I got my cc bill from AMEX today and saw an interest charge of $181. Since I don’t buy things “on time,” I called AMEX. Note that I have been an AMEX cardholder since 1960 and that I have gold or platinum cards. The representative told me that I had underpaid the last statement by $50 and that an automatic charge goes into place even if one underpaid by $1. Really? Really?

In looking back at my Quicken account from AMEX for that period, I saw that one $50 charge never was downloaded. So, my Quicken balance, I thought, was what should be paid. My error. But $50 too low and $181 interest? Mind you that the total AMEX bills we pay monthly are fairly large and are always paid before the due date.

In the past, when I’ve made an error (put in wrong number by accident) on cc bill, I have never been charged by any cc company. The rep I talked to said this was the policy of “all credit card companies.” Hmmm. But he did say that because of my “long relationship” with AMEX that he’d have the interest charge reversed. Gosh, how wonderful.

I did a chat with another AMEX rep after the first one. Told him of the issue. He said he’d try to do something about this with the back office. Really, the automated system should somehow be changed or the policy be revised for cardholders (and spenders) like us. You don’t treat longtime customers like this if you want to keep them.

ADDENDUM: I got an email questionnaire from AMEX and responded with my thoughts and complaints. A day or two later, I received a telephone call from a higher-level customer service person who listened to my story, was sorry it was originally handled the way it was (she had reviewed the first telephone call and the later online chat with another representative). She also told me that it was possible that there would be "trailing interest" charged to my account by their automated system but that she would monitor the account and make sure it was credited. Was a fruitful conversation and really good follow-up to the online questionnaire.

But this is not the opening line of a joke. A man, a father, a close friend of our daughter and her family was shot to death at point-blank range in a bar after an argument with a stranger about the weight of a dog and the weight of the victim.

This whole tragedy is really outside of reality for me. I have come to terms with the death of friends and relatives, both the sudden ones from a failing heart to the lingering ones as a cancer lives up to its name “terminal.” I can even understand those deaths caused by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But this. This I cannot fathom.

Not some revenge by a disgruntled worker or a kid bullied at school. Rage. Instant rage. Uncontrolled rage. Deadly rage. Senseless rage. Rage that pulled the trigger multiple times in a row standing within feet of the man he shot and killed. Over what? Another thing I cannot comprehend.

As we were driving home today from a week’s vacation and had heard about this catastrophe, two times drivers were tailgating me just a few feet behind the rear of my car. My usual inclination when this happens is tap my brake pedal a couple of times to give a signal to that driver that he/she is too close. Not today. The danger of what could happen if road rage were to occur outweighed the danger of a car way too close to me as I travelled at 70 mph.

Lots of text messages are sent out to several people as a group. Seems to me that these messages mostly fall into two categories:

1. A question is asked of the group such as “Are you free on xxx to go out for dinner?” Or “Did you get the message I sent with attachments?” Or something similar where an answer is solicited. For these, please respond only to the sender of the group email and not to everyone.
2. Some group messages are meant to be shared. “Loved all of us being together tonight. Thanks.” “Need to know who is willing to bring what foods to Joe’s house next week. Here’s a list of what’s needed” In these, it’s implied that responses should be shared among the recipients rather than just to the sender.

Some of the above also applies to group emails. The basic idea is, then, to think about the message (or email) itself and whether it’s appropriate to respond to everyone or just the sender. Always sending to everyone means our mobile phone keeps beeping and beeping as everyone does the same thing.

It’s today – 331 days before our scheduled return flight from abroad back to the US – first time I can make the reservations. And we have Skymiles points with Delta and they have only one non-stop flight a day. So pressure is to make the reservations now trying to use points before those seats disappear. Oh, and it’s business class.

Called the Skymiles number around 8:30AM. Asked for “representative.” Was told by the computer voice that I would be called back in 30-49 minutes. Time passed. I got the callback. I told the representative what I wanted to do and when. When I told her I wanted to use miles, she told me how many miles I would need (ended up she was quoting main cabin and not business class). I would need to transfer some of my miles to Marian’s account which I could only do online and not through her, but she said she’d transfer me to someone who would help me through all this and book the tickets. Instead of a transfer, the line went dead.

Before calling back, I went online onto my Skymiles account and transferred the requisite number of miles to Marian’s account for what I had been told. There is a charge for this – the equivalent of 1 percent in dollars of the miles being transferred plus $30 per transfer. And it ended up I didn’t need to do it.

So, I called the 800 number again and now was told I’d get a callback in 60-90 minutes. Time passed. Got the callback. Sylvia, the representative, told me some things. First, the amount of miles I had been quoted before were about a third of what would be needed to use miles for the seats and we didn’t have that many miles altogether. Second, while I could “pay with miles” at $100 per 10,000 miles given our accounts, it’s not something she had the “functionality” (her term) to do. I’d have to do it myself online. And I’d have to do it separately for the both of us. Sylvia said she’s call me back (took my number) in 45 minutes to give me time to do this so that she could cross-reference the reservations.

Went online. It was not intuitively obvious how to book and use miles to pay part of the ticket. After a few tries, got the hang of it. Booked for me. Went on her account and booked for Marian. Chose seats by one another.

Sylvia did call back and said she linked our two reservations.

In all, if I had known the way this was going to end:

1. I would have not needed to transfer points between accounts and pay that fee.
2. I could have just booked this online and did the “pay with miles.”

However, it’s done (I hope).