Republicans = "Indian Givers"

[MoseyWalker]

No offense to others of native american descent, of which I am one, for the subject title.

My brother has terminal brain cancer. I am, with a friend of his, his primary caregiver.

During the time when we all thought he would likely die, my Repuke sister (who he detests and hadn't spoken to in almost 20 years) gave me a cell phone that was on her "family" plan and told me to use it, not only for emergencies, but to use it as mine.

I gave up my previous cell that I had been using. I have a friend's cell to use that I pay for time on, and my land line. I didn't use this phone other than to call to work or home or to physicians or for appointments that my brother needed.

I got a voice mail message telling me that I had used too many minutes of their time, and to please not use so many.

I got my old cell service back, and intend to not use the Repuke cell service ever again.

I am pissed. This is so...............god damn............republican. Offer the use of something, then bitch about someone actually using it.

Do you have any Repuke, greedy shits stories?

[Solon]

1. This is going to sound funny, but, I never heard that term before...

I think I understand what it means, because of your story, I know, this sounds goofy doesn't it?

[MoseyWalker]

2. Hey, you were probably raised

in a healthy, progressive environment. Consider yoursel lucky that you didn't know the connotation of the term!

peace.

[Solon]

6. Yeah, that's a good thing...

I mean, the first racist word I knew about was "Nigger", which I learned about in movies like "Roots" and various Civil War and Eddie Murphy Movies. Actually, I think the first time I actually heard the term was in the movie "Trading Places".

Other terms and phrases I learned much later, for example, the term Kike, I didn't learn that one till my mid-teens or so, I believe it was that movie with Brendan Fraiser in it, where he's a Jewish guy in an all-white school, and they find out and terrorize him, forgot the movie's name. Jap I didn't know was a racist term at all, I thought it was just shorthand for a single headline for the Pearl Harbor bombing, it was in one of my high school textbooks.

Other, more obscure, terms I learned in my 20's, I didn't even know the "proper" slur for my own ethnicity till then, even though it seems pretty obvious after the fact, I'm Irish, the slur is "Mick" and this makes sense, especially considering my last name starts with "Mc".

Not to say I take offense with the term, nor diminish the power of the other terms, its just that, I guess, considering HOW I learned those terms, they have a negative connotation to me by default. I'm a child of the 80s and 90s, what can I say.

[JuniperLea]

4. There was a song by Paul Revere and the Raiders entitled "Indian Giver"

As I recall, Joan Jett covered it as well. That was in the 70's... we still had Speedy Gonzales and Wampum corn chips too, so the PC Cops hadn't put the kibosh on it yet.

Horrid term... on my list of horrid terms, such as Welshing on a deal and some others that involve the word "Jew"...

There are some very strange people in the world and this lady (pardon the use of the term) ranks up there with the best of them.

I've had people tell me to do things then get pissed as hell because I did them. Hard to say what drives that behavior.

Do it! Do it! Do it!



What the hell did you do that for???



Whatever...

[Journeyman]

3. I don't know how their family plan works, but if they're giving you. . .

a share of their time, and have not rescinded that offer but merely asked you to not take as large a percentage of the time, I hardly see how you can accuse them of reneging on the deal (which is what an "Indian Giver" does). At most, I'd say they're guilty of not thinking it through at the start and establishing groundrules so everyone would remain happy.

Why not, instead of going back to your old service, and flatly refusing your sister's generosity, show yourself equal to her and offer to pay for more minutes for everyone on her family plan? Probably wouldn't cost you as much, and you everyone -- including you and your sister -- could be happier for it.

[MoseyWalker]

5. thanks for the thoughtful response

I guess I disagree because I was NOT using much time, and it was all for the initially expressed purpose. That's where the "indian giver" portion comes in. I should have known better. This person has never given anything without either wanting it back or getting some kind of "restitution." I thought it was a simple thing. I'll use your phone to take care of our brother's medical needs, I'll call you and our other sister, and that's that. It wasn't so simple. Too many minutes were used because I have had to talk to a hundred people a thousand times to get his meds right. And his other needs right. Too many minutes.

I don't want to be on her family plan anymore. I agree with my brother.

He woke up from having a brain tumor taken out of his head, was told "good news"!, and responded:

what, all the republicans are dead?

[northofdenali]

7. Mosey, I think I'm in love with your brother!

What a fantastic response!! I am sending every bit of good karma to him, and you, and your friend and family - it's very, very heartbreaking being a caregiver (I am one as well).

:hug:

[progdonkey]

8. double insult...

Not only does she reneg on the deal (at least as you understood it), but she was obviously going into it with the understanding that your job being your brother's caregiver is easy.

"Here, use my phone for the five minutes of calls that I'm sure are all that taking care of someone with cancer requires."

It's kind of like if someone lent you their car so you could drive roundtrip to Boston from Miami, and they got pissed at you when they see the odometer has gone up three thousand miles: were they just totally unaware of the distance between the two cities?