# The Decemberists were losers- mini rants. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515 "2016-12-01T03:55:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/141 "2016-12-21T23:55:05Z")
Stupid damn team lead decided we would be doing a 5-10$ gift exchange at the year end lunch tommorow. So Now I can blow it off and look like a jackass, get a really stupid gift and look like a jackass, or get a gift card and look like a jackass. I wish people would understand how much some of us loathe exchanging presents, and stop forcing it down our throats. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/142 "2016-12-22T00:05:10Z")
Just buy a bag of Christmas themed chocolate candy. Even if they’re a atheist diabetic, there’ll always be someone they can pass it along to. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/143 "2016-12-22T00:29:42Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I wish people would understand how much some of us loathe exchanging presents, and stop forcing it down our throats. Don’t you like TEEEEAM-Building? Someone stood up at a recent meeting and said “In the interest of effective team-building…” That’s all she got out before someone\* said “If there’s a trust fall, I’m dropping you.” \*ok, it was me… ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/144 "2016-12-22T01:58:10Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > Ditto. I just looked - One of seventeen viewers. That is weird. One of 17 here as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/145 "2016-12-22T13:21:10Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Stupid damn team lead decided we would be doing a 5-10$ gift exchange at the year end lunch tommorow. > > So Now I can blow it off and look like a jackass, get a really stupid gift and look like a jackass, or get a gift card and look like a jackass. > > I wish people would understand how much some of us loathe exchanging presents, and stop forcing it down our throats. Condoms- the gift that keeps on giving! ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/146 "2016-12-22T13:43:41Z")
Thanks to a promo at a local casino, I now have a junior-sized (ages 9-12) football complete with kicking tee. I would happily give this away, but it’s too late in December for Toys for Tots or any other charities I know of that distribute Christmas gifts. I don’t have kids and don’t have any family members with kids anywhere near the right age range for a junior-sized football. So it’s either going to have to sit in my garage for a year or go to either Goodwill or the Salvation Army, where someone will have to pay for it instead of getting it for free. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/147 "2016-12-22T13:57:05Z")
Neighborhood tykes? ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/148 "2016-12-22T14:54:05Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Thanks to a promo at a local casino, I now have a junior-sized (ages 9-12) football complete with kicking tee. I would happily give this away, but it’s too late in December for Toys for Tots or any other charities I know of that distribute Christmas gifts. I don’t have kids and don’t have any family members with kids anywhere near the right age range for a junior-sized football. So it’s either going to have to sit in my garage for a year or go to either Goodwill or the Salvation Army, where someone will have to pay for it instead of getting it for free. Try Craig’s list, in the free section? With a stipulation that the person asking for it would have to tell you why their kid deserves it, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/149 "2016-12-22T15:00:08Z")
My sister had the idea to go in with me on a tablet for our mom for Christmas. Since I had been considering this myself, it sounded good to me. I said that I should buy it since she already has a Samsung Galaxy phone so I could get an Android tablet that would be compatible with her current apps. Naturally, my sister took this to mean “Run off to the store and buy an iPad”. Then defended it with “Well, the guy at the store says it works with email”. So now I’m overpaying for a poor product decision. She did something similar a while back where she called me to ask for laptop advice and, before I could return the call, went to a store and said “Sell me a laptop” and walked out with some Mac. At least I wasn’t paying for half of that. On the bright side, I guess if mom needs tech support I can feign ignorance and send her to the Mac-owning side of the family tree. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/150 "2016-12-22T21:01:15Z")
I’m letting the misogynist assholes on this board get to me. I’m almost ready to start my own pit thread, but I know it will destroy my holiday mood, so I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/151 "2016-12-23T14:26:16Z")
This week can go suck eggs. Or donkeys. Or something more painfully well-hung than donkeys, I don’t care. I have a 10-year running holiday tradition with my best frined, but due to misunderstandings and hidden hurt feelings and various other assery, it’s all fucked up and she made other plans because she for some reason thought I didn’t want to spend the weekend with her, when I had said that I didn’t want to _go away_ for the weekend because that would leave our third musketeer (my roommate, who has been there from the start of this tradition) out. So Best Friend made other plans. That’s fine, I want her to have a good weekend. My birthday is Saturday, hers is Sunday, we have a hard time finding anybody else with availability to hang out with us for those 48 hours, so we’ve made it our business to be together. She’s had a lot of personal tragedy this year, and her decision-making skills are slightly warped, which is why she assumed I was ditching her. I don’t blame anybody for the whole mess, but I’m pretty fucking depressed about it because now I will likely spend my birthday doing the same thing I do every damn Saturday. Work has been terrible this week, both in the work sense and because Co-Worker had to put her dog down earlier this week. I feel for her, I loved that dog too, but it’s making the whole office a super-downer-zone. Then yesterday my car wouldn’t start. It was a battery thing, the dealership said it didn’t need replacement, it was just temporarily drained. They patiently explained to me that I must have left my lights on or my door ajar, which I know I didn’t. The only refreshing thing about it was that the guy explaining it didn’t talk down to me because I was a woman and therefore mechanically stupid. He talked down to me because he thought I was an idiot, regardless of gender. Please let the Powers That Be decide I can go home early today. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/152 "2016-12-23T16:40:17Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > This is extremely minor. I occasionally log into the [Pitch Drop Experiment](http://www.theninthwatch.com/), even though it’s a decade away from the next drop falling. And every time I log in, it says I’m one of seventeen visitors. EVERY TIME. I think their counter is stuck. > > It’s very mildly annoying. > > If I knew eighteen people that I could get to log for the same five minutes, I’d be able to test it. I’ve considered trying to set up something here at the Dope, but I’m not going to be organized enough to try that until a few weeks after the new year. > > Darn. 1 of 17 for me right now as well, but I get “31” up beside the LIVE button. Might there be 17 “Ninth Watch”-ers (that you have to join on the front page) and one of THEM is always logged in? Edited because the LIVE number just changed to “38.” ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/153 "2016-12-23T16:53:21Z")
Got all excited about the pitch drop experiment and forgot to post my mini rant… Protective plastic “wrap” on new appliances that was applied before they are assembled. I have a thin strip of “pulled apart” plastic that is too small to grab with my fingers stuck into the seam all around the doors of my refrigerator, and it drives me around the bend every time I clean it… P.S. - 34 now. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/154 "2016-12-23T17:35:04Z")
And I cut the shit out of the roof of my mouth on one of those root beer barrel candies. Now everything tastes like blood. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/155 "2016-12-23T22:29:17Z")
Mmmm… bloody root beer. All the flavor of a merlot without the work of uncorking. But I do feel for you. I have a canker sore on the side of my tongue, just in time for holiday snacking. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/156 "2016-12-24T00:05:55Z")
Don’t whine; a friend of mine just had a malignant tumor removed from her tongue. Just in time for holiday radiation. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/157 "2016-12-24T22:59:46Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Don’t whine; a friend of mine just had a malignant tumor removed from her tongue. Just in time for holiday radiation. My SiL’s mother just found out that the cancer she’d had chemo for earlier this year that they’d hoped was in remission, is back, and she had to start chemo again this Thurs. 2016 can go right to Hell. (or, stay there, since that’s where it’s obviously been.) > [@Draelin](#): > > Then yesterday my car wouldn’t start. It was a battery thing, the dealership said it didn’t need replacement, it was just temporarily drained. They patiently explained to me that I must have left my lights on or my door ajar, which I know I didn’t. The only refreshing thing about it was that the guy explaining it didn’t talk down to me because I was a woman and therefore mechanically stupid. He talked down to me because he thought I was an idiot, regardless of gender. I’m a man, and the car dealership talks down to me _all_ the time. Which is particularly amusing when they try to upsell me on an oil change using scary yet vague explanations. I go to that dealer because I’m in the supplier discount program for buying cars there. Which they know, because every time they try to upsell me on an oil change, I remind them THAT I MAKE THEIR GODDAMN MOTOR OIL. (And not even just in “work for the company that makes it”; I’m actually the guy who oversees the process chemistry.) ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/158 "2016-12-25T06:13:11Z")
Isn’t Audi pronounced owdi? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/159 "2016-12-25T09:38:46Z")
Depends on where the speaker is from and on what sounds you’re trying to represent by “owdi”. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515/160 "2016-12-25T13:22:48Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Isn’t Audi pronounced owdi? ? As opposed to, oh, rumplefumble? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decemberists-were-losers-mini-rants/773515.md?page=9)