TTCOHTM

Welcome to another addition of Things That Could Only Happen to Me (or as the title states, TTCOHTM)

A little back story:

On Wednesday June 5 I got a call from my bank while I was driving to work. The caller asked me if I would be able to make it into the office that day to deposit money in my checking account because, according to her, I had a debit scheduled for $1,295 and a balance in the account of only about $700.

I recognized that $1,295 because that is my rent but the available funds in my account confused me. I told her that was not possible. Not only did I have my paycheck (which is OVER $1300) directly deposited in the account on the 31st, I had also deposited a $700 check in there on Saturday the 1st.  She told me she would look into it and call me back. 

Once I got to work I checked my online statement which showed that my rent had been taken out the day before (the 4th) and that the $700 was the balance AFTER the rent withdrawal.  I called her back to let her know that and did not give it another thought.......

Until July 1st when I logged in to pay my rent again and noticed it was more than usual. I made a payment for the usual $1295, and then went into the office to ask about the overage charges. 

Imagine my shock when they told me my June rent payment had been returned for Non-Sufficient Funds.  They gave me a printout that showed on June 2 at 2:22 pm, the transaction had been declined.  The transaction went through on June 4 - even though there was the same amount of money in the account both days. 

I had no choice but to pay the $50.00 fee or else they would charge me a late fee. Meanwhile, my bank also charged me a NSF fee of $36.00.  I was furious! 

Over the next week, I made three visits to my bank and each person I talked to was as confused as I was. In their big book of NSF transactions, the date of the transaction was June 5.  Meanwhile, I am flashing my bank statement at them that shows the transaction went through on the 4th so of course funds would not be available on the 5th!  Duh!  

In the end, the bank finally refunded my $36.00. 

Now, my attention turns to my apartment complex, their bank, and getting my $50.00 back. It took me a while to realize this, but June 2 was a Sunday. Banks don't do business on Sundays. Even if a person has an automatic withdrawal set up and the day falls on a Sunday, the transaction will take place the following Monday. So...why the bank is attempting to complete a transaction on Sunday is beyond me. And I must add, my bank has no record of this transaction ever even being attempted on the 2nd.

Confused? Me too. All I know is I am still out $50 yet and whatever happened was not my fault!  So...I fight on. 

The One Day Trip

First, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my baby boy!!!  Yes, he turned 28, but he will always be my baby. 

Each year, I travel to Wisconsin for a doctor visit. As long as I do this, my doctor continues to call in my medication for me which saves me a lot of time, money, and hassle. Plus, he has been with me from the beginning of my journey. We both will never forget the appointment on September 19 when I was in tears (yep...REALLY crying) because I could not take the constant pain anymore. At that time I was taking up to 5-6 Lortab a day and was going through about 4 jars of Icy Hot a week. 

We discussed the success some people with Fibromyalgia had experienced with Tramadol and I was 100% on board. CHANGED MY LIFE!!! The relief was immediate. Here I am almost 6 years later...pain free. 

This year the trip was a whirlwind one day affair. 

I was dropped off at the Orlando airport at about 3:45 yesterday. By the time I checked in, went through security, and took the tram over to the gate section, I hopped right in line to board and was one of the last people on the plane. The timing was perfect.  



The cheapest flight I could find routed me all the way to Denver first. That was a pretty long flight (3.5 hours). Then I had a layover in Denver that ended up being about an hour, and another 2 hour trip to Milwaukee. 



I arrived a little after midnight and my aunt and uncle were there to pick me up and brought me back to their house to spend the night. This was such a blessing as I just planned to spend the night in the airport.  

After about 5 hours of sleep, we were up and they drove me to Oshkosh for my doctor appointment. 


The appointment itself was only about 1/2 hour, then we met up with my BFF Carey and had lunch. 




My aunt and uncle also drove me back to the airport and came in and had dinner with me. 

What a different experience. 2 minutes to check in, 2 minutes to get through security!  Compare that to Orlando that had a combined time of 45 minutes.

My flight Milwaukee to Orlando was running about 45 minutes late. It ended up being a terrible flight...nothing the airline could do about it, just wicked turbulence just about the whole trip. I'm talking no let up for 5-10 minutes at a time. 

Finally landed in Orlando after midnight!  Exhausted!
 

Discourse in the Workplace

"Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have be liked, but it's not like this compulsive need to be liked, like my need to be praised." 

....................................Michael Scott (and Judy Koeck)

News Flash:  I am a VERY non confrontational person. I don't handle conflict well and I don't understand at all the people who tend to thrive on it, create it, or go looking for it. 

My basic work philosophy is; be kind, be helpful, and try to be a blessing to those around me. I'm very chill at work and I am friendly to everyone. So today at work I had quite the experience that leaves me shaking my head still!!! 

Preface:
Let me say that this was one of the most stressful days for a lot of people at work!  We had a group of 400 students and it required a lot of patience and teamwork. I don't really get stressed at work because I tell myself as bad or busy as it seems, nothing will last forever. I am only serving food for crying out loud, and the worst that can happen is someone waits 20 minutes for a cheeseburger or fish and may not be happy.  No big deal. I have no control over how fast the food comes from the kitchen, but I can be friendly and  do the best I can to accommodate the customers, so if they leave upset, it's not because of anything I've done. 

Setting the Scene:
I was standing at the counter, with about 5 other servers waiting for cheeseburgers. The cooks were having a very difficult time turning them out as quickly as we all needed them and several customers had been waiting upwards of 15 minutes. I had my hand resting on the raised platform where the food is placed when it is finished. I need to add that this is a habit of mine; I do this all the time. As far as I was concerned, I was patiently standing there waiting my turn. I wasn't upset, frustrated, or angry.

The Act:
Anyway, my hand must have irritated the young girl next to me because all of the sudden she shouts, "get this lady her cheeseburgers first, because she is annoying the hell out of me."  I turned to her (shocked) and asked, "who me?" She replied that I was exhibiting some kind of perceived "attitude."  As I said, as far as I was concerned, I was patiently standing there waiting my turn. I wasn't upset, I wasn't stressed . I cannot even tell you what I thinking in the moments before she said this. 

Still shocked, I thought I could just handle this with a simple apology so I kindly touched her on the shoulder and said to her that I was sorry if she thought I had a poor attitude, but that was not my intention at all. 

Guess what?  She would not even look at me AT ALL!!!!  She just looked straight forward with this enraged (dare I say indignant) look on her face. 

So I said again, "look honey....I just apologized to you. I assure you I was not intentionally emanating any bad attitude. Can you acknowledge that?"  

Nothing!!!! 

So I shook my head, walked away and ---------------- I let it go.

Well - - - - eventually I let it go. For a while there, I had steam coming out of ears over how rude and disrespectful she had acted and contemplated filing a complaint with the manager.

Epilogue: 
 In the end I decided not to file a complaint. I chalked it up to her being under stress and later, she saw me in the break room and randomly just said she didn't feel well; Still not acknowledging that her behavior was inappropriate-------but whatever.

                                            I JUST

Drowning in Lemonade

I know the title sounds crazy, but it is a reference to the old saying, 'when life hands you lemons, make lemonade'. 

A confession of sorts: I'm afraid to be happy.

As sad as that sounds, it is very true. This is a conditioned response. You see, for the past four years, whenever I have allowed myself to think life is going well and I am getting closer to financial stability - - - - - - - - the hammer falls. 

The latest lemon comes in the form of  job loss. Due to several circumstances, the school board deemed the school unsustainable for upcoming school year and closed it's doors. 

I already have another job, but it's not ideal. 

• it's for about the same amount of money I made at KCC
• it's most likely going to be a rougher commute with heavy traffic areas.
• it's really going to affect my Huntington job because the commute from my new school to Huntington is probably going to be 45 minutes at the least. 

The positive side:

• At least I have a job
• My friend, Mere, got a job at the same place so we can continue to work together. 

The negative side:

• I will be without at least 1 paycheck; could be two. 
• I am expecting another fight with unemployment and would be shocked if they approve my benefits immediately (without an appeal). That could take up to 3-4 weeks!!!

I could tell you all the other lemon experiences, but that would just end up sounding like I'm throwing a pity party - and, who am I kidding?  I probably am.

The Saga of the Car Magnets

Growing up, my father refused to let us put any bumper stickers on our car. He claimed they looked awful, lowered the resale value, and were nearly impossible to remove. 

His reasoning shaped my view, and I adhered to it with every car I have ever owned. And then car magnets came on the scene, and I thought this was the greatest invention in the history of the world (ok...slight exaggeration)...until it wasn't. 

My first car magnet was our Disney Annual Pass magnet

That lasted all of one month before it was removed from my car by someone who, I guess, felt they needed it. 

Around this time, everyone was all enthusiasm for the Orlando City soccer team, and I was given this magnet to put on my car. 

That one lasted a couple months and then suddenly...gone!

I also had a magnet similar to this...lots of bling bling

This one, which I had actually paid money for, lasted 
-----------------------wait for it -------------------------

                          ONE NIGHT!!!

Yep...the next day it was already gone!  I was quite irritated about that one. 

The only magnet that stayed on my car was the Orlando Magic magnet we were given after one of the basketball games. 

Uh huh... the Magic were awful and no one seemed to want their magnet. It stayed on the car for 3 years!  

As soon as the Magic made the playoffs this year, it took all of one week for the magnet to go MIA. 

I had an identical one on the refrigerator, so I replaced it with that one.  

If you guessed that the second magnet lasted less than one week, you would be correct!  

As of now, I have zero magnets on my car...why bother. 

I do have a sticker in the window which I wouldn't mind being taken after the Great Playoff Collapse of 2019 (that's what I'm calling it).

It's similar to this one except the words are all in one line and it is a long, thin sticker. 

So, after careful review, magnet stickers are not that great!

Mother's Day Weekend

Wow!  I just had the most fabulous weekend!  

Friday night, I picked up Jon, we picked up Wendy's for dinner, and then went over to C.J.'s for a movie. I even got to pick the movie. Well, pick from three choices...haha. We ended up watching Child's Play because I had not seen it yet. Crazy...yet true. 





Saturday night, we had Domino's pizza and then headed into Universal for the night. 



We did the Mummy, Horror Make-Up Show, Camp Jurrasic, and a spinning ride.  C.J. and Zack also did Jurrasic Park ride and Spiderman. 

Today, I drove up to Daytona to have pizza with my mom, dad, and sister. Then we went back to my parents so I could do my laundry and visit before driving back home.  

And Bonus: I took a vacation day tomorrow!!!  I still have 7 vacation days left and only 13 days left of school. 

So That Sucked ---and Then It Didn't

Whelp...after setting a record for most wins in an entire season, not only did the Lightning lose 4 out of 7 games, they lost 4 IN A ROW and were swept by the Bluejackets. No one alive would probably have predicted that outcome. (Whomp...Whomp) Nothing they do next year, short of winning the cup, will impress me. 

The Magic also did not win again after game 1 but then no one was expecting them to. It would have been nice if they had won game 3 - and they almost did - but that was the only remaining game they were able to keep within reach. 

But after the playoff loses --- I had a huge personal victory. I passed my GKT.  

Teachers in Florida need to pass a general knowledge test to apply for a teaching license. I had a 2 year temporary (that expired in November) and needed this exam to get a "permanent" one. I put " because even that has to be renewed every couple years. 

Anyway, last summer the exam was not kind to me and I was unable to pass the Math portion (because Math is not my thing) and the Essay part (because I had accidentally deleted 1/2 of the essay and time expired before I had a chance to paste it back in). Thankfully, my school owner and administrator were willing to offer me this one year position that did not require a license. But I am anxious to get back inside the classroom. I am happiest when working with children and this position has way too much paperwork. 

Again, I was not at all worried about retaking and passing the essay portion. I am a pretty decent writer. But I was scared to death about the Math. I studied endlessly the week leading up to the test by watching Youtube videos, working on Khan Academy, and printing out tons of worksheets for practice. During the exam I tried to follow the advise I give to the kids when talking about the FSA - to answer all the questions that are "easy" or guaranteed to get correct, and skip the rest...then go back and do the ones that I could most likely get but would take a lot of time to figure out... and finally, go back to the ones I had no idea how to solve but it's better to take a guess than to leave them blank. 

It worked! I walked out with this

But before walking out, I ran into the bathroom and cried like a baby!!!!  

I am so relieved!