# Stale Leftovers: The August Mini-Rants Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161 "2009-08-03T14:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/1 "2009-08-03T14:16:15Z")
Thread title gratuitously swiped and parodied from the July Mini-Rants thread. Because two days have already passed, and I have to come in here and start the mini ranting. _grumble grumble_ ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/2 "2009-08-03T14:45:07Z")
Sciatica is annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/3 "2009-08-03T15:07:43Z")
Why are people who don’t understand economics taking a graduate-level economics course? Further, why does the professor keep saying things like, “Don’t worry, you don’t need to understand economics to do the assignment”? ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/4 "2009-08-03T15:09:41Z")
Look you bastards at the big university, I bitched about not processing my invoice in the last min-rant. You still haven’t fucking paid me. The goddamn subaward went through in June. You’ve had my invoice for over a month. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/5 "2009-08-03T15:55:09Z")
Sometimes taking care of your own children sucks. My son came out of bed last night at 9:30 to inform us he had a bug in his ear. After waiting a while to see if it was something he was making up and a call to the Nursing Line our insurance company offers, we were instructed to find the nearest urgent care center or ER to make sure that there was nothing in his ear. Apparently it’s not uncommon for a bug to crawl into a kid’s ear at night (the nurse was talking about some roach extractions she’d seen performed, which sounded particularly nightmarish). Two and a half hours later, we find an ER that isn’t packed and that has a pediatric unit (though we probably could’ve just stayed put and waited two hours, but that would’ve been too smart) and within the space of 20 minutes determined that there was indeed nothing in his ear. We arrived home around 12:30 this morning. About two minutes after we tucked our son into bed, he hopped out again to let us know that he had a bug in his ear. No further hospital adventures resulted and he tried it again this morning. Not only do I now have the word “Sucker” stamped on my forehead, my head hurts and I’ve already maxed out on the amount of caffeine I can have in a day. My only compensation is that the nurse told us that it was a good thing we’d brought him in. But she was probably just being nice. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/6 "2009-08-03T16:14:05Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > Sometimes taking care of your own children sucks. My son came out of bed last night at 9:30 to inform us he had a bug in his ear. After waiting a while to see if it was something he was making up and a call to the Nursing Line our insurance company offers, we were instructed to find the nearest urgent care center or ER to make sure that there was nothing in his ear. Apparently it’s not uncommon for a bug to crawl into a kid’s ear at night (the nurse was talking about some roach extractions she’d seen performed, which sounded particularly nightmarish). > > Two and a half hours later, we find an ER that isn’t packed and that has a pediatric unit (though we probably could’ve just stayed put and waited two hours, but that would’ve been too smart) and within the space of 20 minutes determined that there was indeed nothing in his ear. We arrived home around 12:30 this morning. About two minutes after we tucked our son into bed, he hopped out again to let us know that he had a bug in his ear. No further hospital adventures resulted and he tried it again this morning. > > Not only do I now have the word “Sucker” stamped on my forehead, my head hurts and I’ve already maxed out on the amount of caffeine I can have in a day. My only compensation is that the nurse told us that it was a good thing we’d brought him in. But she was probably just being nice. Seems to me that the only sensible thing to do is sneak in his room tonight an put a bug in his ear. That’s the only way they learn… But seriously, I sympathize. There’s always that nagging guilty voice that says “better safe than sorry…” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/7 "2009-08-03T19:00:11Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > Why are people who don’t understand economics taking a graduate-level economics course? Further, why does the professor keep saying things like, “Don’t worry, you don’t need to understand economics to do the assignment”? My guess is so they can work at AIG. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/8 "2009-08-03T19:00:28Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Seems to me that the only sensible thing to do is sneak in his room tonight an put a bug in his ear. That’s the only way they learn… > > But seriously, I sympathize. There’s always that nagging guilty voice that says “better safe than sorry…” We had a giant flying roach get into our house a few months ago; maybe if I can get another one of those, that’ll teach him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/9 "2009-08-03T19:18:21Z")
Professor Know it All is friends with my husband and serves on a board of directors with me. He does not know what he is talking about, but since he has a PhD, can not be told he is wrong. Might have to kill him. I had a lovely container of patio tomatoes on the patio at work. Friday it looked like today I might harvest the first couple ripe tomatoes, after a long cool wet summer of blossom-rot. Someone stole them over the weekend. Four weeks ago one of our biggest clients asked for an easy new web site to be completed by tomorrow. The first three weeks were consumed with disagreements between the project manager and her designer. Last week I hauled ass to complete as much of the site and I could with what I had been given. This morning I came in to an email asking for more fundamental changes to the design. The project manager is sick, but the designer _assures_ me she approved all the changes last week. It’s due tomorrow, so I don’t have time to talk to the manager, I’m just going to have to take the designer’s word for it. Bird Man has stopped taking personal responsibility for his mistakes and instead blaming me. He mowed over my hostas and mini roses because I planted them in a weird place so how could he tell they were there? He broke a present I had just given him that day because I hadn’t screwed a bit on tight enough (for him to turn upside-down and shake). He weed-whacked half of my herb garden because there was more there than we were going to use. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/10 "2009-08-03T19:37:16Z")
I have hives. Every part of my body where clothing chafes against my skin (collar, chest, waist, and _especially_ crotch :mad:) is covered with gross, itchy, festering boils. This well and truly sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/11 "2009-08-03T19:43:58Z")
What the hell _from_, Freddy? I hope it goes away soon. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/12 "2009-08-03T20:14:08Z")
> [@Faruiza](#): > > What the hell _from_, Freddy? According to crack medical web sites (and they’re never wrong, are they?), most cases of hives have no known cause and no known cure. Just sit-and-suffer, and slather on the skin cream until it goes away. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/13 "2009-08-03T22:04:40Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > According to crack medical web sites (and they’re never wrong, are they?), most cases of hives have no known cause and no known cure. . . How about taking Claritin? I once had come-and-go hives (and we suspected strawberries, 'cause I was devouring mass quantities of them right then), and the doc put me on Claritin. Made the hives go clear away. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/14 "2009-08-03T22:13:08Z")
So, I sent this mouth-breathing idiot account rep an email saying that I needed to set up a follow-up conference call for a project we’re doing, and asked if she and her team were available this week. She sends me an email back that says, in its entirety, “We’re in training this week.” Buh? OK? That’s all? How about, oh…I don’t know…SUGGESTING OTHER TIMES YOU’RE AVAILABLE?? Seriously, is this a difficult concept? Why do you force me to send you yet another email saying “OK, then when is a good time for your team?” The goal of my original email was, I thought, pretty clear…come up with times to have a meeting. If the times I suggested don’t work, then fucking pick something else!! Please, DIAF. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/15 "2009-08-04T01:06:00Z")
My wife went upstairs this evening to take a bath. Came down a few minutes later and said “The hot water seems very cool”. Down to the basement to check the hot water heater. There’s a large puddle of water standing underneath it. Tee-fuckin’-riffic. It’s a gas water heater, so I turn the gas valve to “off” just to be safe, but the darn thing is obviously broken. We already had electricians scheduled to come out tomorrow to replace the power line running to the light pole in our front yard (at an estimated cost of \> $600.00) – now I guess we have to also call the plumber and have them come out to check the water heater. And even though it’s only 5 years old, I’m sure that it’s going to need to be replaced entirely – it doesn’t seem possible to fix these things any longer. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/16 "2009-08-04T04:03:13Z")
Make sure the gas man (or the plumber) doesn’t have to remove any skirting boards to try to find the main. And if your fuse box (or breaker panel) is placed particularly high, you should ensure that a stepladder is available. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/17 "2009-08-04T05:18:50Z")
All I want is some Sungold cherry tomatoes, is that too much to ask? They’re so sweet and orange and I really love them. I bought four plants last summer. Only they were mislabeled and were really yellow plum tomatoes. Well I did get some mighty tasty ketchup out of them and soup so OK. This year I bought more plants, by mail as no local nursery carries Sungold. I had high hopes when they started producing little green cherry tomatoes… which have now turned red. Not orange. Bugger. They taste all right but definitely not Sungold good. How hard is it to label the damn plants correctly? And a bonus rant, a pox of boils in unmentionable places upon the company that wouldn’t replace our server and insisted it be resurrected time and time again. The damn electronic zombie is only delaying running and reporting of patient lab results is all, hardly important. Hope we have to run your labs with it. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/18 "2009-08-04T08:27:39Z")
India! Why so fucking loud all the time? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/19 "2009-08-04T11:44:52Z")
My stools keep clogging up my toliet. And I hate when the plunger inverts upon itself while I’m plunging, forcing me to touch it. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161/20 "2009-08-04T13:11:42Z")
Road works…thump thump thump thump thump thump thump…from 5:30 am!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stale-leftovers-the-august-mini-rants-thread/505161.md?page=2)