Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[wolfie]

^ but in the case of breaking a restraining order, wouldn't Natasha have to be the one to call the police on John for breaking it? So Natasha picked him up and drove him around, maybe they got into a fight or something and then she called the police and accused him of breaking a restraining order. Or were they arrested together for some other charge and then police discovered John had an order of protection against him?

I can understand the bailiffs brain hurt.

it's the second. They got pulled over for some traffic issue and then they discovered the lack of licenses, restraining order and a bunch of other things. The judge was asking both of them if they understood what a restraining order was because his brain hurt from it too. Apparently she didn't realize she had one out on John. I don't know how you could get one without being aware of it but I think the judge wanted to move on too because he didn't press the issue. And no - John didn't have the order of protection against Natasha - Natasha had an order of protection against John, but she is the one who called him up and picked him up for a ride to wherever they were going. Whole lot of brain hurt going on there.

Sadly, I've known this to happen before.  There is a domestic dispute, the cops get called, a restraining order is put in place, the couple goes into the "honeymoon" cycle of domestic violence and get back together without dealing with the legal aspect.  In some places, having charges filed against a person will automatically result in a restraining order which stays in place even if the victim backs out of pressing charges. 

I must admit it still makes my brain hurt no matter how common this is.

The interesting thing is that he knew he had one out on him because he tried to explain it by saying that the order was issues in Yonkers and we were in Dutchess County so it wasn't valid. Which the judge explained doesn't matter - and order is an order and it is valid wherever you are. So you would think he would be smart enough not to get into the car with Natasha when she came up. Or at least to make sure that if you are violating a restraining order and have your license suspended make sure that you drive in such a way that you don't get pulled over.

This also goes for if you are carrying "a green leafy substance" - don't run stop signs.

They probably both thought that since Natasha obviously doesn't mind the contact that the order just doesn't "count" anymore. But if she gets mad at him again, then it does 'cause that's how it works right? 

They might have been thinking that, but I got the feeling that he very quickly realized the error of his ways (at least in getting caught) and will be more careful in the future.  Or at least he realized that once you are in front of the judge you should pretty much tell them what they want to hear, accept the names of the public defenders and get out of there before you get yourself into more trouble. 

[KenveeB]

They might have been thinking that, but I got the feeling that he very quickly realized the error of his ways (at least in getting caught) and will be more careful in the future.  Or at least he realized that once you are in front of the judge you should pretty much tell them what they want to hear, accept the names of the public defenders and get out of there before you get yourself into more trouble.

If more people would listen to advice like that, they wouldn't be in front of a judge to begin with.

[ica171]

This morning I got a call from my kids' pediatrician's office. For BG, I have three kids: two boys who are 8 and 6 and an almost 11-month-old daughter. The last time the boys were there was in September for their yearly physical; DD was there in October for her nine month checkup.

The nurse on the line said, "Hi, I was just calling to check on YDS. How is he feeling?" I was confused, but told her he was fine. She asked if he still had a sore throat. I said no. I think at this point she was confused, too, because she asked if he had been to the ER recently. I told her no, it's been years since he's been to the ER (once when he was in pre-K; now he's in first grade). She gave me the name of the ER and the date, which was two days ago. I confirmed that he had not been there. She said "OK, so he's feeling better now?" I probably should have asked her to verify his middle name or something because obviously this was not my son she was talking about, but I just said yes. She thanked me and told me to have a good day.

I posted earlier in the thread about a doctor's office calling me to verify an appointment I hadn't made, which I put off to having a common name. I'm assuming that's the case here as YDS also has a pretty common name, although I hope it was just the nurse calling the wrong patient and not that the ER put the visit under the wrong name. I'd rather not have to deal with getting bills for this ER visit because someone picked the wrong name out of the computer.

I called this afternoon because I realized I hadn't made an appointment for my daughter's one year checkup yet. I asked about it and the receptionist promised to have a nurse call me back. She did, but my phone didn't ring so she left a voicemail where she said there was nothing in YDS's file that would indicate I should have been called. So I'm assuming it's what I thought, that whoever made the call just clicked on the wrong name. The woman who called apologized profusely probably half a dozen times in a two or three minute message; it makes me wonder what they have to deal with on a day to day basis.

[Ida]

A friend of mine bought a used car with a "Jesus" fish.  She's Jewish ...

Well, so was Jesus.


Back in the day, I had a Datsun 510 that I pretty much covered with bumper stickers because it was such a predigested-looking color. I had to make a few myself, including the one in Farsi and the one that said "This Car Climbed Mount Mazama." That one was a great geek-filter.

It all caused a couple of brain hurts, though, because Once Upon A Time in Berkeley we had a great hippie cab company, Taxi Unlimited, whose cabs were painted all kinds of ways: early artcars, I guess.  At least twice when I was waiting to pick up DH at a BART station, people gave me conniptions by just getting into the car uninvited because they thought I was TU.

Ah well, I was younger than and my blood pressure was more resilient. And I did learn to leave the passenger door locked and the window opened just a bit so I could holler through it.

[lilfox]

Last month, I had a conversation with a new coworker that was a bit odd.  We were chatting about our kids, and after telling me about how great a mother she is (she literally used that expression) to her sons, we got to talking about my daughter.  She asked if I would ever allow my daughter to date.  I said, um, sure, when she's old enough, like 15 or so.  Coworker was aghast!  See, in her culture, girls don't date, they get married.  In order to even consider being allowed to see a boy, she said girls basically have to be "pre-engaged" to him but regular dating?  Especially casual dating?  Nope, doesn't happen.

It was her reaction that was brain-hurty:  She seemed by turns fascinated and horrified that I thought it would be acceptable to let my daughter go on dates (eventually, years from now).  She's lived in the US for at least a decade though, and I'm guessing has been exposed to enough of our pop culture to know that dating is common here, starting in high (or even junior high) school and continuing, well, indefinitely in some cases, but certainly preceding marriage in most cases.

[Irishkitty]

The glasses/contacts thing reminded me of this. When I was 16, I switched from glasses (which I had worn most of my life) to contacts. For the next couple of weeks I kept getting variations of this comment. "You look different. Did you get your hair cut?"

This reminds me of when I left school. I switched from glasses to contact lenses over the summer. When I arrived at the School at the end of the summer for the Debs (equivalent of High School Senior Prom) many people didn't recognise me AT ALL, and one girl (it was an all-girls school) was convinced I was an imposter pretending to be me!

[Virg]

LazyDaisy wrote:

"They probably both thought that since Natasha obviously doesn't mind the contact that the order just doesn't "count" anymore. But if she gets mad at him again, then it does 'cause that's how it works right?"

I'm willing to bet a dollar that he didn't think it through even that far.

Virg

[Shalamar]

lilfox, your story reminds me of a friend of mine who stated when her son was born that she wouldn't allow him to date until he was 18.  18 years later, she still has that attitude.  My thoughts?  "If you honestly think you can pull that off, more power to you.  But kids - especially teenagers - are a lot more creative about getting around their parents' rules than you may like to believe."

(Personally, I thought that "18" was way too strict, but that's just my opinion.)

[Yvaine]

The glasses/contacts thing reminded me of this. When I was 16, I switched from glasses (which I had worn most of my life) to contacts. For the next couple of weeks I kept getting variations of this comment. "You look different. Did you get your hair cut?"

This reminds me of when I left school. I switched from glasses to contact lenses over the summer. When I arrived at the School at the end of the summer for the Debs (equivalent of High School Senior Prom) many people didn't recognise me AT ALL, and one girl (it was an all-girls school) was convinced I was an imposter pretending to be me!

I've learned by many years' experience that I'm unrecognizable to many people if they've only ever known me with my hair up and suddenly I wear it down. It's long and not well-behaved, so in most work situations it's tightly corralled into submission. I've had multiple co-workers fail to recognize me if I did let The Mop loose in their presence.

[RebeccainGA]

The glasses/contacts thing reminded me of this. When I was 16, I switched from glasses (which I had worn most of my life) to contacts. For the next couple of weeks I kept getting variations of this comment. "You look different. Did you get your hair cut?"

This reminds me of when I left school. I switched from glasses to contact lenses over the summer. When I arrived at the School at the end of the summer for the Debs (equivalent of High School Senior Prom) many people didn't recognise me AT ALL, and one girl (it was an all-girls school) was convinced I was an imposter pretending to be me!

I've learned by many years' experience that I'm unrecognizable to many people if they've only ever known me with my hair up and suddenly I wear it down. It's long and not well-behaved, so in most work situations it's tightly corralled into submission. I've had multiple co-workers fail to recognize me if I did let The Mop loose in their presence.

Me too! hair down + glasses made my boss of 4 years have to do a double take to recognize me!

[KenveeB]

The glasses/contacts thing reminded me of this. When I was 16, I switched from glasses (which I had worn most of my life) to contacts. For the next couple of weeks I kept getting variations of this comment. "You look different. Did you get your hair cut?"

This reminds me of when I left school. I switched from glasses to contact lenses over the summer. When I arrived at the School at the end of the summer for the Debs (equivalent of High School Senior Prom) many people didn't recognise me AT ALL, and one girl (it was an all-girls school) was convinced I was an imposter pretending to be me!

Hey, it works for Clark Kent.

[Piratelvr1121]

When I forget a password and have to reset it, which means a laundry list of requirements topped off with a partridge in a pair tree, and including "Cannot be the same password as you've had for the last year."

Um, if I could remember I wouldn't be resetting my password, here.

[mmswm]

The glasses/contacts thing reminded me of this. When I was 16, I switched from glasses (which I had worn most of my life) to contacts. For the next couple of weeks I kept getting variations of this comment. "You look different. Did you get your hair cut?"

This reminds me of when I left school. I switched from glasses to contact lenses over the summer. When I arrived at the School at the end of the summer for the Debs (equivalent of High School Senior Prom) many people didn't recognise me AT ALL, and one girl (it was an all-girls school) was convinced I was an imposter pretending to be me!

I've learned by many years' experience that I'm unrecognizable to many people if they've only ever known me with my hair up and suddenly I wear it down. It's long and not well-behaved, so in most work situations it's tightly corralled into submission. I've had multiple co-workers fail to recognize me if I did let The Mop loose in their presence.

I had the security guard at work question me the one and only time I wore my waist-length hair down.  It was rather amusing.

[nutraxfornerves]

The Darwin fish post reminded me of this (details fudged, name invented):

I have a relative who lives far away from me. We aren't particularly close (she's a perfectly nice person, but we have little in common), but since she's an avid user of Facebook, I'm always seeing what she's up to. 

However, my jaw dropped when she wrote that she was running around getting ready to host a LGBT party for her teenager. You see, she and her whole family are an active and devout members of a faith that considers homosexuality a sin. She would never publicly say or do anything remotely homophobic, but I am pretty sure that she would not knowingly socialize with g@y people in her own home, nor would she permit her children to do so. She also lives in a community where most residents share her faith. If any of her children are g@y, they would be deeply closeted.

So I was very, very puzzled.

Before asking her or another relative who knows her better, I did a bit of Googling. It turned out to be a end of-the-year party for the Lobo Grande Baton Twirlers.

[joraemi]

The Darwin fish post reminded me of this (details fudged, name invented):

I have a relative who lives far away from me. We aren't particularly close (she's a perfectly nice person, but we have little in common), but since she's an avid user of Facebook, I'm always seeing what she's up to. 

However, my jar dropped when she wrote that she was running around getting ready to host a LGBT party for her teenager. You see, she and her whole family are an active and devout members of a faith that considers homosexuality a sin. She would never publicly say or do anything remotely homophobic, but I am pretty sure that she would not knowingly socialize with g@y people in her own home, nor would she permit her children to do so. She also lives in a community where most residents share her faith. If any of her children are g@y, they would be deeply closeted.

So I was very, very puzzled.

Before asking her or another relative who knows her better, I did a bit of Googling. It turned out to be a end of-the-year party for the Lobo Grande Baton Twirlers.

Thank goodness I wasn't drinking anything when I read that!