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Oh dear. : A thread about things that tick you off quite a bit, and might even elicit a frown.

  
  

Page: 12345(6)7891011... 40

 
 
*
00:45 / 04.08.06
Dear Fellow Who For No Reason Worth Noting Was Sitting In My Living Room Last Night:

Yes, the nice people in the picture book are "trannies." However, you have it wrong— Mr. Cameron is F-T-M, not M-T-F. Yes, it is true that he uses injections. I fail to see, however, why this must be exclaimed to someone else in the room as if I am not present, or why you should ignore me when I attempt to do you the kindness of correcting your misunderstanding. Proceeding then to talk about how funny it is when trans people try to use locker rooms, again to someone else as she is leading you away from my murde—er, raised eyebrow, was, I felt, rather impolite.

I hope in the future you will address me directly with remarks about my gender when I am present, and respond to me when I speak to you. Actually I hope in the future you will not grace my home with your illustrious presence, but if you do, I trust you will comport yourself as befits a gentleperson.

Yours very sincerely,
Trans Person You Could Not Be Bothered To Notice
 
 
lekvar
00:58 / 04.08.06
Wow, I think that would cause a bit more than a frown from me if I were in your shoes. You are an entity of much fortitude.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
12:06 / 17.08.06
I am currently irked by the scandalous, scandalous state of data entry in cddb-type CD identifying databases. I put in a Dock Boggs album yesterday and one track is listed as "My Brothre's Killer." It's "Brother," and it's listed on the CD as "brother."

This happens for about one in three CDs, where somebody has mistyped a track name or dropped a word from a song title. And once these things are in the system, it doesn't seem that there's any way of correcting them. It bothres me... er, bothers me.

If you're going to type in CD information for public databases, take the time and care to do it right. Harrumph.
 
 
electric monk
15:13 / 17.08.06
I drive the same route to and from work. My commute's only about 15-20 minutes and doesn't require me to get on a highway at all. I always feel fortunate for this, as most of my co-workers have hellish commutes in rush hour traffic every day. Yesterday, however, I got my own little taste of hellishness and it's still ticking me off today.

I'm sitting at a red light waiting for it to change and enjoying the last of a ciggie. Behind me, someone starts honking their horn in earnest and yelling a stream of expletives. The people in the cars next to me are looking back and I glance in my rear-view mirror to see what the fuss is about. There's a guy one car back and caddy-corner from me on the passenger side looking right at me, giving me the finger, and yelling choice phrases such as "FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!", "I OUGHTTA BREAK YOUR FUCKING NECK!", and "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!" I didn't catch everything he said, but those phrases stood out quite clearly. I looked the guy in the eye via my rear-view and gestured to indicate, "Me?" "YES YOU, YOU LOUSY PIECE OF SHIT! I'LL TEAR YOUR...!" I shrugged. What else could I do? I had no idea what this guy was so pissed about. I hadn't cut anyone off or been driving erratically. I hadn't done anything that I knew of that would warrant this abuse, and I wasn't about to ask this nut what I'd done to make him so mad. So I'm waiting for the light to change with this guy continuing to threaten me and the wheels start turning in my head. "What do I usually get honked at and flipped off for? What is it about me and my car that's gotten catcalls from rolled-down windows before? Ah, it's my bumper sticker. My 'Defend America, Defeat Bush' MoveOn.org bumper sticker. That must be it. It's crazy, but that must be it."

So the light turns green and I continue on my way home. Angry Guy speeds up, weaves in and out of traffic till he's right on my tail and stays there for a few uncomfortable blocks. No reaction from me. He inches in as I watch, but he's getting no reaction from me. So he swerves crazily into the left lane, floors it, and yells, "WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT MOTHERFUCKER!" as he passes me. I let him go on ahead and maneuver away from his general area as we both roll up to another stoplight. Thankfully, traffic was kind to me for the next leg of the trip as, try as he might, he couldn't change lanes to get next to me. At the next light even more luck comes my way as I catch the left-turn light at just the right time and slowly roll past him. I check again in the rear-view and he's watching the oncoming cars and keeping his eye on where I'm headed. There are too many oncoming cars for him to jump into the left-turn lane like he wants to. He wanted to follow me, and if he'd caught light traffic he could have. I arrived home with tingling fingers and a light head from the adrenaline that was rushing through me. Shit-scared. I was still shaken two hours later when I went out for fast food.

I saw his SUV again this morning (a distinctive blue BMW X3) making a turn onto a street about a block down from where I work. So he's close, and I'm guessing he'll take the same route I'll take tonight. So I'm ticked. Ticked that this bullying bullshit may not be over. Ticked that this whackjob scared me (and still scares me) so much. Ticked that I'm even considering changing my route or taking the bumper sticker off my car. And ticked that this guy felt justified in threatening me in front of a crowd of people for...well, what? I don't know for sure. Could be the sticker. Maybe not. But I don't think I can or should change anything I do to accomodate this dude's fuck-headedness. I really hope I don't get a repeat of yesterday's evening commute. We'll see.
 
 
■
15:48 / 17.08.06
Camera. Make sure you get a good picture or video of him or his car so that if (dog forbid) he does get physical, you'll be able to give the polis something to go on. Also buy a bumper sticker that slags off SUVs and pop one of these under his wiper if you ever see the car again unattended.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
15:59 / 17.08.06
Ooh, monk, that's horrid. But yes, camera would be good.

What a cock. Good luck with your "never seeing the motherfucker again".
 
 
electric monk
16:43 / 17.08.06
Thanks cube and Stoats. Yeah, wishing I'd brought a camera at this point. I figure if I do get a repeat, I'll fake taking his picture with my no-camera-having cellphone. And then I'm calling the police.

I actually went looking for his car after my last post. I want his license plate number.
 
 
Ticker
16:50 / 17.08.06
monk I strongly suggest you call and report him to your local PD.
Or state troopers if the local PD seems underwhelmed.

1. Road Rage will get someone injured and even if it is not you the local PD should know about this person.

2. If anything does happen the report will help establish you as a peace loving mofo.

If a bumper sticker causes this guy to act like this, what are the other dogs he is kicking in the world?

For the sake of your sense of safety and others remember you are very safe in a vehicle if you roll up the windows and lock the doors. Do not exit the vehicle while in traffic and make note of the closest law inforcement agency on the route. Do not be afraid to call 911 and report his behavior as it is happening.

You sir are a member of society entitled to putting any free speech item on anything you own. This guy is breakng the social contract and needs to be wheeled in.

Cellphone and camera.
 
 
Kali, Queen of Kitteh
17:02 / 17.08.06
What's making me unhappy today?

These freakin' stitches in my arm. They're starting to itch a little.
 
 
Quantum
17:12 / 17.08.06
Monk get a camera or a Dog or a Desert Eagle.
"You talking to me?! YOU TALKING TO ME?!! SUV DRIVING BUSH VOTING HORN HONKING MUTHAFUCKA COME AND GET SOME! I'M FIRING BULLETS OF LOVE RIGHT INTO YOUR SHRIVELLED BLACK HEART! LOVEBULLETS YOU HEAR ME?!?"
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
17:15 / 17.08.06
I will quadruple the vote to call the PD with his license number. Dude may have priors, and issuing threats might be enough to get at least his license yanked.
 
 
Ticker
17:37 / 17.08.06
don't even need the plate numbers just a description of the vehicle and the commuter route. Usually a decent PD/statie shop will put someone at the intersection the next morning to watch for the vehicle.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
17:48 / 17.08.06
Quantum = Walter Sobchak?
 
 
Ticker
17:50 / 17.08.06
oh and while I'm here:

Dear Asshat,

I'm sorry your life was delayed 30 seconds while I crossed the road in the crosswalk at the appropriate time. However shouting 'UGLY' at me when you did drive by was highly ignorant.

In fact I'll have you know I was just treated like royalty by the lovely young thing who was kind enough to make my lunch at the super yummy cafe. His opinion was clearly evident in the polite and adoring manner in which he assisted me.

I am a beautiful dangerous creature and next time I will most certainly give you a better chance to experience this as I dance on the hood of your crappy gas chugging vehicle. Yes, you will be able to enjoy my tattoos and boots in close proximity at that time. It will be much like seeing a real live unicorn only a black one shod in steel toed boots. Please note you may experience awe and stomach pains.

Sincerely,

That Scary Woman In The Crosswalk
 
 
■
19:00 / 17.08.06
This missive from someone in charge of our IT is so wrong on so many levels:

DUE to the significant risk, company policy defines that we do not allow "out of office" replies to be delivered externally. However, "out of office" replies do get received within ______. The risk is that if we automatically reply to just one SPAM email, the whole organisation could be listed as a source of SPAM. This would mean that some people would never receive any emails from us or anyone else in ______ because they would be trapped by SPAM filters. This happened with the old _____ system just before the switch over and we were unable to get it unlisted. Thankfully the changeover overcame the problem.
Since we understand that this may be an issue for some users here are a few suggestions for alternatives.

- Email your contacts before you go, alerting them that you are going to
be away from the office.

- Arrange for one of your co-workers to have proxy access to your email and have them check your email while you are away. This can be done by emailing the IT helpdesk to setup the proxy.

- Create a rule to forward all your email to a co-worker while you are away. This can be done by following the instructions within the _____ self help guide on ______.

Can sleaze or someone else confirm I am right to think this is utterly spurious and likely to come from a bloke down the pub's wife's brother's uncle's dentist that it should be ignored? Not that I use auto-reply, but y'know...
 
 
Triplets
19:22 / 17.08.06
Okay, firstly. Corporate accounts should, ideally, not be receiving spam in the first place.

Secondly, your PC auto-replies while you're away. 9 times out of 10 the reply address will either be some poor bastard's address that's being used spuriously (and he'll be the one being investigated for spam) orrr the reply address will be some munged shit like 214353alanspel3492@trashbat.co.ck and thus won't get anywhere.

The line about letting someone else dial into your mail while you're away raised my hackles through the roof. Come down, hackles!
 
 
Cailín
13:08 / 18.08.06
This morning the door operator on my train (subway) shut the doors before everyone got out of the train - let alone leaving any time for people on the platform to get on. So a whole lot of us had to wait to the next station, get off, go upstairs, across the causeway (damn you Davisville station and your inferior layout), down the stairs and get on a southbound train. The northbound trains are pretty sparsely populated in the morning - there was no need to slam the doors on us all so abruptly. The southbound trains are packed like cattle cars in the morning, making it well nigh impossible to get on at a station like Davisville. This whole ordeal added ten minutes to my commute, making me late for work. So, was it worthwhile to make dozens of people late for work so you could go faster and end up right on the ass end of the train in front of you? I think not. Grr.
 
 
Cat Chant
14:05 / 18.08.06
There's this devoutly Christian Blake's 7 fan who thinks that homosexuality is wrong, and she's 'friends' (like in LJ terms) with a bunch of my 'friends' (and indeed friends) on LJ, and it just makes me a bit icked and weird-feeling every time I see that she's commented somewhere, but there's nothing I can really do about it. Not that she goes on about teh eval of teh gay, it's just, like, 'Oh. Okay. One of the people participating in this random conversation about StarGate:Atlantis or raspberries or whatever thinks I shouldn't exist. Huh.'

Also every time I see her I get annoyed about the time she was on a panel about whether people should or shouldn't write slash, and everyone went on about how brave it was of her to be prepared to say that homosexuality was sinful and therefore she didn't read slash. Um, yeah. Okay. Last I checked, killing people was sinful too, so I don't know what she's doing watching B7 in the first place.

Gah.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
21:32 / 18.08.06
Writing some B7 slash featuring her and Servalan might kill about six birds with one stone quite handily.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
22:48 / 30.08.06
It's been a while since Monk's death-threat motorist situation occurred... what eventually happened with all this? Any resolution/deveopment/swift arm of justice action to speak of?

Has anyone, er, heard from Monk in the last week or so?
 
 
astrojax69
02:09 / 31.08.06
australia post issues all the postcodes [= zip codes] for all of australia. all are four digits & most towns/suburbs etc a number starting with the same number starts all postcodes in the state (australia only has six states and two territories, so no drama there), so sydney is 2000 and all nsw (and canberra) are 2xxx [except, see below], melbourne is 3000 and victoria is 3xxx, etc...

australia post also runs the express post service, which my uni[versity] used to send a package to singapore for me. the uni has a 'special' postcode, starts with 0. so i dutifully wrote 0200 in 'sender's postcode' on the package, at which the not really very friendly and i don't know why maybe he's just like that mail room guy crossed it out, wrote 2600 (canberra's generic code) and explained: australia post's computer doesn't recognise [0200].

faark, they made it up! frown or what.
 
 
electric monk
11:37 / 31.08.06
Has anyone, er, heard from Monk in the last week or so?

No worries. I'm alive and kicking. Never did call the police about that incident and there hasn't been a repeat. I've been watching out for the guy during my commute, but haven't seen him at all which kinda tells me it was one of those "wrong place, wrong time" dealies. I think I'm safe.

Thanks for your concern!
 
 
paranoidwriter waves hello
16:39 / 31.08.06
My friend and neighbour is currently outside using an angle grinder to do something to two lengths of (I think) steel. Thing is, I have always supported him and usually love everything he makes (etc), but even loud music isn't drowning out the sound. I have nowhere better to go, and right now I feel like I've got a wasp in my skull.

I feel so conflicted.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
16:42 / 31.08.06
Heh. I have neighbours who play loud music. They're very considerate, however, and only ever play it at reasonable hours.

Trouble is, I work nights. And am trying to sleep at "reasonable hours". ARSE.
 
 
COG
16:54 / 31.08.06
I have a building site next door, with a crane and everything. They start at 7am. I also have builders in my apartment building. Hitting things and drilling. Bah. noise.
 
 
paranoidwriter waves hello
17:26 / 31.08.06
Ah, sometimes the Cosmos has a way of making everything right and can show one how considerate others can be when you least expect it:

My grinding friend just came into my pit with ten cigarettes and some humus and pitta to keep the beast within me satiated. Seems he's going to be grinding all day tomorrow and, knowing that I'm skint and that the noise make things harder to get done [e.g. writing, online job-searching, etc], he suddenly decided that I needed some kind of compensation. And I didn't even say anything to him to cause all this. Yay!

I'm easily appeased.

Stoat, coq, I pray your noise troubles work out so easilly. Noise is shit; unless I'm in a (rare) mood for Whitehouse or something similar to aggrevate my noggin.
 
 
pointless & uncalled for
13:10 / 08.09.06
SO gets job on far side of country. Bugger.
 
 
EvskiG
21:08 / 08.09.06
Just found out that I'm NOT making partner at the law firm where I've worked for the last five years. Not that I've done anything wrong, they say -- just that I didn't quite make the cut among strong competition at a small boutique firm.

Wish I'd known that before I bought a condo at the top of my price range a few months ago. Or started those renovations.

Everyone likes me, and my work is excellent, they say. I can work there as long as I like, so there's no danger of being thrown on the streets.

It's just that my prospects of advancement have just been closed off. And, of course, I've received a crushing rejection from my employers.

So much for the last five years of my work life. So much for my career goal.

Oddly, I'm not as upset as I expected. That might be because of the strong cocktail of prescriptions I took today, but somehow I don't think so.

Suddenly the future is an oddly blank page. (Except for a wonderful wife, two quirky dogs, a grumpy cat, and an expensive condominium.)

But now what?

Stay where I am and try to convince the partners to change their minds? Stay where I am and try to be content? Look for a job at a big firm, where I can earn an obscene amount of money if I'm willing to work an obscene number of hours? Look for a job as counsel at a cool company? See if the EFF is still hiring? Try to teach? Go back to divinity school?

And if I take one of the more adventurous paths, how do I pay my mortgage?

It's going to be an interesting year.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:15 / 08.09.06
Gosh, I'm sorry Ev KG. The second half of your post starts to look positive, but the first part really hit me. Stay strong, as you are seeming to.
 
 
grant
03:19 / 09.09.06
Go back to divinity school?

Y'know, Emory has this really interesting-looking Law/Religion graduate program. I've eyed it the same way other people I know eye fancy cars or nice computers.
 
 
EvskiG
13:07 / 09.09.06
Thanks for the kind words, Wonderstar. And that program does look interesting, Grant, but isn't quite what I'm looking for.

I figure I take a few weeks to assess (no danger of losing my job, after all), and then figure out what to do . . .
 
 
■
07:36 / 15.09.06
Next time you get all organised and plan ahead your airport parking, make sure you get the right airport. Gragh! [Head/Crappy Prestwick lounge chair]
 
 
grant
13:45 / 15.09.06
Two Thanksgivings ago, we parked our crappy old Volvo station wagon at the airport long term lot, hopped the shuttle to the terminal, flew away, came back late at night, got on the same bus and went to find our car and it was gone. Who would steal the car? And from that place?

Well, the airport stole it. They towed it to the other end of the lot and never told anyone. So the bus (the same bus we'd rode in and out on) had more room to turn around.

I remember walking up and down the grassy lot, holding a worried two-year-old in my arms and singing to her while the nice man in the golf cart went to go see where the car went.

I'm still ticked off about that. It was Ft. Lauderdale Int'l Airport. Don't park there.
 
 
Peek
07:33 / 16.09.06
I don't mind being on call.
I don't mind being paged and asked to sort out a problem. They do, after all, pay me for this.
I don't mind dialing in to a conference call as part of an ongoing effort to solve a larger problem.

I do fucking mind being paged at 7:30am on a Saturday and being asked to dial in to a conference call just in case something happens and we need you!

Sure, I'll just sit here in my jammies and hold the phone to my ear for the next few hours in case something happens. A lie-in would be lazy, eh? I didn't need a shower today anyway. Isn't it fortunate there are no chores to be done. I didn't really want to watch telly, have breakfast or, y'know, live my life at all.

FFS.

This would be in the rage thread if it wasn't so damn predictable - I'm just tired of the foolishness. And it does at least give me hours and hours to compose a really cutting email for Monday.
 
 
Princess
22:06 / 16.09.06
Dear selish, self involved, parents,
I would like to express my mild distress at your inability to have a quiet argument despite the fact it has gone midnight and you have been rowing for three days.
Please note my complaint, then shut the fuck up.

Yours sincerely,
Your son,
Princess Swashbuckling.
 
  

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