It's sad to see how far we've gone in one generation.
When I was a kid, there was banking available as a co-op effort from the city schools and the city bank. Envelopes were given and kids were encouraged to save by bringing the envelope w/ a portion of their allowance, earnings, whatever into school and the money made its way to the bank.
Over time, all the banks have become so big, they have no need for the work it takes to develop good customers in this manner. They can make more money off the credit floated around- creating indentured servants to credit rather than good, solid, financially responsible consumers.
My children's accounts are never assessed a "dormant account fee" and I only transact roughly twice a year on each account.
If I were to do the same on my own accounts, the fee would be assessed.
Moral of the story: Shop around.
As an aside, credit unions usually have lower loan interest rates too. :) BONUS! They hold my mortgage and auto loans and will most likely end up with the kids' student loans as well.
Your clues are indeed the ominous clouds that can portend trouble down the road.
See my recent post for how managers should handle terminations with dignity and professionalism. May be a boring read for some, but if the ominous clouds come to fruition, my post contains some clues on what people can do to better protect themselves.
This isn't specifically covered under the "less responsibility" thing, but it's in the same spirit - do you have fewer direct reports than ever before? Does the term "reorg" get whispered in the hallways?
Um, shouldn't you have contacted the buyer's whose names were on the receipts that you had? I mean, you technically have two cameras that were purchased with other people's money - and who knows how much of their credit was ruined? I mean, when people steal credit card numbers, they don't often buy just one thing. They buy many, many things, and by the time the fraud is caught, they may already be screwed.
If you had contacted those people, you would have been able to let them know the ebay name of the person who stole their info. You should escalate things with eBay - don't just send them messages, call them! This guy has probably done this to a number of people and will keep doing it unless someone takes action.
This is why I don't like to order online. Less it's from a company I know of. B&H for example. You can go to their physical store, see who's working on what movie there etc. etc. I wonder if we all will wind up dropping the whole "online" shopping experience in for talking to someone face to face. A nice trick also is to use a "buying" checking account, and only have the money in there needed for said purchase.
It isn't just for hippies! :) We eat weeds too, and I doubt we'd ever be labeled as hippies. (not that I'd have anything against that!) I consider it my hobby!
Awww, thanks for the kind words! I wasn't looking for a mention, mine is just a little family type blog, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't stepping on toes! I have only just started reading co-op type blogs, so I wasn't sure how it all worked. Thanks for helping to learn! BTW, I also love the carrot story! Now when I pass the carrots, I look at them all and now can see how it is so. Really cool!
But at least you came out on top Cat. Thanks for sharing, this kind of fraud is something else we have to look for, but once again, if it's too good to be true...
I experienced a different type of scam last December, buying a camera on ebay. I came upon the auction with 15 minutes left and ended up being able to snipe it for $40 less than anywhere else. The seller only had 15 sales total, but all the feedback was positive. After the sale ended, I sent him an email asking for a tracking number. He didn't reply.
The following Monday, I received a camera in the mail. But it had been upgraded! I now had a camera that for $80 less than what I had paid. Just as soon as the camera was delivered, I got an email from the seller saying that he had been out of the model I ordered, so he upgraded me for free. Also, he had been in a car accident and had his cousin send me a camera when he was in the hospital over the weekend, but there was a mix-up and he thought I hadn't been sent one, so when he was released he sent me a camera as well. Within a half-hour a different courier delivered a second, identical camera to me. The seller told me that he wanted me to hold onto the second camera, and then send it on for him when he sold it on ebay. I got suspicious.
I opened the cameras. One was shipped directly from CircuitCity.com, one was shipped from Walmart.com. The receipts were included, showing the true amount paid for the cameras (like I said, about $80 more than I paid). Both had different buyer names and addresses in different states.
This took a little bit of thinking, but he had most likely purchased the cameras with stolen credit card numbers, after he sold them on ebay. I was afraid of legal repercussions, so I notified ebay and also called my local PD. The officer I spoke with was very nice, but didn't have much of a grasp of the internet. He told me that the "Internet Police" could deal with it (really) and advised me not to have any contact with the buyer until ebay advised me. Well, ebay never did get back to my many attempts at contact. The seller only tried to contact me once, and I ignored the email.
Well, it's been six months now, and nothing. I hope that the people who's numbers were stolen did chargebacks on their cards, so the only people who are out money should be the credit card companies.
In the end, I actually ended up on top--two cameras for less than the price of one. But it was scary and I could have ended up losing both cameras and being out the money.
...I called the CC company the day after I purchased but the dispute process is funky. I could not put a freeze, all I could do was dispute the charge. I get my card through USAA, so maybe they have a different process.
Thank you for re-inforcing why I'm happy being a contractor. I currently work at Capital One (don't swat me, since I think you're the one who wrote the break-up letter to them on here not so long ago!), but I'm there as a contractor and everything you listed here applies to my situation. Yes, there are times I wish I could be in on some of the meetings, and I don't get overtime, but everything else is what I preach about being good as a contractor. It's not so easy to explain to full-time employees why I think my position is a good one, but now I can show them this. Thanks!
P.S. - I laughed like crazy at your "Dear Capital One" blog, and shared it with some co-workers, who also found it terrific!
the primary function of the car should determine the size of the car. that is if you are driving solo to commute to work then a smaller car should be efficient for the job. but if you are a single parent with one child to pick up a few bags of groceries, then a small car is still the answer.
if you are going to the back woods on a camping trip with four adults then you can go to hertz and RENT a SUV. you split the cost four ways and everyone save.
Was your card charged immediately after purchasing? If not, why not call your credit card company *before* this company charged your card and put a freeze on it?
Your carrot post was so well written, it's no wonder the geeks began to gather on that one! Thanks for the mention - you do wonderful work, and it's a joy to comb your site for tasty (or not so tasty - watery carrot nuggets, ew) tidbits.
I am sorry that you got screwed on this, but appreciate your sharing it with the blogging community so we can ALL learn from it! Good luck with resolution, I hope you get more than a hard lesson out of it!
Certain companies give certain groups of employees unplanned vacations as an internal control--it's a way of detecting misuse of company resources. So it may not be a sign of danger, since the employees that's normally done for are usually in financially critical jobs, which is why they would have the chance to misuse resources.
It's sad to see how far we've gone in one generation.
When I was a kid, there was banking available as a co-op effort from the city schools and the city bank. Envelopes were given and kids were encouraged to save by bringing the envelope w/ a portion of their allowance, earnings, whatever into school and the money made its way to the bank.
Over time, all the banks have become so big, they have no need for the work it takes to develop good customers in this manner. They can make more money off the credit floated around- creating indentured servants to credit rather than good, solid, financially responsible consumers.
This is spot on!! and I'm glad to say I have a boss like that.
My children's accounts are never assessed a "dormant account fee" and I only transact roughly twice a year on each account.
If I were to do the same on my own accounts, the fee would be assessed.
Moral of the story: Shop around.
As an aside, credit unions usually have lower loan interest rates too. :) BONUS! They hold my mortgage and auto loans and will most likely end up with the kids' student loans as well.
I setup an account in a fresh quick file for each kid.
They get thier allowance as salary deposited every week. When they want cash, I take it out of my wallet, and record a withdrawl from the Dad Bank.
Pay 1% per month. They evey want to give me thier change to deposit.
Works great, never have to go to the bank with them.
If they want a big purchase, I put it on my credit card and then do a withdrawl from the family bank.
truly
Your clues are indeed the ominous clouds that can portend trouble down the road.
See my recent post for how managers should handle terminations with dignity and professionalism. May be a boring read for some, but if the ominous clouds come to fruition, my post contains some clues on what people can do to better protect themselves.
http:// thecenekreport.squarespac...ermination.html
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
This isn't specifically covered under the "less responsibility" thing, but it's in the same spirit - do you have fewer direct reports than ever before? Does the term "reorg" get whispered in the hallways?
I'm going to have to give my eyes and acid bath now to remove that imagine that just etched itself in my corneas.
Would that go overdrawn, and put you in more financial trouble?
Um, shouldn't you have contacted the buyer's whose names were on the receipts that you had? I mean, you technically have two cameras that were purchased with other people's money - and who knows how much of their credit was ruined? I mean, when people steal credit card numbers, they don't often buy just one thing. They buy many, many things, and by the time the fraud is caught, they may already be screwed.
If you had contacted those people, you would have been able to let them know the ebay name of the person who stole their info. You should escalate things with eBay - don't just send them messages, call them! This guy has probably done this to a number of people and will keep doing it unless someone takes action.
eBay phone number: 1-800-322-9266
This is why I don't like to order online. Less it's from a company I know of. B&H for example. You can go to their physical store, see who's working on what movie there etc. etc. I wonder if we all will wind up dropping the whole "online" shopping experience in for talking to someone face to face. A nice trick also is to use a "buying" checking account, and only have the money in there needed for said purchase.
It isn't just for hippies! :) We eat weeds too, and I doubt we'd ever be labeled as hippies. (not that I'd have anything against that!) I consider it my hobby!
Awww, thanks for the kind words! I wasn't looking for a mention, mine is just a little family type blog, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't stepping on toes! I have only just started reading co-op type blogs, so I wasn't sure how it all worked. Thanks for helping to learn! BTW, I also love the carrot story! Now when I pass the carrots, I look at them all and now can see how it is so. Really cool!
After all, I work for the Evil Empire right now. :)
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your comments! Much appreciated.
But at least you came out on top Cat. Thanks for sharing, this kind of fraud is something else we have to look for, but once again, if it's too good to be true...
I experienced a different type of scam last December, buying a camera on ebay. I came upon the auction with 15 minutes left and ended up being able to snipe it for $40 less than anywhere else. The seller only had 15 sales total, but all the feedback was positive. After the sale ended, I sent him an email asking for a tracking number. He didn't reply.
The following Monday, I received a camera in the mail. But it had been upgraded! I now had a camera that for $80 less than what I had paid. Just as soon as the camera was delivered, I got an email from the seller saying that he had been out of the model I ordered, so he upgraded me for free. Also, he had been in a car accident and had his cousin send me a camera when he was in the hospital over the weekend, but there was a mix-up and he thought I hadn't been sent one, so when he was released he sent me a camera as well. Within a half-hour a different courier delivered a second, identical camera to me. The seller told me that he wanted me to hold onto the second camera, and then send it on for him when he sold it on ebay. I got suspicious.
I opened the cameras. One was shipped directly from CircuitCity.com, one was shipped from Walmart.com. The receipts were included, showing the true amount paid for the cameras (like I said, about $80 more than I paid). Both had different buyer names and addresses in different states.
This took a little bit of thinking, but he had most likely purchased the cameras with stolen credit card numbers, after he sold them on ebay. I was afraid of legal repercussions, so I notified ebay and also called my local PD. The officer I spoke with was very nice, but didn't have much of a grasp of the internet. He told me that the "Internet Police" could deal with it (really) and advised me not to have any contact with the buyer until ebay advised me. Well, ebay never did get back to my many attempts at contact. The seller only tried to contact me once, and I ignored the email.
Well, it's been six months now, and nothing. I hope that the people who's numbers were stolen did chargebacks on their cards, so the only people who are out money should be the credit card companies.
In the end, I actually ended up on top--two cameras for less than the price of one. But it was scary and I could have ended up losing both cameras and being out the money.
Why aren't Google, a company I admire, striking these companies from the search engine? At least from the Google Products section?
...I called the CC company the day after I purchased but the dispute process is funky. I could not put a freeze, all I could do was dispute the charge. I get my card through USAA, so maybe they have a different process.
Thank you for re-inforcing why I'm happy being a contractor. I currently work at Capital One (don't swat me, since I think you're the one who wrote the break-up letter to them on here not so long ago!), but I'm there as a contractor and everything you listed here applies to my situation. Yes, there are times I wish I could be in on some of the meetings, and I don't get overtime, but everything else is what I preach about being good as a contractor. It's not so easy to explain to full-time employees why I think my position is a good one, but now I can show them this. Thanks!
P.S. - I laughed like crazy at your "Dear Capital One" blog, and shared it with some co-workers, who also found it terrific!
the primary function of the car should determine the size of the car. that is if you are driving solo to commute to work then a smaller car should be efficient for the job. but if you are a single parent with one child to pick up a few bags of groceries, then a small car is still the answer.
if you are going to the back woods on a camping trip with four adults then you can go to hertz and RENT a SUV. you split the cost four ways and everyone save.
Was your card charged immediately after purchasing? If not, why not call your credit card company *before* this company charged your card and put a freeze on it?
Your carrot post was so well written, it's no wonder the geeks began to gather on that one! Thanks for the mention - you do wonderful work, and it's a joy to comb your site for tasty (or not so tasty - watery carrot nuggets, ew) tidbits.
I am sorry that you got screwed on this, but appreciate your sharing it with the blogging community so we can ALL learn from it! Good luck with resolution, I hope you get more than a hard lesson out of it!
Certain companies give certain groups of employees unplanned vacations as an internal control--it's a way of detecting misuse of company resources. So it may not be a sign of danger, since the employees that's normally done for are usually in financially critical jobs, which is why they would have the chance to misuse resources.
http://speedingticketblog.com