# The \*REAL\* start of the year! September mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847 "2011-09-01T15:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/481 "2011-09-21T01:37:39Z")
Kitty Update: One irritated, upset kitty is now hiding in the bedroom, where she’s been since we got back from the vet. He thinks she’s strained a hip joint - there was nothing else obviously wrong to make her hiss and yelp when she lands on that leg. She’s on a week’s course of anti-inflammatories (which we already had, from her bout of peeing in the wrong places). We also re-tested her thyroid levels (she’s high normal for those) and booked her in for a teeth cleaning. Poor kitty has another rough day coming up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/482 "2011-09-21T02:02:33Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Call me crazy, but isn’t this the kind of thing the FMLA was created for? Assuming you’re in the U.S. and not working for a company so small that it doesn’t apply. If your manager is someone you can trust, try talking to them about your options for getting an official FMLA leave of absence (they can be intermittant!) and taking noncompensated time off if you need it (or borrowing PTO if your organization allows that, which IME most do). We’re under 50 people so FMLA doesn’t apply. ☹ Best wishes to everyone’s kitties! I will give both of mine extra belly rubs in honor of all the kitties in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/483 "2011-09-21T02:49:48Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Oh, forgot I had a mini-rant. I am supposed to be POST menopause! Meaning everything is PAUSED! Guess what showed up over the weekend, after more than a years absence? > > I’m too old for this. That’s why it’s menoPAUSE and not menoCEASE. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/484 "2011-09-21T03:08:19Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Kitty Update: One irritated, upset kitty is now hiding in the bedroom, where she’s been since we got back from the vet. He thinks she’s strained a hip joint - there was nothing else obviously wrong to make her hiss and yelp when she lands on that leg. She’s on a week’s course of anti-inflammatories (which we already had, from her bout of peeing in the wrong places). > > We also re-tested her thyroid levels (she’s high normal for those) and booked her in for a teeth cleaning. Poor kitty has another rough day coming up. ☹ Poor kitty, but I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t anything serious! > [@pohjonen](#): > > That’s why it’s menoPAUSE and not menoCEASE. \< looks around suspiciously \> Who thought they had permission to hit the Play button on this thing? ---
**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:** [September 21, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/485 "2011-09-21T06:27:14Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Hah! I was disappointed to see the first field mouse of the fall season (mouse says “brr!” and runs into the old farmhouse for warmth) and was about to unleash my pets to destroy it… only to remember that rabbits aren’t exactly up to that task. Having ferrets for so many years will get the thought into your head that you can just release the “mighty hunters” and take care of the problem. Maybe if I told the rabbits that the mouse would eat their lettuce? Or you could tell them that the mice are _made_ of lettuce. Bunnies are stupid and easy to fool that way… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/486 "2011-09-21T07:13:05Z")
For the love of Og, who decided that purple is the in color this fall? Purple isn’t one of those colors everyone looks good in, you know? Autumns, particularly redheads, aren’t supposed to wear purple. Yet 80% of the dresses we looked at last week are all fucking purple. And all the stores look like they raided the 70s too. It took going to more than half a dozen different stores to find dresses appropriate for an upcoming wedding. I don’t love my dress, but it was the best I could come up with that wasn’t purple, black, neo-hippie, or made of jersey knit. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/487 "2011-09-21T09:44:28Z")
I know she’s doing me a favor, but I asked my mother-in-law to hem the sprog’s dress pants two weeks ago! The ones he’s wearing to a wedding this weekend! That I know my MiL knows about, because she’s going, too! That she emphasized the dress code for! I need to call her to see if she’s done them or if I need to come up with Plan B. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/488 "2011-09-21T12:12:55Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Kitty Update: One irritated, upset kitty is now hiding in the bedroom, where she’s been since we got back from the vet. He thinks she’s strained a hip joint - there was nothing else obviously wrong to make her hiss and yelp when she lands on that leg. She’s on a week’s course of anti-inflammatories (which we already had, from her bout of peeing in the wrong places). Poor kitty. Our Mayme is currently dealing with a sprained front paw. It’s sad to watch her hobble around; however, does it stop her from jumping off of things? Of course not. Last Thursday we went back for a recheck, ended up having her right leg bandaged to keep her off of it. Friday morning she fell into her water bowl and I had to remove it. The most amusing part of all of this? Kitty pain meds. About an hour after giving her meds the lights are on but no one is home. She’ll lay on her back in the middle of the living room floor, purring. My mini-vent for the day: Teenaged girls are bitches, and I am including TheKid in that. She _had_ two close friends. Not anymore. TheKid has distanced herself from them for a variety of reasons, the two biggies are their co-dependence on boyfriends and their use of drugs. It came to a head last night, with one sending a horridly passive-aggressive e-mail and the other attacking TheKid via text. I tell TheKid to leave it alone, you don’t need to respond. _sigh_ I should know better. She was up most of the night fighting with them, then wanted me to call her in sick for school. No, that’s not how it works. Now she’s pissed at me. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/489 "2011-09-21T12:32:26Z")
I had stopped letting my cat be in my bedroom because of past peeing issues, even though it had been about 9 months. Usually I block off my bedroom door with a white board, because she isn’t a jumper and won’t try it. Yesterday she was curled up in the corner of my bedroom when I went to close it off, so I told her I’d let her stay there if she was a good girl. Nope. Big old spot of pee next to my night stand when I got home. And I’d just rented a rug doctor and cleaned all my carpets about 3 weeks ago. Damn damn damn. Kitty spent 13 hours on lockdown in the bathroom and will now not even be allowed to sleep in my room with me anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/490 "2011-09-21T12:44:11Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > My mini-vent for the day: Teenaged girls are bitches, and I am including TheKid in that. She _had_ two close friends. Not anymore. TheKid has distanced herself from them for a variety of reasons, the two biggies are their co-dependence on boyfriends and their use of drugs. It came to a head last night, with one sending a horridly passive-aggressive e-mail and the other attacking TheKid via text. I tell TheKid to leave it alone, you don’t need to respond. _sigh_ I should know better. She was up most of the night fighting with them, then wanted me to call her in sick for school. No, that’s not how it works. Now she’s pissed at me. This rang so true, I just had to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/491 "2011-09-21T13:36:40Z")
I am just in the dumps, for no good reason. Everything sucks, and yet, it doesn’t really. Objectively, I have nothing to bitch about, but I am just fucking miserable and anxious all the time. I should probably talk to the doc and look into some kind of medication. But the drugs they have for anxiety and depression scare the fuck out of me. I’m not really sure that my symptoms are bad enough to warrant the side effects that come with the “cure”. So I just want to end this with: Fuck it all, it all sucks, people all suck. The only good things on this whole fucking planet are plants and animals. If it came from human endeavors, it sucks. Yes, I suck too. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/492 "2011-09-21T14:35:35Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > I respectfully disagree. If your closest experience with a female body is occasionally sticking your dick in one, you don’t get a vote. > [@slalexan](#): > > finally beating out the place where my roommates had a dog that ate my glasses You can’t say this and not share the story. > [@pbbth](#): > > We’re under 50 people so FMLA doesn’t apply. Well, shit. I got nothin’, then, other than a hope that you have a good manager who you can honestly discuss this with and try to find some sort of workaround. > [@MissTake](#): > > TheKid has distanced herself from them for a variety of reasons, the two biggies are their co-dependence on boyfriends and their use of drugs. On the plus side, you have a daughter who recognizes that these are both bad thigns. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/493 "2011-09-21T15:01:53Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > On the plus side, you have a daughter who recognizes that these are both bad thigns. True, but good gawd it’s annoying. I am happy that TheKid moved from jealousy that they have boyfriends and go to parties to a place where she is aware that people choose to take different paths and her current path does not include them. She is a very social person, and it’s difficult for her to be a homebody. Unfortunately, with cliques being what they are, it’s almost impossible to move to another group at this point in time. I can’t get it into her head that high school friendships often do not extend after graduation, she will be entering a whole new world of people with similar likes next year, and the whole “OMG! We’ll be BFFs 4EVAH!!” is a load of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/494 "2011-09-21T15:05:27Z")
Eh, none of us believes it until we experience it for ourselves That’s life: everything seems so much simpler in retrospect, but it’s only because we’ve actually been through everything up to that point that the earlier problems seem so easy to resolve. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/495 "2011-09-21T16:16:10Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > Okay, fine. Manager sends me a nasty email saying that her people don’t have time for this (when, in fact, I have been directed to ask her people to do such things) and to do it myself. Normally at this stage I would bring it to her manager (my grandboss) and get him to deal with her. Sadly, he is away. I’d still forward a copy of the email to your grandboss to ‘clarify’ whether these things are supposed to go through Manager’s people or not. And so he can see how nasty she was. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/496 "2011-09-21T16:20:05Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > You got spayed and you STILL get a period?!? :eek: Goddammit, it’s official: women’s bodies are teh suxx. I beg to dicker. Anyway, this morning, on my front walk, I stepped on a big old spotted slug, which exploded in a mass of slug guts all over my shoe and pantleg. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/497 "2011-09-21T16:55:38Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > I beg to dicker. You don’t have to beg–just take 'er out to a nice dinner, maybe buy some flowers. Jewelry is usually a fair bet, too. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/498 "2011-09-21T17:39:54Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Anyway, this morning, on my front walk, I stepped on a big old spotted slug, which exploded in a mass of slug guts all over my shoe and pantleg. Ewww. I still have a very vivid sense memory of, years ago, while hiking near Olympia, WA (slug capital of the planet, I think), reaching out to grab a skinny tree on the other side of a streamlet, to balance as I lunged across, and squishing myself a big handful of banana slug. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/499 "2011-09-21T17:40:47Z")
> [@Jeneva](#): > > I’d still forward a copy of the email to your grandboss to ‘clarify’ whether these things are supposed to go through Manager’s people or not. And so he can see how nasty she was. Did that when she sent it and it was dealt with before I got into work. Gosh, I miss him when he’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847/500 "2011-09-21T18:11:20Z")
> [@emmaliminal](#): > > Ewww. I still have a very vivid sense memory of, years ago, while hiking near Olympia, WA (slug capital of the planet, I think), reaching out to grab a skinny tree on the other side of a streamlet, to balance as I lunged across, and squishing myself a big handful of banana slug. I hate you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-start-of-the-year-september-mini-rants/594847.md?page=26)