Thirded.
{Starts blushing furiously}
I don’t think every career decision I’ve made has been wrong, but damn, there sure are a few I’d like to do over. I’d start with leaving university after only one year - that was ~23 years ago, and the cost of getting a degree then is a fraction of what it would cost now, if I could even stand to be in class so much again.
Recently had this conversation with my sister, who is seriously stressing out (to the point of medical issues) over her job.
Almost 10 years ago, I had been in the IT field for 17 years. I hated it, I hated myself and I hated my life. I had a major stress related back injury, and quit to save my life. Since then my life hasn’t fared so well on the financial level. But even so, I honestly believe that I would have been dead within a year if I had NOT quit at that time.
About 13 years ago, I was given an opportunity. I was straight out offered a job as an IT manager where I worked. I turned if down. At the time, I was a contract employee working 25 hours a week during the summer, getting off work at noon every day, and making a very comfortable living. The terms of the IT manager job were “You have to be here from 6am to 6pm M-F, and in a suit and tie at every moment. All those hours will be all meetings. Any time you need to do your actual job will be over and above that, so figure another 20-30 hours a week to do your paperwork and deal with your staff.”
So it required 80-90 hours per week in a monkey suit, and paid 1.75x what I was then making working 25 hours per week. I turned it down.
Next guy takes the job and then requires all contractors to either join his (personally owned) company (where he gets a cut of their contracts) or leave. I have a no-compete clause and am forced out.
Damn.
But to be honest, I was already in the “I don’t like this career and am not happy with my life” spot. I always wonder how things would have turned out if I had taken that job, but I have to be self-honest and figure that it would not have turned out well for me.
Just some food for pondering your own turns with a little self-honesty.
“I’ll be at home while I’m on vacation if you need me for anything” generally carries the unspoken request that the office should not need me for anything.
I had a 5-day weekend, much-needed vacation, and I’ve wound up working for 3 of those 5 days. Goddammit.
My response to this is, “Huh?” No, I won’t be at home, and no, I won’t be available. Unless the damned office is burning down, don’t call me, and if it is, call the fire department - I’m on VACATION! I must respectfully disagree with your unspoken messages - my unspoken message is to not be home or answer my phone while I’m on vacation. 
So you are finally going to admit that you are a bigot and you respond not to posts but to user names?
(I know you will have some really, cough, cutting response to this but don’t expect that I will bother with it. I just wanted to emphasis what you are here.)
Bullshit.
It says that you are open to them calling you if they need anything.
You honestly don’t want them to call you on vacation, tell them to leave you the fuck alone and then DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE.
You need me when I’m on vacation? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No.
But he’s the Boss. He’s indispensible!
Hey, shut up! I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself and trying to rationalize how I didn’t actually dig this hole for myself, and you’re messing that all up!
My name is Rachel (not Rachael, Rachelle, Rachaelle, Raechel, nor any of 100 other variations people can find for my name.) It’s spelled the classic, Biblical way - no weird extra letters, just a nice, normal, phonetically logical way. If you wish, I will happily forward extra letters to whomever needs them. (Once upon a time, I thought that my high school band director won the prize for spelling my name oddly: He would spell it differently on every award, report card, progress report, and permission slip. Now? My boss spells it differently on every single schedule. It’s a pretty normal name, I thought, but who knew the spelling could be mangled in so many different ways?!)
New subject: I’m sick to death of the bullies on my son’s school bus. For about the fifth time this school year, I’ve gone today to buy my son new school uniform pants, because the little bastards continue to maliciously ruin the boy’s clothes (latest instance? Intentionally writing on his khakis with permanent ink markers. Twice. In one week.) Tomorrow, I will go to school with the boy child, and discuss this with his principal. I will let the principal know that this is my only warning, and that the next time one of these hoodlums (there are two of them) touches my child, the boy has my permission to defend himself, and that the school board, along with the bus company and the child(ren)'s parents will be held legally responsible for the outcome. I’m fucking tired of my kid being traumatized on the bus - which allegedly has TWO freaking security cameras - and I’m really fucking tired of replacing school uniforms. I can’t afford this!
I totally agree with this. I’m on VACATION!!! I’m half the way on the other side of the country, don’t call me, there is nothing I can do and nothing I want to do! Just email me if the place burns down so I’ll know to go to HR instead of the warehouse.
And don’t bother calling me about work stuff while I’m at the hospital after Dad had a quad bypass. I won’t answer. I will listen to my messages when there is time and if they are worth answering I will, but you call repeatedly wanting to know my password so you can put an auto reply to my email. Did you not get the mass email saying that I would be away due to a family emergancy? Yes, you did…that’s why you started calling me and demanding that I give you my password so you can put the auto reply in sending my email to you. Eat a vending machine bag of moldy trail mix and then spend the next 3 days puking.
Oh. darnit:smack:
I promise that I’ll get better in the pit. Go fuck yourself with a dildo you found in your neighbor’s trashcan. The one in the bag full of used kitty litter.
It’s not going to help with the bullies, but try cheap hairspray/isopropyl alcohol on the marker. It definitely gets out ballpoint ink and some other inks.
Oh, pissers. I had stitches taken out last week on an incision site, and everything seemed to be healing ever so nicely. Taking a nap over the weekend, I rolled over and felt an ever-so-slight twinge. Woke up with blood on the sheets. After practically molesting myself (misdiagnosed the blood’s origin and was ultra-confused, also groggy) I determined that something had happened on the wound site. Went in to the dr. office (thinking “well, it doesn’t hurt, but …”) and judging from their reactions it was definitely a good idea to come in.
Three nurses, a physician’s assistant, and one of the doctors even popped her head into the room. Each one clucked and tut-tutted when they took a look. The damn thing broke open.
Fun side note: I’m sensitive to adhesives and can wear a Band-Aid for about a day, tops. Hmmm … how to hold a wound closed without adhesives?
Turns out … you can’t. 
I was sent off with the wound glued shut, some antibiotic goop … and a sample of cortizone cream for when it gets all irritated. Yay!
(Mr. Horseshoe is so sick of hearing me bitch and moan and whine about how nasty-looking the scar is gonna be.)
It’s not bigotry to think somebody is stupid when they have proved time and time again that they *are *stupid.
WTF? How does that even happen?
Of course, now you’re probably going to reveal yourself as some closet creeper and people will be pointing to my post for years, saying, “What the fuck is *wrong *with you that you like that guy?!”
It’s never too late to start over. My mom only went to college for a year or two after high school–she dropped out when she realized she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study and didn’t have the money to spend figuring it out. About 15 years ago, she got a job as a secretary at a university, and she took advantage of the fact that she could take a couple of classes every semester for free. It took her a while, but she finished her BA the year she turned 50.
It also, unfortunately, carries the spoken instruction to call you if they need anything. Never assume that people are smart enough to figure out what you mean, especially if you’re lucky enough to be in a position where you can be honest without fearing for your job.
“I’ll be at home while I’m on vacation, but please don’t use that as an excuse to contact me unless it’s truly an urgent issue that only I can deal with. If you call me, be prepared to defend doing so.”
With a name like **curlcoat **I just figured you were Black, and I hate Black people, so I just attack you all the time for no reason other than that I assume you’re Black. You got me figured out!
רחל?
Wait. First off, my sympathies for your son, and fuck those little shits (and their parents, probably). However: this has happened *five times *and you’re just now talking to the principal about it? With an ultimatum? Why weren’t you on the phone–or marching into the office–the first time this happened?
It’s possible that the principal sucks at their job, but it’s also possible that they just didn’t know there was a problem because no one said anything. The point of cameras is generally not to watch every single second of footage every single day, but to verify what actually happened *in the event that *someone makes an accusation.
Superglue?
Superglue!
Wait, people are bigots if they just don’t really like someone? Damn, “PC-ism” really is out of control! :smack:
Heads-up to the staff at a particular ER (oh heck, let’s make it every ER and other medical facility while we’re at it): please use fairly simple language when asking a patient about symptoms, especially if that person is confused or scared. If they just look more confused when you repeat the question, that’s a clue that you’re Doing It Wrong.
Peppering a young woman (friend of a coworker) with repeated questions about how often she has syncoped (pronounced like “sink o’ pee’d”) and getting a confused look back probably doesn’t mean she’s trying to count up the times in her head. What it meant in this case is that she’s going to ask you what that word means. Hopefully that lesson stuck with the herd of residents and med students that was firing off questions.
On the other hand, the next time I have to go from asking someone if they have diabetes, to asking about high blood sugar, to finally getting a yes response when I ask if they have “the sugar,” I may well headdesk once I’m out of the room.
Hah, can I trade you medical personnel? I’m sick of the ones that constantly talk down to me. *I’d *prefer that they just assume that I’ll ask for clarification if I don’t understand something.
Yeah, that’s not cool either. But a gal who passed out and didn’t have a measurable pulse/diastolic BP before being transported in to the ER might need a bit more help than someone sitting in a doctor’s office for an appointment. The group just kept firing off that word at her and she was flabbergasted, thinking they were asking about peeing or something.
I don’t mind decreasing the level of complexity of medical terms, but ‘syncope’ is a high bar to start at. ‘Diabetes’ isn’t so bad but going down to “high blood sugar” is fine. I usually choose “high blood pressure” or “high cholesterol” (asking about triglycerides too if they say yes) rather than starting with ‘hypertension’ or ‘hyperlipidemia.’
Idunno, cheap hairspray MIGHT help with the bullies. You can carry that around as grooming supplies. Pepper spray would cause authority figures to look at the kid doubtfully.
But neither one is gonna be real pleasant in the eyes…
*Starting *the bar high is fine. Not lowering it when the person can’t give you an answer is obtuse.
ETA: This is why I love my hematologist. He talks fast and uses big words, assuming (correctly) that I’ll ask for clarification if I need it. (Although I don’t doubt that there are people who hate him for the same reason. :D)