calmloki
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
When car salesmen (for example) say "what do you want to spend a month" I just don't get it. My normal answer is "nothing". I want to know total cost.
Latest example was yesterday - went in to city hall to discuss how best to minimize our water/sewer bill if we are gone for four months. I have the bill on autopay of $60/month, which is a few bucks more than the normal bill - between that and a few double payments getting autopay running we carry a couple hundred in credit with the city all the time. No problem - we are covered if there are any autopay screwups. Anyway, 4 months of autopay water/sewer is $240, and I thought maybe the city would have a no-use or vacation rate of $10-20/month to leave the account open. Nope. $55 minimum monthly charge.
Told them I wanted to minimize our expense and the lady looked at our records and said "Oh, there's no problem, you have a $200+ credit, you can just use that." Took a bit to get her to understand that 4 x $55 = $220, and whether it comes out of my credit or our checking account it's still my money. We'll be having the water turned off while we're gone, closing the account, and saving the $220. I will have to pay a $90 deposit when we acctivate the account - again, the lady acted like a "deposit" was the same as lighting $90 on fire - I checked and yes, a "deposit" is refundable if you pay your bill. City will have to mail us our existing credit.
Down south I returned some items to Home Depot - the gal said "Oh, it's only $6.50" as if that was a factor - excuse me Gracie - isn't that about what you make an hour after taxes?
Tenants often act like deposits are spent money rather than $$$ they can get back.
Just don't get it.
Latest example was yesterday - went in to city hall to discuss how best to minimize our water/sewer bill if we are gone for four months. I have the bill on autopay of $60/month, which is a few bucks more than the normal bill - between that and a few double payments getting autopay running we carry a couple hundred in credit with the city all the time. No problem - we are covered if there are any autopay screwups. Anyway, 4 months of autopay water/sewer is $240, and I thought maybe the city would have a no-use or vacation rate of $10-20/month to leave the account open. Nope. $55 minimum monthly charge.
Told them I wanted to minimize our expense and the lady looked at our records and said "Oh, there's no problem, you have a $200+ credit, you can just use that." Took a bit to get her to understand that 4 x $55 = $220, and whether it comes out of my credit or our checking account it's still my money. We'll be having the water turned off while we're gone, closing the account, and saving the $220. I will have to pay a $90 deposit when we acctivate the account - again, the lady acted like a "deposit" was the same as lighting $90 on fire - I checked and yes, a "deposit" is refundable if you pay your bill. City will have to mail us our existing credit.
Down south I returned some items to Home Depot - the gal said "Oh, it's only $6.50" as if that was a factor - excuse me Gracie - isn't that about what you make an hour after taxes?
Tenants often act like deposits are spent money rather than $$$ they can get back.
Just don't get it.