July's Juxtaposed Jabberings (mini rants)
 

Six months ago I changed my availability at work to include my days off, which means I am willing to be contacted on non-working days to come in as needed. Yesterday I was off, and today I learned that another employee had been called in to cover an open route that day. I called my supervisor to ask for an explanation: he's on vacation until the 15th. :mad: I called the back-up super: he says he can't do anything about scheduling drivers as it's covered by his boss, not him. :verymad: I spoke to my shop steward, and he told me that because I'd worked 5 days prior (40 hours), I was ineligible to be called back to work because other drivers who had not reached the 40-hr mark were available. But the driver who was called in had already worked 40 hrs, and is junior to me. Shop steward shrugs, says "grieve it." Damn skippy I will. Been working here seven years and haven't had a reason to file one, until now.

Hey, new smilie: :rant:

That's fucked up, Zeener. i always hated workplace politics. Keep us updated, and may it settle to your advantage.

From the serious to the mundane. The biggest problem in my life is that the teenager used up all the milk and I have to drink my coffee black like a fucking caveman. I also have a cat who has taken to falling asleep in the most inconvenient places, like door ways and in my chair.

Don't get me wrong...i'm glad I made it another year without dying or going to prison, but this month I'll be closer to 40 than 30. :eek:

Enjoy your youth, Diamonds02. Next month I won't be able to say I'm even in my 40s anymore. Oh, and congrats on another year's survival. That's great.

My 2nd job switched me from a department I have come to hate, but know how to do, to a department I am completely lost in- with back up to the getting yelled at department.

I don't know if this belongs in this thread or the joyful one- I am now doing both the completely confusing department and the suck department.


But maybe the new department won't be bad, once I learn what the fuck I'm doing.

This morning I was woken up by the neighbor's contractors. The neighbors who are too poor to have their 50' tall extremely dead tree that's leaning toward my daughters' bedroom removed are not only having their entire driveway done (Husband reported they "couldn't even afford to get the whole thing done"), they're having it done in concrete. The contractors started running saws at 7:00 and regularly completely block our street by parking haphazardly (they've been working off and on for a week and leave their trucks and trailers wherever).

I worked for the Arizona Registrar of Contractors for years. I poked around and found no place to complain to the licensing agency in PA. They just link to Better Business Bureau complaints. You might file a complaint with them.

My general advice to everyone is to keep on keeping on. If you're going through hell, keep going!! I hope they are done soon, Solfy.

I don't think it's illegal to be noisy at 7:00 - workers gotta work. They jump out and move stuff when I need to get to work (why not park carefully in the first place?) It's just annoying.
I'm mostly mad that the neighbors can pay for things they want but not for things like not allowing their tree to kill my children. I'm probably oversensitive after our friend was nearly killed by a tree a few months ago. Her face will never be the same since they had to reassemble it, but she's alive. Now her insurance is denying covering scar revision surgery despite all of her doctors' recommendations.

Have you looked into complaining to the city/town/whatever your local gov't is? There may be ordinances that require them to get rid of hazards to neighbors. If not, have you asked a lawyer if you can sue 'em to compel them to remove it?

Carve part of the truck facing them into an itaglio dick?

I was thinking more about the sloppy parking than the noise, but you say they let you use the street when you absolutely must.

I got a call from my financial guy with a setback. The final piece to my puzzle turned out to be from a different box. The product was not as advertised, and it doesn't do what I want. We basically have to start over, but at least the principle is not at risk. It's just a pain in the ass.

How awful for your friend! :ohdear: I'd be worried about trees after that, too.

One of my mom's good friends is having the shittiest year possible. It started with a heart attack early on New Year's Day. She spent several months in the hospital/medical rehab facilities getting stents and treatment for various ailments. When she finally made it back home in May, she fainted and snapped her ankle (tibia and fibula). Now she has an infection in the bone from the metal plates holding her leg together. I don't think she'll ever be coming home. :sciencefail:

I checked around with my homeowner's insurance, but it wasn't really helpful. I do know now that insurance is more likely to cover freak accidents with healthy undead trees than normal-dead-tree-falling-over incidents. Laws about trees vary widely, but I have considered going to the township about it. I don't know if they'll help or not. Most recommendations say to send them a certified letter requesting the removal so that it's documented that you made them aware, then they're on the hook for their own negligence. Which is cold comfort when a tree falls on a family member.

Husband, of course, would rather not rock the boat. Can't have the neighbors thinking less of us! He even offered to pay half, because poor poor elderly neighbors* can't afford it. :raeg: This angered me, but at this point I'm so ready to have the tree gone I'd pay all of it.


*Some context may be helpful here - the neighbors are a smidge nuts when it comes to their yard. They aren't so much gardeners as plant hoarders. I think they have over 40 trees of various sorts on their half acre lot. Some are nice trees (they have six different species of magnolia) and many are junk volunteer trees (sassafras, Norway maple, etc.) You can't see the house, just a massive assortment of plants surrounded by a code-unapproved rigged wire fence to keep the deer out. They couldn't afford a tall fence, so they zip tied two cheap fences on top of each other.
Mrs. Neighbor takes tree cutting seriously. When we moved in, she proudly told us how, when our house was listed for sale two owners prior, the realtor hired a guy to cut down overgrown trees on the property. Mrs. Neighbor went out and gave the guy heck and stopped him in the middle of cutting down the two blue spruces in the back yard because. . . reasons. I don't know. Apparently people shouldn't kill trees. She practically tears up talking about the tulip poplar they had to take out of their own front yard 20yrs ago because it was dead. So the spruces were missing half their branches and looked like hell, but were stills standing when we bought the place. One fell a couple years ago (they're in the middle of the back yard and can't really take out anything no matter which way they fall). The other one is dead and still standing - Husband is just about to cut it down. Sometime. Maybe.

1) Wait til crazed neighbors go away overnight
2) Send dottir to stay with a friend
3) At 3 AM sneak out there and throw a rope over the tree
4) Give gentle-ish tug at the least worst angle and let the chips fall where they may
5) Lose the rope
6) Get house fixed

I'd be all for that plan if I could ensure it would only take out the porch roof. That would be the best of all possible worlds.
Sadly, I have no amount of faith that I'd be so lucky.

Just like last year the idiots in the apartment complex had their bang-fest this Sunday instead of the 4th, and just like last year it sounded a lot like a gunshot or serious explosion, but at least this year, I was still up and not asleep in bed when I heard it.

holy crap, Solfy, that's terrible - no wonder you are worried about the giant tree pointed at your daughter's bedroom. No idea what you can do but what horrible neighbors. :(

Christ! Isn't there any ordinance that deals with this type of thing? Considering it's a major safety hazard that affects ones neighbors, they'd be required to deal with it, not just shrug it off.

God I HATE hot weather. I hate the heat. It's muggy, it's stale, and there's a storm so the AC's off just in case the power goes out. I cannot wait until fall. :raeg:

My Fourth of July celebrations have come to an unexpected and awful end. It was too hot outside, and I ate spicy food, too much that is. Ended up vomiting, and I was unable to get cool, so I had to be driven home. While I was horrified that I vomited at all, in public at a family friend's house... The saddest part was how I had to miss out on all the fun.

It also makes me really think about how invisible disabilities are shunned. Something like this can happen to a friend if they have an overheating problem, but they never quite seem to believe you and say something along the lines of 'oh yeah i get super hot too wow'. And you have to be like... No. No no. And then come the barrage of explanations but i'm getting ahead of myself.

The hostess of the party, a person who I really love, her name is Kris, was so understanding and sent me home with some prepared bags just in case I have to puke in the car. She's always been understanding and loving and caring of me, so I was glad to see her even for a little. Now I sit at home and recover from the ordeal, I think i'm good now, no more projectile vomming for me! Even though now I feel like I got hit by 3 busses in a row from heat exhaustion... Sigh.

Happy fourth.

Aww, that is awful :(
Don't be embarassed and don't feel you have to explain yourself to anyone. It's bad enough just being sick.

Yuck, I hope you feel better soon. :(

Nobody is showing up to their appointments today. I've had three no shows.

My biggest, oldest client is moving to a new location in a couple weeks. They already had a telecom company they work with, so used them to move the phone system, run the phone and data cables, install speakers for Muzak, run the power and data cabling for the security system, etc. Let's count the ways this company has pissed me off:

- They wired the new building with CAT5e (cable). Yes, a telecom company did a brand new install - in 2018! - with CAT5e instead of CAT6. My client only has a gigabit network, so CAT 5e is fine... but WHY would you use CAT5e? In 2018? What happens when my client wants to sell the building in 5-10 years, and prospective buyers find out it was wired in 2018 using the fastest cable available in 2002, instead of, ya know, CAT6, like every other provider in the area? Like, why do they even have 5e at their warehouse?

- I specced 3 access points. The wife (the business manager of the telecom company) put in 4 access points. Even better, the extra one she put in is in a room that has no electronic devices whatsoever. A storeroom, basically. Thanks, Linda!

- The husband (the guy who does most of the actual "climbing on a ladder" work) had "no idea" he was supposed to install the access points, even though we did a walkthrough a couple months ago where I said that there was no way I was getting on a 20 foot ladder to install the APs and the husband said "No worries... I'll install them."

- Linda also scheduled the internet\phone switchover. But she set it up as a new install instead of transferring the service from the old location to the new one. So the client gets all new IP addresses! THANKS, LINDA! Her response: "I didn't know!" That's why you ask the IT guy first, you shitwit.

I hate people. That's why I choose to work with machines instead.

I hope you get paid anyway? when I do Home Health we get paid by the visit and only a token amount if people aren't home or won't answer the door or whatever but it's still not good. :(

Paid by the hour. I was tempted to post this in mini raves.

:thumbs:

HP support is terrible.

"Call this 1-800 number, or for an even faster response, use the online chat!"

Clicked chat.
"You are next in queue. A tech will be with you soon!"

Exactly forty minutes later
"[tech] has joined"
"I'm sorry but the device for which you are requesting support is not available for chat support at this time.
*chat closed*

Like, really? The website couldn't have told me that when I filled out the form beforehand? I had to wait over half an hour to hear that crucial piece of information? AWESOME.

To top it off, after I called and talked to a real person,* I learned that the printer doesn't even have a print queue, so the only way to clear out the crap people accidentally spam it with is to go to each person's computer and clear their queues individually. BRILLIANT PRODUCT DESIGN! :sciencefail:



*Pro tip: if you get frustrated with automated voice-prompts ("Please state the device you're calling about. I'm sorry, I didn't understand that."), loudly and clearly ask "May I speak to a real person please" (or something along those lines) and most of the time it will connect you right away. Even the non-voice-prompt ones (where you just push buttons instead) will often work that way.

My ex has been in the hospital for 4 days and even though his family knows, nobody told our daughter, who is his legal next of kin. In a medically responsible adult sort of way.

Oh damn, not good. Sorry.

If it's any consolation, their business support sucks, too. In a way, it's even worse, 'cos business customers aren't "supposed" to wait in 40 minute queues. But yeah... there's nothing better than looking for a firmware update to a Jetdirect box, and having to follow 19 dead links on various HP sites before finally finding one that works on HP's Peruvian website, and then it takes 2 hours to download a 12MB binary file because HP's entire web presence is run through two ISDN lines in Guam.

I've been feeling under the weather, nothing too specific, just a lot of minor pains all happening at once. At least I don't have a headache. I'm gradually getting to feel better with coffee and lots of water. My sleep wasn't steady, I remember waking up a lot. I forced myself to stay in bed until 4am, though. I can't think of anything significant happening today. It's a good day to stay in.

The damm air conditioner at the Job is not working:mad:

Call OSHA and complain about an unsafe workplace.

They provided a huge fan and water ice as a temporary solution. I have to get a new job

The gal who was displaying major interest signals flaked on our first attempt at a hook-up. I turned down an opportunity to go out because I was waiting on her. Grrrrrr. She wants to try again, but I'm kinda torn. Very poor second impression, major flake alert.

I fucking hate flakes

Oh, look at you! So high-and-mighty that only dry ice will do!

Goddammit. Our drains are clogged again, so we can't flush the toilet, or take showers until tomorrow after the plumber comes. (Hopefully early!) My mother set up the kitchen sink with a huge mixing bowl covering the drain so we can do basic washing up, but goddammit! It's all these stupid tree roots that end up clogging it every so often. :verymad:


So far, this summer is turning out to suck balls.

I guess it depends on what happened. "I forgot" or "I blanked later that I planned" is not so good; "had to work", "car exploded" and "cat got sick" are no problem.

She texted after two hours and said she decided not to come over after all. No apology with it, just 'I'm staying here with my cousins, wanna try for tomorrow?"

Well that doesn't sound too bad since she suggested tomorrow

Things my 3 year old melts down over:

Offering him clothes
Leaving him naked
Giving him a banana that he asked for
The word "bath," as in, "I should give the dog a bath."
Baths
Taking him to a playground
Leaving the playground
Putting on shoes
Taking off shoes
The word "nap."
The word "bedtime."
Suggesting he play with toys instead of climbing on me like I'm a goddamn jungle gym

Yeah, but I have a modicum of self-respect and don't need to let people treat me that way.

Soooo . . . nope.

You need to familiarize yourself with the bunghole method of child rearing.

I think the key here is that it was a "hook-up" at the most - meaning, no hint that she had any interest in anything except coming over and getting sensual or whatever the word was she used. seriously, if that isn't waving a giant red flag I don't know what is. maybe waving an actual flag, with a photo of the current president :vapors:

I'd say "my 2 cents worth" but it's not even worth that. :sciencefail:

What's wrong with a hookup between two adults?

You know what sucks more than clogged drains? Being the person on the hook to pay for the sewage line replacement when the roots destroy the line. Wasn't expecting that five-figure bill the year after we moved in.

When people show you who they are, believe them.

I had a nearly verbatim FB post two years ago. It gets better. Now she melts down over an entirely new set of things! (but much less often)