Bank of America scam

Here's a nice little scam my bank plays on me to penalize me for paying off my full credit card balance. Normally my payment is due on the 15th or 16th of the month. It's usually timed pretty well that I can make a payment at the same time at the mid month pay period. On the rare occasions when I am able to pay off the full balance, just to make it more difficult for me to be able to do that again the following month, they move my payment due date up 5 days the next month. Then if you don't notice the change in due date, they whack you with a $40 late payment charge. That's their policy. Of course they don't call it a full payment penalty, but that's what it is.

Big banks suck.

You Call This RAPID Transit?

I used to be a regular MBTA Commuter Rail and subway rider, so I am very accustomed to Boston's dysfunctional system- especially the Green Line and North Station. Both are jokes.

I've mentioned here before the absurdity of building an all new transportation hub (North Station) that is used by thousands of commuters a day (in addition to serving as the entry area to a 20,000 seat stadium) that has a 15 foot wide waiting area, and one two-stall bathroom located at the furthest possible point from the train platforms. The place is an absolute joke.

And when I worked in the city, I generally would walk from the Back Bay to North Station because the chances were 50/50 that you would beat the Green Line by walking. At least you knew how long it would take if you walked.

So yesterday I took the train in to the Red Sox game. The commuter rail ride from my home on the North Shore is only about a half hour, half of which is spent negotiating the track switching area along the final mile. It used to be that the biggest bottleneck of the trip, and the reason I usually avoided taking the train to such events was having to use the decrepit elevated Green Line station, and having to wait in line at the single booth for a token.

But hey, I figured, I know there is a spiffy new subway station, there is the much hyped Charlie Card. And it's 2006. Boston must finally have caught up with the times, and there must be token machines galore.

Well that was giving much too much credit to this stupid annoying city.

Came out of the train station, and entered the gleaming new combined Green and Orange Line station, and sure enough, a line stretched nearly out the door to the SINGLE token booth manned by the same slow lazy, government union worker type that was always manning the single token booth in the old elevated station. Not a token machine or Charlie Card machine in sight.

That's Boston. They can build new multi-million dollars stations, increase prices regularly, but they can't figure out that at one of the busiest subways stations in the system on the day of a Red Sox game, they could probably use more options for selling tokens than one slow fat man.

Then, of course, once through the token line, it was 15 minutes till a train came, when one came it was an E train that didn't go to Fenway, and the thing creaked along at 2 miles an hour the whole way. Finally just got out and walked.

FAQ About Tip Jar Etiquette

Generally I'm not completely opposed to the concept of the tip jar. I freely choose to spend $1.79 for my grande coffee every morning rather than making a cup of Maxwell House before I leave the house. So throwing the extra 21 cents to the barista doesn't make me extra cranky. They usually give me good service.

But there are many questions and personal conflicts that the development of the tip jar has brought up.

• If I order my coffee from the barista, but a cashier rings me up, who gets my tip?


• What if the barista is a bitch today, but the cashier very courteous. How do I specify that only the cashier should get my 21 cents?


• Is Big Coffee Corporation actually getting my tip, because they are paying their workers less figuring the tip is now a part of their wages, like most restaurants do with their waitstaff?


• If the bill comes to $2.25, and I decide I want to get rid of one of the quarters in my pocket, rather than breaking a $20, do I now look like a cheap guy?


• How come there are so many bills in the tip jar? Is that where things are going next?


• Am I supposed to wait for the cashier to give me the change back so I can put it in the tip jar myself, or can I just say "it's all set?"


• If I do the latter, do I seem like I'm only giving a tip because I don't feel like waiting (which may be the case).


• If there are only 2 cents coming back, and the cashier is slow, then I really feel foolish waiting for her to give me back the 2 cents so that I can throw in the tip jar, don't I?


• Say the bill comes to $2.05. Do I give a 46% tip for a cup of coffee? Do I give nothing? Do I drop in some of the change but secretly hold a couple quarters in my hand to keep?


• If I know the bill is going to come to $2.05, do I pull out a $20, so it's easier to walk away with the change.


• I suppose using the tip jar as the "take a penny dish" is in bad form.


• We go to a local diner for breakfast quite often. It's a place where you leave the tip on the table, and pay the bill at the cash register. But there is a tip jar at the cash register. Am I expected to tip the cashier just for taking my money?

Dope with a Capital C

Just had to call Capital One because my credit card had expired, and they never sent me a new one. Chances are they sent it, and I threw it out because nearly every day, I get some new credit card offer in the mail from them, and I just tear it in half and throw it away.

But that's not what I'm complaining about.

The person on the phone sounded like she never finished the third grade. I'd rather speak to someone in India with a brain, than to speak to some home grown idiot. How can a big company such as Capital One have people answer their phones that can't even speak. You know after the first two words out of their mouths that you are in trouble. And this isn't one of those right-wing rants about learning to speak English. She had no discernible accent other than moron-ese.

So she tells me they will send me out a new one because that one must be lost in the mail. I ask her "Well, will it have the same number?" "Yes" "What if someone finds the lost one. Won't they be able to use it?" That question totally stumped her, but she moved on to attempt to read me the script to sell me some new service (although I couldn't understand what it was) I didn't need.

You know, I've dealt with this company before, and I'm tired of them. I just got an Apple credit card that has a lower rate anyways, and so far at least they've been courteous and able to speak when I've had to deal with them. From now on I'm using that one for everything, until that bank pisses me off.

Too fast food

Dinner with the family at Bertucci's tonight. Kids like it cause they give them dough and crayons to play with, and they like the mac and cheese. It's a slightly better than average chain restaurant. Generally we avoid chain restaurants, but when you are bringing the kids, you are limited for options. It beats the 99, or TGI Fridays. It's about as high-end as you can go with a three and four year old. For mom and dad it's the illusion of a decent dining experience. Food is alright. Atmosphere is alright. You can get an alrightglass of wine. But there is always something that annoys me.

This is the second or maybe third time we've had this particular issue with Bertucci's. You go, sit down in the faux-elegant dining room, with faux-elegant lighting. Order some real italian-sounding dinner: trenette al bolognese (rather than spaghetti with meat sauce). You almost can pretend that you are at a real italian restaurant in the North end. They bring your alright glass of wine, your alright salad, and your dough balls. You just are getting settled in, and then within two minutes, your meals arrive. So much for the illusion of a real dining experience. You couldn't have gotten served at McDonalds that quickly.

And its not that the food tastes bad (although I always feel somewhat gross after eating there.) It's just a little unsettling to go out to a relatively decent meal that's going to cost you 60 bucks, and have the food thrown in front of you in two minutes. How can they get all the other details of the illusion right, and then screw up the pacing that badly. And, like I said, this is at least the second or third time, we've had this experience at Bertucci's.

Couple hours later:
You know, I have to strengthen my suckiness rating for Bertucci's. I feel like shit. And now that I think about it, I always feel like shit after eating at Bertuccis.