrangements with "I have some money coming, I just don't know when." Back when I had a 9-5, I bought all kinds of stuff (doing retail therapy, mostly because I was unhappy), and had no idea where my money was going. When I got a red bill in the mail (because I had neglected to pay something the previous month) I knew when my next check was coming, so I would just pay it then. When you don't know how much, when, or IF you're getting paid, you have to budget. After many years of screwing up, I've learned that lesson well. I'm not perfect, but Suze Orman would pat me on the head for my diligent efforts.

So the situation that pisses me off the most is that one of my checking accounts (yes, I have more than one, but that is not meant to imply that they all actually have money in them) is now overdrawn because the bank computer system transfers a certain amount of money from it into my savings account (at the same bank) every month. This is to assist me in saving money. Except this month I didn't have enough money to transfer. They transferred it anyway, putting me into the negative, and causing my check card purchases (made before that even happened) to incur overdraft fees, to the tune of $150. My checking account is now $246 in the negative, but the "fake" $100 they transferred into my savings account is still there. WTF? I didn't HAVE $100 in the account to begin with!

So on top of playing the "When did you say my check is coming?" game with some other entities, I now have this overdrawn account. And because I'm STILL on hold, I'm going to have to go to the bank and try to get this resolved.

Wish THEM luck.

Gone crazy, be back later.

--Nicole J. Butler

Comments

[Sis Ivd]

PLEASE don't go 'POSTAL' on those folks. I don't want you locked up cause then you might not be able to blog. :p

[ChunkyMonkey]

First of all - clever idea to do all annoying phone calls on one day of the month. I might have to start doing that. Good or bad idea to put them during "that time", I wonder...(I'm leaning towards bad idea)

Secondly - righteous anger is indeed allowed, and I'll say this - Angry Black Woman probably gets way more accomplished than my Nice White Girl Syndrome (as an acting coach once labeled it)

Lastly...banks can suck sometimes. Chase has earned my ire (and the gradual loss of my business) after one too many screw ups. Including - my favorite - refusing to refund a $15 late fee on a 1 day late payment for a credit card bill that was - in TOTAL - $15.08. And I'm a GOOD customer! I cajoled, pleaded, turned icy, spoke to superiors - nothin'.

So good luck. I do enjoy your blogs - they are pragmatic, honest, clear-sighted - you don't ignore the crap you go through but you don't wallow in it either. Keep up the good work and on to bigger and better!

[Nicole J. Butler]

Y'all are so funny. Thanks for taking the time to comment and add some levity to my day! Sista IVD: Is that the only reason you don't want me to go to jail? Jeez... (laughs) and ChunkyMonkey: Whatever happened to customer service actually SERVING THE CUSTOMER?? From ABW to NWG, I feel your pain!