The Cranky Monkey

Reacher Drinking Game

2026-07-31T11:40:38.777-07:00

Reacher Drinking Game

Some action, some one-liners, and a cup of coffee.

Drink

When Reacher drinks coffee.
When Reacher takes his shirt off.
When a fight starts.
When Reacher knocks someone out with one punch.
When someone gets killed.
When someone mentions Reacher’s size.
When Reacher mentions his mother or brother.
When Reacher gets laid!

Drinking Game Disclaimer

Jonathan Ross: Guilty or Innocent of Murdering Renée Good

2026-01-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

We’ve all seen the video, or videos, by now, the shooting of Renée Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. The debate since has been whether he was justified in the shooting and whether he should be charged with murder.

I've now seen each of the videos taken, including the one that Ross himself made, and I fall on the side that he is a murderer and should be charged. I will now explain why.

Ross walks up to the vehicle being driven by Good as she is blocking the street with her vehicle. However, we can see vehicles driving past the front and the rear of her SUV. So, if ICE wanted to get past, they could. As Ross walked to her car, she said, "That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you." She does not come across as threatening or dangerous in any way.

Ross then moves towards the rear of the vehicle with his camera in hand, getting a shot of her license plate (to harass at a later date), and then moves to the right of the vehicle. Good starts to pull forward, but another car moves in front of her, followed by one she waves on. The truck she’s waving to belongs to an ICE agent, who gets out, tries to grab her and open her door, and yells at her, triggering her instinctive fight‑or‑flight response.

Meanwhile, Ross, camera still in hand, has moved to the front of her vehicle. Which real law enforcement officers are taught not to do because it is dangerous. As someone with a military background and years in border control, he should have known better than to do that.

As Good has her wheel turned to the right, away from Ross, she panics and hits the gas, at which point Ross gets bumped with the left front fender of her vehicle, causing him to now panic, pull out his gun (with the camera still in hand), and shoot her three times. He then holsters his gun and calls her a "fucking bitch" before turning off his phone.

Which leads to my final point. Physics. I know some struggle with science, but let me break this down as simply as possible.

A Honda Pilot isn’t exactly quick off the line. From a complete stop, with 0–60 mph times around 6–7.5 seconds, the vehicle would be moving roughly 6–7 mph after the first 4 feet. Placing Ross about 4 feet from the front left of the Pilot, that’s the speed at which she would have hit him. Further proving the point, she did not knock him over as this ICE agent did to this person. She did not even hit him hard enough to cause him to drop his phone, so that most likely he would have a bit of bruising and soreness where he was hit. It is literally impossible that he would have internal bleeding, as DHS has said. And, impossible that he was in danger for his life and therefore was NOT justified in shooting her.

If ICE and right‑wing commentators are holding Renée Good liable for her panicked fight‑or‑flight reaction to the situation, then they should also hold Jonathan Ross responsible for his fight‑or‑flight reaction, considering that he was clearly in no real danger and that he is a law enforcement officer who should have been properly trained to control his instincts.

Jonathan Ross is guilty of murder and should be taken out of hiding and placed into a jail cell pending trial, as that would happen to any one of us if we shot someone in this scenario.

Who Can't Balance The Budget?

2025-11-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

When it's red, it grows; when it's blue, it lowers.

Top 10 Worst Songs Of All Time

2025-06-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes musicians release a song that is so bad it will generate cringe-inducing tremors throughout my body when I hear it being played. In more extreme situations the song makes me want to shove a pencil in my ears to stop the pain of listening to that song.

Note: Since this is going on the internet, I don’t actually want to stick a pencil in my ears and neither should you.

A&M Records / Via en.wikipedia.org

This 1995 pop song has haunted me ever since it was released. If I were dead, this song would roll me over in my grave. Since I’m still among the living it just makes me die a little inside when I hear it.

Danny Clinch / Via pearljam.com

I know that being from Seattle I am supposed to love everything Pearl Jam does, but come on, Eddie Vedder singing the "Last Kiss" makes me wish I were the dead girl in the car.

A&M Records / Via en.wikipedia.org

The theme song for the barely remembered film Don Juan DeMarco. When this song was released it was so overplayed that there was nowhere I could go that wasn’t playing it. It was broadcast in malls, grocery stores, the radio on most pop stations, my college campus, and in my nightmares. The best way for a woman to make sure I won't love her is for her to love this song.

You know what is too much Dave, the number of times you say “too much” in this song.

pixabay.com / Via pixabay.com

Don’t freak out! I’m not saying I dislike the Beatles. The thing with the Beatles is they have come out with some of the best music of all time, but they also released this stinker. “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!” Yeah brah, life goes on, just hopefully without ever hearing this song again.

Speaking of the Beatles let's discuss this John Lennon solo endeavor. Yes, we should give peace a chance, but we shouldn’t have an entire song that just repeats those lines over and over again. Maybe someone should have played this for Dave Matthews before he embarked on his writing career.

Reprise Records / Via en.wikipedia.org

Let me start by saying Eric Clapton is a musical God. However, even God can make mistakes. This time he did when he teamed up with Babyface on this song. “I would be the sunlight in your universe” No you wouldn’t, because my universe wouldn’t have this song in it.

Cheers Drinking Game

2025-03-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

Cheers Drinking Game

Cheers ran for eleven seasons, and during that time, many cast members came and left. Some of these drinks might relate to the Diane years and others to the Rebecca years.

Drink

When a beer is poured
When anyone drinks
When Sam hits on a girl
When Sam puts on cologne
When Someone mentions Norms Tab
When we see Diane’s facial tick
When Diane makes fun of Sam’s intelligence
When Diane calls Norm, Norman
When Cliff provides a little-known fact about something (recites trivia)
When Norm makes fun of his wife, Vera
When one of Carla’s children makes an appearance
When Coach says something smart
When Woody tells a story about a time back on the farm
When Rebecca touches her hair
When Rebecca uses her femineity to get Sam to do something
When When Rebecca cries
When Dr. Crane mentions that he's a psychiatrist
When A guest celebrity makes an appearance
When Gary from Gary's old town tavern makes an appearance
When The bar is left unattended

Drinking Game Disclaimer

My Name Is Earl Drinking Game

2024-12-30T05:40:00.000-08:00

My Name Is Earl Drinking Game

Even though it was canceled too soon, My Name Is Earl ran for four seasons and 96 episodes providing plenty of opportunity for a fun drinking game.

Drink

When Earl crosses an item off his list
When Earl tells the story, with a flashback, of how someone ended up on his list.
When Earl says the word, "karma."
When Randy crushes on Catalina
When Randy says, "Hey, Earl," and Earl responds, "Yeah, Randy."
When Joy says, "Oh snap."
When Earl's car breaks down or runs out of gas.
When a classic rock song is played.
When we see a picture of Earl with his eyes closed.
When Darnel brings up his past.
When we see Catalina doing her jump dance.

Drinking Games Disclaimer

Smallville Drinking Game

2024-08-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Smallville Drinking Game

A young Clark Kent must navigate puberty, love, and keeping his secret in order to save the day.

Drink

When someone mentions the meteor shower.
When someone gets kidnapped.
When the bad guy/girl of the week accidentally kills themself at the end of the episode.
When someone gets knocked unconscious.
When Clark uses his powers.
When the Kent family’s red truck gets wrecked.
When someone says, “I promise” (Ex. I promise, no more lies.”)
When someone is admitted to the Smallville Medical Center for treatment.
When we see the Daily Planet rotating globe.
When Clark or Jonathan are doing work on the farm. (ex. baling hay or mending a fence).
When Clark’s father, Jonathan, lectures Clark about using his powers.
When Jonathan or Martha offer advice.
When Jonathan tells Clark to leave something alone or not get involved.
When someone finds out Clark’s secret.
When they foreshadow or reference future Superman.
When another DC hero makes an appearance.
When kryptonite makes an appearance.
When Lex refers to himself as Clark’s friend.
When Lex says, “I’m trying to protect you.”
When Lana almost dies and Clark saves her.
When Chloe mentioned the “wall of weird.”
When Louis goes undercover or sneaks into a place.
When Oliver Queen is shirtless.

Drinking Games Disclaimer

Veep Drinking Game

2023-02-05T17:09:00.007-08:00

Veep Drinking Game

Julia Louis-Dreyfus proves that there is life after Seinfeld in this comedy where she plays the Vice President of the United States. The award-winning series ran for 7 seasons and gets even funnier the more you drink with it.

Drink

When Selina asks if the president has called.
When Selina uses her daughter for political gain.
When someone says POTUS.
When Selina's car motorcade is shown.
When Gary whispers in Selina's ear.
When Jonah brags about his sexual prowess or says something inappropriate about women.

Drinking Games Disclaimer

Trying to Close my Revolute Account

2023-01-24T11:29:00.014-08:00

Based on the terrible customer service that I received from Revolut, it should be no surprise that as soon as I got my money back, I wanted to close the account.

If you go into the app, there is an option for “close account” selecting on that, it then said I needed to downgrade from the metal plan. After screwing up my account, they upgraded me to metal at no cost as a ‘woops sorry, our bad’. So, I downgraded my account. And, it said I need to have a zero balance. There was £1.09 in my account. I transferred that out to zero it out. Then, trying to close again, it said I needed to verify funds.

Zero Balance and Still Can't Close

So, I messaged customer service and received this:

Dear ___, my name is Leonardo, and I am contacting you today regarding your source of funds verification. There is nothing to worry about, this is a standard process that we need to comply with, and we just need to ask you a couple of questions. If you wish, you can read more about the process on our blog https://www.revolut.com/help/profile- and-plan/profile-plan/source-of-funds-check/i-need-to-verify-my-source-of-funds, and we appreciate your cooperation as we proceed. In case you receive salary from your employer, please send us two of the following documents: (1) Tax Return statement or Tax Declaration (2) Recent one month payslip (with employer name, employee name, period and amount(s) visible) (3) Letter from your employer confirming your salary (4) Recent bank statement (your name and date must be visible) confirming the receipt of your salary (if not received directly on your Revolut account) (5) Work contract (dated and signed by employer and employee), stating the duration of employment, the salary and/or additional benefits. If you are self-employed, please send us two of the following documents: (1) Tax Return statement or Tax Declaration (2) One month invoices within the last 12 months (including your name, address, VAT and amount(s)) (3) Bank statement corresponding to one month invoice payments (your name and date must be visible). (4) Dividends statement/certificate/voucher (including the amount and your position as shareholder or director). And also, would you please clarify the nature of the transactions with ___ for further assistance? If the above doesn’t apply to you, please let me know, so I can try to list other documents we might accept. You can upload the documents by tapping on the paperclip button directly here on chat, or you can upload them directly on your Revolut app. Thank you so much in advance!

My Response

Just close my account

David then replied:

I understand that having to verify your income can be cumbersome, however, as a regulated financial institution, we are bound to comply with strict governmental national and international regulations. We take these policies very seriously and that sometimes puts us in the position of having to contact our customers to ask for evidence regarding the source of their funds, along with identity verification. If you wish to do so, you can read more about this process on our Terms and Conditions, point 24 - “When could you suspend or close my account?” (https://www.revolut.com/legal/terms/). I really appreciate your cooperation on this matter so that we can speed up this verification as much as possible. If you have any questions on what documents you are required to provide, please let me know and I will do my best to clarify everything for you.

Me

I’m not tell you where I get money from, it’s none of your business. Just close the account.

Adam

we really appreciate all of your cooperation. Based on the review conducted, your account is now functional. As an appreciation gesture, we want to offer you a reward that you can use to purchase Revolut Metal for 1 month, if you wish. Even though we cannot guarantee that another refund will be processed if a similar situation arises in the future, as this is not in our refund policy, this is a goodwill gesture and I hope you find it useful. If you wish to check the T&Cs of our metal plan, you can do it here: https://www.revolut.com/legal/premium-and-metal. Thank you once again and have a lovely day!

Okay. So, over the summer, they transferred the money out of my account and closed it. After fighting with them for months I got my money back and they upgraded me to the Metal plan for three months. I then tried to close my account. They said I needed to verify my source of income. I said no. So, instead of closing the account they say thank you, now let's upgrade to you metal again. WTF is wrong with this company! Oh, and they deposited £13.00 into my account as “goodwill.”

A few days later I tried to close me account again. I transferred the £13 out of the account and downgraded the plan, again. With zero balance and the basic plan I tried closing the account and was told I needed a zero balance, which I did have.

I Messaged Customer Service

I'm trying to close my account but your terrible app won't let me.

Jo

I am sorry to hear that you'd like to close your account, can you share more details behind this decision?

Me

If you have access to the history of my account and the terrible, horrible, bad service I have received by your company then read that to get the answer to your question.

Jo

I deeply apologize. I know that this is unrelated to the initial concern. We are doing our best to offer a great service and in order to show this we would like to offer you an incentive to stay with us and hopefully we will be able to live up to your expectations. As you are a valued customer we would like to offer you 2 months of Free Premium if you choose to stay with us. Would you be interested?

I wanted to ask what makes me a valued customer but didn't feel like going back and forth. Instead, I said this:

Reddit, Facebook, etc is full of people full of people who have their accounts closed for no reason. Something you also did to me in the past. Now, I actually want you to close my account and can't seem to get you to do that.

Jo

You have remaining 0.06 GBP on you account that prevents that…

Me

Which was just deposited in there less than 10 minutes ago. Is this how it works. Every time someone tries to close an account you deposit money.

Jo

No

Me

Really because previously, I was given 13 as goodwill when I tried to close the account.

Jo

What I am saying is, the account balance has to be 0. Not negative, not positive. Right now you still have 0.06 GBP. There is no need to add funds, you just need to transfer these funds out.

Me

It's your money

Jo

It is yours since it has been rewarded to you. If you will agree we can just take it just so we can set the balance to 0 and then you can close your account.

Me

I think I can handle not having that 6cents in my life that you gave me. Now if you want to reward me with €300 and 6 months of premium. Then I'll keep the account

Jo

I am sorry.

Me

No you're not.

I was then logged out of the app and receive an email that my account had been closed. Finally!

Request for Compensation for Aer Lingus For Two Canceled Flights

2022-10-07T02:49:00.003-07:00

After Aer Lingus canceled our flight two days in a row, last minute, and after we were at the airport, we tried to request additional compensation we were told we were eligable for by the agent at the airport, beyond a refund of the ticket price. He had a printout of the Aer Lingus Flight cancellation notice policy which he gave us, telling us that we were entitled to compensation for our issue.

Back at home, I went to https://www.aerlingus.com/support/forms/post-travel-enquiry/ and submitted my request.

We were supposed to fly out Thursday the 30th, from Gatwick to Dublin, for a good friend’s wedding on Saturday the 2nd. After arriving at the airport, we were told the flight was canceled and they couldn’t get us on a flight that day, changing it to the next day. The next day, the flight was canceled again and moved to Sunday. The day after the wedding and also the day we were returning.

You moved us to a flight leaving London Sunday the 3rd at 9:05, to Manchester, then arriving in Dublin at 13:10. To then fly back that same day at 17:55. How ridiculous is that!

Since the notifications were sent so late, we tried booking a flight with another airline, but couldn’t find anything within a reasonable time and price. We had to cancel our B&B, a car rental, a hair appointment, pay for multiple trips to the airport, and cancelation fees, and most importantly, we were NOT ABLE TO ATTEND A FRIENDS WEDDING!

As per your T&Cs. We are entitled to compensation of, “EUR 400 for all intra-community flights of more than 1 500 kilometers, and for all other flights between 1 500 and 3 500 kilometers.”

A month went past, and I heard nothing. Even though the automated reply said I would receive a reply by then. However, I received a refund for the two purchased tickets. So, I went to the website again and submitted a request for an update, restating the issue.

September 8th, I received a reply from Aer Lingus.

We were sorry to learn you were affected by the disruption to Aer Lingus flight EI243 on June 30, 2022. Please accept my apologies on behalf of Aer Lingus. We are very conscious of the importance of providing guests a reliable service. However, despite our best efforts, there are occasions when our customers’ travel plans are affected by unavoidable disruptions or cancellations to our flights.

Flight EI243 was cancelled due to significant operational issues at airports to which we operate causing severe disruption to our network combined with the impact of very high levels of Covid 19 sickness amongst our operating crew. As such, this cancellation was due to “extraordinary circumstances” within the meaning of Regulation EC 261/2004, and consequently, no compensation is due in respect of this cancellation.

Sincerely,

Matthew

Customer Service Agent

I replied to that with:

Due to extraordinary circumstances? It is due to poor planning by your airline as other airlines were traveling from London to Dublin. Your airline did not properly staff so that not one but two of our flights were canceled on two different days. If we had been told in advance, the second flight was to be canceled, we could have arranged a flight with a different airline, but we were notified until it was too late. And I should add, we were told by the agent at the desk we were eligible for compensation.

His reply

Thank you for contacting Aer Lingus.

While I cannot provide further details, I would like to direct you to contact the designated enforcement body for Regulation EC 261/2004. For flights departing Ireland, this would be the Commission for Aviation Regulation at Alexandra House, Earlsfort Terrace Dublin 2. For flights departing other European countries, a list can be found at https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/passenger-rights/air_en.

For flights departing the US, Canada, or Barbados, please contact the designated enforcement body for the country the flight was set to arrive into.

Matthew is simply a customer service agent who has been told by his management team to avoid paying money out to poor flyers such as ourselves. So of course he is going to hide behind policies and procedures, and recommend if we have a problem with it to file a complaint to a government agency that will do nothing. That is what he has been told to do in this situation.

I also submitted a complaint through the link he sent, to see what happens, if anything at all.

We had booked our flight through Aer Lingus to leave at 5:20pm on Thursday the 30th of July from Gatwick airport to Dublin, Ireland.

We arrived at the Aer Lingus check-in counter to see a massive line of people and only two people working. The line was not moving. Unfortunately, we had to wait in line to check our bags. Since we were going to a wedding, my wife had a dress, and I had a nice suit packed. After waiting for a while, we found out the flight was canceled. Needing to get on a new flight, I called Aer Lingus customer service from the line and eventually we were re-booked on the same flight the following day at 5:20pm. From there, we left the airport with our luggage and reverse the trip we just took to get home.

The next day, the same thing happened. We arrived at the airport on a Friday evening to find out the flight was canceled. Not only that, they automatically rescheduled us to a new flight. This is the new schedule they put us on all happening on Sunday the 3rd, the day after the wedding.

- Leave London at 09:05am

- Layover in Manchester, leaving there at 11:55am

- Arriving in Dublin at 1:10pm

- Leave Dublin at 5:55pm

- Arriving back in London at 7:30pm

Leave on a Sunday, stay for a couple hours, then fly right back. The Day after the wedding?!?!

At the airport, one attendant walked around apologizing to us and offering everyone a copy of their terms and conditions, stating that we are eligible for a full refund, as well as £250.00 for additional compensation.

Giving up on Aer Lingus, we looked at changing to another airline to fly to the wedding but since everything was so last minute and would involve getting to other airports in the London area, plus the extra cost of the last minute tickets we had to call our friends and tell them we were not going to be able to attend their wedding.

After contacting Aer Lingus and waiting nearly two months for a response, I received this:

They only acknowledged one flight not the second. Ignoring the fact that if they had told us a day in advance of the second flight being canceled we might have been able to make alternative travel arrangements. Also, the circumstances of the canceling had to do with them not planning and staffing for the summer travel rush. That was not out of their control as other airlines were able to fly from London to Dublin. The canceled flights were due to bad planning, scheduling, and customer service.

December 2023 Update

After they told me multiple times that I was not eligible for a refund, it turns out filing a complaint with the government worked.

I received this email:

Flight Date: June 30, 2022

Route: LGW to DUB

We confirm that we are issuing payment of your claim for EU261 compensation in the amount of GBP 440.00 [GBP 220.00 per passenger] in respect of the above flight(s).

We have your bank details on file and have set up payment which will take 10/14 working days to reach your bank account.

Sincerely,

Esmeralda

Consumer Response Representative

No apology, no acknowledgment of error, just a generic email stating that I’ll receive compensation over a year later.

Aer Lingus Prevented Me from Going to a Friend's Wedding

2022-09-14T02:37:00.004-07:00

This summer, there were numerous stories in the UK about airlines cancelling flights, backlogs at airports, piles of luggage at Heathrow, and other flight related travel issues. Most of this was caused by a lack of forethought by the airline industry.

During the pandemic, they cut much of their workforce. Which made sense. However, as we came out of the pandemic, airlines didn’t replace staff at an appropriate rate. So that when someone called in sick, there was no coverage. As people booked vacation for the 2022 summer travel season, airlines didn’t have enough baggage handlers or agents to work the desks, which resulted in delayed and canceled flights.

This happened to me the last weekend of June 2022, resulting in me not being able to attend a close friend’s wedding, thanks to Aer Lingus.

Day 1 - Thursday June 30th

We had booked our flight to leave at 5:20pm on Thursday the 30th from Gatwick airport. This would have given us Friday to visit other friends in Ireland and have plenty of time for the Saturday wedding. We prefer to fly from Heathrow, as it is closest to where we live, but with flight options, Gatwick was the best choice for price and flight times.

1:30pm, we left our London flat allowing for plenty of time to arrive at the airport, check it, and any other potential issues that might cause a delay.

1:40pm (approx), The underground line we are on stops, and there is an announcement about delays on the tube line due to “signal issues”. This is a common cause of delays on the underground. I don’t know if it is a catchall that they just use for delays, or if it was because of the ancient signal system used for the London Underground, that is slow at upgrading.

At Shepherd’s Bush, the next station, another announcement about a delay comes on and says that it could take a while. No worries because we planned for delays, plus at that station we could get out and switch to one of London’s overground lines. Which we do.

It isn’t long before we board the overground from Shepherd’s Bush and head south into Clapham Junction, where the line stops, and we have another delay because they needed to wait on a freight train. Again, no worries as we allowed for extra time. The train eventually passed, and at Clapham Junction we changed to The Southern Line and made it to the airport around 3:30pm. Plenty of time for our 5:20pm flight. Good planning on our part.

After waiting a while, we heard a rumor through the line that the 5:20 flight was canceled. Some people tire of waiting and leave the line, but there isn’t much we can do until we find out for sure that yes, the flight was indeed canceled.

Needing to get on a new flight, I called Aer Lingus customer service from the line, figuring we will eventually get to the front of the line or I will speak to someone over the phone to get a new flight. After 35 minutes of waiting, I get through to find out they moved us to a new flight the next day at 8:10pm. After asking what else is available, even from other airports, she said, there are 3 seats left on the 5:20 flight. We take that next say instead of the 8:10.

From there, we leave the airport with our luggage and reverse the trip we just took to get home.

Day 2 - Friday the1st of July.

Taking the same route to the airport and getting on a very crowded overground with other frustrated travelers, I look at my phone to find out that our flight has been canceled again and moved to Sunday.

I called customer service and hold for an hour and a half (yes, that is really how long I was on hold) before needing to hang up because we arrived at the airport.

This is the new schedule they put us on all happening on Sunday the 3rd, the day after the wedding.

Leave London at 09:05am
Layover in Manchester, leaving there at 11:55am
Arriving in Dublin at 1:10pm
Leave Dublin at 5:55pm
arriving back in London at 7:30pm

WTF! Leave on a Sunday, stay for a couple hours, then fly right back. The Day after the wedding?!?!

Giving up on Aer Lingus. we looked at changing to Ryan Air and flying out of Stansted. However, due to it being last minute, limited flights, and others doing the same thing, tickets would have cost over 1k for the two of us. Keep in mind, Ryan Air is a discount airline and tickets are usually less than £100 for a trip to Dublin and back. Plus, we would need to get to Stansted, which is around 2 hours and multiple changes on transit to get to from where we were.

Our next thought was, maybe we could take a train and ferry, but the times wouldn’t work. If we had known the previous day, they were going to cancel the second flight we could have arranged this, but it was after 5 in the evening on a Friday.

Our next thought was to rent a car and drive. We could rent the car, drive to Holyhead, stay the night there, and ferry over to Dublin the next day.

We walked over to the car rental counters and looked at that, but the car would have been around £600, plus £250 each way for the ferry. And we could not justify that cost. We aren’t super poor or anything, but we aren’t as financially well off as others, and even though we dearly wanted to be there for our friends, we just couldn’t justify the time and cost.

So, a very sad call was made saying we couldn’t attend the wedding. And an annoyed message was sent to Aer Lingus requesting my money back and compensation. And of course, we canceled our B&B, car rental in Dublin, my wife’s hair appointment, and meetings with friends.

To Find out what happened next...

Friends Drinking Game

2022-09-05T03:42:00.001-07:00

Friends

I find it hard to believe that anyone with a TV has never seen this show as it has been aired constantly on some station or another since it originally aired. So, of course, we are going to make a drinking game out of it.

Drink

When a guest, celebrity appears for the first time.
When anyone dances.
When someone sees ‘ugly naked guy’.
When someone says, “I know”
When someone takes a drink of coffee at Central Perk.
When the guys have a gay phobic moment.
When Janice says, “Oh my god.”
When Gunther creeps on Rachel.
When Phoebe sings a song (two drinks if the song is Smelly Cat)
When Phoebe talks about living on the streets, or her dead mother.
When Joey eats a sandwich.
When Joey says, “How you doin’?”
When Joey has sex with someone or talks about someone he had sex with.
When Ross talks about “being on a break.”
When Ross corrects someone’s grammar.
When Ross talks about being divorced.
When Chandler smokes a cigarette.
When chandler talks about his parents’ divorce.
When Monica’s mom says something passive aggressive toward her.
When there is a flashback to ‘fat Monica.’
When Monica cleans something.
When Rachel shops or arrives with shopping bags.
When Rachel mentions Barry.

To be honest, I could have come up with a few more for this list, but I don’t want you to get alcohol poising after watching an episode.

Drinking Games Disclaimer

Revolut One Month Later

2022-06-13T02:34:00.002-07:00

One day, around a month after my initial contact with Revolut, I see a pop-up on my phone from the app that my payment for my mobile phone service has been completed. Two thought go through my head. One was that I forgot to change my auto-billing for my mobile service to my regular bank. The second was, how could this happen because I had been told by multiple people at Revolut that, “Revolut was no longer able to provide you with its services” and that my money would not be returned to me. So, how was the payment made if my account was closed and the money in my account transferred to another bank?

I logged into my account to find that the money was there. All of it, in fact. I hadn’t received a message from customer service on the app. Even though I had been told by multiple customer service agents that “as soon as I get any news on this, we’ll get back to you.”

So what happened? They never fully explained, but I received a final response, to one of my many emails, from a different person on the complaints team. Not the same person who told me “we determined Revolut is not at fault and is acting according to the regulatory requirements.”

This next person sent a very long and detailed email actually acknowledging they were at fault. Apparently, they have one person in that company who is useful.

You were repeatedly told that a relevant team was working on your account, but no specific updates were provided to you.

Unfortunately, the funds in your account were moved to Barclays by mistake. As a result, all the money was credited back to your Revolut Ltd account… We also reverted our decision to close your account at the same time.

There is a limited amount of information that can be disclosed to you about what has occurred here. Reviews that we conduct on our customers’ accounts are confidential and the full logic and specific details regarding them cannot be fully explained to the customers due to our regulatory obligations. However, I can confirm that no funds should have been moved in your account by us and this happened due to a human error on our side… I understand that there were mistakes made on our side on this occasion and funds were moved out of your account in error. In addition to this, this has taken a long time to resolve and you have not received clear and consistent updates about the state of your account in the chat when the review was ongoing.

So what happened? My guess is that someone in the company manually transferred the funds out of the account in error. Possibly they were working on the wrong account, and should have been working on someone else. It’s also possible it was done by someone internally acting fraudulently. Which is, of course, why they hide behind statements like, “There is a limited amount of information that can be disclosed to you about what has occurred here. Reviews that we conduct on our customers’ accounts are confidential and the full logic and specific details regarding them cannot be fully explained"

What lessons were learned that I can now share with you?

UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service, which is a regulatory agency, is useless. I filed a complaint with them and never hard back.
If you are in the right, you need to escalate, escalate, and keep escalating to get something resolved. This is unfortunate. I emailed the co-founders of the company, the director of complaints, chairman of the board, head of customer affairs, public affairs, multiple people in the complaints department, and constantly messaged customer service agents through the app.
Publicly shaming, the company seemed to have the most impact. I had to write on various social media platforms, calling out Revolt. When I started pointing out the number of people who were responding to my posts on LinkedIn and Reddit, I finally got them to do something.
Revolut has terrible customer service and hides behind its terms and conditions. More concerned about covering themselves from liability than helping customers. For example:
Filipa in the complaints department writing, and referencing the T&Cs “in the section 27, we mention the following: We will not be responsible for losses resulting from us failing to meet our obligations for payments into and out of your account because: of a legal or regulatory requirement; or unforeseeable events outside our control, which were unavoidable at the time.”
Multiple customer service agents copying and pasting the exact same text, “at the moment, we cannot provide any information regarding this transaction.”
Social media and customer service agents saying, it is being handled by the relevant team. or being looked at by the relevant team.
This issue possibly cost them more money than what was in my account. I transferred my funds out of the account as soon as they were returned and won’t be using them anymore. So, that’s no money from me. I know of two friends of mine who closed their accounts with Revolut as well. From the responses on social media, it could be more. And of course, the amount of money they must have spent in labor hours of people in the company replying to me. All costs that could have been avoided if they simply resolved the issue right away instead of wasting time trying to say it wasn’t their issue and hoping I would just go away.
I didn’t go away, and that is the lesson. Don’t give up and keep badgering to get the issue resolved. Another lesson learned here is to use a real bank. In the UK Revolut is not actually a bank. That is why they kept referring to themselves as a financial institution. They have applied to be one, but it has not been approved yet. However, even when they get approved, I would not recommend using them, as there are advantages to having a real live person to speak to occasionally. If looking for a financial institution, find one that values customer service over profit and self-preservation.
My previous posts on this issue:
- My Fight With Revolut Continues
- My Revolut Bank Account Was Hacked And All The Money Transferred Out

My Fight With Revolut Continues

2022-04-19T06:53:00.002-07:00

If you read my previous post, you noticed it ended on Revolut telling me, After reviewing your account, we’re sorry to say that due to exceptional circumstances we’re no longer able to offer you our services and we’ve made the decision to permanently close your account.”

I, of course, deemed that unacceptable and informed the customer service agent as such. I also received a response from my email to the customer complaints department.

Day 11

They replied:

I have investigated the problem that has led to this complaint, and I have gathered all the data I need in order to provide you with our Final Response Letter. My role in the process has been to review all the information available so as to propose a suitable and fair solution to the concern you have raised.

Nevertheless, according to the section 24 of our[Terms & Conditions which you accepted, we may need to temporarily or permanently restrict your account. Furthermore, in the section 27, we mention the following:

We will not be responsible for losses resulting from us failing to meet our obligations for payments into and out of your account because:

of a legal or regulatory requirement; or

unforeseeable events outside our control, which were unavoidable at the time.

Although we determined Revolut is not at fault and is acting according to the regulatory requirements, we strive to provide the best possible experience and all complaints and feedback are reviewed and taken seriously.

If we didn’t meet your expectations, you may refer your complaint to the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge.

Best regards,

Filipa

I want to repeat something Filipa said, “We will not be responsible for losses resulting from us failing to meet our obligations for payments into and out of your account.” Basically saying we put a clause in our T&Cs that says we can do whatever we want. If we screw up your account and you lose money from it, we don’t care.

My reply to that

Hi Filipa,

I’ve already filed a complaint with Financial Ombudsman Service.

The issue here is that your service failed to stop this transaction from happening or provide me with an explanation as to what happened to my account, using your T&Cs as a cover.

You allowed someone to access and transfer all the funds out of my account without my authorization. How did this breach occur?

You were notified within minutes so that the transaction and could have been stopped or reversed it, which you chose not to do.

You locked me out of my account and have provided me with no information so that I could investigate the issue myself, such as the account number or name that which the funds were transferred.

Your very own code of conduct says you intend to “act with integrity,” and “treat customers fairly.” I have seen none of this in the way your company has responded to me. Nore, do you resolve customer “complaints and queries promptly and fairly.”

From what I found, this goes to larger unethical business practices by Revolut I have posted this to LinkedIn, Reddit, and other social platforms and received responses of this same thing happening to other Revolut customers, which I am compiling to reach other organizations besides FOS. If Revolut wants to be a bank, they need to behave like a bank and that involves protecting the funds of its customers.

In, that email, I also tracked down a few email addresses and cc’d a few executives.

Vladyskav Yatsenko - Co-founder & CEO
Nik Storonsky - Co-founder & CEO
Daniel Clifton - Head of Complaints, Director
Lesley Smith - Vice President Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Martin Gilbert - Chairman of the board

The Same Day

Sitting at my desk working, I noticed a Revolut icon pop-up on my phone. I assumed it is the same “you have no funds in your account” notification I’ve been receiving. Instead, it was a notice that my account has been unlocked and I can access my account. No money in it, of course, but to make up for the problems I’ve had, they gave me a trial of the “metal plan” for a few months. How nice!

What I also found out was the account they sent my money to, with Barklays, was named Barklays in the app. This should have been a total red flag for them to stop the transfer before it went through. Sending all the money from an account seconds after a new payee was added, and the name on that account happens to be the name of the bank.

Braking this down, first they tell me they are not going to do business with me and close my account. Then after emailing a few people, my account is re-opened.

I go back to the app customer service and continue the argument.

Day 17

Mai

I apologize for the delayed response, I have finished checking your account. As for your query, the funds have been reverted to Barclays bank. Kindly contact the bank to receive your funds, and they will refund the money, which belongs to you.

Me

You are the ones who sent the funds. Not me. You contact them and get them back. I could have done that on day one but you wouldn’t give me the bank information that it was sent to. Now it’s day 17 and you think Barkley’s is going to let me call them and request they transfer money back from an account that happened over 2 weeks ago.

Mai

I will be sending you the transfer confirmation here in our chat, you may contact the bank directly to refund your money.

Me

I just did and they told me exactly what I expected they said you need to log the issue with them, there is nothing they can do by me contacting them.

Mai

Thank you for providing this information. I have reached out to the relevant team regarding your concern. As soon as we have received a response from them, we will inform you right away.

Me

If you guys gave me a pound sterling every time you said “relevant team” I’d have my money back.

Day 18

Some statistics on this so far about this issue.

LinkedIn Views: 198,000
LinkedIn Shares: 18
LinkedIn Likes: 240
LinkedIn Comments: 70

Reddit views: 2,900
Rddit comments: 30
Upvotes: 60%

Twitter Impressions: 431
Facebook People Reached: 137

Blog post views: 43

People I've convinced not to get an account or close their account: 4 or more.

Amount of money Revolut has spent in labor hours replying to me in the app, email, and social media: ?

My Revolut Bank Account Was Hacked And All The Money Transferred Out

2022-04-01T03:27:00.010-07:00

Day 1

Imagine this scenario, you are sitting at your desk working and you notice an email pop-up to your personal email from your bank that says something like this:

Hi,
You sent (Insert entire balance in your account) to Barclays. You can find the details below:

To Barclays
Reference Transfer
Sort code 205997
Account number XXXX6095
On Tuesday, 29 March, 16:48
Expected arrival Today

Of course, you did not do any of that, so you quickly contact customer service for the bank to get them to stop the transfer. However, you bank with Revolut which doesn't allow you to contact customer service over the phone, the only way you can contact them is through the chat in the app on your phone. You go to the app to find out that you have been locked out of your account but can still message them. That conversation goes something like this.

Notice the timestamps. The transfer out is labeled for 4:48pm. 47 minutes after I message them through the app.

Me at 4:01 pm

my account might have been hacked.

Rita The Bot

Dear Customer, Please accept our apologies for that inconvenience. I can see your account has temporarily been restricted. I promise that we’ll do our best to get this fixed as soon as possible. This is just a security review whereby we simply need to check a few things about your account. It’s worth mentioning that we cannot provide you with a specific time frame when we’ll finalise the review, but rest assured that we’ll do our best to finish this as quickly as we can. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Best regards,
Revolut Team

Me

Can I speak with someone from customer service.

Alex 4:02 pm

Hi, this is Alex, please provide me some time to check the details of your account and I will come to you with a reply.

Me

Alex 4:15

Please allow me some more moments as I am already checking your details. I will do my best to come back soon.

Alex has been checking my account for nearly 15 minutes. It is obvious what happened and in those 15 minutes, they could be putting a stop to the transfer, contacting the other back to put a hold on that account, doing any number of things to make sure that the person who hacked my account is unable to get the money.

Me 4:21

What's the delay? Looks like my account might have been hacked or something. I did not attempt to transfer any money to a Barkley's account.

Alex 4:21

I can see that your account is temporarily restricted due to the standard review process on your account. Unfortunately. The review of your account might take up to (12) business days. While the review is ongoing, all movement of funds would be temporarily restricted. We are fully aware of the situation and are doing our best in order to finish the review soon.

Me 4:22

What? Why is there a review. Obviously you can see what happened. It doesn't take 12 days to figure it out. Can you at least tell me was any money actually transferred? So my money is still in the account?

Me 4:28

Hello?

Alex 4:35

I am so sorry for the inconvenience caused. As a regulated financial institution, we sometimes need to perform reviews on accounts. We perform these reviews in order to make sure that you get better and secure services. I can see that there are no funds available in your account. I am sharing you the transaction history please Kindly check this transaction history for your better understanding.

Me 4:36

That's what I'm trying to tell you. I didn't make a transfer to Barkley's. That's the issue.

Me 4:38

Is there anyway I could speak to someone who can actually help me? That transfer needs to be stopped and reversed. I didn't do it. You guys block transactions all the time with me that I need to approve. How did you manage to transfer every cent out of my account without blocking that?

Alex 4:42

I am sorry, but we have only that information in the hand right now and that's the only information that we can provide you. We don't know about the transaction you are referring to. And that's the only channel where you talk to us.

We go back and forth for a bit with Alex asking me a series of unrelated questions such as, "Can you please confirm that these are the only funds that you currently have?" "Is this the only account you have?" "Do you have funds saved or available with any other bank or financial institution?" "Also, do you have any other financial liability with any other bank or financial institute?"

Me 4:56

How are any of those questions relevant? The issue is. Someone managed to transfer all the money in my account out? Your bank didn't stop that. So instead of continuing to ask irrelevant questions how about someone say, "sorry and we will get you your money back" And then start working on that. Clearly, there is some kind of security issue with Revolut and your irrelevant questions are not solving that.

Alex 5:04 pm

The transaction you are referring to is completed and we have no other information about it. The reason for asking all of these questions is to expedite your case.

Me 5:05

How does that expedite my case? I contacted you the instant I received that notification, and you have done nothing to stop or reverse the transaction. And it takes you a bizarrely long time to respond. I've been chatting with you for over an hour now.

Alex 5:27

To speed up the case we need to have some more important details of you so we can let our team know that your case should be on top priority, that's why we need some of above said information from you. And as mentioned above unfortunately, we don't have any further details related to that transaction.

Me 5:33

Are you an actual person or a bot? If you are a bot this conversation would make more sense. If you are a person, what is wrong with you? Are you new and need to check everything with the person next to you? You are not being helpful at all!

Alex 5:49

Definitely, I am a person, and after checking all the possibilities of your account and your scenario I have given you all the information which was supposed to be provided to you. I have already provided you with the estimated time frame. Further, I cannot tell you the exact time. The only thing I have to tell you is, we are actively working on your account to complete the review for you.

Me

Okay, I know your job is simply to follow the instructions provided to you on your computer screen. But try looking at this from my point of view, your customer. The money in my account was transferred out and I have no money. You haven't told me anything about getting my money back or when that will happen. So could you please provide me with some useful information beyond copying and pasting text into this chat.

Again we go back and forth for a while until 7:04 pm when I ask, "When will I hear back from someone? Will I get my money back and when?" I also try to get transferred to someone from their fraud department, assuming they have one, which at this point I don't think they do.

Alex 7:17

After the review is completed you will be informed by us. after that we will be informing you about the current status of your account.

Day 2

I messaged them through the app “is there an update on when my account will be unlocked, when I will get my money back, and how your company let this happen in the first place?

Deo, responded with the same cut-and-paste generic text as Alex, except for now it is down to 11 days for them to review.

I also try reaching out to Revolut on Twitter and Facebook.

My account was hacked today and someone managed to transfer all the money out of my account. I contacted Revolut support and they are useless. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to speak with someone helpful? Will they do anything to get my money back? I’ve been on a chat with them for over an hour now and all I get is a “we are sorry” and “it will take 12 days to review your account”

In my attempt to get access to my account, my money back, and an answer to the question of how someone could access my account and transfer all the money out. #RevolutCustomerServiceUseless

I received a response from both which unsurprisingly is simply that I need to contact their customer service through the app.

Day 3

Nothing

Day 4

Having still heard nothing from Revolut as it seems to take them forever to figure out something that took me less than a minute, I decided to blog about this little adventure with their pointless customer service. And post a link to this blog on Twitter and tag Revolut.

I also messaged them through the app.

Me

It is now day 4 and your bank has yet to figure out how someone accessed my account and responded with when my account will be unlocked and my money returned. This should not take so long and should have been resolved within minutes of me notifying you, as you could have contacted the other bank and stopped the transaction.

Deo

Thank you very much for coming back to us in chat. please allow me some time to check for updates and I'll be back with a reply.

I like how he thanks me for coming back in the chat as if I have another method of contacting them.

Deo

I truly understand that the process might seem tiring...Blah, blah, blah... As per our information it might take 09 business days for an update on the review of your account. I will keep this chat open if you have any additional questions.

Me

It will always be the same question for the next 9 days or until you guys resolve this issue. After that I start reaching out to whatever consumer rights organizations are available for complaints and unresolved issues.

Day 5 & 6

Saturday and Sunday, I have no expectation of hearing anything. This is a placed that claims to be a bank.

Day 7

Me

Day 7 and your active reviewing of my account has yet to identify how your bank let my account get hacked or when I will have access to my money.

Deo

Hi, this is Deo with you again. Sorry for the late reply.

Me

Any updates?

Deo

I'm sorry but this issue will take some time. Your account does not seem to have been hacked as you mentioned, but there are restrictions on your account as it is being reviewed.

I interpret this to mean they are in the process of reviewing my account and coming up with a plan as to how they are going to blame this on me. “After 12 days, we decided you did make the transfer. Thanks for using Revolt!”

Me

If it wasn't hacked, how did all the money get transferred out of it?

Deo

I'm sorry but we cannot provide any information regarding that transaction at the moment.

So more of the same, a whole lot of nothing.

I Also posted the same thing to twitter tagging the bank.

Day 8 & 9

Nothing.

Day 10

Me

Not that I'm expecting you guys to have done anything since Monday, but any updates on this?

Jem

Hi, I just want to start by saying thank you so much for waiting, I really appreciate your patience. Please allow me to familiarize myself with your concern by reading your previous conversation with my colleague.

I like how she implies that I am being patient and waiting because I have any other choice. I've already setup a bank account with another bank at this point and really just looking to get access to my money from Revolut so that I can transfer the money to that bank and close my Revolut account. And, I of course added a comment to Twitter while tagging them.

Jem

After reviewing your account, we’re sorry to say that due to exceptional circumstances we’re no longer able to offer you our services and we’ve made the decision to permanently close your account.

After doing some research it turns out this happens a lot to Revolut customers. They close the account with no explanation. Next up, to find out what legal recourse I have.

What happened next? Read on to find out

Redbubble - Inappropriate Content Warning - You Complete Me - Trump and Vlad

2022-03-10T06:49:00.006-08:00

I’ve had this image on The Cranky Monkey Red Bubble page for a few years, with no orders ever being placed for it. I just received notice from Red Bubble that they are taking the image down because it is “inappropriate.”

I don’t care as no one has ever bought the image, but I do think it is funny now after Russia has invaded Ukraine, they deem it inappropriate. And, come on, what is inappropriate about this image?

It could just be a coincidence that the image was flagged two weeks into the war, so I’ve decided to test it and do the same image except with Kim Jong-Un instead. Let us see how long it takes to get taken down.

The Full Text of The Take Down Email

Thanks for being a part of Redbubble. We are writing to you regarding the following works which we have today unpublished as they fall outside our guidelines on appropriate content.

You Complete Me - Trump and Vlad:

Please take the time to familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines and our User Agreement (see below) to ensure that you do not upload any work that may be considered inappropriate according to these guidelines.

We also ask that you review your current portfolio and remove any works that may fall outside our content guidelines. In addition, we must remind you that subsequent reports regarding inappropriate content can result in an account suspension or closure.

Redbubble Policies

- Community Guidelines
https://help.redbubble.com/hc/en-us/articles/202270929-Community-Guidelines-the-fine-print

- User Agreement
https://www.redbubble.com/agreement

Regards,
Redbubble Objections Team

Notice: They don't tell me what of the list of community guidelines the image violated.

Kim Jong-Un and Donald Take-down

It turns out, that they were pretty quick at taking down the second image of Don and Kim. One day later I received a notice they were removing the image. Again, not super clear what policy it violates, but again, not important enough for me to find out.

The one thing that does annoy me is that I put time into creating the images for no reason other than to turn them into a blog post.

Deliveroo Did Not Deliver

2022-03-09T01:36:00.007-08:00

I usually use a different delivery service app, but I decided to try Deliveroo to order some food. After downloading and installing the app, we ordered from an Indian restaurant we like. The order was placed, and there was one annoying thing about the app already and that was the tip option. It gives you an option of giving a tip, which is nice, but you have to do it when placing the order, not after receiving it. My policy on tipping for delivery is to do it when they arrive so I can base my tip on the quality of the delivery.

We order the food and wait. Then looking in the app when we think they should be arriving to see where it is at, it shows as delivered. Well, you can probably see where this is going. The food was not delivered. I did not receive a call from the delivery person, and it was not left at the door.
In the app there is no option to call someone just to message the Deliveroo customer service.

Me: This app says my food has arrived. However, the food has not arrived.

Melvin: Sometimes the food is left at the door if the delivery is unable to call you.

Me: I have not received a call and the driver did not leave any food at the door.

Melvin: Can you please confirm your address?

Me: (address provided)

After making me wait for a while.

Melvin: We requested your refund which will go through a quick check before we process it. You will receive email confirmation of your refund within 24-48 hours.

Me: So, what now? I have to order my food again?

Melvin: I personally understand that this issue has resulted in a disappointing experience... (insert additional generic copy and paste response)

Me: So you are not going to bother finding out what happened to the food?

Melvin: You are correct. We have requested a full refund.

Me: I normally use a different food delivery app. And, I can say this was my first time with this service and will be my last as well.

Melvin: I am sad you hear that and we hope to make it up to you soon.

This is one of those times that I miss the old days when you placed an order for delivery from the restaurant directly. Because back then if something like this happened, (which it never did for me) I could call the restaurant and speak to an actual person who would solve the problem and get me my food. Now, we speak to someone in another country who just copy and pastes responses as per what the screen in front of him says to do if a delivery doesn't arrive.

Update #1:

A couple of days later, I received notification in my Deliveroo account that the credit had been applied. So, I had to get on the chat again.

Me: I did not receive my order the other day. The customer service person I spoke with said my payment would be refunded. The payment was a credit to my account instead. I want the payment refunded to my card, so that way I don't ever have to use Deliveroo again, due to the terrible service.

Genesis: I'm sorry to hear that. Let me look at that for you.

I added a couple of screenshots of the previous conversation.

Genesis: Thanks for waiting. I've refunded the amount to the payment method you used for the order.

Hopefully, it arrives. Not the way to get business Deliveroo!

Update #2:

Hopefully a final update on this. I received a call from Deliveroo today, following up on my issue. I wish I had recorded it, but didn't. Basically, it was someone whose job is to follow up. so, I explained what happened, that I didn't get the food, the first customer service agent applied a credit instead of a refund, and I had to contact them again for the refund. Which will hopefully arrive next week sometime.

She did the same as the others apologized for the issue. She also said that she will be making note of this so that it goes to management and never happens again in the future. I laughed at that saying, "this will happen again in the future. not to me because I'm not using your service again, but it will happen to others." And the reason for this is because of the three people employed with Deliveroo I spoke with, not one of them said they will try to find out what happened to the food. That is the cause of this whole situation, and that is the problem they are not trying to solve. What happened to the food and how to prevent food from magically disappearing on delivery again in the future. That is what they need to do.

Appen Customer Service Experience

2022-01-26T02:17:00.004-08:00

At one point I went to a job site for a company called Appen when looking for some side work. If you haven’t heard of it, it is like Upwork or other sites where you can enter your information on the site and look for flexible side jobs. I never fully entered my information beyond my email after looking at the offerings and deciding it would not work for me. Nothing against the offerings, and from what I’ve read, they are a decent site to use. But it wasn't for me, so I closed my account... or so I thought.

Forgetting about it weeks passed, and I received a message from them saying,

Greetings!

We noticed you were previously interested to be part of Appen Connect (formerly known as Leapforce) and have submitted your application. We currently have new opportunities in your locale that may be of interest to you.

If you still wish to continue your qualification, kindly reply through this email <support@connect-mail.appen.com> and let us know that you are still interested.

If you have any questions or concerns about this message, please contact support

Not wanting to participate I emailed support saying:

Can you please remove me from your system so that I can stop receiving these emails.

Thank you,

The response from Appen

I have reactivated your Appen Connect account. This is just a gentle reminder for you to kindly login to Appen Connect https://connect.appen.com/qrp/core/login

- Finish the smartphone registration
- Please complete the "Additional Information" form
- Please sign the needed document to continue with the process of your application
- We will review your application and you will receive an email from us if your qualification package has been reviewed.

Please let me know if you have questions by replying to this thread,

Regards,
Appen Support

Clearly not reading my email that I don't want an account and I also don't want to be on their email lists, I reply:

I don't want it re-activated I want it closed and I want to stop receiving emails from you. Did you not read my email at all?

Continuing to prove the reply's are done by a bot or a person that doesn't read, I received:

Thank you for your interest to be part of Appen Connect! In order for us to process your application, kindly reply to this ticket with your current country of residence together with your complete address information so we can make necessary updates to your profile.

Address:
City:
State/Province:
Zip/Postal Code
Country:

*Note: A complete and up-to-date profile will give you more options for suitable project work.*

Your application will be on hold until we receive a detailed response from you as we must ensure that all information presented in your profile is accurate.

Thank you and we hope to work with you soon!

Appen Support

I haven't bothered to reply as it is obvious that the support team at Appen is not supportive at all, I have continued to receive emails from there saying things like this:

This is a reminder that we are waiting on additional information for your ticket# : Re: Appen Connect: New Opportunities are Now Available!

If we do not hear back from you within the next 2 days we will assume you no longer need help with your inquiry.

Please see below for details on the conversation:

support@connect-mail.appen.com

Not only have they not removed me from their system, they are emailing me more often than they did before. But it will hopefully stop after the most recent email requesting my feedback on the quality of support I received.

We'd love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below: How would you rate the support you received?

Good, I'm satisfied

Bad, I'm unsatisfied

You can probably guess which option I chose.

Sleepy Joe's Successes

2022-01-19T04:11:00.004-08:00

They called him sleepy Joe before the election as if he would be an ineffective president. A name he was called by a president who spent his time golfing, and a congress that did nothing in four years except give tax cuts to the rich and spend more on the military-industrial complex. A name that was repeated by the mindless masses. What has Sleepy Joe and the Democratic party that is in control of congress done over the past year, contrary to the right-wing predictions? Let’s have a look:

Image Source: Gage Skidmore - Wikimedia

Not Golfing

Biden has spent no time at the golf course saving the government millions on secret service and travel costs associated with going to a golf course in Florida. As a comparison, Donald Trump cost the American taxpayers approximately 144 million dollars for his golf trips.
- Data Source

Ended Americas Longest War

Both Obama and Trump were elected, saying they were going to get the US out of Afghanistan. Neither did it. Thankfully Biden did what they did not do, and pulled American troops out of Afghanistan, ending the longest and most costly war the United States has ever been involved in.

Improved Vaccine Rollout

The previously incompetent administration spread more time misinforming the public on vaccinations than it did trying to get people vaccinated. However, Biden’s administration improved the rollout, made people aware of the safety, and put effort into getting people vaccinated so the country could re-open.

The American Rescue Plan

To help speed up recovering from the pandemic, the Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to stimulate the economy. Items included in the act:

Up to $10,200 in unemployment benefits for 2020 are not taxable for households with incomes below $150,000. Because when Democrats give tax benefits they do it for the poor and people who need it, not the rich ones who don't.
Expands the child tax credit[79] from $2000 per child, by allowing qualifying families to offset, for the 2021 tax year, $3,000 per child up to age 17 and $3,600 per child under age 6.
Limits publicly-traded companies' ability to deduct executive compensation (for employees more than $1 million) from their corporate taxes (will generate $6 billion in tax revenue).
Repeals an obscure provision in the tax code that gave multinational corporations additional discretion in accounting for interest expenses (will generate $22 billion in tax revenue).
Funding for education.
Funding for COVID-19 vaccines and testing.
Money for transportation improvement. Infrastructure items that the previous administration said it was going to do, but never did.
Improvements to healthcare including Medicaid
Money for cybersecurity. which is really where the government should be spending money instead of the bloated military.
Agriculture funding. Something all the red state farmers should be happy about, although they won't acknowledge it and still vote Republican in the next election.
And more…

- Data Source

Paris Climate Agreement

Rejoined the Paris Climate pact that Trump pulled the country out of. Because Joe cares about the environment.

Second Stimulus Checks

The Republicans attempted to block this bill, but the Democrats in control of the government managed to get it passed. Thanks to Sleepy Joe and the Democrats, people received a check for 1,200 dollars plus $500 per child. Those unemployed due to the pandemic received an extra check as well, and the benefits lasted longer. Every one of the millions of Americans who received a check can thank Biden and the Democrats. The Republicans were against this and voted against it in congress.

Gas Drilling in Alaska

The Biden administration has suspended Trump-approved oil and gas exploration leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Right to Repair Rule

Here is one that probably got lost under the radar, but the Biden administration signed an executive order aimed at stopping manufacturers from limiting consumers’ ability to repair products at independent shops or on their own. You know how you can get that tractor fixed anywhere except by the manufacturer that charges an exorbitant rate. This will help fix that.
- Source

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021

17 billion to ports, making sure things like the current backup in the ports don't happen again.
Money towards road construction and bridges repair
Improvements to freight rail
Airports
Broadband
Creates jobs. You know those things that rednecks are always complaining about. "It's about the jobs" well, here are some jobs so thank the Democrats who made it happen and the few Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for it as well.

- Data Source

Streamlined Federal Processed to Reduce Waste

Singed an executive order to reduce the amount of paperwork associated with most of its processing. We can see the impact of this with the time it now takes to renew a passport being reduced.

Paychecks

Signed the Paycheck Protection Act

Stayed in The WHO

Trump tried to pull the US out of the World Health Organization. Biden put a stop to that and thankfully we are still a member country.

Joe Biden has actually done even more than this. I simply didn't want to spend a lot of time writing this post. The point is he did more in his first year than the previous administration did during its four-year administration. Well, except for taking golf vacations. So, for those that called him Sleepy Joe as an insult, I'd rather have Sleepy Joe over Hate Mongering Trump any day.

Google Ads Account Suspended - We've Detected Suspicious Payments In Your Account

2021-12-26T07:50:00.007-08:00

I set up an account with Google Ads to advertise a website a friend and I have that sells various items through a drop shipping service. Nothing on the site is illegal or even inappropriate in any possible way. To promote the site and drive business I set up my google ads account, created my campaign, and even used a $100 credit to set up the ads provided to us by our website hosting service.

The ads started running and we started seeing an increase in traffic to the website, that was until I received an email that said my account was suspended.

Your account is suspended

Your Google Ads account has been suspended because your account has an unpaid balance. As a result, your ads will no longer run on Google or our partner websites, and you can’t create any new accounts.

To reactivate your account, make a payment for the outstanding balance, and then submit an appeal. Once we receive the appeal, we’ll review your account.

Learn more about suspended accounts.

I had added a payment card to the account and we had not yet used the balance on the credit, but I made a payment as per the instructions, even though we hadn’t hit the minimum threshold. After making the payment I submitted an appeal to get my account un-suspended.

Here is the response I received.

Thanks for reaching out to Google Ads Support. My name is Ahmed, Google Ads support specialist. I hope you are well.

About the query:

I gather that you've contacted us as your Google Ads account is suspended for unpaid balance. Rest assured I'm here to assist you.

Clarification:

I'd like to inform you that we were unable to verify the email address with the account.

Information required:

If you're referring to a different Google Ads account that is under suspension, please help me with the following details.

Google Ads account ID:
Associated Email address:

Awaiting your response.

Requesting Information:

For your account’s security, you may re-submit your request here while you’re logged into the email address associated with the Google Ads account

For future requests, please ensure you submit your request while you are logged into the email address associated with your Google Ads account. These changes are being made to improve the account security and protect customer accounts.

Thank you for your understanding. I'll be waiting for your response.

Sincerely,

Ahmed

I was not sure why he was having an issue with the email address and account matching considering they were fine. Having dealt with customer service agents in the past and knowing they are often not the best trained or educated I sent screenshots of my account info, along with this in an attempt to make things as clear as possible.

As you can see in the attached screenshot of the google ads account the google ads ID is the one provided, and the email address is also the same. I've circled it for you in the screenshot as well to avoid any further confusion.

So, not to do your job for you, but maybe that is where the problem is coming from that something on the account is out of sync. I've also attached the billing summary page with that ID. I'm not sure why you can't see this on your end as I would assume you can view this account.

Instead of thanking me for giving them a possible reason why the account was incorrectly suspended, and where they couldn't start troubleshooting the issue, I received this.

Hi

Thank you for contacting Google Ads. I am Thea, a Google Ads Specialist. Hope you are keeping well.

After reviewing your case and taking your feedback into consideration, we've confirmed that your account was and still is in violation of our Google Ads policies.

As such, we will not be reactivating your account. Please don't create new Google Ads accounts, as these will be suspended too. When we suspend a Google Ads account, the suspension applies to the account owner and any current or future linked Google Ads accounts.

Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons we take these actions.

If you have a prepaid balance remaining in your account and you qualify for a refund, you can always cancel your account and request your refund.

We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,
Thea

Not knowing what I had done that caused my account to be suspended I emailed back.

All you are doing is linking us to a policy page with a whole list of reasons accounts are suspended. I don't see anything on that list that we have done. What exact policy are we in violation?

And received this

Hi,

Thank you for waiting while we reviewed your account suspension appeal.

After reviewing your case and taking your feedback into consideration, we've confirmed that your account was and still is in violation of our Google Ads policies.

As such, we will not be reactivating your account. Please don't create new Google Ads accounts, as these will be suspended too. When we suspend a Google Ads account, the suspension applies to the account owner and any current or future linked Google Ads accounts.

Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons we take these actions.

If you have a prepaid balance remaining in your account and you qualify for a refund, you can always cancel your account and request your refund.

We appreciate your understanding.

Thanks,
The Google Ads team

I looked through the “learn more” and couldn’t find anything I had done. I simply set up an account and tried using the service to promote a website. And then suspend me for no clear reason. I emailed a couple more times trying to figure why they had suspended my account and get it reactivated as I still think there is some kind of out-of-sync on the account. But being the mindless drones who don’t care about some small advertiser, they just continued replying with the same generic email with a link to their policies and procedures which are generic and include multiple things, they never replied with a specific answer as to why my account was suspended.

Additionally, it has been three months now, and even though I requested a refund they have not given it!

Up yours Google! I’m advertising with Bing which I should point out didn’t give me any problems setting up an account and creating ads. And honestly, I switched to DuckGoGo as my search engine years ago.

My Experience Trying to Change a Booking with Hotels.com

2021-10-09T06:37:00.001-07:00

I made a booking through hotels.com and booked it starting a Friday night. Then after looking at flights realized, it would be cheaper to fly in on a Thursday instead and pay for the extra night at the hotel. Since my booking through hotels.com offered changes and free cancellation I went to the site to change my booking. However, was unable to modify the booking and had to contact the customer service department through chat.

Hi, I'm your Virtual Agent Just a moment while I get your information.

Give me a second to gather your info.

I see you have this booking.

What can I help you with?

Me: Change booking

Your estimated wait time: 1-2 minutes.

Would you like to continue?

Me: Yes

Help is on the way!

Connecting you with an agent as soon as possible.

Please keep this chat open. If you leave this page or make other selections, you could lose your place in line.

Then I received a real person.

Agent: Hi, This is ___ Please allow me a moment whilst I review your conversation. As I see you wish to make some changes to your reservation?

Me: yes. I booked from Friday to Sunday and should have booked Thursday through Sunday However, when I select change booking it is greyed out and doesn't let me change the dates

Agent: Is this the reservation you're talking about?

Interestingly enough, she sent me the only booking I have with them. What else would I be talking about?

Agent: Please allow me a moment, while I quickly check the hotel policy and availability. Also keep the chat window open, so that we stay connected.

This took a really long time by the way. Then she came back with.

Agent: Upon reviewing , I would like to inform you that the booking type you made that is hotel collect, unfortunately, in such type of booking we're restricted to make changes from our end. I would request you to once get in touch with the property and ask them to make the changes of the dates on there end manually

Me: What's the point of offering change booking if you can't actually change the booking?

Agent: I apologize, but inaccordance to the booking type that you made that is hotel collect, changes is not possible from our end.Sure, I can cancel the booking if you wish to.

For the continuation of the conversation, I’ll admit I was being a jackass. She is some person working in a customer service center most likely at a low salary, whose job is simply to try to help people if she can. I’ve worked in large companies and know full well that she would have no way of answering me or understanding on why companies like hotels.com design the functionality of their website.

Me: you didn't answer my question. what's the point of offering change booking if you can't actually change the booking?

Agent: I understand, but changes cannot be made on this booking type. That is why were suggest customers to make manual changes with the hotel.

Me: still not answering my question. why offer something you can't do?

Agent: May I please know do you wish to cancel it?

Me: I'd also like an answer to the question of why hotels.com offering a service that says "change booking" but then can't actually change the booking. shouldn't you just not offer it at all

Agent: I apologies, but this is not in my hands I would have made the changes for you from my end, but I would be because in the hotel collect booking type the system doesn't not make changes.

Me: well, since you can't explain why the company you work for offers something but then can't follow through with that offer, yes cancel my booking.

Agent: Sure, I will just cancel

This is to inform you that your reservation has been successfully cancelled.

Is there anything else I can assist you with?

Based on my previous behavior, she should not have asked this question as it could have led to me continuing to ask a question, I knew she was low enough in the corporate pyramid to answer. But I decided to stop making her life difficult, and simply said “no.”

Agent: OK!

I then received the pop of asking, “Do you have a minute to answer 3 quick questions? We’ll use your feedback to improve the experience.”

Q1 Did we answer your question

A1 Yes.

Q2 Based on this conversation, how likely are you to recommend Hotels.com to a friend, relative, or colleague?

A2 I said 5 out of 10

Q3 Additional feedback (Optional)

A3 The agent was friendly and offered the best service she could. I would have given her a higher rating. However, I have an issue with the design of your website and offered services. The reason I contacted the agent is I needed to make a change to the booking. The website has an option for that but it was greyed out. So why offer it? Also, when contacting the agent, I was told I would need to contact the hotel. Also, annoying and making your companies services pointless. So, at the end of the conversation, I had to cancel the booking entirely and book through the hotel directly. So, you lost the money from that booking and had to pay a customer service agent to tell me she couldn’t help me.

Superstore Drinking Game

2021-09-21T02:24:00.001-07:00

Superstore Drinking Game

Join the Cloud 9 crew for this drinking game.

Drink...

When Glenn mentions god or his church
When Garett makes an announcement over the speaker system
When Jonah mentions studying business in school
When Jonah mansplains something
When Cheyenne mentions her baby
When Dina talks about her birds
When Dina tells Sandra to shut up
When Mateo sucks up to someone to look better to management
When anyone tells Sandra to shut up
When anyone swears (bleeped out)
When anyone mentions raccoons
When they cut to the random customer doing something weird shot
When a product falls off the shelf
When someone says "corporate" - Two drinks when someone calls corporate
When someone says “Cloud 9”

Drinking Games Disclaimer

Scrubs Drinking Game

2021-09-01T03:22:00.004-07:00

Scrubs Drinking Game

Scrubs ran for 8 seasons, possibly 9 depending on if you count Scrubs 2.0. Either way one of the great things about this long-running series that perfectly combined comedy with a bit of drama is that it had a lot of reoccurring jokes.

Drink...

When there is a fantasy or dream sequence
When a patient dies
When someone mentions Hugh Jackman
When JD has an Appletini
When JD calls Turk Chocolate or Brown Bear
When JD and Turk do “The Eagle”
When Turk calls Carla “baby”
When Turk dances
When Dr. Cox calls JD a girl’s name or newbee
When Dr. Cox does one of his long rants
When Dr. Cox whistles
When Dr. Cox takes his shirt off
When Dr. Cox mentions Hugh Jackman
When Elliot makes an unintentional sexual reference
When Elliot kisses someone
When Elliot says “frick”
When Elliot blows her bangs
When Elliot refers to genitals with a made-up word such as "bajingo"
When Carla calls JD Bambi
When Carla speaks in Spanish
When The Todd gives a high-five
When The Todd makes a reference to his penis
When Dr. Kelso calls someone “sport” or “sweetheart”
When Dr. Kelso mentions his wife
When Dr. Kelso talks about his son
When the Janitor tells a lie
When the Janitor pretends to be someone else
When the Janitor is actually cleaning something
When the Janitor calls Elliot "blond doctor"
When Ted’s acapella group sings

Drinking Games Disclaimer

Was 20 Years of the Afghanistan War Worth It?

2021-08-31T05:49:00.002-07:00

Image Source

The war in Afghanistan is finally over. When asked if it would turn into another Vietnam, Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of Defense said, No. That we learned the lessons of Vietnam. Well, he was wrong. The government learned nothing from that war. They also didn't learn from the Russians who tried the same thing, nor did they learn from the British who tried before the Russians.

The war is ending with the Taliban back in charge just under 20 years after we first went into the country to remove them.

Lives Lost

American soldiers as of April: 2,442
Note this number is now higher due to deaths at the aiport.
U.S. contractors: 3,846
Afghan national military and police: 66,000
Other allied soldiers: 1,144
Afghan civilians: 47,245
Taliban and other opposition fighters: 51,191
Aid workers: 444
Journalists: 72

Financial Cost

The estimated amount of direct Afghanistan and Iraq war costs that the U.S. has debt-financed as of 2020: $2.26 trillion.

Approximately 300 Million per day

Estimated interest costs (because the war was paid for by borrowing the money) by 2050, $6.5 trillion

So far $530 billion in interest payments have been made

The additional cost in healthcare, disability, burial, and other costs for Afghanistan and Iraq veterans: More than $2 trillion

Note: total costs vary depending on the source. By let us just say, it is a LOT OF MONEY WASTED!

Just something to think about, what would the country be like if we spent a fraction of that money on US infrastructure, health care, science, and space exploration? The US truly would be one of the greatest countries in the world instead of a debt-ridden joke where thousands fought and lost their lives for nothing.

It was the right decision to leave the country. It was the wrong decision to go there in the first place and the wrong decision to stay there as long as we did.

Your Republicans

2021-04-06T07:43:00.004-07:00

These are the people who speak about family values, the religious-right, and true Americans that the gun-totting right-wingers just love to love.

Fox News

Fox Pseudo-News, is the most watched news channel by conservatives. Yet numerous polls and studies have shown those who get their news from Fox know less than those who get news elsewhere.

Bill O'Reilly

Right-wing talk show host who physically assaults his wife in front of their children.

Richard Curtis

A Republican Washington state legislator who voted against every gay rights bill that came through his office and then would meet guys taking them to hotel rooms for sex.

Roy Moore

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama and the Republican nominee in the 2017 US Senate. Oh, and has a thing for underage girls.

Rush Limbaugh

Didn't believe in global warming, (like most conservatives), says he’s for family values but he’s been married 4 times, was a drug addict. The only good thing about him is that he is now dead. Yep, I said it and I'm not taking it back.

Brett Kavanaugh

Supreme court judge who perjured himself while testifying before Congress, drinks to the point of blacking out, and might or might not have sexually assaulted multiple women while drunk. Basically, he is the annoying preppy college kid that people hate in National Lampoons movies.

John "The Bully" Boehner

Made this statement, "the idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know, when they do what they do, you’ve got more carbon dioxide"

The KKK

Think about this, do you suppose members of the KKK vote for a Democrat in elections or a Republican.

Bob Allen

The Florida Republican state congressman was arrested for offering to perform oral sex on an undercover male officer for 20 bucks. Yes, another conservative anti-LGBTQ elected officials at it again.

Dennis Hof

The man died before the election yet Republicans in Nevada would rather vote for a dead man than a Democrat.

Sarah Palin

I don't think I need to say any more on this one.

Matt Gaetz

The Republican congressman from Florida doesn't believe in global warming and wants to get rid of the EPA. The conservative politician has had sex with underage girls that he met on a "sugar daddies" dating site and has been caught paying women for sex (prostitution is legal in Florida). Gaetz has also received multiple ethics violations during his time in office, was arrested for drunk driving, claimed that COVID-19 was created by Chinese scientists as a bio-weapon, opposes LGBTQ rights, and of course is a good friend with the Screaming Carrot Deamon known as Donald Trump.

Richard Nixon

A Republican president who resigned office due to a scandal, yet was somehow still a better person than the next guy on this list.

Donald Trump

Trump cheats on his wife and brags about sexually assaulting women, and believes that anyone who disagrees with him should be fired or put in jail. Multiple people in his cabinet and election campaign have been convicted of crimes and he has the distinction of being the only president in history to be impeached twice. His rhetoric contributed to the deaths and crime during the DC riot on January, 6th 2021 after he refused to accept the results of a fair election. And he is such a petty person he didn't attend the inauguration of Joe Biden.

The Cranky Monkey

Reacher Drinking Game

Reacher Drinking Game

Drink

Jonathan Ross: Guilty or Innocent of Murdering Renée Good

Who Can't Balance The Budget?

Top 10 Worst Songs Of All Time

1. "New Shoes" by Paolo Nutini

2. "Roll to Me" by Del Amitri

3. "Last Kiss" (remake) by Pearl Jam

4. "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" by Bryan Adams

5. "Too Much" by The Dave Matthews Band

6. "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da" by The Beatles

7. "Give Peace A Chance" - by John Lennon

8. "Change the World" by Eric Clapton & Babyface

9. "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train

10. "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston and "My Heart Will Go on" by Celine Dion

Cheers Drinking Game

Cheers Drinking Game

Drink

My Name Is Earl Drinking Game

My Name Is Earl Drinking Game

Drink

Smallville Drinking Game

Smallville Drinking Game

Drink

Veep Drinking Game

Veep Drinking Game

Drink

Trying to Close my Revolute Account

My Response

David then replied:

Me

Adam

I Messaged Customer Service

Jo

Me

Jo

Jo

Me

Jo

Me

Jo

Me

Jo

Me

Jo

Me

Request for Compensation for Aer Lingus For Two Canceled Flights

December 2023 Update

Aer Lingus Prevented Me from Going to a Friend's Wedding

Day 1 - Thursday June 30th

Day 2 - Friday the1st of July.

To Find out what happened next...

Friends Drinking Game

Friends

Drink

Revolut One Month Later

My previous posts on this issue:

My Fight With Revolut Continues

Day 11

The Same Day

Day 17

Mai

Me

Mai

Me

Mai

Me

Day 18

My Revolut Bank Account Was Hacked And All The Money Transferred Out

Day 1

Me at 4:01 pm

Rita The Bot

Me

Alex 4:02 pm

Me

Alex 4:15

Me 4:21

Alex 4:21