# First Rants Thread of 2015 - January Minirants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681 "2015-01-01T15:55:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/161 "2015-01-15T22:27:08Z")
In the last week I think I may have developed IBS. I am not pleased. Maybe it’s temporary. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/162 "2015-01-15T23:12:34Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > In the last week I think I may have developed IBS. I am not pleased. Maybe it’s temporary. Try probiotics. Then, if it continues and probiotics and cutting down on dairy doesnt help, then see your MD…BTW, are you taking a fiber laxative? ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/163 "2015-01-16T00:01:35Z")
My skin is so fragile these days. This afternoon some rough fabric brushed against the back of my thumb, and normally I’d just get a scrape, but this time I got a cut. At least this time it was on the back of my thumb, whereas the last cut I got (which still hasn’t completely healed) was on the pad of one of my fingers. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/164 "2015-01-16T00:09:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Try probiotics. > > Then, if it continues and probiotics and cutting down on dairy doesnt help, then see your MD…BTW, are you taking a fiber laxative? Good advice. I will look into that. Cutting down on dairy would SUCK though. I am not taking any laxative. Or really any fibre at the moment either. It may be brought on by my normal diet being hindered by crappy circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/165 "2015-01-16T01:29:27Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Good advice. I will look into that. Cutting down on dairy would SUCK though. > > I am not taking any laxative. Or really any fibre at the moment either. It may be brought on by my normal diet being hindered by crappy circumstance. We see what you did there! ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/166 "2015-01-16T03:07:39Z")
I have moved on from the lassitude stage of my cold to the part where my upper lip feels like the Mojave desert and my eyes resemble Voldemorts. Fucking winter. I have also done nothing this week other than work all seven days at a snail’s pace. No diet. No website. No second book proposal. Nothing. I’m just going to have to let it go and start all over yet again on Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/167 "2015-01-16T06:22:12Z")
Hmmmm. “Let it go,” eh? That’s got a snappy ring to it. Maybe you could work that up in into something. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/168 "2015-01-16T15:07:57Z")
Shit, I posted Post #159 in the wrong thread. God damn this cough medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/169 "2015-01-16T16:52:56Z")
Dear K’s husband…you worthless piece of shit. You keep all the money. All of it. Occasionally you “put some in her account” so she can pay bills while you’re out of town. Sometimes it’s enough. You know she’s on a diet, trying to lose weight and be healthy so she can take the best care of the kids (most of whom have some sort of mental or medical issue). She does this almost completely without your help. So what do you do? You won’t give her grocery money and instead, go out and buy a ton of junk food and pre-prepared meals for her to feed the kids. Then you berate her for being fat, for not taking good care of the kids. How many times have you left her without gas or money for gas when one of the kids has a doctors appointment and she has to beg for rides to get to them? Fuck you, you worthless asshole. I hope you have good life insurance and then an unfortunate accident. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/170 "2015-01-16T18:45:16Z")
Fuck You Rachel at Cardholder Services! I don’t answer calls from unknown people but they spoofed a number very close to mine so it fooled me in the second I had to decide. How is this shit legal?? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/171 "2015-01-16T19:21:02Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > My skin is so fragile these days. This afternoon some rough fabric brushed against the back of my thumb, and normally I’d just get a scrape, but this time I got a cut. At least this time it was on the back of my thumb, whereas the last cut I got (which still hasn’t completely healed) was on the pad of one of my fingers. Ouch, deep sympathies. I have pain issues like a number of people here and on really bad body days am stuck in bed. There is nothing that sucks quite as much as the sheets feeling like sand paper, and then something like a tiny grain of sand getting tracked into the sheets by one of the cats [or like last time, a shed claw skin or whatever the damned thing is] I swear, sometimes I feel like a cheap version of the Princess and the Pea. [I have these wonderful microfiber plushy sheets that solve the sandpaper sheet issue, almost as plush as the old peachskin sandwashed silk I had some clothing made of. Combined with heated mattress pad, I have a toasty warm cocoon this rather painful winter. Though I would trade my opioids for some really good legal weed.] ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/172 "2015-01-16T19:31:47Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Shit, I posted Post #159 in the wrong thread. God damn this cough medicine. It still kind of fits! ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/173 "2015-01-17T01:30:18Z")
I was driving through a poorly lit area on my way home tonight, when suddenly some little flicks of silver showed up on the road ahead of me. Turns out it was some douchebag jogger in a black outfit…I was seeing some tiny reflective strips on his sneakers. We have perfectly good sidewalks in this neighborhood; in fact, they’re usually deserted at that time of the evening. Why the hell would this entitled asshat prefer jogging in the middle of the street??? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/174 "2015-01-17T02:01:04Z")
Because the sidewalks are “harder” than the tarmac. I like Swedish sidewalks because they are raised tarmac, much more comfortable than most of the concrete or tiles you get elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/175 "2015-01-17T04:54:22Z")
I’m sad. Tomorrow, Lucy will be rehomed with my mom. Lucy was startled this evening by Dot, and flipped her shit at her. The whole Mayme/Lucy has been going on for so long, it’s just become normal for them to be apart. Dot has always been the go between. Dot is freaked out, Lucy spent most of the evening howling on the prowl, and Mayme has been the sane one. Logically, I know it’s the best thing for all of us, but it’s still difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/176 "2015-01-17T11:28:49Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I was driving through a poorly lit area on my way home tonight, when suddenly some little flicks of silver showed up on the road ahead of me. Turns out it was some douchebag jogger in a black outfit…I was seeing some tiny reflective strips on his sneakers. We have perfectly good sidewalks in this neighborhood; in fact, they’re usually deserted at that time of the evening. Why the hell would this entitled asshat prefer jogging in the middle of the street??? I bet he owns a gray car and drives in thick fog without his lights on. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/177 "2015-01-17T14:56:37Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Because the sidewalks are “harder” than the tarmac. I like Swedish sidewalks because they are raised tarmac, much more comfortable than most of the concrete or tiles you get elsewhere. Interesting! Now that I’m thinking about it, this particular road is the only one in the neighborhood that’s public - the town maintains it, and it’s always in much better condition than other roads in the neighborhood. > [@SpazCat](#): > > I bet he owns a gray car and drives in thick fog without his lights on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/178 "2015-01-17T17:09:04Z")
My brain likes to think up ways to torture me. It drives me nuts. Literally. Also, I’m worried that the car won’t start today, since it’s cold out and it’s been so long since I last started the car. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/179 "2015-01-17T21:34:01Z")
There was a power surge at work (I work at a hotel) last night that fried the control panel on the boilers. Boiler **s**. Both of them. The building’s surge protector was like the goggles in that it did nothing. There has been no hot water in the building since 9:45 last night. I left work at 3 and the new boilers (three of them) had just come in. There will be hot water 13 hours from now. I have been dealing with every single person in a sold-out hotel about this since 7 a.m. this morning. Fortunately most people have been pretty understanding, especially considering we were refunding last night for anyone who walked by the desk. When I left, we’d lost about a quarter of last night’s revenue due to this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it went up to half the revenue by tomorrow. I don’t usually drink. I have maybe two drinks a _year_. This afternoon I’m having a long conversation with my buddy [Hatteras Red](https://www.duplinwinery.com/product/DV107HR/hatteras-red/). ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681/180 "2015-01-17T22:28:54Z")
Oy, that blows **Spazcat** , but it’s the cost of doing business, yes? My favorite\* “We want a refund” asshats at the hotel were the ones who demanded their money back when a power outage took out three entire cities, and these folks wanted me to refund them, and then pay to transfer them to the hotel across the street (which I could see from my lobby - there was a fire truck over there rescuing people from the elevator!) That two-hour outage was a huge hardship, I’m sure, but how was I supposed to check them out when I couldn’t even turn on an overhead light, much less my computer?! And the hotel across the street couldn’t very well do a check-in - hell, they couldn’t open up the elevator! Current gripe: My houseguest has a part-time job at a local sandwich restaurant. It’s minimum wage, but keeps gas in her vehicle, pays the car insurance, etc. Management there keeps threatening to dock employees’ pay for cash register shortages, charge for uniforms, etc. Under state and federal law, both of those things would be entirely kosher _as long as the charge doesn’t drop pay below minimum wage_. Un-possible in the case of minimum wage employees! I keep trying to tell R this, and I understand that she can’t really afford to lose her job, but I hate shit like that. \*Actually, the all-time favorite was probably the woman who called the cops on me when there was a spider in the hot tub. If the man who had actually signed for and paid for the room had contacted me, I perhaps would have discounted, at least, but I couldn’t very well “refund” someone who hadn’t paid me in the first place, right? Instead, I gave her the local non-emergency number for the police department, pointed the responding officer to the correct room, and then shared a cup of coffee and a laugh with the officer a few minutes later, after he took the report and told her that it was a civil matter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rants-thread-of-2015-january-minirants/708681.md?page=10)