Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[ladyknight1]

^^ Gets a cup of coffee.

[Sirius]

Mr. Sirius would always make the food for potlucks in his section.  His reasoning was, "It's my section's potluck.  Why should you make the food for it?"  Granted, he never made anything that took a lot of time or talent - his specialties were green bean casserole and chocolate chip cookies - but it was the fact that he felt he should make the food for his section's parties.  He was always invited when my section had a potluck, as we were in the same building, and if he wasn't there I'd have to field questions about why he wasn't there. 

[Jones]

^^ Gets a cup of coffee.

Popping open a holiday tin of popcorn.

[Shalamar]

Well, since you asked ....

Jim is very overweight, which I mention only because it's pertinent to the story.  He's tried pretty much every diet known to man, but he never stays on them for long - he'll lose some weight on the plan, get cocky, think that he can manage alone, quit - and then put all the weight back on.

A while back I lost some weight myself - all I did was cut down a bit on snacks and start walking every day.   Jim was impressed by my achievement and asked me what plan I'd followed. 

Me:  No plan - I just stopped eating as much junk food and added a long walk every day.
Jim:  No, really - you can tell me.
Me:  I just did.
Jim:  C'mon, what was it?  Weight Watchers?  Jenny Craig?
Me:  None of those - I did what I told you.
Jim *getting angry*:  Look, it's impossible to lose weight that way!
Me:  But ... I DID!
Jim *stomping away*:  Fine.  If you don't want to tell me, don't tell me.

[RegionMom]

It is called "Eat Less, Move More."

perhaps with a "name" he will believe it!

[LB]

When people don't listen to their messages, wouldn't it be more efficient to say to them, in a friendly tone, "Well, I'll let you go so you can check the message on your voice mail. Call us back when you get the info from it that you need." <click> ?

My employer won't allow it. According to him "It does not feel like we're serving clients that way."

Before that, I had actually tried your method. The response I usually got was: *Sigh* "Can't you just tell me? I don't have time for this."

Other times I've been yelled at for "calling them stupid." One person even filed a complaint against me. Which is what led to my employer saying not to do it.

[Diane AKA Traska]

When people don't listen to their messages, wouldn't it be more efficient to say to them, in a friendly tone, "Well, I'll let you go so you can check the message on your voice mail. Call us back when you get the info from it that you need." <click> ?

My employer won't allow it. According to him "It does not feel like we're serving clients that way."

Before that, I had actually tried your method. The response I usually got was: *Sigh* "Can't you just tell me? I don't have time for this."

Other times I've been yelled at for "calling them stupid." One person even filed a complaint against me. Which is what led to my employer saying not to do it.

Ladies and gentlemen... an employer that despises efficiency. 

[gingerzing]

When people don't listen to their messages, wouldn't it be more efficient to say to them, in a friendly tone, "Well, I'll let you go so you can check the message on your voice mail. Call us back when you get the info from it that you need." <click> ?

My employer won't allow it. According to him "It does not feel like we're serving clients that way."

Before that, I had actually tried your method. The response I usually got was: *Sigh* "Can't you just tell me? I don't have time for this."

Other times I've been yelled at for "calling them stupid." One person even filed a complaint against me. Which is what led to my employer saying not to do it.

Then send the callers to your employer?     <Shoves EvilGinger back into box>

[Sirius]

When people don't listen to their messages, wouldn't it be more efficient to say to them, in a friendly tone, "Well, I'll let you go so you can check the message on your voice mail. Call us back when you get the info from it that you need." <click> ?

My employer won't allow it. According to him "It does not feel like we're serving clients that way."

Before that, I had actually tried your method. The response I usually got was: *Sigh* "Can't you just tell me? I don't have time for this."

Other times I've been yelled at for "calling them stupid." One person even filed a complaint against me. Which is what led to my employer saying not to do it.

Then send the callers to your employer?     <Shoves EvilGinger back into box>

After I typed up a list of approved hospital abbreviations I started getting calls from section chiefs demanding to know why I picked another department's abbreviation when I should have picked theirs, et that type of cetera.  After a few complaints on this matter at I started referring the complainers to Colonel Painintheneck the project officer, the one who had actually made the decisions as to which abbreviation to use.  The number of similar calls dropped off dramatically after that. 

I found out later that Colonel P had told my boss to tell me to stop sending such calls to him, but my boss refused, as she didn't think it was fair that I was being yelled at because of him.  (This particular boss was great to work for.)       

[White Dragon]

Our technical staff sources material for projects.
It's a complicated process involving bids, approvals and lots of paperwork.

My job is to contact the vendors and make sure they get all the information and approvals they need to build the Widgets.

I sent out all the paperwork per the procedure and let coworker Kam know.

Me-"I sent out all the Blue documents to the vendors. The file is now up to date."

Kam-"Uh...yeah. I didn't know that you were actually going to send out the Blue documents."

Me-"Well, that's the procedure, and I did tell you that I was doing it that way."

Kam-"Well, we're not supposed to send out the Blue documents."

I am now very confused because there were multiple meetings about how to handle the Blue documents.

Kam-"Yeah I've known that for a year. "
 

I like Kam, he's a good guy, but he tends to forget to mention details.

[Jocelyn]

So basically she's saying that the one, tiny sentence per day made him more recognisable to the baby than the voice of the person he literally lived inside of 24/7 for several months?   I just can't comprehend how that would make sense to anybody.  I guess you could argue proximity, e.g. the mother's voice is further away whereas the Dad was leaning in closer... but nope, I still can't see any way that makes sense. 

Babies can be attracted to certain voices/vocal ranges. My father is magic with babies- they will instantly stop crying and watch his face with as much fascination as they are capable (depending upon their age). He doesn't coochy-coo, he just talks seriously to them. So perhaps that papa also has a voice that's incredibly attractive to his infant, whereas the mother's voice just turned into background noise? 

[MommyPenguin]

Maybe it's like Colin Firth's.  Or the guy who plays Matthew on Downton Abbey. 

[Mental Magpie]

Or maybe Liam Neeson.

[Ceallach]

So basically she's saying that the one, tiny sentence per day made him more recognisable to the baby than the voice of the person he literally lived inside of 24/7 for several months?   I just can't comprehend how that would make sense to anybody.  I guess you could argue proximity, e.g. the mother's voice is further away whereas the Dad was leaning in closer... but nope, I still can't see any way that makes sense. 

Babies can be attracted to certain voices/vocal ranges. My father is magic with babies- they will instantly stop crying and watch his face with as much fascination as they are capable (depending upon their age). He doesn't coochy-coo, he just talks seriously to them. So perhaps that papa also has a voice that's incredibly attractive to his infant, whereas the mother's voice just turned into background noise? 

Also good theories!

Except I didn't include the *other* brain hurty part of the whole conversation - namely the fact that my mother was not in fact present when my nephew was born.          This is really typical of her.  I'm guessing somebody made some comment about how alert my nephew was (he was one of those babies with his eyes open looking around right away) and said something like "He turned his head when he head his Dad speak!", and from there my mother has developed this lengthy story about nephews reaction to his parent's voices, and a wacky theory to go along with it.   Sadly, this type of thing is typical for my mother!!  Boy is she great at weaving a tale... she never lets the truth get in the way of a good story. (Not a liar, but exaggerates everything to make it sound more interesting).  The logic of this one hurt my brain though. Even if true it wouldn't make sense.

Re the attractive voice, my BIL isn't the most, um, manly of men.   I don't know how to describe him without sounding mean to be honest, he's a nice enough guy, but he definitely doesn't have an attractive voice, or face, or particularly attractive personality!  (Ok, so that did sound mean, oops).   

[LadyJaneinMD]

With all honestly, I have a strong feeling I'll DIIIEEE!!! anyway, and I still won't have much choice in the matter. I'll gamble  on this one. Thank you for your concern.

People keep sending me the scarey stories about how dangerous artificial sweeteners are.  All of them.  But to tell the honest truth, I've been using them since the 60s, and haven't died yet.  My mother was one of those on a perpetual diet, so she got me using the little white 'pills' in my tea when I was just a child.   I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones who don't have side effects.  I'm already too old to die early.