- Jan 9, 2001
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(Sorry to start so many threads, the questions keep popping into my head tonight!)
As the title of the thread indicates, I'm a junior in high school. A recent event at a commercial airport has sort of got my mind going on this matter: I had an E-Ticket for American Airlines to board my flight and return home. At O'hare airport, I showed them the form, told them my name and where I was going, showed them my driver's liscence and all was well. At San Jose airport, however, driver's liscences were, for whatever reason, not valid/ample identification. The woman asked me to present her with a credit card with my name on it. I informed her I didn't have a credit card, and she looked at me like I was crazy.
In sort of an odd, indirect way, this got me thinking about all the confusing sh!t that occupies adult daily life-taxes, mortgage payments, bills, checking accounts, etc. To be honest, while I have the basic concept of all these, I doubt my "expertise", or lack there of in these areas, would be enough for me to manage all of them myself. My parents take care of all my bank accounts. And when my taxes come on those accounts , while the money is mine that goes Uncle Sam, they take care of all the logistics. Dealing with the bank seems painfully confusing on the times when I've ventured in with a parent or sibling. Just making a withdrawl from my own account seemed to arouse all sorts of peculiar questions from the clerk.
My point (indeed, there is one!): At age 16, did you have a firm grasp on all this jargon? If not, when, and how, did you learn about all of it? It's one aspect of the "real world" that, as ashamed as I am to admit it, still confuses the heck out of me.
Thanks! And happy new year.
EDIT: Perhaps I should rephrase this. It's not that I've been taught and that I don't understand it. It's that I haven't been taught, and I'm not really sure how to go about learning.
As the title of the thread indicates, I'm a junior in high school. A recent event at a commercial airport has sort of got my mind going on this matter: I had an E-Ticket for American Airlines to board my flight and return home. At O'hare airport, I showed them the form, told them my name and where I was going, showed them my driver's liscence and all was well. At San Jose airport, however, driver's liscences were, for whatever reason, not valid/ample identification. The woman asked me to present her with a credit card with my name on it. I informed her I didn't have a credit card, and she looked at me like I was crazy.
In sort of an odd, indirect way, this got me thinking about all the confusing sh!t that occupies adult daily life-taxes, mortgage payments, bills, checking accounts, etc. To be honest, while I have the basic concept of all these, I doubt my "expertise", or lack there of in these areas, would be enough for me to manage all of them myself. My parents take care of all my bank accounts. And when my taxes come on those accounts , while the money is mine that goes Uncle Sam, they take care of all the logistics. Dealing with the bank seems painfully confusing on the times when I've ventured in with a parent or sibling. Just making a withdrawl from my own account seemed to arouse all sorts of peculiar questions from the clerk.
My point (indeed, there is one!): At age 16, did you have a firm grasp on all this jargon? If not, when, and how, did you learn about all of it? It's one aspect of the "real world" that, as ashamed as I am to admit it, still confuses the heck out of me.
Thanks! And happy new year.
EDIT: Perhaps I should rephrase this. It's not that I've been taught and that I don't understand it. It's that I haven't been taught, and I'm not really sure how to go about learning.