Finding Freedom

I recently received a card in the mail from Chase Manhattan Corp, with whom I have one of my credit cards.  The card had various pictures of what appeared to be groups of friends smiling at one another.  The inside of the card said something along the lines of, “Why don’t you take this opportunity to pay down some of the balance of your card?  A credit card that is close to its limit can reflect poorly on your credit score.  if you need help or credit counseling, feel free to call this toll-free number.”

By this, they of course meant, “Dear deadbeat, we’d like our money back, so please send us a check lest we send Vito and Tony over to your place to put various parts of your anatomy into vices.”

Sigh…I’m working on it, Chase.  Thanks for sending the pick-me-up.

Before I get to the haiku for today, I wanted to link to what Dilbert’s creator Scott Adams had to say about tipping today. Here is an exerpt:

“Yesterday I gave a speech at a hotel in San Francisco. Afterwards, the hotel valet was retrieving my car as I waited out front. I guarded my tiny carry-on sized bag against the two drooling doormen as their eyelids made cha-ching sounds. You could almost hear them thinking ‘If I can touch his bag, he’ll have to give me money.’”

The whole post is delightfully funny, as is most of what he has to say on his site, and it illustrates some of the confusion about tipping that we have in our society, especially for those of us who aren’t super wealthy. It’s obvious that we should tip waiters and waitresses, but what about the occasional bathroom attendant or hotel clerk in a fancy hotel? Do we tip them?

Actually, now that I’m writing this, I am reminded that the fellow who writes over at Waiter Rant re-posted an article from the Daily News about what amount is expected for tipping at various places of business. You can find that link here.

Also, Financial Freedumb posted a humorous article on how he hates tip jars, largely due to the fact that they are asking for a tip before the actual service is rendered. He then concludes the post with a pay-pal donation button. That’s funny.

All right, let’s get down to the poetry that describes something that went on in the last week that I know that you all are eagerly awaiting. Or at least I’ll pretend that you are.

Show me the money!
To solve the world’s transgressions,
Foundation gets cash.

For those of you that do not frequent homstarrunner.com, let me just say that you are missing something very funny. This site features, among other things, the handsome character to the left answering emails from visitors to the site. His responses range from being humorous to hilarious.

In any case, he answered an email that had to do with credit cards, and so I thought that I would post the link here in an effort to make those of us with credit card woes smile a little bit.

Here is the link.