Rant VIII: The Reckoning

I went to the zoo on a first date - and it bears stating, going to the zoo was her idea - and this 31 year old human woman spent about 30 seconds looking at any given animal and going "DO SOMETHING. You're boring. Fuckin' lame. Next." and saying of other customers at the zoo things like, "These people are freaks. They're just looking at the animals." Uhh, it's a fucking zoo?
It sounds like she went and found a list of "good ideas for a first date!" then went with it without actually thinking about what a zoo is or what she'd be doing there. I am a little curious what she wanted the other zoo-goers to be doing, though?
 
I'm feeling very self-pitying today. I'm really fucking tired of being single, but I'm way even more extra super tired of shit dates.

I went to the zoo on a first date - and it bears stating, going to the zoo was her idea - and this 31 year old human woman spent about 30 seconds looking at any given animal and going "DO SOMETHING. You're boring. Fuckin' lame. Next." and saying of other customers at the zoo things like, "These people are freaks. They're just looking at the animals." Uhh, it's a fucking zoo?

Who thinks this is an appropriate way to behave? Anyway when she suggested we leave and go for lunch, I told her to go get lunch, and I stayed at the zoo.
She’s the boring and lame one, not any of the animals. I’m glad you stayed on at the zoo to enjoy it on your own.

I hope that you meet someone awesome soon.
 
I lost another ferret today. Haylla was a rescue who had been abandoned in a garbage bin with two dead cage mates. After a lot of care, she finally integrated with two of my crew - Pickle and Stryker. About a month ago, she started attacking Stryker and not letting him come out of wherever he was sleeping. Thinking it was because he's sick (he's been diagnosed with lymphoma), I removed him and left Haylla with Pickle, who she started attacking last week. I now realize she had undiagnosed neurological problems, probably caused by being in the hot sun during her abandonment. She had a stroke this morning. She was only 4. My poor little angel. She deserved so much better.
 
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I lost another ferret today. Haylla was a rescue who had been abandoned in a garbage bin with two dead cage mates. After a lot of care, she finally integrated with two of my crew - Pickle and Stryker. About a month ago, she started attacking Stryker and not letting him come out of wherever he was sleeping. Thinking it was because he sick (he's been diagnosed with lymphoma), I removed him and left Haylla with Pickle, who she started attacking last week. I now realize she had undiagnosed neurological problems, probably caused by being in the hot sun during her abandonment. She had a stroke this morning. She was only 4. My poor little angel. She deserved so much better.
Given the circumstances, I think you gave her a much better end than she was headed for. I can't fathom why people mistreat animals. You did a good job, doomie mom.
 
Given the circumstances, I think you gave her a much better end than she was headed for. I can't fathom why people mistreat animals. You did a good job, doomie mom.
When I moved out of my last apartment, I found that someone else had moved out as well and just left their caged iguana out by the dumpster. In late October. When I found it, it could not have been dead long, as I had to look several times to make sure it was actually dead and not just in torpor.

—Patrick
 
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Anonymous

Anonymous

I was able to get in to the pay system somehow. I got really lucky and got a fantastic IT guy on the phone who knew a work around for the issue I was having that several others hadn’t known. He was awesome! (I’m not joking)

So! I went back and entered five weeks of time and linked myself to my boss and asked her to please approve me.

She didn’t. She sent me and HR a message asking why she couldn’t add zeros for the days I hadn’t worked and seemed concerned. I left the days I hadn’t worked blank. The total hours would be the same of course, so I fail to see why on earth it would matter whether there is a blank or a zero for a day I didn’t work and if she had a strong preference why she couldn’t just approve my time now and ask me to do it the way she prefers it the next time as we’re on a time crunch here.

Of course the reason couldn’t add zeros because I added my time, so she can only approve. Duh. I didn’t write that back to her, but it’s obvious. The HR dudes were polite and said that they clearly had to provide in person support to resolve this for her. Lol.

The whole zero v blank thing is irrelevant though. Approve the god damned time and worry about it later. But no, I went back in and added a fucking zero for every day I didn’t work because I would like to get paid sometime this fucking year.

But wait, there’s more! She wants to know how to classify my schedule in the system. That’s an FYI in the system as I will only get paid for the hours I enter and she approves. Come on!! Approve my damn time.

Neither of these things should hold things up. WTF is wrong with her? Is she completely stupid or deliberately holding up my pay to be a bitch now?

She actually refused to approve my time until both of these were resolved. I ended up sending my schedule to HR and I called them and begged them to help so they input it.

So....days later....she approved my time.
 
I was able to get in to the pay system somehow. I got really lucky and got a fantastic IT guy on the phone who knew a work around for the issue I was having that several others hadn’t known. He was awesome! (I’m not joking)

So! I went back and entered five weeks of time and linked myself to my boss and asked her to please approve me.

She didn’t. She sent me and HR a message asking why she couldn’t add zeros for the days I hadn’t worked and seemed concerned. I left the days I hadn’t worked blank. The total hours would be the same of course, so I fail to see why on earth it would matter whether there is a blank or a zero for a day I didn’t work and if she had a strong preference why she couldn’t just approve my time now and ask me to do it the way she prefers it the next time as we’re on a time crunch here.

Of course the reason couldn’t add zeros because I added my time, so she can only approve. Duh. I didn’t write that back to her, but it’s obvious. The HR dudes were polite and said that they clearly had to provide in person support to resolve this for her. Lol.

The whole zero v blank thing is irrelevant though. Approve the god damned time and worry about it later. But no, I went back in and added a fucking zero for every day I didn’t work because I would like to get paid sometime this fucking year.

But wait, there’s more! She wants to know how to classify my schedule in the system. That’s an FYI in the system as I will only get paid for the hours I enter and she approves. Come on!! Approve my damn time.

Neither of these things should hold things up. WTF is wrong with her? Is she completely stupid or deliberately holding up my pay to be a bitch now?

She actually refused to approve my time until both of these were resolved. I ended up sending my schedule to HR and I called them and begged them to help so they input it.

So....days later....she approved my time.
To me, it sounds like she's being deliberately obtuse (unless she has a history of being clueless with computer-required procedures). My guess is she put it off until HR went over and held her acting-like-a-spoiled-baby hands to the keyboard.
 
When I moved out of my last apartment, I found that someone else had moved out as well and just left their caged iguana out by the dumpster. In late October. When I found it, it could not have been dead long, as I had to look several times to make sure it was actually dead and not just in torpor.

—Patrick
I didn't think people could act worse than setting domestic animals free, but god at least then they have a shot. People just throwing animals in the garbage, trapped. Fucking hell.
 
I can't even begin to describe how pissed off I am with my co-worker. For those who don't know, I work in Graduate Awards & Scholarships at the University of Saskatchewan. I'm the Senior Awards Officer and supervise the other Awards Officer. One of the major parts of our job is to receive scholarship applications from students/departments and prepare them for adjudication by our Awards Committee. We have to make sure we provide all of the correct information and parts of the application to the committee in a timely manner, which is usually 5-8 business days (which is a pretty short time period when you consider that we regularly have 3-5 competitions going on at the same time).

So, what happened is that one of the departments sent us an email with 8 scholarship applications attached to it. My co-worker replied that the applications had been received and downloaded them to the online files. All of them, except one. Let's call this student Jane.

Today I got an email from a faculty supervisor, asking for the results of the competition and how Jane fared. I go to check the files and find that the application isn't there. I figure that we didn't receive it (it happens sometimes; a student will tell their supervisor that they wish to apply but decide not to at the last minute). I'm about to reply to the faculty member with that information, when I decide to check our office's shared email account. I find the email from the department with the applications attached to it (including Jane's). I also find the email where my co-worker replied that the applications had been received. Oh poopie.

I have my co-worker go through her email account to see if she received something that would disqualify Jane's application, but she can't find anything. Because there was nothing to disqualify this student. My co-worker fucked up. Massively.

The thing that pissed me off the most is that when I explained the situation to her, she (1) was extremely nonchalant about the whole incident (no remorse for missing the application) and (2) she tried to push the blame off on me since I "should have checked my work". Only thing, I was on short-term disability during that time period. Sorry, can't shift the blame on this one, you stupid bitch.

This isn't the first mistake she's made but it's the biggest. She's been in the position for 1 1/2 years and still doesn't know her job, but doesn't ask for help or training to improve her skills. My supervisor and I have been working for the past 4 months to build a case to terminate her (yay, unions :mad:) and this is the final straw. She has been told many, many, many times that attention to detail, especially when it comes to competition materials, is of maximum importance. If I had the authority, I would have fired her ass today. So, I'm going to go in on my day off and talk to the Dean of the College about this and what he wants to do about it.

Because the kicker - I went through Jane's application once I found it and she would have won the scholarship competition, hands down. I'm hoping that the Dean will do the right thing and provide this student with funding from his discretionary fund account.

TL;DR - my coworker is a stupid, incompetent bitch who I can't trust to find her own ass with both hands and directions; she fucked up a competition, refused to take responsibility for her mistake, tried to shift the blame to me, and needs to be fired out of a cannon.

Way TL;DR - I'm going to feed her to the doomweasels.
 
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Anonymous

Anonymous

To me, it sounds like she's being deliberately obtuse (unless she has a history of being clueless with computer-required procedures). My guess is she put it off until HR went over and held her acting-like-a-spoiled-baby hands to the keyboard.
I don’t know her that well, so I can’t comment on stupidity vs deliberate obtuseness. My problem is that neither issue is even close to relevant, so she should have just approved my time and moved on. She wasted days of time that I could have been paid once again. Or she should have called HR herself and asked these questions. I called pay and had the answers myself within a few minutes.

I didn’t wait for her to have HR help her, I went over her head and got HR to enter stuff for her. I want to get paid this year and I don’t have infinite patience.
 
Give her scalp burns, Anonymous. Give her scalp burns until it finally singes some of the neurons she doesn't have in her brain.

EDIT: Sorry.
 
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Anonymous

Anonymous

Yes, please. I guess we’ve all figured out who I am, but I’d appreciate if we didn't identify me
 
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Anonymous

Anonymous

So, she didn’t actually approve my time after all.

She’s too stupid for that. It was still sitting there unapproved when I call pay today for an update. She’s so completely stupid that she couldn’t hit the button twice to approve and confirm. HR is writing her an email to walk jer through it step by bay diaper step.

FML.

I’m thinking stupid and selfish because she only goes in the system once a day to look into this and only really stupid people can’t figure this shit out. If she weren’t being god damned paid, she’d be all over this.

It’s not fair, I’m not being given any support and being left to sort this all out alone and she can’t even go in and approve my god damned time correctly.
 
So, she didn’t actually approve my time after all.

She’s too stupid for that. It was still sitting there unapproved when I call pay today for an update. She’s so completely stupid that she couldn’t hit the button twice to approve and confirm. HR is writing her an email to walk jer through it step by bay diaper step.

FML.

I’m thinking stupid and selfish because she only goes in the system once a day to look into this and only really stupid people can’t figure this shit out. If she weren’t being god damned paid, she’d be all over this.

It’s not fair, I’m not being given any support and being left to sort this all out alone and she can’t even go in and approve my god damned time correctly.
If you haven't already called a lawyer, do so. And then put in your notice. You don't need this.
 
If you haven't already called a lawyer, do so. And then put in your notice. You don't need this.
I don't know how it works in wherever you work, but here, if wages or other money deemed necessary for life (disability, unemployment, sickness,...) are late due to error, the culprit is on the hook for intrest and an extra fee.
 
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Anonymous

Anonymous

If you haven't already called a lawyer, do so. And then put in your notice. You don't need this.
I can’t quit, I’m not insurable anywhere else. And I make really good money when I’m paid. When....
 
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Anonymous

Anonymous

I don't know how it works in wherever you work, but here, if wages or other money deemed necessary for life (disability, unemployment, sickness,...) are late due to error, the culprit is on the hook for intrest and an extra fee.
Yes they are and there is a whole website set up for that. I’ll be making them pay every cent. Don’t worry!

I’m working on a way to get emergency pay now.
 
I am feeling super low today. I am trying to keep it from spiraling into the realm of depression. I can feel it like the water is trickling over the levees. I've got so many things I have to do and so many folks expecting something from me, and my thoughts are telling me that I am not good enough and that I'll just fuck it up anyway so why bother.

I worked out this morning to try to counteract it. I even walked two miles on top of that. I can't get too down. There's just no time to wallow.
 
I've got so many things I have to do and so many folks expecting something from me, and my thoughts are telling me that I am not good enough and that I'll just fuck it up anyway so why bother.
Man, I feel ya. I don't consider myself as someone who for whatever reason "falls victim" to depression, etc., however I can't seem to get anything done until there's enough things on my plate that I'm forced to start doing something or else drown in my own poor planning, at which point I start dwelling on my poor planning, etc.

--Patrick
 
Any chance there's a university motor pool or scrap yard nearby? I picked up a used transmission really cheap going that route once.
You can furnish an apartment with what the kids in Ann Arbor throw out every spring. Surely a transmission is just the matter of a few phone calls. Make that research team earn their keep! :)
 
Any chance there's a university motor pool or scrap yard nearby? I picked up a used transmission really cheap going that route once.
There are a number of things I could have done to reduce the cost. If I was willing/able to do the work, if we could be without this vehicle for several weeks, if we didn't want a warranty on parts or labor, if we were ok with having to replace it again in another few years, etc, etc, etc.

With that higher cost we get a 3 year parts and labor warranty, the work was completed in under two days, and we got to use a local shop we know and trust. The remanufactured unit has more replaced parts than a rebuilt unit, so I have high confidence this is the last transmission this vehicle will ever need. The body and engine are in good shape for the 167k mileage, and reports suggest the engine is good for well over 200k if maintained well. As long as it gives us another 37k miles it'll have paid for itself - and since we'd use those 37k miles within the warranty period we believe it's worth it.

Right now, with this repair, we're sitting at $0.27/mile vehicle cost + repairs (miles we've gotten out of it so far). If it lasts until 200k without major repairs it'll be down to $0.17/mile. My benchmark for a cheap car is $0.10 mile, and while I don't like to go above $0.20/mile this is our main vehicle and was already a compromise for my wife, so I'm spending more for an increased level of confidence it won't strand her and the kids anywhere.

The thing is, the body and frame are in excellent condition. We bought this knowing that we would be able to replace the engine and the transmission, worst case scenario, and the body would still be good enough that it would be worth doing. The previous owners (tire company at a race track) never used it in winter, rarely on dirt roads, it was in a garage when not in use, and followed an aggressive maintenance schedule.

If it lasts without an engine replacement to 250k miles - which is possible with this engine (2009 ford 5.4L triton V8) - it will be down to $0.10/mile. An engine replacement is $4,000 or so, so we'd need to get another 40k miles out of it to make that worthwhile. With the remanufactured transmission and the current state of the frame and body it should last (with a new engine) to 300k, which again would put us at $0.10/mile vehicle+repair cost.

If we had gone with a cheaper transmission option, we would have saved $1k+ now (and been without the vehicle for a few weeks), but it's quite likely that it wouldn't last the next 100k miles, and we'd have to do it again.

With this vehicle, we're playing a long game and sticking to a plan that should be cheaper overall, even though it's more expensive in the short run.
 
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Well, our insurance company denied the appeal, and in so doing, finally shared with us the reasoning for their cancellation of the care authorization. I really wish they'd done so before we appealed, so we could've found another doctor earlier who wasn't being investigated by the Oregon State Medical Board for prescribing opioids without medical justification, ordering off-book genetic tests for pharmacokinetic markers, and being grossly negligent and/or incompetent.
 
Well, our insurance company denied the appeal, and in so doing, finally shared with us the reasoning for their cancellation of the care authorization. I really wish they'd done so before we appealed, so we could've found another doctor earlier who wasn't being investigated by the Oregon State Medical Board for prescribing opioids without medical justification, ordering off-book genetic tests for pharmacokinetic markers, and being grossly negligent and/or incompetent.
I guess that explains why he ends every appointment session with the question, "Do you want any meds?"
 
My transmission went out the same week I was moving for grad school. I needed my cash for rental deposits and the trans. drained my accts, but mine only cost 1k. :DFeel for you Steiny.
 

Dave

Staff member
Today was my 25th wedding anniversary. Nobody except my wife and I remembered. Neither of my kids remembered. Her dad forgot. Her sister and brothers forgot. My sister remembered, but only because I saw her on Saturday and told her that it was today.

Selfish fucks.
 
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