random thread of randomness

Its friday 13th... i'm not superstitious... but i went to get petrol this morning and my laser card wouldn't work on two different machines... rang the bank and it turns out my account had been blocked cos of 'suspicious activity...Someone seems to have gotten my laser number and robbed nearly E500 from my account last night... :(

That's terrible.  :(  Hopefully the bank sorts things for you quickly.

I've got a horrible story that I'll endeavour to make short (I'll probably fail).  In the fall of 2000 I drove away from a drive through bank machine leaving my card behind and, and as I learned shortly, active.   When I realized my card was missing I drove back to the bank machine in hopes of finding it, with no luck.  Online records I checked thereafter indicated somebody came in behind me and withdrew 100 dollars at a time until I was drained...to my overdraft limit.  I lost all the money I had in the world at the time - hundreds of dollars.  The bank told me I was SOL because it was my fault, and recommended I call the police.  I did that, and a cop came over and took my statement and disappeared for a few weeks. Just days before Christmas he called me and said this on the phone: "I've investigated this incident and determined nobody followed behind you at the bank.  I am going to be charging you with theft, fraud and public mischief for filing a false report.  But don't worry, I won't screw up your Christmas, I'll wait until January."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just about died.  I was so panicked and just, without words.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I felt incredibly helpless.   Long story short, my subsequent fit taking and witness statements (my mother had been in the car with me the first time I was at the bank) eventually encouraged him to put down the doughnut and get up and do a proper investigation.  Turns out that because we had just turned the clocks back the video recording equipment at the bank was an hour off from the correctly adjusted transaction time.  So the video footage he was looking at that 'matched' the time of the withdrawals was closer to me coming back to look for my card, not me leaving my card and then getting stolen from.  You'd think stopping and briefly looking for a card would have a different visual footprint that doing more than a dozen individual transactions. (!)  Eventually it got sorted out, and I guilted the bank into giving me the money back as compensation for the stress caused by their wrongly timestamped recording.  But what a lesson that was about how easy it is for the innocent to be railroaded.  I still remember the sick fear and helplessness.

Anyway, I hope your loss will be sorted quickly and without that kind of unnecessary drama!  Hang in there. :)

[QUOTE]

[b]catqueen wrote: [/b] Its friday 13th... i'm not superstitious... but i went to get petrol this morning and my laser card wouldn't work on two different machines... rang the bank and it turns out my account had been blocked cos of 'suspicious activity...Someone seems to have gotten my laser number and robbed nearly E500 from my account last night... :([/QUOTE]
I forgot add that it struck me that for such a short few sentences there were a lot of words that underscored the differences in the common usage of language between there and here.  I meant to rewrite it for fun, as if you were here.  You would have said:

Its friday [b]the[/b] 13th...i'm not superstitious...but I went to get [b]gas[/b] this morning and my [b]bank[/b] card wouldn't work on two different machines...[b]called[/b] the bank and it turns out my account has been blocked cos of suspicious activity..Someone seems to have gotten my [b]PIN [/b]number and robbed nearly [b]$625[/b]  from my account last night... :(

Ha!

PS  'PIN number' drives some people nuts because PIN stands for 'Personal Identification Number'....so the common usages actually translates to 'Personal Identification Number number'.  But people say it anyway! :)

PS  'PIN number' drives some people nuts because PIN stands for 'Personal Identification Number'....so the common usages actually translates to 'Personal Identification Number number'.  But people say it anyway! :)[/QUOTE]


Like 'ATM machine' -- 'automatic telling machine machine.'

[QUOTE] [b]GratefulFan wrote:[/b]
That's terrible.  :(  Hopefully the bank sorts things for you quickly.I've got a horrible story that I'll endeavour to make short (I'll probably fail).  In the fall of 2000 I drove away from a drive through bank machine leaving my card behind and, and as I learned shortly, active.   When I realized my card was missing I drove back to the bank machine in hopes of finding it, with no luck.  Online records I checked thereafter indicated somebody came in behind me and withdrew 100 dollars at a time until I was drained...to my overdraft limit.  I lost all the money I had in the world at the time - hundreds of dollars.  The bank told me I was SOL because it was my fault, and recommended I call the police.  I did that, and a cop came over and took my statement and disappeared for a few weeks. Just days before Christmas he called me and said this on the phone: "I've investigated this incident and determined nobody followed behind you at the bank.  I am going to be charging you with theft, fraud and public mischief for filing a false report.  But don't worry, I won't screw up your Christmas, I'll wait until January."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I just about died.  I was so panicked and just, without words.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I felt incredibly helpless.   Long story short, my subsequent fit taking and witness statements (my mother had been in the car with me the first time I was at the bank) eventually encouraged him to put down the doughnut and get up and do a proper investigation.  Turns out that because we had just turned the clocks back the video recording equipment at the bank was an hour off from the correctly adjusted transaction time.  So the video footage he was looking at that 'matched' the time of the withdrawals was closer to me coming back to look for my card, not me leaving my card and then getting stolen from.  You'd think stopping and briefly looking for a card would have a different visual footprint that doing more than a dozen individual transactions. (!)  Eventually it got sorted out, and I guilted the bank into giving me the money back as compensation for the stress caused by their wrongly timestamped recording.  But what a lesson that was about how easy it is for the innocent to be railroaded.  I still remember the sick fear and helplessness.Anyway, I hope your loss will be sorted quickly and without that kind of unnecessary drama!  Hang in there. :)[/QUOTE]


Oh no, that's horrible... i talked to the bank, and they were the ones who blocked the card in the first place, just they were waiting for business hours to contact me (i rang their helpline literally at 9 am on the button). But it was them that stopped the card, and there have never been transactions on my card at either that time in the morning, on the internet, OR in that city -- plus it was at 4 am and then i was getting petrol in another city at 8.30 am. My mother thought i should ring the police as well, but that's hardly necessary? I mean, the bank investigate, right? Like the girl said she did, and my actual card wasn't stolen... i am guessing there was a scanner installed on an atm that i used.

GratefulFan wrote: "That's....[/QUOTE]

GF, I don't know what to say. All I say is that, that is absolutely horrible. My heart goes out to you.

We just had such a case in one of our local banks. To cut a long story short, in a letter to the press by a lawyer, it was said that the money that was stolen in the account belonged to the bank and not the account-holder. When we place a deposit with a bank, we are effectively lending the money to the bank. Therefore the bank should reinstate the amount that was stolen to bring the account to the balance that was lent to the bank by the account-holder.

[QUOTE]

[b]Amazon wrote: [/b] GF, I don't know what to say. All I say is that, that is absolutely horrible. My heart goes out to you.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the thoughts.  :)  Over 10 years ago now, so well in the past.  Over the years between traffic stops, being a victim of this or that and any other miscellaneous dealings with the police they have been overwhelmingly fair, professional and compassionate - whatever the situation demanded.  Strikingly so.   But that guy was just trouble waiting to happen.  Several years later he was involved in a situation where an arrestee was claiming police misconduct and a severe escalation of a minor incident.  I wasn't surprised.  Then last year he was charged by his own service for driving like an idiot, rolling his police cruiser, destroying a guard rail and landing in a ravine, at which point he had to be extricated and treated at the hospital.  If he was a Marine I'm sure he would have peed on somebody inside of a month.

Things to say in response to Little River Band's 'Reminiscing' on YouTube:

[i]Because of this song I was able to stop drinking and avoid being an out of work drunk asking for change on the side of the road. I just want to thank Little River Band for showing me that love and simple "reminiscing" are what truly matter, not 40s of Mickey's and one night stands with Asian whores. My life goal is to meet you guys and return all the joy and pleasure you wonderful men have given me throughout the years.[/i]

Ah hahaha!  Love the song, and now it's always going to make me laugh when I think of this poor dude and his Asian whores.

[QUOTE] [b]GratefulFan wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Amazon wrote: [/b] GF, I don't know what to say. All I say is that, that is absolutely horrible. My heart goes out to you.[/QUOTE] Thanks for the thoughts.  :)  Over 10 years ago now, so well in the past.  

But my Euro 500 is still missing, so send the thoughts to me instead!

Joxer !!!!!!!!!

writing an essay about managing challenging behaviour... i hate studying on saturdays. I need a distraction. :(

Today I lost a Queen badge that I've had for 25 years. I know it's only an object but I'm pissed off.

I am so so so frustrated... i need to stop putting my frustration out into the universe like that... too much negative energy being thrown out at unsuspecting people... but ARGH!!!

Somebody whose username rhymes with FatefulTan just got Bryan Adams tickets for May! His catalog is averageish, but he puts on a first class show. So, yay!