Sunday, September 21, 2003
So this is it... we're all going to die!
I guess that was the general feeling about Hurricane Isabel, at least based on how many times I came close to seeing or being in an accident within a 45 minute period at least 4 hours before the wind even picked up!
I live in Howard County, Maryland. Hurricane Isabel sent us some heavy rain and high winds. The bad weather started sometime around 5:00 PM, but it didn't get any worse than a summer storm until around 7:30 or 8:00. Daycare for one of my kids was closing at 3:00, so at about 2:30 I left to pick up the kids.
The 4 minute drive from my home to Matt's daycare/after-school-care/whatever-the-heck-it-is was pretty much uneventful. Oh, except for the fact that when the traffic light turned green for me to turn right onto the main road, the car in front of me went, then a car that should have stopped for the red light ran through (nearly rear-ending the guy in front of me). Boy, was he angry! He leaned on the horn, clearly indicating his displeasure with the guy in front of me who turned right on a green light. And just to make it clear, the guy who ran the red light was a good 100 yards (not feet - yards) back when the light turned red for him.
So I picked up Matt. Again, I turned right onto the same main road. It's about a one-half mile drive to the next light. Almost no traffic, except the SUV in front of me. And one car way back behind me. Hmm... not so far back now, it seems. This guy crossed the double yellow line, passed me and the SUV in front of me, and almost had a head-on collision with another car. It definitely paid off. He got to that traffic light half a mile up the road at least 35 seconds ahead of us!
At that light, I turned left to get Abby. This road comes to a tee in about 1/4 mile, with a left lane that is a left-turn-only onto a highway, and a right lane that is right-turn-only onto another neighborhood-type street. There are just the two lanes. I was alone in the right lane (to turn right, oddly enough). There were maybe 4 or 5 cars in the left lane. One of the cars in the left lane moved into my lane. This happens a lot, because there's an earlier intersection that makes a lot of people want to move left. However, this guy turned left from the right lane. This doesn't happen a lot. Watching in my mirror, I thought I saw this nut hit one of the other cars. I started to pull over, but then everybody kept going, so I must have not really seen an accident.
I chalked this all up to the idea that these wackos were all so sure that they were going to die in the hurricane that they may as well try to go out quickly in a car wreck.
Us? Well, I took the kids to the grocery store, got some cookie mix, and we made chocolate chip cookies. I was pretty sure we'd live through the storm!
I live in Howard County, Maryland. Hurricane Isabel sent us some heavy rain and high winds. The bad weather started sometime around 5:00 PM, but it didn't get any worse than a summer storm until around 7:30 or 8:00. Daycare for one of my kids was closing at 3:00, so at about 2:30 I left to pick up the kids.
The 4 minute drive from my home to Matt's daycare/after-school-care/whatever-the-heck-it-is was pretty much uneventful. Oh, except for the fact that when the traffic light turned green for me to turn right onto the main road, the car in front of me went, then a car that should have stopped for the red light ran through (nearly rear-ending the guy in front of me). Boy, was he angry! He leaned on the horn, clearly indicating his displeasure with the guy in front of me who turned right on a green light. And just to make it clear, the guy who ran the red light was a good 100 yards (not feet - yards) back when the light turned red for him.
So I picked up Matt. Again, I turned right onto the same main road. It's about a one-half mile drive to the next light. Almost no traffic, except the SUV in front of me. And one car way back behind me. Hmm... not so far back now, it seems. This guy crossed the double yellow line, passed me and the SUV in front of me, and almost had a head-on collision with another car. It definitely paid off. He got to that traffic light half a mile up the road at least 35 seconds ahead of us!
At that light, I turned left to get Abby. This road comes to a tee in about 1/4 mile, with a left lane that is a left-turn-only onto a highway, and a right lane that is right-turn-only onto another neighborhood-type street. There are just the two lanes. I was alone in the right lane (to turn right, oddly enough). There were maybe 4 or 5 cars in the left lane. One of the cars in the left lane moved into my lane. This happens a lot, because there's an earlier intersection that makes a lot of people want to move left. However, this guy turned left from the right lane. This doesn't happen a lot. Watching in my mirror, I thought I saw this nut hit one of the other cars. I started to pull over, but then everybody kept going, so I must have not really seen an accident.
I chalked this all up to the idea that these wackos were all so sure that they were going to die in the hurricane that they may as well try to go out quickly in a car wreck.
Us? Well, I took the kids to the grocery store, got some cookie mix, and we made chocolate chip cookies. I was pretty sure we'd live through the storm!
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Bank error not in your favor! Do not collect $100.00.
On Friday afternoon (apparently), a minor clerical error by a bank teller someplace resulted in my checking account being debited by a little over $15,000.00. On Saturday morning, I logged on to my bank's website. My heart stopped, started, raced, and stopped again when I saw a huge (by my standards) negative balance in my account.
I called the bank's customer service number. I called back again after they opened. I spent about 25 minutes on the phone with the customer service rep. I hate to say anthing terrible without actually meeting her, but let's just say there's a reason she's not teaching Quantum Physics at Cal Tech. She finally admitted to me that she can't get any additional details on my account beyond what I can see from the website. That's the scary part, and that's the part that prompted me to ask, "And why, exactly, do you even have a job?"
This is probably the first entry here under the category "Do these things really happen only to me?" I'm not talking about bad customer service. I'm not talking about professional people making mistakes. I'm not talking about people who care so much about keeping your business that they don't call back. I'm talking about people who are so completely useless that it doesn't even bother them to admit it. My guess is that there's an entire call center at my bank's headquarters full of people that can be replaced by a recording saying "Thanks for calling. If you can't fix it yourself, you're totally screwed. Have a nice day!"
I called the bank's customer service number. I called back again after they opened. I spent about 25 minutes on the phone with the customer service rep. I hate to say anthing terrible without actually meeting her, but let's just say there's a reason she's not teaching Quantum Physics at Cal Tech. She finally admitted to me that she can't get any additional details on my account beyond what I can see from the website. That's the scary part, and that's the part that prompted me to ask, "And why, exactly, do you even have a job?"
This is probably the first entry here under the category "Do these things really happen only to me?" I'm not talking about bad customer service. I'm not talking about professional people making mistakes. I'm not talking about people who care so much about keeping your business that they don't call back. I'm talking about people who are so completely useless that it doesn't even bother them to admit it. My guess is that there's an entire call center at my bank's headquarters full of people that can be replaced by a recording saying "Thanks for calling. If you can't fix it yourself, you're totally screwed. Have a nice day!"
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