I work at a bank call center. One time I had someone call to check the balance on an account they recently opened with us. The bank I work for is regional, and this caller was on the other side of the country. The account number they gave pointed to an expensive private school in our area. When I asked for more information, the caller said they gave someone 500$ to open the account for them, and that person gave them some checks from us with that account number. I got my lead on the line, did some more Q&A, and we determined this person had been scammed, and given fake checks. The lead said they would close the account. The next week I get a direct message from the fraud investigation team director asking me why this account wasn't closed. I was able to provide a screenshot of the message from my lead saying they were going to close the account. They thanked me and that was it. I went to check on it, and over 60,000$ in fraudulent checks had cleared the account in that week. I've only been working there a few months, and I'm 60,000% sure they would have dropped me like a hot potato on the spot.
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Is it normal for a call center rep or lead to close customer accounts? I'd assume that the fraud department would be the ones making that decision and handling issues raised. Anyway, I'm glad you had the receipts to prove it wasn't your fault.
Honestly, it's not typical, but neither was the rest of this situation. In cases where it's that clear there's fraud on the account, leads absolutely have the authority to either close or approve the closure of the account. I can't speak for all banks, but as far as I know, all leads at our centers have worked on the fraud teams, so they're very well versed in these matters.
As a Ukrainian, I can't even imagine ever dodging a bigger bullet than when I left Ukraine before the war started..
If I had stayed there I'd have to either constantly hide from the "draft officers" or risk my life trying to either (of course illegally) cross the border to Romania through mountains/rivers or to the occupied territorries. Or I'd just be dead already from a shell..
Literally life versus death decision.
What's your status in Ukraine since you didn't serve?
I am.. not exactly sure actually.
I had to register with "draft office" before I left the country, so they definitely know about me.
Probably I'm not considered a criminal for now, as members of my family who are still in Ukraine did not receive a "draft notice" addressed to me. If they do ever receive it though, then probably I'll be considered a criminal shortly after (because obviously I am not going to answer it).
I don't closely follow the new laws they pass though.. Maybe I am already a criminal because I didn't update my data with the "draft office" or something 🤷♂
Was playing with firework artillery shells once in the 90’s on a farm. One of the launch tubes fell over and my friends watched in horror as I had won this little “spin the bottle”. A large shell careened by my face within a few centimeters.
I still can taste the copper and feel the impact that smashed my face and caused me to die in that other timeline. Terrifying.
I'm from Israel.
I was abroad on October 7th.
My most recent ex and her family. She was pushing for marriage toward the end of the relationship but I was getting sick of her crises of the week and her horrible family. I eventually saw a therapist that helped me realize that my ex was abusive, so I ended it with her and went no contact. I then went on a 6-month dive into learning about narcissists and abusive relationships. Once I learned that, I started noticing all of the fucked up shit she and her family did. They were seriously legit psychopaths. They were so bad that if they came out in a documentary about psychopaths, I would feel validated. I would think, "Yep, the world makes sense."
Looking back, the way her two brothers-in-law behaved made so much sense. One was was a complete anxious wreck. I never saw him last more than 15 mins in any social gathering with the family, even leaving his own wife's birthday party at his house once her family arrived. He also didn't allow anyone to be physically behind him, was typically alone even in social events, and always carried a gun. The few times my ex and I offered to help him with something, he was quite suspicious and declined. I was never able to meet up with him one-on-one no matter how many times I tried to reach out to him over a period of about 6 months. I'm almost certain that the sisters did not want that to happen, so they sabotaged any chances.
The other brother-in-law was clearly disassociated from reality. You could tell by looking at him that he seemed to not be mentally there. It was like he was somewhere else in his mind. His eyes wouldn't focus on objects, he would not have emotional reactions to things, and had a fake smile on no matter the situational discomfort. Think of people yelling at each other, a horror movie playing at full volume, and something burning in the kitchen, yet this dude is calm and smiling like everything was great. It was odd. Towards the end, he was dropping hints at me like, "I have never seen [your ex] care about how her behaviors affect men," and told me that, "To survive in this family, you need to understand the Stockdale Paradox." Btw, the Stockdale Paradox was a mental approach that an American POW in Vietnam used to survive imprisonment while others died. He would also send me songs that were quite depressing, almost as if they were a call for help. I remember thinking that he was trying to tell me he was in pain through songs but couldn't directly tell me for fear of his wife (my ex's sister) finding out.
In retrospect, both brothers-in-law were prisoners. The anxious one was in permanent fight-or-flight mode, while the other one was implicitly telling me the hell he was in. I think about the latter from time to time. He was a good guy surrounded by psychopaths. Imagine the hell someone is living if they need to engage in POW tactics to survive their spouse and her family. It would not surprise me in anyway if I found out that guy killed himself one day.
I learned the real meaning of "don't stick your dick in crazy". It's not that they will get obsessed, stalk you on social media, demand attention, or break your heart. It's that your judgment will be clouded and that will prevent you from protecting yourself, ultimately seriously ruining your life. Those two men are stuck without a way out. However, let's say that if by some miracle either of them escape, they will never fully recover. The emotional injuries they have suffered have caused permanent damage.
tl;dr: the bullet I dodged was imprisonment with a family of legit psychopaths.
The Stockdale Paradox
James C. Collins related a conversation he had with James Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during his period in the Vietnamese POW camp.[21][non-primary source needed] When Collins asked which prisoners didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
Collins called this the Stockdale Paradox.
Damn, man
Imprisoned guy here. This reads like my life story of the last 10 years. Funnily enough I realized all the abusive shit, but the dick still thought love was possible although I knew how a real relationship feels. Sadly the dick also decided to have another two kids to the accidental in the mix so I'm in prison for at least the next 20 years.
Edit: loving the hell out of the kids though, gotta protect them from becoming like mom.
Was walking home one night and a bit less then a block behind me, I heard multiple loud rifle shots, turned around a saw a group with at least one person collapsing, others either trying to help him, maybe also falling down and others running.
Did not get the best glance at the victims, as the car with the guy half hanging out of it with a draco was now speeding down the road toward me, firing a few more shots vaguely toward the group.
I ran around a building and down a hill as fast as I could.
Whilst having a panic attack, a techbro walking a tiny dog takes out one ear bud and asks 'Was that a car backfiring?'
I am quite winded, catch my breath a bit and say 'No, gun shots, drive by, get INSIDE.'
He then gives me a look of disgust, yanks his dog away from me as if I am a threat to it, puts his earbud back in and walks up the hill, toward the scene.
'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action'
my wife and I were driving to some appointment and we thought we heard gunshots but we're driving.
So I wait in the car and listening to tunes and the guy parked next to me asked if someone was shooting at me and pointing to my door. My window was down all day so I was like what?
He pointed again and I got out to look and on the top of the window frame of the door is a odd angled hole. It was something powerful but not at the right angle to go more than the first layer of steel.
Totally bizarre. IDK if it was a bullet for certain but IDK what else would make a hole like that in a car
The greatest thing I remember that might qualify is way back in the day when Rainbow Six Rogue Spear came out, I had it on N64 and there was no PvP in that version, but there was co-op and friendly fire; so my friend and I would just kill all but 1 of the bad guys in a random small room, and leave him there so we could fight each other.
At one point he came around a corner at me and I fumbled the controls and just looked straight down; but because your model bent at the waist when doing this, I basically Matrix dodged every round he fired at me and was able to look back up and nail him.
Literally dodging figurative bullets counts, right?
When I was a teenager, I was hanging out with my brother who is 8 years older while he was fucking around with his .45 (probably ostensibly cleaning it) and it was pointed towards me when for some reason the slide suddenly released and the live round that was inexplicably involved jammed in the mechanism.
So I mean, I guess I didn't dodge a bullet, but I think I got pretty lucky.
Me and my buddy were hiking up a trail one day kinda high and as we get up the mountain we hear multiple gunshots right near us enough to be legit scared that some crazy asshole is going 'most dangerous game' on our sorry stoner asses and FUCKING BOOK IT down the mountain. My fat ass learned how fast a body pumped full of adrenelane can really move that day.
As it turns out there was a gun range nearby. So ultimately a nothingburger but a fun story to remember.
I was the second to last pilot to fly an airplane before it suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The pilot after me put it down in the woods. The plane was a total loss but he was okay, worst injury he had was a scratch on the legs walking through the brush to get out of the woods.
Hell of a pilot to land that thing safely after what you did to it. /s
Seemingly innocuous activity. I was changing the band on my watch.
Watches have a little spring-loaded pin that goes through the band and in to the bezel. I had the spring compressed with some needle tweezers and I was removing the band when the tweezers slipped. One side of the pin was still seated in the bezel, but the other side was free, and pointed right at my face as I was leaning over this watch to work on it. The pin shot straight into my eyeball.
Or at least it would have if my vision was better. It hit my glasses instead, with enough force to leave a dimple in the polycarb lense. Lesson learned, wear safety glasses when working on anything that could possibly get launched, sprayed or blown into your eyes.
You had me in the first half ngl 😆 Well told 👍
The bullets I've been dodging are small things. Mormon missionaries coming over trying to get young blood to join them. I've gotten better at saying no and politely lying about not having time for them. Saves me a lot of headache.
I'm a brass musician and an atheist so the only time I go to church is when I'm getting paid. The last time some Mormons approached me about going to church I asked them, "What's the pay?"
They were genuinely confused.
They don’t come around anymore, but I used to say that I was disfellowshipped/excommunicated, whichever was fitting for whatever religion they were selling. If they ask why, which they basically never do, just say “I’d really rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind..”
They don’t actually want to waste time talking to people who were kicked out of the church for “bad behavior”, and in many cases aren’t even allowed to, so they blacklist your address.
No soliciting signs typically do the job, too, though.
In a semi-literal instance, I was nearly shot in my eye with an airsoft gun because they fucking blind fired around a corner and I wasn't wearing eye protection. Got hit right at the edge of my eye socket. You bet your ass I wrote eye protection after that. Doesn't mean we weren't all still angry at the guy because we told him not to do that before we even started. And this was the reason why. Even with eye protection you still don't want to get shot in the face. It hurts like hell. We didn't have full face masks.
Friend and I were sitting on a top of a small mtn, hear gunshot in the distance, rural area didn't think about it too much All of a sudden we both hear a wizz and a ricochet between our heads.. Look at each and run.. That was scary.. ..Edited for clarity.. Sorry..
Well there was a SCUD; a misfiring mortar system; an IED; a negligent discharge with a machinegun; a fire in the ammo stack for the mortars; the several times I almost got thrown from a humvee while off-roading; an artillery rocket that actually hit our position; a midnight ambush (but it was really badly done, like comically bad); several patrols where the one in front of us or behind us got hit by large IEDs; and uhh that one time we drove through a minefield in a sandstorm.
Which time do you want to hear about?
Wow. There is A LOT to unpack, there.
I’d go with the one you are most comfortable in addressing.
Well writing is therapy so you win the jackpot.
In the fall of 2003 we started getting attacked by lone shooters and IEDs. The shooters were relatively easy to handle as long as we were actually keeping an eye out in every direction. The IEDs, were not easy to handle. And they got worse over time. They got larger and more frequent. The randomness of them was definitely starting to wear on us. Near towns they generally hit units that treated the locals poorly. Which wasn't great but we treated the locals good so we weren't too worried about it. On the highway though the larger IEDs hit pretty randomly. And it wasn't uncommon to hear this on the radio, "Ambush, Ambush, Ambush, Need immediate air support at grid 12341234, break, ... 4 Kilo 1 Whiskey Urgent over." Which is someone yelling for help because they got hit, they have 4 dead and 1 wounded. It's not the official radio call but it's the most important information right away and the official lines were sent after that, once the Tactical Operations Center had started the medevac and gun helicopters to respond and was paying attention thanks to the topline there.
Most of the time we were doing our own thing and didn't have the time or orders to respond. By the time we drove by all that remained of the scene was a humvee that looked like a giant had taken a pair of plyers to it repeatedly and blood and medical debris. Sometimes it happened the other way. We left the FOB one day with a convoy behind us, and we opened up spacing as was the standard at the time. They could not have been more than a minute or two behind us on the highway. That night on the way back we saw one of their humvees on the side of the highway. Back at base we found out we never knew because different brigade, different radio frequency. But they lost that humvee and everyone in it right behind us. Unit morale was already low but that put us right in the gutter.
Then it was our turn. The day before the bad guys had blown a bridge on the route we needed to take. They nearly got it done with several humvees on the bridge but ultimately mistimed it. As we approached the creek that ran under the bridge there were two paths, one with car and truck tracks and one with no tracks. Our convoy leader chose the one with car tracks because why wouldn't you? Well it's actually an axiom in the infantry not to take the predictable path if the choice is that easy. Our leader fucked up there. If he had taken the other path I wouldn't be doing writing as therapy.
As we neared the creek I saw something absolutely chilling. I saw the locals flinch. I don't blame them, they're in a hard place between us and the AQ guys in their town who mete out justice at night. but seeing that flinch was the moment I knew our dice had come up. The only thing I remember next is the world disappearing and feeling something akin to the hand of god slap me down into the humvee. I would probably have been ejected if I hadn't been tied to my machinegun. (For you young'uns before you had gunner belts we just used parachute cord and carabineers) A minute, or more later I woke up in my armor hanging from the gun. Nobody knows exactly how long but it was absolutely longer than 60 seconds. Which is a diagnostic threshold for a traumatic brain injury.
As I come to I hear, "Ambush, Ambush, Ambush, Need Immediate air support at grid 12341234, 1 vehicle catastrophic, 3 kilo, over." There were only three of us in the humvee that day so they didn't think there were going to be anymore numbers to follow. But our driver was more lucid than I was at first and he got the handset, "Correction 1 wounded, 2 Killed, over". At this point something in me figured I should yell and let them know I was alive. So I yelled all the nonsense. Literally could not make a sentence or any word approaching what I was trying to say. For those keeping track, this is another diagnostic threshold. But our driver, who is an awesome person by the way, got back on the radio, "correction 2 wounded, 1 killed, over" It was at that point we heard a moan from the the guy in the front passenger seat. He did not look like he was alive. He looked like he had completed a personal appointment with an improperly used wood shop machine. Also one of the greatest guys I've ever known. Our driver got back on the radio, "correction again, 3 wounded, 3 wounded only, over."
In the aftermath we got the area under control without anyone else getting hurt and agreed on a medevac location for our passenger. Wait, no, it would be dishonest to skip that part.
The driver yelled at me to get back up on the gun and I climbed my way up the pole, from the bed of the truck. I don't mean that pejoratively. I was so weak I had to climb it, like it was a sheer cliff. Another diagnostic threshold. When I got back up on the gun the driver and I saw 4 or 5 young men sprinting away. We immediately assumed they were responsible and gave chase. Our squad leader, in a different truck, got on the convoy radio frequency and yelled at us directly to stop. No radio formalities, just told us to stop the vehicle. In my mind I wasn't letting bad guys get away. It was still ROE at the time that you could shoot fleeing bad guys if you had positively identified them. My squad leader must have seen me pull the charging handle on the machinegun because he got on the radio again, just in time, and ordered us not to shoot. So I didn't and those guys are still alive as far as I know. If I had shot it would have gone through most of the village. I was on a .50 caliber M2 that day.
So nobody else got hurt and we pulled out to go to the medevac spot. For some reason, known only to god, the IED hadn't killed our humvee. At the medevac spot another platoon had secured the area so it was the first time we were able to just sit down and take stock. The driver and I compared our eyes and ears. Both of us had one pupil blown and the other pinpricked, and clear fluid leaking from our ears. Another diagnostic threshold. Our buddy got on the helicopter and they offered to take us as well but they had only brought one replacement. The driver and I were not in any way ever going to willingly leave our friends down 2 guys so we refused. We also didn't really trust the replacement to drive, I can't remember if he didn't have his license or whatever but I ended up driving. On the way the original driver, now in the passenger seat and I, actually driving, had to keep waking each other up. This wasn't actually abnormal with the operations tempo earlier in the deployment so I don't think we thought too much of it at the time. But passing out repeatedly after a head injury? Yup, another diagnostic threshold.
Later we would find out that the IED was exactly as big as the ones that had been taking out entire crews. It was because it was buried in mud and water that we're alive. and I only have my legs still because the shrapnel had to travel through our water, our MREs, and our steel equipment box before it could reach me. To outward appearances I survived with little more than some scratches. But I while I didn't dodge everything in this story I think I dodged an impressive amount of stuff.
Maybe the time I was headed to lunch with a friend. There was a Mexican restaurant we frequented in a strip mall with a gas station at the end closest to an intersection. We have the green light to cross the intersection as we approach when a shootout occurs at the gas pumps. We were going to turn in right next to the pumps, but my friend geared up and floored it. Yes, geared up. In a diesel. He spent another 15 minutes escaping the danger before asking where we should eat. I told him the safest place was probably at the Mexican place as every cop in town was likely in route.
Went to a job interview for a position I didn't want. It was the most honest interview I've ever given and surprisingly didn't get the place. Ended up starting my own business instead and while it's too early to tell wether it's going to be succesfull or not, I'm still glad I tried. Had I got that job I wouldn't have.
I was playing around with electronics from the trash with my brother. We found a lamp with what we figured was a broken fuse. To test this theory, we wanted to take the fuse out of the system. So what do we do? I hold the cables together using two pliers. Our theory was right. But I ended up slightly shifting the wires so they weren't in contact anymore. Suddenly 240v were traveling through my arms and my muscles tensed, causing me to grab the pliers really tightly, unable to let them go. My brother saved my life by being smart and cool headed enough to just unplug the lamp after 2-3 seconds. I dont think I ever came closer to dying than that time.
I was seriously considering accepting a remote job where they apparently make their employees install spyware so the employer can see employees through the webcam to make sure they're at their desk working.
I was 19 years old when a random chick literally asked me if I wanted to fuck her one night that I was jogging at the park. Like the typical virgin that I am just smiled and kept running... She was pretty, I should've just bit the bullet, especially since my sex life is non existent now.
Wakes up later in a bath of ice, missing a kidney: “Worth it!” ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ
Used to ride a motor scooter. Riding home, I turned left through an intersection and I hear a huge CRASH behind me. I pull into a parking lot and turn around, there's a white Jeep in the intersection flipped up on the drivers side door.
If I had been a hair slower, I'd have been squashed.
My ex wanted to get back together with me. We went for food, I insisted on splitting the bill. She blocked me afterwards.
Making the long drive back from where I grew up, to where I live now. about 1.5 hours into a 9 hour car ride. On a two lane highway going through some rolling hills, a grass median with a small metal divider separating the lanes. I am traveling up over a hill that rounds to the right, before turning back left and going down the hill on the other side.
As I am heading to the right around the first corner, I see a burst of dust, following quickly by a large black SUV, that has lost control on the curve, ripped right through the metal barrier, and is headed directly at me. I swerve to the right (thankfully nobody was in the lane next to me), and this SUV barrels right past me, without a hint of slowing, missing me by inches. It would have been a 70 mph+ head-on collision, but instead it sailed right past me (and I mean sailed. it was airborne as there was a small ramp up to the highway from the median, I remember how the tires looked like they were outstretched, reaching for the ground, as it rocketed past me).
I was shaking like a leaf for minutes, had to call my mom just to excitedly ramble at her until I calmed down. If I had gone up the hill any slower than I had, I wouldn't have had time to swerve.
Many MANY years ago when I was a child I woke up to use the restroom and my parents were sitting on the floor not realizing I had gone to the bathroom until after and as I came out they had me go over to them on the floor and I fell asleep on their laps. It wasn't for DECADES later that I learned what had happened. There was a drive by and they were waiting on the cops to show up. 4 houses were hit. I fell asleep and got moved back into my room just before the cops got there
When I was ~19yo, we went to a rave and I let a kid I didn't know borrow my glow sticks. He lost them and gave me caffeine pills to try to compensate me. Cops saw the exchange and made me pull them out of my pocket. I had ecstasy in the same pocket and got lucky that I didn't pull out the wrong pills (while rolling face).
When I was 18yo, someone tried to rob us at gunpoint for acid we were selling. Cops got involved and bluffed to both me and my roommate that the other had admitted to selling pot and that was the robbery (we weren't selling pot, so both didn't admit to anything). The cops dropped the sheet of acid that was hidden in a porno box when they searched our apartment and we found it on the floor.
In either case, I could have gone to prison for enough time to destroy my future.