How Has Covid Affected You?

I’ve seen a few small business guys boff that up pretty good. They were too busy crying to call an attorney and get an explanation of how to take advantage of this, so they sent their guys home, laid off.

1 Like

I agree with you, and was thinking the same thing myself. But, with this you’re also indirectly putting your family’s health at risk, so I can see the argument.

In general though, I think everyone with a job and a comfortable financial position should really consider how they can help people that have been hit hard by this economically. A local pizza place is offering free or discounted food to people that have lost their jobs. I never ate there before, but I may never buy pizza from another place ever again.

I’ll stop there, since the point of this post isn’t to virtue signal, but I’d like to hear some other ideas about how to help. Ordering take out more often seems like a good idea, as a start. It’s more expensive and less healthy, but I don’t want half the restaurants in my area to go tits up and have nowhere to go for a nice meal when this is finally over.

3 Likes

I heard about a paper carrier in NJ offer to go pick things up from the store for his elderly customers and drop it off at their houses for them, free of charge, since he stops by every morning already.

Delivering newspapers is the only job of mine that hasn’t shut down yet so I’m considering doing the same. Only concern is if, say, 5 people ask for a gallon of milk and the store’s limit is 1-2 gallons per customer. Can I explain it? Or would I just look like I was trying to make excuses and was being a hoarder, haha.

Most people don’t have paper routes but maybe just checking in on your older neighbors. Or single parents. Those with health issues. Anyone who could be struggling in some way. Seeing if they need anything. Most of us probably have to get groceries for our families anyways, so picking up a few things for someone else isn’t too hard. Gas is cheap right now, maybe even just offering to go fill their car up for them.

2 Likes

This sounds like it could be a docu-drama on TV. I’d tune in to see the inner working of an undertaker! LOL

1st day today. Its boring as hell.

90% of the day is waiting for the next service, 9% making sure you are dealing with the right deceased, 1% carrying coffins.

Yes and yes.

Maine has been ravaged by this virus. Not from people catching it, although that’s happening too, but so much of our economy just got shut down since we’re so heavy reliant on tourism and hospitality. Way more than your typical US state. NH and us are right at the top of the % increase in unemployment claims list.

I’m actually better off week-to-week working from home, as long as you measure it by my bank account and not my retirement accounts, so I’m at minimum spending what I save in normal gasoline bills spent commuting. I have friends who own restaurants, so getting curbside has become a regular thing.

After the pandemic ends I have five massages already paid for by friends whose income disappeared almost overnight. Similarly, I plan on visiting every waiter and waitress I know and leaving them the largest tip I can reasonably afford.

I’ve offered to come out of bouncing retirement when the bars open back up too. What a shit-show that’ll be. Someone will have to keep the neighborhood knuckleheads safe from themselves.

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing rounds on messenger and phone calls to check in on some people. Again, not to virtue signal here, but there are people who are up shit’s creek RIGHT NOW, wondering what they can possibly scrape up to eat. A friends of mine in her late 50’s income totally dried up, she has health problems and was about as unprepared as you can imagine for this.

Get people like this food, basic supplies, maybe a little cash if you can spare and do it in silent dignity.

4 Likes

It’s probably not going to stay like that for long.

Does anyone know a reliable way to anonymously send money electronically?

If you know enough details I think you can deposit money in someone else’s bank account. They may make you sign for it though. Been a while since I’ve done that, but a call to the bank should explain whether this is viable or not.

If someone asks for money (i.e. gofundme) you can donate anonymously.

If someone is set up to receive money on facebook messenger you should be able to set up an anonymous account and send them money via facebook messenger.

That’s about all I can think of right now.

All you need is the routing number of the bank, the account number, and their physical address.

This is typically on a check.

There’s actually no way to stop the payments.

As an aside, our law firm has been getting random amounts somewhere between $1800 and $4000 (never the same number), every month, for some 10 years from several random banks in Germany. We’ve called, written, done all sorts of things, and to no avail. It’s not tied to any invoice or anything. We finally just put it in a segregated account and have been letting it sit there. We used to reverse the wire, but that cost $$ and the money would then immediately appear back.

I only know this because I sat on the audit committee of the firm, and it comes up each audit and the issue is whether we are obligated to remit it to some state (and which one? Germany? One of the 20 states where we operate in the USA?)

Someday, someone will come looking for it. It’s quite substantial now.

1 Like

Things are tough all over.

If you had a reliable psychic it would be great to just wire transfer the funds directly to the bank accounts, but what if you don’t know this information?

That’s what I couldn’t recall exactly. Can you go into a bank and say “I know twojarslave, he lives at this and that address here in town. He’s not under any hardship, but I’d like to give him money anonymously via direct deposit.”

Maybe pleading some sort of hardship may get you ahead, if it’s applicable to the situation.

Would that work in your lawyerly opinion?

… I don’t know what to say

Venmo using a throwaway email address but tied to your real bank account?

I can walk into Chase and deposit money into my friends’ accounts but the teller looks at my ID. I don’t know if they would share that information with the owner of the account. It might be worth asking.

I don’t know how it works that well…

I’ve sent funds via facebook messenger before but never dug into what kind of trail it leaves. If I’m on an anonymous facebook account but sending money via the same bank account setup, does that leave a trail?

I used to do the same to pay rent on my brothers house.

They don’t usually have a problem with depositing money in someone else’s account, just taking it out.

I used to deposit my ex’s child support direct into her account but I’d say within the last 3-4 years it’s changed, maybe due to AML laws but Chase and a couple other local banks all ask for my ID now when I deposit cash into an account other than my own.

It’s been close to 20 years since I deposited money that way. A lot’s changed.

Someone I knew years ago had a business that involved going into people’s homes and performing a service. Most of the time this person was paid by check and sometimes by cash. This person used to pay his employees by endorsing the checks he received from his clients and giving them to his employees who then went to the client’s bank branch and cashed the check. That ended around 2008 - 2009 when some banks began asking for IDs to cash checks.

This same person had a friend who also worked in a cash business and used to bring his mom over from the old country twice a year to visit her grandkids. He would then send her back with $50k tucked into the folds of her dress with the dream of having a million US waiting for him when he retired back to his homeland. Yia yia converted all the dollars into the local currency which depreciated something like 60% over 10 years. The guy would’ve been better off paying taxes and keeping it in the US (or not paying taxes and keeping it in the US).

1 Like

That’s so unusual for you to mention all of that. Are you from the same Chicagoland area that I misbehaved around in the late 90’s?