I work at a bank call center. One time I had someone call to check the balance on an account they recently opened with us. The bank I work for is regional, and this caller was on the other side of the country. The account number they gave pointed to an expensive private school in our area. When I asked for more information, the caller said they gave someone 500$ to open the account for them, and that person gave them some checks from us with that account number. I got my lead on the line, did some more Q&A, and we determined this person had been scammed, and given fake checks. The lead said they would close the account. The next week I get a direct message from the fraud investigation team director asking me why this account wasn’t closed. I was able to provide a screenshot of the message from my lead saying they were going to close the account. They thanked me and that was it. I went to check on it, and over 60,000$ in fraudulent checks had cleared the account in that week. I’ve only been working there a few months, and I’m 60,000% sure they would have dropped me like a hot potato on the spot.
Is it normal for a call center rep or lead to close customer accounts? I’d assume that the fraud department would be the ones making that decision and handling issues raised. Anyway, I’m glad you had the receipts to prove it wasn’t your fault.
Honestly, it’s not typical, but neither was the rest of this situation. In cases where it’s that clear there’s fraud on the account, leads absolutely have the authority to either close or approve the closure of the account. I can’t speak for all banks, but as far as I know, all leads at our centers have worked on the fraud teams, so they’re very well versed in these matters.
As a Ukrainian, I can’t even imagine ever dodging a bigger bullet than when I left Ukraine before the war started…
If I had stayed there I’d have to either constantly hide from the “draft officers” or risk my life trying to either (of course illegally) cross the border to Romania through mountains/rivers or to the occupied territorries. Or I’d just be dead already from a shell…
Literally life versus death decision.
What’s your status in Ukraine since you didn’t serve?
I am… not exactly sure actually.
I had to register with “draft office” before I left the country, so they definitely know about me.
Probably I’m not considered a criminal for now, as members of my family who are still in Ukraine did not receive a “draft notice” addressed to me. If they do ever receive it though, then probably I’ll be considered a criminal shortly after (because obviously I am not going to answer it).
I don’t closely follow the new laws they pass though… Maybe I am already a criminal because I didn’t update my data with the “draft office” or something 🤷♂Do you plan on ever going back to Ukraine?
That’s a good question :)
If it’s “going back to live there” - then almost definitely no.
If it’s “going back temporarily” - then I don’t know.
I neither have any property there nor I feel strong “connection” to it , so the only reason for me to go there is to visit my family/friends, but I hope they will be able to visit me instead.
It mostly depends on whether I’ll be able to go there without repercussions.
I’m glad you’re safe.
Thanks.
Was playing with firework artillery shells once in the 90’s on a farm. One of the launch tubes fell over and my friends watched in horror as I had won this little “spin the bottle”. A large shell careened by my face within a few centimeters.
I still can taste the copper and feel the impact that smashed my face and caused me to die in that other timeline. Terrifying.
I’m from Israel.
I was abroad on October 7th.
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/ \ / \ | \ | \ neighbour youis this what happened?
My most recent ex and her family. She was pushing for marriage toward the end of the relationship but I was getting sick of her crises of the week and her horrible family. I eventually saw a therapist that helped me realize that my ex was abusive, so I ended it with her and went no contact. I then went on a 6-month dive into learning about narcissists and abusive relationships. Once I learned that, I started noticing all of the fucked up shit she and her family did. They were seriously legit psychopaths. They were so bad that if they came out in a documentary about psychopaths, I would feel validated. I would think, “Yep, the world makes sense.”
Looking back, the way her two brothers-in-law behaved made so much sense. One was was a complete anxious wreck. I never saw him last more than 15 mins in any social gathering with the family, even leaving his own wife’s birthday party at his house once her family arrived. He also didn’t allow anyone to be physically behind him, was typically alone even in social events, and always carried a gun. The few times my ex and I offered to help him with something, he was quite suspicious and declined. I was never able to meet up with him one-on-one no matter how many times I tried to reach out to him over a period of about 6 months. I’m almost certain that the sisters did not want that to happen, so they sabotaged any chances.
The other brother-in-law was clearly disassociated from reality. You could tell by looking at him that he seemed to not be mentally there. It was like he was somewhere else in his mind. His eyes wouldn’t focus on objects, he would not have emotional reactions to things, and had a fake smile on no matter the situational discomfort. Think of people yelling at each other, a horror movie playing at full volume, and something burning in the kitchen, yet this dude is calm and smiling like everything was great. It was odd. Towards the end, he was dropping hints at me like, “I have never seen [your ex] care about how her behaviors affect men,” and told me that, “To survive in this family, you need to understand the Stockdale Paradox.” Btw, the Stockdale Paradox was a mental approach that an American POW in Vietnam used to survive imprisonment while others died. He would also send me songs that were quite depressing, almost as if they were a call for help. I remember thinking that he was trying to tell me he was in pain through songs but couldn’t directly tell me for fear of his wife (my ex’s sister) finding out.
In retrospect, both brothers-in-law were prisoners. The anxious one was in permanent fight-or-flight mode, while the other one was implicitly telling me the hell he was in. I think about the latter from time to time. He was a good guy surrounded by psychopaths. Imagine the hell someone is living if they need to engage in POW tactics to survive their spouse and her family. It would not surprise me in anyway if I found out that guy killed himself one day.
I learned the real meaning of “don’t stick your dick in crazy”. It’s not that they will get obsessed, stalk you on social media, demand attention, or break your heart. It’s that your judgment will be clouded and that will prevent you from protecting yourself, ultimately seriously ruining your life. Those two men are stuck without a way out. However, let’s say that if by some miracle either of them escape, they will never fully recover. The emotional injuries they have suffered have caused permanent damage.
tl;dr: the bullet I dodged was imprisonment with a family of legit psychopaths.
Imprisoned guy here. This reads like my life story of the last 10 years. Funnily enough I realized all the abusive shit, but the dick still thought love was possible although I knew how a real relationship feels. Sadly the dick also decided to have another two kids to the accidental in the mix so I’m in prison for at least the next 20 years.
Edit: loving the hell out of the kids though, gotta protect them from becoming like mom.
The Stockdale Paradox
James C. Collins related a conversation he had with James Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during his period in the Vietnamese POW camp.[21][non-primary source needed] When Collins asked which prisoners didn’t make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
Collins called this the Stockdale Paradox.
Damn, man
Was walking home one night and a bit less then a block behind me, I heard multiple loud rifle shots, turned around a saw a group with at least one person collapsing, others either trying to help him, maybe also falling down and others running.
Did not get the best glance at the victims, as the car with the guy half hanging out of it with a draco was now speeding down the road toward me, firing a few more shots vaguely toward the group.
I ran around a building and down a hill as fast as I could.
Whilst having a panic attack, a techbro walking a tiny dog takes out one ear bud and asks ‘Was that a car backfiring?’
I am quite winded, catch my breath a bit and say ‘No, gun shots, drive by, get INSIDE.’
He then gives me a look of disgust, yanks his dog away from me as if I am a threat to it, puts his earbud back in and walks up the hill, toward the scene.
‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action’
epic story
my wife and I were driving to some appointment and we thought we heard gunshots but we’re driving.
So I wait in the car and listening to tunes and the guy parked next to me asked if someone was shooting at me and pointing to my door. My window was down all day so I was like what?
He pointed again and I got out to look and on the top of the window frame of the door is a odd angled hole. It was something powerful but not at the right angle to go more than the first layer of steel.
Totally bizarre. IDK if it was a bullet for certain but IDK what else would make a hole like that in a car
The greatest thing I remember that might qualify is way back in the day when Rainbow Six Rogue Spear came out, I had it on N64 and there was no PvP in that version, but there was co-op and friendly fire; so my friend and I would just kill all but 1 of the bad guys in a random small room, and leave him there so we could fight each other.
At one point he came around a corner at me and I fumbled the controls and just looked straight down; but because your model bent at the waist when doing this, I basically Matrix dodged every round he fired at me and was able to look back up and nail him.
Literally dodging figurative bullets counts, right?
When I was a teenager, I was hanging out with my brother who is 8 years older while he was fucking around with his .45 (probably ostensibly cleaning it) and it was pointed towards me when for some reason the slide suddenly released and the live round that was inexplicably involved jammed in the mechanism.
So I mean, I guess I didn’t dodge a bullet, but I think I got pretty lucky.
Me and my buddy were hiking up a trail one day kinda high and as we get up the mountain we hear multiple gunshots right near us enough to be legit scared that some crazy asshole is going ‘most dangerous game’ on our sorry stoner asses and FUCKING BOOK IT down the mountain. My fat ass learned how fast a body pumped full of adrenelane can really move that day.
As it turns out there was a gun range nearby. So ultimately a nothingburger but a fun story to remember.
The bullets I’ve been dodging are small things. Mormon missionaries coming over trying to get young blood to join them. I’ve gotten better at saying no and politely lying about not having time for them. Saves me a lot of headache.
I’m a brass musician and an atheist so the only time I go to church is when I’m getting paid. The last time some Mormons approached me about going to church I asked them, “What’s the pay?”
They were genuinely confused.
They don’t come around anymore, but I used to say that I was disfellowshipped/excommunicated, whichever was fitting for whatever religion they were selling. If they ask why, which they basically never do, just say “I’d really rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind…”
They don’t actually want to waste time talking to people who were kicked out of the church for “bad behavior”, and in many cases aren’t even allowed to, so they blacklist your address.
No soliciting signs typically do the job, too, though.
Don’t lie, tell them you already belong to the Satanic Temple in either heart/mind, or both 😌
This drives some of them with even more fervor to save your soul.
Boil some chicken bones and tie them together with hair and hand it to them next time they come over.
Completely harmless, but deeply disturbing for anyone who thinks witchcraft is real.
The key is implicit permission. They believe that objects imbued with demonic power grant permission for the demon to enter your life if you accept the object.
Whether this will work depends on how intensely they’re into “spiritual warfare”, so maybe actually don’t do this.
I love them lol, I give them a copy of The First SubGenius Pamphlet and tell them the good word of our guru J. R. “Bob” Dobbs, Saint of Sales and Slack. “Bob” got a divine vision much like their Joseph Smith, except it was in 1953 while working on a television set of his own design when he received a shock and a vision from “god,” the same one known to them as Jehovah, who told “Bob” of his true nature, that he is no god but a space monster named JHVH-1 from some corporate sin galaxy sent here to TAKE OUR SLACK!! But “Bob” has a plan, he’s collaborating with other aliens, the good ones called X-ists, to sell the planet out from under JHVH-1, and anyone who buys an Ordainment Membership through The Church of The SubGenius gets a ticket off planet onto the PleasureSaucers with the alien sex goddesses (gender agnostic, they can take any form you desire).
I have a blast and they get a taste of their own medicine, win win.
That whole SubGenius thing sounds crazy and I love it.
It is crazy! It’s the only religion that’s so crazy it just might WORK! PRA’BOB!
Seemingly innocuous activity. I was changing the band on my watch.
Watches have a little spring-loaded pin that goes through the band and in to the bezel. I had the spring compressed with some needle tweezers and I was removing the band when the tweezers slipped. One side of the pin was still seated in the bezel, but the other side was free, and pointed right at my face as I was leaning over this watch to work on it. The pin shot straight into my eyeball.
Or at least it would have if my vision was better. It hit my glasses instead, with enough force to leave a dimple in the polycarb lense. Lesson learned, wear safety glasses when working on anything that could possibly get launched, sprayed or blown into your eyes.
You had me in the first half ngl 😆 Well told 👍
In a semi-literal instance, I was nearly shot in my eye with an airsoft gun because they fucking blind fired around a corner and I wasn’t wearing eye protection. Got hit right at the edge of my eye socket. You bet your ass I wrote eye protection after that. Doesn’t mean we weren’t all still angry at the guy because we told him not to do that before we even started. And this was the reason why. Even with eye protection you still don’t want to get shot in the face. It hurts like hell. We didn’t have full face masks.
Did he end up receiving adequate “correction” 🫸🤛
I don’t think we let him play after that. That happened about 2 decades ago and what happened afterwards isn’t what really stuck with me.
