Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[Zaga]

I have a funny security store, but for the county courthouse.  Went to the courthouse for a paper, just that, took like 10 seconds to get it once I was there.  But the security guys wanted my corkscrew from my purse.  Um, what corkscrew?

I pulled 3 knives out of my purse looking for that damned corkscrew, they missed them all lol.

[FireLane]

We brought our old Honda in for an inspection, and the mechanic found rust on the undercarriage in places that cars don't usually rust. He said it's because we don't drive it enough. I view that as an achievement!

[rantk81]

We collectively "lost our shit" when a few thousand people were killed on 9/11.  The resulting BS includes inconveniencing millions of travelers every day and wasting untold amounts of money and time on the theater.

Meanwhile, we're now having more deaths PER DAY from COVID.... and [snip--decided not to post comment about national leadership]

Ridiculous.

[RetiredAt63]

We collectively "lost our shit" when a few thousand people were killed on 9/11.  The resulting BS includes inconveniencing millions of travelers every day and wasting untold amounts of money and time on the theater.

Meanwhile, we're now having more deaths PER DAY from COVID.... and [snip--decided not to post comment about national leadership]

Ridiculous.

But 9/11 was dramatic, planes flew into buildings just like in a movie.  And there was an outside cause to blame.

The pandemic is just quiet tragedy after quiet tragedy.

[Goldielocks]

Hmm, I never considered the regular toothpaste tube to be much of hassle to bring when travelling, but I see your point!

A 'regular' sized toothpaste tube is too big for airline travel -- TSA limit is 3.4 ounces

LOL I remembered the illogical stuff around it. Like "you can't bring Stuff size A, but 3 of size B (half of A) is totally okay". Because there is no way a terroirist might use the content of more than one package or even go - gasp! - for multi-component explosives.

I think it took then 2 years to change that one?

Or that you can't bring Liquids in - except you have bought it at the airport. Because nobody would replace the content, right?

I've gotten shit a few times because the ziploc bag my 100 mL bottles were in was the wrong size. I a normal clear ziploc bags like you get at the grocery store and have like two or three little things in it at most (toothpaste, conditioner, and hand cream), and about 1/3 of the time someone tells me I'm doing something wrong. Aegh.

Clearly, someone was more interested in compliance than actual safety.

I had a steel wall mug taken away at security.  (It was empty, I took off the lid to show them inside.)  Why?  Because some memo the prior day got them all confiscating anything that could look like a pipe bomb.  Really.  ?!

My father (the pilot  / captain) in the beginning  of these restrictions would have his metal fork confiscated.   You know, a small fork so he could eat his dinner that he brought to be healthy on the layover.  What was he going to do, commit suicide by fork?   It would be far easier to just steer the plane wherever he decided he wanted it to go.

[Dollar Slice]

I had a steel wall mug taken away at security.  (It was empty, I took off the lid to show them inside.)  Why?  Because some memo the prior day got them all confiscating anything that could look like a pipe bomb.  Really.  ?!

My brother (on his way to a wedding or something) was told he couldn't bring a gift-wrapped wooden cheese board onto the plane with him because it could be used as a weapon. No cheese knives or anything, just a fancy piece of wood.

[Alternatepriorities]

My father (the pilot  / captain) in the beginning  of these restrictions would have his metal fork confiscated.   You know, a small fork so he could eat his dinner that he brought to be healthy on the layover.  What was he going to do, commit suicide by fork?   It would be far easier to just steer the plane wherever he decided he wanted it to go.

I'm pretty sure this is a perfect summary of the tragic logic. We trust you with an plane full of people, but not with a fork...

[Goldielocks]

My father (the pilot  / captain) in the beginning  of these restrictions would have his metal fork confiscated.   You know, a small fork so he could eat his dinner that he brought to be healthy on the layover.  What was he going to do, commit suicide by fork?   It would be far easier to just steer the plane wherever he decided he wanted it to go.

I'm pretty sure this is a perfect summary of the tragic logic. We trust you with an plane full of people, but not with a fork...

Beware the fork.

[LennStar]

My father (the pilot  / captain) in the beginning  of these restrictions would have his metal fork confiscated.   You know, a small fork so he could eat his dinner that he brought to be healthy on the layover.  What was he going to do, commit suicide by fork?   It would be far easier to just steer the plane wherever he decided he wanted it to go.

I'm pretty sure this is a perfect summary of the tragic logic. We trust you with an plane full of people, but not with a fork...

Beware the fork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUtltvUQX0
SKYRIM A Perfectly Balanced Game With No Exploits - Can You Beat Skyrim With Only A Fork Challenge

[Scandium]

Our dentist gives us a travel tube of toothpaste, a small thing of floss and a toothbrush that my husband likes with every visit.

But the you have to go to the dentist, do you know how much that costs?? I haven't been in at least 4 years. Glad to learn to small-tube trick!

[Alternatepriorities]

We decided to decorate a bit more for Christmas this year and I wanted a few more strings of mini lights included some of the icicle style ones. After spending far too long debating the merits of the more expensive LEDs I decided to go for it. Essentially, the savings in electricity really doesn't justify the price, but if they really last a lot longer, then that is worth the money to me.

I took some measurements with my Kill-a-watt meter after I got the lights up. Our tree which has incandescent lights built in uses TWELVE TIMES as much electricity as the new LEDS. The new lights do a great job of lighting the living room so they stay on all evening instead of other lights. It's less than six cents and hour to have the tree on, but I keep turning it off when DW isn't in the room to enjoy it because "it's 12X as much"!

[dragoncar]

We decided to decorate a bit more for Christmas this year and I wanted a few more strings of mini lights included some of the icicle style ones. After spending far too long debating the merits of the more expensive LEDs I decided to go for it. Essentially, the savings in electricity really doesn't justify the price, but if they really last a lot longer, then that is worth the money to me.

I took some measurements with my Kill-a-watt meter after I got the lights up. Our tree which has incandescent lights built in uses TWELVE TIMES as much electricity as the new LEDS. The new lights do a great job of lighting the living room so they stay on all evening instead of other lights. It's less than six cents and hour to have the tree on, but I keep turning it off when DW isn't in the room to enjoy it because "it's 12X as much"!

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth wear on the switch to turn LED lights off.  That always seemed silly but now a couple of my cheap costco dimmer switches have started cracking.  They were about $7 each so I'm not sure if I've saved $7 worth of electricity turning off those lights around the house.

[Fomerly known as something]

Traveling.  Since I always have to change flights to go to my closest airports, I tend to check my bag.  Plus Delta who I mostly fly is pretty darn speedy with getting them to you.  I was in Costa Rica just before Covid, I brought coffee back of course, the pre check in security people were very concerned my coffee was ground as apparently there is a 12 ounce powder limit too. I’m like this bag is going under the plane thanks.

My MPP, I have been traveling for work the last couple of months, I’m now titanium elite with Marriott, it comes with baby elite status on United.  United is my least favorite airline.  They fly tiny planes into our local airport which oftentimes do not come on time.

[Alternatepriorities]

We decided to decorate a bit more for Christmas this year and I wanted a few more strings of mini lights included some of the icicle style ones. After spending far too long debating the merits of the more expensive LEDs I decided to go for it. Essentially, the savings in electricity really doesn't justify the price, but if they really last a lot longer, then that is worth the money to me.

I took some measurements with my Kill-a-watt meter after I got the lights up. Our tree which has incandescent lights built in uses TWELVE TIMES as much electricity as the new LEDS. The new lights do a great job of lighting the living room so they stay on all evening instead of other lights. It's less than six cents and hour to have the tree on, but I keep turning it off when DW isn't in the room to enjoy it because "it's 12X as much"!

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth wear on the switch to turn LED lights off.  That always seemed silly but now a couple of my cheap costco dimmer switches have started cracking.  They were about $7 each so I'm not sure if I've saved $7 worth of electricity turning off those lights around the house.

Yeah they tend to negate 90% of the benefits to "turn off the light when you leave the room" that's ingrained in my mind...

Living in a place with very high electricity prices at the time I jumped on the LED wagon early, but I've had trouble with quality everywhere except the 4 ft florescent replacements. Far too many of the A19 style failed within a year to give any credibility to the "25k-50k hour life" they were advertised with. The first two sets of "dimmable" LEDs I bought flickered annoyingly when dimmed and sometimes even when they we're are at full power. In both cases newer bulbs seem to have fixed the issue, but the experience was one reason I paused at the thought of buying LED Christmas lights.

At the individual level it's mostly an annoyance, but I'm convinced that marketers and politicians consistently over promising what engineers can actually deliver gives people a bad impression of green technology.

[ysette9]

My FB memories reminded me that three years ago I was flying with my then-baby. Airport security was fine with baby antacid, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, baby butt cream, but pulled me aside for extra inspection of my suspicious cheese sandwiches.

I once got a nail clipper confiscated at airport security only to later see the exact same one for sale at one of the little shops at the terminal.

You could make a killing if you could get permission to install one of the self-service mailing center machines right at airport security so people had the option of mailing their metal forks and wooden cutting boards home instead of having them stolen at security.

[Trifle]

I was at an agricultural fair a few years ago and there was a booth selling used pocket knives -- thousands of them, all kinds.  I asked the guy where he gets his knives and it was -- you guessed it -- the TSA.  Apparently TSA sells them cheap by the boxful to people who then re-sell them. 

[Dave1442397]

We were flying out of St. Thomas years ago, and they put a security desk just inside the door to the waiting area. The TSA person was sitting there with a cooler full of confiscated drinks, offering them to co-workers and airport staff when they passed by. We knew they were confiscated because she was quite happy to let her co-workers that when she talked to them.

Another time, my sister-in-law flew from Reno to PHL with a stopover in Phoenix. When she got to our house she rummaged around in her carry-on bag looking for something, and said "Oh!", as she pulled out a machete from the bottom of the bag. She had taken it to work to cut watermelon, and planned on leaving it there until she returned from her trip. A co-worker decided to wash it and put it back in her bag. It made it through two TSA checkpoints, no problem.

[Sugaree]

My FB memories reminded me that three years ago I was flying with my then-baby. Airport security was fine with baby antacid, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, baby butt cream, but pulled me aside for extra inspection of my suspicious cheese sandwiches.

I once got a nail clipper confiscated at airport security only to later see the exact same one for sale at one of the little shops at the terminal.

You could make a killing if you could get permission to install one of the self-service mailing center machines right at airport security so people had the option of mailing their metal forks and wooden cutting boards home instead of having them stolen at security.

My husband used one of these in Houston.  In all honesty, I don't remember the price being too terribly out of line with what UPS or FedEx charges for ground shipping.  It took forever and he had all but given up hope of ever seeing his stuff again when it finally turned up at the house.

[Dicey]

We were flying out of St. Thomas years ago, and they put a security desk just inside the door to the waiting area. The TSA person was sitting there with a cooler full of confiscated drinks, offering them to co-workers and airport staff when they passed by. We knew they were confiscated because she was quite happy to let her co-workers that when she talked to them.

Another time, my sister-in-law flew from Reno to PHL with a stopover in Phoenix. When she got to our house she rummaged around in her carry-on bag looking for something, and said "Oh!", as she pulled out a machete from the bottom of the bag. She had taken it to work to cut watermelon, and planned on leaving it there until she returned from her trip. A co-worker decided to wash it and put it back in her bag. It made it through two TSA checkpoints, no problem.

I was scheduled to take the last flight out of Oakland to Dallas.  Once through the gate, they announced mechanical problems and a two-hour delay. It was a work thing and I had to get there that day, so they put me and my single piece of carryon luggage in a shuttle bound for San Francisco. When I went through TSA at SFO, they discovered the two pair of scissors that I'd forgotten about in the outside pocket of my suitcase. Yup, outside pocket, as in, they were right on top when they went through the scanner at OAK without being noticed. Once they were discovered at SFO, much discussion ensued. One pair was a very expensive pair of thinning shears that I didn't want to lose. I showed them to the agents and demonstrated that they don't cut anything but hair. They actually let me keep them, as long  as I moved them to the inside of the the carry-on bag(!). They kept the other pair, which were easier and cheaper to replace.

Before anyone asks why I was carrying on two large pair of scissors in my luggage, I'm trying to remember. I think I had visited  my sister the week before by car and brought my good scissors so she could give me a haircut. I've used the same suitcase for twenty years, but I rarely use the outside pocket. I simply forgot about them when I unpacked after the road trip to my sister's.

I don't fly much any more, but I used to fly at least twice a month. I remember that all your liquids had to fit in a quart size plastic bag, which was a pain in the ass. I gradually stopped bothering with that and it doesn't seem to be an issue any more. I just toss in my whole translucent toiletries bag. As long as I never put anything oversize in it, it sails right through. Has the quart-size bag policy actually changed or has TSA just stopped enforcing it? Not that I'm flying again any time soon, lol.

[ixtap]

Sometimes I forget that other realities exist, even when I have lived them myself in the past:

I was making bread yesterday and spent the whole time I was kneading reflecting on the privilege reflected in this spontaneous bread making: I have a fully stocked pantry with a wide variety of good; I have time to knead bread, let it rise, etc (there is a french market next door, so yes, I could buy bread faster than it takes me to knead the bread); the oven works and I am not particularly concerned with the additional costs of running it long enough to raise, then bake the bread...We often think of making your own bread as the frugal thing to do, but a lot goes into it.

Then this morning, I had kind of an opposite moment. I found myself at least mentally judging someone "Why are you spending money on THAT if you aren't even saving as much as you are spending every year?!" as if that were a reasonable expectation for everyone's situation.

[Alternatepriorities]

Sometimes I forget that other realities exist, even when I have lived them myself in the past:

I was making bread yesterday and spent the whole time I was kneading reflecting on the privilege reflected in this spontaneous bread making: I have a fully stocked pantry with a wide variety of good; I have time to knead bread, let it rise, etc (there is a french market next door, so yes, I could buy bread faster than it takes me to knead the bread); the oven works and I am not particularly concerned with the additional costs of running it long enough to raise, then bake the bread...We often think of making your own bread as the frugal thing to do, but a lot goes into it.

Then this morning, I had kind of an opposite moment. I found myself at least mentally judging someone "Why are you spending money on THAT if you aren't even saving as much as you are spending every year?!" as if that were a reasonable expectation for everyone's situation.

Were you making French bread? I've been looking for a good French bread recipe... I like kneading bread by hand too, but I might be getting a mixer capable of handling it for Christmas.

[ixtap]

Sometimes I forget that other realities exist, even when I have lived them myself in the past:

I was making bread yesterday and spent the whole time I was kneading reflecting on the privilege reflected in this spontaneous bread making: I have a fully stocked pantry with a wide variety of good; I have time to knead bread, let it rise, etc (there is a french market next door, so yes, I could buy bread faster than it takes me to knead the bread); the oven works and I am not particularly concerned with the additional costs of running it long enough to raise, then bake the bread...We often think of making your own bread as the frugal thing to do, but a lot goes into it.

Then this morning, I had kind of an opposite moment. I found myself at least mentally judging someone "Why are you spending money on THAT if you aren't even saving as much as you are spending every year?!" as if that were a reasonable expectation for everyone's situation.

Were you making French bread? I've been looking for a good French bread recipe... I like kneading bread by hand too, but I might be getting a mixer capable of handling it for Christmas.

No, I was making hamburger buns, but DH loves french bread, so it is a suitable substitute for most situations. When I met him, his daily lunch consisted of 1/3 of a baguette with some meat and cheese, 5 days a week.

[Alternatepriorities]

No, I was making hamburger buns, but DH loves french bread, so it is a suitable substitute for most situations. When I met him, his daily lunch consisted of 1/3 of a baguette with some meat and cheese, 5 days a week.

Sounds like a very reasonable guy. :)

[Fomerly known as something]

Got an unexpected decent sized bonus at work today. (About 2/3 of a paycheck).  Since it’s the end of the year, I’d already fully funded my savings and investing goals.  After an initial though of what the heck should I do with this, decided to just add it to my DAF.

[SwordGuy]

Got an unexpected decent sized bonus at work today. (About 2/3 of a paycheck).  Since it’s the end of the year, I’d already fully funded my savings and investing goals.  After an initial though of what the heck should I do with this, decided to just add it to my DAF.

That's good news!  Bravo!

Please consider sending a bit to a local food bank.   Not everyone has been as lucky as we are.

[Fomerly known as something]

Got an unexpected decent sized bonus at work today. (About 2/3 of a paycheck).  Since it’s the end of the year, I’d already fully funded my savings and investing goals.  After an initial though of what the heck should I do with this, decided to just add it to my DAF.

That's good news!  Bravo!

Please consider sending a bit to a local food bank.   Not everyone has been as lucky as we are.

My local Feeding America branch is a regular monthly recipient.  My parents actually volunteer there every Tuesday.

[Tinker]

Well, I guess it's not fair to claim it's the entire point. It's also a massive federal jobs program.

Why can't the feds come up with a less annoying jobs program?

[secondcor521]

When the New Years' Eve ball drops, I will have officially foregone a credit card reward in the amount of $41.

I have a CC that gives me $100 per year for inflight food and lounges.  I went on two plane trips this year.  I used $59 to get into a lounge on the first plane trip and got that reimbursed, leaving $41 left for the year.

On the second plane trip, my connections were so good and I was enjoying myself enough not to go sit in an airport lounge, that I didn't even go to the lounge.  And the flights didn't offer inflight food due to the virus.  I did consider it on my last connection, but I would only have been in the lounge for about 10 or 15 minutes, and after doing the $59 - $41 = $18 net cost to me math, I decided I couldn't eat that much food in that short of time.  (Alcohol could've worked, but I don't really drink.)

This eats at me more than you might think.  Oh well, maybe in 2021 I'll use it all.

[NorCal]

We're foregoing employer provided insurance this year and buying it on the private market.  We should save about $3K this year.

My problem: My Year-over-Year income and spending projections look really odd in my tracking spreadsheet now that it's an expense and not a payroll deduction.  This is going to bug me all year.

[Sugaree]

I just put in the grocery order with cookie stuff, so I am officially finished with xmas spending.  My "extra" (as my husband calls it) holiday tracking spreadsheet tells me that I'm $11.35 over budget.  Before finding MMM, I would have called that a good year. 

[Sugaree]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

[Plina]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

I would tell her that I normally sleep naked even on christmas.

[PMG]

I’d say covid gives you a good reason to skip the brunch and the PJs.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

I would tell her that I normally sleep naked even on christmas.

The ones I impulse bought at Target because my single pair of winter PJs ripped are actually fabulously comfortable, weirdly enough.

Years ago on a beach vacation, my grandfather and his... er, partner? lady friend? companion of his twilight years? were given the ground floor master. It had a "crappy little room" attached which had a double bed, and beds were scarce, but this room could be reached only by walking through the larger bedroom.

So Grandfather let it be known that he and his companion slept naked, and that was the end of any thought of using the crappy little room.

I believe he was bankrolling the house anyway. He was Mustachian before it was cool and could afford to live his golden years as he wished.

[LennStar]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

And I thought those only existed in crappy sitcoms.

[Plina]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

I would tell her that I normally sleep naked even on christmas.

The ones I impulse bought at Target because my single pair of winter PJs ripped are actually fabulously comfortable, weirdly enough.

Years ago on a beach vacation, my grandfather and his... er, partner? lady friend? companion of his twilight years? were given the ground floor master. It had a "crappy little room" attached which had a double bed, and beds were scarce, but this room could be reached only by walking through the larger bedroom.

So Grandfather let it be known that he and his companion slept naked, and that was the end of any thought of using the crappy little room.

Good for grandpa and I totally understand your decision.

Are people supposed to drive/walk over in the pyjamas or do they change when they arrive?

[Imma]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

And I thought those only existed in crappy sitcoms.

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

I would tell her that I normally sleep naked even on christmas.

The ones I impulse bought at Target because my single pair of winter PJs ripped are actually fabulously comfortable, weirdly enough.

Years ago on a beach vacation, my grandfather and his... er, partner? lady friend? companion of his twilight years? were given the ground floor master. It had a "crappy little room" attached which had a double bed, and beds were scarce, but this room could be reached only by walking through the larger bedroom.

So Grandfather let it be known that he and his companion slept naked, and that was the end of any thought of using the crappy little room.

Good for grandpa and I totally understand your decision.

Are people supposed to drive/walk over in the pyjamas or do they change when they arrive?

Maybe I'm a prude but I would certainly never leave the house in nightwear! I'd politely decline the invitation.

[Dicey]

I’d say covid gives you a good reason to skip the brunch and the PJs.

+300,000

[Plina]

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

And I thought those only existed in crappy sitcoms.

My SIL is hosting brunch on xmas day and has requested that everyone wear xmas pajamas.  I don't wanna.  I have plenty of pajamas and don't feel the need to go out any buy any to wear for a single day.  Bah Humbug.

I would tell her that I normally sleep naked even on christmas.

The ones I impulse bought at Target because my single pair of winter PJs ripped are actually fabulously comfortable, weirdly enough.

Years ago on a beach vacation, my grandfather and his... er, partner? lady friend? companion of his twilight years? were given the ground floor master. It had a "crappy little room" attached which had a double bed, and beds were scarce, but this room could be reached only by walking through the larger bedroom.

So Grandfather let it be known that he and his companion slept naked, and that was the end of any thought of using the crappy little room.

Good for grandpa and I totally understand your decision.

Are people supposed to drive/walk over in the pyjamas or do they change when they arrive?

Maybe I'm a prude but I would certainly never leave the house in nightwear! I'd politely decline the invitation.

I might go out the yard to pick up something but I would neither drive or walk around in pyjamas othervise. As I have never been invited to a brunch with christmas pyjamas I was curious how you do? I didn’t actually know that there existed special christmas nightwear.  We get the presents in the afternoon after dinner so no opening of presents in nightwear as in american movies.

[GuitarStv]

Can you send an email asking which Christmas pajamas are preferred for the occasion?  Like maybe you have several to choose from . . .

[shelivesthedream]

I also fail to understand the logistics of the pyjama party. If I did attend, I would wear my big fleecy dressing gown over my normal buttoned-up pyjamas and have underwear on underneath. And slippers. I just cannot fathom feeling comfortable otherwise. And, as I would have to travel on public transport, I would have to change when I arrived. My ordinary clothes are perfectly comfortable - if they were uncomfortable, I would replace them.

Maybe I just don't move in the right social circles...?

[Poundwise]

How about wearing regular clothing and bringing a robe and slippers? Throw a bit of tinsel around your neck or pin a ribbon to your lapel to make it festive.

[Sugaree]

I also fail to understand the logistics of the pyjama party. If I did attend, I would wear my big fleecy dressing gown over my normal buttoned-up pyjamas and have underwear on underneath. And slippers. I just cannot fathom feeling comfortable otherwise. And, as I would have to travel on public transport, I would have to change when I arrived. My ordinary clothes are perfectly comfortable - if they were uncomfortable, I would replace them.

Maybe I just don't move in the right social circles...?

I'm sure this is just a photo op for my SIL (who is obviously my parents' favorite child).  I'm half expecting a pregnancy announcement.  Luckily, I can see my parents' house from mine, so it wouldn't be the first time I've walked over there in my pajamas.

[Loren Ver]

Okay this is totally what my husband calls a Loren people problem.  Then he boohoos me and makes crying motions.  I think you all will understand though.

So being FIREd we work to keep our income pretty low, mostly for ACA purposes.  When the market was wobbling up and down early in the year due to Covid, we made sure to liquidate enough to cover our income minimums just in case everything tanked out for the year.  Well, I did not expect to have several of our investments to go totally growth bonkers and payout gobs of short and long term capital gains.  Sure this happens on occasion (one of them did it once in the past 20 years) and it is generally manageable, but this is kind of ridiculous.

Now granted, I'll take this MASSIVE(!!!) growth with its gains issues any year,  it is pretty awesome.  But it is pretty funny in a year we decided to play it safe and cash out early to make sure to hit our minimum just to maybe hit the subsidy income maximum and maybe even owes some taxes.  Craziness. 

Grow growth funds, grow!

[SwordGuy]

We generally use USAA for our insurance products.   It's a good company.   But there's been a minor annoyance with their website and its billing information for some years.

We have auto insurance, plus our home insurance, plus multiple rental property coverage.

It's important to pay the auto and home insurance out of our personal account and the rental property insurance out of our property LLC company account.
I pay each premium in full when it comes due because that's simpler on our bookkeeping than each month having to calculate how many pennies go against which policy for which property.

All of that is fine and good.

Except that their website is screwy.    When I enter the website there's a list of policies on it.   Plus there's a line that says "Auto & Property Insurance" with a $ balance on it.    That $ balance is NOT what I owe right now, it's what I'll owe at some point over the next few months as the various policies come due.     Personally, I think that's confusing as hell.

If I click on that line it takes me to a new page.  That new page showed the payment history, the policy amount due history, and also the up-coming future policy due information, all in one glorious jumble.   The actual billing statement was also there which showed the current amount due (not the "will be due sometime in the future" number from the first page.

It's rather a pain in the butt to sort it all out but the rest of the service is so good that I've ignored it.

However, about 3-4 weeks ago I went online to check my statement to see what I owed.   The front page showed I owed $2284 and change, but as we now all now, that means that I don't necessarily owe that much.   Maybe I owe that amount, maybe less.

The detail page just has a couple of sentences that says my account balance is being updated and check back later.   No other detail.   It's been that way for 3-4 weeks so we're not talking about me checking it during the few moments that it's updating my account balance.

So I call to sort it out.   Of course, there's no automated menu option to handle this so I have to get a human, who naturally will be in the wrong department and have to shuffle me off to someone else.   It takes awhile before the very nice person understands that I have two problems, I need to know how much I owe right now and I need the website fixed.   

It turns out that I don't owe anything right now.  I actually have a negative balance because USAA issued every auto policy holder a credit.  Their claims are way down because people are driving so much less.   I think that's the third time this year they've issued a credit.   So I have a negative balance.

After getting handed over to the web team and getting them to understand the problem, I'm told it's working as designed because I have a negative or zero balance.

I tell them that's crazy and the design needs to be changed.

It makes no sense to tell me on one web page that I owe thousands of dollars and then refuse to show me my payment and billing history, plus my current statement, because I actually have a credit balance.    If they want to prevent me from paying money due to the credit balance, they should disable the payment button, not hide my transaction history!  And if that's their intent, the message should say that and not that the account is being updated and check back later.   That design is crazy and needs to be changed.

There was a long silence.   I now have an incident number for it because it's being escalated upwards because the design was totally indefensible.   

I'm curious to see if they get a smarter person to decide what it should do than the current one.

If I just paid the minimum each month and didn't have rental properties, I wouldn't have this problem. 

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

My Mustachian-before-it-was-cool grandfather (AKA The Frugal Patriarch) left, in addition to stocks and real estate and whatnot, six figures worth of US Treasury bonds. The kind with maturity dates and whatnot.

My mother wanted to put these in my name and my sister's. Are you shocked to hear that the website is not user-friendly? You have to enter your password with a virtual keyboard that you click with your mouse. BUT, when you create your password, you do that with your actual keyboard, and are required to use a capital, a lowercase, a number, and a special character.

My favorite detail about this is that the virtual keyboard is not case-sensitive.

[CptCool]

My Mustachian-before-it-was-cool grandfather (AKA The Frugal Patriarch) left, in addition to stocks and real estate and whatnot, six figures worth of US Treasury bonds. The kind with maturity dates and whatnot.

My mother wanted to put these in my name and my sister's. Are you shocked to hear that the website is not user-friendly? You have to enter your password with a virtual keyboard that you click with your mouse. BUT, when you create your password, you do that with your actual keyboard, and are required to use a capital, a lowercase, a number, and a special character.

My favorite detail about this is that the virtual keyboard is not case-sensitive.

Most (all?) banks don't use case sensitivity when actually entering your password. Their "requirements" might require it when you create it, but when actually entering it into their website or app it doesn't matter.

[RWD]

My Mustachian-before-it-was-cool grandfather (AKA The Frugal Patriarch) left, in addition to stocks and real estate and whatnot, six figures worth of US Treasury bonds. The kind with maturity dates and whatnot.

My mother wanted to put these in my name and my sister's. Are you shocked to hear that the website is not user-friendly? You have to enter your password with a virtual keyboard that you click with your mouse. BUT, when you create your password, you do that with your actual keyboard, and are required to use a capital, a lowercase, a number, and a special character.

My favorite detail about this is that the virtual keyboard is not case-sensitive.

Most (all?) banks don't use case sensitivity when actually entering your password. Their "requirements" might require it when you create it, but when actually entering it into their website or app it doesn't matter.

No, this is not all or even most banks. It got a lot of attention a few years back when Wells Fargo and a few other major banks were caught. This is a major problem because in addition to lowering the security against brute force attempts it means they are not hashing the passwords (e.g. stored in plaintext) which means that in the case of a data breach the passwords will be exposed. Or nefarious employee with access to the database could just look up passwords.

[NumberJohnny5]

No, this is not all or even most banks. It got a lot of attention a few years back when Wells Fargo and a few other major banks were caught. This is a major problem because in addition to lowering the security against brute force attempts it means they are not hashing the passwords (e.g. stored in plaintext) which means that in the case of a data breach the passwords will be exposed. Or nefarious employee with access to the database could just look up passwords.

It's possible to do that in a secure way. When the user creates a password, create a hash of that exact password plus a hash of that password after converting to all lower-case. When the user accesses the site via a method that has a virtual keyboard, check against the hash of the password that was converted to all lower-case. When the user accesses their account via a method without a virtual keyboard (such as a mobile app), check against the hash of the actual password.

On the user side, there's really no way to tell if it's being done the "correct" way or if your password is being stored for all to see.

[sherr]

No, this is not all or even most banks. It got a lot of attention a few years back when Wells Fargo and a few other major banks were caught. This is a major problem because in addition to lowering the security against brute force attempts it means they are not hashing the passwords (e.g. stored in plaintext) which means that in the case of a data breach the passwords will be exposed. Or nefarious employee with access to the database could just look up passwords.

It's possible to do that in a secure way. When the user creates a password, create a hash of that exact password plus a hash of that password after converting to all lower-case. When the user accesses the site via a method that has a virtual keyboard, check against the hash of the password that was converted to all lower-case. When the user accesses their account via a method without a virtual keyboard (such as a mobile app), check against the hash of the actual password.

On the user side, there's really no way to tell if it's being done the "correct" way or if your password is being stored for all to see.

It's possible to do that without storing in plaintext, yes. There's also a far simpler way than storing two copies: force the password to all uppercase or all lowercase before it is hashed on all clients.

But there's really no reason for it; people can type capitals on mobile devices. It's a bad idea. And if they implemented a bad idea they probably also are incompetent enough to have done it the wrong way with plain-text passwords.