Yes, it could even happen to you!

[Black Betty]

I am sure most of you will remember a while back in February when someone posted an urgent message that they needed to get to see their mom because they had lost their family home in some tornados. They mentioned being a few hundred dollars short and was willing to trade/sell their accounts to fund the trip to see her. If not, please see here: http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=56386


I am the person that sent the airline ticket. It was a buddy pass that was space available flying. Because the tickets cannot be sold, they have tracking numbers. This particular one was sold on ebay. This was NOT an ok thing to do, but then again, I blame only myself for falling for this crap once again. Because it was sold, the person working for that airline has to go through a 'fact finding commitee' and all kinds of red tape to prove that they did not sell the tickets themselves. Their own flying privileges could be lost and so would me flying for free as well.

I should have known better, but even though I can be brash at times, I do have a soft spot for people hurting or in trouble. This is a lesson learned. I can only blame myself and believe that the right thing to do would be to at least let others know that this can too happen to them.

I was crazy to believe that this wouldn't happen to me.

 

[Lynk]

The question is, was it a scam from the get-go? Or did she get the ticket, and then realize that the mom found other arrangements, and then sold the ticket for a quick buck?

Either way.. that's pretty low.

 

[Karsalyn]

The person going through all the red tape is my husband and we are very stressed over the whole matter. He could possibly lose his job. It is extremely low thing to do and a whole family may suffer tremendously because of it.

 

[Xegugg]

wow.

 

[Thalidar]

sorry to hear about that betty. You try to do the right thing.. and that *crap* happens.

 

[Malador]

OK but this is AJ you trusted right? Need I say more?

 

[Black Betty]

I believe that says it all, yes.

The ticket that I sent was given to me for my birthday to go and visit my family. Obviously, that had to be cancelled. Too bad this event will make it more difficult for someone who really does have a 'crunch' happen in their life and needs help.

 

[hydro]

nice guys finish last.......

 

[Lady Michelle]

I believe that says it all, yes.

The ticket that I sent was given to me for my birthday to go and visit my family. Obviously, that had to be cancelled. Too bad this event will make it more difficult for someone who really does have a 'crunch' happen in their life and needs help.

The point of all this is you stepped up when you thought someone needed help. and you were there for them is what really matters. There was no way you knew what the outcome would be, and the ticket would be sold causing chaos for others. So dont let something like this turn you off from helping others that really have a crunch in their life, and need help. A bad out come could happen again, but it boils down to how you stepped up and did the right thing in helping so dont let someone take that away from you.

 

[Lady Narsil]

What you did was help someone in need and if we all did that the world would be a better place. I am very sorry the out come has caused a great many problems for you and your family. I would have been angry too. You have a good heart and that is something rare to find in this day and age. Don't let someone like AJ stop you from continuing to help other. Her day will come.

 

[Lady Lava]

This is a sad state of affairs.
I do not know any of the involved in real life but that does not change the way I feel about the situation.

Sometimes simple thoughtless acts or greed reach farther than even the person that has done the nasty deed ever thought. This is a perfect example of why we should stop and think before we do anything that could be considered not above board.

In the realm we can get away with being evil or mean, not to say that that is a good thing. Heck, for years there are always one ot two sour rotten apples in the bunch that attack me even though they really do not know me because they have heard this or that about me from someone else. Some even jealous of anyone that is a Stratics reporter. Then again it is safe to attack someone on the boards or in the realm because the person is not face to face....kinda coward like often.

When actions could terminate a persons way of living that is very scary and jobs are not as easy to find these days.
I feel bad for all involved and thank you Betty for sharing this with us.

Maybe she will still send you the cash when things calm down for her. Sometimes it is hard to get back on your feet. Time will tell.

 

[Black Betty]

It's not about the cash. There is no way that I can/will accept monetary compensation for the ticket.

I'm still a little baffled that in the other thread announcing her emergency that she says she thought it was no strings attatched and seemed to minimize the situation by mentioning that it was a merely a buddy pass. When she stated something about me being bitter made me laugh out loud.

I find it all a little bit hard to swallow when after 5 months of no responses, she posted a response within an hour of the thread being started. This makes it appear to me that she is more concerned about public images than the people involved in this situation. That's not ok in my book.

 

[DKHD]

You did a good thing there Betty. People who take advantage of good nature will get their just rewards. Do not allow this to sour you to doing good deeds.

 

[Karsalyn]

It is not about the money. Not only did she sell the ticket, but she minimized her actions and tried to make Betty seem petty. The $182 that she sold the buddy pass for will not feed my family for a week much less replace the income that can potentially be lost because of her actions. Not only that, none of us will accept any money because it would make it seem to his company that he was a part of her selling the buddy pass. We are trying to keep him seperate from the mess she created by selling a buddy pass that has no cash value and is not to be sold.

 

[Black Betty]

Tessie, get your sig back on here dangit!

 

[kyular]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I don't know AJ or even most ppl on boards or in game. I do know sadie. I supplied the ticket. I want to clarify that it was NEVER an issue of whether or not the ticket was used or returned. The ticket cost me nothing so I have lost no money on it, nor will I accept any money for it. It is a buddy pass and that is why the co. has such steep consequences when they're sold. Yes, they are investigating it, and yes, I could lose my job if I'm connected to the sell of it, or thought to be. This has just re-enforced the sad truth that some folks can't be trusted, even with specific instructions and rules.

 

[Lynk]

Now I know what phone number to engrave in bathroom stalls at the bars.

 

[Piehunter]

Now I know what phone number to engrave in bathroom stalls at the bars.

She's not even worth engraving an outhouse wall...

 

[Black Betty]

Deleted.....

 

[Mystra]

I had to remove many posts that contained personal details .
I know there was alot to read there and it is a shame to lose it all over a few phone numbers names and such . Please feel free to repost anything else that may not contain such things .
i can send you a copy of any post if it was yours so you may edit and repost with the offending materials
pm me if you need it
thanks
Mystra

 

[Black Betty]

Originally Posted by AstarianJewel
I don't mind the continued "Let's all bash AJ thread" (I really honestly don't, that is part of what the boards are for) There really are two sides to this story.

1. http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=7827071

Thats the storm that came through. Another poster on the OTHER thread Sadie got going about this has a user who posted where a permit was taken against our family home for $40,000 in repairs (Though I'm pretty sure when it's all said and done the damage will total way beyond that).

Here's the deal.

I lived in North Carolina. My mother's home burned in Memphis. My mother had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation, she suffered lung damage and now uses an inhaler but is okay for the most part. ALL her items burned. She was literally without home. She had to go to walmart and buy something even to change into, she had no clothes. SHe was alone, and she's 59 this year. I sold everything I had of value to come down here. I posted my accounts for sale (They sold to Isabeau I believe), I posted them here on Stratics.

Sadie contacted me, she said she had an extra buddy pass. She said it was totally no big deal and would be happy to help. I graciously thanked her, repeatedly, she mailed it.

In the meantime my family's needs grew greater, and it became apparent my fiance' and enough materials for me to stay here for awhile were necessary and I absolutely couldn't fly. There are 24 horses and dozens of other critters that needed caring for and a lot of cleanup/sorting out to be done.

A friend of mine offered me exactly what I was short in expenses. $182 for the pass. I assumed he'd use it to fly. It never occured to me that he would sell it. I also sold two of my computers, a TV and a WHOLE bunch of my clothes/shoes/jewelry. Ultimately, packing our home up and moving into an apartment here cost me my job, and $4,000.

I've now been living IN Memphis. I'm lucky to have a good job here, but I work 8 hours a day for the paper, and then go spend 5-6 hours a night working on the farm. I don't even have ICQ anymore to respond to. This entire ordeal has changed EVERYONE's lives down here. My mother's only income is the farm, and with a wrecked house the appearance of the property has been less than inviting to new prospective customers, so we've hard to overcome it (Fortunately the barn is still in tact).

I thank Sadie over and over again. I offered to do anything I could for her in return. Once I got here, I haven't kept in contact, but I havent' necessarily had time. I haven't been in game, I haven't been on vent, I don't have ICQ. I really even only get to check these boards once or twice a week.

I truly APPRECIATE the help that was given to me. I am TRULY sorry that an error made during a time when all I could think about was getting home has caused another family problems.

I called Southwest airlines yesterday from my office and explained the situation to the rep and she assured me that as long as the person who loaned the ticket was in no way connected with the sale he will NOT lose his job, but I'm sure that doesn't alleviate the stress until it is over with.

I'll sign whatever testimony, take whatever blame necessary and do whatever I can to help if there is any help that can be given. Memphis was declared a state of Emergency and I have every last piece of government and insurance document to support everything stated here.

You can have Southwest (Or anyone else who is jumping on the bandwagon here and is concerned or would just like to hash it out, or has any questions) to call me at my office today at 901-***-****. My cell phone is rather useless as I use Altell (From North Carolina) and I get reception in about three places in Memphis. You can leave me a message though and I will certainly call you back.

As for my mother? who plays Lady in Your Dreams, can't respond to this. Right now she's living in an apartment in her barn and the internet she has is sketchy at best. But I'd be happy to give you HER number too if you ask.

I *get* you being angry with me, and I hope you *get* that it was NOT my intention to cause any problems whatsoever. This is not a testament to "when you help people you get screwed!" this is a testament to "someone in a really severe emergency made a bad judgement call with no ill intent".

You can base these actions off what some of you THINK you know about my personality based on playing a video game with me five years ago. That's fine. I really honestly don't care. I'm only continuing to post because I want it to be understood that absolutely none of this was intentional.

The bottom line is, at that moment, my mother was all I could think about and I was 1,000 miles away. Someone offered me gas money, and I sold it. I'm sorry.

Please contact me if in ANY way I can help sort this out. I'm not hiding from any of you or making myself inaccessible to any of you. I probably won't get back here until Monday or so, but you have numbers to reach me at. Do all the speculation you want about what may or may not have really happened, and decided that I'm the devil incarnate. A vicious con artist who deliberately scammed roughly $200 and took off into the night. Thats fine. But with all that aside, if I can assist with the investigation let me know. I can provide the young man's name I sold it to, and his number too, but I don't think he re-sold maliciously. He's a college kid.

Sadie, I appreciate your help. You did a great thing for me. Especially considering our past and our mutual distrust and resentment towards each other. We weren't friends prior to this, not since we had an issue that caused me to stop talking to you. I thanked you, and then I went back to putting my life together. I didn't call on a regular basis or necessarily feel the need to strike up a pseudo friendship simply because you were there for me. You offered, I accepted, I thanked you, and then AND now, I'm busy helping things here and will continue to do so until they're done.

Fortunately by September first (Contractors keep pushing the date back) My mother will be back in her home.

Again, if you or anyone from Southwest Airlines needs to reach me, my office number is 901-***-**** and my cell is 252-***-**** You can reach my mother via email at *****@*********.com but she is touch and go with when she can check it.

My most sincere apologies. Now by all means, continue jumping to conclusions.

Jennifer

If this were a sincere personal appology and no need to further the drama of it, you would have pm'd to me or the others involved that messaged you with all of this information, but instead, ONCE AGAIN, you have chosen to make it only a public post at best to serve your own position. This is the problem. You minimize by justifying and only doing it public. Serves only YOU. You made NO attempt at responding until it was made public.

You are correct that if the Southwest Airlines employee is found not to be involved with the sale of the ticket, his job will remain secure. They also have the added stress of having to supply all our saved messaged, posts and phone records to confirm everything but he could STILL lose flying privileges for himself and his family. In other words, even though you have tried to minimize this situation, the stress of having your job on the line for several weeks up to a month is not a cake walk, Pumpkin.

Let me make this clear. The problems I have with you (as with in the past) have never had anything to do with the game 5 years ago. You are a perpetual victim. At best, when you do take responsibility for something gone wrong, you will always minimize or excuse the behavior.

Noone EVER expected you to keep in close contact. It was about common courtesy. The only contact I had with you and I asked if you were able to fly and see your mom, your response was that you had. The times that I left messages for you on ICQ, you were ONLINE.

Your explanations are in vain. Enjoy your weekend.