Topic: Personal Experience with Cash Free Coersion.....
As an avid conspiracy theorist (are they really "theories" though ? or fact?....hmmm.....) I thought I'd heard or seen it all. Well today, I've been one upped!
Today, I was signing on to join a major name Temp agency who shall ahem, remain nameless - but it's a company I've used before, in another state - and I had finished filling out the mountains of paperwork and watching their propaganda videos and was now sitting down for the face to face interview. Well, the **first thing** the woman did was address the issue of my two options for receiving my employment earnings................. I was given a choice between either Direct Deposit into a bank account, which we've all heard of, or, something called a Visa Paycheck Card. It's a card that looks like a Visa credit card, and they directly deposit your earnings onto the card. You in turn can swipe that card any ol' place that accepts Visa, and just pay for your stuff / food that way instead.
Those were my options being presented. NO mention of a paycheck.
I sat there, dumbfounded, and asked, "Uhhhh.....what about just getting an actual physical paycheck?" (You know, what about that magical hidden third option I'm always talking about, you know??!)
She IMMEDIATELY came back with "Checks get lost in the mail."
Without gettting into the entire back and forth exchange, let me just summarize it this way: I asked SEVERAL times about receiving an actual paycheck, only to keep hearing stories about how checks get lost in the mail. Finally I flat out asked, "Do you issue paychecks?" I STILL couldn't get a direct answer. First I was told No (!!) so then I confirmed, "_____ agency doesn't issue paychecks??!!" THEN I was told, "Not here in THIS office. But they do in Richmond." OKAY THEN!!!! SO THEY **DO** ISSUE PAYCHECKS!!! Jesus God.
So can I GET a paycheck??
With that question, I now found myself with THREE women employees of the agency tag teaming me to coerce me to just get the friggin Visa Paycheck Card.
My answer? After all that, and the coersion? NO. Said "I know it's 'old fashioned' but I think I'll stick with a paycheck." (Don't be tryin' that coercion thing on me, it doesn't work! )
AND THE ROOM GOT SILENT. I swear to God, all three got silent and just gave me steely looks, seeming to be mystified. Then one of the women got up, slightly huffy, to grab a decline form. Yes, they made me FILL OUT A FORM saying that I was refusing the Visa Paycheck Card thing and that I was opting instead for a paycheck....making it seem by the wording, and by their facial expressions / attitudes that it was this incredibly bizarre, strange thing to be doing. I don't know why they seemed to take my decision personally. It has nothing to do with them personally. (maybe they get a financial kickback with every person they get to sign on? )
So yes, what a bunch of crap THAT is. Can you imagine not having the option of a physical paycheck, or at least facing a mountain of resistance in trying to get one? I know, I know, we're eventually going to be a cashless society...............but didn't you ever wonder HOW exactly "They" were going to pull this off?? Well today I just had a glimpse. I see the way in which They are approaching this. I'm stubborn though, and I made a vow almost 10 years ago to hold out til the bitter end in regards to using cash. I DO not have a bank account, NO credit cards, NO debit cards, nada. Each payday for years now I have religiously collected my physical paycheck and made that trip to the bank it's drawn off of and cashed it, and scooped up my pile of money to take home with me. Everybody's all, "Oh, who has time for THAT?" The same people who watch t.v. talk about not having "time." Okay! Maybe I have time cause I don't own a t.v.! haha
Other offhand examples I've seen of the "Go Cashless!!!!" movement (save for the obvious bank account credit / debit cards) include:
- The Kinko's Card - Insert your money into a machine and get a card in return that has your "balance" on it;
- The Laundromax Card - at this laundromat chain in South Florida, it's the same deal as the Kinko's card, with card operated washers and dryers.
Even though I don't have any "cards", I still had a wallet full of "cards" anyway. Go figure!
But this is how they're doing it. Slowly but surely. One business at a time. One industry at a time. Businesses are being coerced from the inside, probably with cash incentives from the card companies themselves, to be cash free. Sure, cash is still available and in use out there.....but it's becoming rare. For instance, when was the last time you saw somebody write an actual paper CHECK? I know they're out there, they still exist, but all I ever see is swipe, swipe swipe. I can't remember the last time I saw somebody pull out a checkbook. Weird. When I pull out my cash at a store, I'm usually the ONLY person in that line using cash, seriously. I'm standing there behind people with their cards that are having problems, and the line's being held up, then I get up there and it's like Here's my money, exact change, thank you, BYE! Nice and fast. Cards are supposed to be so much quicker, but ironically, I find that good old fashioned paper money is.
So there you have it, they're doing this one little bit at a time, it's a changeover that's so slow we don't notice anything until after the fact......
(And on a sidenote, I realize that paper money is worthless and bunk, but we have two choices - the Big Brother Cashless Card System where everything's electronic and they have complete control, or, the Old Fashioned Paper Money System, which leaves us with at least the ILLUSION that we still have some smidgeon of control in our lives. It's a choice between the lesser of the two evils...)
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"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
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