Interesting afternoon....

Ran into a proprietor of an antique store that I'd shopped at few years ago at a different location than where she now had a store. I had to wait for her for about 30 minutes to speak to her while she was on the phone to her credit card/bank/line of credit company (don't know which one). She was quite upset when she finally got off the phone after talking to one level of bureaucracy between long holds to another level.

When she got off the phone she exclaimed, "Computers!!"

Seems that she had paid off an upper 5 digit account which she had verified earlier that day that she now had that money available for credit. But now a couple of hours later it seems that the funds were not available to her. Could be a greed of the company/bank or just a snafu.

I just said, "You might not have to worry about computers after the year 2000.."

She flashed her eyes at me and said rather abruptly, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know, Y2k"

She intently said, "So, what are you supposed to do?"

Instead of murmuring small talk and blowing it off (like I will from now on), I told her she might consider getting some land or something.

Angrily she said, "We're not going back! We can't live without computers. We just can't leave."

The woman is quite well off and could prepare quite nicely...probably nicer than I can. She just doesn't want to be inconvenienced.

I just said, ok, commiserated with her on her difficulties with her finances and left. Of course, as I was leaving one of her employees stopped me to ask more about "this Y2K business".

It's going to be a hard fall for some...or should I say many?

-- Texan (itfeelslikeitsbeginning@ranch.com), March 26, 1999

Answers

Texan: You got it babe, take care of yourself and yours. Does the antique dealer give a rats ass about your wealth of knowledge? Nope! Keep your knowledge and plans to yourself. Don't waste another minute of your precious time converting anyone to becoming a Y2K GI. The line has been drawn, the sides have been chosen. Those on the side of safety have nothing to lose, just remember that.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), March 27, 1999.

Land? You suggested she get land? With only 9 months left, she's supposed to MOVE? Come on. No wonder she wouldn't listen! This lady has a business to run, & problems with her bank. She's gonna drop all that & move to the country?

Why not just suggest that she start to store a bit of food, maybe get a camp stove & some fuel? Most folks can deal with preparing if they think it's something they can actually manage. Telling people, even those who are well-off, to drop everything & MOVE is like asking them to fly to the moon. No wonder they don't listen.

I'd much rather have neighbors partially prepared in a half-assed manner than not prepared at all. Now you're stuck with one more of the latter.

-- better (luck@next.time), March 27, 1999.