"It's hard to hide vacation time. People tend to notice when you aren't there. The culture may be such that no one asks or comments but that doesn't mean there is no damage done."
Well, people will notice when you're not there...but, honestly, who keeps up with how often someone is not 'there' over the course of a year?? I know when people are out that day...but, I could not for the life of me, tell you how often over this past year the people in the cubes around me have been out in total time.
I simply don't have the time and don't care enough to try to track what someone else is doing...I'd assume most people were the same way?
I mean, sure...if someone is out 1-2 days a week every week, I'd notice, but noticing someone had 4 vs 2-3 weeks vacation a year, I'd not notice over the course of a year.
"If Britney Spears isn't even going to *sing* at her concerts, what's the draw? Here's a recording, you can experience a modified, re-recorded version of this at high volume while drinking alcohol in a large room with one or two of your friends and thousands of strangers who don't mind spilling things on you."
Ah...I long for the days of yore with a Led Zeppelin concert (or other good groups of the time) where you'd get a 2-3 hour show, with the band actually playing AND singing live....and everyone was allowed to smoke whatever they brought in. Heck, today, you light a lighter in a concert, and you stand out like a beacon in the night, and the cops can spot you a mile away.
That and the assigned seating is a bummer...you can't move around and get to meet concert chicks...oh for the good old days.
"Yes! For instance, our Australian policy of public health care gave the American public a chance to see how such things work overseas, fortunately meaning they had ample warning about the DEATH PANELS!"
*sigh*...and yet, it looks like they are still going to pass this monstrosity of so-called healthcare reform, even though it really does not do much of anything they or the majority of Americans want it to do. It appears to just be a windfall for the insurance companies.
Why could they not just do it in parts...get the good stuff first, like provisions for pre-existing conditions? I can't see anyone unhappy with that. Also, why didn't they do the first thing...by making it where health insurance (like car and motorcycle insurance) can be bought and sold across state lines? Heck, this would actually BE an applicable use of the Interstate Commerce Act...
And the one thing that REALLY baffles me...the Democrats went on and on and on (and I agreed with them) that the Republicans screwed the pooch by not allowing the Medicare/Medicaid programs to bargain collectively for drug prices with the pharma industry to get the best price, like the VA Administration does, and YET...narry a peep about them righting this wrong in the current bills in the house and senate.
I wonder why? It was a good idea to criticize the Republicans on this...why is it not a good idea to DO this now while they have the power? Does this mean the Dems are just as bought and paid for as the Reps?
I'm amazed that they haven't passed special taxes in the US yet on recordable CD/DVDs and portable players, like ya'll have been describing in other countries. I guess it is likely just a matter of time....probably when the secret copyright treaty is signed.
That's American we prefer to be called Americans....we've had the name for a couple hundred years you know, and we still like to have it used to describe us.
"If you don't have a cheque card, does your bank guarantee all cheques? I have a checkbook from my US bank, but I've never actual"
Yes...all checks are assumed to be good. Last time I went to buy a car...I wrote a check for $10K for the downpayment, and drove out with the car in about an hour after...and it was getting late at night, so there was no verification of any type of my account....it was assumed to be good, writing hot checks is against the law, and there are pretty heavy penalties for doing it on purpose.
LOL...yeah, not reading the whole article on slashdow...who'd a thunk it?
:)
Seriously, interesting. I've not been in a theater projection room in quite awhile, and honestly I don't go out to see movies that often anymore (I have a much better system at home, with no idiots in the audience with me, and a fully stocked bar). But the past times I've been out...I would swear they were using real film projectors, and these aren't all old old theaters. I mean, unless they have the little hair dancing on the edge on the digital projectors just to make it realistic...
I'm thinking I've actually not seen a digital projector in a movie theater. Is this prevalent in the US, or just in EU?
I'm a bit of a privacy concerned type...I don't give out my SSN unless it is for SSN taxation purposes (and I've had to argue with a lot of utility companies, insurance..etc). I'd also be hesitant to give over my banking information (acct.#, routing numbers..etc)
Does that not bother anyone that uses ETF for what we're discussing here?
I mean, unless it is a close trusted friend, I'd not be comfortable with giving anyone that info, and especially not give it out for permission for them to withdraw from my acct....
Exactly how would this be done on the spot, spontaneously when buying a car?
Maybe I'm not familiar with how EFT is done over there...the only exposure I really have with it, is setting up and paying bills online through my bank, but, that take setting up an account, etc. (Oh and some accounts I have, the receiving end isn't hooked up electronically for those payments when I click it, the bank cuts a physical check, and mails it snail mail to that company/person).
But if I walk into a car dealership, and decide to buy a car...I'm not likely to have had anything set up with my bank to pay them in advance. I'm not gonna go in there, haggle a good deal on a car, and then have to wait a day, go home and arrange payment. Hell, the dealer doesn't want you to do that either, it would give too many customers the chance to think and change their minds.
So, tell me, if you can do it where you live...how do you do spontaneous, on the spot, one-off EFT's for large purchases (excluding say a credit card).
"Not all customers want access to electronic funds transfer.
They don't want access to their salery or wages??"
You don't have to have EFT to have access to your salary or wages.
Granted in the US, most companies prefer you to have at least automatic (electronic) deposit, but, even if you have that, you don't have to have EFT to access your money. You can take out cash, and we still do checks here readily.
Actually, until I read a post above this one, I'd never heard of any movement or action at all in the US to try to start moving away from checks. This is still pretty much a EU thing I'm guessing from reading here.
"(banks guarantee cheques, but only up to the value on the cheque guarantee card)."
I've heard this on a number of posts here, I've never heard f a cheque (check) card before. It must be a EU thing, as that I've never had to have a special card to cash or pay with a check here in the US. Usually at the most, they may ask to see my drivers license, but that is just for identity verification, etc.
"The funny thing is, the large banks had been pushing for the elimination of checks since the late '80s/early '90s because of the transportation costs involved. Check 21 (the colloquial name for check image legislation and a necessary first step to eliminating checks altogether) had been conceived by and lobbied for by the banks for quite some time prior to 9/11. I know that my company was an active participant in a pilot project long before then. We wanted to pull the trigger as soon as we legally could. My memory is hazy on this point, but I think we did so a year or two before 9/11."
This is news to me?!?!
I'd never heard that there had ever been any movement or attempt in the US to do away with checks....?
"maybe it's your bank that's expensive. A check costs me less than depositing the amount described. Credit cards have so many fees I don't even know why any business would accept them."
It is interesting, that here in New Orleans, there are STILL a number of restaurants that DO NOT accept credit cards, cash only (some do take checks too).
They don't want to put up with the hassle/fees with credit cards. I always have to try to remember if I'm going to one of those, and hit the ATM before I go there.
Not quite as many as when I moved here years ago, but, still a good number of them.
"We have one and it's cash. We don't need a second one that is unnecessarily expensive."
And what if you're not close to an ATM...or at the very least, not near YOUR banks ATM? (I pretty much refuse to take money out of an ATM that is not my banks, I can't stand the idea of paying money to get MY money out of a machine with the fees they charge).
"Maybe we could write a little note with our bank details on instructing the bank to pay the small business? He could then take it to the bank and get cash - or even just put it straight into his account."
Interesting.
I do most of my regular payments for bills from my bank. Many of them are set up to be sent electronically, but, some of them, like the credit union I have my motorcycle loan through, my rent payment to my landlord...the bank just cuts them a check and mails t to them.
I don't see any way, in the US at least, of getting rid of checks entirely. Not everyone is a business and had credit card acceptance. Heck most people my parents' age don't even know the first thing about paying bills online through their bank or otherwise, and write out checks for bills each month. You don't want to mail cash, you know.
I pay regular bills in the manner I described, but, for everything else, I'm trying my BEST to do strictly cash. Less traceable (nothing to hide, I just figure every less data point collected on me, the better), and it isn't as abstract as a credit card, so I KNOW when I'm spending money and don't get into debt.
I don't want a debit card....I always request an ATM card only for getting cash.
"Well...it depends on what you mean by "louder." Compression boosts the volume of quiet sounds, so while the peak volume of the commercial isn't any higher than the peak volume of the show (think explosions, gunshots, yelling etc.) the average volume certainly is. In other words, the woman who is explaining to you the wonders of $DEVICE is speaking in a normal tone of voice elevated to the volume of a shout. I'd call that louder."
Correct, that's basically what I was going for. I thought they had had some regulations about volume...which was pretty much translated as 'peak volume'...and they used compression to do exactly what you described to slightly bend the rules to make things seem louder while still technically staying within the rules.
I'm still trying to figure out from the article....how the fuck that 15 minutes of voice over there is a days wages, and yet they can somehow afford to text message?
I mean, unless you have an unlimited plan, $0.10 US (whatever the equivalent is over there) adds up to a lot of money real quick.
Actually, from what I was to understand, the commercials themselves aren't at louder volumes, but in stead they use extreme amounts of compression on the audio...so that it seems louder.
Much like the compression used in the 'loudness wars' on modern music.
"I personally don't want to risk losing half my shit I own when I find a new piece of pussy I like.
wow. you must have the real high class ladies beating down your door with that approach."
Well, silly...you don't tell them that...!!
You tell them whatever it takes and you act however it takes to land them. Telling them how it really is sure isn't gonna get you laid...
"How is it to talk to another human? It's been so long that I can't remember."
Well, you kind of have to talk to them if you wanna get laid any.
I mean, as much as I long for the good old days when you could just pick out the one you wanted, club her over the head, drag her back and do your thing...today, that will likely land you in jail.
So, yeah, in this say in age, you really do have to talk to people...you now have to use your tongue as the metaphorical 'club' to hit them over the head with so you can get laid without getting arrested.
"I can't even fathom willingly taking a job where I' m actively miserable for 8 hours a day, let alone 10 or more, regardless of how much money I had to spend during the remaining hour or two per day when I wasn't at work or asleep. I know people who'd spend 12-16 hours per day bathing in cowshit if they were paid enough. For the most part, they make tons of money for a few months, then get completely fried & burned out (if they're lucky, coinciding with an economic downturn), then spend a year or two with lots of time to enjoy the money they made... if they could stop stressing out about how they were going to afford their $3k+ mortgage payments 9-14 months down the road. If they're lucky, they'll get to enjoy a few years of happy retirement... Iff they don't die from sudden cardiac death or commit suicide before they're 60, instead. It's a good thing THEY have plenty of money to chase women, too... because they can't seem to hold the interest of one for more than 2 or 3 weeks unless they treat her like a de-facto employee & pay her enough to work the role of happy, faithful housewife who views them as anything more than a funding source. The ironic thing is that if you add up the money they've made over the past 10 years, subtract the amount I've made over the same time period, then additionally subtract out the premium they've had to spend just to cope with the demands of their jobs, I still come out ahead of them without even factoring quality of life into the equation."
Well, of course, different strokes for different folks, eh?
I mean with your statement about women and not hanging on to them for more than 2-3 weeks being a bad thing, to me personally, that is next to nirvana!! The best thing about that type set ups is that they do in fact leave...
If you're the type that wants to have kids, then sure, get married and have them, IMHO, that's the only reason to get married. I personally don't want to risk losing half my shit I own when I find a new piece of pussy I like.
That aside..the guys you described that worked hard, then took months off....I like that, I've done it., the point is, you have to be disciplined enough to NOT spend too much money while making it and to learn what your means are and live within them. If you don't make $300K or more a year, you really have no reason to have a $3K mortguage, if you intend to not stress out every day of your life, and be able to retire at a decent age on a good standard of living.
And, for the right bill rate, yes, I'd do some work that I didn't really like..short term to sock away some big bucks, but, frankly, no, I've never really ever had to do that. While I don't LOVE my jobs ( don't think I could love ANY job except maybe for porn star), I get enjoyment out of it. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd still futz with computer to do things like a mythvt system, or whatever...something fun. I'd never bother doing anything remotely with it connected with earning money and REQUIRE or obligate me in any way with time or convenience.
But then again...I guess everyone is different...I've never understood how people out there actually seem to define themselves as aperson by their jobs. I've seen people actually get upset and depressed because they got fired/laid off or whatever...they took it personally and felt bad inside or something. I don't get it...my job is not me, it is only a means to leave to I can be and fulfill what is me. Job gain or loss is just business.
Slashdot Mirror
No problem...they're not Americans, they are Canadians and Mexicans. We are Americans.
As for name calling...geez, what put such a bug up your ass? I didn't say anything to merit that type of response.
A quote parent button???
I've never seen one of those before on /. ??
I'm not seeing it right now, I cut and paste in with HTML tags the quotes I use...always have done it that way.
Well, people will notice when you're not there...but, honestly, who keeps up with how often someone is not 'there' over the course of a year?? I know when people are out that day...but, I could not for the life of me, tell you how often over this past year the people in the cubes around me have been out in total time.
I simply don't have the time and don't care enough to try to track what someone else is doing...I'd assume most people were the same way?
I mean, sure...if someone is out 1-2 days a week every week, I'd notice, but noticing someone had 4 vs 2-3 weeks vacation a year, I'd not notice over the course of a year.
Ah...I long for the days of yore with a Led Zeppelin concert (or other good groups of the time) where you'd get a 2-3 hour show, with the band actually playing AND singing live....and everyone was allowed to smoke whatever they brought in. Heck, today, you light a lighter in a concert, and you stand out like a beacon in the night, and the cops can spot you a mile away.
That and the assigned seating is a bummer...you can't move around and get to meet concert chicks...oh for the good old days.
*sigh*...and yet, it looks like they are still going to pass this monstrosity of so-called healthcare reform, even though it really does not do much of anything they or the majority of Americans want it to do. It appears to just be a windfall for the insurance companies.
Why could they not just do it in parts...get the good stuff first, like provisions for pre-existing conditions? I can't see anyone unhappy with that. Also, why didn't they do the first thing...by making it where health insurance (like car and motorcycle insurance) can be bought and sold across state lines? Heck, this would actually BE an applicable use of the Interstate Commerce Act...
And the one thing that REALLY baffles me...the Democrats went on and on and on (and I agreed with them) that the Republicans screwed the pooch by not allowing the Medicare/Medicaid programs to bargain collectively for drug prices with the pharma industry to get the best price, like the VA Administration does, and YET...narry a peep about them righting this wrong in the current bills in the house and senate.
I wonder why? It was a good idea to criticize the Republicans on this...why is it not a good idea to DO this now while they have the power? Does this mean the Dems are just as bought and paid for as the Reps?
Hmmm....
I'm amazed that they haven't passed special taxes in the US yet on recordable CD/DVDs and portable players, like ya'll have been describing in other countries. I guess it is likely just a matter of time....probably when the secret copyright treaty is signed.
That's American we prefer to be called Americans....we've had the name for a couple hundred years you know, and we still like to have it used to describe us.
Thanks, and have a great day.
Yes...all checks are assumed to be good. Last time I went to buy a car...I wrote a check for $10K for the downpayment, and drove out with the car in about an hour after...and it was getting late at night, so there was no verification of any type of my account....it was assumed to be good, writing hot checks is against the law, and there are pretty heavy penalties for doing it on purpose.
Seriously, interesting. I've not been in a theater projection room in quite awhile, and honestly I don't go out to see movies that often anymore (I have a much better system at home, with no idiots in the audience with me, and a fully stocked bar). But the past times I've been out...I would swear they were using real film projectors, and these aren't all old old theaters. I mean, unless they have the little hair dancing on the edge on the digital projectors just to make it realistic...
I'm thinking I've actually not seen a digital projector in a movie theater. Is this prevalent in the US, or just in EU?
Interesting...
I'm a bit of a privacy concerned type...I don't give out my SSN unless it is for SSN taxation purposes (and I've had to argue with a lot of utility companies, insurance..etc). I'd also be hesitant to give over my banking information (acct.#, routing numbers..etc)
Does that not bother anyone that uses ETF for what we're discussing here?
I mean, unless it is a close trusted friend, I'd not be comfortable with giving anyone that info, and especially not give it out for permission for them to withdraw from my acct....
How do they DRM that?!?!
How does this work exactly?
You walk into or phone up your bank and say "I want you to send Phil Magroin $45", and they just know how to do it?
Exactly how would this be done on the spot, spontaneously when buying a car?
Maybe I'm not familiar with how EFT is done over there...the only exposure I really have with it, is setting up and paying bills online through my bank, but, that take setting up an account, etc. (Oh and some accounts I have, the receiving end isn't hooked up electronically for those payments when I click it, the bank cuts a physical check, and mails it snail mail to that company/person).
But if I walk into a car dealership, and decide to buy a car...I'm not likely to have had anything set up with my bank to pay them in advance. I'm not gonna go in there, haggle a good deal on a car, and then have to wait a day, go home and arrange payment. Hell, the dealer doesn't want you to do that either, it would give too many customers the chance to think and change their minds.
So, tell me, if you can do it where you live...how do you do spontaneous, on the spot, one-off EFT's for large purchases (excluding say a credit card).
You don't have to have EFT to have access to your salary or wages.
Granted in the US, most companies prefer you to have at least automatic (electronic) deposit, but, even if you have that, you don't have to have EFT to access your money. You can take out cash, and we still do checks here readily.
Actually, until I read a post above this one, I'd never heard of any movement or action at all in the US to try to start moving away from checks. This is still pretty much a EU thing I'm guessing from reading here.
I've heard this on a number of posts here, I've never heard f a cheque (check) card before. It must be a EU thing, as that I've never had to have a special card to cash or pay with a check here in the US. Usually at the most, they may ask to see my drivers license, but that is just for identity verification, etc.
This is news to me?!?!
I'd never heard that there had ever been any movement or attempt in the US to do away with checks....?
It is interesting, that here in New Orleans, there are STILL a number of restaurants that DO NOT accept credit cards, cash only (some do take checks too).
They don't want to put up with the hassle/fees with credit cards. I always have to try to remember if I'm going to one of those, and hit the ATM before I go there.
Not quite as many as when I moved here years ago, but, still a good number of them.
And what if you're not close to an ATM...or at the very least, not near YOUR banks ATM? (I pretty much refuse to take money out of an ATM that is not my banks, I can't stand the idea of paying money to get MY money out of a machine with the fees they charge).
Interesting.
I do most of my regular payments for bills from my bank. Many of them are set up to be sent electronically, but, some of them, like the credit union I have my motorcycle loan through, my rent payment to my landlord...the bank just cuts them a check and mails t to them.
I don't see any way, in the US at least, of getting rid of checks entirely. Not everyone is a business and had credit card acceptance. Heck most people my parents' age don't even know the first thing about paying bills online through their bank or otherwise, and write out checks for bills each month. You don't want to mail cash, you know.
I pay regular bills in the manner I described, but, for everything else, I'm trying my BEST to do strictly cash. Less traceable (nothing to hide, I just figure every less data point collected on me, the better), and it isn't as abstract as a credit card, so I KNOW when I'm spending money and don't get into debt.
I don't want a debit card....I always request an ATM card only for getting cash.
Correct, that's basically what I was going for. I thought they had had some regulations about volume...which was pretty much translated as 'peak volume'...and they used compression to do exactly what you described to slightly bend the rules to make things seem louder while still technically staying within the rules.
I mean, unless you have an unlimited plan, $0.10 US (whatever the equivalent is over there) adds up to a lot of money real quick.
Much like the compression used in the 'loudness wars' on modern music.
wow. you must have the real high class ladies beating down your door with that approach."
Well, silly...you don't tell them that...!! You tell them whatever it takes and you act however it takes to land them. Telling them how it really is sure isn't gonna get you laid...
Well, you kind of have to talk to them if you wanna get laid any.
I mean, as much as I long for the good old days when you could just pick out the one you wanted, club her over the head, drag her back and do your thing...today, that will likely land you in jail.
So, yeah, in this say in age, you really do have to talk to people...you now have to use your tongue as the metaphorical 'club' to hit them over the head with so you can get laid without getting arrested.
Well, of course, different strokes for different folks, eh?
I mean with your statement about women and not hanging on to them for more than 2-3 weeks being a bad thing, to me personally, that is next to nirvana!! The best thing about that type set ups is that they do in fact leave...
If you're the type that wants to have kids, then sure, get married and have them, IMHO, that's the only reason to get married. I personally don't want to risk losing half my shit I own when I find a new piece of pussy I like.
That aside..the guys you described that worked hard, then took months off....I like that, I've done it., the point is, you have to be disciplined enough to NOT spend too much money while making it and to learn what your means are and live within them. If you don't make $300K or more a year, you really have no reason to have a $3K mortguage, if you intend to not stress out every day of your life, and be able to retire at a decent age on a good standard of living.
And, for the right bill rate, yes, I'd do some work that I didn't really like..short term to sock away some big bucks, but, frankly, no, I've never really ever had to do that. While I don't LOVE my jobs ( don't think I could love ANY job except maybe for porn star), I get enjoyment out of it. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd still futz with computer to do things like a mythvt system, or whatever...something fun. I'd never bother doing anything remotely with it connected with earning money and REQUIRE or obligate me in any way with time or convenience.
But then again...I guess everyone is different...I've never understood how people out there actually seem to define themselves as aperson by their jobs. I've seen people actually get upset and depressed because they got fired/laid off or whatever...they took it personally and felt bad inside or something. I don't get it...my job is not me, it is only a means to leave to I can be and fulfill what is me. Job gain or loss is just business.