"Sorry. We accept Visa or MasterCard. Credit or Debit. $20 minimum."
What year is this? 1980? You don't take American Express? How about Discover?
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Not a fan of credit cards, myself. I have a couple sitting because they're good for my credit rating, but I've not actually used them in a very long time.
Buying most things with a credit card and paying the balance in full each month will keep your FICO score well north of 800.You get penalized for keeping yourself out of debt.
The dewy-eyed bride and I took a helluva long time to retire consumer debt (stupidity accounts for most of that, with a dash of desperation) and student loans. Our credit scores were things of beauty.
Having gone through all it took to get there, and now having money to put to far better use than servicing debt, we bought NOTHING on credit. Sure enough, our credit scores went on a slow but steady decline.
On purchasing about 500 bucks worth of merchandise at my local big-box home-improvement store I was told that my purchase would be discounted by $100 if I paid with a store credit account, which I could open right then and there. So I did, and paid the balance in full within minutes of receiving the statement, a couple weeks later. My credit score went up 36 points.
Of course the retailer wants their credit card in my wallet.
Buying most things with a credit card and paying the balance in full each month will keep your FICO score well north of 800.
When I produced personal development workshops 2001 to 2010 we accepted Visa, Master, and Amex. I hated Amex as their system was so antiquated compared to the Monaris system for the other two. I think the hoops they put me through, which included mailing in the hard copies, were just delaying tactics before they decided to pay out. It took at least twice as long to process Amex than it did the others and that was before having to mail the hard copies.Discover is not one I've heard of. It was very common for a long time for businesses in the UK not to accept Amex; what I was told by several was that it had a reputation for the money taking too long to come through to them, as compared to Visa / Mastercard. I should have thought that was put to bed by digitisation in this era, but I've not looked into it. Don't remember the last time I saw an Amex, tbh - maybe when I was last in the US in 2011?
Not a fan of credit cards, myself. I have a couple sitting because they're good for my credit rating, but I've not actually used them in a very long time.
Discover is not one I've heard of.
In my new cohort of graduate students (I'm starting my PhD in history), I am the oldest one by a LONG shot. Like, I could be the mother of every single one.
That certainly makes me feel old. However, it also means I get to embrace my eccentricities. . To wit, I carry a vintage Peanuts messenger bag and don't care one bit. View attachment 356910
In my postgrad class we had a lady who was in her early forties - (younger than I am now, how did that happen??) - when we were all mid-twenties. 97/98. She was a lot of fun - I think we enjoyed having someone with a bit of life experience around as much as she enjoyed it. It brings an interesting dynamic to it. Notably, we regarded her as very much a peer even while the occasional faculty who were only a year or two older than us were not. Interesting how the 'assigned role' played so much into perceptions there.
I went straight from my undergrad law degree to my masters - and then straight to work. I was registered for some years to do a part-time PhD, but fitting it in around the job never quite happened, and then an illness sort of killed it, so I am I suppose what might once have been considered an academic by the "apprenticeship" route. The PhD is a wonderful experience to have the time to really dig deep and go hardcore on the research. I'm currently supervising some really interesting projects, which is a lot of fun, and about to do my first examination...
Strangely, I think it's only really with the benefit of hindsight I've realised just how great it was to have those few years to be a full time student (a mix of rosily forgetting exam stress and that I was too busy living it to reflect on it at the time! ).
History was always my 'other' field; fascinating stuff. What aspect are you looking to build your thesis on?
I was in awe of my maternal grandfather when he told me he had actually gone to see Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show when he first emigrated to America.
Perhaps the German tourists will keep it all alive. It still seems to be a big 'thing' for the Germans to experience the American West. On our trip a few years back to Death Valley it seemed at least half the RV's in the camp were German tourists in rental RV's. We planned to visit Little Big Horn on a trip to Montana as Sitting Bull was childhood hero of mine. We ended up driving by as I decided I didn't need to see that sliver of ignominious US history. But it struck me that approx 75 years had past since my youth and the actual battle and then another almost 75 years had past since I last played indians and cowboys. So that the days of my youth playing indians et al sit at the approximate half way point between the actual battle and my present life. Put in that context I had no other option than to realize...."sumbitch, I must be old"Last month, when my cousin from Wisconsin and his husband were visiting, we went to the Buffalo Bill gravesite and museum, a fairly short drive from here. It occurred to me that Buffalo Bill, once among the most-celebrated people on the planet, may gradually be fading into obscurity.
William F. Cody was as responsible as anyone for perpetrating the romance (and myth) of the American Wild West. Hollywood picked up where he left off. Still, I doubt the average person under age 30 could tell you much about him.
The gravesite and museum still draws a crowd, on a hot day at the height of tourist season, anyway. But I wonder how much longer that will be.
I could be wrong, of course. There’s enough romance in that time and place for any number of retellings. There are African-American takes on it, and Asian-American accounts, and of course the Native American histories. And I see supermarkets still stock the magazines True West and Cowboys & Indians. The stores around here do, at any rate.
Perhaps the German tourists will keep it all alive.
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