By Jack Godbey

Contributing columnist

Many folks will complain about being tied to their cell phone. They long to go where there’s no signal to get some peace. What they don’t realize is every phone that I’ve ever owned has an off button on the side. All you have to do is have the courage to push it. Sure, you might miss out on the pictures that your Aunt Linda posted of what she had for supper, but I think you’ll be OK.

One thing that happens when you turn off that phone is the inability for the scammers to contact you. I consistently get phone calls telling me that they’ve hijacked my computer hard drive and demand payment, or I’ll never be able to use it again. Hey, you can have it. That sounds like an excellent excuse to tell my boss why I was fishing instead of working. Other times, they say that I’ve won $50,000 and all I must do is send them $500 to cover expenses and they’ll send it right out to me.

In today’s world, there are scams at every turn and not always on the Internet. Many of the things in our daily lives are scams, as well. For example, to me, income taxes are a huge scam. I assure you that the IRS knows exactly how much money I made last year and yet, they insist that I figure it out for myself and then send my best guess to them on April 15. If it’s not correct, don’t blame me. Blame Mrs. Wilson, my fifth grade math teacher. She knew I couldn’t add percentages but passed me anyway.

One of the biggest scams going these days is tipping. I have no problem tipping a server for a great dining experience. However, now I see tip jars at convenience stores, dry cleaners and even fast-food restaurants. If I decide to give away what’s left of my paycheck, I’ll be sure to look you up. I’m thinking of putting a tip jar on my desk so my co-workers can give me money when I do nothing extra to deserve it.

One of the scams that I always fall for is the “free trial.” I subscribe to a streaming channel to watch a show with the intention of cancelling before it expires then I forget all about it and just like that, I’m subscribed to a channel that I’ll never watch again.

Health insurance seems to be a big scam to me. They promise to take care of me if I have a large hospital bill. Then I end up paying a deductible before they will pay anything and then they decide to pay only a portion of the final bill. Sounds like a friend I used to have. He promised to pay for everything if I would just go on vacation with him but somehow, I always got stuck with the bill. Then we have dental and vision insurance all separate and all with separate deductibles. It’s like they are holding me hostage. If you actually want to be able to see or ever eat corn on the cob again then you gotta pay us separately. Not cool man.

It seems to me that paying to park is a scam. We went to an attraction recently and the admission price was only $10. I thought that was a good deal. However, when I got there, they charge me $50 to park my car on their property. If they think I won’t park at a Goodwill store 2 miles down the road and walk to the attraction, then they don’t know me very well.

Yes, there are scams everywhere we turn. Somebody wanting something for nothing. Few things are more deplorable than these scams. In fact, if you send me, $19.95 I’ll show you how to avoid them.