10/25/2005
Taking some time away from Gentoo
I’m going to be taking some time away from Gentoo, not too sure how long. I haven’t been too productive lately because of outside issues. But I’ve been avoiding those issues and focusing on Gentoo to escape them maybe. But in the end it will hopefully be for the best because then I can resolve stuff and get better focused on my Gentoo tasks. I’ll spare everyone the details, if you do want to read a long, boring post, then keep reading.
I apologize for posting the whole LONG thing to the Gentoo Planet. The guys in #wordpress told me it shouldn’t do that only the lines above these as a summary.
As with all things in this world, the thing that finally made me snap is money. I recently got screwed over by Capital One, my credit card company. When I paid my bill last month I told them to remove my Bank of America account from the approved accounts and only use Wachovia since I no longer used my Bank of America account and only had like $0.20 in there. Well the girl obviously did not understand and charged my Bank of America account and removed Wachovia. This obviously resulted in an overdraft and returned item but I wasn’t aware of this until Bank of America sent me a notice at which point my Capital One account was overdue. So Capital One charged me $35 for an overdue account and $35 for a returned item. Then Bank of America charged me $31 for overdraft. All in all, $101 of fees for a $150 payment that never actually was paid. So I called Capital One who revamped their phone system to make it nearly impossible to get a human on the phone. When I did, he spoke worse English then a Dell tech. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he worked for both Dell and Capital One. He had no idea what I was talking about but kept telling me there was nothing he could do other then make another payment as soon as possible. So I did, I provided him with all my account info for Wachovia. What did he do? Submitted it using my Bank of America account, (this time Capital One e-mailed me a confirmation e-mail with the info). So I called back, fought the phone system and got another guy who spoke 4 words of English, they were “I can’t help you”. Apparently once they start a payment there’s no way to fix it. It was 4pm now, banks close in an hour. I broke out my calculator and balanced my checkbook with Wachovia and balanced all the “check card holds” I had. If I subtracted what I’d have to withdrawal to cover the overdraft fee and what Capital One was going to withdrawal from Bank of America then I had about $20 left over. Rushed over to Bank of America and deposited the money. All was well the next (today) when I checked Bank of America but when I checked Wachovia… All was not well. Apparently they didn’t list under the holds the $30 in gas I bought 6 days ago, I had assumed it was already processed. Now I was $8 in the red, but not only that. Based on how Wachovia processed the transactions, the last 4 transactions either took me in the red or happened in the red. One would think they would be done in date order or some logical order they would post to my account. Now if you’re wondering why so many transactions posted on a Tuesday morning, I haven’t a clue. But I had 12 transactions over the last 6 days which had not posted to my account happen to post. 1 of those 12 wasn’t even listed as pending. So the gas brought me to -$1.22 with a $30 overdraft charge. The can of coke and pack of gum for $0.91 I bought at work cause I was too broke to buy lunch… another $30 charge. The $3.18 at McD’s for lunch another day, $30 charge. And lastly, the $3.24 I spent on chicken at the grocery store for dinner…. $30 charge. Obviously the bank feels I should be punished to the max. Because I now the bank happily displays my account as negative $128.55. Which means when my next paycheck comes in on Thursday via DirectDeposit… The bank will take out $128.55 for themselves and leave me with the rest. The rest of course not being enough for rent, which is due on the 1st of the month. GOD I LOVE BEING A POOR COLLEGE STUDENT. So no idea how I’m going to afford anything this month with my $221 in bank fees when by regular month to month budget allows for $10 after my bills are paid and subtracting my grocery budget for the month. In addition to the credit card that’s maxed out because of my last ex-girlfriend borrowed money and never gave it backed.
I know what everyone says… get a student loan. Sure sure… Easy. Except with a maxed out credit card and with parents who have a super successful business, you don’t qualify for ANY. What about my parents? “You need to learn responsibility and how the real world operates… Get a job. You already have 2 jobs? Well, obviously you’re not trying hard enough. Get a better paying job.” To quote my father’s last speech to me. What did the financial aid office tell me “Well if you were a minority… we could have done something for you…” So right here, you’re going to hear it first a white American born 23 year old male college student (could I sound more like the stereotypical “majority” here or not), I wish I was a minority.
To top this all off my grades have been plummeting because I can’t focus on school because I’m working too damn much. This in turn is adding to more stress and when it’s come down to working extra hours or doing school work or even GOING to class, I’ve worked just to pay the bills. So in turn class is stressing me out and I can’t even focus in class and can’t even get motivated to go because it’s just stressful thinking about how behind I am. Catch 22 in a way.
So I’ve been using Gentoo as an escape, more chatting with people on IRC then doing actual Gentoo work because I’ve been so unmotivated and stressed to actually get anything accomplished. But until everything above starts looking up, I’ll be away.
Filed under: General, Linux, Personal
3 Responses to “Taking some time away from Gentoo”
Leave a Reply
October 25th, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Sounds like you spend a lot of time blogging as well…
I can’t believe you get a $30 charge everytime you make an overdraft purchase!
Try complaining to the banks some more, don’t give up. They can easily reverse charges just as easily as they applied them. If one excuse/story doesn’t work for them, make up a new story. Eventually the charges might get reversed. Blaming it on the Capital One chick is a good start.
October 25th, 2005 at 8:13 pm
I just think you should do all your correspondence with the credit card company and the bank in writing. That way you can avoid all those misunderstandings and both make clear demands of them to cover all the damages caused by their irresponsible handling of your case. Also note that many companies record the voice conversations their representatives hold, so you can always demand that they play back your conversation with the Capital One girl.
I can’t see any reason why you should pay for an error their employee made.
October 25th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
Ha, what a great country that America,
I sure am glad to live in a civilized country.