Rants are Read, Vileness Abrew (February mini-rants)

The BBQ Pit
121

Work Rant

Today I helped somebody with a medicaid application. There was a new page with three new questions.

“What gender is on your birth certificate?”
“What gender do you identify as?”
“What is your sexual orientation?”

We hadn’t been told about these new questions. We have been instructed many times that we must ask all questions unless a supervisor has specifically told us not to. So, I asked the caller each of these new questions.

There is a team chat for the project. A few other people posted about the new questions. Another customer service represntative replied “That is not a question you should ask.” I know it was another csr because messages from team leads and supervisors show up in bold and in a much bigger font.

What kind of idiot is this person? They are making a statement as if they were a supervisor or team lead. That statement runs counter to all prior instructions.

Shortly before lunch, one of the leads sent out an e-mail to all csr’s. It said that we were required to ask all three questions. It was fine if the caller didn’t want to answer them, but we are required to ask.

I will no be getting e-mails all day as many of my cow-orkers still don’t seem to know the difference between “reply” and “reply all”. The team leads and supervisors are aware of this problem. They now end alll e-mails with a reminder to not use “reply all”. It hasn’t helped much.

122

I’m the primary IT support for over 100 people where I work so I often have to send email broadcasts to large groups of people. When I do that I use BCC. With a BCC, each recipient can’t see who all the other recipients are and a “reply all” only sends a reply to me. This is how I prevent this problem. I wish more people used that trick.

123

Sadly, they’ve removed BCC from the software. I’m guessing it’s a transparency issue. We get freedom of information act requests.

124

Interesting, we do too (I work for state government) and if they wanted to see who I sent the email to, it shows in my sent mail (which is preserved in an email archive). It seems really shortsighted to get rid of such a useful feature.

125

Oddly, it’s just been in the last few years that it’s been gone.

126

Edge is OK. I agree with the force-feeding, but we had that with IE a decade ago. Now Edge is basically Chrome; it is decent, and not many people mourn Internet Explorer*

* ok. Some people. Including me. The wonders of IE exploits - not just browser security - you could literally remove the “chome”, the user interface and present nothing but what you felt like putting there using javascript. IE 6 and 7 were open to more than just average threats, they were open to artworks.*

  • where artwork is a public, sarcastic, programatic way to display lack of approval
127

Goddam, how I hate home repairs! Hate, hate, hate … even the minor ones. Because they’re the ultimate example of “nothing is ever as simple as it seems”.

I had a leaky downstairs toilet – that is, the tank was leaking into the toilet bowl, wasting water. According to teh interwebs, you “just have to replace the flapper”. For reference, please see the ongoing thread about “why don’t you just …”!

Just to give a few examples – the “universal” flapper came with a fairly standard clip on the end of the chain, but my toilet handle has a completely different attachment type. The chain was way too long, but I could shorten it by looping the clip around the chain. And now the toilet flushes and doesn’t leak! Yay me! But wait … it’s a very short flush, not like before. Turns out, the bit of chain between the float and the flapper is also way too long. But how to shorten that?

It goes on. But finally, my downstairs toilet flushes and doesn’t leak, and I’m having an afternoon double martini and fuck anyone who doesn’t like it.

I am not, incidentally, a lazy pup. When my wife and I moved into a very nice house once, she said how lovely it would be if the large sunken living room and the separate dining room were hardwood instead of carpet. So, dutiful husband that I was, I ripped up all the carpet, and with my own paws laid all the hardwood in the two large rooms. I must say it turned out very well, but this was something I had braced myself for – my personal equivalent of the Apollo moon program, and produced a result that could be admired. The toilet flapper replacement just sucked.

ETA: Also, and most significantly, I’m one hell of a lot older now than I was then. That was the same house where I built an enormous two-level deck. Again, youth vs Old Fart.

128

I just recently finished my months-long battle with the flapper on one of my toilets. The chain would either be too short and the flapper wouldn’t close all the way, or too long and the chain would get under the flap and keep it from sealing. Or I’d have it just right and something would get kinked, causing the chain to shorten and we’re back to the water running in the tank.

I think I figured it out for good after replacing the clip on the chain (which was the part that kept getting caught on something) and it hasn’t caused a problem for months. The worst part was that I’d think the issue was fixed and weeks would go by without an issue until it happened again out of nowhere. That sense of insecurity each time because I couldn’t quite be sure I really fixed it was the worst.

It has been good for 6 months though so I think I really did solve it. I know, first world problem and all that, but first world problems are still problems dammit!

129

Thanks for commiserating and reassuring me that other homeowners are equally challenged!

I am absolutely in awe of my Ukrainian handyman brothers. I refer to them as my Ukrainian plumbers because that was their biggest job here yet, but they seem to be able to do just about anything with ease. It’s a real skill and I just don’t have it. The hardwood floor thing was the result of a great deal of research and planning, and taking my time.

130

Pretty much anything to do with toilet maintenance is (*ahem) shit.

My last house, the builders installed a “in wall” (not sure how to descibe it, the cistern is practically invisible) toilet. Then some random part fell off and blocked the closing of the sump/pipe that goes to the toilet, meaning water just flowed through.

And those cisterns are narrow, built into the wall and next to impossible to debug as a non-plumber. I could not fit my arm in to fix it the traditional way.

I stole my young daughter’s “compact” so I could use the mirror. Lying down I could see inside the cistern and work out that a part had failed and was holding the action open.

I went to a hardware store and bought a tool. It is about 1m of tightly wrapped steel. One end has a claw, the other end a trigger of sorts. Pull the trigger, the claw closes. Relax the trigger, it opens.

So I manouvre into a postion (lyng next to the toilet) after inserting the tool. Using my daughter’s mirror, and being acutely aware of left/right confusion, I guided this long flexible tool to the bottom of the toilet via mirror image, and located the broken part. Removed it, and all was well.

Same job in a regular toilet: 20 secinds. This one, about 40 minutes.

131

Wondering whether I should notify the mods

As I have posted about in previous monthly mini rant threads, the year I spent at my last apartment was terrible. Without exaggeration, if I had gotten any worse I would have had myself comitted.

Things improved with a new medication and a move to a much better apartment. Then, it turns out management really doesn’t care about fixing any of the things in my apartment. Then, it turns out the overn has a gas leak and needs to be replaced. Then, mice. Then, Trump gets a second term.

I needed cheering up. I looked at some old threads. I was reading my favorite of the various threads I have started. Due to touchpad problem (I have since gotten a Certified Used laptop from Best Buy) I accidentally clicked on a link. The link turned out to be broken. There was a space in it. I was curious and corrected the link in my address bar. I got a message saying you need to sign in to see this content.

Well, Flickr started sending me e-mails saying 'Only paid accounts can have restricted images. Either pay or delete the restricted images. Failure to comply will result in your account being deleted: many years ago. When I got the first e-mail, I thought they really would delete my account. So, I found an alternate site. This site does not require any payment and does not require anybody to log in to view my gallery.

I changed the profile Flickr image linked to in the SDMB thread from a photograph to just an image of text giving the web address of my new gallery. I figured that if necessary, I could delete all the restricted images ask for my photostream to be categorized as ‘safe’ and just leave that one image as a guide.

Flickr has been sending me those e-mails once a month for many years now. They have never taken any action.

Still, anybody who clicks the link and erases the space will only see a page asking them to sign in. This displeases me.

As I have posted about before, the updated rules seem to forbid posting even a broken link to the new gallery. So, I added a nonworking clickable link with a warning and instructions on how to make it into a working address in the derscription section of my profile. I had been assuming that the mods were aware of this and had no comment.

Today, I remembered L3katt. For those who don’t remember, this poster kept starting threads on near death experiences. I countered by presenting my Mad Scientist persona as though I were serious. It was a lot of fun. Eventually, a mod told me that I was technically trolling and that I needed to stop. The warning came after many months of telling L3katt things like ‘I am sorry to inform you, but your my Quantum Etheric scanner reveals that your Consciousness Field has never been out of this dimension. Therefore, you never had an actual near death experience.’

Now, I am wondering if the mods have no comment or if they are unaware of the change to my profile even though I posted about it in one of the monthly mini rant threads. ||

Should I self report? What exactly do I say? Enquiring minds like mine wanna know.

132

Not sure what software BCC has been removed from; I still have it in my e-mail.

133

It can removed through Group Policy in an enterprise environment; think of it as an organization-wide setting you can’t change on your end.

The software still has that feature, but it’s hidden from you.

134

We use Microsoft Outlook. And thanks Atamasama. I wasn’t losing sleep wondering, but it’s good to know.

135

I’ll also mention that BCC is usually hidden by default in Outlook. I had to enable it before I could use it. If you notice it’s not an option but you aren’t absolutely certain it was actually removed, just check to make sure that you don’t just have it disabled in your client (because again, by default it will be disabled).

136

Here’s a kind of anti-rant. :slight_smile:

I am pretty frequently asked to be an interview panelist at my work when they are hiring an IT position. I’ve counted at least 7 panels I’ve been on in the past 5 years.

Today I was informed of required training for anyone involved in the interview process. It is training on how to avoid bias. Taking the very first course, it explains almost right away why diversity is important in the hiring process; it’s not just to make people feel good, but hiring people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences gives an organization a strategic advantage.

I can’t help but think this is a deliberate “fuck you” to the Trump administration and I’m all for it. After all, I work for state government in a state that’s at the forefront of suing Trump for his overreaches (both now and during his first administration; our new governor was previously the AG who sued him a lot last time).

I love that just taking mandatory training at work feels like a political protest. :laughing:

137

Family Rants- Again

my Mom is visiting Philly next month. That part is wonderful. I am trying to arrange a get together with some of the relatives she really likes. It will probably take place in Lickety Splits.This is an ice cream parlor attached to the dining section of a bowling alley/ pool hall/ arcade. It is notable because if you present ID, you can order ice cream and toppings that contain alcohol. The dining room is walled off from the rest of the building and is generally quiet.

Mom is coming for the 90th birthday of a friend. That friend is paying for Mom to stay in the guest room of her assisted living facility for I forget how long. I also forget where the facility is.

Mom will then visit Evelyn, a friend from high school and my former employer, and stay at her place for three days.

Mom wants to then come stay at a hotel near me. I have asked from what date to what date and not gotten answer.

Before anybody asks, I would love her to stay with me for a few days. The bedroom is still filled with boxes. Even if it wasn’t, I don’t have a bed for her to sleep in. I sleep in the living room alcove, on a futon mattress on the floor. Plus, my buidling does not have an elevator. To get into my apartment, you need to go up two flights of stairs. Mom does not do well on stairs these days. When she does need to go up or down stairs, somebody must be ready to catch her if she falls.

Rather than using Google Maps or something similar, my sister just sent Mom to me to find a hotel or Air B&B near me. My sister and SIL know, we’ve established it many times, that I suck at using Google Maps. They would be able to find a suitable hotel far easier and faster than I can. Even if I knew this neighborhood ( I don’t. I moved here in October 2024 and know a bare minimum) why would I know where hotels or AIr B&B’s are? After a short time living here, somebody in a neighborhood Facebook group asked what stores you could find a Goldenberg’s Peanut Chew at. I answered, because I that was something I noticed and knew.

My sister called shortly after I logged of work today. I sent her to voicemail. She is currently not working. I work 8:30-5. I suck at using Google Maps. She is good at it. When Mom said she needed help finding a hotel, my sister said to ask me. Why? Once again, the only reason I can think of is ‘I deal with Mom all the time. It is Doc’s turn’ Naturally, this pisses me off.

138

ETA there’s a sugar-free version as well, if that’s what floats yer boat.

139

Thank you. I should have been clearer. Sugar free fruit punch is the variety of Mio I always buy, and the variety Target has been out of for the past few weeks.

140

-33° F when I arrived at the office this morning. Can’t wait for the thaw.