Random Thread

Just finished watching Brothers and Sisters on Disney+ finally after starting 9-10 months ago! Lost interest at the start of the year with season 5, There was some weird storylines. Then picked it up again over the weekend and finished it. Now starting it all over again! This scene really hits me makes me cry.

Well this IS the random thread, so here goes.

Re Keno draws in pubs/clubs.

They claim itā€™s drawn every three minutes.
So last night I timed it.
Itā€™s actually more like 2 mins 38 seconds.

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Iā€™ve noticed that also. I sometimes buy a 50 game ticket to go and check it at home. I figure it will play out in 2.5 hours given there should be ten draws every 30 minutes but it will always finish about six or seven minutes before that 2.5 hours is up. I got close to cracking the big jackpot a few years back and won $10,000. One number off. Second time in my life Iā€™ve been a whisker away from a big Keno/Lottery prize.

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I havenā€™t heard of a flat fee before. I only used to see the surcharge at restaurants and thought it was a bit rude when your group had just spent 2 or 3 hundred dollars and then you copped a 1-2% surcharge on top of that for paying with a credit card. It saves them from handling cash and banking it, so youā€™d think they could absorb any banking costs by making it part of the price of the meal and drinks.

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I guess itā€™s probably the same in Australia but over the last month thereā€™s been an increase of NZ businesses charging for using contactless as well.

Thereā€™s a sign at the register and then on the display of the machine (depending on the model), which then displays the new price (ie. 2.00 and a 0.02 contactless fee = 2.02) I think there was some legislation here to cap the fees and maybe as part of that they are having to ā€˜collectā€™ the fee differently.

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Thereā€™s been an absolute explosion of surcharges being applied in Australia in the last few months. Most of the cafes I frequent hadnā€™t been applying it but now all of them do.

Comes at a time when a lot of the bank branded ATMs are disappearing from my area, also. Ends up cheaper to pay the surcharge rather than access cash through one of those ā€œconvenienceā€ ATMs that charge $2.50-$3 per transaction.

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CBA and ANZā€™s external (freestanding - non branch) ATM network is now almost entirely swallowed up by Armaguard (ATMx), Westpac and NAB have pulled out most of their non-branch ATMs over the pandemic. Weā€™re probably a year away from bank ATMs only located at branches.

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Iā€™m with the Bank of Qld and it seems if I use a Westpac or ANZ atm I donā€™t get charged anything.

My Macquarie account automatically refunds any ATM feeā€™s as soon as they charge.

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Got a phone call yesterday that our cousin who has been battling cancer for a decade or so has been given about 2-3 weeksā€¦ Better than a week or two ago where they did actually give him less than 24 hours before they got another drug into him and things picked up.

Went and saw him tonight after travelling down and it was so bizarre, things were just like normal and he was up and about and doing things just with a few extra bits and pieces hanging off him and needing to be drugged up but chatting and laughing away just like we always have and then leaving knowing full well that the next time weā€™re likely to be hanging with the family again is at the funeral in a few weeks.

Such a weird and bizarre thing knowing that someone doesnā€™t have much time left but if you didnā€™t know youā€™d think things were just like normal. Was just so glad he was happy, doing things he loved and comfortable and loving having the laughs with friends and family and spending remaining time with his kids.

I take my hat off to all those who have been through these battles closely, whether themselves or helping a loved one through. Your strength is to be commended.

#fuckcancer

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It picked up post the pandemic - I suspect the shift to a lot more contactless payments to avoid cash has many businesses paying attention to how much its costing them to have card facilities.

The guy who ran a cafe I frequented before the pandemic (its since closed :frowning: ) was saying that the deal he was getting from his bank (which bank, you might askā€¦) was crap, but was the best he could get at the time. It was a decent percentage of a takeaway coffee.

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Yep got a call a couple of days ago similar . My Aunty in New Zealand was diagnosed with lymphoma early last year . She had chemo all last year and by about Christmas she was considered to be free of it .

Lately she had been vomiting , double vision and keeps falling over when walking (balance problems) . My cousin takes her to the hospital they do tests and after all that chemo last year she has lymphoma again B Cell lymphoma

So they are starting her on chemo on Monday again , she would be about 75 or 76 . Something called "r chop "

About October 2020 my mum started having problems with walking and then feeling sick and 10 days in hospital then passed away and she also had B Cell Lymphoma ā€¦ though I think she had it slow growing for years . We only found out she had cancer the day before she passed and they said chemo wouldnt work as it spread and was too aggressive the type of cancer . She was only 67. She also had developed sepsis and had that years ago at 34 before she had me .

My uncle has had leukemia too a few years back though is ok now.

Must be a blood cancer link in her side of the family.

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Not sure if this is the right thread for this but Friday last week I finished up at my job where Iā€™d worked for 29 years this month. I was mentally stressed out when it got too busy,also my back has been really sore while at work especially when I had to work at a bench that was too low for me.Lost my temper a few times,had no more sick leave ,because Iā€™d used it up because of being unable to go to work because of my mental health issues.I just knew that it was time for me to go.Iā€™m expecting my long service payment this week,so that should keep me going for a while if Iā€™m careful.Currently up in Townsville because Iā€™d already planned to have this week off anyway, Iā€™ll just take it easy for now,when I return to Brisbane next weekend Iā€™ll then decide what I want to do in the future.Iā€™m 59 now anyway (yes Iā€™m oldšŸ˜•)so after all these years of doing hard physical work my body is wearing out.Iā€™ve never had an office job where I could sit down,all my working life has been in manufacturing,10 years in a previous job before this one. I might become a Uber or a cab driver,still thinking it over. Iā€™ll be able to access my super on my 60th birthday in March next year,of course Iā€™ll leave most of it invested

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Sorry to hear that, hope everything settles down for you and you find something you like.

Iā€™m one of the lucky ones at the opposite end of the scale, i recently took a redundancy from my Federal public servant job which means I can access my super early (Iā€™m between 50-55), I can now draw a pension from that, which means financially I donā€™t need to work again if I donā€™t want to. I have already owned my apartment for the last 8 years, so I can use my savings from not paying a mortgage, and with my LSL being paid out, so that along with my payout, i can use all of that to do some travelling and my pension will more than cover day to day living costs.

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I live in a Qld Housing Dept unit so I can have my rent reduced in the future if I do need to claim Centrelink payments for a while

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Iā€™m sure I will from now onšŸ‘

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When it comes to the mental health you need to make the call thatā€™s best for you. My last job I was going to work so stressed and there were days I can clearly remember where I had chest pains and instead of stepping back and thinking I need to get out of here or thinking of my 3 year old child at home and 7 month pregnant wife Iā€™d be thinking ā€œright, so if I have a heart attack today, I need to make sure that I do this job for this person, this for that person, make sure this gets organised etcā€¦ā€
Eventually, I just broke and knew I had to go. I had one client, a principal at a school pull me aside and went all mummy on me and told me how worried about me she was and to me that was what did it. I was lucky it came at a time where I then got poached by another place but I wouldnā€™t have lasted much longer anyway. Itā€™s so hard to leave a place but itā€™s so much harder on you not too. Glad youā€™ve made the hard decision and I really hope things work out for you after a bit of time to relax and recover - stress has a huge effect on your body and once you relax for a while itā€™ll be interesting to see how much pain you have afterwards.

Look after yourselves and no workplace is worth your life - a hard lesson for many conscientious workers and young workers who can often get exploited by being too nice.

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