# Got August Gripes?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 1, 2015, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712 "2015-08-01T07:48:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3

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### 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: [August 4, 2015, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/41 "2015-08-04T08:05:46Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> My favorite instance of that was getting called “about the posted job”, asking “which one?”, the HRtron getting offended that I had to ask, and it was a job that had been posted 7 months before.
> 
> OK, so either they were the slowest shots this side of a corpse, or they’d already hired someone, the someone hadn’t worked out, and they were expecting the people who’d answered the posting to be waiting with bated breath? For more than half a year? That wouldn’t’a been healthy yanow!
> 
> I was already working someplace else but damn that was amazingly self-centered.

I started my current job in May 2008. I had been invited to submit my application in the fall of 2001, and called for an interview in January 2007.

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### Author: ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/42 "2015-08-04T10:22:13Z")

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Scottish exam results day today for schoolkids - waiting to hear how my 16 yr old nephew did, given he had about a 62% attendance rate for his 4th year. He’s also awaiting sentencing, after being found guilty last month of obstructing a police officer in the line of her duties (she was arresting his mates. He could’ve kept walking, but oh no, he helped one of them to their feet when they were handcuffed and lying on the ground, and decided to start advising them of their legal rights).

What future opportunities are there for a probable-school drop out teenage boy with a criminal record in rural recession Britain nowdays? ☹

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### Author: ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/43 "2015-08-04T10:38:51Z")

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> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> I started my current job in May 2008. I had been invited to submit my application in the fall of 2001, and called for an interview in January 2007.

But please tell me they didn’t expect you to know who it was without them having to identify the company.

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### Author: ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/44 "2015-08-04T11:46:11Z")

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So…tell me again, how am I supposed to go car shopping when it’s supposed to be thunder-and-lightning all day and it’s the only day my car-centric friend is available???

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### Author: ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/45 "2015-08-04T13:57:33Z")

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Because I’m cheap and plants are expensive, every year I try to overwinter my patio plants. Specifically the mandevilla which is a tropical flowering vine. Well, I nursed four plants (plus a lantana) through the winter and as soon as I put them outside, they all dropped their leaves and very slowly regrew them. But no blossoms (including the lantana). It has, believe me, been sufficiently hot and humid to inspire a tropical plant. My back patio should look like a tropical rainforest, and instead it looks like, well, a tropical rainforest with no blossoms. Bah.

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### Author: ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/46 "2015-08-04T14:28:30Z")

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I remember a great book - _The Gripes of August_

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### Author: ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/47 "2015-08-04T14:30:07Z")

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> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#):
>
> …What future opportunities are there for a probable-school drop out teenage boy with a criminal record in rural recession Britain nowdays? ☹

Career counselor!

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### Author: ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/48 "2015-08-04T14:36:54Z")

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> [@ivylass](#):
>
> … Is it too much to ask that HR respond to applicants in a timely manner? …

Yes.

And it’s worse. I was looking for a state job, and I was told by HR people that state law **requires** them to inform all candidates of the outcome of the hiring process. I was unemployed for 3 years, had hundreds of interviews with state offices, and at least 80% never got back to me.

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### Author: ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/49 "2015-08-04T14:46:50Z")

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Just heard back. They hired someone else that filled in a “personality” gap. I don’t even know what that means. I’m an INTJ, they needed an ENFP? She did encourage me to keep applying for jobs and to connect with her on LinkedIn.

Dammit. I really don’t know how much more disappointment I can take.

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### Author: ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/50 "2015-08-04T15:00:17Z")

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Don’t make it worse by hooking up with people through LinkedIn.

How long have you been out of work?

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### Author: ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/51 "2015-08-04T15:08:34Z")

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What’s wrong with LinkedIn? I asked her and she said to please do so, absolutely.

I know I shouldn’t complain. I have a job now, but there’s no growth potential. FWP.

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### Author: ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/52 "2015-08-04T16:12:59Z")

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> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#):
>
> Scottish exam results day today for schoolkids - waiting to hear how my 16 yr old nephew did, given he had about a 62% attendance rate for his 4th year. He’s also awaiting sentencing, after being found guilty last month of obstructing a police officer in the line of her duties (she was arresting his mates. He could’ve kept walking, but oh no, he helped one of them to their feet when they were handcuffed and lying on the ground, and decided to start advising them of their legal rights).
> 
> What future opportunities are there for a probable-school drop out teenage boy with a criminal record in rural recession Britain nowdays? ☹

The Navy?

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### Author: ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/53 "2015-08-04T16:50:19Z")

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> [@bump](#):
>
> The Navy?

There’s hardly any Rum, Sodomy and the Lash in the Royal Navy anymore, right?

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### Author: ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/54 "2015-08-04T16:56:30Z")

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I suspect even the Navy would give a sideways glance at that young a teen with a record. Only 6 months past the age of criminal responsibility and he’s already managed to get a conviction?

The good news is he got two As, a B and a fail. I’m unclear as to how good this is though, as it looks like he should’ve taken five to seven subjects, and I’m not sure what level they were at (National 4 or National 5).

Now I feel old and out of touch - like the people who used to go on about O grades and A levels when I was doing Standard Grades and Highers 😉

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### Author: ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/55 "2015-08-04T17:00:29Z")

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> [@Chimera](#):
>
> There’s hardly any Rum, Sodomy and the Lash in the Royal Navy anymore, right?

> [@](#):
>
> In the navy  
> Come on, protect the motherland  
> In the navy  
> Come on and join your fellow man  
> In the navy  
> Come on be bold and make a stand  
> In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

…

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### Author: ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/56 "2015-08-04T17:20:54Z")

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A friend of mine keeps posting’ Free Hawai’i ’ and Make Hawai’i a free country for Hawaiians only on FB. She’s from Wisconsin of Dutch-German decent!

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### Author: ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/57 "2015-08-04T17:44:11Z")

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Shrug, if everybody who does like your friend disappeared from the face of the Earth we’d lose a sizeable chunk of the population. It would make traveling more comfortable though, just by lowering the chance of getting a speech about the politics of one’s country by people who can’t place it in a map. I’m reasonably sure the same happens no matter what country you’re from: there are people from the Solomon Islands who are up to here of hearing that they really should dessicate all those wet areas.

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### Author: ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/58 "2015-08-04T17:55:58Z")

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> [@eenerms](#):
>
> A friend of mine keeps posting’ Free Hawai’i ’ and Make Hawai’i a free country for Hawaiians only on FB. She’s from Wisconsin of Dutch-German decent!

I wonder how she feels about going ‘back’ to Europe and returning Wisconsin to the Ojibwe, Menominee, Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi?

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### Author: ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/59 "2015-08-04T19:12:04Z")

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I got a promotion in June. Yay me, right? Well, it is now August 4th and the promotion still hasn’t gone through, namely the pay increase. I have been nagging gently and then not so gently. It’s at the final approval stages, and two people have to approve. I got word today that one of them approved on July 29th. Now the other one just needs a kick in the ass.

I am happy that I got a promotion and happy about the increased salary. I know they won’t short me and even if they do, will rectify it. I just wonder how they think this is a good employee retention strategy at all. They keep complaining about the high turnover but they treat us like yesterday’s trash, if anything. I never got a bit of news or anything and it’s just not a priority. Yet if it was their money they’d be all over me.

It might be pocket change to some of the richies on the Dope, but my salary is going up by $13,000, and that is not chump change to me. I was kind of looking forward to that extra money over the summer. Well, maybe next pay period. ☹

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### Author: ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-august-gripes/726712/60 "2015-08-04T19:17:13Z")

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That’s a hefty bump for anyone who isn’t already making a hundred grand a yesr.

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