Welcome Aboard. I am John Kane.
This is my primary, big website And it is the home of my campaign to:
FIRST help elderly, (which includes me)
SECOND, to demand to study / publish accurate understanding of our financial risk these days.
THIRD, encourage organizations to back off on use of IA and other tech processes when it is discovered to be very difficult for many to use,
FOURTH, bring people back to interact with people.
If you have seen my Tik Toks begging you to come find this, you already know what I hope to accomplish. I’m an old man now, I’d like to find other people like me. people who are getting a little older. (I’m 77 now, BTW.) I’d like to find older people and those who are helping their elderly relatives, their older friends, etc., and maybe they discover they’re having the same problems I’m having Of course, that’s mostly what I want to talk about.
Maybe I’ll stray off that topic a little bit but that’s I hope to accomplish, or die trying.! ! ! ! I want you to sign on to this website to give us information so we can contact you later. There’s no pressure. Any information you provide will be held in strictest confidence.
I had a scary time recently trying to see my current bank balance. That’s a big story and the first time I tried to write about it, I suggest very seriously that it almost killed me.
These are just two examples I will explain shortly.
Technology is crazy these days. What I, and you, need to know to just use smart cell phones may overcome us. And, also, that may interplay with IP (intelligent programing) which we meet so often in our contacts with large organizations.
If you read my Angry Old Man site, I think you will quickly find out we have a lot in common.
I will tell you that it’s not easy to attempt to become spokespersons for elderly, as we ourselves grow older.
If you find yourself showing some sympathy for what I’m trying to do consider this. Starting something new of any kind can have some surprise expenses. I bought a nice new camera, some good quality tripods, and lights. I’m getting some advice, help of a technical nature about how to make a Tick Tock, how to make a larger website, in this case the one you are reading now, and there is cost to all of that. So, if you’d like to throw a few bucks our way, I suggest that you go to this website called “BUY ME A COFFEE“ This is a modest way to help out.
If this movement grows and shows success, we might ask for more help at a later time. And we will always be proud to report any progress we have been able to make. But you will always be highly respected as early crusaders in this cause.
My name is John Kane, retired from the U. S. Department of State and living in Thailand. My (Thai) wife is Dr, Singha (PhD) Kane and my techie friend who is a big help, is Alan. If you sign up for the ANGRY MAN website, you will learn more about us as our tales unfold.
When you read about our struggles, you will probably remember your own. Please share your experiences vie the COMMENT option so your experiences can be added here too. You and I, both, do not know how many others will benefit from what we are able to share.
I will start with my recent short story about a credit card.
Next I will tell the longer stories of my almost deadly experience dealing with my bank and the ongoing experience dealing with my social security pension.
Crazy response from CAPITAL ONE Master Card.
This is a smaller problem than others you will hear about here. But, if you are an elderly person like me, we should have some credit-style credit in reserve. Right? In my case, my MasterCard is one of those I have two visas too but first, I had a MasterCard. The MasterCard I’m talking about though is not really all that old. I’s just ugly! And really that’s the point. It’s ugly.
Lately with the problems I’ve been having, I have taken the steps to calling up credit cards, asking my balance, and then telling them how much I want to pay, It worked very well until now.
My capital One MasterCard is not long from now. But this card looks ugly. Ha ha ha. There is plastic coating on both sides and it’s all peeling off. This is the good kind of card where the card number is with raised letters in plastic, but any ink or print that might had been on those raised letters is gone. In the back I can barely see a three-digit security code and there is a white strip of some kind of material like a tape which I believe has something to do if I use this card in an ATM machine. But I’m not sure about that because a big piece of that tape is gone.
I have given this card in its ugly condition to a cash register several times and people look it over. I keep waiting to see if they will turn it down just because it looks like an old old card.
So, about a week ago I went to check my balance and make a payment as I’ve been doing lately. That’s when I discovered something else that’s exciting to learn about my Cap One MasterCard Credit card.
ALL are telephone numbers on the back to call if there is any problem one is for United States and Canada and the other for international calls. I won’t give you the exact phone numbers, that really isn’t necessary maybe this credit card is older than I realized because those phone numbers didn’t work in fact one of them was quite exciting. One of the phone numbers did work but I didn’t get MC Cap One. That phone number resulted in a woman’s sultry voice telling me that if I hit the digit one on my keyboard I would be connected to the hottest sexiest place to meet hot women.
If I am a woman, I can enter 2 and meet some of the most handsome fancy men that a woman would love to meet over the phone. Needless to say that’s not exactly what I was looking for my wife jumped on the Internet and look for Capital One MasterCard in that way and found a different telephone number. I hope we can find it again I hope we saved it. I spoke to a very nice woman. I asked and she said she was in an American city, although I don’t remember which one now.
And it was pretty clear that she wasn’t a robot the reason was that she was in no hurry to follow a very tight script or off the phone. And isn’t that exactly what we’d prefer to have when we try to do our business with many kinds of organizations including this credit card I felt good about it. That’s when the problems began I told her all I wanted to do right now at least was to give her my current address well actually we lead up to that I told her that for the third time I wanted the credit card company they send me a nice fresh new card here’s what she told me she told me that she could see on her computer that the card expires in November which is soon and they will send me my new card two months before that. Fantastic that was my reaction that’s for sure that’s exactly the kind of thing I’d like to hear and then she added but she said according to her computer records a new card was sent to me on July the 5th wow that’s a crazy result a crazy thing to say except it was already mid-August so I said we don’t have a card where in the heck is it it’s had plenty of time to get here. She agreed she had no explanation where the card was now, so I said, “Where did you send it? “
Her answer qualifies this story to be in this Angry Old Man website.
She can’t tell me where she sent my credit card for security reasons.
What the hell! Of course, I told her strongly that the reason for my call was to give her my current address and is she going to take it. Again, she can’t take that for security reasons.
So we got into a discussion about addresses. I explained that I moved to Bangkok, Thailand after I retired at that time I had a post office box back in Virginia where I lived. But I hardly ever got any mail after a few years the post office box was kind of expensive so I stopped it. OK next I explained that during the COVID-19 problems I moved into rural Thailand from Bangkok to live with my girlfriend, now my wife. I told the MC staffer that’s the address I was trying to give her now since, that’s where we expected the credit card to come to, but noooo.
We haggled a bit over the concern for security. I offered to provide My passport as traditionally the best kind of identification to prove that I’m really me but that wasn’t good enough she simply explained that she couldn’t accept a passport a copy of the passport wouldn’t be good in any way I offered to notarize it I explained that I had recently notarized my passport in an issue that I’ll talk about next but nooo that would not be OK. She Was actually quite helpful because she said that I could make copies of my driver’s license and send that to her or at least uh the MasterCard office That would be sufficient identification so they could at least change my address. Of course I asked her if I change the address that way, are you gonna send another card. The answer was yes.
So, I guess that solved my problem.
Except for one thing, I don’t have a drivers license I’m now 77 years old I don’t really want to drive anymore. I get driven quite a bit. I haven’t lived in Virginia in several years I used to have a Virginia driver’s license which had expired sitting around the house. I assume I’ve finally thrown it away. I have owned 3 motor scooters over the years here in Thailand and I don’t have any of those anymore. But it doesn’t matter because when I had those, I did get a Thai driver’s license. So, I told this staffer from MasterCard how about if I make copies of my Thai driver’s license? Will that be OK and of course the answer was nonoooo.
Frankly that’s pretty much the end of the story I’m looking at my credit card in my hand now, ugly as it is. gonna find that good telephone number that worked before. THE ONE FOR MC Cap One – not that other phone number – and I’m gonna ask for my balance. I’m gonna they have the record in of my bank account. And I can look at my balance and tell them how much I want to pay. Maybe I will pay off the full balance which I certainly can do, and that’s the end of this story.
Or is it? still don’t have a clean new card though. it was sent but
I don’t know where the heck it went.
There is a message in this website, and it is that you and you and you must remember if you are a person who benefits telling certain parties your new address. This easy to forget. If you rent, and a better place comes you might jump on the chance to move. If you were getting older lately and relatives pitch in and give you a hand, maybe you want to use their address. Whatever the case may be you might like to know where the hell your credit cards are.
NEXT to come –
Social Security Administration – weird
My favorite memory of-the thumb drive.
Chats explained.
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