Cheap flights from msp

We received an email this morning and we were given 7 options for 3 people. We picked the 7th option to stay with the original flight. We are also traveling with three other people. How likely is it that we will be bumped?

If you have to pick any cheap perk that you could use in real life (so around 100-500 cp) what would you pick?
For example I'll pick the inner jumper perk from Discworld which is basically a really strong willpower perk.

Hi all, we are from the San Francisco Bay Area visiting elderly family in the Capitol Region and looking for a range of activities that would include 2 young teenagers (i.e. they're game for whatever), 2 parents in above-average shape, and sometimes 2 elderly grandparents who are still mobile, but probably for about an hour at a time.
We're fairly open to hearing a range of possibilities, but to help narrow down suggestions, we'd particularly be curious to check out anything within an hour's drive away such as:

• hiking
• ice skating
• noteworthy/distinct museums
• zoos (I think most are closed this time of year but figured to ask), or other animal-centric activities
• restaurants/food - anything particularly good that stands out? Italian, seafood, something else? We're not looking for the most expensive/fanciest places, but it doesn't have to be cheap either.
• anything picturesque (grandfather likes taking pics)

(We visited Howe's Cavern last year, that was fun.)
Not interested in bars/clubs, live music, nor sporting events.
Any/all ideas welcome. Thank you!

Background

My husband and I have been traveling to Japan several times a year for more than a decade. We’re both into the 20-somethings for number of trips we’ve taken, so our trips these days tend to be relaxed and a little out of the way. We were supposed to do this Wakayama area trip in 2020, but that obviously didn’t happen. My husband speaks, reads, and writes Japanese at an intermediate level, so we don’t have problems with language on our trips. I read katakana, some kanji, and speak basic words and phrases.

Trip Introduction

This Wakayama City/Shingu/Ise adventure was part of a larger 19-day trip. We flew into Tokyo Narita and immediately took the shinkansen to Osaka. We spent 4-5 days in Osaka doing some low-key stuff like errands (for instance, renewing our TTP cards) and drinking coffee (Glitch, Mel, Millpour, Takamura, Lilo). After that, we went to Koyasan for a few days, staying at Ichijoin, where we have stayed several times in the past. We even got engaged there in 2019!

Transportation

For the portion of the trip in this report, we utilized the Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Pass, a 5-day tourist pass. See here for details, although I will say that even buying the pass online cost ¥12,220, so that page’s pricing isn’t quite up to date. We ended up getting about ¥21,130 worth of train and bus travel out of it, so it was well worth it.
Our breakdown of rides/costs looked something like this:

• Wakayama -> Shingu (Kuroshio Limited Express): ¥6450
• Shingu -> Oyunohara/Hongu (bus): ¥1560
• Oyunohara/Hongu -> Shingu (bus): ¥1560
• Shingu -> Nachi (Kuroshio Limited Express and bus): ¥2260
• Nachi -> Shingu (Kuroshio Limited Express and bus): ¥2260
• Shingu -> Iseshi (Nanki Limited Express/Rapid Mie): ¥5230
• Downtown Ise -> Futamiokitama Park (limited express train): ¥740
• Futamiokitama Park -> Downtown Ise (local train): ¥210
• Downtown Ise -> Ise Jingu: ¥390
• Ise Jingu -> Downtown Ise: ¥470

The pass itself is a little weird, though. It’s not linked from any of the main JR pages, and if you reserve it online, you cannot use a machine to pick it up (you must go to a manned window). We had to ask around Osaka Station to figure out where to go, and none of the station staff we talked to knew what this pass was. We didn’t really have trouble using it once we got it, although a couple of bus drivers seemed a tiny bit surprised to see it. Overall, a really good value. Do note that you can only reserve seats up to four times with this particular pass, which was perfect for us, since we knew ahead of time that we’d likely want to take four limited express trains.

Wakayama City

Hotel: Candeo Hotel Nankai Wakayama at Wakayamashi Station. This was actually an amazing hotel with new, clean rooms, a great view, and a rooftop public bath, located right at Wakayamashi Station. I’ve never stayed at a Candeo before, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for them in the future, as this was pretty impressive in the realm of mid-range to upper-range business hotels. We paid ¥14,937/night (about $110 USD), which was what we’d consider a great value.
March 18: Arrived in Wakayama City from Koyasan (via the Nankai-Koya Line and Wakayama Line). Our luggage had already been forwarded from Osaka, so we only had small backpacks. We stuck our things in a locker and hopped on the Wakayama Dentetsu (the line “run by cats”) and visited a few of the stations to see the cats and get some goshuin. Had amazing late afternoon pizza for lunch at Alla Luce. Did a sake tasting at Heiwa Saketen and had soba for dinner at Shinanoji Kino after visiting our hotel’s baths and relaxing for the afternoon.
March 19: Our room attendant at Koyasan (who always remembers us!) recommended we visit Kada while in Wakayama City, so we did that early in the morning. We went to the shrine there, walked by the seaside, ate amazing grilled shellfish. We walked around Wakayama City in the afternoon, did laundry, and had a low-key dinner at the Pronto at Wakayamashi Station (which turns into a wine and scotch bar at night).

Shingu

Hotel: Hotel New Palace in Shingu. There weren’t a lot of options in Shingu for “real” hotels (not hostels or guesthouses), so this one was perfectly serviceable. It’s a decent walk from the station (probably a solid 7-10 minutes), and it definitely lacks any sort of personal touches or charm, but it was fine for a few nights. We paid ¥12,100/night (about $90 USD), which I’d say was high for the level of the room and service.
March 20: This was the first day our Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Pass was active. The day before, we used our pass to get tickets for the Kuroshio Limited Express to Shingu, where we were staying for the next few days. We arrived in Shingu in the early afternoon and visited the Shingu Castle Ruins (really cute park with amazing views), Kumano Hayatasha Taisha, and Kamikura Shrine (which had way too many stairs!). Dinner was udon and tempura at Masaya near the hotel, which definitely felt like we were eating in someone’s living room. No English menu, and the lady taking our order also spoke no English. Honestly, “no English” was a very common theme of this part of our trip.
March 21: We visited Oyunohara Torii Gate and Kumano Hongu Taisha, which were both pretty incredible sights to behold. The buses run infrequently in that area, so with so much time, we took a quick ten minute taxi ride over to Yunomine Onsen where we boiled eggs in the water in the town center and had lunch. We accidentally ended up walking part of the Kumano Kodo to get back to Hongu, where we enjoyed some wagashi and tea at Yata-an before catching a bus back to Shingu.
March 22: We visited Nachi Falls and Kumano Nachi Taisha, completing our visits to the three Kumano taishas. We took an early Kuroshio Limited Express down to Kii-Katsuura (making use of that pass!) and then a bus to Nachi. The whole area was beautiful, although it once again had so many steps. I was pretty sick of hiking and steps at this point. Regardless, we got goshuin, saw the falls, drank the waterfall water, and my husband picked up a bunch of omamori for his coworkers. We were back in Shingu by mid-afternoon, where we had great sushi at Jofuku near Shingu Station. The afternoon was relaxing in our hotel’s public bath before okonomiyaki at Go Mi Hiro nearby. The place was super popular, and I’m glad my husband speaks Japanese, because the menu was entirely in Japanese and waitress asked us to write down our orders and hand them to her. Then we had an early night at the hotel to watch the women’s short program of the World Figure Skating Championships, which were taking place in Saitama (yay, I was in the same time zone as a major competition for once!).

Ise

Hotel: Sanco Inn Iseshi at Iseshi Station. This was another pretty bare-bones business hotel, although perfectly serviceable. It was right near the train station, which is a huge must-have for us in most cases. It also had laundry machines, which I wasn’t expecting, but that was pretty welcome since we were caught in the rain one of the days. It cost ¥17,100/night (about $128 USD), which was pretty high all things considered, but I really liked the location.
March 23: We grabbed some breakfast at the konbini and hopped on a very early train to Ise (Nanki Limited Express to Rapid Mie). It was pouring rain, but we still decided to head to Futamiokitama-jinja and Meoto Iwa (Wedded Rocks). It was too rainy to do much, so we headed back to the our hotel’s general area to get some castella and coffee at Terrace Cafe while we waited for check-in. After that, we relaxed for the early evening at the hotel’s public bath, did some laundry, and then went to get amazing pasta bolognese nearby at Bigoli. They literally have one thing on the menu, and that’s it. After, we returned to the hotel to watch the men’s short program for figure skating.
March 24: We visited Ise Grand Shine—so important that it is merely known as “Jingu”. That’s it. It’s the jingu. We visited the main shrine and the outer gate, ate a bunch of street food, and walked a lot. This was the last day of our Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Pass though, so we took some buses around to make use of it. While I’d say that Ise Jingu was interesting for the religious and historical aspects, it’s also one of the plainest shrines I’ve ever been to. It also has one of the plainest goshuin I’ve ever seen. I guess when you’re the most sacred shrine, you don’t need anything fancy! The streets leading up to it are packed full of food and shops, though, and it was super crowded. In the afternoon, we headed to Camino Coffee for awesome espresso, and at night, we went to Takumi to eat Matsusaka beef—one of the big, famous, ridiculously good beef producing regions alongside Kobe and Omi. Then we went back to the hotel on the early side to watch Kaori Sakamoto take the women’s world title in figure skating.
March 25: We traveled back to Osaka via the Kintetsu Limited Express for the final days of our trip, which we spent in Osaka, Arima Onsen, and Nagoya before returning to Tokyo for our flight home.

Mask Usage

We arrived before the change in official recommendation, but even after that, mask usage was like 95%+ both inside and outside for much of our trip. The exception to this was in Shingu, Hongu, and the Nachi Falls area. For the four days we were in that region, mask usage was much, much lower. I would say it sometimes dropped as low as 30% or 40% outside, and even inside, it was sometimes as low as 50%. Shopkeepers and restaurant staff also often didn’t wear masks, and no one seemed to care much either way because nothing was overly crowded. It was also reasonably warm and sunny for much of that time, which may have contributed to people dropping their masks.
We wore masks in accordance with local norms, so masks on most of the time in cities, but we eschewed them a lot of the time in the Shingu area.

Lessons from Wakayama

• It takes a lot longer to get around in this area. Everything is more infrequent—buses, trains, etc. You definitely need to plan more. We were usually deciding the day before when we’d roughly want to arrive at and leave a place, and we booked train tickets if needed. When we were out on our day trips, we’d routinely check to see when the next buses/trains were so that we wouldn’t miss things.
• Barely anything is in English. Even a lot of menus at places you might expect (like the Pronto at Wakayamashi Station) didn’t have English. Almost no one offered an English menu to us. Bus schedules and train schedules were also often not in English. I was lucky enough to be with someone who had no trouble getting things done in Japanese, but I could see how it would be intimidating for someone unfamiliar with the language.

Overall Random Trip Stats

• Goshuin received: 24
• Hotels/ryokan stayed at: 7
• Number of times luggage was forwarded: 2
• Hours of figure skating competition watched: ~10
• Omamori purchased: 15
• Cheesecakes eaten: 2 (both from Rikuro, which you’re missing out on if you haven’t been)

Hello there!
First of all, I have never been to the US and this will be my first domestic flight ever. I want to fly from JFK to SFO with Alaska Airlines, however they don‘t need any Passport numbers or anything. This made me very insecure, as you have to nearly tell the german Airlines half of your life-story in order to be allowed to book a flight.
So two questions:

1. Are foreigners allowed on domestic flights inside the US?
2. Is it correct, that they don‘t need any Passport numbers or something like that from us?

Thanks in advance and have a nice day y‘all!

Hello all,
I'm looking for advice on how to snag two extra seats in business class for flights from NYC to Tokyo.
I'm traveling for work so unfortunately my dates are not flexible--I'm hoping to bring my family with in business class so they can sit with me. It will be a one-week trip starting roughly one week from now.
I'm currently sitting on a mine of Chase UR points. I'm not sure I am following the Virgin/ANA redemption plot very well, but if that is a valid option I'm obviously interested along with the other 10 people posting about this daily.
Current cash prices for business flights direct are around $15k RT, and straight mile redemption through United is around 200k miles each way per person, which is not super attractive.
Any pointers would be incredibly appreciated!

Hey Everyone,
On a recent flight home from PBI, before we took off, a flight attendant walked by me holding an open cup of coffee, shut the overhead bin above me, and spilled her coffee on my hoodie and shorts. It wasn't very hot, and Im not burned, but it was embarrassing, and I was wet for the rest of the flight, and smelled like coffee. I emailed a complaint on the website, and got this response:
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to write to us. Your Delta Comment/Complaint case number is ******\. *We apologize that our current response times may exceed 30 days in some instances.** We want you to know that we take all of our customers’ concerns and feedback seriously. Thank you for your patience as our team is working to respond as quickly as possible. You may respond to this email if you need to add any supporting documentation, receipts, or additional details, and these items will be added to your case to help expedite a resolution.
I'm not physically injured or anything, and don't want anything crazy, but wondering what else my options are, if any? The flight attendant said sorry and that she would get me paper towels. After 5 minutes I went to the bathroom and washed myself off, and when I came back to my seat there was a single paper towel on it. I know everyone makes mistakes, and I'm not sure what else they could have done in the moment, but I just felt like she didn't care at all.
I have pictures of the spill, but they don't look terrible.
Thanks

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Recently returned from a holiday with my partner, flights worth £2500 paid for on credit card then balance transferred to a 0% credit card which I am to pay off by Nov 2024.
We saved in advance of the holiday and returned with £1500 which I want to use to start paying this off, although I figured that I might be able to put this money to work in the meantime to increase its value whilst I still have >12 months to pay this off rather than paying the full remaining amount off over this time frame.
What options are worth considering? Part of me just wants to pay it off ASAP to get it off my back which is feasible but I wanted to consider *smarter* approaches.

My (32F) husband (45M) and I have been married for three years. We have a beautiful life together, I love being with him and talking to him, we have strong physical attraction to one another, etc. But my stress level is rising as a result of the financial situation. Although our costs were low when we initially started dating, it changed once we jointly purchased a home. Despite having a decently high income, we live over our means and have a $14K debt on our credit cards. Thankfully, most of it is currently on interest-free credit cards. But for a card with a $10,000 balance, our incentive period expires in just 4 months. I am stressed about it, but my husband's attitude is that we can just transfer it again to a new card (even though we would pay a fee of 10%).
I badly want to get a handle on this and my goal is to have 0 debt and for our bills to all be on autopay. We can do this in just 3 years but would need to avoid any large purchases and maintain our current income. My husband however, wants what he wants when he wants it. He is impulsive, and he just doesn't care whether we are in debt or not. I have talked to him many times about how extremely stressed out I have been about the finances.. This has been going on for years. I am part of the problem. I have ADD and am not a good budgeter myself and not very mindful of my own spending.
We've gone on several expensive vacations in the past and always wind up more in debt when we come back. And we don't travel well together. I travel for work and I need to be very early and structured when I travel or else I get really stressed. He is chaotic, and sometimes unpredictable when we travel. Our last flight we had together he got really drunk and acted obnoxious at the airport. He made a scene yelling and arguing with me when I was just trying to get us to our gate on time. It was obvious and people were noticing. I got so angry and fed up that I told him I would never fly with him again. He has never truly taken accountability for his behavior.
Despite everything, my husband constantly asks when we can go on vacation next. I always say NO because we cannot afford to and I won't fly with him. The other day he decided to book a whole ass Mediterranean cruise and to tell me afterwards. This is definitely not the first time he has done something like this. He feels like I am not open to experiences, that I need to be pushed to do things. This is why he does it.
This trip he booked costs nearly $4500, including the flights and meals. Of course it will end up costing way more than the reservation price with all the other expenses involved. I think he is absolutely reckless thinking we can go on this trip. I told him to cancel it. At first he said he would cancel my ticket but still wanted to go himself. He walked away from the discussion and I stewed about it all day and night. I was so mad that I could not fall asleep the entire night. I am normally very level but this had me throwing things just to blow off steam.
I am deeply worried about this marriage because I don't think we'll ever be on the same page about finances. The thought of leaving him is absolutely heartbreaking and unimaginably difficult. But I refuse to get into debt anymore. I used to give into him because I wanted him to be happy but I feel like he is standing in the way of the future I truly want. We haven't tried therapy. But at this point I would be more open to going to a counselor myself because I need to hear outside perspective on whether we can even save this.
What do?? Ugh I am so tired and I feel like I'm trapped.

I am trying to booking a trip from CAI to DFW. I wanted to maximize my PQP earnings on a partner airlines so I looked at flying with Lufthansa.
I created an excel calculator that calculates the distance between two airports and applies the mileage factor based on your fare class for the partner airline to see how many PQP I would earn. I am attaching a picture of my calculator with the earnings I expected from the two trip options in the "PQP after limits" column. I then added the "United Website Amount" column to show what United is showing on their website I will earn.
You will see option two is much better in PQP but I want to know why. The distance in both trips is relatively the same and the fare classes on the first two flights (which are the longest) are the same too. The last flight has a different fare class but its IAH to DFW so not many miles anyway.
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I want to book option 1 since there is more time to connect but I dont want to miss out on the PQP. Both tickets $800. Am I missing something here in these two routes?
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https://preview.redd.it/abfuwh7ytwqa1.jpg?width=905&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75f3f9f8bbd27fe65e934abe6adfbc1465894830

About to be homeless
Hello everyone , since 2 month's , I got medical problem's with my father , a lot of surgery's for his swollen leg , he cant really move to much we needed to by him diapers , and a lot of medication , which in my country they are not so really cheap , im from Europe , me and my family spend our money to buy all the stuff he needed while he is in hospital , payed for the surgery's , and now I am behind rent with 2 month's , my landlord was gentle enough to understand the situation until now , but now he asked me for at least 1 month rent , becouse he can't wait anymore , and he will need to kick me out if i don't pay.
I just begging for some help with the rent , anything would help me to give something to him at least , one month of rent is 275$ but if I manage to pay at least half month with your help guy 's so i can figure out how to pay the rest , i only get paid on the end of april ... the landlord told me he can t wait so much
I can send any kind of proof you guy's need :(
Thank you for your time and even a share of the story would help a lot :( , thank you again to all of you:(

Newly dx patient.
I’ve always been very sensitive to clothing & bedding fabrics, to the point of it being kind of ridiculous—I can mostly only handle soft cotton stuff. It’s not just a matter of disliking the feel of anything rougher, I also get itchy and (with some stuff) break out in hives.
It makes buying clothes online a challenge, with so much name brand stuff being made of cheap polyester, or so much offbrand stuff on (for example) Amazon bring described as “buttery soft”, then you open the package and it’s … cheap polyestecheap swimsuit fabric. And shopping in person is exhausting.
(I’ve had some of my decent 100% cotton sheets so long they’re now fraying, because the exact same product line from Macy’s is now much rougher and cheaply made.)
First world problems, I guess.

I don't know if pwede dito mag ask about this kind of stuff so sorry in advance if di pwede.
So I'm looking for a cheap and quick route going to tagaytay from españa and I'm thinking of riding pnr to alabang and dun sumakay para mas mabilis and di maipit sa traffic in manila pero I don't know san meron sa alabang na sakayan pls help me out here also if there are other ways para makapunta ng tagaytay.
So dagdag ko lang ask ko lang din sana if may alam kayong place na pwedeng mag overnight stay na mura sa tagaytay thanks in advance

This thing was heavy and dense (I remember each piece seemingly weighing a ton) and if you were lucky enough to score a second piece it would be very hard to finish it! It was served cold. It had a slightly gritty texture. I've seen references to Chocolate Oaties but I'm not sure if this is it? It definitely wasn't crunchy, it was squidgy in a dense way. It wasn't like cake in the traditional sense as it was NOT soft, fluffy or light in any way but I LOVED it and I never saw it again after moving schools. It was definitely chocolate with what must have been cheap melted chocolate on top of a type of set chocolate topping. This was in the UK, South-West region in the 90's.
Can anyone help me?

I am really over all of the stuff that dialysis patients have to go through. I know I dont have to have the treatments but my mom does and it hurts when someone you love so much has to undergo all of this stuff just to stay alive. I find myself getting jelous of those with healthy moms. Their mom doesnt have to fight like hell and jump through never ending loops to just stay alive. I have so much more respect for Dialysis patients which, four months ago, I barely knew anything about.
I am my moms only support person. I have to be her caregiver now and Im doing my damndest to accomplish this goal but I have to first move her from Alabama to where I live in Colorado. I have to secure her a place to live that she can afford on SSD (she cant live at my apartment because she cant climb three flights of stairs im stuck in a newly signed lease but this cant wait). After that I have to safetly fly her to her new home without any lapse in Medicare, Medicaid, Dialysis, Medications. Not only this stuff, I am giving her a kidney (I pray to god) through the voucher program. Alabama doesnt participate in thee voucher program that's another reason I have to move her here instead of vice versa. I am so scared about being approved, her being approved, and then having major surgery. I just try not to think about it but I cant run no more or my mom will die.
I can do all this for her I am strong for her. All I need too know is that she wants to live. Yes she does. It hurts so bad when she breaks down on the phone from time to time. Hearing her cry begging God to let her live. This all started five months ago, before that we were "normal". To learn everything I can I have even decided to change my career to dialysis tech. I have been in classes one week and learned so much, I learned how delicate my moms life is from now on. Something as simple as a starfruit can kill her. (Google Starfruit and dialysis patients). This career choice is giving me a huge advantage on fighting this disease with her.
I know that she has to take the fluid intake seriously. They told us she would die if she didnt get it under control. We are two days into only consuming 32oz a day and she is still 5kg over. I really pray she sticks with the limited fluids if not she may die. That is not fair that something as simple as that can take my only family from me.
Next is her diet getting controlled. As you well know her options of healthy foods to eat seem to be few and far in between. Then we have to keep her calorie/carb intake up at the same time that we restrict mostly all "normal" foods. SO basically you have to eat more than a normal person but cant have s%&* to eat! I dont want her to be malnourished and lose muscle/fat weight. One of the many many things she must monitor for the rest of her life.....or of course die.
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I really need assistance from somewhere to get her access to healthy foods that are safe. She can't afford to eat healthy right now and that could mean life or death. I am so pissed at the world that I even have to be in this situation, but I have no other outlet to be angry with. This all sucks.
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If you made it this far I thank you and assume you must have similiar things going on, if thats true please reach out to me. I need all the support I can to stay strong now honetly. Going forward is just going to be so challenging. If you didnt make it this far then thanks for letting me rant and let it out on this sub.
Just in case your wondering my mom is 55
God Bless Us All

With all the new technology that we have, I want to see a game where you study under a master of magic. Discover both more about the system and the world (magically creatures plants etc) starting out small with manipulating fire that is already there to then creating your own. Learning different ways to find new spells. Stealing a light source off the wall to light a cave, changing the size of shadows to scare off enemies. Learning how to manipulate wood to craft things. Imagine meeting a magical creature like a pixie and learning a spell even your master had not learned yet. The more spells you learn the further you can go out in the world from combat to flight. The more difficult the spell the more knowledge of the system it would require to cast. Want to fly? You need to learn both how to alter your body and make wings and wind magic to lift you off the ground think of another way to fly try it out. Of course learning wind magic might lead you to lightning and learning how to use that in future spells or do you just want to climb that mountain. Well, use earth magic to create hand holds. There are so many cool things you could do with magic. I want to see a game really get creative, i imagine an RPG that's more about learning and discovery. A game that really lets you be a mage. Does anyone else want something like this?

There are many directions that the creators of Lost could have taken for an alternative ending. Here is one possible scenario:
In this alternate ending, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 are revealed to be in a parallel universe, and their journey on the island was actually a test to determine whether or not they were ready to return to their own reality.
After the survivors defeat the Man in Black and the island's mysterious powers are revealed to them, they are given the choice to either stay on the island or return to their own world. Most of the survivors choose to leave the island, but a few decide to stay behind.
As they prepare to leave, the survivors are approached by a group of scientists who explain that they have been studying the island for years and have discovered that it has the ability to create alternate universes. The scientists offer to send the survivors back to their own reality, but only if they pass a series of tests to prove that they are ready.
The survivors agree to take the tests, and over the course of several weeks, they are put through a series of trials that test their physical, emotional, and mental abilities. Some of the survivors struggle with the tests, while others excel.
In the end, the survivors who pass the tests are sent back to their own reality, while the ones who fail are left behind on the island. The survivors who return to their own reality are greeted by loved ones who thought they were dead, and they are able to pick up their lives where they left off.
As for the survivors who stay behind on the island, they continue to live there and study its mysteries, always searching for new ways to unlock its secrets. The island becomes a sort of utopia, where the survivors are able to live out their lives in peace and harmony, free from the distractions and chaos of the outside world.

I am an artist. I have a bachelor's in Illustration though I haven't done much with that, I do sometimes work on painting commissions here and there.
Basically this person on Instagram wanted me to paint her dogs and it turned out to be a fake check scam... I felt weird about the whole thing, but ignored the red flags because her account looked normal and she honestly just struck me as a kind of clueless old boomer woman. I even researched if it may be a scam and thought I was good as long as the check "cleared" before i sent any money. Once I thought one check had cleared, and she told me she also wanted to pay for another painting, I trusted her at that point and... long story short between the 2 checks she wrote me, and the "refunds" i sent on venmo, she got about 75% of what was in my bank account.
The problem is I didn't understand that even after it looks like a check is deposited, it actually takes longer to officially clear. I wish I had understood that. I've filed a police report, contacted venmo and my bank 1000x in the past day, and it sounds like venmo may be able to refund me once they've communicated with police. I tried to go to the police station today and just ask questions, how does this work, have they contacted venmo yet, etc. But they told me the officer I filed the report with was busy and he'd call me when he was free... I'm just scared. Any minute the scammer could realize I'm onto them and just delete their venmo accounts I sent the money to, and then I definitely have no chance.
I just feel so isolated and stupid. I always thought I was a smart person who couldn't be victimized on this way, but this scam was so obvious. My friend from college said they were approached by the same instagram user but they evaded it. I haven't told them I fell for it but I just know they'd judge me, and that's probably my closest friend.
My girlfriend made me feel better yesterday, because she almost fell for a job scam recently too. and I was trying to focus on then positive because it could have been much worse. I'm not overdrawn in my bank account, just severely set back, and that's only because I refused to accept a 3rd check because I felt so annoyed and uncomfortable with this person even as they were scamming me.. I trusted my gut the 3rd time they tried to send me money, if I hadn't I would be in really big trouble with the bank.
But still, I worked 6 months to save all that. I moved from MA to NC last June and it's been a terrible decision for me, my only hope has been that I can save up enough money to try to move back home. But now all the money I worked so hard for, in one of the darkest periods of my life, is gone. And I feel like I'm entering the darkest point of all.
they really played to my weaknesses and insecurities. I have severe anxiety and very little resources to treat it. I have a huge fear of upsetting authority/"mother" figures, really crippling anxiety about letting anyone down at all, which is why this person was able to manipulate me so well. I was just starting to feel a little better since the move, since i finally found a job that pays decent. And then this happens. I feel like I trusted myself to not be hurt in this way, I was even trying to finally get my art career started after so long avoiding it due to my depression and anxiety. It feels like the universe is telling me I should just rot. I miss my family so much. I don't know how to trust myself again or take any kind of pride in myself after I've fallen for something so obvious. I feel so stupid. Like I don't know what I'm supposed to be in the world but it was a mistake for me to be born a human person. I don't fit here. I can't do anything right.
I called venmo support a bunch of times yesterday and it sounds like the only way they can refund my money at this point is if the police communicate with them about this. Idk why the police hadn't contacted them by last night when i called, I filed the police report midmorning yesterday but when I called venmo at like 8pm they hadn't heard from anyone at the police department. I'm trying to trust the officer I spoke to but honestly I've never trusted police, I know they probably don't care about this because they have more pressing issues to worry about. But for me it feels like a nightmare. Every second we wait is a second the scammer may catch wise and vanish...
I've worked a lot of office jobs and I know things are always slipping through the cracks, especially since 2020 customer service has become like pulling teeth. But I have to wait and be beholden to these people who hold the power to help me but don't care about me.
The worst thing I can do is to message the scammer on instagram and yell at them or ask them for my money back. But obviously that isn't going to work, and will just make things worse. But it's the only thing I have in my power. So it honestly feels tempting. Idk. Idk. I just don't know how to handle this. I don't knownhow to find someone else who knows what I'm going through. I don't know how long it takes the police to contact venmo and no one wants to tell me and give me an explanation of what to expect.
If anyone has any resources that would be appreciated. I really feel like I've been pushed down 100 flights of stairs