Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[darling]

Practically every conversation I've had with a student today has been brain-hurty. Welcome to the last three weeks of the semester! (nearly time to take more ibuprofen...) All of them have been very nice, just not completely "back from Thanksgiving break" yet.

[littlelauraj]

My DH came home and hurt my brain last night by sharing a story from work.  My daughters and I make homemade sauces, jams, etc. that he sometimes sells at work.  He keeps a selection in his cube and his workmates will stop by and see what's "in stock".

Well, yesterday one of his co-workers stopped by to pay him for some jam she picked up last week while he was out of the office.  He asked her if she liked the jam?  Well, yes, it was okay at first.  But after a day or two it got really watery.  Well, we like happy customers so he offered her the opportunity to bring it back and get a different one.

She was very happy to be able to get a replacement, and brought the yucky jam back to him.  At which point he just had to ask, "Um, did you put this in the refrigerator once you opened it?"  No, she had not.  Was that necessary?  She had opened a jar of homemade jam and kept it in her cube over the weekend.  DH said it was full of mold.  I asked him why she would think refrigeration was unnecessary for *any* kind of jam, let alone homemade, but he just shook his head.  Made his brain hurt, too.

[VorFemme]

I sorta see her point - the jam is stored without refrigeration, as long as the seal is unbroken.

But every jar of storebought jam, jelly, marmalade, or preserves that I have ever seen (and a lot of other bottles & jars of things that aren't fruit spreads) have "refrigerate after opening" on the label.

Apparently, in her mind, if it doesn't say to refrigerate the open jar.....then you don't need to.....?  Which seems a little air-headed.....but my mother taught high school science and worked in research (jobs that I remember - before that, there was a water treatment plant lab) and I *know* what lurks in the world, waiting to find a place to feed and grow.....and it's not vampires - it's mold spores!

[MariaE]

My Mum never refrigerated jam - even after opening. We went through it fast enough, that it was never an issue.

Took me awhile and a few jars of moldy jam after I'd moved out to learn that 1 person simply doesn't eat jam at the same rate as 6 people do
Now I always refrigerate it.

[AfleetAlex]

When I was a teenager, my grandmother once made me a pair of enormous underwear and gave them to me at Christmas in front of the whole family. I have to admit my reaction was pretty much what some of you described above as I was pretty mortified.

Other than that year she's always given excellent hand-made gifts and I've always been appreciative.

Seriously?  Your grandma gave you gigantic home made underwear for Christmas when you were a teenager?  Was it some kind of joke or something?  I'm dying to know the background to this story.  Did everyone in the family get underwear for Christmas that year, or just you?  And was that all she gave you?  There's GOT to be more! 

My grandmother grew up during the Depression and became quite a practical seamstress, reworking fabrics into new items. I'm not sure if the underthings were one of those, but she often gave handmade items to people and usually they were tasteful or reminded someone of a beloved fabric.

This pair, however, were what a teenage girl would call "granny panties" and not something she would want to open in front of the whole family at Christmas. (I'm quite sure Grandma gave me other things for Christmas that year, I just can't remember them quite as vividly as the underwear.)

[Sheila Take a Bow]

DF and I are from the SAME state, and he still doesn't understand that growing up in the San Fernando Valley in LA County is not the same as being from Inglewood (also in LA County).

We were watching the Notre Dame/USC game last night, and the announcer mentioned the game was being played at USC, which I noted.

DF - "Where is that, Inglewood?"
Me - "Yes."
DF - "Oh, that's where you're from."
Me -    "Uh, no-o-o, Inglewood is NOTHING like the San Fernando Valley and is not close by." (LA is horrendous for traffic so if you check out the distance, it might seem close by but, really, it could be a two-hour drive to get there from the Valley; in terms of communities, TOTALLY different).

I was very insulted and afraid he'd go around conveying to people that I come from Inglewood since he sometimes has the tendency to process information incorrectly and then tell that info to others.

Technically, neither of you was right.  USC and the Coliseum (where they play football) are in central Los Angeles.  Inglewood is southwest of LA, and a separate city.  It's a 20-30 minute drive, I think.

[PeterM]

A co-worker had a brain-hurty exchange just a little while ago. She was taking a message from a patron on the phone and asked for her phone number.

The patron gives the number, area code first, "Five-Oh-Three..." and so on.

My co-worker repeats the number back, "Five-Zero-Three..." and so on.

After listening to the entire repeated number the patron says that's not right, it's "Five-Oh-Three..." and so on. Same exact number.

Took another cycle or two for my confused co-worker to realize that in this patron's world, "Five-Oh-Three" is not the exact same number as "Five-Zero-Three." The patron was apparently pretty indignant about it.

[Piratelvr1121]

How about people who refuse to embrace technology?  My bff has told me about people who come into the store where she works, people around 70 and 80, who want to know where you can buy film for 35mm cameras.

"They're not sold in stores, if you are going to find any, they'd possibly be online. Maybe."
"I don't like using the computer!!  There has to be a way to get film!  I don't want to have to use one of those digital cameras!!  I don't know how to use them!"
"Well you just can't buy the film in stores, I'm sorry.  The only thing you can do is buy disposable cameras if you don't want to use a digital."
"But that's throwing away money!" 

 What bugs her the most is they use their age as an excuse to be against this newfangled technology.  Now my friend is in her mid 50's, and an "aunt" of hers, who is late 80's or early 90's, I don't remember, uses Facebook, email, has a nice digital camera and a nice cell phone, all of which she uses often and is really good at working them all. 

My MIL, who is also in her mid 50's, is one of these people.  Doesn't even have an email address, whines about having a digital camera and won't use a computer.  Her sister is the same way and she's not even 50 yet.  Yanno, I can get being slow to adapt to cell phone technology, as I still don't have a smart phone and just fairly recently decided I want one.  But there comes a point where you can only fight against the progress so much. Computers are here to stay, might as well learn to use one.  No one said you have to be yoked to it, but they do come in handy.

[Elfmama]

My FIL is like that.  Refuses to acknowledge that every time he gives someone a credit card, he deals with computers.

And then there are my parents.  Mom is 87, Dad is 92.

When my sister was interviewing the Assisted Living place where they now live, she made their brains hurt when she told them that each of these very old people had their own computers and would need internet access.

[Lady Snowdon]

My DH made my brain hurt yesterday.  I normally call him a bit after 4 pm, when I get off work, to find out if he's already off, just getting off, or if he'll be at work later, so I can plan dinner and such.  It's important that this is the reason I call him.

I call him at 4:10 pm, no answer.  I call again at 4:28 pm, no answer.  I switch to his work cell phone, call and talk to him.  I ask him why he didn't answer before.  He said, "Well, I was going to call you when I got off work".    I told him "Well, I don't know when you're getting off".  He said, "I was going to call you when I got off, so you'd know then".  I said, "You've been done with work anytime between 3:30 and 6 pm in the past, so I don't know when you'll be done each particular day".  DH replied, "But I'll call you when I'm done, so then you know".    Getting a call anywhere between 3:30 and 6 pm isn't exactly helpful when I'm trying to figure out when supper needs to be ready, or if we'll have time to work on a house project afterwards. 

[aka]

I was at Panera and had this mind boggling exchange (to the best of my recollection)

Me: I would like a large frozen caramel
Worker: We don't have a large frozen
Me: Hm... really?  I know I've ordered it before.
Worker: No, there is only one standard size.
Me: (baffled) okay, I guess...
Worker: well you can get the 20 oz
Me: Wait what
Worker: its an add on
Me:  so it's larger... but it's not a large.  So what is it called?
Worker: It's not called anything
Me: (gives up) okay... I'll have that....

I'm pretty sure she was a manager too, which meant that when I had some spectacularly bad service yesterday, I did the online survey instead of complaining directly to her.

[sourwolf]

I was at Panera and had this mind boggling exchange (to the best of my recollection)

Me: I would like a large frozen caramel
Worker: We don't have a large frozen
Me: Hm... really?  I know I've ordered it before.
Worker: No, there is only one standard size.
Me: (baffled) okay, I guess...
Worker: well you can get the 20 oz
Me: Wait what
Worker: its an add on
Me:  so it's larger... but it's not a large.  So what is it called?
Worker: It's not called anything
Me: (gives up) okay... I'll have that....

I'm pretty sure she was a manager too, which meant that when I had some spectacularly bad service yesterday, I did the online survey instead of complaining directly to her.

I don't think that was "spectacularly bad service" she was trying to explain that they don't call it "large" because there is only one size.  The only reason you would need to specify that something was large is if there was a medium or small available as well.

[dawbs]

I was at Panera and had this mind boggling exchange (to the best of my recollection)

Me: I would like a large frozen caramel
Worker: We don't have a large frozen
Me: Hm... really?  I know I've ordered it before.
Worker: No, there is only one standard size.
Me: (baffled) okay, I guess...
Worker: well you can get the 20 oz
Me: Wait what
Worker: its an add on
Me:  so it's larger... but it's not a large.  So what is it called?
Worker: It's not called anything
Me: (gives up) okay... I'll have that....

I'm pretty sure she was a manager too, which meant that when I had some spectacularly bad service yesterday, I did the online survey instead of complaining directly to her.

I don't think that was "spectacularly bad service" she was trying to explain that they don't call it "large" because there is only one size.  The only reason you would need to specify that something was large is if there was a medium or small available as well.

But, if I'm reading this right,  it's not the only size...you can get an 'add on' to bring it up to a 20 oz

[aka]

I was at Panera and had this mind boggling exchange (to the best of my recollection)

Me: I would like a large frozen caramel
Worker: We don't have a large frozen
Me: Hm... really?  I know I've ordered it before.
Worker: No, there is only one standard size.
Me: (baffled) okay, I guess...
Worker: well you can get the 20 oz
Me: Wait what
Worker: its an add on
Me:  so it's larger... but it's not a large.  So what is it called?
Worker: It's not called anything
Me: (gives up) okay... I'll have that....

I'm pretty sure she was a manager too, which meant that when I had some spectacularly bad service yesterday, I did the online survey instead of complaining directly to her.

I don't think that was "spectacularly bad service" she was trying to explain that they don't call it "large" because there is only one size.  The only reason you would need to specify that something was large is if there was a medium or small available as well.

But, if I'm reading this right,  it's not the only size...you can get an 'add on' to bring it up to a 20 oz

dawbs is correct - there is a standard size and then there is a larger size, not to be confused with a large, because that is not what they call it.  Never mind that I have been ordering it as a large for probably over 10 years now.

And just to clarify, this was not the spectacularly bad service - it was another encounter that I didn't bother complaining about to management.  I will share it in another thread when I get the chance.

[sourwolf]

I was at Panera and had this mind boggling exchange (to the best of my recollection)

Me: I would like a large frozen caramel
Worker: We don't have a large frozen
Me: Hm... really?  I know I've ordered it before.
Worker: No, there is only one standard size.
Me: (baffled) okay, I guess...
Worker: well you can get the 20 oz
Me: Wait what
Worker: its an add on
Me:  so it's larger... but it's not a large.  So what is it called?
Worker: It's not called anything
Me: (gives up) okay... I'll have that....

I'm pretty sure she was a manager too, which meant that when I had some spectacularly bad service yesterday, I did the online survey instead of complaining directly to her.

I don't think that was "spectacularly bad service" she was trying to explain that they don't call it "large" because there is only one size.  The only reason you would need to specify that something was large is if there was a medium or small available as well.

But, if I'm reading this right,  it's not the only size...you can get an 'add on' to bring it up to a 20 oz

Ah, sorry I misread that as the 20oz being the size she could get but that it was an add on to the  meal, like instead of a soda she could get the frozen caramel.