Author: Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

On March 1st, 2019, I received an EMAIL from “Kroger Shop” welcoming me to the Kroger family of secret shoppers. I was given the title of “Market Researcher” and am going to be paid $300 for each assignment I complete. (At one time in my life I worked for a secret shopper company out of El Cajon, and made many purchases looking for dishonest employees as well as extraordinary ones. )

Attention

Further to your interest to participate in our research project at Kroger, we are pleased to welcome you on board, setting out the details of your job. You are being appointed to the position of a market researcher.

The Old Broad Cautions Her Readers

So today begins the new “gouging” by SDG&E. Their “tier” structure for billing begins and if you are not careful it is going to cost you more than keeping the old light bulbs.

This new plan, called “Time of Use” will work this way:

There will be “off peak” and “on peak” hours. And even though it is “optional” – you will automatically be placed in one of the two plans. You CAN opt out if you want to do so. The “on peak” hours – the most expensive, will be from 4:00pm to 9:00pm. Now let me get this straight. That is the time that most of us are coming home from work. That is the time that most of us are cooking our dinner –

By Judi Curry

If you read my article on the trouble I had with redeeming the tickets I purchased on-line at the AMC in Fashion Valley, you are aware that I had a BIG birthday coming up this week. In fact, when this is published it will have already happened.

I have never liked to celebrate my birthday. I do not like to be the center of attention and had told my children that I would just as soon not have any celebration this year. I thought I was going to luck out, because I have two children visiting India, and I knew that they would not be able to be with me.

However, I should have realized that my daughter – Michele – did not go with the other two,

The Old Broad Loses Her Cool

I have a birthday coming up in a few days. This is a BIG birthday and I have been trying to not think of it; just want the day to pass quietly without any attention being given to the day. Unfortunately that is not going to happen, in spite of two of my daughters on a trip to India and not being here to “commiserate” the day with me.

The remaining daughter has already asked me a dozen times where I want to go to celebrate; has asked me if there is anyone I would like to have join us, etc. And not only that, she was planning a party for me – more about that in another column – and she inadvertently sent me the guest list.

The Old Broad: Gagging on Porta-Potties on Neighbor’s Construction Site

Have you ever tried to find out an answer to a question from City Hall? I have been trying to find out an answer for two days. Here is the comment and question:

Scenario – there is a house being built next door to me. I am on the alley on the corner of Tivoli and Devonshire. The house being built shares the alley and is on the corner of Granger and Devonshire.

There are two “porta potties” in the construction area right on the alley, behind a makeshift fence. I am not sure how often those porta potties are emptied, but it is too often as far as I am concerned.

The Old Broad Shares a Story About 2 of Her Foreign Language Students

I have been hosting foreign language students since 1992. They come to the US to learn English, and live with me during their stay here. I am now on my 521st student – and I have to tell you – I am so proud of Lea, from Switzerland, and her friend Serena, from Italy, that I have to share the story.

Yesterday Lea and Serena found a wallet on B Street in Downtown San Diego. It wasn’t just any wallet; it had 24 credit cards, a driver’s license, and $400 in cash in it. They took it to an authority – not quite sure if it was a police officer or not – but they were directed to someplace else. It was late, and Lea brought it home.

I know that this restaurant is not in our Ocean Beach / Point Loma area. However, I think that a shout-out should go to them for what they did. What do you think?

My husband – before he passed on – was a member of Veteran’s for Peace. I have kept semi-active in the organization and I think they do some wonderful things.

Today I received this message from Kate Beckwith – a retired Veteran – that hands out sleeping bags with so many others. I think this might be appropriate to repost because it talks about a restaurant – one that should be given plaudits for what they did.

A feel good story about an amazing restaurant…

The Old Broad Asks for Help

By Judi Curry

What does “Chase”, “Discovery”, “Bank of America”, “Amazon”, “Cox”, “Bank of PNC”, “Apple”, “Navy Federal Credit Union”, “Wells Fargo”, and “US Bank” have in common?

Probably nothing, EXCEPT that I received “phishing” letters from each of these institutions at least 4 times in 5 days.

Each one said virtually the same thing – and each of them were a scam. They look so authentic; the interesting thing is that I do not even have accounts at 6 of these institutions.

Where did they get my name?

The Old Broad Found Out How You Can Protect Your Account

Yesterday my friend came to me in tears and confusion. She had gone to pay her T-Mobile bill and her debit card was rejected. She couldn’t understand why that was because she had ample money in her account.

She called her credit union to find out why it was rejected, and they told her that she, along with 1000 other people, had their accounts breached on January 14th, and a letter telling her how to reinstate her account had been sent to her post office box. The trouble was that she had not yet picked up her mail at the post office.

They told her that if she came in they would issue her a new debit card on the spot. She was so upset I asked her if she would like me to drive her to the credit union – I bank at the same one – and she quickly said “yes.”

By Judi Curry

Something happened this morning that I have feared for years. I am so disappointed how I handled it, and I am so grateful to the San Diego Police Department. This is what happened:

At approximately 6:25am I heard a noise but thought that it was one of my students. I live on a corner, and there is construction happening across the alley from my house and I thought they were starting work on the house early – again – and got angry. But then Shadow began barking – loudly – and in a tone that I have never heard him use before. I continued to get ready for the day, and still Shadow barked.

I finally walked to the kitchen and saw what Shadow was barking about. Standing at my back door was a young man – 21 or so; wearing a hoodie; and knocking at the door. Fortunately I have a metal screen security door and even if he had been successful in breaking into the back door, he could not have had access to the house.

The Cox technician came out today to perform the necessary changes to fix my land line. [Editordude: please see Judi’s earlier complaints about COX.]

I had several things I wanted to have done:

(1) the modem needed to be changed;

(2) whenever someone called me with an unlisted phone number they had to dial “*82” in order to reach me. That meant that they were dialing 13 numbers to ask me a question.

(3) Somehow Cox has their own “answering machine” and it had circumvented my own answering machine. It frequently told people that I was too busy to talk to them; that the phone was disconnected; their number was blocked, etc.

The Old Broad Has Her Say

I Just Remembered Why I Stopped Shopping at Vons

The calls regarding the closing of ACE Hardware, Trader Joes, Vons, Ralphs, have been burning up the wires the past few days. At the request of one of my loyal readers, I decided to do an investigation as to what really was happening.

The first call I made was to ACE Hardware, where they confirmed that the store in Liberty Station will be closing by the end of February. There are all sorts of rumors as to why they are closing, but I was more concerned with the actually closing and did not go further with my questioning.

Then I called Trader Joe’s to find out if it was true that (1) they were closing at Liberty Station and (2) they were going to be moving to the Ralph’s store on Rosecrans. I was assured that neither of the rumors were true. They are staying where there are, and they are not moving to Ralphs.

Then I called Ralphs to see if they were moving. I was told that they were not going anywhere; that the store would be remaining as Ralphs.

Then I called Vons.