Complaint Thursdays

[TrueBlueGED]

Oh they're in town. They're working on journal articles and other "professor" stuff. My work is not important right now.

 

Thumb up my ass.

 

Wow that's even worse. At least you have some extra free time in the summer now? Small silver lining, yes, but it's silver!

[MattPie]

Woo! Friday complaint post!

 

None of my bikes is completely functional. And I don't have enough time for the TLC to nurse them back to health. Even my mountain bike isn't shifting well.

[dEnnis the Menace]

Leaking oil and antifreeze from my car. It's too new to have problems :(

 

And the girlfriend started med school yesterday...now I get to see her even less :(

 

On the bright side, I almost got to witness natural selection this morning. Dumbass tried walking across route 13 on the hill coming out of Ithaca, near the mall where it's 4 lanes, and separated by a median. pants sagging, hat sideways, etc. I'm not one to wish ill on others, but in this case it would've been OK I think.

[darksabre]

I haven't gotten a good nights sleep in over a week. No matter what I do, I wake up four hours into my slumber coughing like an idiot. I'm going to go crazy before I ever get to see a doctor.

[shrader]

Just don't be in the splash zone when he's hit.

[Sabre Dance]

The old chestnut says that washing your car makes it rain - so does buying a new motorcycle. (Plus, I ate some expired yogurt for breakfast yesterday and the resulting GI issues are making me cranky and sleepy.) Bleah.....

[shrader]

I've got this clear sticky stuff that dripped onto the top of my car in three places. It has the consistency of tree sap, but I don't park underneath a tree, so I have no idea what it is. It won't come off though either. And related to Sabre Dance's post? I just had it washed this past weekend.

[chileanseabass]

So with all the drama surrounding my son over the past year (divorce, possible abuse, etc), I've decided I no longer feel comfortable traveling internationally for my job. I just don't like being away from him and don't trust my ex. Last year I was away for 120 days in all, this year, around 75. So, I told my boss I had no interest in continuing to travel. He basically told me he understood, especially given the situation, but that I was no longer of value to the company. For a small company (8 employees), I bring in about 80% of the revenue (+/- $1.57 million last year). Fair enough, I get it, but then he tells me to kiss my $10,000 sales bonus goodbye, because it is suddenly contingent upon my ability to travel. Huh? How so? It was contingent upon meeting sales goals, which were met.

 

And then, because he's so nice, said he'd keep me with the company until I find a new job, but I can't leave until my replacement has been hired and adequately trained, which will be sometime in December, January or February.

[darksabre]

Requesting the removal of cached search results from google is quite time consuming.

[dEnnis the Menace]

So with all the drama surrounding my son over the past year (divorce, possible abuse, etc), I've decided I no longer feel comfortable traveling internationally for my job. I just don't like being away from him and don't trust my ex. Last year I was away for 120 days in all, this year, around 75. So, I told my boss I had no interest in continuing to travel. He basically told me he understood, especially given the situation, but that I was no longer of value to the company. For a small company (8 employees), I bring in about 80% of the revenue (+/- $1.57 million last year). Fair enough, I get it, but then he tells me to kiss my $10,000 sales bonus goodbye, because it is suddenly contingent upon my ability to travel. Huh? How so? It was contingent upon meeting sales goals, which were met.

 

And then, because he's so nice, said he'd keep me with the company until I find a new job, but I can't leave until my replacement has been hired and adequately trained, which will be sometime in December, January or February.

 

I've been following everything you've chronicled on here, and I commend your strength and posture through all of this, being able to continually do what you do. What is happening with your job, as you described, is just bullsh!t. I don't blame you for requesting less travel, and your boss should be more accommodating, IMO.

[SwampD]

The No Typing thread might just turn out to be the single greatest time killer I have ever encountered.

[darksabre]

The No Typing thread might just turn out to be the single greatest time killer I have ever encountered.

 

It occurs to me that I possess an almost disturbing amount of youtube video knowledge.

[darksabre]

Went to Mighty for lunch. Ordered two Super Mighties, hot with sour cream. Received three.

 

I'm complaining because I had no choice but to eat all three. Which I will undoubtedly regret later.

[frissonic]

Went to Mighty for lunch. Ordered two Super Mighties, hot with sour cream. Received three.

 

I'm complaining because I had no choice but to eat all three. Which I will undoubtedly regret later.

if you don't end up regretting it, your co-workers most assuredly will.

[darksabre]

 

if you don't end up regretting it, your co-workers most assuredly will.

 

I'm unemployed :(

 

:lol:

Edited August 9, 2012 by d4rksabre

[dEnnis the Menace]

I'm unemployed :(

 

:lol:

 

The girlfriend then haha

[darksabre]

 

 

The girlfriend then haha

 

Oh most definitely haha

[frissonic]

I'm unemployed :(

 

:lol:

aw, man! sorry. except ... well, at least you have a lot of free time! (?) (is that a good thing ...?)

[biodork]

Wow, CSB... I second dEnnis in saying kudos for how you've handled the whole situation. That's total crap about your boss, and I hope you find a new job where you can be appreciated AND be home as much as you like for your son.

 

For me: I'm at a loss as far as what to do about my dog. After the scare he gave me in June I really just wanted to keep him comfortable until it was his time to go with the hope that it would happen peacefully in his sleep, but instead it's just become a sort of slow decline in health. His vision is quite poor and he stumbles and runs into things a lot, and occasionally he falls over because his hind legs are weak. He gets incredibly thirsty and dehydrated, but can't / won't drink unless I show him his water bowl and physically prop him up while he drinks. I don't think I've slept more than 4-6 hours at a time for the last two months because he needs to go out late and wakes me up early, and I have to clean up messes pretty much every day when I get home from work. (Thankfully he still has bladder control.) But, in spite of all that, he still eats heartily and doesn't seem to be in any pain. My boyfriend really wants me to consider putting him down because he sees the toll caring for him is taking on me, but I feel like we wouldn't even be having that conversation if he were a human family member. I'm just afraid if I do it now it'll be for my sake and not my dog's, and I don't want that on my soul. If there were a clear sign he's uncomfortable I would do it, but I wonder sometimes if I'm still capable of being objective about the situation. I revolve my entire day around this dog and when I can / need to be home to give him food, medicine, etc. and it's caused me to avoid plans and miss out on a lot of things. I'm always exhausted and un-fun to be around, and I hate that.

[dEnnis the Menace]

Wow, CSB... I second dEnnis in saying kudos for how you've handled the whole situation. That's total crap about your boss, and I hope you find a new job where you can be appreciated AND be home as much as you like for your son.

 

For me: I'm at a loss as far as what to do about my dog. After the scare he gave me in June I really just wanted to keep him comfortable until it was his time to go with the hope that it would happen peacefully in his sleep, but instead it's just become a sort of slow decline in health. His vision is quite poor and he stumbles and runs into things a lot, and occasionally he falls over because his hind legs are weak. He gets incredibly thirsty and dehydrated, but can't / won't drink unless I show him his water bowl and physically prop him up while he drinks. I don't think I've slept more than 4-6 hours at a time for the last two months because he needs to go out late and wakes me up early, and I have to clean up messes pretty much every day when I get home from work. (Thankfully he still has bladder control.) But, in spite of all that, he still eats heartily and doesn't seem to be in any pain. My boyfriend really wants me to consider putting him down because he sees the toll caring for him is taking on me, but I feel like we wouldn't even be having that conversation if he were a human family member. I'm just afraid if I do it now it'll be for my sake and not my dog's, and I don't want that on my soul. If there were a clear sign he's uncomfortable I would do it, but I wonder sometimes if I'm still capable of being objective about the situation. I revolve my entire day around this dog and when I can / need to be home to give him food, medicine, etc. and it's caused me to avoid plans and miss out on a lot of things. I'm always exhausted and un-fun to be around, and I hate that.

 

I missed this last week. I'm sorry to hear about this. That is a really tough situation to be in. I don't know how I would be able to handle it. Best of luck to you :(

[biodork]

It's that time of year again, performance reviews. Having been in the corporate world for over a decade now I've learned to just grit my teeth and get them over with quickly. I've always known that they mean less than nothing in determining whether I get a decent raise or promotion, but now they've made known a new policy that is just beyond ridiculous. It's now been mandated from corporate that each site has to make their ratings fit a bell curve. In other words, on a 1-5 rating scale the majority of people will be forced into a 3 rating while a select few will receive 4 or 5 and others will be forced into the lower rankings. This is a place filled with scientists and engineers, so everyone realizes that this practice is nuts and runs completely counterintuitive to what the performance review process is supposed to foster in the first place. But we do it anyway. Personally, I've had a fantastic year, but I know there is basically no chance that I get anything higher than a 3, and along with it the standard miniscule raise and bonus. Idiots.

 

Ugh, they do that here as well and I hate it. We spend hours filling out these stupid forms for our performance reviews (and most of it is filled out by me!), and then at the end of the day it all comes down to one of 5 boxes checked by my boss on the last page ranging from "performance significantly exceeds expectations" to "performance does not meet expectations". How subjective is that? If I start a position and my boss knows coming in that I'm pretty damn good at what I do, then me performing to that level is merely meeting expectations whereas someone where you aren't expecting much out of them and they don't really do any more than the minimum is also "meeting expectations", and the difference in raises is typically only 1-2%. Where's the incentive? Shouldn't an institution strive to be comprised of employees who all perform at a high level and reward them accordingly rather than only offering a token reward for the high performers and forcing some of those high performers into lower categories to fit their stupid bell curve? Makes no sense whatsoever.

 

I missed this last week. I'm sorry to hear about this. That is a really tough situation to be in. I don't know how I would be able to handle it. Best of luck to you :(

 

Thanks, dEnnis... he does okay when I can keep him to a pretty strict schedule, but any deviation from that and he gets stressed and has trouble. Last Sat. night I went to my friends' annual summer BBQ (I really debated whether to go), and despite my best efforts to compensate with his feeding schedule, I got home later than I planned and he was a wreck. I felt so awful and guilty. I had to force him to rehydrate and then he had to take a nap before he was ready to eat (even though I could hear his stomach growling), and then he woke up a bit later and was able to eat. After getting back to a normal schedule the next day and a lot of sleep, he was fine. But is that me, wishful thinking and trying to avoid a difficult decision, or doing the right thing and caring for him as best I can while he's still somewhat healthy? I really don't know anymore.

Edited August 16, 2012 by biodork

[darksabre]

My sliding screen door is too flimsy and doesn't close all the way. So now my apartment is getting bugs in it with these nice fall-ish days and it's driving me nuts. The apartment maintenance won't fix it in any hurry so I'm stuck trying to solve the problem myself. Bluh.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

 

Thanks, dEnnis... he does okay when I can keep him to a pretty strict schedule, but any deviation from that and he gets stressed and has trouble. Last Sat. night I went to my friends' annual summer BBQ (I really debated whether to go), and despite my best efforts to compensate with his feeding schedule, I got home later than I planned and he was a wreck. I felt so awful and guilty. I had to force him to rehydrate and then he had to take a nap before he was ready to eat (even though I could hear his stomach growling), and then he woke up a bit later and was able to eat. After getting back to a normal schedule the next day and a lot of sleep, he was fine. But is that me, wishful thinking and trying to avoid a difficult decision, or doing the right thing and caring for him as best I can while he's still somewhat healthy? I really don't know anymore.

 

It's a personal decision, and I love animals so I know it is tough. You are making personal choices that most people wouldn't even do for a human relative. That's a lot of love.

 

No matter when the time comes, and what you decide, you can be assured you have already gone above and beyond the call of duty. Sometimes the easiest way for any creature to be fully happy again is to be allowed to be at peace. It sounds like everyone is stressing. There is nothing to feel guilty about in relieving your own stress if it is the direct result of relieving his stress. He would be thankful. It's OK.

[biodork]

My sliding screen door is too flimsy and doesn't close all the way. So now my apartment is getting bugs in it with these nice fall-ish days and it's driving me nuts. The apartment maintenance won't fix it in any hurry so I'm stuck trying to solve the problem myself. Bluh.

 

Would this help? foam weather stripping tape

 

They come in different thicknesses, and really easy to apply. I've used it to fill somewhat large gaps since my doors weren't set properly.

[rbochan]

Damn mower won't start.