Personal Stress Relief from Economic, Environmental Issues » Do Unto Others

ATV Scams

Diane — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:09:13 +0000

It’s pretty amazing that some people have nothing better to do than rip people off while they are struggling through this horrendous economy? I have been looking for an ATV online for the past month. We thought it would make life a little easier when we move up to Hastings. We’re looking for a utility ATV to help clear paths through the woods, move trees and of course to ride through the mud when we have some time to play.
I have been searching Craigslist and Oodle, and have a found a few ATV’s that were reasonably priced that were listed in areas that were accessible to us. Of course, the most reasonable turned out to be scams. Over a one week period this is what I encountered:
The first was a Grizzly and the ad had plenty of pictures and the description suited our needs. When I wrote to inquire as to whether it was still available I almost immediately received a response. The woman claimed that the Grizzly had been her husbands and that her husband was killed one month ago in Iraq. She said she needed to sell it, but it was now with her in North Carolina where she relocated to be near her parents. She went on to further say that she would send the quad to us at her expense and that we could inspect it. Only then would we then pay for it through Ebay Motors where they have a buyers protection policy.
This sounded like a great deal, but knowing that very rarely is something too good to be true, I responded that I wouldn’t buy it sight unseen. I thanked her and wished her well, not really giving the circumstances a second thought. UNTIL…
The second ATV, I inquired about was a Polaris Sportsman. I again sent an email to find out whether or not it was available. This is the response that I received:
“First I want to thank you for question about the 2006 Polaris Sportsman. The quad is in perfect condition, no damage, perfect shape and the mileage is 534 . It has all the papers and document and I am also the owner. The price is $2,500 including shipping to your address (only in USA). The quad is located in USA but currently I am located in London, United Kingdom, because I just finished the divorce with my husband and I have moved here to my parents for a while. The transaction will be made only through Ebay vehicle purchase protection program also the payment will be made through eBay and only after you will receive the quad , I will receive the payment.”
Hmmm….sounded familiar! Now, of course understanding that this very well was yet another scam, I did not even waste my time to respond.
Onward with my search, I found a Suzuki for sale on Oodle.com to which I replied with the same email asking whether or not it was still available. The person responded with more specifications about the ATV and told me that the price was $2400 including shipping and delivery taxes to my address. Thinking that this ATV was worth looking at, I responded that we were close enough to take a look at it and would like to schedule a time that we could see it. This was the response that I received:
“I’m in New Jersey due to my work (I’m an Air Force Msgt.) and I have the ATV here with me. I can deliver it to your shipping address (I will pay for the shipping and insurance fees) and I will agree to let you test and inspect it for 5 days just to be sure. In this 5 days you will test the conditions of the ATV. If something won’t be like you expected to be you can return it without any expense. It will come with all the paper work.The payment will be made after you will test and inspect the ATV.
The deal will go through eBay Motors. In this way both of us will have the required assurance that the deal will take place well. A refund policy will be included. If you agree with these terms please reply me with your full name, shipping address and phone# so that i can forward them to eBay. They will send you a complete list with instructions.
Thanks
–
Air Force Msgt. Jonny Olseen
Air National Guard
McGuire New Jersey”

Now this was too much and I was getting frustrated. I Googled “Jonny Olseen, Air force” and discovered that there was an entire Complaint Board page about him. It included the numerous alias he uses.
At that point I felt very fortunate that I did not get involved, as many who had been taken by him for thousands of dollars. I emailed him a link to the site and told him that I had filed a complaint with the
IC3 (The Internet Crime Complaint Center). I did not here from him again.
Apparently, these low lives set up dummy Ebay web pages and when the payment is made, it goes directly to them. You will not receive the merchandise and have no recourse. Sadly, many people don’t know enough to fully investigate before purchasing and have been ripped off.
As somebody who uses the internet for 90% of my purchases, it’s disheartening to realize that nobody and nothing can be trusted “carte blanche.” Researching the seller and seller’s website has become a major part of every purchase. It’s sad to know that while many of us work hard to make a living to survive, others are preying on the conscience while sitting on their ass in front of the computer contriving new ways to deceive us and rip us off.

Employment Job Scam

Diane — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:11:24 +0000

Still unemployed since the beginning of January, I have everyone I know trying to assist me in finding employment. I also check Craigslist and Careerbuilder daily as well as the work at home sites. On Friday, my daughter emailed me an ad from Craigslist. I don’t know how I missed it, but in retrospect it must have been intuition. Regardless, it seemed like a great opportunity for a work at home position that required the skills that I possessed. I answered the ad and attached my resume.
By late in the day Friday I received a response through email. The email gave a company name, Boxx Technologies, with the complete address and website address. The email was to inform me that I had an online interview scheduled for Saturday morning with Mr. Wayne Bryant who was the Personnel Manager for the company. I was to meet Mr. Bryant on Yahoo IM at his ID boxxpersonnelsdesk1. I have to admit I was anxious for the interview after I had gone to the website and did some investigating and found that it was a real company.
Promptly at 10:00 Saturday morning I met Mr. Bryant online. He first introduced me to the company by giving me a wealth of information on the history and present day workings of the company. He then went through two question and answer sessions asking me questions about my understanding of petty cash, my compatibility with co-workers and my work ethics and availability. He also asked me my understanding of Excel as this was supposedly the method that I would need to utilize to submit my hours.
At the end of the question and answer session he announced that I had passed the interview process and that I qualified to work for the company and that I was now working for the company.
At that point I was given more information about my job, my hours and my rate of pay. I was told that the company required the use of various types of software and that I would be provided with the funds for my “mini-office” set up. Needed were UPS and other accounting software like the Quickbooks Pro 2010 and the Peachtree Pro 2010. RED FLAG. I didn’t understand the need for two completely different accounting programs. At this point I was to supply my bank information so that a deposit for $300 could be made to cover my costs.
Being extremely apprehensive at that point, I told this person that I was out of town and didn’t have my banking information available. I thought this would buy me time to investigate further. I also didn’t want to jeopardize what seemed to be the ideal work at home position. I was supposed to start training Monday morning at 10:00. I told him that I would give him the information at that time. He agreed.
Immediately after I signed off, I tried to reach someone at Boxx Technologies to find out the legitimacy of the interview and this person. I reached a voicemail system, left a message and then emailed someone at the company explaining the situation and requesting confirmation. At that point there was nothing else to do but wait until Monday.
After my interview I had time to think and a few things weren’t adding up. First and foremost it was bothering me about the accounting software. Not only did I not understand the need for both, but during the interview I was questioned as to whether I knew how to use Excel. No mention was made about either Quickbooks or Peachtree. In addition I called the company and searched through the employee directory and there was no Mr. Bryant listed. Finally, offering $20 an hour working online, paid training and $100 sign on bonus seemed a bit much. I was pretty sure this was a scam.
Being that I was to meet Mr. Bryant at ten o’clock on Monday I figured I had an hour to try to make contact with someone at Boxx Technologies. At nine o’clock I started calling, but had already realized that being that it’s in Texas and an hour behind my time zone I would probably not be able to reach anyone. Getting more frustrated I called the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) trying to get some kind of insight. Unfortunately, they weren’t much help. I filed a report giving them the particulars and received a case # in return.
Having some time to think, I came up with a plan and again not wanting to blow what could be a great job opportunity, I decided to meet this person online again. After the “hello”, “good morning” bit the first thing he asked me was if I had my bank information. Final RED FLAG. I replied that my husband’s business trip was extended and that I was still not at home to retrieve the information and that I would meet him Tuesday morning at the same time with what he needed. He agreed.
I immediately called Boxx again and actually spoke to a person. She said that this situation was out of her league and she put me through to the president’s voice mail. I left a long message and waited for a reply knowing that I had till Tuesday morning. By late afternoon I hadn’t heard back. Not wanting to come up with another excuse to put Mr. Bryant off, I called Boxx again, this time reaching Mr. “K” the Senior Accountant.
I explained the entire situation to the gentlemen and inquired as to whether there was indeed a job opening and whether Mr. Bryant was employed by the company. Mr. “K” was completely surprised and in disbelief that someone would use the company and all its details as well as contact information. Boxx Technologies did not place an ad, there were no job openings and there was no Mr. Bryant employed at the company. I forwarded all the information I had to “Mr. “K” including a copy of the interview which I saved, just in case. He was going to forward all information to his IT and legal departments. I finally called the FTC to give them an update.
It’s really pretty sad that as difficult it is to find a job, with the economy in the state that it’s in, that in addition we have to be concerned as to whether a job offer is real or a scam. It’s very upsetting to know that there are people praying on those of us who obviously are in need of money or we wouldn’t be searching for a job. It’s horrible to think about all the people that are so desperate that they don’t recognize a scam and are taken for what little they have left. It’s ridiculous that with all the money thrown around in government they can’t find a means to catch these low lives and punish them sufficiently enough that others will think twice before scamming innocent people.
I did not meet “Mr. Bryant” online Tuesday morning!

I’ve Been Terminated, I’m Free

Diane — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:20:04 +0000

In most cases when a person is terminated they are either angry, upset or both. In my case, I don’t think that I could be more thankful. As crazy as that sounds, with the state of the economy and unemployment being what it is, anyone that has read my previous posts “Working for the Insane,” will surely understand.

Although, it was a pretty stupid thing to do on my part, I do believe that everything happens for a reason. What ultimately led to my termination was that I inadvertently left my personal email open when I left the office on Wednesday. Funny thing is that every day I completely close the internet for security and safety purposes. On this day I had been working on something very time consuming on the company website and since my boss was so conscience of my utilization of time I left the site open so that she would see what I was working on. Unbeknownst to me when I left, there was another tab open….my personal email.

Well, consequently and without my permission or the legal right to read through my emails she did. Emails being a personal thing often contain your thoughts and feelings, right? I’m no different than everyone else and my emails expressed much of my distaste for her and her mistreatment of those she dealt with. In other words, she had plenty of eye opening information to peruse.

Keeping in mind that I had no idea of my blunder on my way into work Thursday morning, I arrived at her house to find her oiling her door locks, which she had instructed me to do the day before. As I approached she asked me for the house key which I handed to her assuming that she was going to test the locks. She then looked at me and said, “you are being terminated.” Hmm, nice set up, very unexpected. I asked her if she was going to tell me why and she responded that she would email me. I said, “OK, thank you” and walked away. There have been very few instances in my life when I actually felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders, but this was one of them.

Still at that moment not fully understanding why I had been terminated, I called one of the girls I work with. She informed me that she had gotten an urgent early morning phone call that she need to be at the office for a personal discussion. This is when it dawned on me that she had read my emails and that moment was the only moment that I regretted my indiscretion. Involving a friend as unintentional as it was just isn’t a good thing.

On my way home I called Mike who congratulated me. I’m pretty sure he was at the end of his rope with my complaining everyday about my dealings with her. Throughout the day, everyone I spoke to also congratulated me. I’m pretty sure that this is a completely different response than most people get. I’m blessed to have people that care about me enough to be more concerned with my well-being than my net worth.

An couple hours after returning home I received an email with a list of reasons that I was terminated. This fabrication I found almost comical as nothing on the list was a viable enough excuse to terminate me for until she read my personal emails. In addition, the majority of the items referred to the emails themselves.

As a result, I’m in search of a job in a horrendous job market. As were previously just making ends meet with Mike’s salary and my measly one I can’t waste any time. So, if anyone out there in “Blogland” would like to hire a very well rounded person who could really use the income, you know where I am. To all others trying to stay afloat, tell us how you’re doing so we can wish you luck in any and all endeavors.

In the meantime, chin up, somethins’ gotta give, doesn’t it?

TELL MY WHY a Must See Video

Diane — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:55:43 +0000

This boy actually wrote this song, and sings it with an amazing voice. If you really think about it, it can make you feel guilty for so many things. ENJOY and prepare yourself to be emotionally moved!!!

Another Walmart Episode

Diane — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:23:42 +0000

Here’s the scenario: I had just put in my 8 hours and can’t wait to get home, but I have to go to the supermarket because, well we’ve got to eat. So, I go to Walmart which as I’ve established previously, I shop in for financial reasons only. I had finished my shopping and headed toward the checkout and came to a line where the people in front of me had only a few items, Great! Then, as happens more often than not, I realize that I forgot something. My thought process was ‘do I get on the short line, which is a rarity and pick up the item at another time or go and get the item at that point.’ I forego the line and go get the item.
To my surprise when I go back to check out the same cashier has the same people and they have the same few items on the belt. Now being of sound mind and body, I thought that they were probably waiting for a price check and should be done any minute, so I got on the line.
Since the belt was mostly empty I started to put my items on the belt. Now picture this. Walmart has carts for children that are huge. The basket is in the front and then there is quite a large seat in the back for children to sit. The cart is basically blocking the entire belt. Generally, when I empty my contents on to the belt, I move my cart so that the people behind me can begin to load their items. I guess that’s not the standard thing to do. This customer in front of me is watching, arms crossed and totally indifferent to my struggle to reach over the cart to place my items on the belt. As I bumped the cart several times with no reaction on her part I became angry enough to know that it was probably best to keep my mouth shut because there was no guarantee of what would come out. I continued to struggled.
In the meantime, the cashier was standing there doing nothing and I’m starting to wonder what’s going on. About five minutes later the husband, I assume, comes walking back up to the register with a loaf of bread and orange juice. The cashier looking puzzled checks what I gather is a coupon and tells the man that the items are still not the ones on the coupon. I gathered by the cashiers face that this wasn’t the first time he tried to explain this. A lengthy conversation ensues because apparently the man did not understand English and had no idea why the items he brought back were not the right ones. The wife, still with arms crossed, just stood there. At this point, I felt some relief figuring that the man would leave the items and finish his purchase. Not the case! Instead, he took the bread and orange juice and went back to find the right items. Not only were they at the total opposite end of a massive supercenter, but he was walking at a snails pace to do this.
Now, I can feel my blood boiling. The cashier was shrugging his shoulders. The wife still hadn’t moved. I’m actually debating whether or not to remove my items, place them back in the cart and find another register, but with the amount of items that I had just unloaded I decided to call my sister instead. Donna is basically my fail-safe call before I blow, she’s a great listener. I spent 2 minutes venting before I hung up the phone. Now all I had left to do was pace back and forth looking to see if the man was on his way back. A full eight minutes later he was in sight and strolling along as if he had rocks in his shoes. As he approached I noticed the cashier shaking his head. They were the wrong items again! That was all I could take and I exclaimed out loud, “you have GOT to be kidding!” at which point the cashier told the couple that he needed to ring through the sale. It was about time!!!
With the cart still in place and the woman still with arms crossed it took another 4 minutes for the man to pay and load his purchases into their cart. Finally, a full 23 minutes after I had gotten on the line, they pulled away!
I’m not sure what possesses people to have such disregard for other’s around them. I know that if I hold someone up I apologize. The cashier commented that he was amazed at my patience. I didn’t feel the need to tell him what I was actually thinking.

Swine Flu Panic Attack

Diane — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:53:27 +0000

Talk about a chain of events that snowballs. Three days ago my 13yr old niece, Tifanie was at her brother’s soccer game. As 13 year old girls go, she had her eye on one of her brother’s friends and they began texting each other. The whole team went to Subway after the game. Tifanie’s brother, Colby sat with the boy she had been texting.
As it turns out Tifanie wasn’t feeling that well and wasn’t in school the next day. She had gone to bed with a slight fever, but woke with a temperature of 103. My sister, Donna thought it best to take her to the doctor as a precautionary measure because Tifanie has asthma. As my sister stated ,”the doctor listened to her breathing, checked her throat and ears. Same old stuff and then diagnosed her with “SWINE”. There were no blood tests and was no laboratory work done.” The doctor recommended Tamiflu and sent her on her way. The next day Tifanie was without fever, had her appetite back and was fine, more than likely a 24 hour bug.
The chain of events:
Tifanie contacted the boy when she missed school and she told him that the doctor said she had Swine Flu.
The boy told his mother who panicked because he had been sitting with Colby, (a possible carrier)
The mother, a nurse, sent the coach a very long, panicky email expressing her concern and giving advice on how to handle the situation.
The coach sent an email to all team members advising them that they were recently exposed to someone that tested positive for swine flu and included the mother’s email.
The coach put off practice for a few days.
Donna thought it best to explain to the coach, team and Tifanie’s school and teachers that no actual tests were given and the diagnosis was an assumption by the doctor.
The coach sent another email to all team members containing information regarding where to obtain the H1N1 vaccination.
The saga continues.
Amazing and ridiculous! And, all because my niece was doing what little girls do…..flirting with a boy.

Working for the Insane

Diane — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:30:39 +0000

I’m wondering how many people are now facing a new issue when it comes to their jobs. Some of us who are working are at the hands of unreasonable, tyrants who call themselves Bosses. It seems to me that because of the economic climate and the unemployment rate, more and more people I speak to are being mistreated and have no choice but to hang in there because they need a job. Our bosses have us over a barrel and I for one am dealing with a real winner!
I have been employed as an office manager / slave for the last two years. I work in a home office close to home which is why I didn’t make a move sooner. Although, twice before I told her I was quitting and she told me she would change. Stupid me, I gave in. I have done everything from painting and repairing furniture to repairing cabinets and doing other household repairs. I wrap every gift, make and cancel about five doctor’s appointments a week, I fill and drain her pool and load and unload her work vehicles as well as taking out the garbage and cleaning up her messes. Not exactly the responsibilities of an office manager. I am more like a personal assistant at the pay rate of an amusement park attendant, which in itself is basically what I am without the amusement.
Now, I’m a very patient person with an extremely high tolerance for getting stepped on, but this lady is out of hand. She is totally incapable of organizing her time or herself and every moment of her life reflects this. Every day, when I leave work I straighten out my desk. Every morning it takes me a half hour to clean my desk from the mess she made the previous night. This is what I walk in to. If she takes a folder out of the file cabinet, she drops it on the floor when she’s done. Every cordless phone goes missing, every pen she touches disappears, every important paper is buried somewhere in the mounds of paper upon her desk.

She has yet to leave the house on time or without the need to have me call her cell phone so that she might locate it. Nine out of ten appointments require a phone call from me to inform the person she’s meeting that’s she’s running usually about an hour late. As she leaves the house she’s barking orders and for the most part as soon as she’s in the car, she’s calling and frantic about all the other things that she forgot to do that I now need to do. She emanates stress and ultimately it’s projected on those anywhere near her. Every day I have vendors asking me how I can stand to work for her and clients calling saying that they don’t want her on the job because she makes them uneasy. Yet, miraculously, she has been in business for seven years.
I work for her full time, 9 – 5 Monday thru Friday. I go above and beyond and frequently surprise her with my skills and my well rounded capabilities. I work with no vacation, no sick days and no medical. In January of this year, Mike and I came close to foreclosing on our home. It took a lot of phone calls and it caused us a lot of stress, but we managed to get back on track. Through it all, I got my job done. Figuring I had been here long enough, a few weeks later I finally asked my boss if we could discuss a few vacation or sick days. Her response, “Why don’t we first discuss how productive you’ve been?” How understanding can you get? I had frequently listened to her whining about her daughter, her boyfriends and all the events of her life and tried to understand. Her thoughtless comment did me in. This women is so “understanding” that when I hurt my back and was in pain for a month she had the nerve to say to me that it was getting annoying to her that my back was bothering me because she needed me to clean up after her.
Just to be fair I should tell you that my boss is not totally without heart. On the Friday before Labor Day weekend, she threw me a bone. She told me that I could leave at 3:00 and that she’d paid me for the day. However, without missing a beat she interjected, “I’m not paying you for Monday, though.” Nice, thank you for your generosity!
To further explain my day to day ventures working for a lunatic I tell you this. Understanding that I keep the books, I write notes, sometimes with dollar amounts. On one occasion there was a sticky note on my desk with a question. “What is this?” The sticky note was one that I threw out two days prior with a check number and amount on it that I needed to research. To make this perfectly clear, my boss goes through my garbage to see what I’m doing. Needless to say, now anything I think she might be curious about, I shred. I’ve talked with the girls that work for her and across the board when you tell her anything she questions and second guesses. After all, she’s the only one that does everything right.
My bosses latest episode with me was over my clothing. As a matter of explanation, I am thin, she’s not. I wear clothes that compliment me, but do not dress like a floozy. I dress as nicely as I need to dress for a home office where I have no interaction with anyone day in and day out. On a recent rant my boss decidedly told me that she wants me to dress differently so as not to cause any undo attention from the landscapers and the workmen around the neighborhood. This panic on her part was due to her distress that someone might think I live there and come back and rape her at night. Now I ask you, how would you respond to that?
As another example of the kind of person that I am tolerating every day, I offer you this. This self serving individual has a very strained relationship with her daughter who has two adorable little girls. My boss continually complains to me that her daughter is insensitive and doesn’t care about her. The other day she told me that she and her daughter were not speaking “again.” The reason; my boss totally forgot that her granddaughter was having surgery and neglected to call or show any interest in her well-being. My boss expressed to me that she is overly stressed and had so many things on her mind and then she asked me if I thought she was justified. I told her in no uncertain terms that there she has no excuse what-so-ever and that she was totally wrong. Without a word, my boss left the room.
Just in case you have any doubts, here are a few more abridged versions of “her” episodes. She left me a voice message that she woke up with a bug bite and that if anything should happen to her she wanted me to know because people die from bug bites. Upon being invited to stop by my house for a birthday party I was throwing, she opened the door and walked into a house down my block with a handful of balloons and insisted to the owners that she was in the right house. She judged this by the similar car in the driveway. She called me at 10:00 at night and left a frantic voice mail that she left her purse in PakMail, which had closed hours ago, and she needed me to come by and open the house for her. I didn’t respond but found out later that she called the police who contacted the owners and they opened the store for her. She sent me an email with all the particulars of her blind date; name, phone, picture, email, etc. just in case. The following day I received another email telling me that we need a code word that she could send me just in case her “blind date” was going to kill her. That way he wouldn’t know that she alerted anyone. I’m pretty sure those examples have given you a clearer picture of my boss!
Well, now I’ve ranted and given examples of what I’m dealing with on a day to day basis. In a normal economic climate I would have been long gone. Mike has problems as well with his boss who recently thought it okay to deduct money from his paycheck for the company items that were stolen out of the company truck. Mike has no recourse, he surely can’t confront his boss and risk losing his job. How many of us are “stuck” under the rule of a boss who is totally taking advantage of the fact that we have nowhere to go. What’s the chance of getting another job? Is making waves worth the risk? Need we all be subjected to abuse at the hands of our boss who now has us “biting the bullet” because we are out of options? How many of us are in the same boat?

Is the Swine Flu Vaccination really “for the people?”

Diane — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:54:56 +0000

There are many questions that have arisen about the Swine Flu and the H1N1 vaccination. The controversy is astonishing and coming from people in all walks of life. Unfortunately, we don’t know where to turn for the truth. I’ve written an article on GoArticles.com touching on one aspect of concerns. The part that Dynacorp plays in the production of the H1N1 is nothing short of alarming. Voice your opinion by taking part in the poll on www.wapatu.com which poses the question, “Do you believe that the Swine Flu vaccination is in “the people’s” best interest?”

RIDING BUMPERS

Diane — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:00:59 +0000

I often wonder if drivers know how annoying and dangerous it is to ride on someones bumper. Yesterday I was driving down a road that has one light after another. The speed limit being 40 MPH, I was doing close to 50 MPH, as all good drivers do Three times as I was driving a half mile stretch, the driver in back of me would speed up, (as I gasped), ride my bumper and shoot around me. This happened three times. Of course, at each light I pulled up right behind them. I’m not quite sure what the race to the light was, but I’m assuming they were happy to be in front of me! I often wonder how happy they would be if I decided to hit my breaks while they were on my bumper.

LET’S ALL JUST STOP

Diane — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:07:12 +0000

We were driving today through a crowded shopping center taking time to let people cross. We were getting ready to go and the car in front of us is sitting there stopped, no one in front of them, no one crossing. So we waited. Now there are three cars in back of us and the car in front of us is still sitting with no reason, that we can see, not to go. Finally, we go around them. As we do a person comes out of the store and gets into the car; the car that was holding everyone up was just waiting to pick someone up. Inconsiderate? Perhaps we should all come to a dead stop in the road with no regard for the cars behind us. I think not!!!