My 20 Second 10 Cents Worth

This is where I get to call the shots about everything…..except
politics……

Time Shares:  My Westgate Resort Story

April 5, 2008

Timeshares are a big thing in Florida.   Seven years ago, thanks to a relative,
our family had the opportunity to stay in a Westgate timeshare for the very
first time.   We stayed in one of several that are located in Orlando just outside
of Walt Disney World.  It was a great place to stay for a week.  At the end of
the week, my wife and I had to sit through a major sales offensive by a very
insistent young salesperson.  At the time I had no interest in being a part of the
Westgate owner experience, but I was willing to pay $40 a month for a couple
of years to buy another week.
Westgate is one of the premier U.S. timeshares.  This year it is celebrating its 25^th
year in business.  They have resorts all over the United States, from Florida to
California.  Their resorts are all unique, and customer service is one of their high
priorities.  Sorry, there are none currently in Kansas.

Seven years later, I finally had an opportunity to use my week.  My resort of choice
was the Westgate in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. 

Most things went smoothly.  I checked in quickly, our two-bedroom suite was very
nice, clean, no complaints.  The only thing against us was time.  We could not
 see everything that Gatlinburg has to offer in a week.  A couple of days before our
departure, we had a card attached to the front door, which stated:
“Just a reminder.  I’ll pick you up in a golf cart.  Meet Daniel Bryant at: Friday 11:00.
Not a Sales Pitch!  12 Question Survey on Room.  In case anything is damaged, it
clears you guys, and I need a signature on your equity with the co.”

Sounds fair enough.  Especially the no sales pitch.  My wife and I were picked up by
Mr. Bryant, and instead of the survey and document to sign, we took a tour of some
of the new units.  And the sales pitch began, and began, and began.   I politely told
Daniel that I was not interested.  After badgering for about 25 minutes, we ended up
at the meeting room where salesmen take the suckers, I mean prospective buyers,
and really put the hammer down.  This time he excused himself and left me with an
even more diligent salesperson.  Finally, I got the survey and a one page document,
but it included a lengthy sales pitch by this other woman.  After I interrupted her one
and a half hours after Daniel picked us up, she became nasty and pointed us toward the
losers door.  I could almost hear a shrill baby sound out of her upturned mouth.  My
conclusion:  what was a no sales pitch was actually a specially designed two-person
full frontal sales attack.   Worse than that, they wasted half our day. 

This wasn’t a freebie deal.  I paid dearly over two years for my week.  I earned the right
not to have a sales pitch.  I was promised no sales pitch in writing.  What I got was
an even more elaborate attempt at fleecing us than the first time.

The moral of the story:  I’m sick of the time share scams.  Here is a warning to those who
take the Westgate road to a happy vacation—be a no show for any meetings, just
don’t show up.  They will be a sales pitch even if they claim they won’t.  Shame on
Daniel, and shame on Westgate for wasting half our day.  You are a nice vacation, but
not worth the sales slam.

 State Achievement Tests:  The Cash Cows That Can’t

April 5, 2008

My kids attend public school.  They love their elementary school here in Dunedin,
Florida.  I like their school, I have no complaints regarding most of what goes on in
public education today.   With one exception:  State Achievement Tests.

We had them when I was in school.  In Kansas, they were the Iowa Basic Skills Tests.
Every year, we knew there was a week or so where we were obligated to take
these generic Geiger counters that told the state if we were getting a good well-
rounded education.  There was no hoopla.  No celebrations.  Nothing.  Our teacher
would announce a week prior that we were taking the Iowa Basic Skills tests, and
that was it.  It meant no homework that week.

State achievement tests are nothing new.  They are inherently a good idea.  They are
a way for the state to measure how well local schools are doing to educate the
student masses.  The way it was done when I was in school is the way it should be
done:  no preparation, no hoopla, no threats.  A student took the test cold.  The out-
come was a real measurement of how students were tackling various subjects each
year.

Jump forward to 2008.  Florida has the FCAT.  The FCAT is not given cold.  Kids prepare
all year for it.  The state awards millions to schools based on the outcome of the test. 
Missouri has something similar.  Kansas has something similar.  The FCAT is nothing
more than a cash cow for schools now.  Teachers can easily lose their jobs if they do
not guide their students down a strict pathway to FCAT success.  Principals can lose
their jobs if the school does not perform well.  A month prior to FCAT, the school goes
nuts.  They promote it non-stop.  They serve snacks, force kids to clap about it, cele-
brate its disgusting, miserable existence. 

I don’t hesitate to tell my kids the real purpose of FCAT during the years it doesn’t
matter—it is there for schools to get more money from the state.  Nothing more,
nothing less.  Sorry I’m such a party pooper, but this is one deceiving party my kids
don’t need to be invited to.  There are certain key years where, if my child does not
score a passing mark in math or reading comprehension, no matter what their grade
may be throughout the year in those subjects, they flunk.  They do not go on to
the next grade.  This is where state achievement tests fail--- if my child gets a passing
grade throughout the year but freezes up on one state test, he should not flunk that
grade.  That is so ridiculous, it would be laughable, only no one is laughing.

My advice on state achievement tests:  schools, get real.  Quit the all year preparation.
That is called cheating.  It is disgusting.  Don’t pressure my kids into doing well on
this one test to make it through the grade.  This is so wrong, I can’t believe any
educator ever condoned it.   FCAT, or the Missouri or Kansas equivalent, you are
there for one purpose, quit abusing it.

Verbiage I Can Do Without

Here is some new verbiage I can do without:

"Play Date."   You know, that is when your kids get together on the weekends with
other kids to play video games or go to the park or whatever.   I hate that term.  What is
wrong with the good old-fashioned get-togethers, hanging out, coming over to our
house, anything but "play date."  Yuck.

Computer terms for business meetings.  Interface with one another???  Get over
it.  Two business people can be in each other's faces, but to interface??  How about
just an old fashioned meeting.  I'm still trying to get used to webinar. 

"Blogs."  The term Blog is too degrading.  Nobody asked me my opinion about the
verbiage that means the ability to convey and foster opinion on the internet.   All of a
sudden, the term "Blog" pops up everywhere.  You know, I'm just not going to use it. 
It became a popular term overnight, I'm just not going to use it anymore.  
 

Dead Beat Parents

May 12, 2008

The terms “baby momma” and “baby daddy,” may soon be entries in Webster’s Dictionary. 
It is a sad, pathetic statement regarding the state of relationships in today’s culture.  These
terms denote much more than attaching a label to a particular parent;   I feel they define
non-obligation. 

Instant gratification has also become a mainstay in American culture.  If it doesn’t work out,
get a divorce.  Worse than that, leave without any prior commitment.  Unfortunately, often
there are children involved.  No longer does it affect just the adults, now it has to affect the
children.   Often the  children are left without suitable monetary support to gain any advantages
in life.  The baby momma/baby  daddy flies the coop and leaves their obligations behind like
old baggage.

I’m a step-parent, and I have faced this situation with regard to my step-son and his “baby
daddy.”  It has been quite a roller-coaster experience.  As the step-parent, I’ve been there
to help him get through life with as many advantages as possible.  The baby daddy just wasn’t
interested in anything but himself.  Step parents, however, share a rather shakey role in the
overall legal scheme of things.  Step parents have no legal rights with a step-child, at least
as defined by law.  No matter how much we help, how much time we spend making sure that
our step-kids grow up with attention, love, and understanding, the courts treat us like non-entities. 

Courts could play a more crucial role in the maintenance of established child support obligations,
but for whatever reason, they fail.  If the truth were known, they probably don’t care either.   The
only time states do care is if the custodial parent is on some kind of state assistance.  That is
when most states suddenly “care.”  I’ve had experiences with three states regarding child support: 
Kansas, Missouri, and Florida.   My experience with Kansas was very good, I must admit.  As far
as maintaining child support records and notifications on change of address, I would have to give
them an ‘A,’ at least in my experience.  My personal experiences with Missouri and Florida is
disgusting. 

 I moved from Missouri a few years ago.  When child support agreements were originally
established in Missouri for my step son, it dragged on and on for months.  During that time,
the baby daddy paid little, if anything.  Oh, by the way, instead of calling him baby daddy, I will give
him a name, and give him an address, phone number, and employer:  his name is Donald McBride,
current residence is 6751 70^th Avenue in Pinellas Park, Florida, phone number 727-743-2787, and
employer is Verizon Wireless.   Give him a call if you have strong feelings about deadbeat dads. 

When Platte County, Missouri finally conducted the last child support hearing, they increased his
support by double from two hundred dollars a month to four, but the court arranged it so McBride would
pay my wife directly.  No records were kept of the payments, no payments went through the county first,
and thus no records in case the payments suddenly stopped.  McBride won a minor victory there,
because, if he decided to stop, Platte County would never know it.  What kind of sense does that make
in this day and age?  Apparently this was status quo for how Missouri did things in the child support
business a few years ago.  At some point, they must have figured out it didn’t work. 

There are two types of “dead-beat parents.”  One type is unfairly linked with the other.  The first type is
the parent who just can’t pay.  Maybe they lost their job recently, maybe they got injured.  Some external
reason makes them unable to pay.  The second type of dead beat parent is the true McBride.  This is the
one that will go undercover, take money under the table, and do anything possible to avoid paying. 
McBride fits into this second category.   Most dead-beat parents have the following character flaws:

1.        Serious immaturity issues.

2.       Lacking intelligence except when it comes to legal issues and courtroom knowledge.

3.       An obsession with “toys,” such as HD TVs, motorcycles, electronics and sports cars.

4.       Believing that the world revolves around them, and they are the victims.

5.       Overall general relationship issues, and

6.       Never around when the kids are babies, but more and more around as the child gets older and can play
          with their “toys” listed in #3 above.

McBride fits all these categories. 

For a little over a year, McBride realized that he could get away with non-payment of child support when
we moved to Florida and the Missouri court was a long ways away.   He was smart in realizing this, as the
courts have yet to get caught up.  When the case was finally moved to the state of Florida, he had gotten
away with non-payment of around $5,000.  Despite continual attempts at enforcement of child support payments,
Missouri has stated it is not their problem, because we currently live in Florida.  Florida doesn’t want to be
bothered by enforcing the payment of this money because my wife was still under the authority of Missouri. 
I have attempted for three years to work with the courts.  I started in Missouri and worked my way forward.  For a
year and a half, Platte County, Missouri claimed that no child support order existed.  They had somehow lost it. 
After sending a notarized copy, they finally had to admit it existed, but they were not interested in pursuing it
because my wife’s current residence is Florida.   Florida didn’t even want to discuss it, because during the time
period when the child support wasn’t paid, my wife’s case was still under Missouri.  Some might call this a Catch 22.
  Recently, I offered Missouri an opportunity to profit, if they would just do something.  I told them that we would split
50/50 any payments that they got off of McBride.  They did not even sneeze about that.  I told them we would
donate the other half to a noteworthy local cause, like a battered women’s shelter.  This last ditch effort to get
them to do the right thing fell on deaf ears.

This is the type of mess that those with child support orders have to face.  If there is any problem, many states
want to hide in the sand and not bother. 

My experience with the Pinellas County, Florida, court was a laughable joke.  The Department of Revenue, which
is the umbrella arm that reigns an iron hand over child support enforcement, did not have any details correct.
  I created an extensive Excel spreadsheet itemizing the amount owed, and apparently it was too complicated for
them to understand.  McBride was so contemptuous of court proceedings that he never bothered to show up. 
The Hearing Officer, a man of dubious talent named Hearing Officer Joseph A. Flannery, was more interested in
his watch and what time it was than in enforcing orders.  He was nasty and sneering to my wife and acted as if he
had something better to do than his job.  He treated victims of other cases by yelling at them and badgering them. 
The second time my wife had to go before him, he enforced back child support of $1,500, but oddly enough, after
the court papers were signed, her child support payments actually went down instead of up, and have stayed down
ever since.  Congratulations to Pinellas County Child Support Enforcement for doing the least they can possibly do
to enforce laws. 

Why such exhaustive details?  This is one example of how child support enforcement has failed.  With today’s
electronic methods of payment, why has government not caught up?  Dead beat parents should be forced to establish
a checking account and maintain enough money in it to pay monthly child support payments.   If the dead beats don’t
keep the account up, quick obvious accounting concepts will catch them in little time.  Some states have resorted to
taking away driver’s licenses of dead beat parents.  Unfortunately, that takes away their ability to earn a living.  I say,
auction their toys.  Their HD TVs, season tickets for the local football team, ATVs, you name it.  Then give the money
to the custodial parents.   Custodial parents:  suck in your pride.  Apply for every state funded program possible.   This
will draw more attention to the dead beat parents and states will be more inclined to find them and enforce child
support.

Also, there is an agency called Support Kids.com.   Stay away from it.  My wife tried them too, thinking they would be
a collection agency and swiftly enforce child support.  They were the wimpiest collection agency I’ve ever seen.  They
took forever and their fees were exorbitant.  The only muscles they flexed were the ones that calculated the fees they
retained.  Nice idea, though.  An aggressive collection agency would be a great idea.  

Dead beat parents, watch out.  As government catches up to the private sector, new methods of enforcement will catch
your sneaky, selfish ways.  In the meantime custodial parents, never give up to try and help your child.  Work within the
system but be aggressive on your case.  Be proactive instead of reactive.

I’m sure Mr. McBride is smiling about the year that he got away without paying child support.  He probably thinks
he got away with it.  Well, anyone who googles his name from now on will know his story too.  I wonder if he wants
that story  on the internet for all to see?   Readers, send me your deadbeat parent stories.  Maybe I will post them too.