~ma in abundance for your Mom, and you, Strix. I hope they figure things out quickly.

WTF? I've been getting phone calls from this same number nearly every day for weeks. They never leave a message, and when I do pick up, there's no one there. This time, I picked up, and there was someone there. He said they're from a medical collection agency, and were calling about a bill I hadn't paid. (They were right -- I'd put it in a stack and then forgotten about it.) He said I could pay it by telling them the numbers from my checking account. I said I wasn't comfortable giving that information over the phone, and I'd pay the bill by sending a check. He started giving me this whole spiel about how they already have all sorts of information about me, and they know my social security number and date of birth, and that's much more important information than my checking account number, and so there's no reason why I shouldn't tell them my account number.

That sounds like typical debt collector tactics to me. Ew.

The general consensus? Avoid giving your bank account information to a debt collector unless you've set up a separate account for this purpose.

[link]

Yeah, I hung up, and I just went to my bank account website and paid the bill that way.

What is this snow you are talking about?

My sister is currently at a Field Trip Expo. Like, a whole big trade show type thing where you walk around and see all the different field trips you could take your class/program/campers on. That sounds so awesome.

I once had a collection agency calling me about an unpaid medical bill ... and when I told them I hadn't received the invoice, they slipped up and acknowledged that the invoice hadn't been sent. They did send a second invoice, which I paid promptly.

In stupid people news: I manage our weekly electronic newsletter; some of our members don't receive it in the general distribution, so I forward my copy to them individually. Yesterday we got a call from someone complaining that HIS copy arrived with MY name on it ... so now, I have to include a note with the forwarded issues explaining that they're receiving the forwarded copy because they weren't getting it otherwise. jeepers

Ma~ma Strixward

Aw, sad to hear about Hazel. And poor mom of Jesse, endless construction is so wearying.

Ugh, debt collection. Ptui, let us speak no more of that (not meaning y'all should stop, of course, but I need to not get started on that subject)

That does sound awesome, brenda!

What is this snow you are talking about?

Right? Our snow here is almost all melted, after days of beautiful weather. I was just having a conversation in the kitchen about how obviously this is the platonic ideal of weather (65 and mostly sunny), but it's just Not Right for February in New England, and I don't care for it!