What do PayPal and Andy M have in common?

I'm sure everyone has heard by now about PayPal's recent own goal - a bit like Andy M. from Halifax Bank who I wrote about recently (Andy scores an own goal - apparently he was indeed fired)! If you haven't heard, about 10 days ago PayPal apparently issued revised terms and conditions which now included a clause whereby they could fine you $2,500 for "promoting misinformation". The main problem, however, was that PayPal couldn't or wouldn't define "misinformation" - it was going to be left up to them to decide! I don't have a PayPal account. I started to set one up years ago because I thought I might need it one day, but when they asked for my bank details I cancelled the set-up. What struck me though was if PayPal is seemingly just a means of making purchases and payments, what kind of "misinformation" are they expecting to have access to? Anyway, the reaction was almost instantaneous, people were in uproar, and started closing their accounts at such a speed that PayPal must have wondered what hit them!!! In the space of less than a week PayPal lost over $6 billion - and is still dropping like a lead balloon! Panic-stricken, PayPal then started backpedaling as fast as their little legs would allow them and issued a statement to the effect that inserting that clause had "been an accident" (yeah right, - I wonder if they will now pay all their customers $2,500 for their own "misinformation" then). But from what I saw on social media, even though they issued the retraction, people were still closing their accounts because they were so outraged! The latest I saw was that PayPal are now offering people $15 not to close their accounts (as opposed to robbing them of $2,500???) but people are continuing to close their accounts. I wonder which bright spark thought up that marketing strategy - and if he might now be looking for another job - just like Andy!

The guy came the other day to look into the possibility of installing an insert into my fireplace. I wasn't very hopeful because two other companies had already told me my chimney wasn't wide enough to install a wood-burner and I won't be demolishing my fireplace/chimney to install anything. But this young man was actually hopeful that their smallest insert might work. And would you believe it, it was short 1cm needed vertically to accommodate it!!! Bugger!!! But then I had the bright idea of suggesting we take some of the tiles out from the base of the fireplace and maybe that might help - and he thinks it might! So I have a call in to the mason and hopefully he can come over soon and we can work something out. And all this because open fireplaces are no longer legal in France! Mind you, if we get power cuts I'll be using my fireplace regardless! While he was here the doorbell rang and it was two Jehovah's Witnesses, who I always make short work of by telling them up front that I'm not interested. At least they respect that but I have to admit it was one of the few positives of the pandemic that we didn't get the door-to-door JWs for two years! Then the doorbell went again and it was a young man from a real estate agency asking if I knew of anyone who might be selling locally. Good luck with that round here, because there is way more demand than supply! But as he was about to leave he asked me if I was Jordan's mom and when I said yes, he told me that he was Johann T and he and Jordan had played rugby together many moons ago! While I remember the young lad I obviously didn't recognize him because it was almost 20 years later and he was almost completely bald! I guess even though it's entirely normal, I'm still shocked to see young men losing their hair, probably because no men in either my or my ex's family lost their hair. Heck, I'm 64 and haven't got a grey hair in my head either (dad lived to 85 and no grey), so again, I have to admit I was shocked to see such a young lad almost bald. Not that it meant he wasn't a good-looking young man of course, but I guess my kids will eventually be happy to have the genes that they got!

On a completely different tack, I went to my Thursday afternoon card club last week and when I saw the organizer, Janine, I apologized for not coming the previous week saying that as Charlie's daycare was closed I had to take care of him. She said not to worry as people just turned up as and when they could. I ended up playing with her and another, older gent called Marcel who had also been absent the previous week because he'd had to go for a fitting for his false teeth! I started laughing and told him we'd got all stages of life covered with our absences then, me with the daycare problems and him with his false teeth fittings! And that brought to mind a story told to me by a friend many years ago. She had a relative who got her first job working in an old people's home. One of her first tasks was to make sure all their false teeth were cleaned and sterilised so she went round and collected them all up without taking the time to label each set! She said they spent hours trying to reunite 20+ pairs of false teeth with their owners - a mistake she never made twice!

Janine (the lady responsible for the card club) has one of those unfortunate faces that make it look like she's always scowling (rudely called a "resting bitch face", I guess). She has always been pleasant to me so I know that's not the real her - I guess her wrinkles just settled into a scowl over time. Anyway, I'm slowly starting to pick up the game of Tarot again. Oh I still have tons to learn but I'm not quite the absolute beginner I was a couple of weeks ago. Nearing 6 o'clock we'd come to the last game of the afternoon and as I'd been dealt a pretty good hand I thought "what the hell" and decided to take up the challenge to play against the other two (Janine and Marcel) together. I played cautiously at first but as the game went on I have to admit I was playing a blinder. Well that was until they came to their final card and Janine looked at me and said "how come you've still got six cards left"????? Ha, when you take up the attacking challenge you get handed what they call le chien, which is six cards which now belong to you sight-unseen, and against which you have to throw six of your own cards away. Trouble is, I'd obviously forgotten to throw six cards away so it's no wonder I was playing such a blinder. Well Janine and Marcel starting giggling, him with a whistle through the gap in his mouth where his false teeth will shortly be fitted, and Janine - well she was laughing so hard she was crying! Even later as we were putting tables and chairs away, every time she looked at me she burst out laughing. So I guess a "resting bitch face" is a good reason not to judge a book by its cover!

Talking of teeth, I went to the dentist the other day and while I never need any work I explained to her that I was having a hard time flossing around the bridge that I have in my lower teeth so she suggested I buy a waterjet flosser - which I duly went out and did. There are basically only two buttons - one to select the mode (slow, pulse, steady) and then the on/off button. As a flosser it would appear to work very well except I wish I could get it through my head that I need to put the damn thing in my mouth before turning it on! Still, the windows now won't need cleaning for quite some time, I guess!

I spoke to Jordan the other day and he told me he'd finally heard back from the temp agency in Switzerland - who had a ton of work for him but couldn't offer him any because "he's not European"! I thought that might happen actually, so I told him to ask the guy which continent he thought Britain was located on, but nah, he'll pass! He said the guy was really nice but since the right to work agreement had been signed between Switzerland and the European Union, Jordan no longer qualifies through his British passport! He wasn't too bothered actually though because in March they will have been married four years and after four years of marriage he can get French citizenship automatically! Jen seemed to think that their time in a registered civil partnership also counted (I'm not sure about that), but he was saying that he has all the required documents already from when we had to apply for our residents' permits! In any case, he's pretty happy where he is in France at the moment as the latest young boss is much nicer.  He's earning more money than when he worked with Max, and doesn't mind missing out on the commute from hell into Geneva over the winter. So we'll see. He's reassured that the guy told him they had tons of work though and to get back to him as soon as he gets his citizenship!

And finally, when I was looking after Charlie again on Friday he was a bit off colour after having one of his shots. Jen asked me to try to keep him awake as long as possible after his lunch so when he began to wilt I decided to go all ninja and build him a "den" (consisting of two chairs and a large blanket). It was a great success - so much so that I'd give you the specifications for the design but I'm thinking I might try to patent it! Once we'd played hide and seek for a while, I took two cushions off the sofa, put them inside the den - and we were both lying in there pretending to snore when his dad walked in! He'd taken a few hours off to do some running around but I reckon the scene that greeted him has confirmed that he thinks grandma is now officially certifiable!