Off Topic 2015

[55]

Quote: Originally Posted by dickey1331

I called DirectTV and they lowered my bill by $35 for 1 year with no contract. I'm happy about that.

Any particular reason why they did? I have them too (the package with every possible channel) and wouldn't mind a discount.

[Majingir]

Quote: Originally Posted by 55

Any particular reason why they did? I have them too (the package with every possible channel) and wouldn't mind a discount.

I think sometimes just threatening to switch can lead to them offering one of those standard discounts. At least that's how it works in Canada. Regardless who you have, you're actually supposed to call every several months, stating something(like how ___ offered you ____) and then your current provider will give you some kind of discount.

Though the hidden catch on it is that they're not written contracts. So even if they say something like "We'll give you 30% off for the next 12 months", after 6 months they might just drop the discount and start charging you full price again(which at that point,is usually when people call back and complain again and the process repeats itself all over again).

[kehlis]

The key to a good bluff is being willing to go all the way through with it (i.e. cancelling).


I'm sure 55 knows this as well as anyone. I hope it was more than saying he was going to cancel DTV because as much as I would love to shave my bill, that's not a bluff I'm willing to make.

[dickey1331]

Quote: Originally Posted by 55

Any particular reason why they did? I have them too (the package with every possible channel) and wouldn't mind a discount.

I called asking when my contract ends. He said it already ended. He asked why and I said I was considering switching to uverse and they offered me that deal. I never threaten to cancel.

[Blzer]

So one of my students committed suicide yesterday.

I don't know if I can officially claim him as one of my students though since he was only with us the first week of school (though I had subbed for his classes a bit last year). After that, he was M.I.A. and a counselor reported to me that his family had him in a hospital, as he was very unhappy then but was getting support. I tried to reach out to him via the school e-mail system, but no such luck in response. By the end of September, he was placed in a separate program, and I hadn't heard about him since.

A lot of students in my class have known him since childhood, and maybe even still hung out with him after he joined that other program. I just talked to one of my softball players and she said she just saw him a few days ago. It was he who told her to keep smiling and not be sad, she said.

I'm a bit shaken because I still feel like I impact my students' lives, therefore I didn't do enough for him (but as I should understand, we barely knew each other). I really feel for my students, though. Many of you may know that I lost my best friend at 15 years old, and they're 15/16 right now as well. I lost my first friend to suicide at 17, and it was tough to cope with. I just don't know how to enter tomorrow. It would be one thing if it was the day of, but this is a couple of days after so I don't know how much I should dawn on this in class itself, or if it should even be brought up at all. Remember, he hasn't been with us virtually all year.

Any suggestions on this? It doesn't help that I don't teach any classes there tomorrow until the afternoon, so most everything might be taken care of by then as well. I just wish I could have done more before, is all.

[l3ulvl]

What suggestions are you seeking? How to help similar students in the future?

It's a difficult subject, and I'm being serious here which I rarely do, but depression is often perceived as weakness, and depressed people don't always seek help for that very reason.

The fear of being seen as weak is enough for many depressed people to keep it bottled in, and instead expressing outwardly an opposite emotion. Telling someone to smile and not be sad sounds like an outward projection of how he wanted to feel, and how he wanted to be perceived, while also masking how he really felt.

I don't know if this helps at all, especially since the student had already received some treatment, just my perspective. It's a really difficult thing to deal with, don't feel like you failed, it's just not that simple.

[Blzer]

I'm wondering how much it should be brought up at all. He wasn't in my class very long, and I know him less than the students do. Plus, they will have been in school for probably five hours before coming to my class, already probably having taken care of their own business.

Just wondering which way to approach the topic at bell's ring, or how involved I should be.

[l3ulvl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

I'm wondering how much it should be brought up at all. He wasn't in my class very long, and I know him less than the students do. Plus, they will have been in school for probably five hours before coming to my class, already probably having taken care of their own business. Just wondering which way to approach the topic at bell's ring, or how involved I should be.

I had this whole big post typed up but deleted it because I'm not a professional and I shouldn't be dispensing thoughts/ideas/advice based on my own personal experiences.

That in itself might somehow be the best advice I can give