So, in 4/29 he had just started a job with a big consulting firm, and a little over a month later he’s an unemployed recent grad school graduate, living in an apartment too small to paint in…This is getting to be almost of fun as FatherJohn…
So, whats the matter? cant keep a job over a month? With those $60 shirts, I would think they would have given you more time than that to get your shit togeather before they gave you the boot.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ben *
**http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=69198
See above ben, his last job only lasted a month. Have you applied for foodstamps yet? How about wic for the kids?(or do we still have the wife and kids?).
Just for the record. I have nothing against the disabled. If ‘retard’ is not a PC term, then I retract it, again. I will not appologize, however.
Yosemitebiatch has seen fit to turn an intelligent debate in GQ into pointless childish bickering.
So I will reserve my insults for Yosemitebiatch, only. The rest of you, I’ll try to answer your questions in the order I receive them.
Or if you know a Jewish kid, do you refer to him as a Jew? Both are acceptable.
The point about the word has been taken. However, some of us don’t work with the disabled or even really know any, so may not be familliar with the correct terms.
Think of it as someone using the term ‘negro’. As far as I know, its not particularly insulting (like the other N word), it’s just not really the correct term. Correct me if I’m wrong.
No. And don’t call me lovely.
It’s called a COBRA plan. It allows you to extend your health coverage when you leave a job. And yes, I pay my own way. And I’m not working by choice.
Well, I’ve been going to grad school full time in the evenings (12 credits or 3 courses) while working full time during the day (for many years). I’ve only taken the summer off until my new job starts. What have you been doing for the past three years?
Where do you think RIFed people go? You think they get laid off and never work again? They just get better jobs for more money.
Most of us don’t stay at a company long enough to get laid off anyway. You can usually see when layoffs are coming and if your smart, you start looking before they happen. It’s foolish to just sit there and hope the mighty hand of the Angel of Layoffs passes over you and takes your neighbor instead.
ooooo…good one
By the way, they also make nice father’s day gifts.
I never said I was a lawyer. I’m not. My degree is an MBA, not a JD.
Nope. Just an asshole. I could send you a copy of a pay stub but I don’t give personal info out on the web. Too many weirdos. Other than that, I don’t really know how to prove what I say.
Well that explains a lot.
I’m not sure where you inferred this, but I don’t have a wife and kids. I do, however have a very sweet and attractive girlfriend who is in grad school studying to be an I-banker.
[QUOTE]
by bdgr
Member
So, in 4/29 he had just started a job with a big consulting firm, and a little over a month later he’s an unemployed recent grad school graduate, living in an apartment too small to paint in.
[/QUOTE
I have been living in my current appartment (which is small) for about 3 or 4 years. Many consulting companies begin college hiring in the fall for the following year. I recieved my offer (contingent upon graduation) around Jan 01. My start date was set in early fall of 01 for the NYC office ( a different city). I therefore lined up a nicer (but still small) appartment with a friend of mine in NYC. Since my signing bonus is fairly large, I can live of it for several months and travel and in general enjoy myself before I have to work 12 hour days.
yosemite - Keep crying to your messageboard buddies. [MOCKING LITTLE GIRL VOICE]
“boo hoo! Msmith hurt my feelings. He mean to me. He just greedy scum.”[/MOCKING
LITTLE GIRL VOICE]
By the way, the problem is YOU. I had the same ‘Jobism’ argument with Tamerlane and featherlou(the OP) and both could disagree with me without resorting to insults or a Pit threat.
The only reason you opened this thread is so you could boost your ego by getting a bunch of people to flame me. What do you think will happen? I’ll get so upset that I’ll sit here crying into my Banana Republic dress shirt? Snif Well its working. I’m so upset, I can’t even dial the tiny buttons on my Nokia cell phone to call my stockbroker.
**
I know what cobra is, usually far inferior coverage than what you had while working. Last I checked, you only got that from being fired or layed off.
And most of the unemployed people I know say its by choice…
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Working as a Systems Administrator for one of the largest Aerospace companys in the world, owning my own quite large enough home, and recording original music in my own studio(which I have room for). I been out of school for many years.
**
I thought you were supossed to be wise in the ways of the corporate world? You get riffed from one job, fine…your right…after a couple of months of job hunting(The average used to be one month for every 10k of salary, buts it probably a little lower now), you get a higher paying job. After you get riffed from two or three jobs for being an asshole, employers start to figure out that your damaged goods…then your screwed.
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What I’m talking about is the current corporate trend of using layoffs as an excuse to get rid of idiots. Everything seems to be going fine, and then all of sudden “jWe have decided to cut back, and unfortunately your are the only whose services are no longer required”. I have seen it happen many times…A week later sudenly they hire someone to replace you, they magically reconsidered and needed someone afterall. And no, this has never happened to me.
**
You have mentioned in other threads a wife and kids…Thats the problem with Message boards, everything you say is documented.
**
Actually, She didnt get me to flame you, you did. You ingnorant assholish behavoir, in refuseing to believe that she did anything but clean up fecal matter, made you just too much of a target. It isnt just using the term “retard”, dumbass. After you really get out in the corporate world you realize what an idiot you are being. The ones who survive are the ones who lose the attiude and Idea that you are “Higher on the social ladder” than anyone else is just so silly it is beyond words.
**
[/QUOTE]
I think it’s pretty clear that msmith has some issues, but in attacking “jobism” a couple of comments by bdgr caused the irony-meter to redline.
First there’s this:
Though bdgr isn’t necessarily condemning all “corporate types” it’s a fairly sweeping stereotype. But, when I first read it I thought I’d cut some slack since the statement was about co-workers – could have just been a bad office experience.
However, we then get this comment:
This comment is offered with no qualifying language at all. Seems like a sparkling example of “jobism” to me. Corporate people are considered lowlifes based on the mere fact that their job is with a corporation.
I realize msmith is pissing people off (and appears to enjoy doing it) but reversing the stereotype doesn’t help.
I’m reminded of the Simpsons:
Homer: Queer…Queer…QUEER! That’s what you like to be called, right?
John: Well, that or JOHN.
jarbaby
Msmith wrote the following -
Wow, didn’t keep that job long, did you? :rolleyes:
Divorced recently? Whose wife and kids?
Shit, if you’re going to make up stories, at least be intelligent enough to be consistent.
It appears that msmith always seems to mention his financial status (which I think is bullshit) in almost ever thread he has participated in, regardless of the subject. I come from a fairly wealthy family and I’m also doing quite well myself (in fact, I would probably be buying YOU lunch) I sure as hell don’t feel the need to inject that into each and every fucking conversation! You aren’t impressing anyone here, snookums.
Why does John-John and Serlin keep popping into my head whenever I read msmith’s posts?
Then he writes:
Uhhh, that would be “veterans”, Bub.
Do you realize just how telling this is? 
HA HA!
Oh, and JFTR - Yosemitebabe had no part in why your ass is getting flamed. You can take full credit for that yourself.
Forgive me for playing devil’s advocate, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of a doubt and assume he was speaking hypothetically; in the future he’ll be doing really great stuff with his perfect family while the rest of us low-lifes look on with envy.
From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary online.
Note the use of often rather than always in the definition of retard.
Miller I appreciate the point you were trying to make, but the two are not equivalent. If you wanted to describe excrement as being from a Japanese person, you would say it was Japanese shit.
You cannot however describe excrement from a retarded person as retarded shit. You would have to use retard.
Do not make the mistake of assuming I am in favor of the word retard. It was a poor choice of wording on msmith537’s part.
Yosemitebabe do we have to go through the whole “you can only have knowledge /understand of a field if you work in it” fallacy. I don’t claim to have any special knowledge of the field, just an opinion that for workers in the field or anyone for that matter to use the term “retarded” by itself to describe those who are mentally handicapped shows a lack of tack. I am not attempting to call you a hypocrite or anything like that (I say this only because you tend to assume the worst intentions behind my statements).
I admit that I drew a poor corollary with “niggered” and yes it is not a proper word (though you will find it used if you search for it). Take the word “niggardly” for example; not a slur, yet not used much anymore because someone may get the wrong impression or take it as relating to the slur “nigger”.
I don’t begrudge you your right to post a Pit rant about msmith537. I simply thought you took advantage of his use of the word retard. Had he not been as abrasive and annoying, and frustrating to you, I’d think you would have corrected him in the thread and left it at that. It just seemed that the title of this thread should be “msmith537 is a smuck” rather than what it is, but that probably wouldn’t have gotten you nearly the same response.
I seem to have a knack for saying things rather opaquely.
Hey, and why don’t you ever thank me? Or do you only thank those who contribute glowing praise and complete agreement? 
Because what I’ve basically been accusing you of is being intelligent, manipulative, and scheming. 
Can you throw me a bone here and at least admit that “retarded” is not nearly as nice as “mentally retarded” or “mentally handicapped”. I think I finally got to my point! Hurray! Sorry all for having to endure that.
HUNH? I am reasonably sure that I have never accused you of misjudging msmith537 and I definitely never claimed that he didn’t deserve a Pit thread. So if you would, please roll them eyes right back down. Thanks!
Zoff, you are, of course, correct. I apologize for being unclear, and lumping all people who work in the corporate world togeather like that.
The sort of people I was refering to are the type achieving success in the corporate world is the focal point of thier lives, regardless of the consequences to other people(or thier own souls). The people I hang around(who work in the corporate enviroment), refer to them as corporate types (sort of like company man, but with sleazier conotations), like when you know your mgr is not going to stand behind you because it would be bad for him politically.
In other words, its kind of a slang usage, and I realize now it did not come across the way I meant it. Again, I apologize.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by bdgr *
And most of the unemployed people I know say its by choice…
[quote]
Well, since I was the one who gave my employer notice after I was spared their last round of layoffs, I guess it was my choice.
Anything I might have heard? (Just curious. I’m not trying to be a smartass.)
I guess. If that were true, that would explain why there aren’t any jerks in corporate America. Right?
Anyway, I’m actually much nicer in person.
Yes, I am familiar with the concept of people “leaving to pursue personal goals” or being “promoted out of a job” or “counseled out”. My industry is well known for having an “up or out” policy. I never said the corporate world was easy.
I was speaking figuratively. As in “five years from now, I’ll be doing this with my future wife and kids while blah blah…”. For the record I am not married and have no kids.
You seem reasonable and intelligent. You should come over to the GD (not GQ as I had originally said) “Jobism” debate.
No need to apologize. I’ve followed several of these education/jobs threads and some of them tend to degenerate into bashing people who have high-paying jobs or advanced degrees. I generally agree with what you’re saying but wanted to point out that not all big company people are bad.
For whatever my opinion’s worth, I give you credit for not being defensive about my post.
I made a critical error in what I wrote, Hibbins. I owe you an apology, flat-out. No, I don’t speak for you or anyone else in this community. I speak solely for myself, and I seriously apologize for saying that I did otherwise. It’s a terribly unwise assumption to ever make.
Besides- we all get to voice our opinions here. And then, we all can see which way the wind blows. My statement was out of line.
As for the second part of the above quoted paragraph, as previously stated, I stand by every word I said. It’s my right. Besides, this isn’t Dear Abby, it’s the motherfucking goddamned cocksocket BBQ Pit, so put on your swimmies or get the fuck out of the pool.
And, have a nice day.
Cartooniverse
Hey! F-you!
Point taken!
Hibbins: Well, my point was really that there isn’t any sort of grammatical rule about wether a contraction of an acceptable term is a slur or not. Retarded-retard is bad, Japanese-Jap is bad, Jewish-Jew is okay. I don’t think retard is acceptable, even if you using it as an adjective. I guess there isn’t a better word to use in that situation, but that doesn’t excuse its use. English is a flexible language. Find a construction that doesn’t require saying retard. Especially since this is a message board, and you’ve got all the time you need to edit what you’re saying.
Maybe the apartment of msmith537 is under a bridge, and our comments are actually feeding him, hmmm?
Msmith, I have to admit, this thread surprised the hell out of me. You see, I really thought at the beginning of this that you were just a young, arrogant fellow who needed to expand your horizons, and needed to learn a few things. I didn’t know much about you, having never really noticed you before the jobism thread. In the beginning, I agreed with featherlou - I didn’t think you were bad or anything.
Sure, you were irritating, arrogant and condescending in that thread, and sure, I was pissed at you. But our argument and debate would have STAYED there, had you not written “retard shit”. I wanted to air the problem I had with “retard shit” somewhere else, but as I said on the OP, I didn’t want it to be a big huge flaming rant. I was hoping you’d offer up some sort of apology (you needn’t have groveled, just a simple “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that” would have sufficed. ) And had you done that, I would have asked for the thread to be closed. And then it would be over, people would have probably respected you, and we all be on to arguing about something else on the Pit. It could have easily gone that way.
But it didn’t, and that has EVERYTHING to do with you, and very little to do with me. I know you won’t see that, and I guess I find that a little amusing. You refuse to see that your own assanine, absurd comments are the reason this thead has taken on a life of its own. I think that’s funny.
Hibbins, I think Miller and others have covered why “retard” is totally inappropriate. If you refuse to understand that after all this time, I suspect you are in the minority.
I don’t care if you think that “retard” wasn’t a good enough reason to start a Pit thread. It was. Now, had my dislike for msmith prompted me to start a Pit thread (regarding “retard”) saying “you evil goat felcher!” then maybe that kind of reaction would have been motivated by my dislike for him, rather than the issue at hand. However, I would have started a Pit thread for anyone who wrote “retard shit” in the same context that msmith did. And I think I would have been even-tempered about it, like I tried to be in the OP, saying that I didn’t think it was a very nice thing to say.
So, whatever. Believe whatever you want.
You believe that I am defending the use of the word “retard” as being appropriate?
Please tell me how you made that ridiculous leap of logic.
It boggles me that even after supposedly reading this thread you leap to the assumption that I am in favor of the use of the word just because I haven’t condemned msmith537.
Nope! Wrong again.
It took you two paragraphs to get around to addressing the title of your thread. I understand, you had to create (whoops that should be provide) background. What is wrong with posting the link for background. Can’t control the spin?
So why didn’t you state this in the OP? It would have improved the odds of getting the response you were looking for.
Excuse me, but you have been straining all this time to try to convince us that “retard” is just a “minor” infraction.
“Favor”? No. “Minor”? Oh yes. Your words.
Provided link, right up front. Gave a brief synopsis, as is the custom on many Pit threads.
Do you really think that anyone here has gotten an incomplete picture of msmith? Do you really think that? After all, his own words have condemned him, not mine. This thread really took off after he made his “contributions”.
Oh my. So saying “That wasn’t very nice” amd “That shouldn’t have been said” was too vague? Oh please forgive me. Usually when someone tells me that I said something not very nice, I immediately know that I need to offer up an apology (if I feel it is warranted.) And after all, he immediately responded on the “jobism” thread the he would “retract” his comment (but no mention of apology.) So he seemed to know what was expected of him (he just wasn’t going to do it.)
What else do you think I’d expect from msmith?