Too little - too late

[Runnin on empty]

No kidding. Don't get me wrong, I love kids. But I can't stand those places around the holidays. They can take the sweetest kid and turn him into some sort of writhing, screaming, bawling mess in no time. You are trying to watch your budget and junior has decided that some $40 Nemo piece of crap toy is his new BFF. Secondly, is it just me or do they BLAST music in that store? It's makes your head spin to think about being in there for 5 minutes much less an 8 hour shift. Then again, maybe it drowns out the whining of hundreds of cranky children being paraded in and out of the store.

Not to get off tangent, but Bath Body Works is another place that I would need "chemical help" to remain employed. There are so many strong scents going on at the same time! It's like being stuck in an elevator with your grandmother and her bridge club as they on their way to girls night out.

The good news is that if you have an inkling to take the kids to Disney, all you have to do is drive to the local store and force yourself to stay there for about an hour. It'd probably cure any urges you'd have to head to the "Mouse House" (that's what we call it in our house).

Luckily, I have no sense of smell. Haven't since...Well as long as I can remember. For some reason my wife loves that store, but if we pass by the Yankee Candle Factory in the mall, she says the smells give her a headache.

Go figure.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

I betcha i got you ALL beat on stupidity...

Naw, don't be so hard on yourself. That wasn't stupid: that was you making a real commitment and him earning a very negative post-death experience. You couldn't have foreseen it, but if you live and learn and are the better for it, that's all you can ask.

I say let him have the pots and pans, because you are far richer: you have the ability to live truthfully and love fully, and he has the ability to connive and deceive and use. Compare and contrast for a moment here. His life will *always* suck, and he cannot love: he can only find people to use who will eventually leave him, or use him worse in return. Your suckage was bad but temporary, and you found love again. He can't buy a heart and soul, but post-bk you can buy more pots & pans.

I know it still makes your blood boil, though! But truly, these people do not have good ends. Every single person I have known who was able to screw people over on that level has become more and more isolated and messed up over time. They win for a while, but it comes back on them, it really does. It's watching the temporary win that sucks so incredibly hard...

[nazstar]

Ouch. I don't know what I can add to that one. Ouch.

There is nothing you can add - no comment you could possibly make. Admit that I won the stupid award and move on. Dude, BACK away from the idiot trophy. It's mine!! All mine!!

Whew. I had WAY too much sugar today.

[nazstar]

Hell, if I ever found myself under the employ of the Disney Store, I'd have to be popping 'ludes left and right to stand it.

No kidding. Don't get me wrong, I love kids. But I can't stand those places around the holidays. They can take the sweetest kid and turn him into some sort of writhing, screaming, bawling mess in no time. You are trying to watch your budget and junior has decided that some $40 Nemo piece of crap toy is his new BFF. Secondly, is it just me or do they BLAST music in that store? It's makes your head spin to think about being in there for 5 minutes much less an 8 hour shift. Then again, maybe it drowns out the whining of hundreds of cranky children being paraded in and out of the store.

Not to get off tangent, but Bath Body Works is another place that I would need "chemical help" to remain employed. There are so many strong scents going on at the same time! It's like being stuck in an elevator with your grandmother and her bridge club as they on their way to girls night out.

[Runnin on empty]

Hrmm, how so?

(It's not like I didn't pay my bills, or wouldn't want to again, just FYI -- for me, it's that bankruptcy was literally unimaginable as long as I had a dime to give anyone, no matter what it cost me. In other words, I was not smart about it, and I did not strategize well at all. I tried to pay and pay and pay until I didn't even have food in the house, which was just plain blindness on my part.

On the other hand, what I wrote about AT&T Universal Card was pure malice, I admit... )

Edit: Never mind, I get it

Same here, it wasn't until we were using the CC for staples like bread and milk (or it meant we would have no food) that we seriously started considering BK.

Cool. I only wish I'd been as on the ball as you two ladies to toy with them. I'm just at the end of my rope (hence the screen name) and am just ready to move on.

[ANEWLIFE]

thank you so much for making me laugh.
it makes me realize we can truly find something special within this time of hell.
i wish you all the luck and health for your family and stay humorous!!!
no matter what.

[Runnin on empty]

I betcha i got you ALL beat on stupidity. My ex-husband tells me 3 days before our wedding that he's quitting his job to go back to get his SECOND masters. I'm young (12 years his junior), naive, have 150 people in town to see me walk down the aisle, and I'm working full time and going to undergraduate school full time. After giving him a list of reasons why this is a bad idea, I'm just too worn down and get suckered into, "we're going to be husband and wife. they make compromises. that's what marriage is all about". yeah right.

5 years later, we get divorced. He lived off my credit cards that I had issued in his name for emergencies (which turned into monthly spend-a-thons). I'm still busting my butt with college full time and work full time. He took a LOWER paying job than the one he had prior to going back to school (he went back to teaching the same subject, same age group, different school). I'm left with $65K in credit card debt. Then we agree outside of lawyers to work out the division of the household assets (which mainly were a bunch of wedding gifts from Pottery barn). I was traveling on business and thought we had an agreement so I told him to go ahead and take his half before I got back. On top of screwing me with the bills, he takes all my good pots and pans (cooking is my hobby - he can boil water). "division of the dishes" meant he took all the plates and bowls and left me with teacup and saucers. "division of linens" meant he took all the napkins and left me tableclothes. He took all the blue sheets but the green comforter and left me the green sheets with the blue comforter. It goes on and on. TALK ABOUT STUPID!!!!! I didn't even see it coming and I should have a long time ago. I just gave up on digging myself out of that one. My current husband was screwed by his ex too. That only added fuel to the fire.

Ouch. I don't know what I can add to that one. Ouch.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

I'm seeing a nasty theme here ladies....

Hrmm, how so?

(It's not like I didn't pay my bills, or wouldn't want to again, just FYI -- for me, it's that bankruptcy was literally unimaginable as long as I had a dime to give anyone, no matter what it cost me. In other words, I was not smart about it, and I did not strategize well at all. I tried to pay and pay and pay until I didn't even have food in the house, which was just plain blindness on my part.

On the other hand, what I wrote about AT&T Universal Card was pure malice, I admit... )

Edit: Never mind, I get it

[nazstar]

I guess we can use it as a reminder of our stupidity.

I betcha i got you ALL beat on stupidity. My ex-husband tells me 3 days before our wedding that he's quitting his job to go back to get his SECOND masters. I'm young (12 years his junior), naive, have 150 people in town to see me walk down the aisle, and I'm working full time and going to undergraduate school full time. After giving him a list of reasons why this is a bad idea, I'm just too worn down and get suckered into, "we're going to be husband and wife. they make compromises. that's what marriage is all about". yeah right.

5 years later, we get divorced. He lived off my credit cards that I had issued in his name for emergencies (which turned into monthly spend-a-thons). I'm still busting my butt with college full time and work full time. He took a LOWER paying job than the one he had prior to going back to school (he went back to teaching the same subject, same age group, different school). I'm left with $65K in credit card debt. Then we agree outside of lawyers to work out the division of the household assets (which mainly were a bunch of wedding gifts from Pottery barn). I was traveling on business and thought we had an agreement so I told him to go ahead and take his half before I got back. On top of screwing me with the bills, he takes all my good pots and pans (cooking is my hobby - he can boil water). "division of the dishes" meant he took all the plates and bowls and left me with teacup and saucers. "division of linens" meant he took all the napkins and left me tableclothes. He took all the blue sheets but the green comforter and left me the green sheets with the blue comforter. It goes on and on. TALK ABOUT STUPID!!!!! I didn't even see it coming and I should have a long time ago. I just gave up on digging myself out of that one. My current husband was screwed by his ex too. That only added fuel to the fire.

[Runnin on empty]

Seriously, my only regret is that I tried too hard for too long to pay my bills, and didn't stop paying them WAAAAAY sooner...)

ME TOO! I got so much deeper into a hole by trying to dig out for way too long. Long after I stopped adding to my debt, I was trying to just juggle it and pay the rest down. I started spreading out the debt over zero percent cards but when that promotional period ended, I had too many minimum payments each month. I refinanced the house, making my mortgage too high, I liquidated a 401k and got nailed on taxes, which I still owe. I borrow from friends and family, etc. I just got deeper and deeper.

I'm seeing a nasty theme here ladies. My only regret about all of this (aside from getting into it in the first place) was taking out our 2nd mortgage. That is debt we can't IIB because we have to keep the house. I guess we can use it as a reminder of our stupidity. The good news is that when we do sell the house in a few years, we should have enough to cover both mortgages.

[Runnin on empty]

HAHAHA! Must be before your time!!! Lithium and qualudes are drugs that would make one very mellow and pretty much indifferent to the chaos around you. They had valid medical reasons for existing but aren't as popular anymore. My husband was joking with him that he must have been taking one or the other to be standing there like a smiling idiot when children where staging a mutiny all around him. The clerk thought he was asking where the the lithium and qualudes were in the store as if they would be between The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.

That's actually quite funny on so many levels. I think you the hubby and I would get along famously.

Hell, if I ever found myself under the employ of the Disney Store, I'd have to be popping 'ludes left and right to stand it.

AFAIK, all of our local Disney stores closed. Probably something about being 3 times more expensive than anywhere else, and if there was something you absolutely had to have, you could just order it off the internet and avoid the headache.

[nazstar]

Seriously, my only regret is that I tried too hard for too long to pay my bills, and didn't stop paying them WAAAAAY sooner...)

ME TOO! I got so much deeper into a hole by trying to dig out for way too long. Long after I stopped adding to my debt, I was trying to just juggle it and pay the rest down. I started spreading out the debt over zero percent cards but when that promotional period ended, I had too many minimum payments each month. I refinanced the house, making my mortgage too high, I liquidated a 401k and got nailed on taxes, which I still owe. I borrow from friends and family, etc. I just got deeper and deeper.

[nazstar]

Yep, I don't get it. I have no idea what your talking about. Must've been something before my time????

HAHAHA! Must be before your time!!! Lithium and qualudes are drugs that would make one very mellow and pretty much indifferent to the chaos around you. They had valid medical reasons for existing but aren't as popular anymore. My husband was joking with him that he must have been taking one or the other to be standing there like a smiling idiot when children where staging a mutiny all around him. The clerk thought he was asking where the the lithium and qualudes were in the store as if they would be between The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Here's a great story of their blood sucking fees. A few years ago, I took a cash advance out with them...

I so believe you. Being in Jacksonville I have known several people that worked there, and stories like that are not uncommon. The people I knew said it was just hell to work for them. Being taken over by Citibank didn't help matters any, just made it all worse... grrrrr.

(Oh, and they did that damnable rate boost on me too, but didn't wait until I was late with them: they did it when I was late with the mortgage, which was long before I quit paying them. I forget what it's called, but it's a clause they inserted in the RICA that allows them to check your credit bureau and up your interest rate if you are late or overlimit on any other account, not just credit accounts either. Seriously, my only regret is that I tried too hard for too long to pay my bills, and didn't stop paying them WAAAAAY sooner...)

[rilbrianne]

The worst is when my husband is being sarcastic and hysterical but they don't get it. I'm trying to keep a straight face and the poor person is staring back and forth between us like we're a couple of morons. We were in the Disney store and kids were freaking out. He turns to this guy that's completely calm and grinning in his little Disney member uniform. He's holding a mickey mouse santa and smiling at all the kids - seemingly oblivious to the mania around him. My husband leans in close and says "Dude, lithium or qualudes?". The guy stares at him and tells him he doesn't think they carry that but he can check for him. I had to walk away because the guy genuinely looked like he was gonna ask the manager if they carried lithium and qualudes. To be fair, he was probably around 23 years old and had no idea what my husband was talking about. But it was hysterical for us. We laughed all the way back to the car.

Yep, I don't get it. I have no idea what your talking about. Must've been something before my time????