The Not Happy Thread - Continued

Maybe you need to petition St. Peter, whose name comes from Greek Petros, meaning stone?

 

Is that your complicated way of saying he should get real stoned?

 

st. margaret of antioch and st. benedict of nursia are both patrons of kidney problems…apparently

 

Hey, everybody must get stoned. Just ask St Robert of Dylan.

Hope you feel better very soon, Homer!

 

Maybe it's a sign that you should stop dragging your kidneys around?

 

(Cue Carly Simon singing "Anticipation.")

 

Just focus on how good things will be once this passes. Until the next one, of course.

 

I'd be surprised if there was a patron saint of ChatGPT.

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

 

Interesting. *reads the wikipedia entry on this particular person* Hmm.

I am neither a theologian nor even Christian, but it appears that although Isidore of Seville was extremely learned and obviously devout, he was also quite anti-Semitic -- and yes, that's equally obvious for a Christian archbishop of that era. No judgment there.

Nevertheless, to make such a man into a saint, it seems to me, cheapens the office of a saint. A saint, I thought, was someone we should revere and look up to, and it is unfortunate that we are expected to look up to a bully and a bigot. (To be fair, I'm not questioning his achievements but his ethics).

Again, to be fair, the concept of religious tolerance only developed out of the European wars of religion, more specifically out of the Peace of Westphalia which ended the 30 Years' War (1618–1648). This is roughly 1,000 years after Isidore's death. So we can't expect him to be tolerant. But, perhaps, the idea of saints ought to be re-examined, and saints who (as people) behaved horribly while alive ought to be replaced? Just an idea.

 

Oh, good grief.

 

I have an autistic adult disabled son, physically as well. He gets social security benefits as an adult disabled child (SSDI), which is good. As part of that he is also eligible for Medicaid, which has been a blessing. Because he is intelligent and needs to feel needed, he works part-time, government job a bit above minimum wage. Through the Medicaid program he gets funding for various social programs, and funds to pay for his transportation to and from work. All good. But Medicaid has a pitifully low limit to assets he can have in his name -- $2,ooo. But there is an exception that allows him to put most of his earnings and SSDI benefits into a designated account that he can only withdraw for certain necessary expenses, money that doesn't count against his ceiling. So we have been using that for several years, saving it for his future needs. But today I discovered that it has a ceiling of its own and we are perilously close to reaching that. When that happens, any money put in there will over that ceiling will count against that $2,000 ceiling. And exceeding that will cost him his Medicaid benefits. All of them. There is a workaround that I am setting up that will raise that ceiling to $15,000, which is good, but that will only delay the inevitable. in a bit over a year -- at best -- he will reach that ceiling and lose his Medicaid.

Not because he gets magically gets well at that moment, but because, well, Medicaid and the American "safety net."

I feel too old to deal with this.

 

It's not fair. Almost every program has this or a similar problem. If you make a dollar over the limit, you lose benefits amounting to the difference between surviving and not. If you make just enough that you don't qualify for childcare, you have to spend thousands on childcare to keep a job that barely pays for childcare. They need sensible sliding scales in these programs. Period.

 

Of any items that may have come down in price, or even eased a bit, plywood is not one. $30 for a sheet of 1/4” CDX. That shit should be about $10.

 

Some of you may or may not have seen this story: Cattle Trapped in Truck After Driver Crashes Into Bridge

I was there last night.

I spent yesterday doing my 8:30am to 5pm day job, then rehearsing at night with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic ... and then it took me 90 minutes to get home instead of 40 minutes, because some yo-yo driving a cattle-truck decided to crash it into a railway bridge.

This closed not just my railway line, but also three others ... so everyone living in the south of my city had some fun times getting home. Obviously, I am utterly, utterly exhausted this morning (ugh), but I'm sure there are lots of others who had to spend even longer getting home ... not to mention the police, the veterinarians dealing with scared cows, gov't officials etc. dealing with the situation ... sheesh.

It was -- drumroll -- an udder cow-tastrophe. (Sorry)

 

I was walking through a public space and what seems to be a transwoman (clearly biologically male, tall, with dyed purple hair and an extremely short skirt) called me a bitch and made negative remarks about my hair repeatedly. I was on my phone and didn’t clock them at first. The moment I looked up, I saw who they were. They repeated what they had said and stalked after me. I didn’t engage and ducked into a building. I had done nothing impolite.

It’s insane to me how someone who probably identifies as a woman suddenly thinks they get a pass at negatively judging women and calling them names. I tell myself they must be a miserable person.

 

Jesus. I'm biologically male, and I'm ashamed to have a similar chromosome to people like that. On behalf of all the men in the world, I'd like to apologize for that nutjob.

Are you OK, edamame? I hope so.
========================
My apologies for the following rant. It's slightly longish, but it's something I have to get out there. Please bear with me.

Last chance! ****WARNING: LONG RANT**** OK, here we go!

So for the past week at work, I've had to deal with a spoiled brat laughingly known as a customer ... and today, I had to deal with rich, snobby, and entitled customers. Two in one day. Oh, joy. Oh, rapture. Oh, the bliss when I imagine a random pigeon crapping in their hair.

One of them called the department I work in (accounts) last week and demanded that I should clarify her invoice, because she felt she was being double-charged. I tried to explain to her that I had no access to that, because not everyone in our accounts department has access to everything, and tried to give her the right person to call. But she didn't want to listen, and called me lazy and mean and rude and other words I won't print. Eventually, I managed to get a word in edge-wise and inform her ... and she hung up, called the other person, and then emailed my boss and started going on and on about how rude and mean I was. Groan.

So anyway, I thought she was out of my hair until a couple of days ago, when she double-paid another bill. Marvelous. I emailed her to let her know and offer a refund or credit, and she started going on and on about what a mean and rude person we have working in our department, etc. I replied very calmly and professionally, but inside I was stewing. Lady, learn to listen, and stop ignoring people who are simply trying to help you. And if you can't do that, then you can f@ck off to Antarctica. OK?

As if that wasn't bad enough, some other lady then emailed me and asked why she owed us money. I explained that when she paid us online, she never told us which bill she was paying, so I was at a loss to know what she meant, and simply allocated her payment to the oldest owing invoice on her account (e.g. if she paid $50, I put it against the oldest owing invoice for her that was $50).

But then, she went on a tirade about how she ALWAYS told us what she was paying, etc. etc... so, I got her complete payment history from the bank, and showed her that no, she has never done that. I also explained how important it was, when paying your bill, to tell me which bill you're paying. Because if you have 4 bills for $20 each, and you pay me $40 and don't tell me what you expect me to do with it, how am I supposed to know? Am I psychic? I don't have super-f@cking-powers. Just tell me what you want me to do. I'm begging you. (Oh yeah, and I cc'd my boss in the whole thing, just to cover my ass).

The worst part is that when something like that happens, my boss automatically has to take her side, for fear of tabloid-f@cking-journalists making the company look bad. I thought we had policies on abuse for a reason. I certainly don't abuse the clients or their families, and I certainly won't accept being their punching bag. Respect goes both ways. I offer all our clients respect and civility, and in return, I expect not to be abused. Is that so hard? I'm not asking anyone to do anything ridiculous, like kiss my arse or worship the ground I walk on. Just please don't scream and curse at me as if I killed your firstborn. Deal? THANK YOU, Australia!

Sigh. Sorry I had to rant. I need a hug.

 

Consider yourself hugged, settled onto a nice comfortable chair with a chocolate chip cookie, and handed a fat, sweet yellow lab puppy for company.

 

Aw, thank you, Catriona. Will this one do?

 

I’m okay, just tired of being a convenient person to take out a bad mood on. I’ll literally be doing nothing of note outside and someone has to come over and impress their ego on me because I’m short and harmless looking. *sigh*

*hugs* I’m sorry you’re dealing with such frustrated and frustrating customers.

 

This is a little bit complex. The root is I need new glasses. I already knew that, but we had a mandatory company wide eye check a while back, which I passed by the skin of my ass. If I hadn’t done so well on the colorblindness tests, I may not have had enough skin.
They said I did well enough to keep my job, and to just let them know when I get my new glasses so they can do a recheck.

I seem to have taken that much more casually than they meant.

Now aerospace manufacturing audit season is starting, and we have inspectors coming through representing major contracts checking on everything from safety records, building security, protocol compliance… everything down to federal mandates on vision of any production employee who handles the parts we make. And one of their painters can’t pass the vision test. (Me.)

The foot dragging has been 90% finances. Tye glasses I have were over $400, and they’re about 8 years old. I’m sure they haven’t gotten any less expensive. And 10% me not taking it seriously enough. It may be more like 80/20.

Now I’ve been having trouble getting in anywhere. The soonest appointment I’ve found isn’t until the end on September, and I need this a wee bit sooner than that.

So I’m stuck, and my job is hanging on this.

 

Good luck, NobodySpecial. I hope you can get your new glasses soon.

 

Oh, gosh.

I know what it's like for it to take forever to get an eye appointment. And what it's like to underestimate the importance of an employer "recommendation."

How long before the audit/inspection gets to you? Seems everything hinges on your getting an exam long enough before that to allow time to get your new glasses made. I'll be praying that happens for you.

I get my glasses via an online company (Zenni Optical)--- I can't afford the ones in the optician's shop, and they're mostly ugly, anyway. My insurance doesn't pay for them, but they're still cheaper. They take around a month to arrive, but you can pay extra for express shipping.