Ranting is something I’ve been trying to cut back on when it comes to blogging. Real life? Not so much. Anyway, in the past I used to publish these short weekly rants. Honestly, most of them were quite ridiculous, but a few were pretty good. Not that they showcased my superior writing skills (I’m not a good judge of that), but in how they’ve encapsulated my life and journey through miles and points hobby.
So, I figured I would share a few of them with you. Kind of an easy filler-type post, perfect for a weekend reading. To my old readers, humor me in my walk down the memory lane. To new recruits, I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Smorgasbord
I’m not a huge fan of buffets, and neither is my husband. Most of the time, it’s a case of having many food choices, all of them mediocre. Kind of like, Jack of all trades and master of none.
Well, in spite of this dislike, recently we ate at a local smorgasbord buffet. Why? The miles, of course. Everything in life is about miles. I’ve mentioned that my brother-in-law told me I could use his United miles for one of my parents’ tickets. The problem is, he has 57,500 miles, and I need 60,000 miles for roundtrip coach redemption from Europe to USA.
He is working on another offer at the moment. Plus, he barely uses credit cards, period. That means I needed to find a way to top off his account. Thankfully, through the end of January, United is giving 2,000 bonus miles for signing up for new United Mileage Plus Dining account (offer is dead now). So, I created a profile and put in my credit card number. My brother-in-law is busy. Plus, I’m a control freak, so I wanted to take care of it myself.
Unfortunately, the only participating restaurant close to us is a smorgasbord buffet. Convincing my husband to go was a challenge, to say the least. But in the end, he agreed. So even though we rarely get to have a date night, we ended up schlepping to a buffet. So, we come in and it turns out, you have to pay upfront. The problem is, you need to spend $30 in one dine in order to get the bonus, but the bill is $22.
So, I started explaining the situation to a cashier and asked her to sell me a $30 gift card, and then I would pay with it. She just gave me a blank stare. This is an instance when you can not pull a HUCA (hang up, call again). I’d be careful using this term around Boston, though. They may think you are referring to something else entirely.
Back to my story. At that moment, a group of 9 senior citizens comes in. Oh my! I knew I was in trouble. Without saying anything, my husband sat down and gave me the “look.” I told the cashier that I would wait till the group got done paying and attempt to explain myself again.
After what seemed like 30 minutes, but was probably closer to 10, I told the lady about the deal and she got it! Everything went through just fine. That’s the kind of crazy stuff we do in this hobby. Oh, and you probably wonder how the food was? It was mediocre, just as expected. But at least there was lots of it! Hmm, I hope this doesn’t describe my content.
Small Business Saturday
I’ve mentioned how busy families need to be selective as to how far they are willing to pursue this hobby. I have personally made many mistakes in this area, chased ridiculous promotions, all just to save a few bucks. It wasn’t worth it. In fact, as I wrote before, last year’s Small Business Saturday has turned sour and almost ruined a special getaway with my husband.
Well, I am happy to report that this year’s Amex promotion couldn’t have gone better. I took my family to a small mom-and-pop local Chinese buffet. I was a bit nervous because the people who own it speak poor English. If the place was crowded, it could potentially turn into a nightmare, with me trying to explain my scheme of charging the bill in $10 increments.
Thankfully (for me), the place was almost empty and the owner understood what was expected of him in exchange for my patronage that day. I had a total of 4 Amex cards, so had access to $120 in credits. The bill came to only $42, so I told him to do five $10 swipes, and it would take off the tip. No problem.
I had $70 in unused credits, so I asked him if they sold gift cards. He said he had gift checks. He brings out this envelope that probably wasn’t opened in years and got out $70 worth of colorful certificates. Then he proceeded to charge $70 in $10 increments. Afterwards, when the charges went through, he got out this special stamp, and stamped them as endorsement. This is serious stuff, y’all. That’s probably what it was like buying stocks in the olden days.
I apologized to the guy for all this nuisance, and he just smiled and said: ”Not at all! Please, stay!” I’m sure he didn’t mean anything creepy by it. I think? Nobody was waiting in line and soft Chinese music was playing in the background. He would have been happy to keep swiping my cards all day long. I seriously wish I would have added extra authorized users. I would have made out like a bandit.
Sure, this whole thing was totally ridiculous, and I was probably the only one in my small town doing this promotion. But I got a load of free food and gift checks to use later. Not to mention, we probably made this guy’s day. When I got home, there were 12 confirmation emails from Amex, so everything went through without a hitch. Just beautiful.
A lot of stuff we pursue in this hobby is over-the-top and can be borderline absurd. But sometimes stars align just right and absurd can turn into absurdly lucrative. The trick is to know when to pursue and when to walk away.
Guitar
This is a story of how I almost stole $5 from a poor Mexican vendor. So, a couple of years ago, we took my parents on a cruise and stopped in Cozumel. We paid for a tour of the island, including San Gervasio Mayan ruins and had about an hour to kill before leaving for our next tourist attraction.
The guide told us to go ahead and do some shopping in the local plaza. And so we did. My husband took my daughter to some stores, and when he brought her back, she had a little guitar in her hand. I forgot to ask about it, and before I knew it, he was by the bus motioning for me to come. I yelled back and said I just needed a few more minutes so I could take my kids to the bathroom. I also pointed to the guitar and asked if he paid for it. He nodded in agreement and gave me thumbs up.
After the kids were all set, we headed towards the bus. Out of the blue, this lady runs after me and starts talking to me in broken English: “Guitar, guitar! Pay for guitar! Only $5.” I told her my husband already paid for it and she just shook her head emphatically and kept saying No. I didn’t want to fight, so I just handed her $5.
When I got on the bus, I told my husband that I just got ripped off. He had no clue as to what I was talking about. Apparently, he never noticed or paid for the darn guitar. I asked him why he was nodding his head in agreement and gave thumbs up. He said he just wanted me to come and couldn’t hear what I was asking him. So he just said Yes.
Men. You can’t live with them… you just can’t live with them!
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Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
Nancy says
I’m not a fan of buffets either, but for a different reason. I don’t like having multiple food themes on my plate at the same meal (like tacos and lasagna). It’s just too weird for me. When we eat the lunch buffet on a cruise, my husband will have sushi and spaghetti on his plate and I just can’t understand it. Maybe I’m weird that way.
Leana says
@Nancy Oh no, I don’t think you are weird. I feel the same way. I prefer food that comes from one “family.” 🙂