Are the U.S. Americans so rich that they won't bother picking up $100 bills lying on the street?
Wow, that harks to the wild 19th century fable that drew immigrants was that American streets are paved with gold. For the majority of hard-working souls, that American dream, swathed in dreamy colors is so far out of reach and flying further away today, no currency dropped on cold concrete is likely to ever be ignored.In 2007, my other half picked up a Walmart gift card lying in the Home Depot parking lot in early December, the week after Thanksgiving. Shopping was in the uptick swing, the Recession had yet to land. We, however, were experiencing a slowed year in our self-employment totally unaware that the economic wheels had begun to clog and choke.DH took the card to Walmart down the street and asked them if they could track who might have purchased the gift card. We didn’t do gift cards often and he was taking a shot in the dark as he didn’t quite know what to do with it. The gal in Customer Service, of course, shook her head with the denial that such information was track-able and a gift card was, essentially, the same as cash. “Looks like your lucky day”, was her parting statement after relaying it was worth $100.Still feeling like he hadn’t pressed enough in finding the owner of the card, he went back to Home Depot and spoke with Customer Service as whether there had been inquiries as to a lost Walmart gift card. That was a NO across several behind the desk (he kept working down the counter) so he finally came home and announced “As much as I’m bothered by someone else’s Christmas dimming with losing the card, ours just brightened up a bit.”Speaking from experience, $100 was a little boost that year before the horrid slide that pinched us the following year. No, I can’t think of anyone within my acquaintance that wouldn’t be remarkably cheered by the discovery of $100. I can tell you that no one within my acquaintance would ignore a large bill, however, most of us would be troubled in spending it without an effort to find who dropped it.When the wallet is pinching thinner, there is acute empathy as to the hurt of losing hard-earned cash, gift card or not.
For a long flight (over 10 hours), what does someone do that entire time? Anyone done that in coach?
It depends if you are in coach or business/first. I just flew to Hong Kong from the US in an overnight flight. I left Saturday and got in Monday early morning. The flight was just shy of 16 hours. I flew Cathay Pacific in business. The plane had economy, premium Eco and business. There was no First in this plane. Here is what I usually do:1. Always pick an overnight flight. Much easier to sleep this way. 2. Arrive exhausted. The more tired I am, the longer I can sleep. So the night before I sleep at least 3hours less than normal. 3. Eat before the flight. I find it better not to eat major meals on the plane even if the food is great. If you have a full stomach it is likely that you will not have good sleep. 4. If you drink, limit alcohol to one glass of wine or champagne. Don't ever drink beer in a plane unless you want to spend half the trip going to the toilet. 5. Drink normal quantities of water. Don't "hydrate" yourself, it has the same result as beer. 6. Have a good book so you catch up on reading. It is better than to rely on the plane's entertainment system. Sometimes it doesn't work. Also if you travel often most likely you have seen all movies. 7. Plan your time. If you are doing north-south like NY-Buenos Aires or London-J'burg try to sleep just after take off. If you are going East-West it is trickier, but for a 12+ hours I would wait at least 2h before sleeping. I sleep very well in the plane regardless of where I'm sitting. I have friends who can't sleep even if they are in First. In any event the one thing that I recommend you NEVER do is take sleeping aids. I have seen some very bad results.
Who was your worst roomie and why?
I used to have a roommate that everyone called Bucket Dan. His room was right across from mine which meant the chair he sat in was probably less than 20 feet from where I slept in my room. Now I know there's not much you can do to be quiet when you live this close to someone. They have us so close up here that any noise can be heard in all of the rooms.The things about Dan was, he didn't close his door…EVER! He would wake up at 5AM every single morning and start rolling his cigarettes for the day. This required him to tap each cigarette at least 10 times on his table to get the tobacco packed in the tube. As he was rolling his cigarettes, he would cough loud. This wasn't a normal cough that you can ignore. This was a cough that came from 50+ years of smoking at least a pack a day. So everyday at 5AM I would be awake listening to him tap and cough nonstop until it was time for me to go to work. EVERY SINGLE DAY!When I got home from work, he would usually be passed out from drinking all day. When he woke up, he would turn his stereo all the way up and chug from a half gallon of vodka. I love music so I didn't mind the jam session that much. what bothered me, was that he only had a radio, so he would blare the commercials as well as the music. I'd have to listen to 20 minutes of radio commercials every few songs. He didn't have much, but he had a LOUD stereo. As loud as it was in my room, he would sit 5 feet from the speakers and have a good ol time. I know his ears had to hurt.After I put up with all I could, I tried to talk to him man to man. All I wanted was for him to close his door at 5AM. He would agree and do it for a day or two, but would go back to leaving it open. I tried talking to the landlord, she would talk to him and the same thing would happen. He really meant to close it, but the alcohol fucked his memory up and he would always forget. Every once in awhile I would get a little violent about it with him, but he is one of those cheerful ignorant as fuck alcoholics, and his goofy grin would calm me down every time.I eventually learned to live with Bucket Dan. There was nothing I could do
Do soldiers pay for leave or pass?
I hope someone was just teasing you and didn’t actually extract money from you…Check out AR 600–8–10: http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles...Soldiers on active duty earn 30 days of leave a year with pay and allowances at the rate of 2 1⁄2 days a month (Check your LES for your chargeable leave balance). You simply fill out a DA-31 and follow instructions on it and from your unit clerk, S1, or company commander/first sergeant. There are all kinds of leave for all kinds of reasons… voluntary and involuntary, emergency, special, convalescent, pregnancy, and a few others…In basic terms:LEAVE is an “authorized absence [approved] from place of duty, chargeable against the Soldier’s leave account” and aPASS is an “authorized absence granted [by the commander] for short periods to provide respite from the working environment or for other specific reasons. At the end of the pass period, Soldiers will be at their places of duty or in the locations from which they regularly commute to work.” (AR 600–8–10, p.109)Most often in my experience, a pass is a granted in a local area, usually no more than 50 miles, and usually no more than 2–3 days. If you’re granted a pass and you are late returning to duty, you can be charged leave for the entire time, (as well be in violation of UCMJ). Of course, it’s entirely possible you may be where passes in the local area are not a good idea, and any absence requires leave. It all depends on your unit…Also, depending on your unit’s SOP, you will likely document a pass on a leave form (DA-31), and you’ll likely sign out at CQ or HQ, etc. Remember your unit’s chain of command will need to be able to reach you at any time in case of a recall, emergency, or other reasons depending on FPCON levels.