The Beautiful People

Per my daughter, they're not only beautiful and weird, but they're obviously a savvy bunch as well.

"Although a lot of beautiful, weird people
bought enough food to last them 'til February,
it lasted them 'til March."

(May I just state for the record my youngest daughter has her father's wit? Thank you .....)

But wait! In case you missed previous entries, there are more: Wordsmithery, Wordsmithery II and Wordsmithery III.

.................. Ruprecht ( STOP )

Side Note: The term "beautiful people" does not apply to those who might reside in Washington D.C. Because we all know there are no beautiful people there. (Rupe has this on good, solid authority.)

There Are No Such Things As Bad Words

Good Gordness .....

I surely hope this does not become as rampant a panic as the (overly hyped) Swine Flu epidemic.

Seriously, people: Don't you have better things to do than be ignorant?

*sigh*

................... Ruprecht ( STOP )
Thanks for pissing me off today, David .....

Courtesy Charge, My Butt

Check in hand, I entered Bank Of America.

After a short wait in line, I was suddenly called to the next available "associate". I signed the back of the check in front of her, took out my driver's license and handed both over. She scanned the check through her reader and confirmed I wanted to cash the check. I answered I did.

"Would you mind running your card to confirm your account?" she asked.

"I don't have an account here," I replied. She nodded at my response.

After a few moments of tapping away on her computer, she noted: "There will be a $5.00 courtesy fee for cashing the check since you don't have an account with us."

I looked at her. "I would appreciate it if you waived that fee."

She looked up at me. "I'm sorry sir, but I can't do that."

"Why not?" I asked. "I would get more of a courtesy if you waived it rather than charge me for it."

"Sir," she again told me "I can't do that."

"Well ... thank you very much. May I speak with your supervisor?" I politely asked.

She asked me to hold tight while she went over to speak with a woman a short walk from her. The Other Woman came over to me.

"May I help you, sir?"

"Yes," I replied. "It seems I'm being penalized for not having an account and I would appreciate you doing away with the fee you plan on charging me for conveniently walking into your bank and doing business with you."

"Well, I'm sorry sir, but if you don't have an account at this bank, we can't cash your check without charging you the fee."

"Sure you can," I stated. "You see, it's just a matter of waiving the fee. That's all. It would be an all together different affair if the fee was earned, but what you are doing by imposing the fee is not charging me a courtesy fee - which isn't "courteous" in the least, by the way - so much that you are penalizing me for coming in off the street out of convenience to me and conducting business with you."

"I understand your concern, sir, but I cannot waive the fee," she attempted to explain.

"Well ... maybe your manager can do what you cannot," I suggested. "Is he available?"

"I'll get him for you," she answered.

A full seven minutes later, the manager (who I caught eyeing me several times while The Other Woman went over to speak with him) finally sauntered over.

My position was relayed to him.

“You can always go to your bank, if you wish, sir.”

“You are correct. I can. However, it was convenient for me to stop into your establishment this evening instead of haul all the way across town to my home bank.”

“Regardless, the service fee still must be charged being you are not a customer, sir.”

“Oh? Now it’s a ‘service’ fee? When I was speaking with the other lady before, it was a courtesy fee … and not very courteous in my opinion. Let me ask you something: Would you be willing to pull out your wallet and pay that ‘service’ fee for me, good sir?”

“Now … why would I do that?” he asked.

“Doesn’t seem fair for you to do something like that now, does it? Just as I feel it’s not fair you are penalizing me for walking into your bank to cash a check. And that’s exactly what it is – a penalty. It’s not a courtesy fee … it’s not a service fee. You don’t even earn the five bucks, you just out and out zap me for it.”

“You can always go back to the person that issued the check and ask them to front you an extra $5.00. That way, you won’t be shorted the money coming to you.”

“Oh … that’s fair. Sorry … but that is a sad, sad suggestion and I don’t appreciate the manner in which it was given. On top of the way you treat strangers who come in to do business with your bank as well as the unearned charges the bank assesses, these reasons, among others, are why I choose not to do business with your establishment. Thank you very much for the your response and the zero help you’ve given me this evening. Please be so good as to give me one of your cards so that I may write the Bank Of America to let them know of my displeasure, if you please. And so that you know specifically, the bank I do business with - Chase - does not charge people coming off the street fees such as yours does.”

For the record: I’ve had this little verbal exchange with the employees of Bank Of America. And the managers I encountered and dealt with the previous two times this situation came up (yes, “managers”, as Bank Of America doesn’t seem to hold their managers for long lengths of time) did waive the fee involved after I had long conversations with them.

................. Ruprecht ( STOP )

"Teh" Three Responses

I take no credit for the responses below.

Please enjoy .....

Why Do People
Intentionally Misspell "The"
By Writing "Teh"?

"While it could very well be a typo, people do actually do it deliberately.

"It goes along with chat-speak, really. It is considered 'cool' on the internet by some ill-educated teens to spell things badly.

"I find it rather sad that stupidity is thus aggrandized."

~~~~~

"Spelling "The" with the 'e' and 'h' reversed starts as an accidental error, like typing a "1" in place of a "!" (because you miss the shift key). So lovers of "Leet" (elite) speak deliberately adopt common misspellings of words as a badge of their "Leet"ness. It's a manner adopted in the main by people who spend a little bit too much time on line.

"If you find yourself replacing letters with numbers that resemble them in shape on purpose, if you replace exclamation marks with "1"s or you misspell "The" on purpose, it is nature's way of telling you that you are way past the point when you really need to get out more. It means you desperately need to make contact with other human beings in the conventional sense.

"Don't pretend now, you know you do."

~~~~~

"If you are going to use the English language, you should take the time to know its mechanics - especially when we go out there in the real word and look for jobs.

"I'm sure some of you are thinking "Say that will never be!", but as you get older and your writing is still at a third grade level, your options will be significantly limited. So why not fix that now? I think it's a worthy subject. "

.................... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Bear With Me, For Just One Tune .....

It's no secret I love Grizzly Bear.

Now ... after listening to this, go get Veckatimest.

................... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Uh-uh-Huh .....

Happy 75th, Big Guy .....

I'll see you at the 7/11 .....

........................... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Bird Is The Word

If you really want to be in awe of this creature and its nest,
click on the photos to enlarge .....

It started with our arrival Sunday afternoon. Word had it there was a luncheon being played out by several of the decorating staff in a client’s backyard, at poolside no less.

Upon turning the corner, three women and the client were gazing upward at a lighted tree, pointing.

One of the women – “the boss” – acknowledged my arrival and pointed out the fact I was to be extra careful de-lighting the tree of subject as a mother hummingbird was sitting in a nest above, obviously guarding her stash of eggs. I affirmed I would.

She turned to the client and informed him that even after the baby birds were born and flew the coop "... do not remove the nest. It will be reused by her several times over." (This is true.)

Come the next morning, it was "to the branches". I carefully scaled a ladder and stayed as far away from the mothering bird as I could. Luckily, no lights were in her immediate vicinity; but still, some were close enough where I couldn’t avoid disturbing Mom in some way, shape or form.

Sure enough, as I came within seven feet, the purring, furious beat of tiny wings took to air. I could hear her annoyed chirping as she flew away. I took the opportunity to flick a few shots ... and even managed to get a peek inside where I witnessed at least one egg in waiting.

There was no attack. No dive-bombing. No yelping bird hovering and worrying herself to a tizzy as I was invading her space. Each time I moved the ladder to detach lights, she came back to eye the nest’s contents, satisfiedly setting alight once more atop her precious cargo.

You have to love Mother Nature and the (sometimes rare) opportunity to get up close and personal with her.

........................ Ruprecht ( STOP )

Yes ... I Love Jimmie Rodgers

I blame KDFrawg for this.

But, that's not a problem .....

............... Ruprecht ( STOP )