Confession

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November 29th, 2018 at 7:44:56 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
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One of my favorite aspects of Catholicism is the emphasis on confession. It makes me feel a little better to get something off my chest I am judging myself over and do something to atone for it. I'm hoping FrG will monitor this thread and help us get over the sins that are weighing us down. However, I welcome input from everybody. I think the world would be a better place if we tried to improve our own character and helped others do the same.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
November 29th, 2018 at 7:59:44 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
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I'll get this started with some I don't feel proud of, but was put in a bad position and don't feel it is entirely my fault. Let me tell the story.

Over the Thanksgiving vacation I went down to Orange County to visit my mother, both brothers, and their families. It was the first time we had all been in the same place at the same time. Strangely, Thanksgiving day itself is a quiet travel day. Airfare was cheap, lines were short, and the plane was only half full to Long Beach.

It was my plan to drive to Terminal 3 at the Las Vegas airport and just pay for three days of long-term parking. The cheapest way to go and convenient. When I get to the airport I get in the wrong lane for parking and end up driving right past passenger drop-off. So I have the rest of the family get out and to the gate while I go park. Then I circle around and get in the right lane for parking. However, just as I would normally enter the lane leading to the long-term lot, it is coned off with a sign saying "long term parking full." It would have been nice if there were signage earlier to warn me. So, I then go around the whole terminal again to check on the prices as short term. $36 a day. I am a cheap bastard and am not going to pay that when I was rebuffed for parking at long term.

Before I go on, let me say there is another huge parking lot for Terminal 1 long term, but that would have necessitated two shuttles to get back to Terminal 3, putting me in jeopardy of missing the flight. You can wait up to 15 minutes for each shuttle, not to mention driving, parking and walking time.

So, what do I do? I drive over to the Hard Rock, which is the closest big casino to the airport, park there for free (yes, they still have free parking), walk over the front entrance, hail a cab, take a $10 cab ride right to the Terminal 3 entrance and am good as gold. Reverse the process after returning to Vegas. Including cab driver tips, I was out $25-$30, about the same as what I would have paid for long term parking, which is $10 a day.

However, I feel guilty about stealing a parking space from the Hard Rock. If I owned the place, I would not want everybody parking there for free to avoid paying for parking at the airport, which a lot of locals do.

My questions are, what should I have done after I discovered long-term parking was full and what should I do now? Should I write the Hard Rock a check and if so, for how much? For what little it's worth, I used to do some consulting work for them several years ago and used to bet a lot in their sports book. So I feel a business relationship has already been opened there, although the guy I worked for is long since gone.

That's it. What is my penance?
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
November 29th, 2018 at 7:59:50 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
People act out of character quite frequently. Impulse, alcohol,, frustration, etc.

confession may or may not be good for the soul but its often a great help to the prosecutor.
November 29th, 2018 at 8:17:39 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Wizard
I'm hoping FrG will monitor this thread and help us get over the sins that are weighing us down. .


Sin is an offense against a god. I
don't believe in god, so why would
I believe in sin. We covered this for
years in the Original Sin thread.

Felling bad about something isn't
sin, much as the Church would love
to make you think it is. It's just
another way for them to control
you.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
November 29th, 2018 at 8:32:38 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote:
I feel guilty about stealing a parking space from the Hard Rock.


Why? The place is a dump, that's why
Branson bought it and is putting
hundreds of millions into renovations.
You did them a favor, you made it look
like they had one more customer than
they did. Do you really believe they
were so packed that you actually
deprived somebody of a parking
space?

You're fine, you should feel clever,
not guilty. I absolve you, I have
as much power in these things
as FrG, more even.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
November 29th, 2018 at 9:15:08 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
Why? The place is a dump, that's why
Branson bought it and is putting
hundreds of millions into renovations.
You did them a favor, you made it look
like they had one more customer than
they did. Do you really believe they
were so packed that you actually
deprived somebody of a parking
space?


I had to drive all the way up to level 4 to find a space. It was busy Thanksgiving weekend, what can I say. However, I see your argument. Mine would be that people that came after me would have had to drive up even higher to find a space until people started leaving faster than they arrived, which probably didn't occur until Sunday morning. So perhaps my sin is against the other Hard Rock patrons.

BTW, they added a who new casino and parking garage along Koval. The place looks nice. The biggest downside is the location -- within walking distance of nothing good except Club Paradise.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
November 29th, 2018 at 9:19:07 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
Sin is an offense against a god. I
don't believe in god, so why would
I believe in sin. We covered this for
years in the Original Sin thread.

Felling bad about something isn't
sin, much as the Church would love
to make you think it is. It's just
another way for them to control
you.


I think we had this discussion before, but what would you do if you see a $20 bill fall out of an elderly woman's purse, who you don't know personally, but do know she has to live on a small income and $20 would mean a lot more to her than you?
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
November 29th, 2018 at 11:01:36 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Wizard
I think we had this discussion before, but what would you do if you see a $20 bill fall out of an elderly woman's purse, who you don't know personally, but do know she has to live on a small income and $20 would mean a lot more to her than you?


I'd put another $20 with it and tell her
$40 fell out of her purse. I've actually
done similar things. I would always
give the money back to the person
regardless of who they are because I
want them to do the same for me. I
also like being a hero, who doesn't.

I always tell people in the casino when
they've dropped chips, or when money
is almost falling out of their pockets.
I lost my wallet in Walmart a few
years ago and when I went back, it
was in lost and found with money
and credit cards intact. That was
random chance, next time it will be
emptied.

I dated a girl in the 70's who found a
wallet in her seat. She took the $125
and stuffed it in her purse and was
really proud of herself. I didn't date
her again.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
November 30th, 2018 at 2:41:38 AM permalink
odiousgambit
Member since: Oct 28, 2012
Threads: 154
Posts: 5055
Quote: Wizard
That's it. What is my penance?
oh my god, I would have had zero guilt over that, would've been slightly proud probably since the short term parking was a case of total Gouging without question. Screwing over the casino? Any guilt there would have vanished quickly. I get irritated with my wife when we stop at a fast food joint to pee when traveling*. She feels guilty and buys a drink or something; I keep telling her "nobody there cares if you used the bathroom, wasn't happier you bought something, and is probably happier if you walk out and don't bug them. Just don't trash the place". Of course in the big picture she and others like her are right, and maybe if the place is a small business with a local owner I care a little more. Otherwise that statement in quotes is exactly how I feel with zero guilt.

We all have different things that set us off, I guess.

In fact my conscience is a pain in the ass. What gets to me in a way I dislike [I can torture myself about them] are my social faux pas. I feel mortified if I was just talking to someone the evening before and realize on later reflection I brought up the wrong subject or whatever. If dating women was involved in any way, any faux pas was made even worse .

As for real confession about real mistakes that should matter to me, I'll have to think about that and see what I can post here. I confessed about some bad behavior over at WoV in the 'tell a secret' thread and blogged about it too. However, compared to social faux pas that stuff hardly bothers me at all, I'm just glad I quit doing it.

*to someone my age, it is very ironic that the fast food joints are the places to use the restroom, while back in the day everybody used gas stations. Those got to where it was a pain, you had to usually ask for the key. That local owner who would notice if you didn't buy anything in fact! Different times, today the gas station might tell you they don't have a public restroom, though so many now have the convenience store attached that does
I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]
November 30th, 2018 at 3:15:18 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Reminds me how lucky I am to live in a town with an airport not even using half of its capacity!

I would not feel any guilt. You were in not a physical but de facto emergency and found a way to handle it.

Maybe Fr Gamble can better point where in the Bible this comes from, but I remember a story of Jesus chastising some of the Jews for complaining about two guys "breaking the Sabbath" because they picked some food from a field because they needed to eat. I only remember hearing it once in years of Catholic School, but it is one of those that stuck with me. IIRC the point was they did not hurt anyone else and the idea of honoring the Sabbath was not meant to keep people from making food.

I have used the casino parking and the free subway connection (which the casino and football club pay for) to save on parking in town many times. That is hours not days of course. People use parking like this all the time. (NOTE: this is more forgivable in the east vs. the southwest as we have way bigger lots here than there.)

I am not in the position of forgiving your sins, but here is my proposal:

1. Consider it a fair trade for their making BJ 6:5 and do nothing.
2. Take whatever you would have paid to park and drop it in a Salvation Army kettle next time you are by one.

I say TSA as they are about the best, and for sure easiest this time of year, to see that your money goes to do good and not to just feed the charity-industrial complex that is a sad part of today's America.
The President is a fink.
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