The whiny thread

[jdb1]

Ah, the mills of the gods.

Here I am, the one who is always warning against too much openness on the Internet, too much availability. Hoist by my own petard. Just a short while ago I wrote some rather snarky comments about a client in an email to my boss, and inadvertently emailed it to the client instead. Aaarrrggghhh!!! This lady seems to have a real problem making her wishes clear, and whatever I do, it turns out to be the opposite of what she claims she wanted, so she thinks I'm an idiot anyway. I shot her an apology forthwith, but all I've really done is confirm her opinion of me. Ah me. See you on the unemployment line.

[knitwit45]

Oh, Judith!!!

I am laughing, but I know you are not...
Once, when dealing with a perennially idiotic client, who had many of the same characteristics as your client, I hung up and said "A**HO**!!!!" (had hit my patience limit with him.) BUT.....I said it just BEFORE I disconnected.........after a chewing out by the boss (who was laughing the whole time, as he had dealt with this clown also) I called the guy back and told him what he heard was directed towards one of my co-workers who was hassling me while on the phone. Don't know if he bought it or not, talk about life's most embarrassing moments.....

[Birdy]

Ah, Judith, Bless your little pointed head!
That sounds sooo like something I would do...nice to know others screw up from time to time.
Hope it all works out for you.
Birdy

[jdb1]

So far nothing awful has happened to me. I did apologize profusely to the witch. I told her the comments were intended for, and directed at, my boss, which is partly true anyway. My boss was annoyed, but not all that annoyed, because he also thinks she's a pain in the neck.

I had a much worse dust-up last month with one of the attorneys here. You know, the one that every firm has one of? The awful one?

I in effect told her to go to hell, and she took offense (as if no one ever told her that before -- yeah, right). She complained to HR, and now it's on my "permanent record." I was called on the carpet at HR, but frankly, what was supposed to be a scolding was a lot more like a comiseration session. Everyone knows this woman's got a screw loose. Wonder what's in her permanent file?

I know it's a slippery slope at work to take such an attitude, but I refuse to be bullied and/or abused. There's nothing in the job description that says you will allow yourself to be treated like a steaming pile of dog-doo.

(And, PS, when you're female, and over 50, management tries not to tick you off too much, lest you cry discrimination.)

[Birdy]

No one deserves to be abused by boss, coworker, friend, spouse, children, parent or stranger. By no one. We are neither slaves nor indentured servants (well, hopefully not) and bullies have to be put in their place...or they just get meaner. Good for you!
B

[knitwit45]

No one deserves to be abused by boss, coworker, friend, spouse, children, parent or stranger. By no one. We are neither slaves nor indentured servants (well, hopefully not) and bullies have to be put in their place...or they just get meaner. Good for you!
B

what she said, what she said!!!!!

[jdb1]

I've been given very wide berth by this person since then. You always take a risk in asserting yourself, especially in the workplace, but bullies are basically cowards, aren't they?

Still, I'm now always on the alert for booby traps and sandbagging. Doesn't bother me; I know why it would happen, and I'm not the one who would come away spiteful, but also ashamed. I always used to tell my daughter when she was little and complained about someone teasing her in school: consider the source. Do you really think that person is important enough to hurt you? Do you really, really care what that person thinks, especially about you? Probably not, if you're honest with yourself.

[movieman1957]

From the misdirected email files I have a friend (really!) whose wife has been in Iraq since February. She is due home in a couple of weeks. He sent her a loving and lusty email. The problem was he accidentally sent to her father. Now, my friend is embarrassed beyond words. His wife thinks its funny and should call he should call her father. He will have none of it.

She is home the 3rd of August. I told him we were having a party on the 4th and if he answered the door I would slap him.

[Lzcutter]

I hate Comcast. Since coming to the Bay area (and leaving beloved MrC and my DirecTV in Southern California) I have had to deal with Comcast. Luckily, I have a DVR through them and have been actively DVRing movies from TCM and Encore Westerns since my arrival in March.

This morning I checked my DVR and discovered that it decided overnight ALL ON ITS OWN to delete three weeks of movies. Gone are Colorado Territory, Letter to Three Wives and other gems.

Does anyone know if Three Wives is returning to TCM any time soon?

My real tv (the one supplied by my roommate is really old and the picture quality is not very good. No ability to control the contrast and everything is dark. Then there is the sound problem) is arriving next weekend and I was so looking forward to watching my movies on a screen I could see and really enjoy the movies on.

Oh well, at least I still have Treme and all the movies from the Native American festival that I tivo'd.

But DirecTV has never done that to me.

Don't tell MrC but right now I miss our DirecTv as much as him.

[movieman1957]

I only had three friends on Netflix and they're gone. One was my father. Gee, I hope it's a glitch.

[Birdy]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have officially survived day 2 of lemon shake-up/coffe sale/ book sale/ nut sale/ doll raffle He** at the village festival. Please hold back all rain for another day because people do not want a lemon shake-up in the rain and I do not want to spend 12 hours in a tent in the rain. All cooperation by Mother Nature and any influence you people have over her would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
one very sticky Birdy

[knitwit45]

We are having BUCKETS of rain...I think I heard a dog bark and a cat meow
The county seat, Olathe, is having Old Settlers Days and they probably have been washed out for sure. We'll do our best, Ms B, to hold it back for a while (but I'd sure like to send this on....)

[Birdy]

I woke up to a thunderstorm at 5:30, and thought, oh, great... We set up the wet booths, and it misted and rained lightly in the early morning. Then it turned out to be a beautiful day, just warm enough to sell lots of lemon shake-ups. I have un-stickied myself and am about to settle in for a relaxing movie. We'll total up the receipts tomorrow and see what the profits are. We have a beautiful library but operating expenses are so high. We need a new roof, and Community Club held an antique tractor contest and those profits are going to our roof fund. (That should paint a picture!)

Our state is in terrible trouble and the library districts are not getting enough federal or state money to support our individual libraries. In fact, they can't even support the systems and we just got word last week that 3 systems will be consolidated. That means the entire southern third of the state will operate as one system as of July next year. We don't know how all this will affect interlibrary loans, computer systems, training and support since we all do things all little differently from each other. We will just have to make the best of it and hope that we can keep our wonderful library open since it is one of the few things that keep our town alive instead of a ghost town full of nothing but tumbleweeds. I may be putting new life into the old whiny thread!

Oh, and by the way, my husband has a cold. (GOD HELP US ALL!)
B
Nancy, hope you dried out over there; thanks for absorbing most of it.

[knitwit45]

Yes, the rain hung around until the wee hours, and then the day itself has been beautiful. Temps in the high 70's, blue skies...wonderful!!!

Birdy, what is a lemon shake-up? Lemon is my favorite flavor (after chocolate, caramel and coffee )

[ChiO]

Nancy, Nancy, poor poor Nancy. I assumed everyone west of the Appalachians, east of the Rockies, north of the Deep South, and south of Canada -- what we refer to as The Real United States: Land of Excitement (TM) -- knew about the fantabulous Lemon Shake Up.

There's a tank of water with sugar and squeezed halves of lemons. A large plastic cup of ice. The cup is filled with the liquid from the tank. A smaller plastic cup is placed on top, thus becoming a makeshift cocktail shaker (you're familiar with that, right? ). It is shaken, not stirred, and topped off with a lemon wedge. Voila! A Lemon Shake Up.

Birdy may have a variation on the recipe -- you know, regional differences between southern Illinois and south-central Indiana and all that.

Oh, you mean lemonade. No, no, no! You didn't read closely. It is shaken, ergo it is a Lemon Shake Up.

The perfect drink after having roamed the County Fair grounds eating cotton candy, caramel corn (not Cracker Jack) and a soft swirl ice cream cone and winning your best girl a stuffed animal by hitting some free throws and now -- with your trusted pals -- innocently work your way down to the far end of the fairway to get a good place to stand when the hoochie-koochie dancers make their appearance (that's how we developed strong neck muscles -- watching the dancers while, at the same time, turning our heads on the look-out for parents, neighbors and preachers).

Not that I ever did that. It's just what I heard.