Thanks For The Heads Up

Today was moving day. I must admit that as someone whose life has been a little bit nomadic recently, my own personal moving was rather similar to that of Abraham Lincoln, who when moving in with someone who became a longtime friend, was able to bring up a bag of his belongings and move in very quickly. The largest share of my own property is books, for a variety of reasons. While in the past I have spent a large amount of money on books (too large a percentage, really), in the last couple of years the vast majority of my books have been free review copies, which has greatly enriched my library at no expense to myself other than the effort of writing a book review, which I would have done anyway. So, while the movers were moving heavy sofa sleepers and other furniture, and even suitcases that they really did not have to bring (but were heavy and full of books), I sat down and finished a book I was reading for review.

After most of the moving was over, and I simply had to bring back a few more books, I ate a rather tasty chicken parmesian dinner at a restaurant, and then found that just like last night, my debit card was declined despite having plenty of funds. Since it is an embarrassing thing to have one’s credit card declined two straight times, even though I (fortunately!) had enough cash to cover both meals (which is a rarity), I called the customer service line and eventually got in touch with someone from fraud protection, which I found a bit ominous, and who informed me that a purchase of mine from a wedding gift registry at Bed, Bath, & Beyond had been viewed by my bank as suspicious, triggering a fraud protection hold. Since the third party agency responsible for that did not have my phone number, they were unable to inform me, but when I confirmed the expenses as my own, my debit card was freed from its state of purgatory and I was able to go about my business buying groceries.

I have found much to my vexation that I have had to deal far too much with customer service at my credit union. I had to keep calling them (and my temp agency) for almost two weeks over a problem with my first check not entering my direct deposit. That was, to put it very mildly, a bit frustrating, and other people seemed to be amazed that I was not upset, even though I was aware that as I had some responsibility in that matter, I was less upset than I might have been normally, and I’m generally not the sort of person who likes to alienate those who I am asking for help. Then, on Friday, I had to call the credit union again before sunset in order to get them to change the address, since I am hardly ever able to get to the bank during normal business hours (given that I work). Then, a purchase for a wedding gift for an online registry forced me to call them yet again. Nor is this likely to be an end to my calls to customer service, as my credit union made promises to reward me both a referral bonus as well as use their direct deposit feature. It is a bit irritating to have to continually nag people to have them do their jobs.

For rather personal reasons, I really hate nagging other people. Since I really resent it when people nag me, I really hate nagging others, since I think that people should be able to be trusted to do what they are supposed to do. When that is not the case, I tend to feel a bit irritated, given that I try to keep myself busy doing what I find productive or enjoyable, and I find dealing with problems with money to be neither productive or enjoyable, as I’d quite frankly like to live in such a way that I don’t have to worry obsessively about money or property.
For equally personal reasons, I also hate it when people do not communicate important matters to me. I have spent a great deal of time and personal effort seeking to become a better communicator, and more gracious at handling the communications of others. No doubt much work remains for me to be done in such matters, but all the same I am aware that open and honest communication that is not too aggressive is a task that requires a lot of effort, and I am willing to put in the effort (especially with people who are polite and respectful, but even with those who are not). I find it particularly upsetting when other people do not take the effort to do so with me, and make me communicate with them when I notice that something is wrong when I really should not have to be guessing such matters because other people have the responsibility to inform me themselves. Seriously, I’m not that hard to get in touch with if you want to do it and have the time and ability to do it. Quite honestly, as long as someone wants to communicate important matters with me, I am content, and I hope they would feel the same about me.