![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
PayPal, USBank, and Day Job
When I learned about our PayPal account being hacked, I immediately filed a case with PayPal (or twenty-three, their system only takes them one at a time) and got on the USBank website looking for the number for their 24 customer service and fraud department. I called the number on the back of the card, but that was - haha - bankers' hours and I wasn't about to wait.
I got a USBank service rep who explained to me that since I'd done business with PayPal in the past, as far as their system was concerned all twenty-three transactions were legit and we'd have to take it up with PayPal. And if PayPal won't own them, what then? says I. Wow...bummer..., says she. No matter the outcome, we would be liable for overdraft fees at $35 per incident. She advised me to not connect my checking account but use a credit card instead. More consumer protections that way.
Fast-forward a day. Michelle is calling the bank with a question about an unrelated issue, and then, like she does, she started chatting and the subject of fraud came up. Turns out the number I reached last night wasn't the fraud department, and in fact there is no record that I ever called. The advice to use a credit card? Way out of line for the rep to suggest it.
The real story is that USBank, upon examining the transactions, immediately recognized them as fraud and started the process of putting our money back in our account. It may take several days, but it will happen. Fees? Waived.
Gooooooo USBank.
Today I visited every website that has any connections to our bank and finances and changed all the passwords. Sixteen random characters, mixed upper/lower case, numbers, special characters, and no two the same. I use LastPass to keep track of all that, if you're interested. According to this website, it would take 2 nonillion years (thirty zeros) to crack a password like that. Even sixteen lowercase 'a's would take 35,000 years - it's not the complexity, it's the length, you see, although complexity helps.
Day Job
This is my first week of working the DayJob basically alone. DataGuy is on assignment offsite and I am left to do all of the DayJob work, mine and his inclusive. He and I have radically different styles of coding in SQL, so working my way through his code on the two times that I've had to has been pretty frustrating. I've managed so far, though. I just have to take it slow and pay attention to where I am; he uses lots of "gotos" and so his logic jumps around a lot. I have to think like it's 1994 all over again. His style would get him fired from any other company.
I also have to be very careful to continue taking the job seriously. Going in to the office is going to become optional as time goes on, but I still have to remember that I have a job to do, and goals that have to be met. Tomorrow I'll take my paycheck to BofA and open an account MoneyGuy can deposit directly into so I won't have to go in at all, ever. That's when the temptation to slide will get really strong.
Family
Katie has the mumps, probably. Poor kid, her throat on the right side is very swollen and she feels horrible. I hope the rest of us can avoid it. We'll know in a week or so, right?
I got a USBank service rep who explained to me that since I'd done business with PayPal in the past, as far as their system was concerned all twenty-three transactions were legit and we'd have to take it up with PayPal. And if PayPal won't own them, what then? says I. Wow...bummer..., says she. No matter the outcome, we would be liable for overdraft fees at $35 per incident. She advised me to not connect my checking account but use a credit card instead. More consumer protections that way.
Fast-forward a day. Michelle is calling the bank with a question about an unrelated issue, and then, like she does, she started chatting and the subject of fraud came up. Turns out the number I reached last night wasn't the fraud department, and in fact there is no record that I ever called. The advice to use a credit card? Way out of line for the rep to suggest it.
The real story is that USBank, upon examining the transactions, immediately recognized them as fraud and started the process of putting our money back in our account. It may take several days, but it will happen. Fees? Waived.
Gooooooo USBank.
Today I visited every website that has any connections to our bank and finances and changed all the passwords. Sixteen random characters, mixed upper/lower case, numbers, special characters, and no two the same. I use LastPass to keep track of all that, if you're interested. According to this website, it would take 2 nonillion years (thirty zeros) to crack a password like that. Even sixteen lowercase 'a's would take 35,000 years - it's not the complexity, it's the length, you see, although complexity helps.
Day Job
This is my first week of working the DayJob basically alone. DataGuy is on assignment offsite and I am left to do all of the DayJob work, mine and his inclusive. He and I have radically different styles of coding in SQL, so working my way through his code on the two times that I've had to has been pretty frustrating. I've managed so far, though. I just have to take it slow and pay attention to where I am; he uses lots of "gotos" and so his logic jumps around a lot. I have to think like it's 1994 all over again. His style would get him fired from any other company.
I also have to be very careful to continue taking the job seriously. Going in to the office is going to become optional as time goes on, but I still have to remember that I have a job to do, and goals that have to be met. Tomorrow I'll take my paycheck to BofA and open an account MoneyGuy can deposit directly into so I won't have to go in at all, ever. That's when the temptation to slide will get really strong.
Family
Katie has the mumps, probably. Poor kid, her throat on the right side is very swollen and she feels horrible. I hope the rest of us can avoid it. We'll know in a week or so, right?
no subject
I wish you all the luck working from home. I am not self-policing enough to it effectively long term. I need the structure of going 'to' somewhere. I'd sure like to do it short term or part time, though.
Mumps? Ack. (did her vaccines, assuming she got them, wear off?) Poor Katie. I hope she isn't down too hard and that it misses the rest of you.
no subject
Mumps: as it turns out, after a conversation with the pediatrician, general opinion is not. Their office isn't seeing any cases in the area.