I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I noticed the combination of your post and user name.
Seriously pissed off at the council benefits office- I’ve been entitled to housing benefit or the last year, due to illness and subsequent unemployment, which pays almost all my current rent.
A few weeks ago, I got a letter (and an email, and a text), saying that they’d noticed a ‘problem’ with my claim.
There was a ‘if you have questions, call us’ at the bottom of the letter, so I did, and the lady I spoke to said they’re just checking up on gaps, as people sometimes get short term work or a windfall and don’t tell the council office, so they’re basically just checking that’s not happened; I explained I was just transferring between benefits, and no, I hadn’t received any money, all that had happened was that my doctor said I was fit to go back to work (with conditions), and I had to sign on unemployed. Apparently, it took 4 days to process the transfer from ‘being on sick pay’ to ‘looking for work pay’. I hadn’t even noticed at the time, but several months later, the council noticed the gap, and decided it needed explaining, urgently.
I pointed out it was pretty unlikely that I’d managed to get a job in that 4 days, while just finishing my official ‘recovering from surgery’ time, and she agreed that it did sound a bit silly, and she’d look into in and see if I still needed to send a letter confirming that I hadn’t somehow got one, and let me know.
Yesterday, I got a letter saying that I still needed to send the info as a letter, which I then did… but I noticed that the payment I would normally have had by this point in the month hadn’t gone through, so I called them to check.
Apparently, they put the claim on hold before even sending out the inital letter (which said I had a month to reply, hence me assuming there was no rush), without even bothering to notify me. So now it’s very unlikely I’m going to be able to pay the rent in time.
I know for people in countries where you don’t have such a widespread benefits system this sounds like a petty rant, but we pay extra taxes when we are working so we get these benefits (and I would have much rather stayed in my job than spent several months barely able to walk- and one month barely able to crawl, even if I do get just enough money to afford a room in a shared house in a dodgy area and basic food because of that) and they know perfectly well -I had to prove it to qualify!- that I have no other income, and can’t afford to pay the rent myself until I get a job, and they cut off the payments without even telling me?! Without even sticking an extra little line in the email, two letters or text they sent me saying my claim was suspended until they got a letter from me? Even when I called them and asked for further details?
Utter, utter bastards.
You’re making my rant sound really petty now, Filbert. 
Who leaves two large old tires on someone else’s yard? Some asshole in my neighbourhood, apparently. I moved them onto the road and called the City to come pick them up. I had a feeling that if I called while they were still on my lawn, I would have had them bounced back to my responsibility. The guy taking the call wanted to know how they ended up there - did I see someone working on his truck and then just leave the tires? Well, dude, they weren’t there, and then they were. I don’t know how they got there. They didn’t ring the bell and ask if they could dump their old tires on my side lawn, you know?
Okay, that was unexpected - between the time I called and the time they showed up to pick up the tires, someone has taken them. So, yay? Good response time for the City, anyway.
The new teacher lets the students get away with ANYTHING. People sleep in class - the old teacher never allowed that. People eat in class, which is against the school rules, but the new teacher lets them do that too. What pushes me over the tipping point is that she lets one student listen to his iPod and have it blasting in class, as long as he only does it with one earphone. I can still hear it though, and when that happens, I get disgusted and angry, and to avoid blowing up in front of the whole class, I simply walk out and don’t come back. I’m surprised I haven’t gotten in trouble for it yet, but considering that the teacher doesn’t seem to give a crap about anything that goes on in class, I’m also not surprised.
It’s probably not as bad as it sounds- I’m pretty sure I can work something out with my housemate, or worst case the ‘Bank of Mum’ sometimes does pretty low interest loans (I should get the backpaid rent money the following month, so I wouldn’t feel as guilty trying that one)… but I’m 29, and my parents should not have to lend me money.
I’m mainly just annoyed because they didn’t tell me. Even the completely unsympathetic person on the phone admitted that shey should have let me know.
Super-petty rant:
Dear cupcake truck: When I buy a cupcake with a name that includes two flavors in it, said cupcake should really incorporate both of those flavors. Instead I got a plain cupcake with nuts in it (not mentioned in flavor name) and an icing so thick that even me, hater of super-whipped fluffy icings, wondered whether you had created a sugar-based spackle.
I had this cupcake before. It had the appropriate, yummy flavors, and the icing was firm but not leaden.
WTF. 
I know you’re all waiting on the edge of your seat - apparently I was given the nut-flavored variety of cupcake - which I didn’t even see in the list - rather than the one I wanted. Boo.
“They fuck you at the drive-thru! They know you’re gonna be miles away before you find out you got fucked!”
I hate that. The last time that happened to me (just a couple days ago!) I ordered a tea and got coffee. I was of course a distance away and stuck in traffic and unable to return. I try to not drink coffee later in the day because I buzz, I was not happy. 
My dear old friend, the polydactyl cat Yogi, died while I was in Tennessee. The cat suite just doesn’t seem the same without him.
That’s too bad. I’m sorry you lost your kitteh.
Sorry to hear about your kitty, Snakescatlady. In other news, my cat seems just fine after her toe-pinching, but she is understandably nervous about the cat door. I’m hoping she gets over it - we’ll take the flap off if we have to, but then we’ll just have a big hole in our screen door, which we could have accomplished without buying a cat door and traumatizing my cat.
Broke up a dog fight earlier and got the absolute shit bitten out of my hands and arms. It was hours ago and the right one is still bleeding. It was a huge mess- blood everywhere… all over the floor, sink, my clothing… luckily, all my blood. The doggy victim was badly shaken, but not injured. He’s still hiding, but let me examine him and he’s okay.
But me? Owwww.
Look, you fucking inbred toothless hillbilly redneck neighbors o’ mine, you can’t let your friends park in my driveway. I’m sick as shit of coming home to find that I can’t park in my own motherfucking driveway!! It’s not even an apartment and a parking spot- it’s a house, with a private driveway! It’s MY driveway, and I pay rent for this house that includes it! It’s bad enough that you walk through my yard any time it suits you, making sure you peep in my windows as you lumber by, but goddammit keep your asshole buddies out of my fucking driveway!!
Um, Dorothy? Have you confirmed that both dogs have up-to-date rabies shots?
Alice: Call the cops for a tow? We did that once for someone who assumed that it was the next-door church’s driveway, and not a private (rented house) driveway. The guy came out before the cops showed and was appropriately aghast at what he’d done, so we called back and said never mind.
Vaguely work-related, but I’m putting it here instead of the work thread because it’s either a) totally nothing, or b) has the potential to fuck with way more than just my work life:
My boss had pinkeye earlier this week, she tells me today. Her kid has pinkeye, she tells me today. She was in the office today. It’s not like I hugged her or anything :dubious: but now my left eye itches and I can’t tell if I’m being all psychosomatic/hypochondriac, or if I’m gonna hafta choke a bitch. (Or if it’s a stray dust mote I can’t see in the mirror. Yeah. Let’s go with that.)
Yeesh, purple - please wash hands a lot, use hand sanitizer, and do not touch your face!
Or Schmoopie’s face
NEVER try to break up a dog fight! Unless they are leashed and you can pull them apart without getting in the middle of it. I sure as hell hope you went to a hospital or at least an immediate care center. You certainly need antibiotics, and since one wound was bleeding for a long time, probably stitches.
I put Detroit drivers. It is raining this morning and on my morning commute, there were 5 accidents reported on the radio, one of which I saw (semi jack knifed and his trailor went partially through the median.) If this is how it’s like when it rains I shutter to think of what will happen when it snows.