Absurd requests/demands

[weeblewobble]

This is the story of how I was uninvited from my own trip by a third party.

DH and I go to a tattoo artist about 2 hours away. We are both getting new tattoos, and DH's cousin Billy wants to get one as well. We made an appointment to go see our tattoo guy next month. We asked DH's sister Marie to watch our DS for the day (we will pay her) and I took time off work.

Billy and Marie are close, and apparently Billy told Marie it would be okay if she and DS came along with us. It's completely ridiculous to take a 2-year-old to an all-day tattooing appointment, even if you do have someone there to watch him. And we know that if DH and I are there, Marie won't actually watch DS much at all. There is also a logistics issue, so Marie going was pretty much impossible. [Billy didn't think things through, but he was just clueless.] So DH talked to Marie and explained why it really wouldn't work out. Since she wanted to go along to spend time with DH and Billy, they agreed that they will hang out all together another time. Everything was fine and dandy, until...

DH got a call from Joe, Marie's boyfriend. Joe lit into DH about how it's "just not right" to exclude Marie, how he shouldn't be using her (by paying her $10/hour and a free oil change?), and said that we need to find a way to include her. Remember that this is about logistics as much as the fact that Marie was going to be watching DS.

Finally Joe says, "Well, I'm sure CakeBeret won't mind then." Mind what, you ask? "She'll have to stay home with DS so Marie can go."

Oh no. Oh heck no. This is the trip that *I* planned. The trip that I took time off work for. The trip on which I'm supposed to be getting a tattoo. But Joe thinks I should spend my time off work staying home with DS so Marie can go and hang out. If Marie doesn't want to watch DS, that's fine, we can find another sitter, no problem. But I'm not staying home just so she can go on *my* trip.

DH replied, "You have got to be out of your [expletive] mind." Joe said no he wasn't, it was the only solution. DH hung up on him.

As it turns out, Marie is now furious with Joe for interfering, because she is perfectly fine with not going. She agrees that it's ridiculous to expect me to stay home. So we're proceeding according to plan and everyone except Joe is happy.

While I certainly see while you were so ticked at Billy, I sympathize with Marie in this situation, too.  I once had a "friend" who was "outraged on my behalf" to the point that she took my cell phone and called up my then-boyfriend, now husband and cussed him out.   We'd had one argument (over his coming home for a dance at my high school) and of course, it was while I was hanging out with friends. He plead his case. I grudgingly understood that he wouldn't be able to make it.  We said goodbyes and I quietly went outside to get some air and calm down. (I didn't like drama queen antics and was trying very hard not to cause a scene.)

My friend snatched up my phone, called my BF and screamed at him that he was a horrible boyfriend, who treated me like #@$% and if he didn't drag his butt home to take me to this dance, then I was sure to be able to find some hotter guy who would.  I walked back into the house just as she was detailing her plan to set me up with this mythical hot guy who would sweep me off of my feet.  All I could say was, "Wait, what are you doing?  What the heck are you doing!" and she smiled triumphantly at me and hung up on him.

And she just didn't understand why I wasn't overwhelmed with gratitude. I spent a good three days trying to convince BF that I hadn't put her up to it.  "Friend" then told me that I should go on a date with a friend of hers, just to prove a point to DH and then got upset when I wouldn't.

[turtleIScream]

Several years ago, my husband was transferred for his job. The move was a perfect time to declutter and get rid of baby stuff that we'd been holding onto just in case (our daughter was 6, with little possibility of having a sibling.) We decided to donate items, with some things going to the church nursery, some to the local women's shelter, and others to the thrift store. We held out a few of our favorite items to give to my sister who was pregnant with her second child.

My in-laws helped us sort and transport the items to the various donation sites. We saw everything that left our house and were satisfied everything got to where it should be. Since my sister lived in our destination city, her stuff was stored in our garage to be delivered later. A few days after this, we came home, and found the stack destined for my sister's house significantly depleted. Come to find out, my in-laws saw these great items we weren't using anymore, and promised them to some friends of theirs. They reasoned that since they had bought some of the toys as gifts, they could reclaim them.

One, a gift is a gift. They had absolutely no claim to anything we owned.
Two, even if we accepted their logic, they didn't purchase the items in question!

In the end, we got the items back and they were safely delivered to my sister. My in-laws were not invited to help us with the actual move. Bonus, when our son was born 3 years later, my sister gladly offered to return our items!

[kherbert05]

My church held a charity auction for several groups to receive donations, some even out of the country.  After a bidding war on a lively patterned and boldly colorful quilt, I WON!  And it is now on display in DD's room. 

Yeah, I could have bought something at local StuffMart, but it would not give me warm fuzzies when I see it, or receive compliments from DD's friends.  And it would not have helped others get clean running water.   


back OT-

Would any of you consider a color request from a school for a dance to be absurd?  Say, student council says everyone should wear white or black to the Homecoming Dance?  With two weeks prior notice to buy said dress?  (And shoes, and alterations)

I wouldn't think a color request was rude as long as it was announced with the date of the dance. It can be a fun theme. Just 2 weeks, when most people would have already purchased their outfits - that is unreasonable and the administration should have said no.

[Yarnspinner]

This may be a repeat; I don't THINK I have ever told this story, but I cannot be certain. 

My beloved boss, Stonecold, is all about "getting the money."  No matter the amount offered, she is always about running out to get grants, even if they don't apply to the library, even if they are not for the library, even if (if she wouldjust read the darn thing) they aren't about getting money at all.

So late one Thursday afternoon, she strolls into where I am sitting and hands me information on a grant she wants me to apply for.  Never mind that I have no experience writing grants, never mind that the grant is due at 9 a.m. on Monday morning (and the only way it's going to get there is if someone drives it), never mind that the grant requires me to get the signatures, backgrounds and permissions from several people some of whom I don't know and some of whom I know are out of town and won't be back for two weeks.

Stonecold graciously said that if I would gather the necessary information (names, numbers, population information, demographics, financial statements and so on) SHE would be able to assemble it all over the weekend and would drive it to the place making the grant herself.

I appealed to my then immediate supervisor who basically told me I had to do it.  I appealed  to a former supervisor who immediately threw herself into gathering all the demographic information and financials we would need.  HER staff, who were old pros at grant writing, threw together all the information and wrote it up while I sat down and created a gigantic proposal that would be worth the $25,000 being offered.  I called several groups who would. logically, have partnered with us (a requirement) and they all said "Is she insane?  She KNOWS we have to get in touch with the state chapter before doing anything like this."

My former supervisor called the government office offering the grant and, without saying where we were, explained the situation.  They laughed and said "Well, you are welcome to try."

Finally, I typed everything up that I could, assembled everything I could and answered all the grant questions that I or someone I worked with knew the answers to...and I gave it to Stonecold, reminding her that it all had to be in the main office two hours away on Monday morning. 

Yeah, it never got there.  I never got a response from her, never heard a word.  But that's two days of my life I will never get back.  And she hasn't learned...her latest was to task me with coming up with something "BIG, REALLY BIG" for the Big Read...two weeks before the event is to happen.

This woman still has a job when there are so many more competent, intelligent people looking for work.  It's so unfair.

[gingerzing]

This is the story of how I was uninvited from my own trip by a third party.
<snip>

I've written about this on here before, but someone tried to hijack a trip of mine once too.

A friend and I were going on a shopping trip with a gift card I had won. About a week before this trip was supposed to happen, I got a call from Friend.

"Hey, I was talking to Friend B about our shopping trip, and she needs some things from that store too. Could she come?" I said sure, the more the merrier.
<snip>
I told Friend A that she and Friend B were welcome to go on their own shopping trip, but I was taking my trip in my town, with my gift card, on the day I picked, whether they came or not. Friend B decided that the possibility of free things was worth the inconvenience of a free ride to a different town, came, and pouted when numerous free things, not covered by my one gift card, were not forthcoming.

Minor question, but how on earth did Friend B think that she was getting free stuff from your gift card?  Did Friend B think "Oh, she has a gift card and I am invited...I must be getting stuff from her because she enjoys my presence."   

[Seraphia]

This is the story of how I was uninvited from my own trip by a third party.
<snip>

I've written about this on here before, but someone tried to hijack a trip of mine once too.

A friend and I were going on a shopping trip with a gift card I had won. About a week before this trip was supposed to happen, I got a call from Friend.

"Hey, I was talking to Friend B about our shopping trip, and she needs some things from that store too. Could she come?" I said sure, the more the merrier.
<snip>
I told Friend A that she and Friend B were welcome to go on their own shopping trip, but I was taking my trip in my town, with my gift card, on the day I picked, whether they came or not. Friend B decided that the possibility of free things was worth the inconvenience of a free ride to a different town, came, and pouted when numerous free things, not covered by my one gift card, were not forthcoming.

Minor question, but how on earth did Friend B think that she was getting free stuff from your gift card?  Did Friend B think "Oh, she has a gift card and I am invited...I must be getting stuff from her because she enjoys my presence."   

No idea. I would have been willing to share the balance of the card, but she decided she didn't want anything from that store. She tried hinting that I should buy her something from a *different* store instead, since she didn't like the gift card store. Alas, I don't speak hint.

[CakeBeret]

This is the story of how I was uninvited from my own trip by a third party.

DH and I go to a tattoo artist about 2 hours away. We are both getting new tattoos, and DH's cousin Billy wants to get one as well. We made an appointment to go see our tattoo guy next month. We asked DH's sister Marie to watch our DS for the day (we will pay her) and I took time off work.

Billy and Marie are close, and apparently Billy told Marie it would be okay if she and DS came along with us. It's completely ridiculous to take a 2-year-old to an all-day tattooing appointment, even if you do have someone there to watch him. And we know that if DH and I are there, Marie won't actually watch DS much at all. There is also a logistics issue, so Marie going was pretty much impossible. [Billy didn't think things through, but he was just clueless.] So DH talked to Marie and explained why it really wouldn't work out. Since she wanted to go along to spend time with DH and Billy, they agreed that they will hang out all together another time. Everything was fine and dandy, until...

DH got a call from Joe, Marie's boyfriend. Joe lit into DH about how it's "just not right" to exclude Marie, how he shouldn't be using her (by paying her $10/hour and a free oil change?), and said that we need to find a way to include her. Remember that this is about logistics as much as the fact that Marie was going to be watching DS.

Finally Joe says, "Well, I'm sure CakeBeret won't mind then." Mind what, you ask? "She'll have to stay home with DS so Marie can go."

Oh no. Oh heck no. This is the trip that *I* planned. The trip that I took time off work for. The trip on which I'm supposed to be getting a tattoo. But Joe thinks I should spend my time off work staying home with DS so Marie can go and hang out. If Marie doesn't want to watch DS, that's fine, we can find another sitter, no problem. But I'm not staying home just so she can go on *my* trip.

DH replied, "You have got to be out of your [expletive] mind." Joe said no he wasn't, it was the only solution. DH hung up on him.

As it turns out, Marie is now furious with Joe for interfering, because she is perfectly fine with not going. She agrees that it's ridiculous to expect me to stay home. So we're proceeding according to plan and everyone except Joe is happy.

While I certainly see while you were so ticked at Billy, I sympathize with Marie in this situation, too.  I once had a "friend" who was "outraged on my behalf" to the point that she took my cell phone and called up my then-boyfriend, now husband and cussed him out.   We'd had one argument (over his coming home for a dance at my high school) and of course, it was while I was hanging out with friends. He plead his case. I grudgingly understood that he wouldn't be able to make it.  We said goodbyes and I quietly went outside to get some air and calm down. (I didn't like drama queen antics and was trying very hard not to cause a scene.)

My friend snatched up my phone, called my BF and screamed at him that he was a horrible boyfriend, who treated me like #@$% and if he didn't drag his butt home to take me to this dance, then I was sure to be able to find some hotter guy who would.  I walked back into the house just as she was detailing her plan to set me up with this mythical hot guy who would sweep me off of my feet.  All I could say was, "Wait, what are you doing?  What the heck are you doing!" and she smiled triumphantly at me and hung up on him.

And she just didn't understand why I wasn't overwhelmed with gratitude. I spent a good three days trying to convince BF that I hadn't put her up to it.  "Friend" then told me that I should go on a date with a friend of hers, just to prove a point to DH and then got upset when I wouldn't.

I most definitely don't hold it against Marie. She was truly distressed that Joe had made a production on her behalf. I put a tiny bit of blame on Billy, and the rest squarely on Joe.

[SheltieMom]

I made a quilt for my daughter when she was a toddler. It had hand-embroidered pictures, and was completely hand quilted. I spent more than 2 years working on it. I entered it in the Texas State Fair (and won a blue ribbon!). I had one person offer me $100 for it, and another ask me to donate it "to a family who lost everything in a house fire". I spent more than $100 on materials, and really can't imagine why another family would want a quilt with my daughter's name embroidered on it.

[camlan]

At my sister's church, a man suggested that the ladies of the church should make quilts for the needy. One of the ladies suggested that, instead, they could make a top-quality quilt and raffle it off to buy blankets for the needy. He just couldn't figure out why the women wouldn't want to donate hours and hours of time and hundreds of dollars of materials, to give a quilt to someone instead of a $35 blanket.

I think some people believe that all quilts are made from cast-off clothing, like in the "olden days," and therefore the materials are free. And the quilters are just sewing in their spare time, as busywork, so no value gets attached to the handsewing, either. And it's just pieces of cloth sewed together. How complicated or time consuming could that possibly be?

Let me hasten to add that I am not one of those people.

[VorFemme]

There will be an international quilt festival the first few days of November 2012 in Houston, Texas.  Thousands of people will be here from all over the world to look at "pieces of cloth that someone just sewed together in their spare time" and will pay good money to park their cars in downtown Houston (seriously - the price of a parking spot will more than triple in various places) within walking distance of the convention center.

Which will be FULL.  Seriously - the entire place will have a dining area, a sales area, and a display area of quilts ranging from made for quilt magazine contests which are being judged that week & announced during the festival to antiques a century or more old belonging to museums, collectors, and magazine & book publishers (the book or possibly the latest issue of the magazine will be for sale to one side of the exhibit). 

There will be fabric, batting, quilt frames of all kinds, needles, thread, machines, stencils, wooden thread racks, patterns, odds & ends that you wouldn't think about but make sense (nail files so your broken nail won't snag a stitch, hand lotion that leaves no marks on fabric, SILK & woool batting, gold & platinum hand quilting needles that won't tarnish or etch from the acids of your skin - I am not kidding, antiques related to sewing & quilting, and special chairs & desks).  As well as areas to make something to take home, teachers with workshops, and even a tv area with sports games for spouses who don't want to wander around a convention center that takes up an entire city block....

And there will be people complaining that they didn't get to SEE EVERYTHING after it starts late Wednesday and closes down Sunday around dinner time.......even if they've been there all day, every day, and TRIED to see everything.

I've worked there twice and I gave up on seeing everything - even if I'm there before hanging quilts and after taking down quilts & packing them for shipping to the next exhibit, storage, or "home" to the quilter.  But it sure is fun trying!

There will even be quilts for sale - but the prices usually start closer to $1000 USA than $100 - and the prize winners can go for a lot more than that.  Some of the quilts won't be for sale - but the maker will be happy to teach a class or two & sell you a pattern so that you can make YOUR version at home!

[Doll Fiend]

*Sigh* And now you made me wish I could go. And I don't quilt. Or at least haven't in years.

[Acadianna]

gold & platinum hand quilting needles that won't tarnish or etch from the acids of your skin - I am not kidding

For some of us, these kinds of needles really are a necessity.  My hands perspire a fair amount, especially when doing needlework (where the hand is often semi-closed, which can make the problem worse).  This causes a reaction with steel needles, leaving tarnish and even corrosion, which could ruin the fabric.  Many years ago, my mother, who was part owner of a needlepoint shop, recommended the gold needles, and I've used them ever since.

[VorFemme]

gold & platinum hand quilting needles that won't tarnish or etch from the acids of your skin - I am not kidding

For some of us, these kinds of needles really are a necessity.  My hands perspire a fair amount, especially when doing needlework (where the hand is often semi-closed, which can make the problem worse).  This causes a reaction with steel needles, leaving tarnish and even corrosion, which could ruin the fabric.  Many years ago, my mother, who was part owner of a needlepoint shop, recommended the gold needles, and I've used them ever since.

I mentioned them because I had to find them when doing counted cross stitch - I have acid skin myself.

I wore off the gold plate on several while I was cross stitching.....wonder where I put them?  We've moved two or three times since the last time I did a lot of counted cross stitch (long story involving new baby, new house to unpack to, new house again, new job, and then getting house ready to sell.....and now I need to sort out THIS house again - it got away from me during a medical flare up).

[SheltieMom]

I would love to see that show! FYI, Hobby Lobby sells gold plated needles. I also found my favorite quilting needles there--short beading needles! They are very fine, and go through layers of cloth easily. My current project is a LeMoyne star, with split points. There are 32 layers of fabric at the center of the stars, and the fine needles are the best I've found.

[kajunchick]

Is that quilt show an annual thing? Because I think I may have just planned next year's vacation!

Back on topic, we get some pretty absurd requests at work. I work for a water utility company, and one person called to complain that we sent her a late notice. Her payment was received a day late, but "we should have known that she always pays her bill!" Those notices are automatically generated if there is an unpaid balance on the account.

And then there was the woman who wanted to know why she didn't have any hot water...