Hanging on by My Acrylic Fingernails
Did you think I got blown away by Katrina or got kidnapped in Aruba or buried in the mud of Islamabad's earthquake???? No, the non-destructible Ladygold is still here, hanging on for dear life, but at least, still hanging in there!
I dropped all my blogging right after my Australian friends came to see me and after Katrina hit, as so many things were taking place, one right after the other. Have you ever seen so many natural disasters taking place?? Hurricanes, earthquakes, snowstorms, rainstorms, bird flu pandemic and Tom Cruise & Katy Holmes planning their pregnant Scientology wedding! What does it all mean? It means, go ahead and eat that pizza NOW! What if a natural disaster strikes and you spend your last day on that damn diet!!! Fergetaboutit!!!!
Mid September brought my blogging to a complete halt, however, when my own mother had a heart attack! Mom is 88 years young, still working 4 days a week, 8 hrs a day in a drugstore, and never has had a problem with her heart. I called her on a Friday night as we had plans to go to a cousin's birthday party that weekend. She stated on the phone that she felt sick, and although it didn't sound serious, something pecked away at my mind which bothered me all night. The next day, I drove over to her house so we could go to the party together the following day.
Immediately after I got there, I could see something was seriously wrong with her. She was having trouble breathing and extremely exhausted. Because of her age and her history with high blood pressure, I said, "We're calling your doctor". Mom fought me and said, "No, no, no.... I don't want to go to a doctor or hospital...!". Too bad, I replied.... we are calling the doctor. The emergency doctor on call recommended that I take her to the emergency room JUST TO BE SAFE. Mom protested again and thought I was making too big a deal out of it all. Well, we drove to the ER, and while waiting in the waiting room, she seemed fine and was joking and laughing. But about an hour or so after admittance and being put on several monitors, the doctor comes in and informs us that she was in the middle of a heart attack!! I was so shocked that it almost gave ME a heart attack!
Well, that changed all the plans for the weekend without a doubt. It also affected plans for a trip to Las Vegas at the end of the month that mom and I were planning on taking which was intended to be her belated birthday present. But more on that later. While we were at the hospital, I called my sister who dropped everything, took off work and drove up that same night. Mom stayed in the hospital for almost a week, and went through an angioplasty to put a stent into her heart. It was quite a scare. She has so many wonderful friends that eventually her hospital room resembled a flower shop! Thank goodness my sister is a registered nurse, as she was able to get the complete lowdown from mom's cardiologist, and she knew exactly how to take care of her and manage her meds. Of course, I also had to take time off of work to run back and forth the 25 miles or so to the hospital and to her house, where my sister and I stayed for a couple days to take care of everyday events, her bills, etc.
Now, to make matters more insane and chaotic, my wallet got stolen (pickpocketed on the bus!) right during this medical crisis! Everything was gone, kaput, out the door! My driver's license, my credit cards, my ATM card,my bus pass, my identification, my book of stamps, my notes and, of course, some cash I had in there! Pity the poor thief who wanted to steal MY identity!! Haha! The joke was on him as all my cards are maxed out and there ain't much money in the bank! I was now fairly frantic, trying to take care of mom and at the same time, trying to recoup my identity! Of course, having no driver's license affected my being able to drive over to see mom! If you have ever had this type of thing happen to you, of course you are aware that you have to personally go INTO the DMV to get a replacement driver's license - you cannot do it over the phone or Internet. AND .... you have to pay $20 to get the replacement... HELLO???!! I felt I was up against a brick wall wondering how I was going to do this as:
a) I had no cash on me to pay the DMV - it was stolen!
b) I did have money in my bank account, but could not withdraw it as I had no ID, no checks or ATM card!
c) Without any cash or bus pass I couldn't even catch a bus to work or to the DMV!
d) This also meant that I would have to take MORE time off work to get up to the DMV which is only open during work hours and closed on Sat & Sun! And since I had not been at this company for very long, I would get docked for taking time off!
e) And finally, calling all the credit companies to report my stolen cards became a nightmare - I didn't want to do the calling from my desk, and my cell phone (pay-as-you-go) was out of funds! And I couldn't add money to the cell phone account as the credit card on file was now reported stolen!! So there I was with a completely useless charged-up cell phone, and stuck in a prehistoric Federal building, where there are no public phones anywhere in the building! I literally had to dash out of the building several times a day to use the public phone across the street (!), and then that meant that I had the hassle of trying to re-enter the Federal building again and again without my security badge!!! This was MORE than your usual Catch-22... This was Catch 99.9!
Anyway I came up with a brilliant SOLUTION to obtain some cash for the next day... or so I thought. I felt I was really being clever when I figured I'd go down to the local grocery store and write a check for over the amount so as to have some cash the next day. Borrowed $1.50 from a co-worker for the bus and rushed home after work, quickly picked up another checkbook I had stashed at home, maniacally dug through the cramped closet to find my Passport and then dashed out to this local grocery store in the Marina I go to all the time.
I make it to the store with minutes to spare before they close, and whiz around stuffing a few items into my basket. Get to checkout. Ask the checker if I can do money over. He says Yes, maximum $40. I write check out for $40 over. He takes one look at my passport and then says "Can I see your ID". I say, "This IS my ID", explaining that my wallet and driver license ID were stolen along with it that day. He looks at me suspiciously and then back down at my passport photo. He says "How do I know that's you?!"... HELLO??? He, who is an Arab gentlemen who probably has uncles in Al Queda is asking ME to prove who I am!!!! On top of that, he says with a raised eyebrow, "So how come you have a wallet there if you say your wallet was stolen?" By now, I am ready to sock this twit in the nose with my loaf of Sourdough!!! I say "Because I had another wallet at home, BOZO, and am now using that, you DUMBKOFF!! Well, no, I didn't say 'bozo and dumbkoff', but I sure was about ready to! Then I drag out all my bills, which I happen to have in my bag - my utility bill, my telephone bill and my bank statement to prove that this is my address and that I am ME. He then switches his story and says he only cashes a LOCAL check. I say, "But I AM local! I live in San Francisco!".. He says "No, you are in zip code 94133 and we are in zip code 94123"!!! Geez, god almighty!!! I was clearly getting nowhere, and all this was taking so long that the tomatoes I had in my basket were beggining to grow mold! No matter how hard I begged and pleaded, he would not cash my check, and I've been shopping in the damn grocery store for over 20 years! Anyway, I then dashed to Safeway, where I should have gone to in the first place.. Thank god, they cashed my check for over the amount, but it meant I had to wheel the basket around and shop for those few items again! By the time I got home that night, it was almost 9 p.m. I was in a sweat and felt as if I had talked my way out of a Turkish prison at gunpoint!
The next morning I took off early and went to the DMV to get my replacement license. Even though I left as early as I could, all this made me late to work of course. All this running around and panic over the stolen wallet and mom's medical condition while trying to do my Kindergarten job was indeed stressful enough. But, no, my dumb-ass company had to make it even more stressful by harassing me and giving me crap that I 'was taking an awful lot of time off while I was still on Probation'! I told my boss I'd be willing to make up the time, but my wimpy-skinny-ass boss said, while fingering his scrawny mustache, "We don't allow employees to make up time here".... Eh??? Well, EXCUUUUUUUSE ME for my mother having a heart attack and for me being a victim of robbery!! Oh, and to make matters worse, my EMPLOYEE SECURITY BADGE was amongst the stolen items, so I had a problem entering the building!!! So to add insult to injury, I was made to feel guilty about all this!
In any case, mom is back home now and doing well. She is taking things much easier and has not yet gone back to work. And I finally have received all my replacement cards and ID, so things are fairly back to normal. Normal?? My life normal???
I dropped all my blogging right after my Australian friends came to see me and after Katrina hit, as so many things were taking place, one right after the other. Have you ever seen so many natural disasters taking place?? Hurricanes, earthquakes, snowstorms, rainstorms, bird flu pandemic and Tom Cruise & Katy Holmes planning their pregnant Scientology wedding! What does it all mean? It means, go ahead and eat that pizza NOW! What if a natural disaster strikes and you spend your last day on that damn diet!!! Fergetaboutit!!!!
Mid September brought my blogging to a complete halt, however, when my own mother had a heart attack! Mom is 88 years young, still working 4 days a week, 8 hrs a day in a drugstore, and never has had a problem with her heart. I called her on a Friday night as we had plans to go to a cousin's birthday party that weekend. She stated on the phone that she felt sick, and although it didn't sound serious, something pecked away at my mind which bothered me all night. The next day, I drove over to her house so we could go to the party together the following day.
Immediately after I got there, I could see something was seriously wrong with her. She was having trouble breathing and extremely exhausted. Because of her age and her history with high blood pressure, I said, "We're calling your doctor". Mom fought me and said, "No, no, no.... I don't want to go to a doctor or hospital...!". Too bad, I replied.... we are calling the doctor. The emergency doctor on call recommended that I take her to the emergency room JUST TO BE SAFE. Mom protested again and thought I was making too big a deal out of it all. Well, we drove to the ER, and while waiting in the waiting room, she seemed fine and was joking and laughing. But about an hour or so after admittance and being put on several monitors, the doctor comes in and informs us that she was in the middle of a heart attack!! I was so shocked that it almost gave ME a heart attack!
Well, that changed all the plans for the weekend without a doubt. It also affected plans for a trip to Las Vegas at the end of the month that mom and I were planning on taking which was intended to be her belated birthday present. But more on that later. While we were at the hospital, I called my sister who dropped everything, took off work and drove up that same night. Mom stayed in the hospital for almost a week, and went through an angioplasty to put a stent into her heart. It was quite a scare. She has so many wonderful friends that eventually her hospital room resembled a flower shop! Thank goodness my sister is a registered nurse, as she was able to get the complete lowdown from mom's cardiologist, and she knew exactly how to take care of her and manage her meds. Of course, I also had to take time off of work to run back and forth the 25 miles or so to the hospital and to her house, where my sister and I stayed for a couple days to take care of everyday events, her bills, etc.
Now, to make matters more insane and chaotic, my wallet got stolen (pickpocketed on the bus!) right during this medical crisis! Everything was gone, kaput, out the door! My driver's license, my credit cards, my ATM card,my bus pass, my identification, my book of stamps, my notes and, of course, some cash I had in there! Pity the poor thief who wanted to steal MY identity!! Haha! The joke was on him as all my cards are maxed out and there ain't much money in the bank! I was now fairly frantic, trying to take care of mom and at the same time, trying to recoup my identity! Of course, having no driver's license affected my being able to drive over to see mom! If you have ever had this type of thing happen to you, of course you are aware that you have to personally go INTO the DMV to get a replacement driver's license - you cannot do it over the phone or Internet. AND .... you have to pay $20 to get the replacement... HELLO???!! I felt I was up against a brick wall wondering how I was going to do this as:
a) I had no cash on me to pay the DMV - it was stolen!
b) I did have money in my bank account, but could not withdraw it as I had no ID, no checks or ATM card!
c) Without any cash or bus pass I couldn't even catch a bus to work or to the DMV!
d) This also meant that I would have to take MORE time off work to get up to the DMV which is only open during work hours and closed on Sat & Sun! And since I had not been at this company for very long, I would get docked for taking time off!
e) And finally, calling all the credit companies to report my stolen cards became a nightmare - I didn't want to do the calling from my desk, and my cell phone (pay-as-you-go) was out of funds! And I couldn't add money to the cell phone account as the credit card on file was now reported stolen!! So there I was with a completely useless charged-up cell phone, and stuck in a prehistoric Federal building, where there are no public phones anywhere in the building! I literally had to dash out of the building several times a day to use the public phone across the street (!), and then that meant that I had the hassle of trying to re-enter the Federal building again and again without my security badge!!! This was MORE than your usual Catch-22... This was Catch 99.9!
Anyway I came up with a brilliant SOLUTION to obtain some cash for the next day... or so I thought. I felt I was really being clever when I figured I'd go down to the local grocery store and write a check for over the amount so as to have some cash the next day. Borrowed $1.50 from a co-worker for the bus and rushed home after work, quickly picked up another checkbook I had stashed at home, maniacally dug through the cramped closet to find my Passport and then dashed out to this local grocery store in the Marina I go to all the time.
I make it to the store with minutes to spare before they close, and whiz around stuffing a few items into my basket. Get to checkout. Ask the checker if I can do money over. He says Yes, maximum $40. I write check out for $40 over. He takes one look at my passport and then says "Can I see your ID". I say, "This IS my ID", explaining that my wallet and driver license ID were stolen along with it that day. He looks at me suspiciously and then back down at my passport photo. He says "How do I know that's you?!"... HELLO??? He, who is an Arab gentlemen who probably has uncles in Al Queda is asking ME to prove who I am!!!! On top of that, he says with a raised eyebrow, "So how come you have a wallet there if you say your wallet was stolen?" By now, I am ready to sock this twit in the nose with my loaf of Sourdough!!! I say "Because I had another wallet at home, BOZO, and am now using that, you DUMBKOFF!! Well, no, I didn't say 'bozo and dumbkoff', but I sure was about ready to! Then I drag out all my bills, which I happen to have in my bag - my utility bill, my telephone bill and my bank statement to prove that this is my address and that I am ME. He then switches his story and says he only cashes a LOCAL check. I say, "But I AM local! I live in San Francisco!".. He says "No, you are in zip code 94133 and we are in zip code 94123"!!! Geez, god almighty!!! I was clearly getting nowhere, and all this was taking so long that the tomatoes I had in my basket were beggining to grow mold! No matter how hard I begged and pleaded, he would not cash my check, and I've been shopping in the damn grocery store for over 20 years! Anyway, I then dashed to Safeway, where I should have gone to in the first place.. Thank god, they cashed my check for over the amount, but it meant I had to wheel the basket around and shop for those few items again! By the time I got home that night, it was almost 9 p.m. I was in a sweat and felt as if I had talked my way out of a Turkish prison at gunpoint!
The next morning I took off early and went to the DMV to get my replacement license. Even though I left as early as I could, all this made me late to work of course. All this running around and panic over the stolen wallet and mom's medical condition while trying to do my Kindergarten job was indeed stressful enough. But, no, my dumb-ass company had to make it even more stressful by harassing me and giving me crap that I 'was taking an awful lot of time off while I was still on Probation'! I told my boss I'd be willing to make up the time, but my wimpy-skinny-ass boss said, while fingering his scrawny mustache, "We don't allow employees to make up time here".... Eh??? Well, EXCUUUUUUUSE ME for my mother having a heart attack and for me being a victim of robbery!! Oh, and to make matters worse, my EMPLOYEE SECURITY BADGE was amongst the stolen items, so I had a problem entering the building!!! So to add insult to injury, I was made to feel guilty about all this!
In any case, mom is back home now and doing well. She is taking things much easier and has not yet gone back to work. And I finally have received all my replacement cards and ID, so things are fairly back to normal. Normal?? My life normal???
posted by LADYGOLD at 9:57 PM
