Rant VIII: The Reckoning

Working until you're sick and miserable is the 'Murican way, dammit!
T̫͟ho̦̼͖͖ṣ̮̟̰̥̰̙͝e̶͙͔̝̠̬ ̠̖̖̼s͇̥͚̟̩l̻̬̮̮u҉̭̤̺̹̙̲̹g̨̠̝̼̣͎̗g̗̯͎̞̯a̩̣͔r̷̖͇̙̯͕̤d͎̮̼̜̣͍̝s̻̕ ͍͟w̘̙̭h̨̯̰͖o̲ͅ ̦f̣̘̞̬a̷̱̟̲̞͎̱ͅl͖̟̱͡l ̬͚͕̘̕sh̛̦̞̭̺̰̙o̷̠͇̪͎͖̹͚ŕt̵̫̬͇̰͇͇ o̗̫̠̙̪̙͞f̹̼̣͕ q̘̰̦̗u̠̜̰̗͈̙o̟̻̜t̼͉͈a̰͓̬͖̘̱̳ ͖̗̱̰w͙̮͕͍̟̪̼͠i͖͍͙̗̞ĺ̬l̺̳ ͈̞̥̗͈̞l̵͇͉o͉͎̟̦̳̼͡s̗̘͜e͇͖ ̢̣C̝ḁ̺̩̟̲̙̩p͉͚̜͚͔͍i̧t͘a̝̠͚͙ͅl̯̱͇̝i̸̞sm̨͔̝̠’̺͓̟̠s̤̖͖͚̦ ̼̜̻̣͎͍f̖̝̠a҉̘̙v͙̤o̩͙̗̝͍̦̭r̥̦̝͕ ̣͡a̯̫n̶̝̞̘͈̮ͅd͖̹͢ f̝̳̯̲̥̮o̴̺̼̹̝͇͓̣r̢͕̩f͙é͎i̦͖̘̦̕t͉ ͇͝t̷͓̼͈̯͓ͅh͉̹e̜i̡͇̺̗̗̠͕̘r̡ ͕̜̖̼̹ͅp̳̳̀o̠̗̻͈͡ş̲͎se҉̣͉̟̻̱ͅs̳̰̼̩̠͕͔͝s̸̹̩̱͓̜i͔̻ͅo̘̞̥ṇ̙̜͘s̼ ̧̭̩̙̥a͙̖̞͉̥͟n̼͎̟̞̝͎d̩̪̲̪ ̸̩̝̗̗͙͓͇r̴͕̬͉̮̣e̷͚͇͔͙̠m̷̹a̰͜i̡͖n̯̦̮̯i̠͇ng̭̙̺ ̴̤̗h̵̯̗̩e̥͕ą̖l̗͙̰t̷̖̼̮̤̥̹h̙̭̲̫͍̩͙́ ̵̯̥t͕͙̠͜o ͔m̘̗a̺̳̼̲͔k̷̬̯̤̟̗̯͔e̢̯͉͖̥͇ ̨͇͍͚r̤̻̙̞̥͎̱o̙͟o̹m̱ f̜o̵̦̝̯͚r͉̜ ̧̦̠ţh̖̼̘̠ͅo̲̹̲̗̫̰̮͡s̪̖̼͇͉̥͕e̹̯̦̠͓͖̜ ̤͡ͅw̺̹̳̻̱̙͜h̡̙̲̳͙͈͎͉o̰̫̥̼̖̟ ̡͉w͡i̲̳ͅl͇̟̬̞̫l̳.͎̺̮͓

—Patrick
 
And this is why unions exist.
This is called "unhealthy labor market." When you WANT to retain employees, shit like mentioned above doesn't happen. But when you have more people than jobs (or at least the perception that such is true) then you have the abuses. Companies can only get away with that when they aren't hurting for employees.

A labor shortage is only a bad thing for employers, not employees. Want to improve conditions? Encouraging a labor shortage is the most effective way to do that IMO.
 
Unless I'm very much mistaken, the USA is *already* in a shortage of (educated) workers in many areas. Yet you guys are still allowing jobs that pay below livable wage, without benefits, etc etc.
When i'm sick, I have to have a doctor's note...And if the company thinks the doc's exaggerating, they can send over another doctor to check up on it (a neutral doctor, not one chosen by and paid for by the boss). How illness or disease could ever factor into time off is beyond me. It's stupid, and having American workers convinced that working together to bring down their bosses is unpatriotic and somehow wrong is probably the biggest propaganda stunt ever pulled. I'm very, very far from a communist, believe me - not even a socialist...But livable wages and a somewhat decent work-life balance is a good thing. Also, the only way to stop immigration - get living and working conditions over there up to the standards of over here so they don't need to come anymore.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Unless I'm very much mistaken, the USA is *already* in a shortage of (educated) workers in many areas.
Our unemployment statistics are a complete fabrication. Allegedly right now the unemployment rate is 3.7%, described as slightly over 6 million unemployed persons. If it really was, companies would be bending over backwards to try and keep good employees and attract new ones, and salaries and benefits would be going through the roof.

However, the truth is, the Labor Force Participation Rate started falling in 2008 and never recovered. It used to be 66%, and now it's just under 63% (where it leveled off in 2014), a level it hasn't been since the Jimmy carter "malaise" recession of the late 70s. That means about 10 million people lost their jobs in the wake of 2008 and just flat out stopped looking for new ones, so they stopped "counting" toward the unemployment rate. And bear in mind, that's with a population that has grown by about 25 million over that time.

If we were still calculating the unemployment rate by 2007's LFP rate, unemployment rate would be closer to 9-10%. Which explains why employers feel secure enough to fuck over their employees progressively more and more as time wears on, and why job hunting is still so excruciating. And people are saying we're right about to hit the next recession any time now, as it's been about 10 years since the last one. Sucks that we still haven't recovered from the previous one, no matter what the politicians and media tells you, but that's what we get for not actually correcting the problem.
 
My girlfriend has a non-malignant brain tumor. She's going to be ok, but is going to need to have brain surgery to remove it. I'm glad they caught it but this just sucks.
Her surgery was yesterday. It went about as well as it could and the surgeon said the initial biopsy showed it's less likely to grow back than they thought from looking at the scans. That being said, she'll be getting regular MRIs for the rest of her life so if it does grow back they will be able to destroy it without doing surgery. She has to do one radiation treatment in about a month or so to get rid of what they couldn't surgically remove without risking brain damage.

It'll be a few months until she's back to 100% but she's awake and seems normal, other than the general exhaustion you'd expect from a major surgery. Just from talking to her a bit on the phone today she already sounds a lot better than she did yesterday. All in all, seems like everything is good.
 
It snowed here today.

It's very unusual for it to snow before Thanksgiving. But every news outlet said it would be a minor snow, maybe a dusting, washed away by the rain. No plows were prepped, and the roads were lightly salted, if at all.

What we got by the time I had to leave to pick Li'l Z up at school was 3-4" of heavy, wet, icy snow.

Which also means I got stuck in the middle of the street right out my my driveway. Tires spinning, no traction, even when I got the shovel and SHOVELED THE DAMN STREET myself.

At this point I should mention I just discovered my front tires have almost no tread. The place Mr. Z had been taking my car to get the oil changed hasn't been rotating my tires. I didn't realize this until about a week ago, and I didn't think to ask because every other place I've been to did that with the oil change.

Then a very kind stranger with 4-wheel drive saw me in trouble, helped me get my car safely back into my driveway, and very kindly offered to drive me to the elementary school to pick up Li'l Z (which I was already late), and drive us home. I was going to walk (thankfully his school is a 15 minute walk in good weather), but he very kindly insisted.

So Li'l Z and I are safe at home. The car is stuck in the driveway because 1) our driveway has a slight incline, 2) I cleared a path with the shovel, but the ice is so slushly, even if I pound the gas, I won't go forward, and 3) well, not enough tread to catch. And Mr. Z is literally stuck at his office because the roads are even worse there. Fantastic.
 
A piece of chewing gum made it all the way through to the dryer.
Assuming anyone else runs into this, the fix appears to be soaking the affected garments in fabric softener.
Put the half dozen or so shirts that got the worst of it into a small tub, poured a gallon of Downy unscented ($10) over them, and let 'em soak for a couple of hours. Laundered them like usual afterwards and it was like they were never gummed.

Definitely gonna file this one away.

--Patrick
 
Her surgery was yesterday. It went about as well as it could and the surgeon said the initial biopsy showed it's less likely to grow back than they thought from looking at the scans. That being said, she'll be getting regular MRIs for the rest of her life so if it does grow back they will be able to destroy it without doing surgery. She has to do one radiation treatment in about a month or so to get rid of what they couldn't surgically remove without risking brain damage.

It'll be a few months until she's back to 100% but she's awake and seems normal, other than the general exhaustion you'd expect from a major surgery. Just from talking to her a bit on the phone today she already sounds a lot better than she did yesterday. All in all, seems like everything is good.
The biopsy came back and its cancer. Sounds like "not bad" cancer, but it's cancer.
 
Well from all that we've heard/can tell, the only thing that separates the "cancerous" tumor from the benign one in this case is about the probability of reoccurrence. Nothing is set yet but it looks like this just means she's gonna need to regularly get MRIs for the rest of her life, and the tumor shouldn't get to a problematic point since they'll catch it early if it ever grows back where it's easily treatable.

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes though.
 

Dave

Staff member
Yeah, the actual anniversary of the site was Monday and Mikko was yesterday. But we're celebrating both tonight - the site and the fact that we were able to be a part of Mikko's life for even a short time.
 

Dave

Staff member
The new neighbors moved in this last week. Couple of pretty young guys. They seem nice. Yesterday they moved in their part basset hound dog, Dash. He's cute as all hell, but they leave him in the basement when they go to work at 7 in the morning. It's 8:30 and Dash has not stopped barking and howling. Everyone is awake because of it. Hope Dash gets used to his surroundings fast because this is going to get old very quickly.
 
The new neighbors moved in this last week. Couple of pretty young guys. They seem nice. Yesterday they moved in their part basset hound dog, Dash. He's cute as all hell, but they leave him in the basement when they go to work at 7 in the morning. It's 8:30 and Dash has not stopped barking and howling. Everyone is awake because of it. Hope Dash gets used to his surroundings fast because this is going to get old very quickly.
My neighbors have this absolutely huge black dog named Max that was like that when they first moved in. Howled and barked at everything. Which, of course, set my dogs off to barking right back.

Max eventually learned that if he and my dogs got into a barking match, I would come out and yell at my dogs. I guess he doesn't like it, so now when my dogs bark at him, he doesn't rise to the bait. I wish my dogs would get the hint. ;)
 
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