Hotel booking fee
Late fee
Overdraft fee
Additional fees may apply
Cancellation fee
Service fee
Customer service of a live person fee
Texting fee
Reservation fee
Parking fee
Delivery fee
Transaction fee
Junk fee
Return fee
Federal Communications Act fee
Access fee
Internet fee
Broker fees
Bank fees
Interstate Fuel Tax assessment fee
Title fees
Doc stamps fee
County fees
Fee simple fee
Fee Fee
Fee for the sake of fees fee
Fee Fi Fo Fum I'm getting screwed again fee
Nothing seems to work and no one cares. Manufactured items like TV's ,beds, tables, furniture, etc. Services like door or shower installations, landscaping services. No one wants to show up, no one wants to work and no one will answer the phone.When they do, you get transferred to an AI auto response bot. It's maddening. Things that used to take a few days or a week drag out for months. Re-titling a vehicle took me over two months of back and forth, hide and seek ,watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat, cloak and dagger nonsense. A shower installation took three tear downs to finally complete after 18 months of going back and forth with bad workmanship and obvious screw ups during the process. I had a landscaper tell me he needs to be paid up front and will determine which days he will come out to cut the grass. I had another one show up with brand new equipment- problem was he had never cut lawns before and didn't know what he was doing. I walked him around and showed him all his "misses", come to find out he never worked on a landscaping crew before. I am currently battling a large retailer to get a door installed. I paid for the door and door jam three weeks ago, they are still messing around trying to pull a permit then the installer should call me. It will take over a month after being paid for. The store will not answer calls, when they do, they transfer you, then hang up. This company is one of the largest in the country for home and business supplies and contracting. I had to call the national number to begin a case to identify where they are in the process of getting the door picked, ready to ship and setting an install date. The store told me "3 months" I told them NO, its hurricane season, that will not work. They then magically found the door in the back of the store. So now, we are down to 1.5 - 2 months to get it completed.
I have purchased 3 TV's in the last 6 months. Not because I love TV, I just need one that works and is not damaged on arrival or fails six months in. I worked through the first warranty process and they determined it was my fault the inner screen has lines on it and I damaged it. I did no such thing. I was exceedingly gentle with the damned thing so as to not damage it in any way.. I had to take pictures of the screen, the tag and the receipt. Then, I emailed all the evidence to them and got a case number. I was then told I would need to hire a technician to fix it and its my fault. This would cost more than the TV itself! Our third TV arrived damaged and we were told we cannot take it back to Wal-Mart, we have to deal with FedEx through a series of emails to confirm damaged on arrival.
We are on our third mattress from Rooms to Go. The first two were sagging or "dipping" is what they call it. They sent out a guy to get pics and measurements, took about 20 minutes. Now the third mattress is beginning to sag. This is odd because it was the most expensive one they had! Our kitchen table and furniture is from a local manufacturer. The kitchen table had to be replaced, wrong color. One couch cushion was bad, had to be replaced.
Our kitchen needs to be re-painted, its not that large. I had a guy quote us $2450 for the job. It is about a day to a day and a half of work. We had another guy want to charge us $600 to paint three walls. We did it ourselves in a day. These people are out of their minds.
The attitudes I have encountered with all the above misery were completely off the rails. To say that these people are entitled, arrogant, greedy and just plain stupid misses the mark entirely and is a huge understatement. The people in these retail outlets, installers, handymen or anyone providing a service or a product act as though the world is in a nuclear war and they might die tomorrow. You cannot even really make a connection with them when speaking to them. They are out to lunch, not all there and seemingly deaf and blind. Their eyes glaze over when talking with them and it seems like they go into a REM sleep mode of some sort. Then they snap out of it and don't know what you just said to them. On top of this , no one wants to show up for work. Wether its my company or any company or store, the new mantra is take off as much time as possible, always be sick and just don't care about anything. If you do have to pretend to care about something, make sure you find someone else to blame for your idiocy. This is real, I see it every day. Blame shift, don't be present, be a fault finder in emails and all communication, have no responsibility for anything and try to get out of doing anything, ever. This is the new mental state of the country. I really believe this is the truth in the year 2025.
I don't understand any of this or why it's happening however it's real and it is happening to EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE at the SAME TIME. It is probably happening to you right now!
Good Luck with the ever increasing moronic stupidity of every aspect of our lives! We are getting dumber by the minute, AI will eventually take everything over and people will not know who they are, what to do or where to go. If you made it this far in this rant, you are not one of them.
Hello, how are you? How is your day going? I see your reservation, welcome back...
I can’t wait. I just drove over 400 miles, traversed the state, and had 6 meetings with clients. Please tell me this AC is not really out. Maybe it just takes time to get going and its working a little light, that was the words of wisdom from the front desk. After giving it 3 hrs with my arms sticking to the desk and feet sweating on the tile I realize it’s a jungle in here. Give me a new room. It’s cooler in the hallway and cooler than that in the front lobby. That is why they are looking at me like I’m an alien. What’s the problem? Oh, I don’t know, just sweating like the I’m in the Congo, no big deal. OK sir, we have ONE room left. OK great, I will move all my shit and get a temperature reduction from the 110 degree heat. Know this – the AC systems at hotels now-a days are triggered to switch to HEAT when you increase temperature – if they work at all. This is a whole other abomination in the hotel world. In this case, it was not working however giving the appearance and sound of working.
This is when you cannot think it’s done or over just yet. Let’s be positive and get a workout! Great idea! Come back to the room, take a shower and the fucking shower is stuck on scalding hot water. Turn it to cold and it shuts off..I tried adjusting it, almost broke the handle, it just got worse. I got about a minute of cooler water, just enough, then scalding hot again. This is the WTF moment where you transcend to a much more primitive place and time in your life that you have lived through before.Like a sleeping mountain of extreme misery,this time and space from your past gets AWAKENED. Now it’s ON..You feel transported to a place long ago where anger and wrath ruled. Motivated you. Made you get through. Suddenly you have a rush of emotion from 25 yrs ago and you remember how pissed you really were at the time. It doesn’t feel good, just familiar in a weird way.
Next it’s the friging chair at the little desk near the TV, from the 1970’s.Pale green in a bad way with rollers on it, one of the only things that the Hampton decided to leave in their inventory 40 years later. It hurts to sit on. It makes you aware of how bad, old and useless it is. It screams to you, “ Kill me…Kill me now, Please...!!”I almost took its advice and carried the damned piece of flat board shit to the elevator to light it on fire and throw it in the dumpster out back but I didn’t want any more attention. No need to involve the authorities with my hotel misery in hell. They would just make it worse and arrest me.
Damn this place. I need compensation. The next morning the front desk asked,“ How was your stay?” I told them in a professional level voice of the problems and they shrunk away like they were under attack. No sympathy, no offering of a discount for the next stay. Nothing, just total and complete non-acknowledgement of me. All they did was hand me my receipt and I said, “OK, I guess this is my receipt” and they shrinked away refusing to make eye contact. I asked them why the Hampton did not notify the front desk after I responded to a text about an hour after check-in that I was not happy and why. They had no answer and looked away. It was too early for more drama so I let it go. This is a mid-level hotel, $180 a night, not a motel or a Comfort Inn. I am a paying customer and this place is taking me to hell and leaving me there. Screw them. I will follow up and express to them my nightmare on their property. These bastards need to know how fucked up their little hotel scheme has become, the cheap fucks. I refuse to live in hell. It’s hot enough outside, I will not internalize climate change and eternally sweat, take showers in boiling water and have to wear socks to walk around my room if I don’t want to. The retention pond and the pool in a lightning storm looked like a better alternative. They need to pay. I’m over it and I will not take it anymore. F them and the horse they rode on in.The front desk personnel all need to be fired and those back breaking hideous green chairs need to be taken out of their misery and thrown into a giant dumpster fire.
A paradox is a statement or a proposition that despite sounds,, (or seemingly sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems contradictory and or logically unacceptable.
This is very meaningful in the world of work and the paradoxical statement of "Work Life Balance". You might think you have a good work life balance however all things come undone eventually and balance is just a temporary feeling of equity. The "Work Life Balance" credo pushed in the mainstream of ideas is a lie and a sham. I'm sure it has helped a lot of people sell their books, videos and the like however it's baseless and in need of a reality check. It's a temporary feel good meme like a new pair of sneakers.
Work and life rarely balance. Work can be fulfilling , however rare especially when there are other humans involved. As soon as you feel any modicum of fulfillment it will be shattered by moronic co-workers that would be better off they they didn't work with you. If you are lucky enough to not have to work weekends and have two days off, its just enough to get over the work week then its back to work. Seeking balance in this environment just means being able to get things done during the week while working. There is no real 'balance' , it's an illusion, a cheap catch phrase that people glom onto as a way out of the dread of thinking about work. It takes two days to put the thought of work behind you then a lot of people stress about it on a Sunday evening, further exacerbating the work paradigm.
The longer you work, the more disenchanted you become with your industry, people in general and the striving to save for a future whereby you know it will never be enough. Work is like a Chinese finger torture, the harder you pull, the more stuck you get. Some people drown themselves in work to escape whatever it is they perceive they need escape from. Making 'extra money' might help in the short term but it is no recipe for happiness or peace in your life. Extra money means extra taxes, less time for yourself, more stress and more demands put on you. Working two jobs is a nightmare. I've done it and pray to God I don't have to do it again.
One of the best examples of the Work Life Paradox comes in the responses and conversations you get into with people about their careers. I have heard doctors, general contractors, legal professionals and all manner of other professionals comment on their industry and why you should not pursue it. Every person I have heard these things from was in their particular line of work for a while and was highly negative, overwhelmingly fearful and just plain sad. "Don't go into that field! Its a nightmare! I couldn't wait to get out! You have no idea! It's really depressing to hear. Never have I heard "Wow, what a great career! I am so happy and fulfilled that I spent 30+ years in that profession! I would recommend that line of work to anyone! No, never heard that, never heard anyone imply that nor has anyone ever expressed happiness or a great experience in their chosen field of endeavor. Never. It's always the same, they could not wait to get out and glad they are done.
More proof of the Work Life Paradox comes into play in the inability of people to easily sell their companies or their practices. No one wants to buy your bag load of misery, debt, uncertain outcomes and continual cash drain. I don't care what the company is valued at, how good the "books" look, no one wants to buy it. If they do, they offer an insulting amount that just pisses you off even more about your work life paradox decisions. The potential buyer will require an $18M insurance policy whereby there is already a $5-10M policy in place. Hold on a second, your EBITA, (Earning Before Interest and Taxes) are not up to par because it's the end of the fiscal year or you just built a new facility or you have a back log of units not yet repaired because of the building of the new facility - it never ends.
All of these issues end up in the zombie-facation of the business, hyper micro analysis of meaningless small amounts of money, customers and vendors not being paid and payroll just barley met. Sales people get commission cuts at the last minute for no reason, the accounting dept is like a pack of wolves sweating employees for lunch and hotel receipts as though it is their fault. Corporate communication comes to a standstill and the overall feeling is one of being on a sailboat in the doldrums with a broken mast near the equator with no hope of wind, endless hot days and a broken rudder. Totally and irrevocably screwed! Excuses heard from the company are "Well, it's a venture capital decision and they re-directed the money to more pressing needs of the company.." Translation - we have "re-directed' the money to a more profitable venture and will keep you a-float until some other outfit comes along and buys you for pennies on the dollar. It's all just more lies, misdirection, broken promises and greed beyond belief. No alleged 'balance' or common sense, just an underlying sense of dread and disbelief, hoping like hell you don't end up as a line-cook or a landscaper again.
Welcome to the Work Life Paradox!
Racing the Rain and Beating the Heat
Watching out for the Idiots on the Street,
They're in my way, trying to stay ahead of me,
Clouds in my rear-view, no rain in front I see,
If I pawn my gui-tar, how the hell can I play these blues to afford to eat??
Most things now a days are weaponized and out to get you. Inflation is out to get you. It's a hidden tax and never goes away. When a new 'price point' on anything is established you will never see it go down. Companies set prices for goods and services and it stays that way. This is the new bar and base pricing they work from now. Not only are they out to get you, they are out to insult you and throw it in your face while doing it.'Sales' and 'promotions', once in a lifetime deals all exist to drive traffic to goods or services, meanwhile the new price point has been set and the little relief offered doesn't really exist.
Average income in the state of Florida in 2025 is near $74,500. Good luck buying a house when the mortgage on a $350K home will be somewhere near $3200/mo with taxes, insurance and interest - out to get you...Large builders offer 4.99% financing and no money down, still out to get you with a house you cannot afford. If you happen to buy into a development, ( that's really all they are building currently - controlled developments), you' face another round of forever fees that are out to get you. HOA fees rising, CDD fees, (Community development fees paid yearly), rising homeowners insurance- if you're even able to get it- and the latest out to get you fee, the Forever Fee. This will soon become Florida law whereby all housing developments with amenities will charge you separately for the pool, dog walk, pickle-ball court, random gazebos with unused barbecue grills as a forever amenity fee. Don't pay it, get a lien on your house.It gets better. These "Forever Fees" and services associated with and for amenities in your community can be SOLD to 3rd party companies. THEY can then raise them with no objection into the future and slap a lien on your home if you don't pay up.This Out to Get You strategy can be taken to it's ultimate extreme - taking your house - through a provider of amenities in your community!
Have you had the unfortunate experience of visiting a doctor or any type of physician lately? They are out to get you via texts to confirm your appointment which includes a 'call to cancel or reset notice' - no time frame given. You call to cancel 4 hrs before the appointment and they demand a 'no show' fee. How bout this doc, I will walk in, get my blood work report, take a look at it and you can call me if any anomalies. Go fuck yourself you arrogant fucks, you're out to get me.
The Out to Get You paradigm reaches new heights of criminality with the cell phone phishing, smishing and potential spamming. Text messages saying you owe overdue toll fees is the latest in this game. Click on the link and they got you! Even if you don't pay the bogus fee, they confirmed your cell number and its off to the races from there. Spam callers asking your name as their first command are out to get you. I tell them "SUICIDE HOTLINE , HOW CAN I HELP!!? DON'T JUMP- PUT DOWN THE GUN- WE'RE ON THE WAY! They will never call you again. Tell these people only need six words and they can use AI to replicate your voice, maybe I'll lose the suicide hotline response.
The crap they are spraying in the skies is out to get you. There is now legislation in Florida to stop chem-trailing the general public. It's going to take a law to be passed to stop this insanity. Once again, out to get you with high altitude spraying of fine particulate matter of aluminum, barium, strontium and God knows what else for you to breathe deeply into your lungs. Texas and Connecticut have passed laws to stop this in their states. No longer a conspiracy theory, it's real and it's out to get you.
The federally owned and managed national "News" is out to get you with constant fear and bad information that is totally unrelated to your life. Watch more than an hour of this horseshit and you will want to run for your life - once again, out to get you. Please tell me more about how I need to think, what is important for the corporate interests , (all out to get you), and how I need to feel about things, what I need to do and buy and which idiot celebrity is "important" because of their latest fuck up so I can be paranoid and paralyzed with Out to Get Me fear and loathing.
Watch out reader, They are OUT TO GET YOU!!
When did TV become such a pain in the ass? Apps, subscriptions, cancelling them, understanding how to QR code access, hidden fees, bank charges - all for wasting your time in front of a television!
Why is booking a hotel room a marketing and survey/feedback experience? The front desk treat you like a leper and sends you to request a text to go to reservations. It doesn't work because you forgot your marriott bonvoy number. A half hour later you are speaking to someone from India you can't understand. The rates are higher - pain in the ass, you book it anyway, there is no other choice.
Flying has always been a pain in the ass however it is exponentially worse now. More QR codes to order food, more security checks and delays, more cancellations. Less leg room. Higher ticket prices, its a bad experience. People are sick, you will be too.
Concerts are practically non-existent and way too expensive. Entertainers are falling off the stage. They get sick and cancel their tours. They get injured on stage, they walk off the stage from no audience participation. It's an F show beyond belief!
Driving has become extremely difficult, especially in Florida. More people than ever are moving here. I am always happy to hear that it didn't work out for them and they are moving back. Out of state tags are everywhere. These people stand in stores dazed and confused, like from another planet. They are rude and out of their minds. Florida needs a one way lane into the state with a mandatory U-Turn back over the state line to make them think about it twice.
The weather is out of control. Hot, cold, rain , storms, its the most unpredictable ever. Chem-trails are now admitted to exist. They are spraying us like bugs with God knows what. You can see the chemicals in the sky raining down on you, another nightmare to have to deal with.
Co-workers in the corporate environment not only don't care about anything except themselves, they actively avoid and mislead for no apparent reason. The revolving door of managers, incompetent people hired from family relationships and outright fraud are all hallmarks of the working world. Lying CEO's, half baked strategies and the repetition of plans everyone knows will not happen all serve to infuriate you on the Monday morning conference call.
Cell phones have become our constant companion to be stared at most of the waking day. Driving somewhere? Look next to you, someone is deeply engrossed in their damned phone. Working out? Plan to see most people looking at their phones. At the beach- same thing, staring at a phone. Walking along a trial? More phone users.The alien takeover will occur through the idiotic phones.
Don't worry readers, more pain in the ass experiences await you!
