So, I found out towards the end of the week that things at work were worse than they seemed. My office manager was really upset and told me that in the first of second week of December we were going to run out of work. She said that if no jobs came in the time between, pretty much the entire company would be laid off.

What a blow.... Christmas time. Finals time.

I had already been looking for another job and hadn't had any luck. There aren't a lot of people hiring, even for temporary holiday positions. I would prefer to get another office sort of job that is permanent, cause I don't wanna be in the same situation when everyone gets laid off after the holidays.

It's so disappointing because I love the family I work for, and we had been doing so well. The entire time I've worked there they haven't even needed to lay people off during the winter. We had sort of a bad winter last year, when we didn't get paid for a job. Work was already slow because of the season, and the $20,000 we were owed really messed things up. Since then, we had a couple other liens we had to file, and even with those we had gotten out of the "hole" the winter had gotten us into.

I feel really stressed because the job search hasn't been going well so far. I am excited because I have an interview (next week probably) with some people I'm already kind of connected to, so hopefully that will go well. The job is in Tacoma, which would be fabulous cause I wouldn't have to drive much. Anyways, wish me luck (and let me know if you know someone who's hiring!)!

I feel especially bad for the office manager and her dad (the owner). She has pretty much taken care of the books and financial stuff for the company for the past five years, and since it is a family business she is really entwined with it. She is looking for another job too. The owner of the business has talked about being in charge of supporting his employees (and their families, by extension) and how stressful that is. I'm sure he feels terrible about this whole situation.

I'm just trying to think good thoughts for our economy and be thankful for the love and support of my awesome family.

Sad article here. The Consumerist is one of my favorite websites. They're the ones who posted my locksmith story. Anyways, it is a useful source for consumer information, and, unlike Perez Hilton, it actually makes you smarter.
Gawker just laid off some of it's Consumerist writers, and the quality of the site seemed to suffer. I still think it is a good resource, and read it daily. It's sad that they're looking to sell it (it isn't one of their profitable blogs), and hopefully whomever buys it will keep the editors and spirit of the Consumerist alive.
Everyone go over there and click some ads!

Was reading exit133 and saw this article. Things are so bad real-estate wise that this company (as I understand it) has ditched their condo plan. The Marcato Condos were going to be great. They had planned on a "master community" with:

My locksmith story got posted on consumerist.com. If you haven't been on the site, it's awesome. I've been reading it for over a year, and I've definitely learned a lot. A lot of the readers gave good advice (call the police- the locksmith will either leave or do the work for the quoted price, call AAA and buy membership to use, have boyfriend look up how to break into car, etc). I think I was just way to stressed out by that time to think of these things :D I thought it was quite interesting- someone posted a link to the consumerist article on my original post about the locksmith... not sure if they realized I was the same person or not..... I saw the comment before I had been on the consumerist site today.

Here is a link to the article. So far (thursday pm) there have been almost 10,700 views!

UPDATE: as of Tuesday, almost 30,000 page views and six pages of comments! Hopefully i helped someone!

So, I got a couple questions about my hair last week. I thought I'd explain. So, the lady who does my hair is hilarious and awesome and I love her. She cut my hair like a little over a week ago. It was good. I had her "touch up" my highlights a couple days later. I had gotten sort of caramel colored highlights in my hair during the summer, and they were pretty grown out. She did them the first time and I was really happy. They were bold and bright for the summer. I just wanted her to add some to cover up my roots.
The highlights turned out BLONDE. Not toffee, BLONDE. On my almost black hair. Also, there were too many- like the entire top layer of my hair. I was like, oh well maybe if I wait a few days I will get used to it and like them. No such luck. Highlights were Saturday, and I fixed my hair Monday night. I asked all my female relatives what to do, and they suggested using a little bit darker dye to fix it. I just got some semi-permanent medium brown hair dye and put it all over (it didn't change the color of my dark hair). Ah! Relief! Hair was toned down and much better better for this time of year.
I know I probably should have told the hair lady to fix it, but I didn't want to wait a few days for an appointment, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings. I'm a big pushover, and I don't like complaining. I'd rather deal with it myself. It's uncomfortable, and I'm not a fan of confrontation. However, I am working on standing up for myself (see locksmith post below!). Yay for being brave!

So, thanks to those of you in my TINST207 class who asked about my ordeal :D I appreciate your concern.  Anyways, I went home and was still sort of mad, so I went and got my brows waxed (it was a nice pick-me-up. I hadn't had it done in forevor) and then went home and had some of my mom's homemade lasagna and apple crisp.  I must admit I'm feeling much better now.  

So I had a fun Monday. David and I woke up late, and we both rushed to get ready to leave in the morning. I didn't have time to make lunch. I get to class, and my classes go okay, so when that is over, I head to work. I always stop at the post office to grab the mail on the way there, then head to the bank to drop off a deposit before I go to the office. I get back to my car and can't find my keys. I check the parking lot, store, bank, pockets, and begin to freak out. Finally, I realize I locked my keys in my car- they are sitting in the ignition. This is at about 4:15 pm. I call David, who is on his way home from work. He looks for my extra key when he gets home but has no luck- we moved not long ago and the keys are probably in a box somewhere. My dad and sister come with extra keys (none of which were the one I left with them when I moved out of my parents house). I am getting frantic. It is cold.

My dad tries to break into my car. No luck. I did this before and my car is impossible to open with a slim-jim. I call a couple locksmiths cause I'm not confident a tow-truck driver can get into my car. I find a nearby locksmith who says he can be there in 25 mins. It's around 7:15 and I'm FREAKING out. I haven't eaten since noon. My dad was nice enough to stay with me and wait. The locksmith says it will be $39.99 + about $19 labor. I say "great" and tell him what kind of car I have and where it is stuck.

The "locksmith" arrives over an hour later. It looks a little shady- the guy is in his own personal car and was really late. I'm really frustrated and tired and out of patience by then. He gets out of his car and basically says "OOOHHH! This is a FOCUS!?! This is a VERY hard car to get into! I might be able to do it, might not, but it's gonna be $39.99 + $125 labor! $177 after tax. If you don't want me to do it, you have to at least pay me the $39.99 service call. He is really intimidating and rude. He has my driver's license already. THIS IS COERCION/EXTORTION/WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT. He insists he is being nice and that he could show us invoices of people who paid $265 to get into their cars. I'm in tears. It's almost nine. My dad argues with the guy for awhile and then decides f*** it, just do it. I'm pissed. He finally gets into my car, and I pay him. He doesn't even check to make sure that the car is mine. He refuses to give me the address of the business, a business card, or anything that identifies the business he is with. He has no stationary or invoices or anything to link him to a legitimate business. I feel really weird giving him my credit card- it all seems way too shady. I drive home, so mad I can hardly think. I felt so taken advantage of- he held me hostage.

I woke up Tuesday morning, even more pissed off. I missed an entire day of work over this bulls*** (at least my boss was nice about it!). I go out to my car to drive to work and notice that the door frame is bent up. Guess I didn't notice it when it was dark and I WAS SEETHING WITH ANGER. I called up the locksmith to complain. I was glad I had written down how I found them (using 411), because it seemed as if the locksmith who came out was trying to keep me from contacting him again. He knew we were pissed. Anyways, I nicely told the dispatcher/manager that I wanted a partial refund, due to the lateness, lies, and especially the damage to my car. He tried to say that they never saw me the night before. I said, "ok, well I wrote down the license # of the guy and a description. I will just cancel the credit card and give the information to the cops." He suddenly remembered me! However, he would not acknowledge the damage to my car, let alone the lying/bad customer service. He would not even consider a partial refund, so I told him I was canceling the card and initiate a charge-back with my credit card company. I also told him I would contact the BBB, attorney general, etc about his business practices.

I called my bank to cancel my card and thankfully, they were totally on my side. I have to wait a day or two for the charge to finish posting, and then there will be a charge-back. Anyways, the moral of the story is to get a definitive quote from the locksmith. Refuse to pay anymore. Maybe just don't lock your keys in your car!!! If you don't have spares, get some made for $5 at the store, and give them to your friends and family, so they can help you out when you need it. I called some more locksmiths for definite quotes to see if I was charged a legit price. Everyone else charges $60-$80 flat. One locksmith told me he knew of an old woman who was forced to pay $200 to get into her car. When you're locked out, and you can't google the business or check with the BBB, it really puts you at a disadvantage. I was vulnerable and they took advantage of me. Another moral: pay with credit cards, as they offer a lot more protection than debit cards.

From looking around on the net, it seems this is a common scam. There are stories of people whose keys are held hostage until they pay the inflated fee. There are dozens of complaints online, and supposedly these companies use many different names and phone numbers to avoid being held accountable. I shudder to think what the guy would have done if my dad hadn't been there with me. Anyways, at least they will end up paying me back what they charged me, plus some (charge-backs penalize the merchant), when I would have been happy with an apology for the damage and refund for the amount over the initial quote.

Hopefully, someone out there will learn from what happened to me ( I promise I'm calmed down now :).