BE MEAN AND CHEAP: HOW TO BEAT BULLIES AND CON ARTISTS
One of my favorite movie scenes appears in “Moscow on the Hudson.” A black actor tells Robin Williams, who plays a Russian musician seeking asylum, how to survive in New York City. He says, “Look mean!” When Robin tries and fails to look mean, the black actor says, “Look crazy!” Looking (and acting) mean or crazy can help us to survive any situation where we may encounter bullies. I’ve read several books (most recently Yusef Salaam’s BETTER, NOT BITTER) where the author discusses life in prison, and clearly looking mean, tough, or crazy is helpful in the dangerous prison environment. But even those of us living in a supposedly safe suburban community need to adapt a prisoner or foreigner in New York City attitude to combat bullies and con artists.
When I watched the video of the murder of another handsome black man by ugly cops, I realized why the corrupt, rotten real estate jerks (see 4/11/21 post) keep trying to bully and con me into paying money I don’t owe and that they can’t force me to pay even after I’ve shown that I’m too well-educated (see 4/26/15 post) to be conned and too black and southern (we Kentucky folks don’t play; read the Grangerfords-Shepherdsons section of HUCKLEBERRY FINN or read about Rand Paul’s battle with his neighbor) to be run out of the community like several of my former neighbors. Poor Mr. Greene thought he could save his life by being submissive to the Louisiana cops. He said “yes sir” and admitted he was scared. He probably was going to die anyway, but his submissiveness just made the racist killer cops more aggressive and violent. I realized after watching the brutal murder of Mr. Greene that the racist crooks at Condominium Management Services (CMS) saw my willingness to compromise and to settle a monthly assessment dispute when I knew that I was right and they were wrong and when I had won the assessment battle in 2018, staring down their threats to foreclose, as a sign of weakness. As I said in my latest scathing letter to the Kriger “fixer” lawyer, bullies (like rotten real estate operatives) see any attempts to compromise or reach a peaceful settlement as signs of weakness, so they escalate their harassment and threats, hoping that the homeowner will either pay up or move out, maybe both.
After learning that a Spectrum employee had lied to me in order to con me into continuing to pay $19.99 for a service (a never installed landline phone as part of a “bundling” deal) that I didn’t have and never wanted, I also realized that telling people who make their living by taking other people’s money that I’m not cheap or that the money doesn’t matter is the equivalent of telling them that I don’t mind being conned. When I learned that the Spectrum employee had lied not only about needing to change my cable boxes if I no longer had the telephone service but also about the cable guys not coming to our homes during the 2020 Covid threat, I said to the more honest black man (the cable tech men who come to our homes to install or repair equipment tend to be more honest than the usually female employees selling us services on the telephone) installing my new Apple TV boxes, “They probably have a note on my account that says, ‘This fool doesn’t care about money, so cheat her.’’’ I made the same point about money early in my dispute with CMS and the Bungalows board. I even said in a letter disputing the illegal charges that I would be happy to pay the interest and late fees (what kind of fool is happy to pay more money?) once the board was legally constituted. The corrupt crooks obviously ignored the point about legality and focused on my willingness to pay.
I have inadvertently received better financial deals by appearing to be cheap. Most recently, it happened twice at the senior facility where my mother lives. First, she was being moved to a floor (because she needed more services) where the residents looked older and sicker, so I resisted. It didn’t even occur to me to ask if the service rates would change if she was receiving more services (being fed, for instance) until I was complaining to my hospice contact, and she asked that question. When I asked the director of the memory care section about the money, she said, “No.” The answer was actually “Yes,” but the director was clearly worried that I might move my mother to another facility if she charged hundreds of dollars (nearly one thousand) more per month, especially since I was already resisting the move. More than a year later when a different director discovered that my mother (and a couple of other residents who were moved at the same time that she was) wasn’t paying the correct amount for services, I was suddenly notified that her service rates were going up considerably. I went ballistic because I thought the sudden extreme hike in fees was a racist response to my (and my sister-in-law’s) request that the caretakers post more pictures of my mother on Facebook during the period when I wasn’t allowed to visit her because of Covid. I thought they were raising the dues to get rid of us arrogant black folks who had the nerve to request a service that white folks would have demanded. After assuring me that they were never racist (bs, of course) and explaining what had happened, the director cut the hike by 50%. I didn’t start paying the full amount until this year. In other words, by twice accidentally appearing to be cheap, I saved thousands of dollars.
It’s unfortunate that being well-educated, clear thinking, and strong won’t prevent us from being bullied and conned. It’s too bad that we can’t be honest, generous, easy-going, and friendly. To save ourselves from being bullied and conned by corrupt crooks we have to be (or at least act) mean, cheap, and occasionally a little crazy.
When I watched the video of the murder of another handsome black man by ugly cops, I realized why the corrupt, rotten real estate jerks (see 4/11/21 post) keep trying to bully and con me into paying money I don’t owe and that they can’t force me to pay even after I’ve shown that I’m too well-educated (see 4/26/15 post) to be conned and too black and southern (we Kentucky folks don’t play; read the Grangerfords-Shepherdsons section of HUCKLEBERRY FINN or read about Rand Paul’s battle with his neighbor) to be run out of the community like several of my former neighbors. Poor Mr. Greene thought he could save his life by being submissive to the Louisiana cops. He said “yes sir” and admitted he was scared. He probably was going to die anyway, but his submissiveness just made the racist killer cops more aggressive and violent. I realized after watching the brutal murder of Mr. Greene that the racist crooks at Condominium Management Services (CMS) saw my willingness to compromise and to settle a monthly assessment dispute when I knew that I was right and they were wrong and when I had won the assessment battle in 2018, staring down their threats to foreclose, as a sign of weakness. As I said in my latest scathing letter to the Kriger “fixer” lawyer, bullies (like rotten real estate operatives) see any attempts to compromise or reach a peaceful settlement as signs of weakness, so they escalate their harassment and threats, hoping that the homeowner will either pay up or move out, maybe both.
After learning that a Spectrum employee had lied to me in order to con me into continuing to pay $19.99 for a service (a never installed landline phone as part of a “bundling” deal) that I didn’t have and never wanted, I also realized that telling people who make their living by taking other people’s money that I’m not cheap or that the money doesn’t matter is the equivalent of telling them that I don’t mind being conned. When I learned that the Spectrum employee had lied not only about needing to change my cable boxes if I no longer had the telephone service but also about the cable guys not coming to our homes during the 2020 Covid threat, I said to the more honest black man (the cable tech men who come to our homes to install or repair equipment tend to be more honest than the usually female employees selling us services on the telephone) installing my new Apple TV boxes, “They probably have a note on my account that says, ‘This fool doesn’t care about money, so cheat her.’’’ I made the same point about money early in my dispute with CMS and the Bungalows board. I even said in a letter disputing the illegal charges that I would be happy to pay the interest and late fees (what kind of fool is happy to pay more money?) once the board was legally constituted. The corrupt crooks obviously ignored the point about legality and focused on my willingness to pay.
I have inadvertently received better financial deals by appearing to be cheap. Most recently, it happened twice at the senior facility where my mother lives. First, she was being moved to a floor (because she needed more services) where the residents looked older and sicker, so I resisted. It didn’t even occur to me to ask if the service rates would change if she was receiving more services (being fed, for instance) until I was complaining to my hospice contact, and she asked that question. When I asked the director of the memory care section about the money, she said, “No.” The answer was actually “Yes,” but the director was clearly worried that I might move my mother to another facility if she charged hundreds of dollars (nearly one thousand) more per month, especially since I was already resisting the move. More than a year later when a different director discovered that my mother (and a couple of other residents who were moved at the same time that she was) wasn’t paying the correct amount for services, I was suddenly notified that her service rates were going up considerably. I went ballistic because I thought the sudden extreme hike in fees was a racist response to my (and my sister-in-law’s) request that the caretakers post more pictures of my mother on Facebook during the period when I wasn’t allowed to visit her because of Covid. I thought they were raising the dues to get rid of us arrogant black folks who had the nerve to request a service that white folks would have demanded. After assuring me that they were never racist (bs, of course) and explaining what had happened, the director cut the hike by 50%. I didn’t start paying the full amount until this year. In other words, by twice accidentally appearing to be cheap, I saved thousands of dollars.
It’s unfortunate that being well-educated, clear thinking, and strong won’t prevent us from being bullied and conned. It’s too bad that we can’t be honest, generous, easy-going, and friendly. To save ourselves from being bullied and conned by corrupt crooks we have to be (or at least act) mean, cheap, and occasionally a little crazy.
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