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

NY Nick said:

This is a rant that is generalizing a lot of people, it isn't all of them but the direction is true.

I work with a lot of morons, but they do ok at work because they work for morons who work for morons and everyone seems to know so little about what they are supposed to do that they all stand in a circle and drool on themselves. It's shocking, it is like being in a real life Idiocracy. I sweat to god there are ME's that don't know how to make parts, like not at all. I ask a basic question about fixturing and one literally said I don't know much about making parts. Holy berkeley we make parts for a living, we should probably have ME's that know a little about making parts. I am the PM, I am not supposed to tell them how to make the parts but damn, someone has to. 

I read that the first time as you work with a lot of Mormons. I was scratching my head trying to figure out why Mormons would be bad MEs. 

Morons make so much more sense. 

In reply to Toyman! :

Nope, no beef with the Mormons, just the morons. I worked with some Mormons before and the ones I worked with were good engineers and nice people. They even let me play on their softball team on the weekends and I appreciated their hospitality (and very minimal recruitment). 

In reply to Mndsm :

Doesn't sound like you're the dick from here.  And it sounds like you have a number of reasons to be justifiably bitter.

Good luck with the appointment.  I hope the results go your way.

In reply to Duke :

Unfortunately for me it's not much of an if, it's a how. I can read an MRI result pretty well. It's the cause I'm looking for. 

Mndsm said:

In reply to Duke :

Unfortunately for me it's not much of an if, it's a how. I can read an MRI result pretty well. It's the cause I'm looking for. 

Ah, I see.

This may be a repeat rant...  Within the diocese in order to volunteer for anything that could be in any way even tangentially related to kids, there's this third party training/certification that people have to go through.  Like pretty much all of those things, it's pretty stupid, but rules is rules so whatever.  As part of that, every five years you have to go through a background check.  Okay, fine, whatever.  That background check supposedly costs $50.  Not cheap, but, frankly, that doesn't bother me in and of itself.  I started this process last year when I got an email from their system saying that I was due to refresh my background check. 

Correction.

The email said that I was "REQUIRED" to refresh my background check.  That's the word they used:  Required.

First of all, I am not required to do anything for you.  I'm a volunteer.  You need me more than I need to do things for you.

I log in to the system and click the things to get the process started until I get to the bottom of the form and see this:

This was the first that I was informed that I'd need to pay something.  And as far as the amount that I'd need to pay?  It isn't posted anywhere.  That's right, it's just a give us your credit card info so we can charge some unknown amount to it.  And, by the way, we might decide to add some other amount at a later date.

Last year, I wrote a letter to the headmaster of the school explaining that I really didn't mind paying the money - and I'd even be willing to pay a little more to help fund someone else who would like to help but for whom the alleged $50 would be a hardship.  I know that he received the letter because we spoke about it for a short while.

This year, however, I got another email from the school as the year got underway.  They were writing to tell me that I needed to do my background check.  And during the parent orientation, they talked about this system and how you had to be certified through it in order to volunteer.  In neither of those cases did they mention that there was any sort of cost associated with it.

I really don't have a problem with the money.  It's fifty bucks.  No big deal.  And I know they desperately need folks to help them out.  And I am happy to help.  In a given year, I do around at least 200 hours of official volunteer work and I am happy to do all that and more.  But what I cannot stand for is the presumption.  The school needs help so we just expect you to give us your time and talent.  And then we just assume that you'll also give up your treasure for the privilege. 

My response this time was a little more direct.  "Unfortunately I cannot, in good conscience, allow my contributions to continue to be taken for granted.  I look forward to being able to resume my good standing within the Virtus platform at such time as there is a shift in the messaging that addresses my concerns.  Until that time, I remain ready, willing, and able to help out in any way that does not require currency within the Virtus framework.  I am happy to discuss further and would be happy to assist in the process of revamping that messaging, if the school would find that helpful in any way."

My attitude would be completely different if they simply presented it differently.  If they ASKED instead of demanded.  A note that said something along the lines of: "The school is required to have all of our volunteers undergo a background check in order to ensure compliance and to make sure that our children remain safe in our halls.  We have worked diligently to partner with a vendor that can provide a complete background check at the best price possible.  The cost of the background check is $50 and is only required every 5 years.  We understand that we are asking not only for your time and talent, but for your treasure as well, but know that every dollar the school has is dedicated to enriching the minds and souls of our children.  If your financial situation precludes you from being able to volunteer, please contact the office.  If your financial situation is such that you can sponsor another parent volunteer, please contact the office to make that additional gift."  If I would gave received that note, instead of the one that just said "You are required to do your background check", I would be filling out the form and sending a check to the office as a donation, smiling all the way.

Instead, they've just presumed that not only will I give them free labor, but that I will pay for the privilege of doing so.

I can only hope that this will be a catalyst for change.

In reply to wae :

I doubt they can afford to lose 200 experienced volunteer hours over changing some wording on a memo. If they'll be smart enough to realize that...

I  have to do SafeSport training annually and a background check as well to referee children. Costs me $30, on top of the $140 I'm already paying to get certified. Harumph. 

Beer Baron said:

BoxheadTim said:

My preferred brand of keyboard brought out a new model last year...

What is your preferred brand? What models are winners?

I've been using various incarnations of the Kinesis Advantage (kinesis-ergo.com) since about 2001. They mostly just seem to work and last a long time - I've got at least one that I've used for over a decade.

Picture below is one of my newer ones:

The cat hair is of course optional, although not in this household.

I've been an Audible subscriber for a while. I get a book every month, and for two years it's nearly always been a John D MacDonald book. The narrator, Robert Petkoff, gives so much to the stories, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them like no other fiction book series ever.

I get my credit on the 18th, so naturally I go to the fanpage to see which novel is next.

There are no more.

It's over.

I finished them all. Mr. MacDonald never finished book 22.

I feel empty now. I need to consider how the main character would have finished. How would his life gone after novel 21? The books span 20 years of his life...

the wiring is complete / also the push putton outside of rome 504 needs to be change to smaller sixe see derly and please in  the furture report to derly 843-224-2039 --- when will you be completing this

Seriously? This is how you communicate? This is the best you can do with modern equipment that has not only a spell checker but the capability to help you with grammar. I'm not one to be a grammar nazi but professional communication should at least attempt to be professional. 

Also, there is no way the security wiring is complete because you were supposed to schedule a meeting between my people and the security contractor to integrate the two systems. Did you forget that part at the same time you lost your ability to English?

Do your job ass hole, so I can do mine.

In reply to Toyman! :

smaller sixe see derly?

Almost as useful as the Marketplace responses "is this available?" and "I'm interested."....

tuna55 said:

In reply to Toyman! :

smaller sixe see derly?

"...needs to be changed to a smaller size.  See Derly, and in the future, please report to Derly..."

Given the rest of that travesty, I'm assuming Derly's actual name is something different.

I agree with Toyman's point.  Not everything needs to be Nobel prize literature, but if your job requires written communication, you should have at least a basic grasp of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

Of course I'm building another package for Hungary Bill and I can't find tape anywhere. Guess it's going to have to wait til Monday.

I decided to mow with my last functional mower last night instead of working on a broken lawn mower. Now I have two broken lawn mowers

Finally, whenever you're feeling good and want to do something, all your friends suddenly don't or seem to ignore your message about it. Even worse when every one of them has before whined about not doing enough throughout summer and wasting it! All I'm talking about is playing minigolf!

"I'm interested" was a scammer... imagine that.

Toyman! said:

In reply to Antihero :

I'm trying to talk my wife into being homeless in the next 10 years or so. It's not going to be in a van down by the river though. It's going to be more like this. 

See, that's great but I'm not talking the awesome nomad life that frankly I'd love to do too 

I'm talking the person that has an 06 civic that their videos seem to be mostly trying to find a safe place to park every night in a city. The people that mention their " kitchen box" doubles as a table when what it is is a piece of Tupperware that they put beside their couch cushions that make their bed level.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for alternate ways of living, but this is homeless people barely scraping by and people pointing and laughing at them ,or even worse.......telling them that it's great.

RevRico said:

Antihero said:

I keep seeing videos pop up on Facebook and YouTube about " car camping"

 

We are glorifying homelessness, I can't be the only one that finds this very alarming???

You're not, but everybody says houses are just as affordable as they've always been when you adjust for inflation and ignore the fact wages have been essentially stagnant for 50 years, so there must not be anything to worry about. 

Really, if you don't have or want kids, car camping would be a great way to go for a while, as long as you can figure out things like gas, insurance, and repairs. 

Yeah.....I see that too. Houses and general living is much more expensive than it was even 5 years ago really

ATT guy, insulting my phone choice by calling it old and low end (despite the garbage you're trying to sell me being DEEPLY inferior) is a an excellent way to make sure I'm definitely NEVER using your service. Know your berkeleying product you low rent shill. 

Mndsm said:

In reply to Duke :

Unfortunately for me it's not much of an if, it's a how. I can read an MRI result pretty well. It's the cause I'm looking for. 

If it's what I think it might be, berkeley those people.  That's unacceptable.

In reply to Appleseed :

You probably have a halfway decent guess based on my recent history. I'll know more in a week. 

In reply to wae :

I have similar at my church and 2 folks contacted me about not signing up yet.  I can't make it and I asked what the options are.  

Don't worry they say.....then why is it mandatory?

In reply to mtn :

Is that in addition to the USA hockey annual registration?

It feels like that has doubled in the last few years for players and coaches. 

I have a possibly irrational and probably unwarranted contempt for amateur photographers and their burning need to capture the face of everydamnbody in sight.

Can I not just make it through an otherwise enjoyable company function without some happy-smiley jumping in front of me with a soul catcher?

Then they either look at me like I just grew a third arm and slapped them with it when I either turn away or ask them to please not, or they just laugh because surely I must be joking - haha, that's a good one, everyone loves having their picture taken - and keep right on snapping.

Companies recycling names/models decades later for cars that are virtually nothing like the original.
Looking at you "Impala", A110, Europa, and too many others to list.
A real PITA when searching for parts to fit the original.

In reply to RichardSIA :

You have no idea how hard it was to find an image of a Charger Turbo.  The L-body.  All I could find were images of turbo kits for some big fat POS.  I wanted a photo of a small, nimble POS!

And don't get me started on trying to find an image of "Eleanor".  Eleanor was a nondescript yellow '73 Mustang, not some riced out '67.