Having moved to Fort Wayne, we no longer need our previous isp.  We kept it for awhile so we could get the email.  Yesterday I went by the Marion cable office to return the modem and settle up.   I gave the woman the modem and told her to shut it off we have moved.  She asked for our new address.  I almost protested that they had no need for the new address, but I was lazy and gave it to her.

She told me the amount I owed and I handed over the bills while she further explained that the amount was only an estimate and that we would be sent a bill after the system finished calculating the final bill.

???

I told her (with a smile on my face) that any system that could not come up with the final bill right here and now was an ef’ed up system (that’s how I said it).

And I walked away laughing.

The famed efficiency of the private sector.

Yes, I still write checks.

I wrote a check for groceries yesterday. The clerk had me fill out the check completely. Then she ran it though the register, had me sign a receipt the register printer out, and gave me back my voided check with my receipt, the money being electronically removed from my account.

Why do I have to fill out the check?

A couple of years ago, Walmart was not yet doing the electronic check, but they were offering the option of the register filling out the check as opposed to the customer filling out the check. The customer was asked to sign the check and then the clerk would run it though the register. Presumably this saved time. On a couple of occasions, I suggested that I would sign the check after it was filled out. Both times the clerk responded negatively and repeated that I needed to sign the check first.

Why do I want to sign a blank check and hand it over? Sure, they let the customer look at it after printing, and I can understand that it might save time, but if a customer objects to signing it first, why wouldn’t they accommodate that?

Nothing to do with a check, I stopped at a gas station for gas the other day. I was going to pay cash. I pushed the button to choose “pay inside” and waited for the machine to process. And waited. Well, thirty seconds. Then the voice comes over the intercom to say that if I am not paying by card at the pump I have to prepay.

Why is there not a sign on the pump? I know it is just thirty seconds, and it is not like I don’t have the time to waste….