A few weeks ago I expressed my frustration about waiting for my SO to receive all of his necessary paperwork so that he could work. He stopped working at his old job on July 1st and finally started a new job last week. I thought that finally we would have another income and we wouldn’t have as hard a time making our student loan payments (I know they are my fault). But no. He had to get a test and do online training. The training took three days and he was not paid for it. Monday he started actual paid work and again that feeling of relief set in again. I was a little sad that he required him to be at work from 7:30 to 6:00 every day but more hours equals more chances for work (he is paid flat rate).
Today that relieved feeling was ripped away again. He got his first paycheck today. A whole $78. $78 dollars for 39 actual hours of work. 3 months of waiting countless phone calls to licensing offices, thee full days of training and 39 hours at work made my SO $78. This is almost too much.
I don’t even know. I don’t know the laws behind paying automotive technicians flat rate but it has never been a problem in the past. We moved for my job to Michigan so he had to find new employment. We waited three months and we need the money so I don’t want him to get fired.
There seem to be some key factors missing - what calculations are showing on the pay stub? What’s the rate per hour you were expecting? What deductions did they tell him he was going to be paying?
Some things are typically paid in advance like insurance and they may have deducted 2 months worth from his first cheque. Or was there a cost for the training?
I don’t have his pay stub in front of me right now. He shouldn’t have had to pay for the training and he is covered under my insurance. Now that the rage has dissipated I can think a bit more clearly. I don’t know the days the paycheck covers so he might have actually made good money. Also, he is paid $15 per hour flat rate.
Today I was nearly run over by a fucking idiot talking on her cell phone while driving!!! I think the police should catch everyone who does that, and lock them up, no questions asked.
After nearly being run over in the transit ramp on Tuesday - jumping to the side at the last second and having her speed past me less than a foot away, I’m taking to keeping my keys in my hand as I walk down the ramp to the bus. Get that close again and I’m going to do my damnest to key the fuck out of your car as you go past. I don’t think the cops are going to arrest ME when I say “The key that scratched that car was less than 1 foot from my body as she sped past. How about we talk about Attempted Vehicular Assault charges?”
Facebook friends: It is LAME to delete comments from your posts/statuses. If you don’t think it’s funny, fine. If you are embarrassed by having me as a friend, change it.
But when I post a mildly humorous and 100% benign comment on your status, deleting it so that you don’t look ‘uncool’ is…well…juvenile.
The only time it has ever happened to me was about six months ago. Guy I used to work for posted something about the Talking Heads and how some things don’t change. I replied “Same as it ever was”. He deleted it. I honestly think he didn’t know enough about the Talking Heads to grok that it was a song lyric.
One time one of my friends (?) posted a status about how wonderful it was to blast music in her car. Some of her friends actually liked that status. I posted a comment, saying that it’s very annoying for people around a car to hear music blasting from it. She deleted my comment.
So much for a vacation day.
Mom’s truck decided to fuck up again, and she needs wheels. Ended up driving TheKid to school (30 minute drive), out to Mom’s house (45 minute drive), to a car rental place (I have the rental -lied to her, saying I was planning on renting a car anyways- she has my car). Quick lunch. Picked TheKid back up, out to her doctor (total another hour in the car), then dropped her off at work.
I think I have not been in the car a total of 45 minutes since 9:30am. Well, there was also the 45 minutes at her doctor’s office. sigh
Wow, thank you. I honestly didn’t know that one could still buy wind up alarm clocks new.
This is probably because I’d never be able to sleep with a ticking clock. (The ceiling fan in Bill’s bedroom ticks and it makes me nuts. Or it did until I made him get up on a ladder and try to rebalance it because I honestly couldn’t sleep with the ticking. He replaced the fan because he didn’t want me to get up in the middle of the night and go upstairs to sleep under a quiet fan. High maintenance? Me???)
I found a nice loud clock at Walgreens. The puppies destroyed the stuffed toy I gave them yesterday, but I knew they would and bought extras. Tonight, the puppies have a bleach bottle full of warm water and a ticking clock wrapped in a fleece blanket. Its not cold, but I thought they might like to cuddle with something warm.
They aren’t crying all the time now, but I can tell that they aren’t happy being caged and away from people. I’m hoping a puppy foster home will open up after adoptions this weekend. Those poor puppies deserve a better place than a cage in my back yard.
I’m still ticked off about the whole situation.
Questions for dog people. The puppies are very nippy and have very sharp teeth. How do I get them to stop biting me? Dogs are not cats…I know how to break cats from biting…but that involves screaming OWWW!!!, shoving cat off my lap and ignoring it. Does that work with puppies?
When you run for Queen of the World, you will have my vote. There might be some problems with enforcement though, because every single cop I see on the road is on his/her flipping cell phone.
flatlined- I’d give them something to chew- they are probably teething. What I always did to train my dogs was put up my hand- palm facing them- put it right in the dogs face and say NO. Hold it there for 30 seconds- saying NO in a stern voice occasionally. Dogs hate when they can’t see you. The palm being flat prevents them from knowing what to bite. It kind of throws their brain for a loop. I read it in a dog training book a long time ago and it worked for me.
My rant of the day- Biked to campus 2 miles. Get there and what to do you know? I forgot my flippin bike lock. Biked back to my apartment, got my stupid lock and biked back to campus in a panic because my lab is field based so they leave within the first 5 minutes of class. Yay me- I’m a sweaty-really sweaty (6 miles- 4 in a panic- my legs were stiff when I got off the bike) adrenaline pumped mess when I get there. At least it’s Friday.
Thank you. I’m sure that you are right about them teething, and I know that puppies need lots of chew toys. The problem is that when I go into their cage, they seem to think that I’m their chew toy. I will try the flat hand in the face thing. It makes sense. These are not my puppies, I am just part of the road to their new homes, but it is my responsibility to help to make them ready for their new homes.
Hopes that made sense.
A couple of years back, I drove almost an hour to try to trap some kittens. I brought the bait. I brought towels and covered my back seat with plastic. Did I remember to bring a trap? Did I remember that I needed a trap before I got there? Gawd, I felt like such an idiot.
I was hungry for fish and chips for supper - the fish was halibut, the chips were hot and fresh, and supper was very tasty. The intense heartburn I’ve had for five hours now is not very enjoyable, however. Damn, that’s uncomfortable!
flatlined - yes the yelling OWWW! thing does work with dogs, but it works best if you yipe loudly, like a wounded puppy, and then ignore the little monster for a bit. You can also grab their scruff and just sort of hold them still for a a few seconds, with light pressure downwards. Often seems to diffuse things (unless you’ve got a particularly stubborn pup, and then a real time-out is sometimes necessary)
Are they eating well? I’m wondering if some of the crying is because they were newly and roughly weaned, and they’re hungry? Not sure what/how often they’re eating, but you might start weighing every other day or so, just to make sure they’re getting what they need.
Probably goes beyond your “benign/humorous” caveat, but my male friends severely trash talk any picture of me that gets posted. Severe enough that female friends then begin posting to argue with the posters that are doing the trash talking, and then the trash talking gets more and more amped up in response. It’s the typical guys-insulting-guys sarcasm shtick, usually riffing on the facts that I’m typically dressed to the nines (“you look like a gay metrosexual!”) and never smiling (“who’s a serial killer!”) or with a girlfriend who’s a bit younger (“get her in the van yet, pedophile?”), and it always gets out of hand.
Typical is one of the last ones, a candid that a friend took of us; she really liked it and asked me to post it, and it was then followed up by mockery and insults to the point that she had her feelings hurt (she’s 18 years younger than me, and the Pedobear/Chris Hansen comments specifically mentioned her), she and several other friends waded in to be internet “white knights” (well, really “white dames”) and the original insulting posters doubled down, eventually ending with back and forth like “Oh, look, a metrosexual pedophile with some JB” and “Jesus Christ, you’re a jealous asshole wannabe cocksucker.” Lovely. Post a picture, then come back the next day to get insulted in 20 different ways and watch my friends get incredibly vitriolic and hateful toward each other.
So I either never post pictures of myself, or delete the “funny” comments. Sorry 'bout that. (And to forestall the inevitable, the insulting guys are actually nice in real life, the “real friends who’ll help you move a body” type. They just don’t get decorum.)
Anyway, my minor rant for the day. Went to see Henry Rollins last night, and it was a good time, even if he tends to go long. Long isn’t a problem, except that the venue that we were at decided not to host the how in the rooms with comfortable plush theater-like seating, but in a room where the seating consisted of long rows of small kiddy-size metal folding chairs strapped together, such that there was no room between them. Even with arms tucked in, hands on lap, and legs kept together, everyone was uncomfortably cramped. It probably didn’t help that it was cold and rainy, so everyone had worn a jacket or coat. I was on the end of a row, and the line-up of average-sized people in my row was so cramped that the seating alignment was off by a good half seat by the time it ended at me. I sat balanced on the edge of a metal folding chair for nearly three hours last night, and my ass is still numb.
It annoys me when people say “it needs cleaned” instead of “it needs cleaning” or “it needs to be cleaned.” I keep seeing that grammar mistake popping up in all sorts of places online, and it bugs me.
Dear fellow neighborhood resident: I’m sorry you didn’t get to completely enjoy your umpteenth bonfire/boozefest because one of my dogs and the neighbor dog were playing and barking but…tough shit. This is a NEIGHBORHOOD. There are other people living here besides you. There are kids and quite a few dogs (including yours which I’ve heard barking). Bottom line: it ain’t always gonna be quiet. And it ain’t all about you. And considering all the times I’ve seen you out there boozing it up beside a fire, I’m sure most of the time you do get to enjoy it. But sometimes it’s just gonna be noisy for whatever reason. Would it have been any different if someone had been mowing their yard or the guy down the street was revving his stock car engine (no joke)? To tell the truth, there are things my neighbors do that I find annoying, including your seemingly constant partying (some of us have to get up early), but I know my beagles can get noisy at times so I figure it’s a trade-off. Going on a loud, foul-mouthed tirade and threatening to call the police makes you look like trailer trash (frankly, you do look the part) and makes me regret being apologetic. I also want you to know you scared my stepsons who were enjoying a nice game of kickball. They’re 6 and 8. Pleased with yourself are you?
