Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[SheltieMom]

Kimblee, I just sent you a PM about a program in Hurst, which I think is pretty close to you. It's a one month course that will train you to pass the exam to be a Certified Nursing Assistant. I'm trying to talk my DIL into taking it.

[Nikko-chan]

Not an exchange, but something I saw that made my brain hurt.

I was at Target recently and saw a toddler-sized onesie with "Single and LOVING it!" written on it.

WHY?

See, that actually amuses me and I usually hate that kind of thing on babies/toddlers (or adults for that matter). Possibly because my brain interprets it as a mockery of the whole idea of writing your relationship status across your chest, but maybe that's just me.

It sure beats the 50-something woman I saw today, whose shirt read "I <3 BOYS!"   

Oh dear...

[robobecky]

Couldn't get the quote tree to work right.   Kimblee, another option is Visiting Angels if they have that in your area.  My mom does it, and she goes to senior's houses, talks with them, helps with meals and light cleaning, transportation to appointments, and for one woman, spends 2 nights a week with her since she can't be left alone.  This agency is a good option for families trying to keep their elderly relatives out of nursing homes but who can't be on their own all the time.

[Lynn2000]

My mom has caused me plenty of brain-hurting moments with computers, too, so I feel your pain, Miss Tickle. She really, really tries and has actually learned to do some stuff on the computer on her own, that I don't know how to do, because she really wanted to do it. But then she'll call with a problem and can't really explain it to me with words I understand, and can't answer the questions I ask, and can't do simple things like copy and paste or type an address into a browser, and we both just end up really frustrated.  I'm not at all a computer person, I just use them a lot more than she does, so I really don't want to be "responsible" for her computer use and maintenance, but I also don't want to be totally unhelpful.

I apologize if someone else has pointed this out, but if I don't post it while I'm reading this post, I'll forget. You can download a program called "Crossloop" onto your computer and your Mom's computer (next time you are at her house). With this program, it's really easy to link to her computer over the internet and you control her computer. Makes fixing things much easier without having to leave your house!

I've thought about doing something like this--I know there are several similar programs. My mom gets really excited whenever I mention it, which kinda turns me off doing it... I don't want to be called upon to figure out every little thing, just because I have the magic program that can take over her computer, you know? I can see it now: "I can't figure out how to move these files from one folder to another. Can you just do it for me?" 

On a related note, my cousin posted on Facebook that she was now officially an "old parent," because her six-year-old had to help her download and install something on her phone. I like to think the people of my generation are now passing the brain hurt of technology onto the next generation.

[2littlemonkeys]

[snip]



On a related note, my cousin posted on Facebook that she was now officially an "old parent," because her six-year-old had to help her download and install something on her phone. I like to think the people of my generation are now passing the brain hurt of technology onto the next generation.

LOL!  I hear you.  I'll never forget the day my then 4-year-old showed me a much simpler way to switch between the cable and DVD player.   

[Virg]

lilfox wrote:

"So, in an effort to forestall the budget removal, our project manager just sent an email saying essentially "Spend to your plan!"  But we can't because nothing is as budget-intense as data collection, which we simply can't do now.  And because the system won't let us move the money out to when we'll need it, it now looks like we have buckets of unused money."

Spend the money hiring a consultant to do data collection.  Have that consultant start the data collection when the time is right, and then pay the consultant now to reserve their employment.  You should also consider the possibility of moonlighting as a data collection consultant.  I hear at least one company in your area is looking to hire.

You're welcome.

On a serious note, though, if your data collection involves third party consultants or companies, just contract with them now for services on X date.  It's an ages-old method for moving money around in the budget when time is involved.  Have a discussion with your favorite accountant for all the details.

Virg

[Shalamar]

This conversation with a co-worker made my brain hurt.

The background is that she had created a problem ticket saying that a file which should have been created on Saturday wasn't created.  I knew that the system which was supposed to create that file was having issues on Friday and Saturday, so I needed to find out if those issues had been resolved before I could try to get her file for her.

She called me just now, and we had this conversation:

Her:  How's it going getting that file for me?
Me:  I have to see if the Blah System is working first, then I can get your file restored for you.
Her:  Okay.  Oh, by the way, it's not the Saturday file I want after all.  It's the Friday file.
Me:  ... okay.

I have to ask - shouldn't she have led with "I asked you for the wrong file before"?   

[2littlemonkeys]

I was going to post this in the Special Snowflake thread but then I realized it was more brain hurty than anything.  Though the guy was still kind of SS-y for the attitude.


In our city, every car must have a City Sticker.  And depending upon what street you live on, some residents are required to have a residential parking sticker if they wish to park on the street.  The City Sticker isn't cheap, they run about $75 per year for your average car (they cost more if you have a large SUV or pickup truck).  The residential stickers are $25/year.  The stickers go on sale in May or early June and they're expected to be on your car by June 30.  This is not a secret and is heavily advertised.  If you buy your sticker after the deadline, it's another $40.  And if the local PD pulls you over or spots your car on the street and it doesn't have a sticker on it, you get a $120 fine. 

So we had this tenant who suddenly absolutely refused to buy a city sticker or residential sticker.  He'd bought them before but decided they were stupid and he just wasn't gonna do it anymore.  I get it, we do a little moaning and eye rolling over it sometimes but it's a requirement for living here.  We're all free to live elsewhere.  No one is being held hostage.

So June 30 came and went and he started getting tickets.  He chose to ignore them and racked up a few tickets.  Then his car got booted (you get the boot when you ignore your 3rd ticket).  It cost $60 to get the boot removed but you have to pay your tickets before they'll do that.  Leave it too long and you get towed.  And THEN you get to pay for the impound to spring your car.

So he got towed.  By my estimates, he now had to pony up at least $580 in boot/tickets/impound PLUS the $100 PLUS the $40 late fee because he didn't want to pay $100 to have the proper stickers.  And he really needed his car for work, so he HAD to get it out.  And he complained about it every minute we saw him.   

[Softly Spoken]

Okay I can't quote a specific exchange but I read a post the other day (lost the thread sorry) and then heard a similar comment on t.v. so I have to mention this here because my brain is twinging on it. I am pretty sure I am making my own brain hurt with this, and maybe I should put it under "stupid questions" but it is more of an observation that I wanted to know if anyone else has noticed:

Has anyone ever heard where people are talking about someone who has passed away, and they talk about how "so-and-so did/was XYZ when they were alive." Why do they feel the need to say "when they were alive"? Unless you believe in zombies or resurrection, wouldn't it be naturally assumed that anything you say about a deceased person would be applied to the time before they became deceased? 

If I were talking about my Mom, I would say "My Mom loved musicals." I wouldn't say "My Mom loved musicals, when she was alive." If her taste had changed during her lifetime, then I would say something like "My Mom loved musicals when she was older," or maybe "My Mom loved listening to musicals up to the day she died." All these phrases either give a fact about my mother and/or put the character trait into chronological context.

Am I just crazy/nitpicking? It just seems strange to my ears when people make a big deal about someone doing something "when they were alive" - when else would the person in question have done it?

[Softly Spoken]

I was going to post this in the Special Snowflake thread but then I realized it was more brain hurty than anything.  Though the guy was still kind of SS-y for the attitude.
In our city, every car must have a City Sticker.  *snip*
So we had this tenant who suddenly absolutely refused to buy a city sticker or residential sticker.  *snip*
So he got towed.  By my estimates, he now had to pony up at least $580 in boot/tickets/impound PLUS the $100 PLUS the $40 late fee because he didn't want to pay $100 to have the proper stickers.  And he really needed his car for work, so he HAD to get it out.  And he complained about it every minute we saw him.   

As yes, SS "logic": the classic brain hurt.  I think most SS behavior/"reasoning" behind said behavior is brain-hurty by default...otherwise it wouldn't be so infuriating. It is the ego-driven rejection of basic common decency and sense that sends us eHellions to fetal positions in a corner to smack our heads against the wall (lest we be tempted to smack the heads of the snowflake in question). 

[Sebastienne]

I was going to post this in the Special Snowflake thread but then I realized it was more brain hurty than anything.  Though the guy was still kind of SS-y for the attitude.


In our city, every car must have a City Sticker.  And depending upon what street you live on, some residents are required to have a residential parking sticker if they wish to park on the street.  The City Sticker isn't cheap, they run about $75 per year for your average car (they cost more if you have a large SUV or pickup truck).  The residential stickers are $25/year.  The stickers go on sale in May or early June and they're expected to be on your car by June 30.  This is not a secret and is heavily advertised.  If you buy your sticker after the deadline, it's another $40.  And if the local PD pulls you over or spots your car on the street and it doesn't have a sticker on it, you get a $120 fine. 

So we had this tenant who suddenly absolutely refused to buy a city sticker or residential sticker.  He'd bought them before but decided they were stupid and he just wasn't gonna do it anymore.  I get it, we do a little moaning and eye rolling over it sometimes but it's a requirement for living here.  We're all free to live elsewhere.  No one is being held hostage.

So June 30 came and went and he started getting tickets.  He chose to ignore them and racked up a few tickets.  Then his car got booted (you get the boot when you ignore your 3rd ticket).  It cost $60 to get the boot removed but you have to pay your tickets before they'll do that.  Leave it too long and you get towed.  And THEN you get to pay for the impound to spring your car.

So he got towed.  By my estimates, he now had to pony up at least $580 in boot/tickets/impound PLUS the $100 PLUS the $40 late fee because he didn't want to pay $100 to have the proper stickers.  And he really needed his car for work, so he HAD to get it out.  And he complained about it every minute we saw him.   

That actually reminds me of a completely different, very brain-hurty city sticker problem. We used to live in the same city as you (I'm assuming. Lots of wind?), and both our cars had years' worth of Chicago city stickers on our windshields, since those bastards were almost impossible to remove. Eventually, we moved out of state, about a 3-hour drive from the city, right before the new city stickers were released. A few weeks after our move, my husband had some business back in our old city. He'd already registered the car in New State, and it had a New State plate, which should indicate that he did not live in Chicago.  But he still got a City Sticker violation for the car when it was parked on the street. We assume the officer had seen all the stickers but the new one, and he'd been in "gotcha!" mode, and written the violation--including the license plate number, for an out-of-state plate!--without thinking.

That's not the only brain-hurty part, though. It took us over a year to fight that ticket. There was a lot of runaround: "But you didn't have the sticker!" "But we live in Michigan! We don't need the sticker!" "But there was no sticker!" Argh.

[goldilocks]

My granddaughter was 3, and was very proud to be learning to order for herself in restaurants.

Papa and I took her to local diner, and she ordered a cheeseburger, plain.  While she was doing that Papa quickly called her mother to see if she wanted anythign on it and her mother confirmed that no- nothing on it.

So, cheeseburger arrives and baby is extremely upset that it has - Cheese.  It seems that when she orders a cheeseburger with nothing on it, that includes the cheese   Her mother had forgotten to tell us this important fact.

[Shalamar]

That reminds me of when our older daughter was going through her "plain pasta" phase when she was 8.  She ordered it for herself in a restaurant and said "just the pasta, please.   No sauce or toppings or 'green stuff' (I.e. spices)."

When it came, the plate had parsley sprinkled all around the edge, much of which had fallen into the pasta itself.   When we expressed dismay, the server looked at us like we were stupid and said "it's just a GARNISH."

Sigh.   I don't know how much clearer our daughter could have been.

[magician5]

Has anyone ever heard where people are talking about someone who has passed away, and they talk about how "so-and-so did/was XYZ when they were alive." Why do they feel the need to say "when they were alive"? Unless you believe in zombies or resurrection, wouldn't it be naturally assumed that anything you say about a deceased person would be applied to the time before they became deceased? 

If I were talking about my Mom, I would say "My Mom loved musicals." I wouldn't say "My Mom loved musicals, when she was alive." If her taste had changed during her lifetime, then I would say something like "My Mom loved musicals when she was older," or maybe "My Mom loved listening to musicals up to the day she died." All these phrases either give a fact about my mother and/or put the character trait into chronological context.

Am I just crazy/nitpicking? It just seems strange to my ears when people make a big deal about someone doing something "when they were alive" - when else would the person in question have done it?

So did you ever have the temptation to say "Yes, she really loved musicals when she was alive, but she completely stopped once she was dead"?

[Softly Spoken]

Has anyone ever heard where people are talking about someone who has passed away, and they talk about how "so-and-so did/was XYZ when they were alive." Why do they feel the need to say "when they were alive"? Unless you believe in zombies or resurrection, wouldn't it be naturally assumed that anything you say about a deceased person would be applied to the time before they became deceased? 

If I were talking about my Mom, I would say "My Mom loved musicals." I wouldn't say "My Mom loved musicals, when she was alive." If her taste had changed during her lifetime, then I would say something like "My Mom loved musicals when she was older," or maybe "My Mom loved listening to musicals up to the day she died." All these phrases either give a fact about my mother and/or put the character trait into chronological context.

Am I just crazy/nitpicking? It just seems strange to my ears when people make a big deal about someone doing something "when they were alive" - when else would the person in question have done it?

So did you ever have the temptation to say "Yes, she really loved musicals when she was alive, but she completely stopped once she was dead"?

No, because I personally am comforted by the image of my mother relaxing in heaven and enjoying the soundtrack to R & H's The King and I that the angels provided upon her request.