How Do You Pull Yourself Out of the Pit?

Some of you may remember my story about credit card fraud which you can read here.    Two men charged a few thousand dollars for jewelry at our store and then called their credit card company and 'reported' that they were never in the store.  The credit card company gave them their money back which means they have the merchandise plus their refund.  I spent over 30 hours on the phone (mostly on hold) over the course of a few days fighting this and was finally able to connect with a supervisor in Visa's fraud department.  What he told me was shocking!

Credit card companies will always side with the cardholder -- even when it is a fraudulent card.  It is the 'rule of law' initially set up.  Going to court to fight that decision would only be a waste of time and money.  The agent was apologetic but explained that is the law and there is nothing we can do about it.  The first time this happened to us, it cost us $6,000.  Now.....it happened again.  These thieves hit several stores in our small town the same day -- we are all up the proverbial creek.  Does that seem fair?

In the meantime, we sold a guitar amp on eBay which we hoped would help recoup our losses.  The buyer decided he did not want to keep it and sent it back but didn't pack it well and this is how it arrived.

How Important Are Holidays to You?

Are you someone who looks forward to and celebrates holidays to the fullest?  I think that most of us have a favorite holiday for specific reasons.  Time off work.  Family time together.  Dressing up.  Giving and receiving gifts.


Remember when you were a kid and it took forever for Christmas to arrive?  Every night you dreamed about that special toy you asked Santa for and hoped you'd get.  You could hardly wait for Halloween to get here so you could wear your new costume and have enough candy to last a month.  I remember hiding my stash so my parents didn't know how much I actually ate.  Thanksgiving can be so exciting with the anticipation of going to grandparents' house for a huge turkey dinner and lots of fun games. But, the best was your birthday -- that special day you didn't have to share with anyone.  It was all about you - gifts for you -- your favorite chocolate cake - and a day off from chores.

Are You Immune to Credit Card Fraud?

Every morning, the first thing I do on the computer is to check my bank accounts.  In the business account for our store, I was horrified to see a reversal of $2,300 by a credit card company.  It took some time to figure out that three weeks earlier the two young men who made purchases in our store had used a fraudulent card.  They spent a long time making a decision on what they purchased and chatted at length about their families.

We checked their driver licenses to be sure the name matched with the cards and the purchases went through without a hitch.  Even harder to believe is one of the men stayed in contact with us via email for two weeks organizing his next purchase for a custom-made ring.  Why would he give me his IP address and his name if he was scamming us?  They must have known that it would take three weeks before the credit card payment would be reversed.  

Do You Care if Pot is Legalized?

Do you think marijuana should be legalized - why or why not?

This is a tough question with many variables.  I was asked that question for this month's Secret Subject Swap and I have mixed feelings.  From a purely personal standpoint I vacillate between "no" and "I don't care."  Many of my friends have used or are using marijuana for medicinal purposes, and I applaud the health professionals who have helped them realize improvements especially in the area of pain control.

However, when someone pushing for legalization uses words like "cure" and "harmless" my antenna goes up.  Drugs rarely, if ever, are a cure.  And in all my years as a health coach, I have never heard of a harmless drug.  They all have side effects. Even coffee! I find a lot of discrepancies in their arguments.

If You Accomplish Nothing, Have You Really Worked?

The definition of work is to put in the effort to achieve a certain goal.  Does this mean that if I bang my head against a wall all day and not leave a dent in the wall, I have accomplished nothing?  We all have those kinds of days and this month I was devastated by working so hard on a time-sensitive goal and producing zip. 

About a month before we moved I realized that we would not have the same email server at the new house.  This didn't seem to be a concern until the internet provider enlightened me that when we closed our account with them, there was no way to access any of my folders or files.  

I had hundreds of files saved from 20 years in business.  It was crucial that these were saved.  I also had photos and warm fuzzy files in my personal folders.  Hence, I began the task of going over each and EVERY email, determining if I wanted to save it and then transferring it to a new Gmail account.  Not only a huge task but I did not like the folder option layout available on Gmail.

I dedicated three hours a day, every single day for almost a full month, to complete this task.  Then two days before moving I called the cable company to see if there was any other way to keep my old account open.  "Yes, of course.  You could put your account on vacation hold indefinitely."  WHY didn't they tell me that a month earlier?  I had already deleted everything from my old account but decided it couldn't hurt to keep it open to save all my contacts -- for at least another month.

After finally getting settled and ready to get back to work, I opened my new Gmail account to gain access to a few files and almost suffered heart failure.  All of my folders were there BUT most of them were empty.  I checked trash and spam.  NADA.  Empty.

Talked to computer guys but noone seemed to be able to help me.  I finally had to succumb to the fact that everything was gone.  All those years of files for our businesses and the businesses I managed for others were gone!

After much stress and investigation, I discovered that in Gmail, if you have several files in a folder and delete one of the files - it deletes them all.  I never heard of anything so ridiculous.  It didn't compute.  But it was true.

After allerting some of my business connections, my accountant and other associates that I no longer had access to old files, I resolved to find anything I could from other sources.  The move had set me back and my desk was covered with unfinished tasks.  Now, this!

The last time we moved was 12 years earlier and I didn't realize that those years had taken a toll on my stamina when it came to packing, unpacking, and carrying over 100 boxes up and down the stairs.  But mission accomplished, I was now ready to get back to work.

Five weeks later, I had one of those thoughts that gave me a head rush.  I knew all my files in my old account had been deleted but I never emptied my 'sent' file.  I was shaking when I opened that file and THERE THEY WERE.  Each and every single one of them was nicely compacted into folders I had sent to Gmail.  I shouted and got far too excited about this but it meant years of work had been found.  For the $15 it cost per month to keep my old account on vacation hold, it was worth every penny.

Moral of the story -- I'll leave that to you in the comment section.  Would love to hear your take away on this scenario. 

It feels wonderful to be settled and enjoying our new home. It's been fun entertaining and having access to so many things that had been in storage for years.

 

The highlight of the month was having my daughter and kiddos visit for a few days.  This kitchen has a huge pantry and the kids loved 'going shopping' several times a day.  It was a delight to watch them.

Gunner and Star seem to be happier here -- not sure why.  Maybe it is because they can run up and down the stairs all day.  Gunner is such a gentleman.  If Star wants the whole bed to herself, he allows it but stays close in his protective mode.



















This has been a Fly on the Wall post where bloggers share what went on in their lives during the past month.  Stop by and read these stories by other bloggers you know and love:

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Menopausal Mother
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