Random, Random 2.0

[JazzNU]

This AITA has made it to Yahoo news.

I confess I have never heard of an Apology Dinner. I like the idea though.

This was trending on Twitter yesterday. People were dying because she went to the trouble to explain a potluck dinner and then breezed past Apology Dinner like anyone has heard of that before.

[JazzNU]

This thread jumped off Starbucks baristas sharing some of their craziest order, many of the replies are much more extensive than the original tweet. Starbucks should add automatic gratuity after a certain number of additions. These orders are insane.

[skatingfan]

My latest YouTube rabbit hole - Sudoku.

[ponchi101]

I would have never been able to solve that one. And I do make at least one daily Sudoku.

[ti-amie]

Meet Anthony the son from he!! and his mom and dad

[dave g]

Meet Anthony the son from he!! and his mom and dad

Is this real, or is this staged?

[ti-amie]

Meet Anthony the son from he!! and his mom and dad

Is this real, or is this staged?

The one with the mother at the sink looks staged. The first one, not so much.

[dave g]

Meet Anthony the son from he!! and his mom and dad

Is this real, or is this staged?

The one with the mother at the sink looks staged. The first one, not so much.

It really looks like the kid is doing this just to make his mother angry.

[ti-amie]

I should've said the one with the mother in the black dress at the sink looks staged.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Uh maybe it's the blanket?

[dryrunguy]

This was a horrible night.

It started around 7 p.m. when the next door neighbors, both 79 years old, showed up. They wanted to know if we had electricity. We had music playing in the garage, lights on, etc.

I remembered what happened the last time when we lost electricity, when our neighbors did not. Something had gone wrong with one of the telephone poles in my pasture field. I asked if they had called the electric company. They had not. I asked if their cell phones were working. They said they no longer had cell phones.

I agreed to call the electric company on their behalf to see if we could get something done. The neighbors went back home.

I called the electric company (same provider as mine). Since I was calling on behalf of someone else's account, the electric company could not tell me much. But they were able to tell me that the electricity to my neighbors' home had been cut off.

Now I've got it.

I go over to the neighbors' house with an 800 number to inform them why they had no electricity. I find the electricity disconnection notice hanging on the front door. I walk in, go upstairs, and what I see is a mix of squalor and a mild episode of Hoarders. I delicately explain the situation.

From there, the discussion devolved into someone has hacked our bank account/we should have money in the bank/we can't find our checkbook/we're afraid of losing our house/we're planning to spend $5000 to have the swimming pool cleaned and fixed. Needless to say, I was a bit lost.

But we spent more than an hour on my phone with the electric company, managed to find their checking account number and routing number (which may or MAY NOT have money in it), and got their electricity restored about 90 minutes later--around 9:30 p.m.. My guess is that they hadn't paid their electric bill in about 5 or 6 months.

I invited them over for dinner, since it was so late, but they said they'd go to Burger King to get chicken nuggets, which is about 40 miles away. I haven't seen them leave.

It was one of the most depressing experiences I've had in quite a while. I cannot stop thinking about it.

Aging sucks. And there's only so much I can do to help from here on out, which should actually be the responsibility of their good-for-nothing, useless children and grandchildren--who are nowhere to be found except during the summer when they want to use that all-important swimming pool.

Thanks for listening, so to speak. Sigh...

[Deuce]

... and 79 is not even very old these days.
Sad that both of them seem mired in whatever it is they're mired in.
It was nice of you to help them as you did.
And it's disgusting that their children have all but abandoned them. I see that far too often. Damn - parents are the people without whom we wouldn't be here. Unless they've abused and/or neglected their children (which itself occurs too often), parents deserve much love, patience, understanding, etc. from their children in their declining years.

[dmforever]

This was a horrible night.

It started around 7 p.m. when the next door neighbors, both 79 years old, showed up. They wanted to know if we had electricity. We had music playing in the garage, lights on, etc.

I remembered what happened the last time when we lost electricity, when our neighbors did not. Something had gone wrong with one of the telephone poles in my pasture field. I asked if they had called the electric company. They had not. I asked if their cell phones were working. They said they no longer had cell phones.

I agreed to call the electric company on their behalf to see if we could get something done. The neighbors went back home.

I called the electric company (same provider as mine). Since I was calling on behalf of someone else's account, the electric company could not tell me much. But they were able to tell me that the electricity to my neighbors' home had been cut off.

Now I've got it.

I go over to the neighbors' house with an 800 number to inform them why they had no electricity. I find the electricity disconnection notice hanging on the front door. I walk in, go upstairs, and what I see is a mix of squalor and a mild episode of Hoarders. I delicately explain the situation.

From there, the discussion devolved into someone has hacked our bank account/we should have money in the bank/we can't find our checkbook/we're afraid of losing our house/we're planning to spend $5000 to have the swimming pool cleaned and fixed. Needless to say, I was a bit lost.

But we spent more than an hour on my phone with the electric company, managed to find their checking account number and routing number (which may or MAY NOT have money in it), and got their electricity restored about 90 minutes later--around 9:30 p.m.. My guess is that they hadn't paid their electric bill in about 5 or 6 months.

I invited them over for dinner, since it was so late, but they said they'd go to Burger King to get chicken nuggets, which is about 40 miles away. I haven't seen them leave.

It was one of the most depressing experiences I've had in quite a while. I cannot stop thinking about it.

Aging sucks. And there's only so much I can do to help from here on out, which should actually be the responsibility of their good-for-nothing, useless children and grandchildren--who are nowhere to be found except during the summer when they want to use that all-important swimming pool.

Thanks for listening, so to speak. Sigh...

You were exceedingly kind and patient and generous. I hope that there is some sort of long term solution for them.

Kevin

[mmmm8]

I'm sorry, dry. You're gracious and helpful and went above and beyond as always.