2008 August | Off the Top of My Head - Part 2

United, I hate.

Post created on August 11, 2008 by Reesie under Blogger Posts · No Comments » 

Tuesday, August 5 11:26 am

Boss (over the phone): Rester, how do you like to travel to California?
Moi: Hmmm.. Well..Ahhh
Boss: We need you there today. Please book a ticket for yourself.
Moi: Whaat? Like today? August 5? sinco? Right now? For how long?
Boss: For the rest of the week. I already told the client that you are coming.
Moi: Okay… Like I have a choice! Duh!

Itinerary:
3:00 PM Departure
8:30 PM Arrival via LAX (Los Angeles Airport)
United Airline

As we all know, it is advisable to be in the airport two hours before the scheduled departure…meaning, I have to be there at 1:00. The airport is 1.5 hours from where I live.So I ran/drove to my place as fast as I can and just grabbed whatever clothes I could get. I never even got a chance to say good bye to everybody.
We (there were two other people with me, thank goodness!)arrived at the airport at around 1:30 to find out that our flight was delayed for an hour. Why am I not surprised?, I told myself. I remembered the whole ordeal I went through with them when I went to New York. I waited for 10 hours!!!!!!! The stupid United agent told us that we would still be okay with our connecting flight in LA – we would arrive there 30 mins before our next flight. Well, the-stupid-me didn’t even argue. I did not realize that LAX is HUMONGOUS!

So we arrived at LAX and had to ride a bus to our terminal. The terminals were not connected like other airports do. You have to go out and undergo security screening again. It was indeed a bad idea to have LAX as the connecting airport for your flight. It took us 15 mins to get to our terminal. We were too late to catch our next flight. WAAAA. So we lined up to United Additional Services for rebooking, which took us onother hour.

Current Time: 6:30 PM LAX
United Agent: That was the last flight! Next flight would be tomorrow morning!
I called our boss.

Boss: Just fly to San Francisco, stay at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, get a nice dinner and just have fun over there. Then, just fly the next morning. ( Perhaps, he felt bad)
Moi: Cool! We’ll do that
United: Our next flight to San Franciso is 10:30 PM. You’ll arrive there at midnight.
Moi (still excited) : That’s alright!
Moi: On second thought, are there still restaurant open at that time. Can we still go to Fisherman;s Wharf?
Co-worker: Yes, I;ve been there. They close pretty late for tourists.

So we waited another 4 hours. Alas, they called us for boarding. I was already on my seat and was very comfy when:
Flight attendant: Good evening everyone. I apologize but I just received a message that our pilot has not arrived yet. He’ll be here at 12:30 am, so we’ll fly by that time then. I am sorry for the inconvinience. Please bring your belongings and wait at the gate until you are called for boarding again.
Nobody said a word. Everybody got up from their seat and left.

Moi: Inconvinience my a*8. United sucks! There’s never been a single flight that you guys were on time, for Pete’s sakes! I’ve been to several of your flights noh!!!

Yes, I was just talking to myself! Hehe

We arrived at San Francisco at 2:45am. We got to our hotel at 3:30 am. We have to wake up at 6:00 am for our flight was 9:30 am. Our hotel was just amazing. The lobby was splendid. (I’ll post pictures soon.) Too bad I was able to spend with my very nice king bed for just 3 hours. How wish I had more time with that bed!
For a change, the flight to our final destination (Eureka,CA) was on time. Our flights going back to New Mexico were fine–they were on time. Yes, we didn’t fly United this time. Goodness Gracious!!!Last nalang sila!! I was really exhausted with this trip that I spent the whole weekend at home, in my bed.

I will never fly United Airlines again unless they’ll pay me one million dollars!!!

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Was I Being Scammed?

Post created on August 2, 2008 by Reesie under Blogger Posts · 1 Comment » 

I got my paycheck yesterday so I went to our company’s bank to encash it. I might need the money over the weekend for my dad’s hospital bills. I wasn’t sure if they still have funds over there. So instead of depositing the check directly to my bank, Bank of America, I encashed it first so that I can use it immediately if ever I need it this weekend. By the way, my dad should be released this week. Thank God!

So anyway,

I usually just go to drive-thru’s for depositing. I was planning to take out hundred bucks out of it for my allowance this week. I wrote the amount minus the one hundred in the deposit slip, put the cash on the “tube” , and then press send. I went to Quiznos after as I was so hungry. When I was about to pay, I realized I didn’t get the hundred out of the pile of bills that I just deposited! Stupid me! I went directly to the bank –to the drive-thru–to the same teller– and told him what happened. He immediately told me that he counted it and it was the exact amount of cash that I put on the deposit slip. He further said that he just balanced his drawer a while ago. The strange thing was he remembered my transaction which was 15 minutes ago. He never asked my transaction ID, name, receipt, etc to help him remember the transaction. I believed there were tons of customers after me because it was Friday. I smelled something fishy so I told him I will go inside and talk to his manager.

I went inside the bank and told the manager what happened. I told him I was hundred percent sure that I deposited a hundred more. He went to the drive-thru teller and came back. His drawer is balanced, he said. He would’ve told you if there was an excess of the amount you deposited, he further said. He wouldn’t tell me anything if he already put it in his pocket, smarthead!WAAAA.. Where did my hundred bucks went? My four hours of hardwork went into thin air?Worth of two medicines for my father has gone into oblivion? Or, my allowance for the week has chosen to disappear? Here in this country, you cannot just accused somebody for something. You cannot search them – his pocket- unless if you have a proof.

I told the manager that since it’s impossible for me to retrieve my money, he should take precaution on this certain teller. I am not accusing him that he stole he money, that he put it on his pocket instead in his drawer, that he is a theft, that he is dishonest– I was just saying he has to do something to maintain the integrity of the bank. I told him further that I would file a formal complaint.

I am planning to write a letter addressed to the bank regarding the said incident. I know that it is impossible to get my money back. And yes it just a hundred bucks. I just want the bank to take actions concerning the teller. Jaime suggested that I would ask to investigate him – that I have to ask them to watch their recorded video during the time of the transaction. I am really certain that he took the money. Well, I hope the 100 can help him in one way or another.

On second thought though, was I scammed? The teller, the manager and Bank of America were all part to extort my $100? I am going to create 20 blogs about this scam! Lol!!! ( Read my previous post if you want to know what I am talking about. ) GEEEH!

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Scam or Just Paranoia?

Post created on August 1, 2008 by Reesie under Blogger Posts · 13 Comments » 

I was blog-hopping yesterday and I stumbled upon this blog http://hospitalscams.blogspot.com/. I’ve spent the whole afternoon reading it. It was about this British guy who met a Filipina online. He literally spammed the internet with his 20 different blogs about his said misfortunes with this girl. He believed that he was scammed – that the girl, Paranaque Medical Hospital, doctors, lawyers, the British Embassy of the Phil, Tierra Maria Estates and even Chin-chin Guttierez were all part of it. He believed that this is a large scale and organized plot against him. How much money involved? It was all for Php 84,000.00. Geeh! Imagine 20 people were trying to extort him for just Php 84,000.00! So if these so-called scammers divide the multi-million pesoseses, each of them would get a stunning Php 4,200.00!! Whew!Paranaque Medical Hospital can build four more branches from its share! The doctors and lawyers can retire with their money! Awesome!!Take note: he never shelled out the said amount out of his pocket!!! Read his detailed blog and it’s for you to find out if it was indeed true or if it was just a pigment of his imagination. I can’t help but compared him to John Nash(”Beautiful Mind”) – not the intelligent side but the sanity side of him.

A lot of people have been blogging about it and this one I particularly like: http://jepoy.bengero.com/2008/02/hospitalscamsblogspotcom-severe-case-of.html. The guy even posted comments/reactions on it. He would attack everyone who didn’t believe him. This blog I also like : http://reynaelena.com/2008/04/24/was-there-a-scam-the-motive/ . An excerpt from this blog:

“This is a story that is a product of Tim’s doubts and fears and escalated into a mix of fantasy/reality that’s already imbedded in his mind. A story that was already hatched in the UK even before it started in Manila and everything that happened in between were just proofs of those doubts and fears. “

Quite honestly, I was really entertained. :D Well, I really pity him though. He created his own nightmare and consequently ruined his own happiness.

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