Another "Opt Out" Story We get what we pay for-no more-no less-the end

I bought twelve months of XM Satellite radio.
I paid for it with my credit card.
No contract.
Just paid for one year.
I get a collection bill in the mail for 26 dollars.
According to XM they are authorized to continue my service for one month beyond what I pay for and bill me for it.
Is this for real?
Since when do you get to authorize your own service to me when I paid for 12 months?
Suck it up, XM.
Take me to court..
I am sick of companies screwing us by "fine printing".
There needs to be a new law protecting consumers.
Consumers pay money for a certain service and a certain amount, period.
If businesses decide to not cancel after that  agreed upon amount has ended they need to eat it.
We get what we pay for -no more-no less-the end.

When Irrationality Drives Our Health Care Decisions..

What is it about affordable health care for all that makes normal people act irrationally?
I'm stumped.
Real facts, real figures, real experiences don't cut it with America.

I have worked in health care a good chunk of my life. I am old enough to remember the transition from treating need to treating based on ability to pay.
Twenty years ago the phrase, "Your insurance doesn't cover that" would have been against the Hippocratic Oath.
Now Doctors hide behind HMO's fearing the dwindling of income, mute.

Michael Moore wants to throw in the towel. Truth is not a motivator for outrage and change.
I don't understand and I am to the point where I don't want to anymore.

My country is full of crazy people where the number one TV station is Fox News, and they believe Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. They buy books written by crazy authors who tell them the rich need to be protected and for some reason they believe it.
They go to "Tea Parties" protecting the rich from tax increases.
They refuse to allow the President of the United States to speak with their children.
They believe the crazy media stories about dictatorships and socialism.
They begin to write about harming our President.

Insanity. Crazy, bizarre, unpredictable insanity.

Give this country psychotic meds.
When eighty year olds smugly tell 50 year olds they don't deserve the same Medicare benefits-"quit smoking and drinking"

I can't think about it anymore.
Crazy people will run this country. Crazy people own it now.
The day I have a fistful of dollars in my pocket, my visa, passport and citizenship will be left at the doorstep of the United States.
Don't bother with the insults, I've heard them all. Insults are a national past time.
The United States of America is one mean, ugly country today.

If The Government Only ..Everyone's An Expert..

"If they just quit wasting the taxpayers money"

"Cut spending"

"Wasted taxpayer money"

"Greedy politicians"

"Greedy (city, county, state, federal) government

"Irresponsible, incompetent"----

You fill in the rest.

Everyone is an expert in finance today.

Your favorite government party, angry newspaper commentators, editorials, yada yada yada

As the United States Economy tangos with failure, the passion of emotion overwhelms the steps.

Have you noticed?

We have no experts..if we did we wouldn't be in this mess.

And you, who zealously believe if the government only did it your way -we would all be just peachy-

are no expert either..

Any "socialist" countries out there need teachers?

The citizens in my country, the United States, do not believe all citizens deserve access to free health care.

The citizens in my country no longer believe we should have a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens.

Is there a country in this world who will accept me? I have two Masters Degrees and a BA in Social Work.

I want to live in a country which believes we are all created equal.

Opting Out-It isn't just banks....

Banks are notorious inventors of sneaky methods for parting you and your money.

The overdraft fee-infamous for the inability to opt out of it-along with debiting the largest amount first, so many overdraft fees can be generated on smaller amounts, are all methods of arrogant banks no longer interested in customer goodwill and if you have noticed, signs of monopolistic behavior. Let's not forget the "holding your money" if deposited after 3pm, but processing automatic withdrawals anytime after midnight, or holding a check 7 days -in the age of computer processing and fast access to accounts worldwide.Banks have become one of those necessities that many of us dread and resent.

Banks aren't the only sinners in this lust for stealing money from paycheck to paycheck Americans.

I find this opt out process is popular with other businesses and it really pisses me off.

I have been a customer with T-Mobile for 10 years. They play the same game. I have a family plan with unlimited texting-with teens-this is a critical component.

T-Mobile invented a new service called Family Allowances where you can pay extra to set limits on minutes, change services, decide what services can and cannot be used.

I have a beef with that.

First, I think buying a plan with allotted minutes means just that. If I buy a plan with a thousand minutes, it is a thousand minutes. If I buy a plan with downloads, it is a plan with downloads.

Phone companies make their money when someone doesn't follow the rules. Overages on minutes are prohibitively expensive.

I think the contracts should provide exactly what a purchaser pays for-no more and no less.

It isn't really a contract for a thousand minutes if it is allowed to go over the agreed upon number, is it?

I believe, once again, services should be an opt in, not opt out. If I pay for thousand minutes, I should get a thousand minutes. When I reach that limit, no more.

I have gone in and set those perimeters so many times, it makes me want to scream. I have paid for the ability to control the phones-and thought that was ridiculous.

Why should I pay to control a contract I am already paying for?

This practice is absurd.

After ten years, I'd had it.

I called them, cancelled the expired phones, and had one phone left on contract-mine.

I said, give me the cheapest plan.

21.95

No frills, I said.

Everyone in my house goes to Boost.

21.95 plus ten dollars for taxes and fees!

Half of my phone bill again, for the cost of maintaining the contract!

I asked, "is there any way of getting out of this contract?"

"For 200.00", I was told.

I asked, "What about texts?" If I receive a text, do I have to pay for it?"

"Yes" customer service replied. Unless you "opt out"

"There you go again," I point out.

"Another service I didn't ask for, which I would have to pay for unless I ask you not to give it to me, even though I don't have it on my plan"

"No texts".

See how it works?

Go Boost.

You get what you pay for.

A New Cliche-"Get Over Playing the Race Card..

We could discuss the meanness of the "new" American culture, but that would take volumes.

Part of this once repressed American cruelty, now blatantly expressed and richly primed by media sources, is the phrase, "Get over the race card, liberals, it's not the sixties".

Ironically, race as an issue hasn't changed since the sixties, minority populations are still at the bottom rung when it comes to education, income, location, professions, access to medical care, housing and just about any census statistic recorded.

Yes, race remains an issue.

Most prominently is the fact minorities are fast becoming the majority in the United States overwhelming the white population with their numbers and a new world order will emerge, whether whites like it or not.

The vested interests in our racist society in maintaining the current status quo no longer sneaks into policy, economics, civil and criminal law. It is obvious and blatant.

President Obama's election as first black President of the Unites States cannot be downplayed.

It is here. We deal with the ramifications of the repressed racist feelings of a nation, who for the past fifty years, pretended it wasn't an issue, all the while, ignoring the ongoing statistics of repression.

The media , while it believes it is ramping up ratings, is recording history, our history, of once again, trying to avoid the label of racist by calling our country's anger, "tea parties, tax protesters, etc."

Since when did this country worry about the national debt? Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a white President spent vast amounts of money pulling the United States out of a serious depression.

The protests of the 2000's are about race.

This is not a "liberal, white, issue". This is a "white, racist" issue, channeled as a weak excuse of protest by a large population of very angry racist Americans.

What is surprising is the vastness of this population in America.

Work and the Diminutiveness of Aging

Diminutive. It is the word that rolled around in my mind today as I was at work. The diminutiveness of my soul, or so it felt. Working in a job which I did 25 years ago for about the same pay. A women- the same age, 56, stopped by my desk and proceeded to tell me how important it was to wear makeup and always dress nice, even at Publix. Because age discredits us-whether we are competent or not-especially if we are competent-because our appearance is now the judging factor-and looking older is a mark against us-so always wear make up and nice clothes-never step out in sweats, or casual clothes. Look professional. Even at Wal Mart.

I ponder that advice. After having worked many years for both Masters degrees, running an agency, well actually more than one, and returning to school at age 39 to get a teaching degree in elementary education.

I consider how simple the judgement is made by looking at the wrinkles on my face, and the stoutness gained in my fifties. It seems the stereotypes offered to me are the Helen Gurley Brown, death mask of botox or the grandma wrinkles, which might make me employable at a daycare.

I observe the age old process of reinventing the wheel, and considering it new-something which occurs -an evolutionary process, repeating over and over again. The bright young minds with the new suggestions which have already been suggested, and yes, they are good suggestions, and for some reason over the past fifty years, someone considers these same ideas, not good. So often not tried.

My silence allows me to watch the assumptions of younger adults-those assumptions considering me old and out of ideas. I have learned, by presenting these ideas, it is the younger adults very youthful immaturity which replies back, the need to be competitive rather than evaluate what is best for clients.

A simple truth about is aging is yes, often, the judgement of younger days dissipates, what is left is the puzzle of what is best for the client. how can whatever program structure is on the table, best serve them. No ego. No threat. No territory to conquer.

Just focus.

Not looking for a better way to reinvent the wheel. Just want to make sure all possible methods have been exhausted of fitting it, before throwing in the towel, and once again, moving through the same repetitive evolutionary process, using new buzz words.

My face, my body, my words, often my expressions, which aren't hip, rob me of deep conversations with younger staff, unless I can engage them individually. I find most people fascinating-how they think, feel-how they got that way. What makes them tick.

My listening without interrupting, my silence, my patience are also what dates me as an older person.

All those skills which are so needed in our society of text messages, voice mail and e-mails. Real time. Real listening. Expression. Interest.

All age me in a society which values time more than intimacy, expediency over detail and judgement over compassion.