service

A couple years ago I set up a PayPal account to take online donations for Genesis. At the time, I tried to make it a business account, but for some reason, PayPal wouldn't let me, so I left it as an individual user account. Then, about 6 months ago, when we were trying to get the fshbwl setup for online donations, PayPal required me to make the account (which I've linked to both Genesis and the fshbwl) a business one. Well, once again, I received an error whenever I tried to upgrade, so we just decided to use Google Checkout to handle online donations for the fshbwl. Then, just a couple weeks ago, PayPal decided to lock the account until I provided some additional information and upgraded to a business account. Once again, I tried to upgrade and received the same error as before so I sent the following message to their customer service department:

When I go to your upgrade screen, I enter all of the information, click submit, and get an error message. I've received this on multiple computers, using a variety of different web browsers, and at various times over the past 6 months.

About 6 months ago I exchanged 10-15 messages and spent a number of hours on the phone with PayPal customer service representatives trying to upgrade my account, but nobody was willing or capable of helping me and I got tired of trying, but now, since you've locked my account, I guess I have to not be tired anymore and get this fixed.

I don't know why I typed in this whole story because I'm sure your customer service rep won't read it and will just send me the link to the upgrade form that doesn't work, but at least I now have something to post on my blog that can be followed up with your response and maybe, just maybe, it will help me find someone who knows how to make PayPal work.

So, what response did I get from PayPal?

Thank you for contacting PayPal. I am sorry to hear of your difficulties and have included the upgrade instructions. We are unable to remove the restriction from you account until this upgrade has been completed.

Of course the instructions included are the same steps I've been following all of the other times I've attempted to upgrade only to get a system error at PayPal's end.

So, anyone out there know how to get a PayPal account to upgrade?

I've had a couple of experiences over the past few days that are really resonating with me as I write this. The more recent incident came this morning when I attended Election Judge training. For those of you who aren't sure what I mean by election judge, come the August primary and the November general election, I'll be one of those folks who helps you get everything in order so you can vote. Why do this? It just seemed like a good way to love my neighbors (I'll be working 2 blocks from my house) on what is potentially a very stressful day.

Anyway, at training this morning, there were two key statements that were made very clear at the beginning, and then repeated often throughout the training. First, our model for voting is completely different this year so, if anyone had been an election judge in the past, they needed to forget everything from prior years and learn anew. Second, when you run across a voter who has any kind of a unique situation, you call your supervising judge over to take care of the situation.

So, what happened when it was time for questions? We had 40 minutes of, "Well, in the past we did ..." and, "What do I do if a voter has __________ issue?" This also meant 40 minutes of: First, our model for voting is completely different this year so, if anyone had been an election judge in the past, they needed to forget everything from prior years and learn anew. Second, when you run across a voter who has any kind of a unique situation, you call your Supervising Judge over to take care of the situation.

In the end I walked out thinking that democracy is a rather worthless system because people who can't follow the most basic of instructions are given equal say in how things are run. Of course, then @mattfarina pointed out the depravity of political systems in general and how people, no matter how smart or foolish they are, have an amazing ability to bugger stuff up.

The other incident, and I'll warn you in advance that what's to come is nasty, happened on Sunday night. I have a friend who is gay and he turned 21 on Sunday. He invited me to go bar hopping with him so, off we went to the gay bars ... four of them in all.

While nothing of interest really happened at the first three places, on our way to the fourth we walked by a place on 2nd and Broadway called, The Crypt. From the door I could see a wide variety of dildos and other adult products. The manager happened to be standing in the door and, somehow, I ended up talking with him for a bit.

Now, at this particular venue, they have an arcade, which is essentially a set of rooms where you pay to, at a minimum, watch porn and masturbate. However, if that's too low key for you, you're also welcome to bring in a partner, take advantage of a glory hole, or do whatever other kink tickles your fancy.

After filling me in on this he added, and this is what's really disgusting, that he knows a number of 40-something men who will come in wearing their business suits, go into the arcade, strip, defecate on the floor, and use their waste as finger paint ... all of which is done as a form of erotica.

Then he paused, looked at me, and said, "I guess it just goes to show that we're nothing but animals." I simply smiled and replied, "No, animals don't do that, we're somewhere below them." He couldn't argue.

Funny thing is, all this being said and me being fully aware of how messed up people are, I can honestly say that, in spite of our stupidity, irritating qualities, and general depravity, I love people. More importantly, I'm glad that, given all that, Christ loves us too.

As everyone who reads this blog knows by now, Anita and Robbie were in an accident a couple weeks ago and our car was totaled. Over the past couple weeks our insurance agent has had all kinds of issues with the other guy and his insurance company. Yesterday, we found out why. He hadn't been paying his premiums and, ten days before he hit us, his insurance was revoked. So now we have an uninsured driver case on our hands.

Thankfully, our insurance covers things like this so, with the exception of our deductible, everything else will be paid for (we've already received the money for both our new car seat and the old car, and all of our medical expenses have been billed straight to the insurance company with no copay).

During this time, Anita and I have been wrestling with how to best handle the situation. We've addressed the issue some over on the fshbwl, both in this article and on this podcast, but this whole uninsured motorist gig puts a new wrinkle in the situation.

So, what are we going to do? We're going to let our government, which, like all government, God established, in part, to punish the wicked (Romans 13), take care of things ... and we'll help them out in the process.

I just happen to know our district police commander, so, last night I sent her an email, explained the situation, and asked what we could to do to add to the existing charges, after all, the guy didn't have insurance and yet presented invalid insurance at the scene of the accident. This morning I received a message from her and she's going to follow up on it with the DA.

I'm not a vengeful person, and there's no gain for us in this course of action, but I do believe that God has given us government for a reason. When we break the laws, we deserve the full punishment we receive (which is why we pay all of our parking tickets, took a trip to court a couple years ago, and was shocked when this happened).

Hopefully a swift kick in the rear from Uncle Sam will prompt the other driver to, if nothing else, be a better member of society who works to serve his neighbors (although it would be great if, somehow in all this, there would be a great Law smackdown that would prepare the way for the Gospel).