Venmo v. Paypal v. Zelle v. Here's Your Damn Cash!!

I'm going to be owing money on a regular basis to a close family member of mine, let's call him Joe Schmo.  He added a cell phone line to his account.  I asked him to let me know the exact amount that I owed him when he got his T-Mobile bill.  But, he never did.  I kept asking him for the amount, but he, for some reason, was not forthcoming with the amount.  Finally, I owed him about three months of T-Mobile service.   I told him I was just going to guess at an amount and pay him.  

He asked me to pay him what I owed him through Venmo.  I didn't have a Venmo account.  I only had a PayPal account (which I wasn't crazy about).  I don't like having to give my bank account information to an outside service.  I asked, "can I transfer the funds via Zelle to your Citibank account?"  The answer was a resounding "NO!  I don't use that account for receiving payments."  The next thing I asked was, "Well, I already have a PayPal account.  May I transfer the funds with that, since I already have cash sitting there for eons of time?"  I received another resounding "NO!  Don't give me more work to do.  I already have enough work and trying to simplify things for myself".  So, lastly, I asked him for his Venmo account link.  He says, "It's my cell phone number."

So, at this point, I see no other way.  So, I begin a Venmo account from my computer.  Once I do this, I am asked to add my friends to it.  What is this, Facebook????  I try to bring up Joe Schmo, and there seem to be two of them.  I, once again, ask Joe for his Venmo account link so that I can add the correct him.  Another resounding "NO."  Nothing more.  So, I think to myself, "Well, that's it.  I'm not going to waste any more of my time on this any longer, since Joe is not being very helpful in this transaction.  He's getting cash."  

The very day that I visited him, I took the cash in an envelope, with the breakdown of my expenses written on the face of the envelope, and slapped it on the keyboard of his lap top.  Coincidentally, it seems that that very day, earlier in the morning, Joe had finally sent me his Venmo account link.  I hadn't seen it.  In any event, it was too late.  I had already taken the cash out of the ATM machine.  

But, since this was going to be an on-going payment. I thought I might as well set up the Venmo account completely.  Especially now, since Joe had given me his Venmo link.

This was my experience setting up my Venmo account from my computer at home.  And, I sent Joe the following e-mail.

Subject: Friggin' Venmo

So, I sign into Venmo on my computer.  I then add you as a friend.  I click on you and that’s when I see all your payments and notify you of it.  They are all publicly viewable.  I add my bank card information (I'm not very happy about that, but they charge a percentage fee for every other kind of payment).  I then have to look around to see how to make a payment.  It is not clearly shown. 

I finally get to a place for that and there’s a message that if I want to make a payment through venmo.com they are discontinuing it and if I want to make a payment that way, I’ll need to get the app.  They give me a link.  Google Play (or Store?) or App Store.  I try App Store first.  But, they say my device is not compatible.  I then go to Google Play.  I find the app I want.  There’s a message on the screen saying that my device is compatible for that app.  Great!  I click “install.”  It immediately brings up my Samsung for it to be added to (that’s my cell phone, not my pc where I am doing this from).  I wanted the app on my pc. But that choice is not there.

Now I have to go into the kitchen and get my cell.  I have to look in every hidey hole on the cell for Venmo and finally find it.  I go to install it and it forces me to logon to Venmo from my cell.  Once I attempt that, I get the alert message that they are going to send me a verification code to make sure it is indeed me.  Sheesh‼‼  I go through that whole scenario and finally get the friggin app on my cell.  I WANTED IT ON MY PC‼‼  Then I find that you are not a friend on my cell Venmo (even though I added you successfully on my pc Venmo account).  So, I have to, once again, add you as a friend.  The system brought in all my contacts so that I could make payments to them.  Why would I want that?  And, it gave me the option of having all my payments be viewed publicly.  Why the hell would I want that?  It’s idiotic.  I canceled that.  then I “finally” made the payment.  To someone named Joe Schmo.  Since you haven’t yet confirmed receiving the $100, I presume that another Joe Schmo is enjoying my $100 and buying something frivolous.

So, that whole chore is done.  I then see I have some new e-mails.  There are warning e-mails that “someone” logged into my account from a Samsung.  Then another e-mail asking me if my Samsung should be remembered and not cause me to have to log in every time and receive a verification code.  And yet more e-mails from Venmo because they are so afraid that someone else is using my Venmo from a Samsung cell phone.

If Venmo is so concerned about fraud, etc., and pretends it has no knowledge of any of my devices, then why did it only give me the option to install the app to my exact Samsung Galaxy S7??????? ??????????????  I ask you that‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼!

Well, Squash Me Like a Bug, Why Don'cha?

Well, I'm sitting on the R train in the two-seater that faces forward and have bags (of course) at my feet. I have the remainder of my Christmas presents that I was unable to carry all at once and my brand new Body Back Buddy, which was sticking way out of my bag. I'm reading from my Kindle. Everything is fine until a young guy sitting right in front of me on the three-seater that faces the center of the train decided to be chivalrous to the young woman who sat to his right. He must have shifted his butt to his left in order to wipe the seat down for her. The next minute he literally fell on my knee. For a moment I thought he was going to completely fall in my lap. Did he say a word to me? Naw!!!! It was as if it hadn't happened. He continued to clean the spot for Miss Lovely. Miss Lovely did notice what had happened and said (to him; not to me), "Oh, look what I made you do!!! You're so sweet." He continued with his Macbeth complex until there was nearly a whole in plastic seat. Only then did he slide into his entire seat and relax.

What's wrong with people? Does it mean that even, when you're trying to impress someone of the opposite sex, that you have to be totally clueless as to the fact that you might have (or did) hurt them when you fell on them?

Let's Split the Bill

That's how my new billing system started. We'd get the bill. Then there was a flurry of hands and questions (anywhere from four to six persons):

What's my portion? No, I didn't have an appetizer! I have no cash; only my credit card. I don't have any small bills. Here, let me make my own change from the bills you've got there on the table. No, I already put my portion in. Yeah, but did you add in the tax and tip to your portion? Yes, I think so. Wait a minute, I think I paid too much! How much did you put in? I'm not sure, I didn't have small bills, so I made my own change from the cash that had already been put in. I had a $10 bill before, but I don't have one now. I think I paid too much. But, perhaps you put your $10 bill in when you were making the change? No, I don't think so.

The person in charge of the bill (me): "I'm $20 short on the full bill plus the tip we should put in. Has everyone put in their portion?"

Everyone: "Yes"

I refuse to go through this ever again. I now pay the bill, get an itemized receipt, mark who got what, and then send out a "You Owe Me" e-mail. Then collect. The only problem with this is that sometimes I misplace the receipt, or other times, if I'm too busy, I forget to send the e-mail. Then this causes me to have to do memory accounting (although, I do archive those e-mails).

I have gotten stiffed on several occasions (had to pay the shortfall on several occasions because there were so many people on the bill; some had already left; I had no way to figure out who had ordered what, nor who had paid their proper amount).

Whew!!!

Instant Response Gratification

Do you find that when you either call, or e-mail someone, you want an instant response? I go crazy when I don't get one. And, I usually don't. I assume that everyone else is like me and doesn't have a life. But, I guess that's not so. Or, else, they do have a life -- theirs. I never wait to reply to an e-mail, thereby playing "The Game." I just respond immediately. I am so not a game player. I'm direct and honest. Sometimes it can turn others off. I'm so very predictable. Hey, if you really want to know what I think of your actions, I'll tell you. So, if you really don't want to know, please don't ask me.

Although, I do find that my instant maniacal frenzied replies sometimes cause problems when plans are changed frequently. Then, I have to continually refer to my last response to see what the HELL it was that I might be participating in, and where it's taking place as of the current moment. It's a lot of extra work. Would be much easier if I could just lobotomize somewhere and wait for the scheduled date to come around, and then respond as of that moment as to whether I can attend.

Vikingro!!

The Height of Intolerence

These are my kind of people! God, I love them! Click on images for full-screen impact:

Cell Phone Mania

No, I couldn't stop posting. I must get more of my intolerances out before quitting. After all, I've cancelled my shrink session for today.

• Did you ever walk down the street and have a person ask you a question? Well, it has happened to me many times. Then I answer, only to find out that they are speaking into their cells (via headphone -- what the hell do you call those things??).
• Or, you're on the bus and another passenger gets a call from his parolee and lights into him about how he's broken the rules by leaving the state prematurely?
  
• What about the people who speak so LOUDLY, plus set their cells so that you can hear what the other person is saying to them? There have been occasions when I've offered them the answer to their question, hoping they would get the picture. They did not!!
• Then there are the people who find it very important to shelter themselves from the weather conditions and situate themselves at the top of the subway stairs and stand there talking. No one can enter the stairway, nor exit. ??????
  
• There are also those who exhibit their feelings regarding their conversation with body movements (they either come to a dead stop, or converse with their hands and arms (thereby almost smacking you in the face)).
• Then there are the ones who fall asleep on the subway and don't wake up to their exceedingly annoying ring tones.
• What about when you're talking to one of them on their cell and they ask you to talk fast because they're going to lose you. It takes you five additional calls to just finish your one sentence.
• Or, you're speaking to them and they ask you to hold because they have an important call they must take. So, obviously, you're a piece of crap, because you're the one they choose to have wait. Sometimes they leave you waiting 5-10 minutes. Other times, they completely forget that they were speaking to you and never return to the conversation.
  
• Now why in the world do cell phone holders have to have call-waiting on their service. For that matter, why does anyone? Is it a way of not missing anything at all in their (possibly miserable) lives???
• And, for those of us who do not want to succumb to cell phones.....what does the community offer us? A minuscule amount of public phone booths that are so disgustingly dirty, or broken, that you wouldn't want to call anyone ever.
  

Well, thanks for listening. I'm definitely feeling better now. Going to refuel now. I'll tune in with my next intolerance, or insane aberration.

Torment at the Subway Turnstile

What about the guy/gal in front of you when you're trying to catch your train (you can hear it arriving up above, on the elevated track)? They go right up to the turnstile, stop, and then lift their shoulder bag or purse, lean it on the turnstile, and start sifting through it in search of their MTA card. The other stiles are filled with people who have just arrived (on the train you're trying to catch) and are exiting and preventing you from swiping on those stiles. Very frustrating.

Why can't these people (who don't ever know where they placed their metro cards last) stand to the side and search for their cards? Must they search AT THE TURNSTILE!!!!??????

Eeeeooogh!!!

Have you ever been rushing to get to the subway or bus, or whatever (I always am), and come up against very slow-moving, lard asses in front of you? Oh, yes, they haven't a care in the world. Nor do they have JOBS!!!!! You progress as far as you can before coming up right behind them and being forced to come to a complete stop (are they even moving??). You're anxious to get where you're going, so you step to the left in hopes of passing them. They too step to the left and then stop. What is this, sabotage?????? You then try stepping back to right, but now another decides to stop alongside his imobile friend. There's nothing to do except to excuse yourself and try to get past them. At which point they say, "Uh! oh! Sorry!" They say that if you're lucky. Otherwise, they continue to be clueless, or worse yet, insult you as the unreasonable one. Eayaaaaah!!!!!

My incompetence

Did you ever find that as you create more and more new accounts (be they Google, Shopping sites, E-vites) it becomes more, and more difficult to log on because you start forgetting all the passwords you've created and can't ever get into your own accounts? I sat here this morning trying to get into my brand new blog for about half an hour. HOI DA????? I try to keep a written list of all these passwords, but then, I forget where I put the list. Perhaps I should just create the same exact user ID and password for every single account I activate. Although, it's possible I might come home one day and find that someone has stolen my identity (don't know why anyone would ever want to do something like that) and taken all my $$ out of my savings account (not that I have much left during this financial crunch).

Yes, when you have no patience for these things, life can be real difficult.

Holiday Meal

Today (and last night), I spent food shopping for a X'mas/Chanukah meal for Trevor. I got so much food I couldn't believe we would even be able to eat a smidgeon of it. Well, Trevor arrived, bundled down with loads of computers and asked me to immediately clear all my crap from my tables. HOI DA??? He just arrived and already he is insisting on HIS needs. Well, he continued for hours .......

Immediate pressure

Yes, he's here sitting beside me YELLING to click here, to click there. When will he STOP!!!????)*&^(*&^(*&^(*&

Oh, it's hard accepting gifts!!