Commentary by Wayne Lee
This week’s tale of woe began as I started my day last Saturday. I crawled out of bed and made my way to the kitchen for a bowl of Cheerios. When I began to pour the milk, it came out in chunks. I checked the expiration date, and it was still three days away. The last time this happened the container was nearly finished, and I just poured the remainder down the drain. Frustration number one.
This time was different. I had only used one third of the milk before it went bad again. I decided to take it back to the store and ask for a replacement. The transaction was more complicated than I expected. It required a photo ID, and I produced the debit card I had used to make the purchase in order to prove I had bought it there. Eventually, the exchange was approved.
I went to the rear of the store for the half-gallon jug of what I like to call “moo juice,” and since I was in the store, I picked up a box of Ritz crackers. I went to the self-checkout to pay for my crackers and my card was declined. I tried again. Declined again. I went home to see what was up with my bank account. Frustration number two.
Once there, I got on the computer to check my account and found it was overdrawn due to a $137.50 charge for a monthly subscription to Quick Books Online. Further exploration revealed the same charge the month before with a $10 discount for opening the account I never ordered an online payroll system for a business I don’t have. I should note that most of my bills, including my rent, are paid directly from my account, so I didn’t really notice that much money was gone. I immediately called my bank’s 800 number for customer service.
After much discussion and explanation, it was obvious my account had been hacked. My password had been changed to an alphanumeric code of two letters and four numbers. So, my account is frozen as the bank begins their investigation, which will take anywhere from two weeks to 30 days (and it’s only 1 p.m.). They offered to put the disputed amount as a conditional deposit, but I declined. If this went south, it would only reduce my already scarce funds. The way this day was going, I chose to ride it out until the end of the month. Frustration number three.
The next thing on my to-do list was dealing with some troubles regarding my cell phone. When I lost my previous cell phone, I reactivated my wife’s old phone with my number. However, if I try to download an app from Google, her name comes up and requires her Gmail address which I don’t recall after nearly five years since her passing.
It was a nice day, so I put my portable office (aka my backpack) on Da Beast and headed to the T-Mobile office in White City for assistance. After the 20-minute ride, I arrived at the office only to find an empty building with a small sign on the door with a QR code I’m supposed to use to locate the nearest functioning office. I still don’t know because I have never successfully executed a QR code. Frustration number five.
So, I headed back to Eagle Point. During my ride out I came across a construction site at the intersection of Hwy. 62 and Avenue G where a section of pavement had been removed, and I had to ride over a four-inch concrete curb. Da Beast isn’t built for off-road conditions, so it was quite a jolt as I had no choice but to continue forward. On the reverse trip home, I was prepared for the eminent drop off. What I didn’t see was the large chunk of concrete that had turned black from all the pavement that had been removed. I hit that concrete so hard it bounced the back end up, sending my backpack flying into the air where it landed in the middle of the street.
I had to scramble to recover it from the traffic that was just waiting for the light to change. All my camera gear is in that backpack and fearing the worst, I did a quick check and was relieved to find everything intact. Frustration number six.
At this point I threw in the towel, called it a day, and ate a pint of mint chocolate ice cream. At least the day ended on a positive note.
