When things aren't right, they are wrong. Plain wrong

There are lots of things I don't understand. I'll bet there are lots of things you don't understand. Maybe the two things I don't understand right now are among the things you can't figure out either.

Example 1: If I made a list of minor and major aggravations in my lifetime, this would be at or near the top of the "major" group. What is it? It's mail-in rebates.

You know the ones I'm talking about? You go to the store and spend money and the salesperson announces that your purchase qualifies for a rebate -- one that you have to mail in to the manufacturer or retailer along with proof of purchase, your fingerprints, adoption rights for your first-born and copies (in triplicate) of your last will and testament.

Then you are told that you will receive a rebate … sometime. That can be next week. Or it can be next year, when you've forgotten about the rebate, which is, I think, what the manufacturer/retailer is hoping.

Sometimes rebates are exactly that. After sending in all the forms, which are more complicated that any IRS return I've seen, you eventually get a check.

Sometimes rebates come in the form of debit cards loaded with the amount of the rebate. These cards almost never match the amount of any purchase you will make, so you owe more money or you wind up with a debit card with a balance of 17 cents. And most rebate debit cards have expiration dates. "This card is valid until 5 p.m. Aug. 8, 2014." Good grief! That's today. I'll have to rush to a store and buy something whether I need it or not. Otherwise I'll lose my rebate.

Sometimes rebates come on a piece of plastic that can only be used in the store where you made your initial purchase that qualified you for a rebate. I suppose there's a fair chance you might use one of these rebate cards on a purchase that -- you guessed it -- qualifies for a rebate.

Lucky you.

How stupid do retailers and manufacturers think we are? A rebate is simply one form of price-cutting. Something that costs $100 and qualifies for a $10 rebate really only costs $90, plus a lot of needless rigmarole. Why not sell me something for $90, say "thank you" and move on?

And then there's the sneaking suspicion that rebated retail items are not rebated at all. Have you ever noticed that something that qualifies for a $10 rebate costs $10 more than the same item with no rebate? Or am I just being my usual cynical self?

Example 2: This one is more practical and has a more direct bearing on our well-being. It's visual obstructions at street intersections.

Some of these obstructions are easy to resolve. Some aren't.

An easy one would be to move the trailer in the lot on the southeast corner of New Madrid Street and Perry Avenue so that it doesn't block the view of northbound traffic from motorists westbound on New Madrid. In order to see around the trailer you have to nose your vehicle into the northbound lane of traffic, which is fine if there is no northbound traffic. Guess what? Sometimes there is northbound traffic, and the resulting sign language exhibited by northbound motorists is quite a show all by itself.

After being parked there for several weeks, the trailer at New Madrid Street and Perry Avenue was moved Thursday. Thank you.

Other vision-blocked intersections include the corner of New Madrid Street and Clark Avenue. On the northeast corner is an old, old house on a high bank. In order to see if there is any southbound traffic on Clark, motorists must pull their vehicles way out into the street, which means motorists wanting to turn east on New Madrid have to make quite a loop. Dealing with this obstruction would mean removing the house and the bank it sits on. Or prohibiting left turns from New Madrid onto Clark – not a practical idea.

There also are gobs of blocked-vision intersections caused by bushes and shrubs and tree limbs and automobiles parked across sidewalks and on and on. In addition to blocking safe views of traffic, some of these same hazards hide stop signs. Every stop sign ought to be clearly visible from a respectable distance.

That reminds me of another peeve: motorists who don't stop at stop signs -- any of them, seen or unseen. But that's another rant for another day.

It sure would be nice to get some of the obstructed-view intersections cleared up. Or give us a rebate. On our taxes.

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.