Me

Because we are so depleted by COVID positive employees having to stay home, I had to work a 16 hour shift yesterday (the most we can work under hospital policy) and I got off work at 3 am. I get 8 hours off (the least we can get under hospital policy) and I go back for another 12 hours. That isn’t the point of this post.

For the last several hours of the shift, I worked with a pair of women that I have never worked with before. Both of them are from New York City. They spent the last two hours of the shift comparing New York City to Florida. This is what I heard:

• The people here are (and I quote) “Backwards, backwoods hicks”
• The schools in Florida are awful and don’t teach anything. They can’t understand why the schools don’t teach anything. NYC schools are SO much more advanced
• You can’t get good Chinese food, Pizza, or baked goods here
• One complained that the stores here didn’t carry her specific brand of orange juice that she liked.
• There isn’t much to do here. It’s boring
• The shopping here stinks.
• They pay here is low, and employers expect everyone to get by on peanuts
• They both said they spent their first two years here crying nightly because this place is so awful.

Here is my answer to all of that:

You took Interstate 95 going south to get here. Did you know that the same highway goes north as well? You can always go back. I’m sure, with it being so great and all, you would be much happier.

Here is some advice to those of my readers who would want to move from places in the north to places in the south:

• The people who live here don’t appreciate being called backwards, backwoods, hicks, or any other names. Your new neighbors won’t like you much if you denigrate them.
• The schools in NYC aren’t any better. Actually, Florida and New York schools are fairly comparable.
• The food here is fine, just made how we like it, and not how you like it. Just like you don’t prefer the Chinese and pizza here, I can’t find good biscuits and gravy, Bar B Que, or fried chicken in NYC.
• This is Florida. There are dozens of orange juice brands here. Many are locally produced. I’m sure that one of them is to your liking.
• There is plenty to do here. Florida is a popular tourist destination.
• Have you heard of Amazon? Besides, how can people in NYC shop? Haven’t you been locked down for two years?
• The pay is lower than NYC, but taxes and the cost of living are much higher. Here in Florida, you don’t have to pay $3,000 a month for a one bedroom apartment. We also don’t have to pay 15% state and city income taxes.
• If you really are miserable, go back where you came from, but stop trying to make here like there. You left there for a reason.

This is the attitude that people from New York City are famous for. It’s why most of the people in the rest of the country don’t like New Yorkers. You are arrogant, loud mouthed, and insulting. If that is your attitude, STAY IN NEW YORK.

Rant over.

Not with the virus you think. Nope, I went to a hockey game in Tampa on Saturday. We were in the club level. Buffet. Open bar. Spent the night in a hotel right next to the arena.

Came back to a rough case of pink eye. Damn that is irritating.

When my wife got home from work, I told her the story about my aborted range trip, and her first response was “That ammo can still shoot someone in the face if you need it to, right?”

Back in October, I found a charge on my credit card for $340. The merchant was listed as GOOGLE*ADS4756092809. I didn’t recognize the charge, so I called the CC company and reported fraud. They cancelled my card, and I had to wait two weeks for another one.

I got a letter today that the investigation is complete, and the merchant (Google) has confirmed that it is a valid charge. That letter had a phone number on it, so I called.

The reason that the charges were considered valid, according to the woman on the phone, is that I provided no supporting documentation, and the merchant did provide some.

My first question was how I am supposed to provide documentation of a charge that I had no knowledge of. She didn’t know.

So I tried a different approach. I asked what documentation the merchant provided. She didn’t know that either. She said that I would have to contact the merchant directly.

So I asked for the merchant’s phone number. She didn’t know that either. She then unhelpfully suggested that I contact the Google Advertising Department and gave me that number.

I asker her what my options are. All I can do is refuse to pay it, and if I do so, the credit card company will cancel my credit card, then report the delinquent amount to my credit record, with interest each month. They will put a note on there that I dispute it, but that means nothing. My credit will still be trashed.

So next, I called Google Ads. The person who answered the call told me that they can’t release any information on the account, because I am not the account holder. I tried using the automated system, and all I know is that the account was suspended for violating Google’s terms of service.

It looks like I am going to have to pay this. I could call a lawyer and sue, but that would cost me more than just paying it, with no guarantee that I would win anything. I have no other recourse. I don’t even know what this charge is for, who it was paid to, or how they got my CC number, but I am just screwed out of $340.

One of the things that I have always been big about is personal freedom. I may or may not want to go on a cruise, but it is my right to decide. I may or may not want to get a vaccine, but it is my right. As long as my behavior isn’t directly causing harm to someone else, I expect others to mind their own business.

I also expect and respect the same of others. If you want to have a sandwich delivered by Doordash, that’s your business. If you want to take a cruise, or if you want to hide in your house from the black helicopters, again that’s your business. If one man wishes to marry another man, I will argue that the government has no business in stopping them. Likewise, if another man refuses to perform the ceremony or to bake the wedding cake, I believe that is also outside of the government’s legitimate authority to force them to do so.

When I see people on the left AND on the right who say, “I don’t care if the government passed this dictate or that restriction because I don’t want to do that, anyhow,” I believe that it diminishes all of us.

I may not agree with your speech, your religion, or your chosen pursuit of happiness, but I will fight for your right to do so, just as I expect you to do for mine. Either we all hang together, or we will surely all hang separately.

No post today. I am at my son’s wedding.

When I did my end of the year post last year, I didn’t think that 2021 would be a good year at all. As it turns out, the year didn’t go as badly as I had feared. The country could be doing worse, and personally, I am in pretty good shape.

• In January, this blog left blogger and came here to its new home.
• I had an emergency room trip in February.
• In March, I had enough of being a teacher and went back to the medical field.
• April saw my house get hit by lightning for the third time in the past four years.
• In June, I managed to spend a few days in Las Vegas.
• In July I went lobstering in South Florida and spent a few days fishing in Maine.
• I spent August working many hours of OT in the COVID wings.
• In November, I went on a cruise.

I worked a lot of hours this year. My average workweek at the hospital was right at 50 hours a week. I know that some changes are coming, because I can’t keep up this schedule, and I am also convinced that my boss couldn’t lead a platoon of Marines into a whorehouse.

In the meantime, I will continue preparing for the bad times that I think are coming. For today, I will just enjoy the last day of 2021 as I wonder what 2022 will bring.

I ordered my wife a Christmas gift from Amazon. It was on sale at a ‘Black Friday’ price of $349 and a delivery date of December 6. The package was reported to me as “lost in transit” on December 9. I was told to cancel the order and reorder it, so that is what I did. The new price was $620 with a delivery date of December 17. I contacted Amazon to ask them to honor the original price. This is what I was told:

We strive to maintain low and competitive prices on everything we carry. We constantly compare Amazon’s prices to our competitors’ prices to make sure that our prices are as low or lower than all relevant competitors. As a result, we don’t offer price matching.

I explained to the guy that I was not looking for a price match, I wanted Amazon to honor the price that they originally offer it to me for, and since it was THEIR fault that it was lost in transit, they should be the ones to replace it at the original price.

The associate then told me that he could send out a replacement, but that replacement would not arrive until January 19. Checking the Amazon page, they still list the item for sale, and are still advertising a delivery date of December 15-17, with 8 more listed as being in stock.

They have put me in the position of having to buy this item at nearly double the sale price, if I want my wife to have it in time for Christmas.

In fact, this sort of thing is illegal in Florida. It is called a “bait and switch” scam, and is a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Practices Act. A person who is the victim of a bait and switch can get damages plus up to $10,000.

I am going to send a certified letter to Amazon’s Registered Agent. If they don’t help me, I will contact an attorney. All I want is what I paid for at the agreed upon price.