The time it takes for the IRS to accept a tax return when you owe money.
2 Months
The time to get money back from the government.
Yeah.. That was it. Please excuse my brevity. WordPress Mobile
Tmobile Gets iPhone!
Kinda…
After many years of waiting, I can finally get an iPhone from Tmobile! Okay, so not really, but if AT&T buys Tmobile and dissolves its identity which seems to be common in the wireless industry, but less common in Banking (Wachovia…a Division of Wells Fargo), then indeed my plan will become AT&T and I will be able to get an iPhone.
Anti Trust or Network Congestion?
Apparently their is worry that the bandwidth used by smartphones will not be adequate enough and become too expensive for consumers to meet their needs. The solution to network congestion seems to be, “raise the price until fewer can afford it.” Seems like a good plan as I would drop my data plan if it cost me more than $10 a month.
In a recent article, it seems that AT&T may indeed be using this bandwidth notion to help the Government overlook the fact that if completed, the merger would make AT&T the largest holding more than 50% of all subscribers. Verizon would be a close second. By combining the two networks, there will be fewer networks competing for the bandwidth.
Grandfather Plan
According to my recent trip into the local Tmobile store, a “Grandfather Plan” will be offered and as long as you don’t make any changes, you won’t be affected by the typically higher service prices of AT&T.
Tmobile in Trouble?
I too do miss seeing Catherine Zeta-Jones as the spokeswoman, but really, will the good rates and coverage, was very surprised to hear that Tmobile was in financial trouble. Apparently the US wing of Deutsche Telekom has not been doing well and the German company is looking to chop off an arm and sell.
Either way I still use an iPhone
Regardless of the Government ruling, I am just glad that AT&T and Tmobile use similar technologies so I can still use my friends old AT&T iPhone with my Tmobile SIM 🙂
Another Chapter Comes to a Close
Cost Plus World Market (10/2007 – 3/2011)
Last night was the last night at World Market. Having fallen in love with the low prices and unique items, I applied for a part time seasonal position 3 years ago and have been working there until last night. Ultimately I needed more time to enjoy life and with Uncle Sam taking so much in taxes over the past 3 years, it was time.
I still love the store and will be in to shop 🙂
When you work in Retail…
When you work in the retail market, you earn a respect for what goes on and tend to sympathize with the current working folk of a similar function.
Wegmans Sub Shop
For example, having worked in a Wegmans Sub Shop part time when living in Rochester NY I realize how annoying cell phones can be and rude customers are and try to not be that way myself. I do admit when a customer was on their phone, I skipped them and asked the following person in line if I could help them since a hand signal with a number only seems to work in Asian restaurants 🙂
Shampoo Factory
The Shampoo Factory was a full time job between semesters during college and gave me a new appreciation for those bottled products and you recognize all of those funny alignment marks for labels. I sat for days monitoring sealing of various salon tubed products and testing bottle cap tension,which by the way should be automated and not done by anyone for that is surely going to give you carpal tunnel!
While it was relatively mindless, just what I needed after 2 semesters at college, I would think if I were to do it on a regular basis I would probably become a zombie. Not that I think anyone is really cut out for this kind of work, but we do what we need to in order to get the bills paid and this job probably just barely serves that purpose for the full time staff there.
Waiting Tables
Granted it was a restaurant I was co-owner of, but nonetheless, when I go out to eat now and if the restaurant is busy, I don’t get frustrated if service is slow and I always pile up my dishes with food scraps on the top plate for the wait staff 🙂
Funny how I was introverted and still am to a degree, but when waiting tables, you do need to provide great customer service if you want to get a tip and I really did open up during this chapter of my life.
World Market
I have learned that some customers always are out to get a good deal and will in some cases “break” an item in order to get a discount. I recall one time when a customer showed me what seemed to be a problem with glue on a wreath. She said, they are all like that and wanted a discount. After we talked a bit more, it turned out that she had pulled off the supposedly loose flowers! She was like, “I can glue them when I am home.” I was thinking to myself, well, if you had not pulled them off in the first place….. Anyway, I did not give her a discount and proceeded to fix them with our own hot glue gun.
There are others that walk around the clearance section each time they are in, or offer to “buy it all” at a discount. Another funny time was when a customer came back to the wine dept and asked me for the bottle with the most savings and I showed them a $50 bottle which happened to be $13 off 🙂 That is what they asked for, but certainly they were looking for the Rene Barbier which normally $4.99 is often on sale for $3.99, but only a savings of a $1. Perhaps she should have asked for the largest savings percentage 🙂
There are so many stories to tell and not enough time in a day to tell them, but you get the idea…customers can really be a pain in the neck after that experience, I will do my best to not be in a bad mood, get impatient with long lines, or harassing management to give me a better deal. 🙂 I cannot promise however that I will not trample you when the store opens and holiday clearance goes on sale 90% off!
Read All Fine Print in Rental Lease
I will leave the management company anonymous as it would be my luck that they would sue me for saying the following….
Read the entire lease in the presence of the leasing agent.
While I don’t usually read the entire lease, I will from this point on. I will also do it while the leasing agent is waiting for me to sign the lease. Who knows what kind of goodies there are in there. I know that they have the right to terminate your lease at any time with no reason, but you cannot end your lease early without being penalized.
We will sue you if you are late with rent for a month.
This is the kicker I found out the other day. With the terrible snow storm, and my online bill payment originating from Pennsylvania, it is no surprise that my payment for rent did not arrive on time. It was sent on Feb 2, for payment on Feb 5, but as of this date, has not arrived yet. We received a note under the door on February 13 that said “we have not received your rent payment and we will take you to court for none payment.” Looking beyond the grammatical error, I was quite surprised the payment had not made it yet. I am convinced it is sitting in a snow covered postal service truck and will eventually make it to the management company someday.
What really urks me is that the leasing office of my building operates separate from the management company. The management company apparently filed a court case for non-payment on Feb 11. This is one day after the final due date for rent each month. Now this is the first time I have ever been late for rent and have been living at this address for close to 15 months now. One would think that perhaps someone should contact me and see if everyting was okay since it was my first time? Apparently not. The leasing office is responsible for notifying. They put a note under my door 2 days after the lawsuit was filed!!!!! Now isn’t that helpful?!
Late for rent one month when ontime for 14 others.
I was able to get my bank to waive the cashiers check fee for payment and the management company is going to waive the late fees since it was scheduled on time and no fault of mine for the lateness. This is good, but very frustrating that the management just sends every reputable renter to court. This seems much like what the credit card companies are doing…. “Thank you for being a loyal customer for 15 years. We are sorry, but during economic hardship, we need to double your interest rate. Thank you again for being a loyal customer.”
Time to buy a house again.
I have learned my lesson. Be your own rental agent!!!! I will be looking for a new apartment soon and better yet a house again where I don’t need to deal with late rent payments 🙂