Oreos
Homer Simpson would have a field day with this one, jack. Mmmmm, Oreos. As in 14 tons of 'em; spilled over an interstate this morning about 50 miles south of Chicago when the truck driver carrying them fell asleep at the wheel and said 'how do you do' to the concrete medium.
Betcha the cleanup effort was the quickest of all time. I mean, seriously ... who wouldn't want to pitch in to clean up all that chocolatey goodness? If a milk truck drove by, we'd have ourselves a sweet tailgate, baby.
This is an obscure one, but try to keep up. Lots of people (including yours truly) joke about something good that is really just a pain in the neck. The Great Oreo Spill of '08 may make a couple of late night monologues, but for the people behind the truck, the trucking company and the cleanup crew, it's like sitting on a tack.
Lots of times, something that's seems like a great thing is just the opposite. Remember that when the credit card companies show up on your TV pitching low interest rates or jazz like that. It ain't worth it. Use cash. Capiche?
Betcha the cleanup effort was the quickest of all time. I mean, seriously ... who wouldn't want to pitch in to clean up all that chocolatey goodness? If a milk truck drove by, we'd have ourselves a sweet tailgate, baby.
This is an obscure one, but try to keep up. Lots of people (including yours truly) joke about something good that is really just a pain in the neck. The Great Oreo Spill of '08 may make a couple of late night monologues, but for the people behind the truck, the trucking company and the cleanup crew, it's like sitting on a tack.
Lots of times, something that's seems like a great thing is just the opposite. Remember that when the credit card companies show up on your TV pitching low interest rates or jazz like that. It ain't worth it. Use cash. Capiche?
2 Comments:
good point! (and I LOVE Oreos!)
In general, I think you're right about credit cards, but I'm not an absolutist on this point.
It all depends on how they're used. IF and only IF you have never maintained a balance and IF and only IF you use them as a payment mechanism, then I don't have a problem with them. Here's the reason why: there are certain legal protections that accrue to using credit cards for certain purchases as well as certain benefits.
Let me give you an example. If you make a purchase and run into a dispute over the quality of the product or they simply don't deliver, you can dispute the charge. I end up doing that about once a year. The plain truth is that if I'd paid cash, I'd be outta luck.
While debit cards have some similar protections, those are as a result of the credit card issuers POLICY, not a legal requirement as accrues to credit cards. Forgive me my cynicism, but I'll take a legal requirement over the "good faith policy" of VISA, Inc which might end 5 minutes after they stick one of those "oh by the way we're changing our policy" inserts in your bank statement. The payment protections on credit cards are legal requirements. The credit card issuers have to provide them.
There are also some tangible benefits on some credit cards when renting cars, i.e. CDW waivers, as well as some extended warranty provisions. In certain circumstances, it makes sense to use those.
In my view, credit cards are a lot like DDT. DDT is noxious, nasty stuff. And it was way overused and abused when it was legal in the U.S. But the plain truth is that in some circumstances, DDT really is the most logical pesticide to make use of.
Chip in Tidewater
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