Excuse me, I did not cause your divorce

Over the beginning years of my work life, I have had many different types of jobs; however, one of the most entertaining, distressing, ridiculous, and sad was doing collections. I worked collections at a loan company, at 2 banks, and in a medical practice plan. All had their quirks. The first collection job was at a loan company in Georgia. I was 21 years old and didn't realize that this loan company was taking advantage of every customer they had. The customers were generally poor, put up the household furnishings for collateral and were routinely "pyramided". That means that if their loan was behind they could be brought up to date, given some cash, and started over. I guess today they give it a legitimate name......refinancing. This job ended up with the manager making bogus loans,hiring an inside man to help hide the money, changing his name, and moving away. The GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) was looking for him last time I knew. (And that is only PART of the story). While I was there a man brought a shotgun into the office and threatened to shoot me if I didn't leave him alone. I told him that if he paid his bill, I wouldn't have to call him. (I knew he wouldn't shoot me.......or at least that is what I thought.......boy was I stupid)
I worked at a bank doing collections on mobile homes and doing repossessions on seriously delinquent people. I once put a person out of their home the week before Christmas. I had been working with them for 8 months, and I could not get a dime. I had no choice, I sent the sherriff to evict them. That sounds horrible to me now, but, for some reason, I was alright with it then.

If you are late on a bill and a collector calls you, please don't think you are going to tell them something they have not heard before. We have heard every excuse under the sun. We don't believe most of them. I once was accused of causing a divorce because the husband kept giving the money to his wife to pay the loan, the wife kept spending the money on whatever it was she spent it on, and then it was my fault for causing the fight when I called to say the loan had not been paid every month. He yelled at me on the phone that it was all my fault. I said "Why do you keep giving her the money?" He said "Because she is supposed to pay the bill!!" Had I been a little older, I would have said "You are truly an idiot!" One guy told me that it wasn't his fault that the bill did not get paid. He said he faithully took his bills each month, put them in a stack, and paid them until he ran out of money. He said "I can't help it if when I get to your bill there is no more money left!" I told him "Next month, put it on the top of the stack."

I have heard stories about kids peeing on the bill, dogs tearing up the bill, people swearing that they had paid and I better find the money, being out of work, between work, in a divorce, going on a vacation and they needed the money for that instead, being sick, having children sick, having the bills burned for heat, giving it to a girlfriend/boyfriend, being sued and can't afford it, praying for money, borrowing money, yelled at, swore at, threatened, propositioned, and any other number of things to excuse delinquency and get by for another month. I will say this............I was always nice. I knew that I could get more with honey than with vinegar. Even with all of the excuses, my "regulars" liked me and I liked them. We had an understanding and I tried to help when I could, but I didn't take in that family that I evicted...........they would probably still be living with me.

I'm It

OK, I got tagged. I have seen this in emails, but not in blogs. I am suppossed to answer questions that seem to be interesting, but are more interesting to the person answering them than the people reading them. Now, if I were some big celebrity, it would be quite different. For some reason, people are really interested in the most mundane things if it is related to a celebrity. Honestly, I don't care what Brittany eats for breakfast, (poor thing, she's really too ill to be bothered these days) or who Oprah supports politically (really folks, shes not supporting him because he's black, she's supporting him because she belieives in him........... really.....YAWN), or what type of toothpaste Katie Holmes uses, (although I've heard L. Ron used the same; Tom insisted on it.) I am tired tired tired of celebrities. Now, how did I get here? Anyway, I am to answer the questions and then tag 5 other people to answer the questions. Unfortunately, I don't know 5 people with a blog. Well, I do, but Shawn tagged the same people I read, and I can't see myself going to just any old blog and saying TAG!! YOU'RE IT!! I'll have to think about that.

SO.. the rules of BLOG TAG are:

A)The Rules are posted at the beginning.
B) Each player answers about themselves. (I don't think I can answer about anyone else......HMMM)
C. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people, posts their names, and goes to the blogs letting thm know they've been tagged. (See problem listed above)

Here goes.......
5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
I have a hard time remembering what I did 10 minutes ago, I'm suppossed to remember 10 years ago?

1)I had just moved to day shift work after 7 years working midnights and swing shifts.
2)I had just graduated in December from nursing school and was preparing to take my boards.
3)I was paying $10,000 for Shawn's college tuition. All well worth it since he was having the most fun he'd had ever had in his life and was making the worst grades he ever made. (Seriously, son, the best time I'd ever had up until that time was knowing what fun you were having. That's what I wanted, it was worth every dime) I never saw one grade the entire time he was in school, but I did go to his graduation,and he is working, so mission accomplished.
4)I was stil a mom of relativly young children, (Lindsey was almost 11 and Brent was 12. Stacie was a senior in high school.)
5)Taking care of 3 dogs (1ncluding 'dead dog'), 4 birds, and 2 or 3 ferrets. One of the most fun pets ever.

5 Things On My To-Do List Today:

1) Take the grandsons for pictures (Done)
2) Play Blog Tag (In the process)
3) Write the minutes for my Safety Review Committee meeting for work (Partially Done)
4) Update the Dashboards for my projects at work (Partially Done)
5) Take paperwork to the office for my second job (Not Done)

Can anyone possibly be more boring than I?

5 Snacks I Enjoy (More to the point..Snacks I can OD on)

1) Doritos with Shotgun Willie's (Hot)
2) Vanilla Oreos with milk for dunking
3) Honey B-B-Q Frito Twists (Once on a business trip, I ate a whole bag while watching TV in the hotel room. I couldn't believe I ate the whole bag in one sitting.)
4)Cheese so sharp it bites back with apple slices
5)Ice cream with milk on it. (No, it's not a milkshake, it's ice cream with some milk on it. It makes crystals and gives is great yumminess. I couldn't believe Shawn likes it the same way, except he likes peanut butter on it too.)

5 Things I'd Do If I Were A Billionaire

1)Quit all my jobs.
2)Set-up trusts for my grandchildren
3)Set-up a family business beacause even if you are independently wealthy you need something to do.
4)Travel, Travel, Travel, (learn to fly and buy an airplane)
5)Humanitarian work because people need medical care, education, water, food, mentoring, support, seed money and love everywhere.

3 Bad Habits

Why 3 and not 5? I know I have a lot more than 3 bad habits.

1)Procrastination. I would like to say that I work better under pressure, but that is my positive slant on it.

2) I don't take care of my health the way that I should.

3) I can't prioritize. The pressure is on: I have to pack and leave: I have to get a report done: What am I doing??? Cleaning the kitchen when I need to pack or separating filing that my AC can do when I should be writing the report. This is just a sequelae on bad habit number 1, but I hate it, know what I am doing in my mind, but can't seem to control it. It kind of feeds into: too organized with things that aren't important and not organized enough with things that are. Sound familiar? (Because things that are not important are easier to organize, who has time to sit and think about important things?.....it takes too long and I need to MOVE)

5 Jobs I Have Had

1)Collections and mobile home repossessions (Yes, I actually kicked people out of their homes)

2)OS&D clerk trucking companies. (Over, Short & Damaged)

3)Secretary/Bookeeper for Real Estate business

4)Customer surveys and demonstrator (You know those people in the mall that stop you for a survey and the people that give out samples in the stores?)

5)Packaging line-worker packing pharmaceuticals


5 Things People Probably Don't Know About Me

1) Was a singer with a country-western band in high school

2) Went to high school in Athens, Greece

3) Came in 2nd in a talent contest on New Year's Eve when I was 16. The first place went to a drunk guitar player. Not bragging on this one.

4)Taught myself how to play the ukelele

5)Never had a childhood disease (chicken pox. mumps, measles, etc.)

Well, that's it. This has given me some ideas for new blog fodder, hopefully Bad Habit # 1 won't get in the way.