D.O.E.(Death of Excess)(Read if you make, like, or want money)
July 29, 2009
“D.O.E. (Death of Excess)”- (Read if you make, like, or want money)
It’s 2009, and the summer of the “stay-cation” is very much in effect.
If you’re not staying home to conserve your dwindling funds, you might be venturing
within a few hours from your city to experience the fun of a economically friendly
day or road trip. Personally, I had dreams of of going back east to visit family
(I’m in Cali), but instead the responsible side of me has reoriented myself to the
fact that I have priorities that need to be handled first and before any vacationing
can commence. *sigh*
So I go to work, have a little fun around town, go home and prepare to repeat the
routine the next day. I lay out my clothes, get introspective in the shower, and tie
up my hair in my favorite place- my bathroom. And just when I’m getting comfortable
enough with accepting the fact that spending wisely is a sign that I’m maturing, and
begin to take solace in the fact that I can keep my phone and car another month, I
turn on the radio and hear things like,
“It ain’t tricking if you got it..”
“Just throw it in the bag..”
“You’re a mom-and-pop, I’m a corporation”
“I got the hottest cars, I rock the flyest clothes”
“Tell them other broke jokers be quiet..”
After I stopped dancing (hey, I’m a sucker for a good beat), it dawned on me that I
was shaking my booty to songs that celebrated trivializing and downing people with
less financial security than what they- obviously overpaid entertainers- have.
Within their lyrics lies a message that the everyday man/woman isn’t anything in
comparison to them because they have it to spend at will, and we don’t. Wait,
wouldn’t that include me, too? Or am I excluded because I’m a woman and they claim
to want to spend this money on me, often in exchange for a modern day concubinage
where I’m expected to call my provider “daddy” (thanks, Twista)? What about my dad,
my homeboy or my co-worker who are all working tirelessly to provide for themselves
and/or their families? Are they the proverbial crap on the bottom of these
entertainers’ shoes just because they can’t ‘make it rain’ without caring or buy
their loved ones “whatever they liiiiike”?
*scratches head*
I can barely pay my bills without cringing, yet you’re telling me- no, you’re
bragging to me- about how insignificant money is.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s no one’s fault but mine that I’m in a position where
I’m struggling. I love my job, it just doesn’t pay as well as I’d like. I join
millions of people across our country and still many, many more around the world,
who are having financial difficulties because of choices they made or things that
they couldn’t prevent.
But what I don’t need and can prevent is willingly listening to some
rapper/singer/self-perceived “artist” cramming their lack of money troubles down my
throat paired with a hot track, and allowing their distorted mindsets to infiltrate
and influence my own. Nor do I need to hear kids in the school I work at repeating
the hooks to these songs that glorify narcissism and frivolity.
Do we enjoy these songs because they’re an escape from our frustrating realities? Do
we women (and some men, don’t front) secretly long to be lavished upon? I believe
that, sadly, many of those people who allow themselves to be bought greatly
compromise their integrity for money, and once your integrity has been compromised,
it can’t be bought back.
As well, those entertainers who popularize what it means to be shallow and
irresponsible, compromise their integrity by spreading this ignorance to the
masses, camouflaging their foolishness with a thin veil in the way of a nice vocal
arrangement or a catchy chorus.
It pisses me off.
Open your ears, people. And help shield the ears of those who have trouble
distinguishing between reality and grossly misplaced fantasy.
Those with the power to influence through music have been given a blessing by a
higher power which allows them to do what they love, publicly, and for lots of
money. With that comes a responsibility to not purposely infect the people with the
avoidable auditorally and visually transmitted disease of materialism. Our
contraceptive comes in the form of our free will. We don’t have to be accepting of
things that lessen our life’s quality, even if we don’t immediately acknowledge the
damage being done. We have the choice to recognize if only we’d get comfortable with
opening ourselves up to what’s truly significant and important in this life, and
understanding that it may just be trickin’ IF you got it.
Don’t forget reality! And don’t feel bad just because you can’t do with your money
what an overpaid entertainer can do with his/hers.
“Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a
green leaf.”
– Proverbs 11:28
Can a sista get a check around here?!? | New blog by T. Hobbs
August 5, 2008
I work as a behaviorist with special needs kids. Yes, someone entrusted me with the task of helping children embrace normality.
Laugh all you want, but I’ve managed to do it for almost 2 years now, and I love it.
Here’s the thing:
Your hours are dependent upon your child’s attendance. For example, if little Timmy doesn’t come to school on Thursday, his behaviorist doesn’t get paid. And there’s no way to make up those lost hours. When little Timmy is present, it’s all good. But when he’s not, it’s a bi***.
Getting my drift?
Well, summer is no exception, and like many others, I’ve now found myself out of work for the entire month of August. After talking to moms and my honey, I decided to seek unemployment so I could get some sort of income coming in so I don’t have to start “doin somethin strange for a little piece of change”. Yea, it’s that bad.
ANYWAY! So 3 weeks ago I access the website (which I’m not linking to because it’s a piece of sh*t), follow their procedure, and apply for benefits. I was scheduled for a phone interview to see just why my broke ass needs the assistance, and 1 week later they call and I MISS THE CALL! Hell! I was handling a kid and they called private and I DO NOT answer private calls (feel me?).
So I check the message and it’s clearly someone in a faraway land mumbling to me about how I am “terminated”. Shit! And then the people had the nerve to send me letters reiterating that I was denied. I already knew that, thank you! Jerks.
For the next 2 weeks, all the way up until yesterday, I called their
office- at 8am, at 1pm, at 3:37pm, at 4:26pm- it didn’t matter! No one ever answered! Where were all the people??? Then, it hit me- California’s economy IS in a recession and unemployment rates are on the rise. Governor Terminator has cut government jobs as a ploy to encourage state officials to create and subsequently balance the budget, and there is NOONE to answer my call *LINK http://www.latimes.com/news/local/valley/la-fi-noanswer9apr09,0,6412485.story*.
Discouraged and highly pissed, I decided to just haul my booty in to the actual office to speak to a real, live person.
So today, Tuesday, I gear up to go in. My mother had already warned me that I better pack a lunch and a book because I’d probably be waiting for hours. Great. But before I left the house, I decided to give it one more shot. I called them AGAIN, expecting to be hanged up on- AGAIN.
Well, someone answered! Was this for real?? I hadn’t been drinking (I try to wait until after 12pm), so I know I wasn’t hallucinating.
I told the very impatient lady what my deal was and that I’d been denied, but desperately needed the money and could she help me, blah blah blah.
Transfered. Damnit. And I was on a roll.
And then, things took a turn for the worse. Jesus be a translator, because I couldn’t understand 1/4 of what this man was saying to me! So I hit him with a lot of “can you repeat that” and “I’m sorry”, which only seemed to piss him off even more which made his accent that much thicker and unintelligeable (look it up).
And all I wanted to say was “Speak english!!” but I figured that’d be rude and I needed my moneeeey. After a few minutes, the man told me that I’d have to file an appeal and then MAIL it in, which would then be reviewed by a judge and if overturned, then I’d see a check. Anything is better than nothing, I kept telling myself to keep from throwing my already broken sidekick through the wall. Damn POS phone. Oh, and “we have to receive it by August 7″, he says. WTF!? Thank you and goodbye man who needs to brush up on his english. So I get to filling out the appeal and stating why if I don’t receive this money, I’m gonna have to resort to picking up the stripper’s ones at the Right Track (don’t judge).
It was 4:53 and I hightailed it over to the post office that closed at 5, just making it, and sending my letter down the mailbox with a hope and a dream. Now, I wait. And if you see me this month standing at Slauson and Crenshaw selling some incense and socks with my USC education, you’ll know what happened.
Pray for me, y’all!
Hugs and Kisses,
T. Hobbs
Bank of America is of the devil….
July 1, 2008
a Repost from “HustleKnockin” wanted to make sure the word got out. I’ve said for a long time B Of A is crooked.
“6.30.08
Ken Lewis, CEO
Bank of America
100 Tyron Street
Charlotte, North Carolina 28255Dear Mr. Lewis,
The following outlines my outrageous and credit-rating-damaging experience with Bank Of America’s Gold Option Line of Credit. This letter is also part of a consumer advocacy campaign to alert consumers about BOA’s practices.
Attention Credit Users: Beware of Bank Of America’s Gold Option Line Of Credit.
Here’s how it works:
Between appealing advertisements and the misleading words of customer service reps Bank Of America offers a product called “Gold Option Line of Credit.”
They will tell you it’s not a credit card, but a “line of credit”—a loan for an agreed-upon amount with low APR to be repaid over time; and that you can tap into it as needed for business or personal purposes upon qualifications. (As BOA did to me.)
Bank Of America will then offer you between 8.99% and 11.99% APR (Annual Percentage Rate). Upon accepting the terms (as I did), they will raise your APR interest rate to 21.99% without warning simply because they can. (As BOA did to me.)
You won’t discover this bait-n-switch tactic until the receipt of your first statement. In your first statement you’ll notice a laundry list of transaction fees, cash advance surcharges, APRs, and other petty, periphery fees that if paid as intended, will comprise double to triple the amount you agreed to. (As BOA did to me.)
By your second statement, they will outright boost your APR north of “reasonable and sane” to 56.33%. (As BOA did to me.)
No matter how much you complain and protest to customer service reps, BOA will stand by their actions. And even after you cancel your account, returning all moneys before due, Bank Of America will contact Experian, TransUnion and Equifax and report that you are delinquent in your payment schedule.
Why?
Because Bank Of America farms out portions of its Gold Option service to partnering firms; and while they claim to contact them and coordinate the closing of your account they won’t. (Why would they—doing so is a loss of revenue on their behalf.)
So in short, you will find that the 3 major reporting agencies will record non-payments and delinquencies to your account as fact. BOA will do this for several months until your credit rating takes a nosedive by 145 points. (As BOA did to me.)
If you write enough letters and dial enough numbers—7 numbers and 15 letters of complaint in my case—you’ll get called back by someone from BOA’s Office of The Chairman from Bank Of America’s home office, located in Delaware. In my case, that “someone” was named Ms. Niva Sadler.
Now Ms. Niva Sadler (or someone like her from BOA’s Office of The Chairman) will listen to your complaint. She will then tell you, both in writing and over the phone, that your memory regarding the conversations are fuzzy, that your 5lbs worth of files and documentation of the facts and transactions is irrelevant, that you’ve simply “misunderstood the terms of your agreement,” and that your complaint is unfounded. And she/they will tell you all of this with a smug, arrogant tone that wreaks of disregard for anything other than making money.
Whether it’s Sadler or someone like her, a Bank Of America rep will defend its corrupt actions including: bait ‘n’ switch tactics, false and slanderous reports to credit bureaus that ruin your credit rating, and lying customer service reps, not to mention the unethical and exorbitant charges levied against your account will all be defended or ignored.
In short, she will viciously and coldly defend BOA’s actions to no end, no matter how corrupt, how wrong or how illegal they are.
Meanwhile, your credit rating—like mine—may fall as much as 145 points due to false information being reported to the credit agencies in your name. Thanks to BOA this information that will stay on your report for 7 years.
Bank of America will screw you, hide behind legalese and doubletalk. And because BOA and other financial institutions of similar ilk have bought off the Better Business Bureau and lobbied the State’s Attorney’s office most congressmen and state DA’s, there’s not much you can do about it.
But you’ll learn all this the hard way.
You’ll also learn that your only alternative will be to mount an online campaign and contact as many media outlets as possible to let them know what type of company Bank Of America is and what they’re capable of. In doing so you will discover thousands of irate customers who have been mislead, lied to, overcharged and scammed by a variety of BOA departments and services.
As the numbers of screwed-over customers grow and the media exposure increases, something might change.”
If you have a choice dont do business with B of A…. i know of plenty horror stories, both myself and friends/family. The banking system is crooked in itself but Bank Of America, takes the cake.
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