So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

Well known, and supposedly honourable charities, in the UK have been exposed by the press as greedy charlatans. Head honchos on a quarter million salaries which they can double with bonuses. I remember a cynical joke by a visiting American comedian many years ago, who said that if you wanted to get rich, go to the US and start a religion. Nowadays it's go to the UK and start a charity.

I once worked for a publishing company whose CEO was a big believer in United Way, a sort of umbrella agency that raises massive amounts of dough and doles it out (some of it, anyway) to various not-for-profit social service agencies and the like.

So every year all the employees attended a mandatory meeting at the company headquarters to listen to this a**hole give his spiel and get us all to “voluntarily” donate a portion of our pay to United Way. His getting 100 percent participation made him some sort of star in the United Way galaxy.

He’s been dead a few years now. Too bad it didn’t happen a few years earlier. I had far better uses for that money.

 

[3fingers]

It's all just to get your money.

Don't even get me started on the NRA.
I was a member for many years but their fundraising schemes and constant dogging for more along with their continuous pearl clutching and condescending attitude caused me to sever that relationship years ago.

United Way,

I spent a fair number of years as a YMCA employee. It was the same way there. They pretty much demanded 100% participation from employees, many of whom were struggling to get by and keep the lights on. I did the minimum contribution which pissed them off mightily since I was better paid than many others. The United Way is a graft scheme that pays out just enough to maintain a good public image. They also support causes that I disagreed with and would not willingly contribute to. My current employer offers the payroll deduction for UW, but I pass on it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Our local not-United-Way-but-some-local-knockoff-of-the-concept ended up being grifted out of 4 and a half million dollars by its board president to sustain his luxurious lifestyle and shabby business ventures. Which made me glad I do my charity face-to-face.

 

[dh66]

I stopped for gas today and even though I pre-paid with a credit card, the pump would only let me get $50 before it cut off. The clerk explained this was the limit per transaction. WTF? Needless to say, with a 40 gallon tank on my truck, it took another transaction (at a different gas station) to finish filling up.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[3fingers]

I stopped for gas today and even though I pre-paid with a credit card, the pump would only let me get $50 before it cut off. The clerk explained this was the limit per transaction. WTF? Needless to say, with a 40 gallon tank on my truck, it took another transaction (at a different gas station) to finish filling up.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Probably because of stolen cards.
I don't pay at the pump here mostly because I tend to pay cash and we have ongoing issues with people putting card skimmers in gas pumps. The stations also can put a hold on your card for more than the amount of your purchase. It just grinds my gears, so I choose not to participate.

 

[tonyb]

Our local not-United-Way-but-some-local-knockoff-of-the-concept ended up being grifted out of 4 and a half million dollars by its board president to sustain his luxurious lifestyle and shabby business ventures. Which made me glad I do my charity face-to-face.

I hadn’t known just how much the lovely missus donated until I totaled up receipts and whatnot to hand off to the accountant earlier this year. To her credit, much of that largesse goes to her church; she’s seen the congregation’s books, and is satisfied that the dough isn’t being squandered. And she looks into how much of the dough she tosses to other charities actually goes to their stated missions.

I often donate to food drives. Several churches around here (my wife’s among them) operate food pantries, and Scout troops and the like often collect food outside supermarkets. I’m comfortable that whatever I put in that big bin will actually end up in some person’s belly, and that that person is likely to be needy.

 

[tonyb]

I stopped for gas today and even though I pre-paid with a credit card, the pump would only let me get $50 before it cut off. The clerk explained this was the limit per transaction. WTF? Needless to say, with a 40 gallon tank on my truck, it took another transaction (at a different gas station) to finish filling up.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Notices on self-serve pumps (it’s rare to find any other kind nowadays) I’ve seen in recent years say that card purchases are limited to $125. When gas was four bucks a gallon, a big pickup with two tanks would cost more than that to fill.

 

[EngProf]

It's all just to get your money.

I get calls from the NRA every few months trying to get money out of me. They always start out with some absurd tagline like "do you love America?" or "do you believe in defending you family?". As a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment, it bothers me that they try to monetize my commitment and beliefs.

I had planned to join, but I was a week away from my first paycheck at my new job, and didn't have the cash available at the time. When I tried to get them to call me back the following week, the guy told me I had to do it today, and then proceeded to explain how credit cards work like I was a child. I let him know that I wouldn't be joining, specifically because of his actions on the call, and I've let every caller since then know as well.

Different opinions and different responses for different folks. I recently upgraded my NRA member ship to "Life".

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I recently upgraded my NRA member ship to "Life".

Man, that is brutal. Maybe you'll get parole for good behaviour.

 

[The Jackal]

Different opinions and different responses for different folks. I recently upgraded my NRA member ship to "Life".

It's interesting how a single interaction can change so much.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm a big fan of the NRA, and think that enforcement of nationwide fair trade and employment codes during 1933-34 was a vital step in promoting economic recovery. Section 7A, guaranteeing the right to collective bargaining, galvanized the industrial unionism movement that the changed the lives of millions of American workers for the better.

Oh, wait, you mean the OTHER NRA. Never mind.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I'm a big fan of the NRA, and think that enforcement of nationwide fair trade and employment codes during 1933-34 was a vital step in promoting economic recovery. Section 7A, guaranteeing the right to collective bargaining, galvanized the industrial unionism movement that the changed the lives of millions of American workers for the better.

That brings to mind an ad they ran to get subscriptions in the National Lampoon in the early 70's. Can't find it anywhere, but as I recall it went in part something like this:

 

[Trenchfriend]

"Professional cuddle-therapy"...

Hooray, society!!

 

[Bushman]

"Professional cuddle-therapy"...

Hooray, society!!

Sounds like one of those weird services you'd find in Japan.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Berlin idiocrazy!

But Hessia and Thuringia gave permission to land.

 

[MisterCairo]

They also support causes that I disagreed with and would not willingly contribute to. My current employer offers the payroll deduction for UW, but I pass on it.

The Canadian Armed Forces has an annual fall charitable campaign that gives to the United Way. Ordinarily I'd pass, but then I was "volun-told" to be the office rep, so what can you do? I would make a single donation but specify the charity, rather than let it go into the pot.

I too had issues with certain of their "charities", so at least I directed the funds. Same issue at my wife's school. The rationale is the UW gives to many groups (after their own substantial costs are paid of course), so the employer does not need to restrict itself.

Focussing on the local food bank or women's shelter would be discriminatory, you know...

 

[Touchofevil]

Boneheads who play videos on their phones in hospital waiting rooms with the volume turned up so loud that it is difficult to concentrate while writing about Boneheads who play videos on their phones in hospital waiting rooms with the volume turned up.

 

[Harp]

I missed Friday afternoon's Cubs v Mets game, stepped off the train that evening and while waiting
for the bus I saw a car flying the Chicago Cubs ensign and the W flag, so I thought the team scored a win.
After boarding the bus an acquaintance seated in the back saw me and roared that the Cubs had gotten
their ass kicked by the boys from New York. Should be a city ordinance that Cub fans cannot fly the Jolly Roger
unless a win happened....

 

[Edward]

I may have mentioned this before, but....

announcements on aeroplanes. Seriously. I don't give an airborne fornication how high we're gonig to be flying, in what direction, or over where. I know where we're going, and I was given all the information about flight time when I booked. In any case, most of this information is all on the information system on a longhaul flight already, so no need to announce. I'll accept being railroaded into the (utterly pointless - that plane goes down, we';re all dead, end of) safety drill because that's not the airline's choice, but otherwise it's a resounding ******* off! I'm watching a ****** film, you keep interrupting! One of the main reasons I fly by a slightly longer, less direct route for Beijing several times a year now is that the direct option I have, Air China, wastes almost an hour in total of my time with their inane announcements - then has the cheek to thank me for my "cooperation". And that's before we even get onto the matter that you are forced to listen to these pointless announcements in all languages, not just your own. Seriously, these days it should be a standard that onboard entertainment systems only get overridden for your own language - it's not as if that's impossible, even...

^ Things like that can be a real test of willpower. The strength to identify junk-grade websites, and resolve to ignore them. Even if you won't get to see these top ten celebrity kittens.

I love a lot of that top ten stuff, but the reason I don't engage mostly is simply because they put them on ten, different, slow-loading (painfully so) pages, not one 'scroll-down' affair. Stick that.

Well known, and supposedly honourable charities, in the UK have been exposed by the press as greedy charlatans. Head honchos on a quarter million salaries which they can double with bonuses. I remember a cynical joke by a visiting American comedian many years ago, who said that if you wanted to get rich, go to the US and start a religion. Nowadays it's go to the UK and start a charity.

The worst of it is that this plays into the hands of the nastier end of the press, giving it an excuse to attack all charity and perpetuating the nonsense that charities shouldn't be allowed to have employees or other running costs. A friend of mine used to work in the charity sector (being paid buttons), and was one night told by some idiot who'd read a Daily Mail expose that she was involved in some sort of fraud because the charity covered her petrol expenses for her work-based driving around. "I don't give to charity to pay your petrol" - though the ninny clearly couldn't comprehend the services he thought he was supporting couldn't be delivered otherwise.

My only reservation about criticism of some of the more extreme salaries at the top end is this: the vast majority of equivalent private sector businesses pay much more, and put much less back into the community. Demonising the charity sector is often a deliberate distraction (not least from the fact that the news outlets which most commonly indulge in this are often disparaging charities filling in where public services have failed for want of funds..... while being themselves registered abroad any paying nothing into the UK).

Boneheads who play videos on their phones in hospital waiting rooms with the volume turned up so loud that it is difficult to concentrate while writing about Boneheads who play videos on their phones in hospital waiting rooms with the volume turned up.

A variation on this theme: people who stop their kids disrupting trains and restaurants for everyone else with their noise by giving those kids tablets.... which they then use at full volume, sans headphones, thus still disrupting things for everyone else. Behind every kid who acts up and ruins public paces for other people, there is, more often than not, a very selfish parent...

 

[3fingers]

^^^ My wife jokingly says she can't take me anywhere where there are children because I end up playing with them. Many times the fussy troublesome ones are starved for anybody to pay attention to them. Making goofy faces or playing peekaboo back and forth from a few tables or seats away with the very young ones or asking the older ones to draw me a picture or something often works to distract them for a while. Usually the parents are fine with this, but occasionally they don't appear to really want their little hellion to calm down.