# Aw, Dang! Syne: January Minirants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745 "2013-01-01T11:31:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/501 "2013-01-24T05:09:23Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Am I the only one envisioning Garfield and Nermal here? I’ve been envisioning them as [Two Lumps](http://www.twolumps.net/d/20040316.html) named Ebenezer and Snooch. Eben would totally trick Snooch into jumping into a trash can just for giggles. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/502 "2013-01-24T05:12:36Z")
> [@eulalia](#): > > You know -40C = -40F, right? I think that was the joke. ;). At least, I know I like to specify C or F in that situation and watch people double-take, so maybe it’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/503 "2013-01-24T05:48:34Z")
Ugh. I’m being stalked by a crazy fucking idiot online. The dumb fuck thinks that her daughter has autism and she herself has MS because of vaccines. She’s written more about my book than I have. Geez. She’s dredging up reviews from last June. Stupid psychopath with too much time on her hands. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/504 "2013-01-24T05:58:04Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > I know what the causes are - kidneys, cats, vehicle, lack of money, craptacular family. Too much shit falling down on me, no one really to help hold me up. I get tired being the strong one. Anxiety is a maladjusted reaction to stress; CBT helps you figure out a better way to deal with stress instead of giving yourself panic attacks. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/505 "2013-01-24T06:30:44Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I think that was the joke. ;). At least, I know I like to specify C or F in that situation and watch people double-take, so maybe it’s just me. Yep, just funnin’. Like when I mention that Einstein originally wrote “E=Fb” (F-flat). ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/506 "2013-01-24T07:38:41Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Saw Easter chocolate on sale at the supermarket. It’s only been a couple of weeks since Christmas! I’m pretty sure I saw St. Patrick’s Day stuff starting to come out before Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/507 "2013-01-24T13:10:45Z")
Dear Son, It is nice that you and "Not the Girlfriend"™ have tickets to a concert sixty miles to the north, but exactly when were you going to tell me that your ride bugged out on you? Now I have to beg notes from my professor for a makeup class that is scheduled at the same time, transport you and NtG™, feed you two, and find something to do while you are swaying to the non-rhymic grunting. And, of course, we are scheduled for a snow storm. Frack Me. Your Paternal Parental Unit Who has never even seen NtG™, this should be interesting… ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/508 "2013-01-24T13:13:33Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Some people wake up, and they’re happy, or at least in a neutral mood. Others have all the charm and sociability of a she-bear who has just awakened from her hibernation. With an abcessed tooth. I guess I’m lucky. Or maybe _he’s_ lucky. It’s actually hard to wake me up if I’m really sound asleep, but moodwise I’m fine. And you’re right about those changing shifts. All sorts of studies about how it’s bad for the one living them AND bad for the employer since the employees are way slower and make far more mistakes. I looked it up long ago, when I was supposed to do rotating shifts on a job, and managed to talk my employer into letting me just do the graveyard shift full time. Everybody else hates them, I guess, but I find just swapping sleep and work time has the least impact on everything else in your life. 'Course, I had no children to take into account. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/509 "2013-01-24T14:04:31Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > …Lucky was found in the kitchen trash can today. The trash can has a lid and a thing to step on to open the lid. Its to tall for a kitteh to stand on the pedal and then jump in, so some other kitteh held the lid open for Lucky. Hey, kids! More exciting adventures featuring Lucky and friends… and possibly _your_ ‘kitteh’, over in [**The Cat Thread**!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=680029) _flatlined_, I’m so glad you started it – it’ll keep us on Mini-Rants here, and it’s already hugely entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/510 "2013-01-24T14:50:00Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > Dear Son, > > It is nice that you and "Not the Girlfriend"™ have tickets to a concert sixty miles to the north, but exactly when were you going to tell me that your ride bugged out on you? > > Now I have to beg notes from my professor for a makeup class that is scheduled at the same time, transport you and NtG™, feed you two, and find something to do while you are swaying to the non-rhymic grunting. > > And, of course, we are scheduled for a snow storm. > > Frack Me. > Your Paternal Parental Unit > > Who has never even seen NtG™, this should be interesting… Sounds like it’s time for him to learn the lesson of “your failure to take care of things doesn’t make it my problem”. Why on earth is it your responsibility to make all that happen for him, when he couldn’t even be bothered to let you know in a timely manner? ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/511 "2013-01-24T14:51:26Z")
A while ago, I complained about how little my husband was making. Everything had been going well for a while so I didn’t worry about it and Husband didn’t want to make a fuss at his new job. Tomorrow, his paycheck will only be about $100 for 48 hours of work. He gets paid flat rate and I was mad when I heard what he would be bringing he this week but I suddenly feel like I can’t be mad at a system when I so quickly forgot my anger when times were good. So I pit myself for not being able to choose whether or not I like the flat rate system for paying mechanics. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/512 "2013-01-24T14:53:21Z")
> [@slalexan](#): > > A while ago, I complained about how little my husband was making. Everything had been going well for a while so I didn’t worry about it and Husband didn’t want to make a fuss at his new job. Tomorrow, his paycheck will only be about $100 for 48 hours of work. He gets paid flat rate and I was mad when I heard what he would be bringing he this week but I suddenly feel like I can’t be mad at a system when I so quickly forgot my anger when times were good. So I pit myself for not being able to choose whether or not I like the flat rate system for paying mechanics. How in the world does a ‘flat rate’ system work, that it only pays $100 for 48 hours of work?! ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/513 "2013-01-24T15:08:49Z")
I took on two jobs this semester in addition to a full-time load of graduate-level courses. This was a mistake. I need to quit one. But the idea of disappointing people makes me feel as though I’m physically ill, and so I’m not sure of how to do it. I know that if I just leave, no one will yell at me, but I’m still terrified that I’ll get yelled at anyway. I’m a freaking adult–nearly thirty–and I should be over both the biting off more than I can chew part and the freaking out about disappointing people part. And yet… ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/514 "2013-01-24T16:27:48Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > How in the world does a ‘flat rate’ system work, that it only pays $100 for 48 hours of work?! It is analogous to a piece rate system. Each job Husband does on has a certain number of hours it is supposed to take and Husband gets paid an hourly rate based on how long it is supposed to take. These book hours, as they are called, don’t necessarily reflect reality. Sometimes the job takes less time and Husband makes more hours than he actually worked. Sometimes, though, it takes longer or he doesn’t have any work to do at all. In those cases, he misses out on hours and makes less. The worst part is that he is required to be at work at least those 48 hours a week regardless of whether or not there is work to do. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/515 "2013-01-24T16:43:36Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > Sounds like it’s time for him to learn the lesson of “your failure to take care of things doesn’t make it my problem”. Why on earth is it your responsibility to make all that happen for him, when he couldn’t even be bothered to let you know in a timely manner? Ah but I think he protests too much, he would like a chance to meet NtG. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/516 "2013-01-24T16:50:52Z")
> [@slalexan](#): > > The worst part is that he is required to be at work at least those 48 hours a week regardless of whether or not there is work to do. You might need to check into the legality of this. I’m pretty certain that you cannot be required to be anywhere without being paid for it. No matter what you signed. Like one of the things I’ve run into many times in my career is some jackass suddenly demanding that everyone be at their desk 10,15,20 minutes before their start time and get everything ready before they clock in and start getting paid. I always point out that when you require someone to be there at 7:50, you are legally required to start paying them at 7:50 and plenty of people have learned how that works the hard way. They may be required to pay him minimum wage for any “required” time on site. ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/517 "2013-01-24T16:55:47Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > You might need to check into the legality of this. I’m pretty certain that you cannot be required to be anywhere without being paid for it. No matter what you signed. > > Like one of the things I’ve run into many times in my career is some jackass suddenly demanding that everyone be at their desk 10,15,20 minutes before their start time and get everything ready before they clock in and start getting paid. I always point out that when you require someone to be there at 7:50, you are legally required to start paying them at 7:50 and plenty of people have learned how that works the hard way. > > They may be required to pay him minimum wage for any “required” time on site. I agree with you here but Husband doesn’t want to fight it. I don’t feel like I can just march into his workplace and start demanding he be paid a fair wage. All the mechanics I’ve talked to swear by this system, Husband included. Everyone else seems to think its a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/518 "2013-01-24T17:43:17Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Like one of the things I’ve run into many times in my career is some jackass suddenly demanding that everyone be at their desk 10,15,20 minutes before their start time and get everything ready before they clock in and start getting paid. I always point out that when you require someone to be there at 7:50, you are legally required to start paying them at 7:50 and plenty of people have learned how that works the hard way. I had a boss like that. If my start time was 9 a.m., and I showed up at 8:55, he’d tell me I was “almost late.” And how nice it would be if I came in 15 minutes early to “get myself situated” or whatever, like **Chimera** says. So I asked, “Is my schedule now 8:45 to 5:45?” Of course not, because I had to stay until all my work was done, no matter how late it was, and 80-90% of the time it was much later than 6 p.m. But coming in early without pay – that would be a great idea! And I am not the person who clocks in and then spends 20 minutes wandering around, chatting, getting coffee, fixing my hair, etc. When I arrive at work, I start working. ---
**Author:** ![Jynxster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jynxster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jynxster)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/519 "2013-01-24T18:03:31Z")
At my work we have 2 large coffee makers and 6 interchangeable pots that go with said coffee makers. Each pot is labeled with the type of coffee that should be made in it. To make coffee you put filter in filter holder thingee (is there a name for that? if so it escapes me) open a pre-measured bag of ground coffee, pour into filter and press begin brew. Easy right? Then why is it when I come in at o dark thirty is there 3 pots made and 3 pots waiting to be made? I can understand 2 pots made and 4 pots waiting. I can also understand 4 pots made 2 pots waiting. I would also understand if this was later in the day and various pots had not been emptied. But the pots are freshly washed and laid out to dry from the night before. Why make a 3rd pot with out making a 4th??? WHY??? ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745/520 "2013-01-24T18:07:28Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Now to my very small minirant: Is everyone bored about hearing me rant about Lucky being an asshole cat? If so, it seens as though some cat here is as well. Lucky was found in the kitchen trash can today. The trash can has a lid and a thing to step on to open the lid. Its to tall for a kitteh to stand on the pedal and then jump in, so some other kitteh held the lid open for Lucky. > > Dude! Look! You can jump in and make a mess. You like making messes, right? Here, I’ll hold the lid open while you jump in and toss things out. > > Smug cat drops the lid on Lucky then walks off. So [Richard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ok5KhpXkk) lives at your house, does he? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aw-dang-syne-january-minirants/645745.md?page=27)