It is Sunday and my task for today is to clean out the office closet.  Sounds like fun huh?  Before I bury myself in a mound of things I haven’t used in months/years, I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while.

The New York Yankees are the worst team in all of sports!

Yes, I know the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) and the Detroit Lions (NFL, 0-15 with a last chance to get a win today) are downright bad teams as far as records are concerned.  I also know that the beloved Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots are fighting for their playoff lives today, but that isn’t why the Yankees, in my opinion, is the worst team in all of sports.

The reason I believe the Yankees is the worst team is because the check book is open – in fact it has always been open.  I can’t give totally accurate stats, but the four highest paid players in baseball are on the Yankees.  I think their salaries average at least $20 million per year each…at least!  What is more amazing is the fact that this has been met with little surprise.  Sportscasters and sports fans are kind of used to the Yankees paying for talent so these off-season signings aren’t all that surprising.

Combine the ability, and money, to sign almost anyone available with the amount of World Series Championships and the sum total is clear (to me): the New York Yankees organization is the worst in sports!

How can you consistently buy more talent than any other team and not consistently win championships?  The owner could be looked at for possibly overpaying.  The manager/general manager could be blamed for not asking the owner to buy the right talent for the organization and the players could be blamed for not making it happen on the court.  No matter who is ultimately responsible, they don’t win as much as they should given the free agency and draft rules of the game.

Remember how people used to think John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins got all the talent?  What about the long line of good/great college players who went to the University of North Carolina?  Those teams combined pale in comparison to a team who can (afford to) buy the players they want.

If I was a betting man and was given the chance to take the Yankees or the field, I would do the smart thing and take the field.

Back to cleaning!

You found $97,000, in crisp $1,000 bills, in a restaurant bathroom stall?  This is supposedly what happened to a 75-year-old woman in Tennessee.  Here’s the actual article:

“A Murfreesboro, TN, woman says she returned $97,000 she claims to have found in a Cracker Barrel restroom, but police said Tuesday they have no report of the find. Billie Watts, 75, told The Daily News Journal that she discovered the money inside a tapestry bag hanging from a hook on a stall door last Thursday. But five days later, the money and its anonymous owner remain something of a mystery in the community, where police said that they have no report of the find. While digging through the bag to figure out its owner, Watts says she found a bundle of neatly stacked $1,000 bills. Watts said she and her husband took the money home, but later called the restaurant back and asked if there was a lost-and-found department. She was told yes, and left her number. A woman called about 15 minutes later and verified she was the owner by identifying pictures left in the bag. Watts returned the bag to the owner, whom she described as an elderly woman, but said she does not have the woman’s last name or phone number. Watts said the woman told her that the money came from selling her home and her belongings and that she was going to start a new life in Florida with her son. Watts says the woman offered to pay her $1,000, but Watts refused it. A manager of the Cracker Barrel restaurant, Bill Shupp, said no employees actually saw the money or the elderly owner.”

If this happened to you, what WOULD you do?  Would you give it back?  I mean, no one would know but you (and God).  Oh, the dilemma this would cause, especially in the economy we are now experiencing.

Ok, so tell me, isn’t it the most awkward thing to have to ask somebody for money they owe you? According to etiquette, what is the proper way to ask for it?

I am getting older, and my memory slips me at times, and maybe I owe someone money, but trust me, not on purpose. If I owe any of you that are reading this, please tell me and I’m sorry.

So here’s the thing.  Several weeks ago, April 26th to be exact we had a garage sale.  We sold our loveseat to a nearby neighbor.  They said they didn’t have the money at the time and in good faith, my husband and I decided to go ahead and let them take it.  We agreed they could pay us a little later.  When my husband helped carry the loveseat across the street,  John (the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent) told my husband that they would pay us the next time he got paid.  Here we are 14 weeks and nine pays later and not a dime!  Is your thought, maybe the still can’t afford it?  Ok, but why the new John Deer $75.00 cutesy sprinkle?  My sprinkler cost $5.99!  And why the new cement bird feeder?  I don’t even feed the birds that come into my yard.  I leave that to Mother Nature.  How can they, with a clear conscious, buy somewhat costly things, things that I can see they have bought and still not pay me my money?

My husband, being my husband, will barely speak to them (yes, they still speak! as if nothing!) and they probably realize he has changed, thus bringing tension to the block. I speak to them and talk to them the same way I did before the loveseat incident. I never want to hurt anybody’s feeling or humiliate someone, but I needed to at least revisit my loveseat dilemma. So here is what I did. I wrote a note and put it in their mailbox. Here is what I wrote:

Hey John and Jane,

This is an awkward letter to write, because we are neighbors and hopefully friends, but I felt forced. The loveseat…I understand forgetting, and I understand initially not having the money, but it has been several weeks, and I have heard nothing from you regarding payment for the loveseat. $40.00 is not going to make or break me, but I did sell it in good faith. If you haven’t paid for it because, maybe you don’t really like it or need it, I understand that too. We will be happy to take it back. It was my mother’s furniture. She is gone now, so it does hold a little sentimental value and we would probably use it in our garage, if nothing else. But if you are happy with it, great! We just need to finalize the sale! Please and thank you!

Kathy

How’s that? Was I too harsh? This is such a sticky situation that borrowers invariably put lenders in. If you think I dealt with it ok, please tell me so I will feel better. If you think I should have handled it differently, tell me that too, I will try to learn from my mistakes and from your advice.