6-3, 6-3
Those were the scores of my two tennis games tonight, I was on the losing end. It was just the perfect way to end a terrible day. Losing. I am glad I am getting back into tennis though.

So this morning started bad, when I learned that I was overdrawn with National City, but this time it was not my fault. I was told by their customer service people I could wire them money using Western Union. I did that on Monday... but it still had not shown up... so I called in today to see what the deal was... the person said, "Well sir you can not wire to your account from Western Union." I then replied... "Then why did one of your customer service reps tell me that I could?"... I was then transfered to a manager, who apologized for me being told the wrong thing again. I then asked, shouldn't you remove my overdraft fee and pay be back the expense of the Western Union wire? She said no.

So in response to me being pissed I wrote a letter, and tomorrow I mail it out. How can that be? Some company gives me bad information, and the negative repercussions are not their fault? Everyone tells me to leave National City... I think now it is time. They have gone too far... I wonder what their reply to my letter will be... I did fill out a web form about my complaint... no reply yet.

So then I get back from running to another bank (which did the wire for me to my account) and my day got worse. To cheer myself up I figured I will order a big sandwich, get some chili... yes, this will be great... AND GUESS WHAT? My sandwich shop was out of bacon. Not only did I want bacon on my sandwich, but I wanted extra bacon (a 50 cent extra). Instead of extra bacon, I got no bacon on my sandwich, and my chili was kinda cold. Bad day...

The fact that I have not had time to get my taxes done today does not help either. So my weekend will be spent working on taxes, and not having fun. Tomorrow is Friday the 13th, I mean, I just can not get a break right now. Ah... maybe something will cheer me up tomorrow.

The System
People say I know how to work the system. Any one who knows me knows that I love finding loopholes, and ways around doing things the "normal" way. I like to mix it up, be different, do it my way. Some examples:

My undergraduate degree: my diploma says "Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude" on the front. My resume outlines my degree in Student Planned Curriculum, focus on Engineering, Design, Art and Communications. What it does not say is how I came to that degree. Student planned degrees are for people, who before sophomore year decided to custom plan a course of study to help them in graduate school (usually law or pre med). Not for people like me to changed majors just so they could take a class they thought would be interesting (like Food Marketing MKT 250, Human Resource Training COM 480, HIV in the African American Community BAS 490, Figure Drawing ART 210, Latino Admissions Research Project HNRS 490, etc.). I conned my way into getting my degree in that my senior year so I could graduate faster, and still get my 3.51 GPA so I could be Cum Laude.

That was a big example. Here is a list of some little things I have learned, in no particular order.

1. When on a plane, if you ask for a drink with lots of ice, they are more inclined to give you the entire can.
2. If when checking out of a hotel you mention something that was not perfect, they will give you 10% off your bill. Just complain nicely is the key, like it was not a big deal.
3. If you have a real complaint, take the time to send it in a real letter. Recently a complaint to Enterprise got me 100 off my bill and a voucher for another 100 bucks, and American Airlines gave me 5,000 frequent flyer miles because my flight was delayed. All from taking the time to mail a letter.
4. Taxes are not really due on April 15th, just ask for an extension, you automatically get approved for August 16th, just takes a five minute phone call and you get four more months to do your taxes.
5. McDonalds gives free kiddie ice cream cones. Just ask nicely and they will give you one, or two.
6. If you are out of state when your lease expires, your friends will move your stuff for free Burger King, beer, and the ability to drive a big truck.
7. You can haggle with the Financial Aid office... its kinda like the award letter is their first offer. Talk them up.
8. Verizon will take off late fees on your monthly payment, so I don't pay my bill until they call me. Its kinda like an extra service, they call me to get their money. I save time cause they let they me pay on the phone via credit card and I save money on the stamp.
9. Always buy stuff on sale: See previous post.
10. That "Introduction" price to cable internet from Charter... is not really introduction price. When, after three months, they try to raise the price on you, call in to cancel it... they will let you keep paying the cheaper price.
11. If you order the full ribs at Apple Bees, when they bring it to you say... "Um, is this the big one?"... act surprised and disappointed when they tell you yes...the waiter will not know what to say... but the manager will tell them to charge you for the half rack.
12. If you ask for just water at the beginning of a meal, and then later ask for a coke... usually they forget to add it to your bill. (It is up to you whether to tell the waiter or not)
13. The trick to a wingman is to have him go in first. Make it look like you are the wingman, it will buy you more time because you have confused them.
14. People will tell you anything when playing 20 questions on IM, its more powerful then a double dog dare.

I know there is more to add to that list. I just can not think of them right now. The real reason I wanted to share this list is number #4. My taxes are due this week... and I am not done yet. Yes even after a four month extension. So dad... if you are reading this... I might need some help.

So as you can see, some of my scams don't work just as I planned them to... stupid IRS