Uncategorized – Page 2 – Ermigal's Kvetch Korner

Credit Card Crackup

Howdy, fellow kvetchers! Let’s get down to business–it’s been a rough couple of days trying to crank out another post to you. Suffice it to say I’m a bit rusty at using WordPress, along with all the changes they’ve made to the program over the last decade. Last night, I spent several hours on a kvetch about commercials, only to accidentally delete it. I couldn’t manage to retrieve it, either. Fortunately, Jay, my tech guru, has set aside some time for me next week so I won’t be spinning my wheels so much.

Today wasn’t much better. I wasted 55 minutes on a credit card issue.

Not so fast, Godzilla Bank. I’m not using that card, and stashed it in a drawer with a big note: Do Not Use.

I tried to get to my statement, but my username/password was wrong. Got a text password, finally set up new ones.

Grrr! The online statement is too small to see, and I couldn’t make it bigger. Was it a service charge for finally getting my points in cash after waiting till I had enough?

Sure, if I miss the payment, it’s a late fee. Those crooks! I paid it and felt victorious for a minute.

Customer service folks are usually very helpful, but sometimes it’s a long wait. Oh, and then there’s the survey at the end. Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do.

What’s your latest kvetch about credit cards, customer service or anything else?

Now’s your chance.

Go West, Old Woman

This will be short to allow you, the reader, to vent about your own kvetch. Many of you know I recently relocated to Greeley, CO to be closer to my daughter. The Rockies are beautiful, people are friendly, the same big box stores are here, and maybe it’s a little sunnier than Syracuse, NY. There’s one difference that shocked me, though; they don’t recycle in Greeley. You read that right.

It costs me $30 a month to recycle with a private company. A few nearby cities (Boulder, Loveland, Fort Collins) recycle; why not Greeley?

There seems to be a disconnect in Colorado between loving the outdoors but not bothering to recycle; our national recycling average is 35%; Colorado’s is less than half that amount.

I miss my NY blue bin.

Now it’s your turn!

Welcome to Kvetch Korner

What is kvetching, you may be asking? It’s a wonderful Yiddish term that means complaining, especially chronically. Here’s an opportunity to get your grievances out into the world. Please, it has to be small and mundane in order to give our brains a brief respite from what’s swirling around us 24/7.

To those folks who know me, welcome to the launch of my new blog. If you got an invitation and don’t know me, or we’ve met and you can’t quite place me, stick around! This place will become one of your favorites, I hope.

If you’re still not sure, please take a minute and answer these questions:

Do you feel overwhelmed by the state of the country and the world?

Are you hesitant to complain about things that seem minor now, like slow lines at the grocery store or drivers who run yellow lights?

Is the Feel-Good piece at the end of the evening news failing to lift your spirits?

If you answered yes to any of them, you need to kvetch, my friend! I’ll start, OK?

**I really need to kvetch a little–how about you?**

Here’s my beef: as some of you know, I enjoy writing, especially poking fun at life and myself. Would you believe I fiddled with the TV/Cable remote last night and now have only one channel–Denver3–along with 40 and 60, both fuzzy versions of Denver3. It was nonstop Family Feud, so it’s off until I call the cable company, I guess. But back to my complaint.

After two years of hard work, I finished a humor book on the topic of Climate Change. Crazy, huh? It’s a story about some senior women, like me, helping the environmental cause in a convoluted way. If you want something done, let a well-seasoned woman do it. (Except for handling anything electronic–LOL!)

Yeah, I enjoy writing, but the fun is also in sharing it with others. As if getting it out into the world isn’t hard enough, either by self-publishing or catching the interest of someone in the publishing biz, a writer has to have a PLATFORM. That’s promoting and publicizing your latest work on social media, as in this blog. It’s just not fair.

Here’s Clinton, a just-hired publishing intern, reading my carefully crafted manuscript, resting his eyes for a moment. What chance do I have?

Did Erma Bombeck have a blog? Would Will Rogers have tweeted his witticisms? Maybe. Tina Fey is on Twitter, but it seems half-hearted. Busy person, of course.

Can’t people stop all that busy-ness, and read a good book?

Whew-I’m finished. Thanks!

It’s your turn now. Please share your kvetch (it’s a verb and a noun) in the comments, and we’ll see where it goes. There are no prizes or retweeting, just the relief of sharing an annoyance.

Trust me, you’ll feel better.