[hijack]
All this time I though msmith was a girl. I was seeing msmith as “ms. smith” all sort of run together. How embarrassing.
[/hijack]
I agree that what was said was uncalled for. Even if you say “mentally or physically disabled” in the wrong context it is harsh and insulting.
:Sigh: msmith537- you just don’t get it do you? Taking care of people who are less capable than you is NOT a bad thing. My mother currently works with children who are either mentally or physically disabled. And no she doesn’t clean up after them. With some disabled people, the only problem they have is comprehension. They learn slower than others. I guess you could say they are retarded (personally I dislike that word but oh well) but not all of them have to be “cleaned up after”.
I’m glad you have such a nice job and benefits and whatnot, goody for you. That doesn’t mean that ALL people who help out the disabled are less educated or do not live well. ( I believe that someone else stated that earlier but I do not recall the name.) And some day, whether you like to think of it or not, you’re going to have someone helping you because you will be less fortunate then they are. (I’m not talking about a mental or physical disablity, elderly people need help too ya know). I don’t see why helping an elderly person or a disabled person is any different. So do you think that someone who works in an assisted living place for the elderly is not a good job either?
I think that most people who take care of the disabled make sure that they don’t “wallow in their own filth”.
msmith: Well, Cartooniverse speaks for me pretty well. And what the hell was that crack about how you’d rather have interesting friends than help the disabled? What the fuck does that mean? People who are caring, helpful, and charitable are boring? Listening to Yosemitebabe talk about her work sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than listening to you brag about how expensive your shirts are.
Your comment was staggeringly boorish, especially when you consider to whom it was addressed. Instead of the torching you so richly deserved, you were instead treated to the single most polite flame in the history of the internet, and you still don’t have the backbone to offer up an apology. You’re scum, msmith, simple as that. Now go back to that Brett Easton Ellis novel you crawled out of and leave the decent folk alone.
Now, don’t you think we’re all being a bit too hard on msmith? After all, he’s just ensuring that the horse he’s riding on is high enough to keep him out of the reach of all of us grubby, dirty peons. Lord knows, we might even touch him! And then he’d have the sickness!
:rolleyes:
I am sure a lot of people who assume the sme thing they’re young. Too bad they are sometimes wrong.
I won’t answer whether it makes you a “bad person” or not, since at this moment I am feeling a good bit of prejudice towards you. But I will agree with others here - it makes you shallow.
And, I see that you have not seen fit to apologize for the “retard shit” comment. You merely “retracted” it on the jobism thread, and you were rather sarcastic at that.
And I also have to add - how do you know my friends aren’t “interesting”? Hey - I don’t have a lot in common with all my co-workers, but they’re cool, they are “real”, and I think they are interesting! And the people we look after - they can be a joy. I could tell stories all day about them. They are sweet, and accepting, and full of unconditional love. Sounds pretty great to me. (And for the record, there is far more to my job that “cleaning up” after people. I think that has been discussed on this thread already, by Feynn and others. But you seem to think persist in seeing it as all about “cleaning up”.)
And, I also am a potter. You know, I make pottery, work in clay, wallow in mud. Just to educate all of you out there, Potters ARE the most interesting and fun people around! 
Have you ever attended a Raku party? Where people throw red-hot glowing pots into trashcans full of newspaper? (Often while drunk - hmmm…I don’t necessarily think that’s too smart, but I’ve never seen any dire accidents occur.) So hey! It’s cool! It’s interesting! It’s fun! Give me a raku party ANY day over hanging out in some expensive club with guys in expensive shirts!
Raku is really cool. I have a interesting friend(he actually has an account here, but he just lurks), that is a sculpter, and a potter. I have several raku masks he made that just look incredible. I bought my house from him, and I still have his kiln and a potters wheel about the size of a buick in my back yard. Now rakuing the guys in expensive shirts…thats entertainment…bet they turn all kinds of cool colors…
Yosemite - I have to differ with you on the pottery thing, sculptors are by far the most interesting people… 
I find that people often have a very narrow view of what you and I do for a living and as such, have some misconceptions about what is involved in what we do. It happens quite often.
I don’t think that msmith is a bad person for choosing a certain lifestyle or for having a certain set of values, they just happen to diverge a great deal from my own. I don’t think we would ever be friends if we knew each other in real life as there wouldn’t be much common ground.
I also disagree with something else msmith said as it implies that everyone feels this way:
"So, to some extend, your job defines who you are and what you’re about. But there is something that everyone has in common, regardless of their job:
- The boss is a moron
- The coworkers are incompetent
- You are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated"
My boss is a brilliant, University educated individual with a degree in education. Despite being severely handicapped herself she is tireless in her efforts to improve the lives of our clients and the staff under her supervision.
My co-workers are highly experienced and educated individuals.
I am sometimes overworked but am paid reasonably well for my efforts. I have been commended often for my efforts and innovative ideas in how to improve how efficiently we serve our clients. It is quite likely that I will obtain a promotion that I am seeking due to my performance. I am often the recipient of much praise from the families of these clients as they can see that their sons and daughters are well taken care of and loved by the people who work with them. The clients themselves express how grateful they are for the work we do. The staff I am lucky to work with are not stingy in their praise and I constantly have to give them the credit for doing such an outstanding job.
Many of us think we have great jobs and I wouldn’t trade what I do for any amount of money.
[Gr8Kat’s hijack] I got that too at first, then I realised it was because I was getting the screennames msmith and MsRobyn mixed up. This is unconscionable because MsRobyn is a nice person whose posts are worth reading whereas msmith is a penis. Having realised the source of my mistake, I have not made it again. [/Gr8Kat]
Would it be terribly disruptive if I began to giggle right about here?
Tell me about it. All you get is conceited guys in $60 dress shirts and pants trying to crack onto you. :shudder: Oh well - on asshole night, the girls drink free.
I stand by every single word I posted in this thread. I broadly made claims as to the moral fiber of the rest of the Straight Dope Message Board community, and have been proved to be more or less on the mark so far.
I’m a sculptor who’s made friends with not one but two potters in the last few months- Yosemitebab, and a woman who instructed my EMT class. Does this make me a traitor, Feynn??? 
I’ll say this, though. I’ve read every posting down from mine to the bottom, carefully. I don’t feel I owe msmith a goddamned thing. I’ll admit this much, though. There’s a backlash against shallow poseurs who overbill in our society, and maybe msmith just feels he’s being discriminated against because he has a revolving charge account at Ottomanelli’s.
In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. I’d be so honored to sit at the humblest table and share the simplest fare with members here who I admire and respect and enjoy, rather than try to choke down filet mignon and some Chateau Neuf du Pape with you in whatever passes for your home.
It was your words alone that brought out the vitriol.
Nobody gives a rat’s ass about your health plan. As Yosemitebab so astutely pointed out, you best have your attorney read through it with a fine toothed comb. Health plans aren’t always what they seem in terms of long-term benefits.
In short, there isn’t enough cologne in the world to cover up your stink.
Cartooniverse
…and furthermore, the fact that I misspelled Yosemitebabe’s name TWICE in the preceeding posting in no way detracts from the sincerity of the thoughts imparted in said thread.
Shit ! Preview used to be my friend, but we had an ugly falling out.
Msmith… so you would rather go for a girl that you find in one of your “clubs” than someone who “flips” burgers.
So, would you rank Robert Maxwell higher than you would rank someone like Mother Theresa?
Oh, And Cartooniverse only speaks for me during my ventriloquist act.
Retard is a hot button word and retarded is not? C’mon, that has to be splitting hairs a little. I don’t much care for either word, especially if used as an insult.
I think a lot of people are letting msmith537’s opinions and personality cloud their judgment.
Cartooniverse you don’t speak for me. I don’t like the use of retard any more than retarded, but you went way off the deep end in my opinion and took to task far more than the subject of the OP.
So msmith537 seems smug, arrogant, and a generalizing jerk. Let’s all burn him at the stake for a minor PC infraction then? I think anyone who feels it was more than minor should find it difficult to excuse the use of the word retarded. Otherwise I think your using this as a convenient way to get back at someone who rubs you the wrong way. So add tasteless to my earlier list and I’m through.
And of course that should be you’re not your.
Well, see, that’s the thing. “Retarded” is still used as a technical term. “Retard” is never used as anything but an insult.
It’s not “minor”. Wring compares it to the worst racial epiphets. I don’t know quite where I rate it, other than very, very mean and uncalled for. I never would have started this thread had I just thought it was “minor”. Maybe the relative polite mildness of my OP gave you that impression. I guess I was trying to be low-key, my mistake.
Not only is it "not a very nice thing to say, saying “retard”, especially, particularly about a mentally retarded (or Developmentally Disabled - we use both terms at work) person is just SO shitty and crappy. It’s VERY low. Hence this thread. Hence the many, many responses here.
Just imagine - if someone had said “cleaning up nigger shit” - would that be worthy of a Pit thread? Well, that’s just about how I felt about this. I am pretty sure many other people DID see it as being equal to that other hateful word. I hope this helps explain it to you.
Exactly. Also, the majority of the outcry in this thread sees to not be over msmith’s use of the word “retard.” People seem angry that the little bugger was willing to look at an occupation based entirely on caring and compassion as nothing more than the removal of fecal matter. No matter how it’s phrased, that is still offensive, and msmith is still a pompous prick.
I like that.
So, let’s say, hypothetically, someone else has also been imbibing $8.00 drinks and is acting less than responsibly behind the wheel of an auto. And let’s say this irresponsible person careens out of control into a crowd of club-goers, which happens to include msmith, mangling msmith’s fragile body (and $60 shirt, tsk), and fracturing a cervical vertebra or three, leaving him incapable of moving or feeling anything from the neck down. Will msmith’s health plan really pay for 'round the clock nurses to wait, bedpan in hand, to catch each of msmith’s turds as they slip from his body so he never, even for a moment, has to wallow in his own shit?
I got to get me some of that.
Sorry, I missed this first time through…
You know, I can afford 20 dollar cover, I can afford $8 drinks, and I could even afford $60 dress shirts and pants…
I could afford to pay 50 bucks for a roll of toliet paper as well, but why the hell would I want to…I like to think that I am not that freaking stupid.