# I've been working here for fifteen years! I have benefits! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 24, 2010, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546 "2010-05-24T07:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/141 "2010-05-26T10:56:10Z")
You crazy Aussies! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/142 "2010-05-26T10:57:17Z")
Anecdote alert: While doing a bit of idle work in the British Library I came across sheet music for a song called “[My Coon is a Lobster](http://www.amazon.com/Coon-Lobster-Song-Words-music/dp/B0000CVBF2)” from the early 20th century (I want to say 1903 but don’t quote me on that) by a man called Arthur Dunn. I only regret that the Amazon link above doesn’t show the “quaint” cartoon that graced the cover. From the text one got the view that Mr Dunn felt that “coon” was indeed a word that black people regularly used to refer to themselves. However, one also suspects that Mr Dunn was an idiot so I wouldn’t use this particular song (and others by the same author/composer in the same vein) as any sort of sociologically valid marker. BTW a “lobster”, according to the song, is a lazy man who won’t work and just lives off his wife’s earnings. Mr Dunn may well have invented this term, which fortunately has not caught on in the general vernacular. Just thought you’d like to know. Also, the Google search for “My Coon is a Lobster” brought up “Did you mean ‘My _Colon_ is a Lobster’?” Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/143 "2010-05-26T11:13:58Z")
BTW, I’m surprised that coon is worse than nigger, as Cartman can get away with saying the former on South Park (although he doesn’t seem to know what it means.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/144 "2010-05-26T11:18:10Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > He is a troll of the highest order. That’s kind of strong praise, isn’t it? 😉 > [@](#): > > And he won’t be back, because he is a coward of the first order, and this didn’t go the way he thought it would. All of his Pit threads go like this. At least the ones I’ve seen. Regardless, I’m tempted to thank hm because I did learn something from this thread. I learned that there’s a war brewing between grocery store temp workers and full-time book store employees. I never would have imagined that. I guess everyone needs to look down on somebody. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/145 "2010-05-26T14:29:54Z")
On the coon/nigger relative scaling: it’s complicated. I’d say in some respects, nigger is worse than coon. But there are contexts where nigger will be used, for lack of a better word, affectionately (usually between Black people), which never happens with coon. > [@bdgr](#): > > My wife works at half pice books (used book store chain). When I applied for my first job in high school, they were at the top of my list. Unfortunately, they weren’t hiring part-time folks. I cried. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/146 "2010-05-26T16:37:18Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > When I applied for my first job in high school, they were at the top of my list. Unfortunately, they weren’t hiring part-time folks. I cried. They are kind of the anti-walmart in that respect. They don’t like to hire part time people at all. Each employee is given a section of the store to be responsible for. That person prices the books, decides when to discount them if they’ve been there too long, and when to send the book to clearance. So a lot of part time employees wouldn’t work out very well. Before my wife worked there, I found a couple of copies of “The curse of lono” in the locked up collectors cabinet and was lamenting to the guy at checkout that I didn’t care about the collectors value, I just wanted to read it. It turned out that it was the guys section and he walked over, unlocked the case, and marked down rougher copy of the two to a level that I could afford. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/147 "2010-05-26T17:28:18Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > It’s **Stan Schmenge**. He’s a retarded anal fissure on the board. He leaks onto his keyboard on occasion, and thinks it’s worth posting. > > He is a troll of the highest order. > > You know that 4Chan thing, where they will post a big diatribe that someone must have done originally talking about how he’s gonna leave the board 'cause it’s all losers and he is so much better than them, and he’s gonna go bang some girls and drive his camaro 'cause he’s so much better than everyone? > > That’s **Stan**. He’s smarter than cops, and smarter than you, he’s a better driver drunk than you are sober, and cops and authority figures are scared of him because they know he won’t put up with their shit. He’s hard core like that. > > The shit I took this morning has more class, brains, and wit. > > And he won’t be back, because he is a coward of the first order, and this didn’t go the way he thought it would. So he’s a Ron? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/148 "2010-05-26T17:45:09Z")
I once saw a college yearbook, from 1918. It was from Kansas State Agricultural College, now Kansas State University. Being as it was published right at the end of WWI there were a lot of pictures of guys in uniforms, and many other military references throughout the book. One cartoon invited people to guess what the letters SATC stood for. (I thing the answer was State Army Training Corps, a predecessor to ROTC). The cartoon itself was a picture of a tall, skinny, black man in an ill-fitting suit. Big lips, buggy eyes and all. An average sized white guy stood looking up at him, and his guess was **S** uch **A** **T** all **C** oon. Those of us contemporary folks looking at the book were aghast. “How in the heck did they get away with something like that, even then?” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/149 "2010-05-26T20:20:41Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > On the coon/nigger relative scaling: it’s complicated. I’d say in some respects, nigger is worse than coon. But there are contexts where nigger will be used, for lack of a better word, affectionately (usually between Black people), which never happens with coon. > > When I applied for my first job in high school, they were at the top of my list. Unfortunately, they weren’t hiring part-time folks. I cried. Mom’s worked there for something like 15 years. And has benefits, naturally. And a house full of books. More books than bookcase space. At least one room completely devoted to books. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/150 "2010-05-26T20:32:44Z")
Uh. For Half Price Books. Not for… um, anything else. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/151 "2010-05-27T02:03:58Z")
> [@Radegast](#): > > Come on, Doors! He could use a crossbow, maybe a small cannon, or that cattle-killing compressed air gizmo from No Country for Old Men… Or blow darts, or a harpoon gun… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/152 "2010-05-27T02:29:37Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > It’s **Stan Schmenge**. > > That’s **Stan**. He’s smarter than cops, and smarter than you, he’s a better driver drunk than you are sober, and cops and authority figures are scared of him because they know he won’t put up with their shit. He’s hard core like that. > > The shit I took this morning has more class, brains, and wit. > > And he won’t be back, because he is a coward of the first order, and this didn’t go the way he thought it would. Remember, the cops tried to [frame his best friend](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501641), and he was able to tell them, without any lab testing whatsoever, that there were NO TRACES OF BLOOD, AT ALL. Seriously, people. Fuck all that forensic shit. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/153 "2010-05-27T03:35:56Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Remember, the cops tried to [frame his best friend](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501641), and he was able to tell them, without any lab testing whatsoever, that there were NO TRACES OF BLOOD, AT ALL. Seriously, people. Fuck all that forensic shit. Right - he is better than the police and doesn’t need those bastards! And yet he is so sensitive that he was moved to tears by anonymous message board posters pointing out obvious holes in his story. To tears, **Guin** , to tears! He’s so sensitive that he even lovingly calls oveweight people fatties and blimpos regularly, and calls gainfully employed people losers, but can’t you understand that he is just trying to show them the light so they can be more like him? They can be greasy overgrown hippies working temp jobs and looking down on other people too! Why, he’s even so cool that he can drive better than everyone except Mario Andretti - he drives an astonishing 20,000km a year! Can you believe such a thing! Yeah - I read this guys threads for amusement. I have to admit, he cracks me the hell up. Such a wonderful combination of liar, poseur, and internet tough guy. Knowing him in real life must be quite a trial though. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/154 "2010-05-27T08:33:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Remember, the cops tried to [frame his best friend](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501641), and he was able to tell them, without any lab testing whatsoever, that there were NO TRACES OF BLOOD, AT ALL. Seriously, people. Fuck all that forensic shit. I look at that thread and he is one of the few people in it acting honourably. A disgraceful pile on and most of the participants in it should be ashamed of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/155 "2010-05-27T09:13:49Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I’d LOVE to work in a bookshop, and you’d have to cart my body out in a box at the end of my employment!! Bookstore=Heaven in my thesaurus. 😃 Well, I might not mind working in a bookstore myself, but B&N? Have you spent much time in one? It isn’t exactly a place where you sit around reading and tending to the bookstore cats. You spend your time returning books and magazines that people leave around, cleaning up empty coffee cups, and helping retarded customers find the section they are looking for. “Where are your History books?” :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > The fact that _you_ were there buying books or whatever shows that the industry provides a service to _you,_ and that the lady behind the counter provides a service in merchandising the books to you…and you are maligning her, for _what_ exactly? Being a **person** behind a counter selling **you** books that **you** would like to **purchase**? I don’t see the problem here, except that **YOU** are the one with an attitude **Stan** , and you might be better rid of it before the next time you attend a retail outlet, just sayin’ and all. I don’t buy books at B&N. Why would any sane person do that when Amazon has them for like half the price? I actually go there to sit and read expensive magazines related to my field, CGI, which all seem to come from England and are priced at like $20 a copy because they are imports. And to buy my girlfriend overpriced coffee, which she seems to have an unfortunate addiction to. > [@](#): > > Still reckon you’re a complete fucken moron/tool/wanker, whatever takes yer’ fancy. 😃 Yes, I am a wanker. Whatever suits your fancy. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/156 "2010-05-27T09:17:45Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#): > > I would not want her job for 15 years either. > But, you do have to give her credit for being responsible enough to stay at a job long enough to be able to have benefits. > She seems better to me than a person that just goes from low income job to another without ever being eligible for benefits. It just seems sad to me. I always figured that people that work at B&N were doing it in the meantime, working their way through school, young folks deciding what they want out of life. I was surprised when she unloaded that on me. Fifteen years?!? Seriously, shoot me. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/157 "2010-05-27T09:21:46Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Thing is, **kambuckta** , the naked truth is that he wouldn’t be insulting them if he wasn’t so insecure himself. Methinkings OP is not CEO type, more a middle management goon. More a free spirit that hasn’t held a straight job in twenty years, and at age 50, for no more than five years of my adult life. I mainly do graphic design and CGI as a freelancer. The project I am just wrapping up is for Ron Artest (actually his agent hired us) for is charity benefit at the Playboy Mansion. Graphics for a Powerpoint presentation that will be used to solicit donors up to the $500,000 level. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/158 "2010-05-27T09:23:07Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > What else would you shoot yourself in the head with? A tree? A boat? Crossbow. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/159 "2010-05-27T09:24:10Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I worked in a bookstore (in a small, independent chain; there are about five stores in all) for a year and a half after graduating from college. It was pretty enjoyable, as jobs go, and I got a 40% discount on books, but it wasn’t my life’s work. > > OTOH, one of my coworkers at the time still works there (AFAIK - I saw him when I visited the store last December) and has worked there for…oh, I’d be surprised if he hasn’t been there for at least fifteen years. Why not? He clearly makes enough money to live on, and he enjoys his job. He’s a smart guy and could do something else, but this is what he likes doing. He used to be the store manager, but stepped down because he didn’t enjoy it. > > Who am I to judge? Well, a small independent chain is a world away from B&N. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546/160 "2010-05-27T09:34:47Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I believe the OP has recently found work as a [temp](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12339201#post12339201) clerking at a grocery store after a period of unemployment . Which I’m sure is a decent job, but I’m not sure I’d choose it over an apparently fairly stable retail position at a bookstore. Well, if you call not working a straight job since 1994 “unemployment” perhaps you are correct! And I did say that I wouldn’t mind working there “permanently” but in my book that means for a year or two on a part time basis. As a freelancer, I go through times of feast and famine, and a steady supplemental paycheck isn’t a bad idea for me. The fact is, after the temporary period, it was pretty obvious both to me and Fresh&Easy that we weren’t a good match. Screw shooting myself, if I had to work in that place for more than a few more weeks, I would have been shooting other people. Or at least the PA system playing the godawful “contemporary” mix from Muzak. At least B&N has better and more varied music. I’ll give them that. If I hear “Am I Standing Still” one more time… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-working-here-for-fifteen-years-i-have-benefits/540546.md?page=9)