What Grinds Your Gears? :)

[IndigoErth]

So 8:15 this morning a book -- that traveled largely by a good ol' slow shipping partner -- scanned "accepted at destination" with USPS. Is my zip so that's probably the local post office, though it didn't say it was at the unit.

9:30 am, less than an hour later, it scans "arrived at unit" down state, where it normally would take over 1 1/2 hours, maybe closer to 2, to get there?? And that 55 min time frame even includes the time it takes to get back onto a truck after that prior scan, back off a truck and scanned into that other unit...so not only WHY did it end up down there, but how did it do it so fast?? USPS clearly has frigging portals, but only when they want to.

Really hoping that is somehow a glitch in the scan and it really is here still, not a post office down state. Is that even possible?

Grr. Was a seller I got two books from via eBay. Not shipped together for some reason, but both started in TN. One routed through Georgia, the other went to Texas, both on to the same location in PA then here...and now the one lagging behind kept going.



1/23 -- Anyone ever have anything come via shipping partner OrangeDS? Are they always super SLOW??

Ordered a bunch of used books off eBay on the 15th, all of them coming by shipping partners. (Yay, a race to see which slow shipping partner is the fastest! ) Excluding one wayward book, all the others from states farther away have shown up. Meanwhile the ones taking the longest and haven't budged on the tracking were picked up by shipping partner OrangeDS NEXT DOOR in New Jersey. Wtf.

Jesus Jersey.... it may only be a joke that you suck, but your shipping partner located there certainly does.

Apparently whoever Thrift Books uses is the best one, coming 6 days after ordering, so gold star to them, they win.

World of Books USA is the user of the Orange that couldn't roll down a hill in a hurricane...just fyi. I've bought from them before and if stuff is slow so be it, but not seeing it even move in tracking...come on. Are they being shipped by bike and the delivery person is traversing all of PA first before getting down here?

[IndigoErth]

Not really so much a grind... but I'd been eyeing this dark chocolate with lemon for quite a while hoping it would be on a better sale at some point so I could try it. Normally my cut off is around 70% cocoa and it's an 85%, but was hoping being maybe a lemon take on the classic dark orange might be good...

Needless to say it didn't pan out and was New Year 2000 so-called "melon flavored" champagne (melon where??) levels of disappointment. (Wtf is this??) Guess I'll bake with it or something later.

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

He dates them until they turn twenty-five. Then, he dates women who're younger and younger.

Imagine if he dates a twenty year-old right now ...

Disgusting.

Well, I guess I was ( partially ) correct ...

Leo is now dating a nineteen year-old woman. ( She was born in either 2003 or 2004. )

Disgusting ...

[IndigoErth]

Consenting adults and all that is their business, but a teen is kinda gross... A adult over 30, esp over 40, refusing to date anyone over 25 also makes me doubt their own maturity, since people under 25 usually aren't fully there yet themselves and more often just annoy older adults.

But who knows... it could also just be that he's basically a male Cougar (Puma perhaps?) similarly desperately trying to feel young by being with younger partners. After all, he held onto is own youthful looks for a surprisingly long time, barely seeming to age, until suddenly it crashed and caught up with him.

[Andrew NDB]

Leo is an interesting conundrum, if one were to take a very male perspective. Obviously there has never been any evidence Leo has taken advantage of any of these ladies, or threatened them with his influence or power.... these are willing young ladies he continues to date. And its very easy for fellow males (I'll leave ladies out of the equation for the sake of argument) to point a finger at him and say "Groooosssss!" But if you were to put yourself in his shoes, with his cred and persona and all of it, and you could continue to date a revolving door of 19-25 year old supermodels... you're really going to tell me 100% you wouldn't be interested in that? It seems easy for people who in their lifetime will never be in that place to do so to condemn him.

Obviously there's an expiration date for that. And certainly Leo will go the George Clooney route at some point. Until then? So what, I say.

[ssjup81]

Not so much a grind, but I'm anticipating one to come up. I actually did a job interview and I was hired for the position. My issue is now putting in my notice at my current job. I asked if I could have a month, which the soon-to-be new employer said was okay, and so I'm working on a resignation letter now to submit tomorrow (or Tuesday). Anyway, when my assistant quit, they were passive-aggressive with her and found ways to cut her time and hours since they dislike us getting overtime. I'm worried I'm going to get that same treatment, but hoping that I don't. I feel like I'm also going to get guilt-tripped again. I still don't know what to fully say, though. I'm just glad I won't have to use them as a reference.

This newer job, even though I won't be starting as a lead teacher (and I'm fine with that), will offer health benefits to all full-time employees, paid holidays/vacation time after 90 days (of course), along with personal and wellness days, and retirement benefits (so I'm guessing an actual 401k) for all employees (full and part) who work over 30 hours a week. They also said that hours would never be cut and will get compensated if need be. The other perks aren't things that would apply to me as I don't have children, but these other benefits are ones I would want with a job. The pay is also slightly higher than what I make currently, despite starting back down at the bottom if I'm not mistaken.

The saddest thing about this situation are the children and their families. I've gotten attached and I feel like I'm betraying them by leaving. They (my kids) already threaten me when I jokingly say that I'm leaving. "You can't go anywhere! We won't have a teacher! You have to stay here forever! If you leave, we will get a key! We will put you in jail and you can't talk to your mommy and daddy!" And then there are parents, "We really appreciate you Wendy! We're so glad you're here, Wendy! My son cries when you're not here, Wendy."...it's heartbreaking...

So yeah, it's an anticipated grind and I'm super nervous about it. I think I might have my anxiety meds on-hand just in case.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Leo is an interesting conundrum, if one were to take a very male perspective. Obviously there has never been any evidence Leo has taken advantage of any of these ladies, or threatened them with his influence or power.... these are willing young ladies he continues to date.

That's not Leo's style. He wouldn't do that I feel, take advantage of any woman he was with or force them.

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

Well, I guess I was ( partially ) correct ...

Leo is now dating a nineteen year-old woman. ( She was born in either 2003 or 2004. )

Disgusting ...

It looks like I was wrong ...

Still, my general position still stands; older men shouldn't date women in their late-teens/early-twenties.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

It looks like I was wrong ...

Still, my general position still stands; older men shouldn't date women in their late-teens/early-twenties.

Women in their late teens/early twenties shouldn't pursue older financially successful men but um.....


I do honestly wonder how that conversation goes once they hit 25. "Happy birthday! So um... how quickly can you get outta here?"

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I do honestly wonder how that conversation goes once they hit 25. "Happy birthday! So um... how quickly can you get outta here?"

Oh god.

"Happy birthday, babe! I got you a little somethin'!" They push a BIG wrapped box in front of him/her.

"Wow, what did you do??" They excitedly open it. Yay! It's a set of suitcases!

"Omg!" they exclaim, expecting a trip is about to be revealed. "Are we going somewhere??"

"Yes! Your movers will be here by noon!"





Grind... when Dollar Tree gets in some kind of obnoxious toy that the kids all MUST find. The newest addition being some damn little rubber chicken that has a nice loud, screaming squeaker. And as "the card lady" I can't escape it until my work is done. Dear god, everyone please GO to your local DTs and buy ALL of them. And then gift them to the kids of adults you kinda hate. Get those things the hell out of the stores. If the people who work in my stores want help burying them in their stock rooms I'd gladly help them do it! LOL

And I thought those damn clapper things were annoying.

Some mom gave a toddler two of the chickens yesterday. (Or perhaps an older kid will be receiving one! Fun!) The father was already apprehensive, but the mother defended it that it makes their daughter happy. Yeah, good luck with her when she's an obnoxious 14-year-old someday and she thinks it's wrong for her to be unhappy and that being happy is most important, even if it steps on or disregards other people.

She's gonna regret those damn chickens SO fast. LOL


edit: BONUS grind...

Apparently the IRS is suggesting to wait on filing your taxes if you're in a state that gave out some kind of rebate last year. Supposedly even if they aren't taxable from the STATE, they're trying to determine if they're FEDERALLY taxable. Naturally they'd wait until now to try to decide this...

Yeah, already did mine the last weekend of Jan. and both were quickly accepted, sooo...

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Oh god.

"Happy birthday, babe! I got you a little somethin'!" They push a BIG wrapped box in front of him/her.

"Wow, what did you do??" They excitedly open it. Yay! It's a set of suitcases!

"Omg!" they exclaim, expecting a trip is about to be revealed. "Are we going somewhere??"

"Yes! Your movers will be here by noon!"

Lmao!!!! Oh god.

[Papenbrook]

The price of eggs keeps going upward.

Make it stop.

[IndigoErth]

More just a funny annoyance than a grind, but still annoyance none the less... Had gotten these fluffy colorful socks a while ago and was actually chilly yesterday so wore them here at home. Went to bed late and the room was kinda cool so I never took them off. Those socks basically exploded bits of colorful lint ALL throughout my bedding and my PJs. I'm not sure how many lint roller sheets it even took to clean that up. Now I'm "terrified" to ever wash them for what they may do in the washer and dryer unless I can find a small laundry bag with small enough holes to keep the lint from escaping. Yikes. lol

They were cute too, but good god. Though would make a great gift for someone you're annoyed at. lol

[Cowabung-Gal]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

The price of eggs keeps going upward.

Make it stop.

Either stop voting for socialists or buy chickens. My family’s planning to do the latter. No joke. I’m naming one of them Peggy.

[NeonTurtledude]

I have an unexplained sniffly, dry cough and I might have to get my laptop looked at in may or june because a hardware issue has made the webcam stop working, the rest of the laptop's features are working fine though

[IndigoErth]

It's a small gripe, because do I need to be eating candy...not really. But I think Dollar Tree's sour gummy worms changed recipe along with the new look to the package. (Same name, but did they change supplier?) Were a fave as they were more sour than most of the brand names that seem to have become less-so over the years, but now... they seem less sour and the flavor seems to have changed and taste more like those holiday gummies they sell around Halloween, etc that aren't the best flavor. Damn. Sucks when a fave product changes or disappears forever.

[Andrew NDB]

I'm becoming annoyed with people IRL who can't stop talking... about nothing. What I mean is, let's say you ask someone "Did you do the thing I asked you to do?" they respond with not, "Yes, I did" or "No, I didn't," but rather, "Well, let me tell you what happened yesterday, and by the way, this and that and the other and blah blah blah." And they just go on and on until you have to stop them or kind of walk away, which is maybe what they were hoping for to begin with.

[IndigoErth]

So... the renters next door moved out and the guy who owns the house is moving in. Today he was getting the driveway redone. (Seems like an odd order if priorities upon moving in, but whatever, maybe it's cheaper this time of year.) The people that were doing it with a little backhoe went and dug up a trench of dirt, some inches deep, to use to level it out before laying blacktop.

Did they dig this up from the home's backyard? Nooo...of course no, that would make sense. Without even asking, they dug it up from BETWEEN our houses, that are rather close together, and one side of it was dug up from OUR property. #%$&!


edit: Supposedly he's told my brother-in-law that that spot was dug because he doesn't want water in the basement. And he doesn't even care that he dug into our property. Hate to tell him this, but water tends to get in via the front in these houses, not the from the side in between. He needs to frigging fix the part of ours he did this to. He's making me hope we get a real juicy tropical storm this year and that he neglects his gutters.

Supposedly he also wants to put a privacy fence between the houses. My mom is afraid he means to do this on our side of the line and he better as hell not. That certainly isn't legal. I was always told we're not even legally allowed to have fences in the front yard. I don't know if it slides if it's NOT enclosing or what, but kind of hoping that won't be legal... That's is going to look real tacky here and WTF are you hiding then if you're doing that? As it is it will probably make mowing on either side between the houses difficult.

Guy sounds like an ass and not thrilled that he may be an issue. No wonder he and his wife are supposedly splitting, and presumably why he made the renters leave so he can move in. Is some restaurant owner and I guess it isn't unknown that he's long been a cheater or whatnot... If he turns out to be some arrogant d-bag as a neighbor... oh joy.

[IndigoErth]

People who allow a toddler to run around a store and just chase them around the whole time. Just effing stop, it's not cute. All that is going to do is teach yet another brat that stores are okay to treat like playgrounds and will be that next a**hole 8 or 10 year old running around the damn place, causing a scene and a problem.

I hope I never witness these families and their terrible kids trip and harm some old person, because some of these places I see it have a lot of senior customers. Irks me enough when I'm working at one of my accounts and they're running past me, threatening to trip me or mess up my work and the adults have no shame or self awareness at all. There are times I wish to just casually trip a running brat...

That toddler once came running behind me, starling me a little as I could have tripped on the kid, though I also shot the damn girl chasing him a look (unsure if she was a teen or what) and she did say sorry, but of course... they aren't going to stop. Like anything they do is perfectly fine, they are too stupid to to tell if it's a problem unless people actually SAY so? No one should have to tell you this isn't okay behavior in a store.

[CyberCubed]

At my job I have basically 1 hour of real work I have to do throughout the day, and the other 7 hours I'm watching TV shows and movies on my cell phone or browsing the internet. It's hard, but I manage.

Getting paid to sit behind a computer screen all day without having to make calls or interact with any clients/customers/whatever is the greatest thing in the world.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Customers who expect you to be able to read their minds instead of telling you exactly what they want.