Useless Conversation

[Samwise]

Ferrets are also part of the mustelid family, which is why I used that as a comparison point.  Otters are too, and will also stink up your house if you try to keep them as pets.  (I was curious at one point what would be involved in having an otter as a pet and did some research.  NOPE.)

[Signe]

Shouldn't this stuff be in the NSFW thread? 

[Polysorbate80]

Not Safe For the Woods?

[Sir T]

Not Safe For Wodents?

Speaking of which, I ran across this site a few months ago that talks about how to breed Ferrets. It starts off with "Are you mad?" advises you that you will probably be sending your Vets children to College, tells you that your typical ferret romance is straight out of the Caveman territory, and goes from there...

https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/how-to-breed-ferrets.html

[rattran]

We have a family of foxes that are now living across the lake from us. Vixen and 3 half-grown kits. Amazingly cute watching them play, I'll have some blurry pictures later.

[Sky]

And it was probably Jack Hanna. He was his own low-rent version. My friend Steve did some appearances on Leno with him as a bird handler (he runs a raptor rescue/rehabilitation) and tells stories of how Hanna was useless at best and dangerous at most times.

I thought that was always the point. I never got the feeling it was a schtick and enjoyed watching Letterman react to the clear incompetence.

When I was homeless, I slept in an old recliner in the corner of someone's ferret room. There were only two, and they seemed nice enough, but the odor was enough to cultivate a life-long dislike of ferrets.

Like I said, other than digging the yard (and young ones who struggle to control the glands), they're pretty nice residents of the wood. When I grill late at night, they just kind of hang out if I don't shoo them off, and they will take interest if I talk to them. I'm kinda sad because my buddy Mr White (the old alpha from the wood colony, almost entirely white) was pushed out into my yard, he's bunked behind my shed. I made a couple small nesting spots for them in the wood to keep them from infiltrating the yard for shelter. Now there's a big young skunk that I think is harassing the poor old timer. I should probably get another cat.

But given my druthers, I'd end the goddamned cheesy poof feeding station bullshit that has led to a massive overpopulation and conflict in skunk town.

[Cyrrex]

Can you technically be considered homeless while living in a ferret room?  Someone needs to check his privilege.

[Signe]

The same thing happened to me.  Not the living in a recliner in someone's ferret room but the smelly bit.  I was seeing someone who had two ferrets so I was at his house a lot.  I loved watching them play but the musk did my nose in.  Srsly.  I couldn't see the guy anymore either because he smelled like a ferret.      Strangely, these days, even ferret musk stopped bothering me so much. 

[Sky]

Can you technically be considered homeless while living in a ferret room?  Someone needs to check his privilege.

Don't be a cunt.

[Yegolev]

It was pretty funny.

[Sky]

It was pretty funny.

Of course it was 

[Cyrrex]

If I were not allowed to take random facts about people and turn them into snarky jokes, I would be positively lost.

[Soln]

where would f13 be? 

[Sky]

I'm fucking touchy about such things, since I was just reported by a liberal fascist this morning for daring to point out that her t-shirt was against dress code.

And I said it jokingly, and she laughed about it. And then I had to sit in an office and be spoken to, on the record, by my supervisor.

I have no idea how I'm going to weather 11 more years of snowflakes, especially as the sensible folks retire.

Thank god, schild, and all of you for this bastion of sanity. It troubles me deeply that this is a bastion of sanity!

[Samwise]

Simple: don't trust anyone under 30.

[schild]

or anyone over 45

[Trippy]

or anyone over 45

wat?

[Yegolev]

Probably legit.

[RhyssaFireheart]

or anyone over 45

I'm deeply offended you'd judge me by my physical age and not my mental age.   

In boring news, we found out why my husband has been so anemic and where he's been losing blood from (not the GI tract at all).  It's a good thing you only need one kidney because he's losing the other.  Damn thing decided to engage in rebellion by growing its own tumor so out it goes!

Seriously scary to hear though despite the fact that it was ultimately good news. The doctors knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out what was causing the problems, so we'd just started doing all the elimination tests and stuff.  But he showed no signs of any issues at all - no pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, anything... until last night when after dinner.  Turned out the tumor had started to bleed and he had a huge amount of blood clots in his bladder.  One CT scan of his abdomen later and here we are.  Surgery is scheduled for Friday (they need to switch him off his warfarin) and hopefully it goes smoothly.  Everything else in there seems okay.

Now to hope this lingering nightmare is about to be over.

[HaemishM]

Damn, I guess that's good news but sounds shitty (only less shitty than other options). Good luck with the surgery.

[Polysorbate80]

Sorry about the news but happy for a solution!  Best wishes on the surgery and recovery.

[Signe]

Good luck from me, too, Rhyssa.   

[Cyrrex]

I'm fucking touchy about such things, since I was just reported by a liberal fascist this morning for daring to point out that her t-shirt was against dress code.

And I said it jokingly, and she laughed about it. And then I had to sit in an office and be spoken to, on the record, by my supervisor.

I have no idea how I'm going to weather 11 more years of snowflakes, especially as the sensible folks retire.

Thank god, schild, and all of you for this bastion of sanity. It troubles me deeply that this is a bastion of sanity!

Yeah, but was it “Hey, you lack the correct number of badges and pins on your t-shirt” or was it more like “wow, niiiiiiiiice cleavage.  Oh, and technically against dress code but you do not see me complaining”.  My ex GF was one of these Always the Victim types, and she would interpret everything any strange man said to her as the latter. 

I actually really hate American office PC shit, but can understand women not wanting to be harrassed (which I am sure you were not intentionally doing anyway).  Offices on this side of the water are far easier to navigate, as long as you are not being a complete douche.

Finger crossed, Rhyssa.

[Sky]

Yeah, but was it “Hey, you lack the correct number of badges and pins on your t-shirt” or was it more like “wow, niiiiiiiiice cleavage.  Oh, and technically against dress code but you do not see me complaining”.  My ex GF was one of these Always the Victim types, and she would interpret everything any strange man said to her as the latter. 

I actually really hate American office PC shit, but can understand women not wanting to be harrassed (which I am sure you were not intentionally doing anyway).  Offices on this side of the water are far easier to navigate, as long as you are not being a complete douche.

Don't be 'sure' I wasn't, so many men are pieces of shit that I assume everyone is until I see them act otherwise :D

But no, it was literally, "Hey, t-shirts are against the dress code."

I take harassment extremely seriously, the figure drawing I run is also a safe space and I've seen a solid uptick in a lot of marginalized folks. We get a good mix and I have no tolerance for bullshit. So far I've only had to pull one guy out of the session and talk to him in the hall (he joked to me that figure drawing was cheaper than a strip club). He got the message and has been really cool, donated a couple drawing horses he made. And besides having a place where bullied kids and transitioning folks can come and just be artists, I've helped some of the older folks learn how to interact with trans/gender fluid folks.

That stuff is why I fucking lost it when I was accused of harassing by this mental child of a millenial. I know that sounds harsh (and would be if she wasn't constantly fucking with me), but if you could hear her voice and the way she talks, she giggles at the end of EVERY SENTENCE and then intakes breath wetly between her teeth. And I believe she's partially deaf because she's the loudest talker I've ever met. And she has terrible written grammar (and a Bachelor's in English, as well as her Master's), I have no idea why the boss puts up with her.

Anyway, reason #5478 why I want to retire to another country.

Rhyssa, glad they caught it! Stuff like that is so frustrating. We've been in the place of "Sorry, we can't figure out what's wrong" so many times :( Good luck to you both.

[Teleku]

Laos is a communist police state with no police or control over the population what so ever.  You can fit in!

[Mandella]

Yeah, but was it “Hey, you lack the correct number of badges and pins on your t-shirt” or was it more like “wow, niiiiiiiiice cleavage.  Oh, and technically against dress code but you do not see me complaining”.  My ex GF was one of these Always the Victim types, and she would interpret everything any strange man said to her as the latter. 

I actually really hate American office PC shit, but can understand women not wanting to be harrassed (which I am sure you were not intentionally doing anyway).  Offices on this side of the water are far easier to navigate, as long as you are not being a complete douche.

Don't be 'sure' I wasn't, so many men are pieces of shit that I assume everyone is until I see them act otherwise :D

But no, it was literally, "Hey, t-shirts are against the dress code."

I take harassment extremely seriously, the figure drawing I run is also a safe space and I've seen a solid uptick in a lot of marginalized folks. We get a good mix and I have no tolerance for bullshit. So far I've only had to pull one guy out of the session and talk to him in the hall (he joked to me that figure drawing was cheaper than a strip club). He got the message and has been really cool, donated a couple drawing horses he made. And besides having a place where bullied kids and transitioning folks can come and just be artists, I've helped some of the older folks learn how to interact with trans/gender fluid folks.

That stuff is why I fucking lost it when I was accused of harassing by this mental child of a millenial. I know that sounds harsh (and would be if she wasn't constantly fucking with me), but if you could hear her voice and the way she talks, she giggles at the end of EVERY SENTENCE and then intakes breath wetly between her teeth. And I believe she's partially deaf because she's the loudest talker I've ever met. And she has terrible written grammar (and a Bachelor's in English, as well as her Master's), I have no idea why the boss puts up with her.

Anyway, reason #5478 why I want to retire to another country.

Rhyssa, glad they caught it! Stuff like that is so frustrating. We've been in the place of "Sorry, we can't figure out what's wrong" so many times :( Good luck to you both.

So then what exactly did you get in trouble for, if tee shirts are indeed against the dress code? Is it that it wasn't your place to inform her?

[Hawkbit]

... I have no idea why the boss puts up with her.

I don't know how your library receives funding. However, I worked for a library system for a few years and we literally could not get rid of people. I would say ~20% of the people I worked with literally were using the place to just exist without actually doing anything. Things actually written in the job description they felt no responsibility for. And the system didn't want the lawsuit of termination without cause, ever, because it would tarnish their rep.

One of our shelvers worked a 30hr/wk shift and would just leave whenever he wanted. Actual excuse examples include: "I have to go home, I forgot to wear deodorant" and "I have to go home, I don't have cheese in my lunch".

I was busting my ass trying to get a full time gig there but the entire system is seniority based, so I finally gave up after two years of waiting for these mouthbreathers to fucking quit or die.

[Polysorbate80]

Mister “No-Cheese” would get along great with the kid I worked with one time who had a massive full-on crying meltdown because the burger joint didn’t give him any fry sauce with his takeout.

Edit:  Vaguely related, I used to go to Taco Bell here largely because they NEVER got my order right.  I got so much free shit for going back and complaining it was half the point of the trip 

[Chimpy]

Fry sauce is an abomination.

[Sky]

So then what exactly did you get in trouble for, if tee shirts are indeed against the dress code? Is it that it wasn't your place to inform her?

"She felt uncomfortable due to your comment." (she was given approval to wear it that day for an outreach event, which I didn't know until I made the comment)

I worked for a library system for a few years and we literally could not get rid of people. I would say ~20% of the people I worked with literally were using the place to just exist without actually doing anything. Things actually written in the job description they felt no responsibility for. And the system didn't want the lawsuit of termination without cause, ever, because it would tarnish their rep.  

Our director cleaned out the old seniority system when she took over, but she's a quirky woman. She has a few triggers (her parents were alcoholics) and blind spots (underdogs). The problem employee is in her underdog blind spot, she pursued her MLS while working here as a clerk, entirely because the boss encouraged her to. And the toughest part is the boss gets stubborn when anyone tries to ease something out of her blind spot, so it works against us if we try to show how toxic the employee is. *shrug*

I do know there is about a zero chance of liability because the girl is too stupid and incurious to pursue anything, and has no connections. But it's never happening.

Pretty much everyone involved acknowledged without acknowledging that the entire situation is stupid and just ignore her. Which is just great for a workplace. Let it fester, sure.

[schild]

Fry sauce is an abomination.

no u

[Paelos]

Never thought we'd have library drama, but we are getting older so there you go.

My workplace drama is currently with the boss who, despite his insistence that we should have zero errors on any of our statements in the first draft and with minimal review (har har), he himself has a complete blind spot that he forgets everything you told him the day before.

He's constantly amazed I'm out of the office on PTO when he approved it and it's on my calendar and the office PTO calendar, oh and he approved it earlier. It's quite amazing.

[01101010]

Never thought we'd have library drama, but we are getting older so there you go.

My workplace drama is currently with the boss who, despite his insistence that we should have zero errors on any of our statements in the first draft and with minimal review (har har), he himself has a complete blind spot that he forgets everything you told him the day before.

He's constantly amazed I'm out of the office on PTO when he approved it and it's on my calendar and the office PTO calendar, oh and he approved it earlier. It's quite amazing.

Thought it was like this everywhere?

I sent out an email this morning outlining in very plain English the status of the data in one study is now set to missing instead of pending because they have finished data collection and locked the tables for publication. The head investigator came back to me and asked why the data is set to missing.

I simply let my supervisor answer him instead of sending a series of facepalm memes.

[Sky]

"Check your email" is our standard response to stupid questions.

If the boss says it, you have officially pissed her off.

We still have a few folks that feel they don't need to check their email at start and end of shift. They're wrong.

[Abagadro]

Fry sauce is an abomination.

Shut your whore mouth. That's our State Food!