Thank the Lord for India

I really liked the Capital One Credit Card ads, and their terms are reasonable. However, they are still a big and stinky credit card company. This month I got a $29 late payment charge which, technically, was legit. If it had been up to me, I probably would have let it slide, but my wife saw the charge on our monthly statement and she was not happy with me. I can understand, I used to make it a point to avoid ALL bank charges, no sense paying for something you can get for free. All you have to do is follow their stupid rules. So now I am catching payback for all my previously distributed grief. A year or two ago I hired a bookkeeper to take care of our household bills, not because it was difficult or complicated or time consuming, but simply because I hated doing it. I would rather go to the dentist or shopping or get stuck in traffic or almost anything besides going through the monthly paperwork. So the bookkeeper comes by every two weeks for an hour or two and knocks out the paperwork and my life is a little brighter. However, credit card bills come every month, and having the bookkeeper come every two weeks does not always jibe with the due dates on the bills. I think that's what happened this time. The bill showed up right after one visit, and was due around the time on the next visit which means we were late with the payment. Well, I don't like being in the doghouse anymore than the next guy, so I called the toll-free number on my statement and got one of these robo-cop answering machines: "Press or say your first dog's last name...." etc. etc. Three levels of menus in I finally got to a selection that sounded like I might get to talk to a person, I think it was the "Fraud and stolen cards" selection. This did indeed get me to a real live person, a woman, who asked "how she could help me" with an East Indian accent. I am afraid I was a little gruff with her, I had been cooking up my argument about how and why the charge was unfair (last month's bill was due on the 4th, this months bill was due on the 7th, what's up with that?) and so I grumped at her and she tried to explain, but I really didn't want an explanation, what I wanted was the $29 charge removed. So I finally asked for that, and she said she would check. It only took a few seconds, certainly much less than a minute, before she was back to tell me she could remove that charge. Somewhere along in here I realised that she is just a cog in a big machine, and my grumping at her would do nothing except make her day just a little more miserable. So at this point I poured on the syrup, trying to make up for my boorish behavior, although I did forget to apologize. I did not ask her where she was, I figured it was a given, in that she had an Indian accent, slight though discernable, and I was calling a giant/evil corporation, which are known for exporting their call centers to India. Giant = Evil when you are talking about corporations, it's not that they are really trying to be evil, it's just the nature of the beast. It's kind of like a car. Use them carefully and they can transport you to the ends of the Earth, but don't stand in front of them, you'll get flattented. A week or two ago I got a call from an outfit doing a survey of some sort. Another pleasant young woman, though no accent. The survey was something about Oregon, traffic in Washington County, that was it. After the survey I asked where she was calling from, I'm always curious about that. She tells me Las Cruces, New Mexico. I've been there! Gee wilikers, who'd a thunk it? Las Cruces, that's like in the middle of the middle of nowhere. A long time ago I was hitch hiking to Cloudcroft and I stopped in a gas station to buy a couple bottles of soda. It was hot, and I was dry. Geez, that was a long time ago.

Las Cruces New Mexico

Update January 2021 replaced missing map.