There have been a lot of rumors circulating about airlines starting to charge customers by their weight due to the increased cost of airline fuel. With the increased costs, I get the fact that airlines are trying to find any and every way to turn a profit, but THIS idea (or even the fact it is an idea) has by FAR gone TOO far!

Our culture is already obsessed with being thin! We are reminded of our inadequacies on every newstand, every fashion show, and every talk show telling us 15 ways to lose 20 pounds in 2 days. As a woman with some junk in the trunk, I find it completely APPALLING that airlines are thinking about stooping to this new low.

According to Yahoo News, Samoan Airlines has already started to charge passengers by their weight. Customers are required to guesstimate their weight and the weight of their bags. Then upon arriving at the airport they and their luggage are weighed to confirm their estimate! Granted this is an airline in Samoa, but rumors of this being tossed around by US airlines has been circulating the airwaves for the past few years.

Can you imagine it in the United States? You walk up to the airport they ask you for your tickets, if you are checking any bags, and if you can stand on that nifty little scale right next to the check in counter? This is one woman that would definitely NOT be happy!

I wouldn’t be happy because at the moment I am a bigger gal.  I would be angry because of the inferences that it would be saying to larger passengers. By charging more expensive fairs for heavier passengers it would push even more travelers out of the market (meaning they couldn’t afford to fly), and I don’t know about you but that would tell me that they don’t care if they get my business or not.

It would be the indirect way for airlines to say “lose some weight fatty” if you want to be able to travel this year! How could you not take that personally. It’s already uncomfortable sitting in super small seats that only people with a size six butt fits in comfortably. (which for the record, I am sitting in right now as I write this post)

So, Crunchy readers what are your thoughts? For clarification we are talking about paying what you weigh when you still fit in your own seat, not buying an extra seat if you are a size that requires two seats to fit you.

Would you be comfortable jumping on a scale during the check in process of your next flight? Would you rather pay a little bit extra per ticket to avoid the pay what you weight some airlines are considering?

Now that title has your attention, I have to tell you that there is a severe malady plaguing our local departments stores. It’s called big buttasaurus syndrome . It’s caused by too many nights out on the town, too little exercise, and too big of booties to fit in the regular department store underwear! I have to sadly admit that I suffer from big buttasaurus syndrome. Yesterday I found this out, and I was devestated!

Ok, so I am being a little dramatic, but shopping for underwear really made me think. Why the heck does any woman of size have to shop at Lane Bryant (don’t get me wrong love their stuff), while a lot of stores carry XXXXL men’s underwear? What the snuff is up with that? Before I go on, let’s look at a few figures.

According to WebMd:

• The average American woman wears a size 12-14 dress size
• Current Fashion Models are an average size ZERO
• 50 years ago the average American woman wore a size 8
• A size 8 50 years ago is a size 4 or less today

Let’s paint a picture for you. There I am in the lingerie department looking for new skivvies. I know the scale made me cry a few months back, but I am just a curvy girl. Shouldn’t be a problem finding cute undies? WRONG!!! As I cruise the aisles, I look for some cute designs and find that I fit in the measurements for 3XL underwear. Begrudgingly I grab a pack and try them on. My jaw hit the floor with they didn’t FIT!!!! I mean come on. I have put on a few pounds, but I don’t wear a XXXL in anything. Heck, I dont wear a XXL in anything! You know how embarrassing it was to have to go to the mall to get undies because my butt was too big?

What I don’t get is that society seems to be ok with men getting bigger and bigger, but if a woman is little bigger she has to make the walk of shame to the big girl store.  I am only 2 sizes bigger than the “average” American woman. So why is it that a man that is almost 3 TIMES the size of the average man can still shop for undies in a regular department store. How is this not crazy???

Those figures from WebMd  should really open your eyes. As we are making things smaller and smaller, our population gets bigger. Hmmmm, is there maybe a connection? I don’t think it’s just the super sized meals that are making our butts grow. How many of you head for the fridge when you feel bad? (Raises hand) Maybe because we spend less time loving who we are RIGHT NOW, we end up feeding our emotions and thus getting bigger!

So all you ladies out there that suffer from big buttasaurus like I do, we need to stand up and revolt! Do you suffer from it or you rock it? I plan on rocking it, and showing those small panties how they can kiss my butt!

******WARNING THIS IS A RANT AND MAY CONTAIN SWEAR WORDS**********

Words cannot even describe the anger and frustration I am feeling right now. I take that back there is a word, PISSED OFF! I don’t use that word lightly when I am writing, but that is the only thing I can come up with.

Let me tell you a little story to help you understand why I am seeing red right now!

About 3 years ago, almost right after my family moved to Indiana for a job, my husband was laid off. I had just had knee surgery, with $3000 worth of co-pays. We had some credit card debt, cell phone bills, and other bills that we could no longer pay. In attempts to survive, several bills went unpaid because at that point we were just hoping to have a roof over our heads.

I didn’t have a job at the time, because we had recently decided I would come back home to be with the kids. There we sat with absolutely NO income! It took weeks for unemployment to kick in, and it was from the mere kindness of friends and family that we survived those first few months. Our credit took a horrible hit over the 12 months that my husband was unemployed.

Fast forward a year later. My husband was able to get a job, and we started assessing the damage. We called EVERY SINGLE CREDITOR that we owed money to and started making payments. I won’t lie we did contemplate bankruptcy, but being the stubborn woman I am I didn’t want to go that route. If it took me $5 bucks a month to each bill we were going to pay it all back.

EVERY payment arrangement we made that year we have kept! Slowly but surely we have been able to pay off medical bills, credit cards, and other bad debts. That is why today I was so extremely ticked when I found out some aggravating news.

I had a cell phone bill with Verizon Wireless that went bad during this time. My bill was over $1000 ($700 of that was from disconnect line fees), and off it went to collections. I made arrangements with the collections agency to pay this bill, and they have been drafting the agreed upon payment STRAIGHT FROM MY CHECKING ACCOUNT for over 2 years!!!!!!! When my payment didn’t come out this month, I found it a little odd and decided to give the collections agency a call.

My jaw hit the floor and my blood pressure began to rise when the collector told me that Verizon Wireless had recalled the debt, EVEN THOUGH I PAID ON TIME AND PAID OVER 85% of the balance, and that I needed to call Verizon.

Off I set to call Verizon ready to do battle, when the news got worse. Not only had Verizon Wireless recalled my debt, they sent it to ANOTHER collection agency that charged me MORE COLLECTION FEES!!!! That is total and utter bull shit! Like I told the operator, I could have very easily have filed bankruptcy on the debt and just walked away. They wouldn’t have gotten a penny, but I didn’t! My husband and I have stuck it out and plugged away at the balance.

I know these companies are in the line of making money, but where exactly do they get off. When exactly does paying your payment arrangements on time mean it’s STILL NOT GOOD ENOUGH. It is no wonder that millions of American file bankruptcy every year. We couldn’t help that my husband lost his job, but we still took responsibility for our obligations when we were able. Yet we are still getting punished by corporations like VERIZON WIRELESS.

Even though the vultures wanted more money, I am  happy to say that the story does have a happy ending. The agent I spoke with, Ashley, was actually extremely helpful. When I told her what had happened, and the fact that I could pay the remaining $100 TODAY she was happy to help me. She’s even sending me a paid in full letter.

The best part is that the collection agencies lost over $300 in collection fees! All I had to do was pay the balance owed to Verizon. Take that vultures!

A giant shame, shame to large corporations like VERIZON WIRELESS that squash the little guy and decide that even when you are paying your collections on time that is not good enough.

Have you ever had this happen to you? How would this make you feel? Leave comments so the corporations can see how people feel about their collections practices.