Powered by MailChimp
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Click the ol’ “Play” button at the top of this post to learn how success in life can be compared to flossing those pearly whites of yours. Also, make sure you click to hear my favorite lead-in song yet, courtesy of Steve Martin. As always, if you can’t see the “Play” button at the top of this post, just click on the post title and it should appear. Thanks for checking in!
Get great, practical advice sent straight to your inbox every week! For more information on The Practical Nerd Rules for Life, click here. Plus, learn how you can get a copy of my FREE ebook!
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
This is a bit of a departure for me, but I figured out two things: I need to have a personality here on the Nerd, and I also needed to have something to put in the “Just For Laughs” category. I’ve been getting a little deep here lately, so I want to cut loose a little and talk about one of the most popular shows on television.
I fell in love with The Office during the Christmas episode of the second season (“YAAAANKEE SWAP!”). Since then, I have followed it regularly, and it has been an overall high-quality show. However, this season has been a bit different from previous seasons. I understand that changes need to happen to further the writing, and I don’t have solutions for all of these, but here are some things that are bothering me about the show, after watching last night’s episode:
Are there too many characters? I think Erin is great, but it stretches the show a little bit. Instead of focusing on how the office employees interact, we’re getting bits and pieces of stuff. We don’t hear much from Angela, Kevin, and especially Kelly and Ryan. Ryan seems to have these little jokes about how he dresses and stuff, but it’s all pushed into the background.
I’m torn about Jim as a manager. He had to do something, I get it. But Jim played the regular Joe really well. Now he’s a co-manager. On the flip side, awkward, babbling Jim is funny too. So I guess it’s a wash.
I can’t stand the guest stars. This show just isn’t for recognizable guest stars. When Jack Black was on in the movie-within-the-show, I couldn’t stand it. It screamed, “Trying to boost ratings!” And just like in The Blind Side, I don’t see any need for Kathy Bates. She annoys me, and any time I see her in anything, I just see Kathy Bates. I don’t see whoever she’s supposed to be. The Christian Slater appearance was perfect as the video satire, but the rest I could do without.
I already miss Dunder-Mifflin as a corporate entity. The buyout fell pretty flat for me, although it did give the opportunity for the great Hannah Montana “Party in the USA” parody. I like the whole Dunder-Mifflin world, and getting rid of all of that really stinks. It shrinks the Office world quite a bit.
Do we have to ruin EVERYbody that’s ever worked at corporate? David Wallace was extremely likable and well put-together. Now he drinks during the day and wants to market a toy vacuum called “Suck It”. I liked the interplay between Michael and Jan, and then Jan went way off-base. Ryan went crazy, and now this? Can we just keep somebody normal?
Dwight has gotten too broad. Good Dwight gives speeches on his favorite ping-pong players and tries to quietly take control of the office. Bad Dwight dresses up like Re-Cyclops (although we all know that’s just a forced storyline to appease NBC’s incredibly stupid “Green Week”) and demonstrates how he would fight himself. I like the idea of trying to get Jim fired – where is that storyline?
It’s STILL a good show, just wildly inconsistent! The show still makes me laugh. Everybody blames Michael getting to be “too much”, but I just don’t. I think he’s about the same, which is a good thing. If anything, he’s gotten a little more heart. But this season, we’ve had masterpieces like Jim and Pam’s wedding episode, immediately followed by the Mafia episode, which fell really flat to me, despite Andy Bernard dressing up like a mechanic wearing loafers. I worry about which Office is going to show up every week. Even last night, we had a so-so episode, but the Christian Slater video was great! I’ve seen orientation videos like that – ones that really tell you absolutely nothing about the company, but are trying to impress you.
All in all, I’ll keep watching. Definitely. I just hope that we can see more office-type storylines and the stuff the show was built on, and not over-the-top ridiculousness. Can we have another Dundies?
As I wrote about in my post detailing the value and awesomeness of podcasts, I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey. He’s got a great sensibility, he’s brilliantly smart when it comes to tackling and defeating consumer debt, and he’s a Christian man, too. I listen to his podcast every day while I’m at work, and a couple weeks ago, he made a statement that has pushed me forward since I heard it. It was beautiful in its simplicity, while really making you think.
“We are all self-employed.”
Think about that. Doesn’t it just nail it right on the head? We’re all self-employed, each and every one of us.
You work for you. Sure, the boss signs his name on the checks, and he has the power to hire and fire you, so you do what you can to keep him happy. But that’s not why you do it. You do it for you. You do it because of the benefits that come to your life because of it, like financial security and the ability to provide for the people you love, and for yourself. You do it because it gives you the opportunity to advance in the company, down the line. Even if you’re at a dead-end job, you do it because you need a job.
I enjoy throwing on a tie when I go to the office. But when you are just answering emails all day, nobody is going to see you. So a lot of people see that as an excuse to wear whatever they want, despite the dress code. But when I stroll through with a tie on, I get smart comments like: “You’re making us all look bad” or “Oooo, THIS guy was paying attention at orientation! ‘Dressing for the job you want, not the job you have!’” Let ‘em talk.
I take pride in my appearance when I go to work, and what’s more, I take pride in what I do when I work there. I’m surrounded by people that have nothing better to do than whine about how crappy the job is. Hey, it’s not a dream job, but it pays rather decent, and it’s an opportunity. I’m thankful for that.
Self-employment tax is well-known as the crappy side of being self-employed. Full Social Security tax, a straight-up “self-employment” tax, and having to buy your own health benefits are all big chunks out of your income. With a full-time job, you get those things in the paycheck, but you give up the freedom of hours and the control over how you work.
No matter what line of work you are in, there are certain concessions you have to make. It’s just a part of working.
When you are self-employed, you take stock of every client you get – and you use that experience to propel you into your next gig. How is that any different from working in an office? You use your experience to propel you into a better position. It’s the same thing. Successful businessmen and successful office workers understand that each opportunity to work is an opportunity to show what you are made of. Even if you aren’t crazy about that job description, you go in there and you destroy it. Bring it and you will reap the rewards.
I thought my job was quite dead-end. Answering emails. Yee-ha. But I find fulfillment and growth in other areas, too. I find it in my own business-building, I find it in my relationships with my friends and loved ones, and I find it in The Practical Nerd. Don’t let your life be defined by your work. You are more than your job. A job is just 8 hours a day. You are you for all 24 hours.
Just remember your motivation – do you have goals in life? How is this job getting you there? Answering emails doesn’t get me any closer to running a business, but it pays my bills so that I can take the time to build my business properly and let it grow naturally, rather than forcing it out of desperation as I’ve tried in the past.
So who do you work for? Your boss, or you?
Everybody’s million-dollar-question is “How do you make money on Twitter?” Well, I managed to “make” over $60 this month, thanks to one simple tweet. Here’s the backstory (this also answers the OTHER million-dollar-question, “What’s the point of being on Twitter, anyway?”):
I keep my checking account with ING Direct right now, and I love it. While I am moving to a joint checking account with my lovely fiancé, my ING account is all mine and currently, I still pay some bills out of it while I make the switch. But for a period of time, I also had my “emergency” checking account with Guaranty Bank.
The reason for this was simple: ING has no branches, and in case I need to make an emergency transaction, I can deposit cash or checks immediately into my Guaranty Bank checking account, and then pay a bill if I need to. Except the big issue was that, once in a while, I would accidentally pay a bill out of my Guaranty Bank account while all my money was in my ING account.
For example, a few months ago, I accidentally drew my Bank of America credit card payment out of my Guaranty Bank account without realizing it. So, the money for the payment was sitting in my ING account, and Guaranty Bank winds up paying the bill and then charging me $37. That’s fair. It was my mistake.
But I accidentally did it again last month. This time, disaster struck. Guaranty Bank decided not to pay the bill. So when the charge came through, they took it, charged me $37 for a returned check fee, and then sent it back. Bank of America, for some reason, decided to try sending it through again. So Guaranty Bank took it, charged me $37, and sent it back again. Guaranty Bank does not have any type of email alerts or anything – they send a letter. That’s right, a snail mail letter. They might as well have given it along with a flask to a guy on a horse. By the time I got this letter, I was well over $70 in the hole and my credit card payment had not been paid.
Now, at this point, it is my fault. I’m not trying to skirt responsibility here. However, I do take issue with the idea that the bank could suddenly change its mind about how it handles these issues and then literally notify me days after the fact that this happened. If I have ever overdrawn on my ING account, an email pops up on my phone before I get my keys out in the parking lot.
So I closed the account with Guaranty Bank. I was done. If I needed another brick-and-mortar bank, I’d find a different one. I paid off the debt and closed the account after five years (and I used to work there!), because they took away fee reversal privileges from the tellers since I left there. I called Bank of America and the woman said she didn’t know why the payment was sent through twice, and that a cash advance was going to be taken off the credit card to pay the account and I would have to pay the associated fees, along with the late fees and the returned check fees. I asked if I could make the payment over the phone right then and there – after all, I still had the money! She said I could not, because this process had already begun and there was nothing we could do. It didn’t make sense to me, but I accepted it because that’s apparently what they do.
I waited, and the next week, I noticed all the fees hit, but the cash advance was not processed, and I had a double payment due the next month. I called back, and the next woman told me she didn’t know why I was told this, but they don’t take cash advances to pay accounts. She didn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed to make a payment over the phone – and that money was gone at this point. She also reiterated that the payment should not have been attempted twice. She then told me she would reverse the late fees and the returned check fees, and I would owe about $130, much less than the nearly $200 payment I originally owed. I thanked her and went on my way.
The following week, I saw that the fees were reversed but the payment was still almost $200. I called and complained, saying I had already altered my budget twice now for wrong information. The gentleman said there was nothing he could do. I hung up. Angry, I called back once more and spoke to another woman. She attempted to reverse another $40 (which she did), but it did not affect the payment due. She said she couldn’t do anything about it.
Furious at this point, I went to Twitter. I was shocked to see @BofA_Help on Twitter. I decided to publicly send them a message:
Like I said, I was angry. I wasn’t really expecting anything to come out of it, it just was my way of venting.
Next thing I know, I get a response asking for my contact information. I then get a phone call and I explain my situation to the woman. She calls me back later and says she doesn’t know how I got all this incorrect information, and she’s clearly not thrilled about doing this, but she tells me to pay the $130 and then notify her and she will adjust the rest of the payment.
I did. And it was taken care of within a day.
Now, I’m still not exactly a big fan of Bank of America. I think they need better training for their reps, as I received so much wrong information in such a short period of time that severely impacted my budget. However, I have to give them props for being so responsive and having a dedicated team on Twitter to help their customers.
It doesn’t stop there – there are plenty of companies on Twitter, and sometimes it’s easier to get access to REAL people by going the Twitter route. If nothing else, you should be on Twitter to have your voice heard by the customer service reps for the big companies that tend to treat you like dirt. That one tweet above was a throwaway thought, but it wound up finally getting me what I was told I was going to get. All my fees were reversed and I still paid the money that I rightfully owed.
Thanks, @BofA_help.
Do you have any cool Twitter stories to share? Drop them in the comments, we’d love to hear them!
Like everybody else, today I talk about the Leno-Conan-NBC feud, past television classics, and how patience plays out in your life. If you don’t see the “play” button above the picture, click on the post title and you will see it. Enjoy, and as always, please feel free to leave some feedback!
