Every so often my concsience gets the better of me, and I have to do something nice for people. When you have a personality that lends itself to making fun of yourself and others constantly, it's nice to do something just purely good once in awhile, so people don't think you're always a jackass. (don't touch that)

So, last week my conscience takes over and decides to use $6k to help rebuild Katrina-torn New Orleans. I've never been there, but apparently this place still looks like a bomb went off in parts, and these people don't have the knowledge or resources to put it back together. Housing is the worst, with the government reacting to the rebuild even slower than it did to the emergency. These people are still without the smallest of conveniences this long after the tragedy.

As luck would have it, I was able to help one family in particular to acquire a fair amount of these small things. I paid for new doors and hardware for their house, put carpeting in the family room and bedrooms, and a new mirror in the hall so they could look and see just how far they've made it back from hell's door. I purchased new tires for the family car, and filled the gas tank for them to do their grocery shopping (also on me), something that hadn't been done in months due to the price hike.

I have to admit, helping seemed to wear well on me, and once I started giving, I couldn't stop. Therefore, I paid for the kids' new school clothes at the local mall. I guess I just wanted them to have a true fresh start, right from waking in the morning in their "new house", to putting on clean threads each day for learning. And after a long day of shopping with the kids, I figured the parents needed some alone time, so I sent them to a nice dinner. Yes, it seems my conscience was finally satisfied.

So what have the rest of you losers done to help? Ever looked at the life you've worked hard to build and wonder what would happen if it suddenly was all gone? Might be a good time to look into your own mirror and see if you've done enough. Or does your conscience speak as well?

Let me know what you come up with,

-3

By the way, last week my conscience came in the form of a 6'2" black man named "Robert Jones" who stole my debit card number and went on a spree for ten hours in New Orleans before my bank caught it and shut the card down. All money has been reimbursed, and life moves forward. But for me, now more than ever, my conscience can kiss my ass. Any other horror stories?

3 you jackass. Good on you mate.

Whist personally I havent done anything for new orleans disaster victims - as personally I tend to look after problems in my own backyard.
I give around 5K a year to a charity in OZ called Canteen. They run camps and support groups for kids with cancer - both terminal and curable cancers.

But it pisses me off (as it probably does you also) to pay so much bloody tax and people still have to donate to help their fellow citizens out. How many $$$ have been spent on bombs, guns, planes etc this year that could have gone to more worthy causes, in the USA in particular.

Isnt fofo's real name Robert Jones? XD

Ummm Three,

I don;t knwo if everyone is going to see thru yer gest here, but a great attitude to have by being raped by a Katrina victim.....

We are blessed here in Houston with many of the so called victims, funny how stories are so blown out of porportion, we live it here, not gonna say much more because I am sure I will offend a bleeding heart liberal that has no clue other than what he/she see's on the news.

I honestley can't remember the last time I had 6K available to be stolen. Serves you right for not allowing your wife to keep your account to a safe minimum.

Good for you 3.
Last year (you're a little bit late lol) My kids ran a pop/water/lemonade stand at the entrance of our neighborhood and generated a few hundred dollars which we donated to the Red Cross.

Also my families furniture retail business donated and delivered two housefulls worth of bedroom furniture and mattresses to two relocated families in the northern Kentucky area.

I agree with Deja Vu that some people from the New Orleans area have taken advantage of thier situation, but most are very deserving of our gifts.

You have to give in order to recieve. What comes around goes around. :)

I believe some of you are missing the point of this story. Perhaps it's my fault for not arriving at it sooner. In talking with the police in New Orleans, this kind of thing is rampant down there. They can't tell if it's someone at Visa, or an entirely different group altogether, but somehow this "Robert Jones" ended up with a Visa that contained his name, and my account number. The stamped number on the card was most likely different, I'm told, but the magnetic stripe was coded with my account.

Obviously, getting an account number is not a difficult task. Any trip to a restaraunt or store will provide that to a willing "customer service representative". And, it seems, counterfeit cards that used to cost a couple thousand to get now are going for around eighty bucks. This guy also had a driver's license to match. So, even when asked for I.D. By the most "dilligent" of clerks, he was able to comply.

I'm sure this leaves none of you feeling any safer, but advances in criminal technology have seemingly spurred advances in detection technology. Most of your credit card purchases are "pre-authorized" on one day, but funds don't normally leave your account for 24-48 hours. Not new information for most of you I'm sure, but it was these pre-authorizations that were going to overdraw my account, and Dick Tracy Federal Credit Union that I belong to finally caught on.

Not that any of this will change the way I operate. "Personal" information seems to be a thing of the past, and being paranoid, in my opinion, is a shitty way to exist.

@ fish

Mrs. Three is quite capable of relieving me of the burden of spending any end-of-the-month surplusses. I honestly believe she is a might jealous of this jackoff's stealth abilties though.

@ KKB

A few of the general contractor's in the area and I, along with a local lumber broker, got together and sent a container of building materials down there last year as soon as we got the go ahead to do so. Little did I know I wasn't done giving.......

:P

Sorry, I thought the point of the story was contained in the first 4 paragraphs ending with the "So what have the rest of you done to help?" question. Not the "By the way" postscript paragraph. ;)
%)

Yeah? Live with me awhile. There's only one point I reach faster than Mrs. Three expects. XD

OK, now don't get all miffed at Three. I understand where he's coming from.

I've had the same kind of thing happen to my debit card, and it really made me mad. (Especially since I didn't have extra bucks in the account for cushion)

It usually happens when someone "skims" your card. (The easiest place to do that is a restaurant, where they take your card away and come back with the receipt. I don't let that happen anymore.)

They just pass the card through a reader that is connected to a computer that records the data on the strip. Often these bits of data are sold overseas. They have an exact digital copy of your mag strip, and make cards with whatever name they wish with your mag strip data.

My card got skimmed, and suddenly I was spending money at boutiques in Mexico City. My credit union called and asked if we were making those purchases, and they reversed all the charges, but my confidence in the security around cards is shot now. (Why don't they require a PIN on Visa debit purchases?) I like that I can access my account info online and monitor it closely.

Katrina relief still needs to happen. Thanks to all who help, and will continue to. Don't let idiot criminal activity stop you from doing good.