Category Archives: rambling

I don’t claim fluency, I never will, but I can get around in the language. It has helped me stay employed for decades and has enriched my life.

Anyway, 1980, age 21, my family was in self-destruct mode. Very unpleasant.

My father said to me one day, “Why don’t you get out of the house for awhile.” It really was time.

I went back to him later with the info and said, “write a check for this school in Mexico, and I can be gone for a long time.”

He did, and off I went.

I would come back and live in the house briefly after the return but didn’t stay long.

It started a lifetime of trips to Mexico, Cuba, Spain, and others, as I could afford them. After the first check for the school in Mexico, my father wouldn’t pay no more. lol

Here’s a good one.

The itty-bitty place that handles my banking had a website malfunction Friday night which caused my browser to reload a few times. I got locked out due to “repeated attempts.” I have to call to regain access which I did Monday morning.

Because I had 2-factor authentication on, “that’s 3rd party,” they have to contact somebody else to reset and get back to me. They haven’t.

I’m thinking that like many places, services have been farmed out and they have no ability to operate them.

I’d think that a customer losing account access might be a thing, but no.

When somebody hands you something, the natural thing is to reach out and take it.

With a flyer, it’s not too bad, because it can be tossed away easily. As part of a sales pitch, it’s harder. Once it’s in hand, the sale is half made. Odds go way up. The sales person then has leverage.

It tried this once on a liquid miracle cleaner person at the door. They kept pushing the bottle at my hand during the talk, tapping against it a couple of times. I kept my arms limp at my sides. Then they tapped my stomach with the bottle getting frustrated and saying, “will you just hold the damned product?”

We were both surprised and started laughing about it. I bought some just for the fun of the encounter and the strange charm of the salesperson.

The miracle cleaner was average but had a fresh exciting scent.