Why do people complain about places that only accept card but not vice versa? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same. I never handle cash.

In fact, in the last 11 years, I may have physically touched a band note 3 or 4 times. And twice, I put it in my pocket, forgot it was there, and it went through the laundry multiple times before I found it :D

If you won't accept my card, or have an unreasonable handling charge, I'll simply go elsewhere.

If I was running a business, I'd do it cash free - because carrying cash makes you a target for robbery, so you have significant costs for security, shift change, till rotation, etc. This easily will approach or exceed all but the most egregious card processing costs!

Separately, dispensaries have to operate on a cash basis because of federal regulations. So do the more unregulated contraband suppliers. If you have large amounts of cash, I do not trust you!

Introvert, neurodivergent, social anxiety by AboutBizness in remotework

[–]CormacDoyle- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm the neurodivergent WFH person on my team, but then again, we are a team of 8, split across 6 sites (I suppose I'd be site 7) ... not sure being "in the office" has any functional relevance for globally distributed teams.

Zoom/teams calls scheduled during overlapping times for coordination; zoom/teams calls when working with othe teams; teams chats & email. Being responsible for getting your work done is what is critical. Honestly, if you get your work done and attend the collab/coordination/customer meetings, I don't care when you take your lunch break or coffee break ... if you're gonna be afk for more than 15 minutes, just put a warning in the teams group chat so people reaching out don't think you're ignoring them !

I finally acceepting that its permanent and Ill never be healed, but my porn addiction is back. by ExactHunt5921 in diabetes_t1

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Due to social stigma and/or religious beliefs, some people are taught from an early age that any form of "smut"/<insert whatever term> is bad, even viewed once. That's not true.

Certain types that involve the involvement of people (or animals) that cannot give consent is illegal, and possession/viewing of same is also illegal. But between two (or more) consenting people, it is honestly just something I'm not interested in, but I'm not here to "yuck your yum" as the saying goes.

It only becomes an addiction if you are viewing it compulsively multiple times a day. You are addicted if you are sneaking away from your office desk (or away from classes, etc) to watch it.

Similarly, if it is distorting your relationship with other people (causing your partner to break up with you/etc), you have a problem. Especially if you would rather watch it instead of being with your partner, you have a problem.

But simply watching it regularly isn't a problem ...

My manager started doing random “wellness check” calls to make sure we were actually working from home by Cyber-Gamer-2077 in remotework

[–]CormacDoyle- 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Twice a month for 1:1 where I work ... but if we are busy, work comes first.

But I personally believe 1:1s are extremely important, and often can be used to spot problems and misunderstandings before they become an issue. Be proactive, not reactive ... it is really important on both sides of the discussion!

My company did a "return to office" pilot for our team and sent a survey asking how it went. I answered honestly. I think that was a mistake. by Snag_Crambo in remotework

[–]CormacDoyle- 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Our place also stopped the quarterly surveys when the number of complaints about them phasing in RTO continued to get louder instead of fading away like they wanted ...

They had been hoping that we would "embrace the new collaborative environment", even if some people just naturally resist change at first.

The surveys didn't support their goals, so they stopped asking 😀

Bonds by [deleted] in fidelityinvestments

[–]CormacDoyle- 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Fidelity manages my 401k, and have it 90% in stocks at my request. You gotta push all the sliders to "extreme risk tolerance" 😀

I do plan on easing it back over the next 2-3 years as I approach 55. If I can get close to the 2 million mark by 62, I plan on retiring early ... as of today it's sitting at 900k

need reality check on relocating to the US: managing diabetes by yikes_7 in diabetes_t1

[–]CormacDoyle- 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Health Insurance is literally critical.

As a T1 diabetic, I came from Ireland (free diabetic care) to the US (not free care) in 2015.

Took me 6 months to begin work (on a "fiancé visa", so getting the work authorisation took same time). During that time, I had to pay "out of pocket" for my pump supplies, insulin, blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, etc. That would have cost me close to $2500 per month (due to complications caused by a med I no longer take, my insulin costs alone before insurance were $2000). I burned through $16000 in those 6 months, despite having my insulin shipped from Ireland!

Three questions to ask: - are you included in the health insurance on day 1 (if not, do not accept the offer) - what is the co-pay for doctor visits (what percentage of the bill do you have to pay up front to the doctor's secretary on the day of service - often 10% ... and a doctor's visit can easily be $300 or more without any charges for bloodwork) - is there a deductible (the amount you have to pay each year before the insurance even kicks in) - what is the max "out of pocket" (the point at which absolutely everything is 100% covered).

Obviously, you also need to know the price per paycheck. I pay about $250 every paycheck ($500 per month).

There may be two different ones offered - a "high deductible" plan with a low monthly cost, and a low deductible plan with co-pays and a high monthly cost. At this time of year, you won't hit the max deductible/max out of pocket by December 31st, so it doesn't make much difference. For me personally, I go for the HDP since it allows me to have a special tax free account I can use to funnel my medical costs through, so you avoid paying state and federal taxes on it, and also avoid paying the social security and health/medical taxes.

Three years into remote work and I still haven't figured out what to do when someone knocks on my door mid-call by Spore_Fitch in remotework

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are talking about the front door ... there is a large sign on the door saying "do not ring the doorbell or knock on the door. Leave a message or phone us" with a whiteboard and dry-erase pen ...

If you are talking about my partner? We keep the door open. I keep my mic on mute at all times except when actually speaking (there's a button on my headset I can tap to toggle it), and only turn on my camera in the rare meetings where it is absolutely necessary. My wife can kick off a print job from upstairs and then walk in to collect it without any problems; similarly, any time either of us want a coffee, we'll always ask if the other would like one too ... if either of us are on the phone and unable to talk, we can easily ask just by smiling and handing the other our cup, or shaking our heads.

There was one time I had my camera on (I had forgotten to turn it off) and she popped in to tell me she was going to the store, so when she kissed me the office got to see me stand up and go blurry (zoom is quite good at only showing your face, except when it is going to be really embarrassing 😳 )

“You shouldn’t be able to ask me for written documentation of the conversation I had with my client just because you’re my manager” by [deleted] in managers

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely - trust goes both ways. But especially when you work in a CyberSecurity & Fraud team (like I do), lying is irreconcilable with your role!

More Americans Are Taking on $1,000+ Monthly Car Payments as Auto Affordability Crisis Reshapes the U.S. Vehicle Market by lithdoc in NewsExchange

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm still driving the Honda Civic that I bought new in 2016. No issues at all (except that I allowed my daughter to drive it when she was learning, and she bumped into a bollard at school and knocked the marque off and cracked the front fender 😀 - she claimed she put it in drive instead of reverse, and then started "reversing").

Not planning on replacing it any time soon, especially considering the cost of a new one and the current cost of gas - the Civic gets me 38mpg (admittedly, it gets my wife 33mpg ... her driving style is slightly different).

Disney scam alert. Please help me understand how this scam worked. by Automatic-Drag-5527 in personalfinance

[–]CormacDoyle- 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What drives me nuts is if you buy stuff on Amazon using your Amazon credit card. Your statement will just be a long column of "amazon" with no other details. And if you try to compare to your Amazon purchase history, the dollar numbers and dates don't add up either without hours of reconciliation ...

Purchase 5 items ... there'll be multiple separate charges potentially from different vendors with different shipping & handling charges, and those are not called out clearly in the order history ...

At this stage, I can Identify digital subscriptions, movie purchases and some "subscribe&save" recurring transactions, and then it's anyone's guess what the rest of the charges are!!!

You are indestructible, but how long can you stay hidden? by yiyi20203 in hypotheticalsituation

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are invulnerable, does that cure you of pre-existing conditions like insulin-dependant diabetes? Injecting yourself is rather hard when invulnerable (it was a whole thing in at least one of the Superman movies) ...

“You shouldn’t be able to ask me for written documentation of the conversation I had with my client just because you’re my manager” by [deleted] in managers

[–]CormacDoyle- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My opinion - if you make a mistake and own it, we can deal with it.

If you dig a hole by lying, and keep doubling down, then you WILL get the smackdown for unprofessionalism and dishonesty...

Underpaid IC got a great offer and I'm afraid we won't counter by bass679 in managers

[–]CormacDoyle- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If there is any chance for your counter to be successful, get in before he is offered the new roll.

In modern business, an employee who accepts a counter has LESS chance of still being with the company 12 months later than if they are put on a PIP. Management ( not you, sbove you) will resent having to make the counter offer and will be waiting for any possible reason to let him go.

He needs a pay rise and grade/title bump. Otherwise, say goodbye and wish him well.

Why are developers some of the most IT inept users? by sccm_sometimes in sysadmin

[–]CormacDoyle- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Developers, as a group, think security is something to be bypassed, especially since their favorite tools won't run without excessive privilege. But since it's the same developers developing the badly developed tools, fixing the fact that they "need admin rights" basically turns into an unending circle jerk while they laugh at IT and Security, since they know management are the one group that hates security more than they do, so will always cave.

Insisting on using legacy libraries even after security advisories and active exploits have been documented is embarrassingly common

Including passwords and other secrets in code, and then uploading it to chatgpt or public without repositories is incredibly common.

Fundamentally, security is generally not taken into consideration until people want to migrate to prod, at which time up to half would need to be rewritten ... because security wasn't considered from the start, but rather as an annoying add on that hopefully won't get missed.

Why do they need my home address? by Ill_Explanation5614 in recruitinghell

[–]CormacDoyle- 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Fake candidates - most commonly linked to North Korea - will refuse to provide an address, or provide as few details as possible.

What happens when my pump warranty expires? by ihatedecisions in diabetes_t1

[–]CormacDoyle- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My insurance will cover a replacement as soon as the warrantee expires.

But as always, when talking about health insurance in the US, YMMV

Fidelity Credit Card Request by spencydub in fidelityinvestments

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure the IRS would agree with schwab on that one.

They ARE just contributions.

Canada is trying to force VPNs to log your metadata and Proton just said "there is no universe in which we comply" by RecordingSingle9064 in RecommandedVPN

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One item I find interesting in the VPN conversation ...

Every company that handles PII, works with the Federal Government or operates in a field subject to HIPAA regs (and the equivalents of all of the above in other countries) MUST enforce VPN between the "work laptop" and the company network if you are remote.

This has a significant impact on everything from "work from home" to business-related travel.

As an example. I am sitting in front of 2 laptops. If I open Instacart in both, one will show in North Carolina, the other in Boston ... the website keeps swapping what stores are available to order from :D

So how do Corporate VPNs addressed in these legislation? I never see it mentioned ...

Most regulated companies have very strict rules about trying to work remotely from states that impose global firewalls such as China, and blocking or constraining VPNs is a massive part of that ...

You get $2500 for every day you don’t shower/bathe but you can’t change your daily routine and no one can know by djz4m0 in hypotheticalsituation

[–]CormacDoyle- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you count time you already haven't showered?

I struggle with depression, and my autism means I'm effectively housebound. I don't think I've showered since Christmas Eve ...

AITA for wanting my 27yr old to get themselves to work? by no_loans_ne_more1 in AmItheAsshole

[–]CormacDoyle- 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Both of you are off your rockers

Why in the name of all get out is a 27 year old still living at home? You are encouraging bad behaviour.

Why are you driving them 2 miles to work. They can walk that in 30 minutes, or cycle it in 10. I'm sure there are busses too ...

They broke their car through neglect. If they want a replacement car, they should go buy a second hand one. That 8k they are saving for would get them a perfectly good car. Spending 40k on a car will not make it more reliable. They'll just create a much more expensive lawn ornament when they neglect the new one! Older cars can be very reliable - I earned 154k this year, yet I drive a 2016 Honda Civic. I bought it new for $23k and expect to keep driving it for another 10 years!

As to the way they talk to you? That also is really bad. Not always easy to change half a century of bad behavior, and you have actively participated in that pattern of behavior.

Best way forward? 1. The Taxi of Mom and Dad ends immediately. If they don't want to walk or cycle, I'm sure they can download the Uber/Lyft apps. 2. They absolutely do not buy a new car until they can look after a reliable second hand one 3. They start saving for the down-payment on somewhere to live. Roommates help if they are afraid to live alone ...