Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

This morning I screwed up and forgot to pack what I'd intended to bring in for lunch into my bag (I'm something of a creature of habit, and had to do something things I don't usually have to this morning and got thrown off...). No problem- I work downtown with dozens of places to grab lunch a short walk away. So I grab one of the closest and most cost-effective options- a slice of pizza from a NY-style pizza place where I can get a slice, drink, and side (I usually opt for a black & white cookie- one of the things I miss from living near NYC) for about $6. It's kind of greasy, I shouldn't be drinking soda, and doubtless has more sodium than is wise- but it's cheap, convenient,  and hits the spot.

What I DO feel bad about- and think they should too- is the ridiculous amount of waste that is generated by just one person. Their slices are pretty big- about 1/6 of a 14" or so pie, and the boxes they serve them in are big enough for the slice and a breadstick (the side most people choose- why I'll never understand given there's enough crust on the slices to effectively be a breadstick itself...) and a container of sauce. And every person who gets the lunch special (which is pretty much everyone) gets one of these boxes. At least a dozen or so people from my office get lunch there every day- enough so that we have a large recycling bin specifically labeled 'For Pizza Boxes Only'. 

It's tempting to hold on to one of the boxes and take it with me the next time I go... but I never do because it's usually weeks between when I will get lunch from there.

Very minor rant:

The bedroom that I use as an office gets cold easy. This is because of a combination of things--exterior wall, only one heating vent, 1927 house with probably sub-par insulation... but it is extremely manageable by simply closing the door--this is doubly effective because it (a) keeps the warm air in the room, and (b) the thermostat is right outside the door. It is even more effective if we leave the bathroom door shut as well, because it is right next to the thermostat as well. 

But of course, nobody can keep the bathroom door shut, and my dog, being a Great Pyrenees, must come in and leave the room very often just because he must guard the house. So I have to keep the house set at 68 instead of my preferred 66 when I work from home in this particular room. Any other room and it is fine. Not this one. 

Thinking about getting a heating mat/pad for my feet.

In reply to mtn :

Re: Airfare, $68 Peoria to Punta Gorda. Plus taxes, fees, bags, extra $$ for a seat INSIDE the plane, etc.

Today's minor rant.

I received a gift card for Starbucks from one of the Senior Design teams last spring and haven't used it. Starbucks just isn't my kind of place.
A new one went up close enough to the house to make it almost on my way to work, so I dug up the card and have stopped a couple times if the line at the drive through isn't too long.
I had to google them to see what a normal large coffee is called in starbuckeese. I settled on a Venti Pike Place. Pretty good.
This morning, the line is short, get my coffee and the first right turn out of the lot, I feel hot coffee on my right leg. Apparently, the girl missed lid installation day at coffee school. Luckily I have Weathertech floor mats. No Starbucks for me today, but the truck smells wonderful!

Then I get to school to find that we are having a visitor's day and the faculty and staff parking lot next to my building is full of visitor's cars. I have to park in the visitor's deck a block away.

It may be Wednesday, but it sure feels like Monday.

I am having trouble feeling sorry for all the government employees who were sent home because of a lack of funding.  

I'm in private industry in an "at will" state. 

  I get sent home for lack of funding, like I was for almost 2 years due to the oil crunch, no one was talking about giving me back pay when I returned, no groups were starting "go fund me" pages to send all of us who were out of work a helping hand, no neighborhood associations were trying to "reach out" to help their government employee neighbors (my neighborhood association is doing this).    

It was all on me and raiding my retirement account.      I got back to work, get paid less, my retirement is set back for years,  and it could all happen again. 

Government employees are going to get their back pay, guaranteed employment, full retirement, and lots of vacation / paid holidays.

Yesterday was so damn hot that I manage to burn my hands on my steering wheel! Not just "Ouch that's a bit hot to touch".....I have 3 legitimate blisters! Wooo Australian summer!

I think putting my nuts in a vice and smacking my hootus with a hammer would have sucked less than work today.

Dear Eastwood. 

$600 worth of bender should come with a set of instructions. 

That is all. 

You know the bums that troll highway on/off ramps pan-handling? I don't give money. I don't know them and am unwilling to support a possible drug/alcohol addiction. I do give food. Gave a guy a bag of chips. It was all I  had that was unopened.

The motherberkeleyer actually rolled his eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "Thanks." If wasnt rush hour in downtown Chicago, I would have stopped and asked for it back. Ungrateful vajajay.

Recently, they started stocking the snack size cans of Pringles in the vending machine at work. Which is great, Pringles are one of my favorite junk foods. What's not so great is the fact that apparently no one bothered to figure out that if the can drops in a perfectly horizontal position, there is insufficient clearance for the can to fall all the way down to where it can be retrieved. Even better, it's wedged itself in such a way that the tamper proof mechanism is jammed shut and now nothing can be retrieved from the machine 

Appleseed said:

You know the bums that troll highway on/off ramps pan-handling? I don't give money. I don't know them and am unwilling to support a possible drug/alcohol addiction. I do give food. Gave a guy a bag of chips. It was all I  had that was unopened.

The motherberkeleyer actually rolled his eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "Thanks." If wasnt rush hour in downtown Chicago, I would have stopped and asked for it back. Ungrateful vajajay.

Huh. I've never had that, and I always give food. We gave an old dude a half a thing of oreos. I'm not sure I've seen a happier human. 

Veto me one time because "policy" is not in place to backup my reasoning, is one thing. Once the policy is in place and I am trying to do what I understand to be my job, by guiding those under my leadership to adhere to said policy and you immediately veto me again, we got problems. Tell me what you want and let me do it, or do it yourself. I'm tired of this limbo. I'm not trying to disrespect authority, but if this is how it's going to be, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to play. 

mtn said:

Appleseed said:

You know the bums that troll highway on/off ramps pan-handling? I don't give money. I don't know them and am unwilling to support a possible drug/alcohol addiction. I do give food. Gave a guy a bag of chips. It was all I  had that was unopened.

The motherberkeleyer actually rolled his eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "Thanks." If wasnt rush hour in downtown Chicago, I would have stopped and asked for it back. Ungrateful vajajay.

Huh. I've never had that, and I always give food. We gave an old dude a half a thing of oreos. I'm not sure I've seen a happier human. 

I've had them flat out refuse food. 

tb said:

I want a new car but I don't know what will make me happy. Too many options and they all have flaws... I feel broken or something because everyone has a dream car(s) except me.

Ran across this while updating myself on the rants thread. I also don't have dream cars anymore but there's nothing wrong with that, dream cars are for people who are blissfully ignorant of the finer details of cars and thus don't know about the flaws. There are cars I would defintely buy right away if I had the money and I think would make me happy, but I also have a substantial list of mods in my head for each of them. I guess deeper into the 6-digits and beyond there are cars I wouldn't bother to modify, but they still have their own flaws, most commonly things like "insane maintenance costs" and "totally impractical" and "the difficulty and fright of driving it at 10/10ths detracts from driving enjoyment."

Our only remaining autocross venue just raised their lot rent from $2500 to $3500 per day.

$2500 was barely sustainable.

Berk.

In reply to Duke :

I wish I won the lottery because I would have bought someplace for autocross to happen all the time. At reasonable costs too. That's insane. 

So update to my prior rant:

I neglected to mention above that I spent about 5 minutes making a vain attempt to dislodge the can with a bent up piece of 1/8" aluminum filler rod before giving up and informing the vending machine company of the problem. Turns out those tamper-proof mechanisms are pretty effective.

Then, about an hour later, I was passing by the lunch room again around 1st shift's afternoon break time and found a crowd gathered around the vending machine, obviously trying to dislodge the Pringles can. As the one who initiated the problem, I felt some sense of obligation to lend a hand, so I stopped in. With a few extra sets of hands, we determined that we could flex the plastic flap in far enough to fish a longer, thinner piece of weld wire in from the opposite corner. I had just gotten the can hooked and was trying to jiggle it loose when the vending machine people showed up - as I am quite obviously trying to tamper with their machine. Fortunately the dude didn't really seem to give a E36 M3, but we all got quite a good laugh out of it - and I finally got my Pringles!

Finally got paid! It's my first paycheck at my new job. And it's significantly less than what was stated on my offer letter despite being a full pay period. I was hired in the middle of a pay period, so I did not receive a paycheck for the first 4 days. I'm supposed to get back pay added to my paycheck. The pay for those 4 days was not added.

To make things worse, my manager has not sent the paperwork in so I can get my multifactor authentication fob so I can access my webmail and the company website that has my pay information. I've asked him everyday since I started working at the site which was last Thursday.

It's really starting to piss me off that he has hardly done any of the admin stuff to get me setup. And only he can do it; I asked IT support. I also do not have access to the shared drive which is vital for me to do my job.

He's a decent enough guy but sucks donkey balls as a manager.

stanger_missle said:

Finally got paid! It's my first paycheck at my new job. And it's significantly less than what was stated on my offer letter despite being a full pay period. I was hired in the middle of a pay period, so I did not receive a paycheck for the first 4 days. I'm supposed to get back pay added to my paycheck. The pay for those 4 days was not added.

To make things worse, my manager has not sent the paperwork in so I can get my multifactor authentication fob so I can access my webmail and the company website that has my pay information. I've asked him everyday since I started working at the site which was last Thursday.

It's really starting to piss me off that he has hardly done any of the admin stuff to get me setup. And only he can do it; I asked IT support. I also do not have access to the shared drive which is vital for me to do my job.

He's a decent enough guy but sucks donkey balls as a manager.

Significantly less? Whats their story for that?

GameboyRMH said:

tb said:

I want a new car but I don't know what will make me happy. Too many options and they all have flaws... I feel broken or something because everyone has a dream car(s) except me.

Ran across this while updating myself on the rants thread. I also don't have dream cars anymore but there's nothing wrong with that, dream cars are for people who are blissfully ignorant of the finer details of cars and thus don't know about the flaws. There are cars I would defintely buy right away if I had the money and I think would make me happy, but I also have a substantial list of mods in my head for each of them. I guess deeper into the 6-digits and beyond there are cars I wouldn't bother to modify, but they still have their own flaws, most commonly things like "insane maintenance costs" and "totally impractical" and "the difficulty and fright of driving it at 10/10ths detracts from driving enjoyment."

Quoted because I think that you hit on my main rant with life right now:

I probably need a car that doesn't come with a pre-packaged list of necessary mods because I am pretty much physically incapable of working on cars anymore. Honestly, I have to somehow come to terms with that fact and resign myself to never turning another wrench for the rest of my life.

Tuner cars are not much fun if I'm just gonna write a check and pick it back up in a month while someone else gets to enjoy busting their knuckles and money cannot buy the happiness that comes from dirt under the fingernails...

Blissful ignorance should probably be my new life goal. 

Marjorie Suddard said:

I sold my Z4 M because a) I originally bought this car at a good price thinking I’d own it a year, then sell it and make money and b) it was kind of a flashy, fat pig that incited road rage in others and c) it was at the point I could flip it for 50% more than I paid and being a cheap, nervous sort that’s all the appreciation I can stand. This all seemed perfect because we have a  circa 1984 cabin that needs bathrooms (x3) and a kitchen (x1) and windows (xInfiniti it seems), so the timing seemed right and I thought for once maybe the house wasn’t going to win.  

Instead, a nice chimney sweep came to my (not cabin) house today (in a top hat!) and said my chimney was seriously berkeleyed by the last hurricane and I need a completely new fireplace insert and piping that will cost at least what I made on the sale of the car.

It’s like aging homes can smell your bank account balance. So yes, the house always wins.

Margie

Ouch....I would recommend a second opinion just cause

mtn said:

Appleseed said:

You know the bums that troll highway on/off ramps pan-handling? I don't give money. I don't know them and am unwilling to support a possible drug/alcohol addiction. I do give food. Gave a guy a bag of chips. It was all I  had that was unopened.

The motherberkeleyer actually rolled his eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "Thanks." If wasnt rush hour in downtown Chicago, I would have stopped and asked for it back. Ungrateful vajajay.

Huh. I've never had that, and I always give food. We gave an old dude a half a thing of oreos. I'm not sure I've seen a happier human. 

As a kid a few times a month I’d go with my father’s church group to feed homeless people. There were a bunch that would turn down sandwiches or soup depending on what we’d brought and try to get money instead.  

Nick Comstock said:

mtn said:

Appleseed said:

You know the bums that troll highway on/off ramps pan-handling? I don't give money. I don't know them and am unwilling to support a possible drug/alcohol addiction. I do give food. Gave a guy a bag of chips. It was all I  had that was unopened.

The motherberkeleyer actually rolled his eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "Thanks." If wasnt rush hour in downtown Chicago, I would have stopped and asked for it back. Ungrateful vajajay.

Huh. I've never had that, and I always give food. We gave an old dude a half a thing of oreos. I'm not sure I've seen a happier human. 

I've had them flat out refuse food. 

There was a old guy that use to stand at a corner near the VA Medical center in Charleston. Always shabbily dressed in some military surplus clothes. Always limping around with a ratty piece of cardboard proclaiming his horrible life as a Vet. 

I ran into him one day at a bank of all places. A Federal Credit Union to be specific. I was there repairing the doors. He was depositing his daily take and complaining to the teller that he had only collected $400+- for the day. After he completed his transaction, he walked out to a shiny new F150 Lariat and I presume went home. 

I did give a man a insulated rain jacket one evening. It was raining and about 40. He was obviously cold and his trash bag wasn't keeping him very dry. I had no cash, but I did have a coat that fit him better than it fit me. The difference being, he was at the corner waiting to cross with the light. No sign, no hand out. I rolled my window down and held the coat out. As I pulled off, he was putting on the coat. 

Any more, I don't give to anyone on the side of the road. Charleston has since outlawed it. It it unlawful to pass something from a car to a person standing on the side of the road. They don't ticket the beggar, they ticket the driver and the fine is pretty steep. 

In reply to Antihero :

I dunno. If I could remotely log into the pay system, I could see what my timecard looks like (something else I cannot access without the MFA fob). As it stands now, I have to have my manager complete and sign my timecard which sucks.

I think tomorrow I will leave early so I can drive to our local corporate office so I can check my company email and log into the timekeeping system. I'll get it figured out. Our HR section is pretty awesome though. The HR director spent an extra 45 minutes BSing with me after the initial hire HR telecon. She's a sweetheart.

Ate a burrito for lunch.  Apparently part of the burrito was heated to magma levels, and I burned the roof of my mouth.  Big blister right above one of my molars, actually, so not quite the "roof" so much as the "side of the roof".

This isn't the rant.

About a half hour later, the blister popped, and I had the taste of blister-juice in my mouth all afternoon.

This isn't the rant.

The rant:  I got home, and ate one (1) chocolate chip cookie, which rasped the blistered skin away, leaving a raw, rough spot that I can actually feel throbbing.

All because I was in a hurry to inhale a $2 burrito.

I was stuck with more future today.  Too much of my job is writing, reading, and responding to emails. Today we were given an app called Slack on our company phones so that we can be more efficient by duplicating most of those emails in a 1990's AOL chatroom format. Adding to the fun is that every time anyone posts something day or night my work phone pings and i'm expected to read it.  I wouldn't mind if it was something important but for he last half hour it's been grown adults answering an hours old post with emojis.  Why the berkeley are emojis even an option on something business related?  i know what some of you are thinking, because I thought it too when i was being given this; Surely the chat room should at least cut down on the need for emails since people could read the posts.  WRONG!!  Not everyone is going to be on the chatrooms, so much of what must be done in the chatroom must also go into an email for those groups.  Every day is a fresh reminder of why I ended up driving a bus instead of working in an office.