PSA

“Within 2 hours of each transaction, we each received fraud alerts from our banks”

By Prince Of Petworth

giant
3rd and H St, NE

“Dear PoPville,

Heads up-my friend and I each used our credit cards today to buy groceries at the H Street Giant. Within 2 hours of each transaction, we each received fraud alerts from our banks. My friend’s card was only fraudulently charged about $10, but someone made about $1600 worth of purchases on mine. Most charges were at the same Giant and all were made very shortly after our original purchases. Thankfully, our banks reversed these charges. I called the Giant to alert them of the situation, was told the manager wasn’t on site, and never received a call back. I’m sure it’s not a huge issue since banks are so vigilant these days, but I wanted to make you aware, just in case. FYI-both of the stolen cards were originally paid with a chip, not a swipe. Everyone who shopped at Giant today [this weekend] check your online banking!”

Don’t be this Guy Vol. 33

By Prince Of Petworth

metro-guy
Photo by James Calder

You’re better than that. James notes: “So frustrating to see this knowing that any attempt to engage is likely to unproductive”

Ed. Note: Also a good opportunity to remind folks that no, you should not, absolutely not clip your nails while on metro either.

Damn it – I accidentally reset the poll at 4pm when I was trying to fix a typo – sorry about that! If you’d like to vote again please do!


“I’ve now paid $300 here! Don’t turn right on red!”

By Prince Of Petworth

fla-ny

“Dear PoPville,

Just an FYI for everyone. There is a red light camera at New York Ave and Florida Ave. It occasionally takes a photo if you turn right on red. Right turn on red at that light is legal, but contesting the ticket does nothing. I’ve now paid $300 here! Don’t turn right on red!”

Heads Up: “Amtrak Trains Cancelled without Notice”

By Prince Of Petworth

amtrak
Photo by PoPville flickr user Dave Bloom

“Dear PoPville,

I figured that it would be helpful to give people a heads up if it applies to them. I booked tickets home and back for the holidays through Amtrak (Northeast Regional), but my trip changed, so I went to modify my reservation. When I logged into the site, it turns out that Amtrak had canceled my ride back to DC, but I never received a notification about the cancellation. It turns out that they have canceled a number of trains that are running on the day after Christmas, but they have not notified anybody about it yet – my parents had booked a ride on a different train on the same date, and, lo and behold, they double-checked the site, and their reservation had been cancelled too. I’m not sure if they have canceled trains on any other days around Christmas, but I just wanted to let people know about this so that nobody ends up stranded around the holidays.”

“a buck squared off with her and took her life”

By Prince Of Petworth

buck
Photo by PoPville flickr user Jim Havard

“Dear PoPville,

We just wanted to give a word of warning. Our beloved dog was running in the woods near Fletcher’s Cove enjoying the beautiful day. She always loved chasing deer. Sunday, a buck squared off with her and took her life. We found out that this is a time of year where bucks get hyper-aggressive and can attack both animals and humans. Please be careful.”

“I generally have a lot of faith in the service industry and I hope this guy is a lone wolf”

By Prince Of Petworth

street math

“Dear PoPville,

I am writing about a personal experience that occurred two weeks ago when I was dining with friends at a restaurant.

I was at dinner with three other people, but because only two people drank alcohol we wanted to review the bill closer to figure out the best way to split the meal. When we reviewed the bill, we noticed three items had been added increasing the total by about $25. We called the waiter over, but before we were able to explain which items were accidentally added our waiter said, “so sorry”, grabbed the bill, and walked away. At that point, it became clear he added the items hoping we would not notice (because he didn’t even wait for us to explain what our question was about the bill before he walked away). We split the bill and decided that since our waiter had tried to inflate his tip we were only tipping 10% each.

A few days later, I got an email from my credit card company with the subject line: “generous tip alert” (thank you Capital One!). The email showed that I had tipped almost 40%. (more…)

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