Special Snowflake Stories

[Kimblee]

The rat was actually fine - he had a rabbit-sized water bottle, and the last time he'd been fed apparently the entire bag of his food had just been dumped in there, so he wasn't hungry at all.  Sorry that I forgot to mention that.  Unfortunately, due to my cats, and the fact that this guy was sleeping in my living room, the rat really didn't get to come out much while he lived here - I personally have a policy of not adopting pets my cats think of as potential snacks.

I had a friend, a teacher, who had guinea pigs in her classroom. She had to bring them home for breaks, and her cat was fascinated. The cat would watch the guinea pigs, but when she got a chance to interact with them, there was no prey instinct; the cat would groom them, and play with them like a mama cat and her kittens. We joked that the guinea pigs were the cat's pets.
The guinea pigs lived to a ripe old age, and the cat was obviously mournful when they passed.

My stepmom had guinea pigs when I moved in with my cat, Alphonse the Rodent Killer. (She earned the name, even the vet puts it on her papers.) At the time the cavies were in a rubbermaid type container with no top and I honestly didn't think about how Alphonse would react to chubby, succulent little yummies...

But this story has a happy ending. She just tried to nurse them... repeatedly. And groomed them. Tried carrying them like kittens but they squealed and she deciuded her "sick, stupid kittens" were too delicate to be moved so she moved on to dropping bits of cat kibble in the cage. When she brought them (most of) a mouse, we got them a wire cage.

The cavies are gone now (both were old when I moved in) but Alphonse still hasn't forgiven us for "seperating" her from "her kittens." She raised a few litters and was always an excellent mother, whether to kittens, guinea pigs or beanie babies.

[greencat]

It seems that due to their size and shape, female cats often mistake guinea pigs for kittens.

I encountered a special parking lot snowflake - I was the passenger in the car, and as we passed directly behind a vehicle in a parking space, they started to back out - and just kept coming like we weren't there.  The driver of the car I was in had to engage in evasive maneuvers. 

[Mental Magpie]

It seems that due to their size and shape, female cats often mistake guinea pigs for kittens.

I encountered a special parking lot snowflake - I was the passenger in the car, and as we passed directly behind a vehicle in a parking space, they started to back out - and just kept coming like we weren't there.  The driver of the car I was in had to engage in evasive maneuvers.

I wouldn't call that SS, just completely and unsafely unaware of surroundings and unobservant.

[greencat]

It seems that due to their size and shape, female cats often mistake guinea pigs for kittens.

I encountered a special parking lot snowflake - I was the passenger in the car, and as we passed directly behind a vehicle in a parking space, they started to back out - and just kept coming like we weren't there.  The driver of the car I was in had to engage in evasive maneuvers.

I wouldn't call that SS, just completely and unsafely unaware of surroundings and unobservant.

I would have too, if they hadn't honked at us!

[Mental Magpie]

It seems that due to their size and shape, female cats often mistake guinea pigs for kittens.

I encountered a special parking lot snowflake - I was the passenger in the car, and as we passed directly behind a vehicle in a parking space, they started to back out - and just kept coming like we weren't there.  The driver of the car I was in had to engage in evasive maneuvers.

I wouldn't call that SS, just completely and unsafely unaware of surroundings and unobservant.

Wha?  Yeah, SS...honking at your for nearly running into you.

I would have too, if they hadn't honked at us!

[VorFemme]

Parking lot at the extension campus for two local colleges, where I was dropping off my son on the way to the gym.

There are signs up saying that there is a four way stop sign - but white barrier poles now block off two of the four options - the FIFTH lane has no stop sign and is the entry from the main road into the campus - you have to take it to get to the parking areas.

Unobservant or a SS, either way, I was coming in without a stop sign & they stopped then pulled out in front of me and honked (yes, there was a gesture - but it was more a fist shaking than a shooting of the bird) at me.  Again - I had no stop sign.  I also had no part in the "design" of the parking lot.

No Vulcans involved in the layout, or there wouldn't have been the confusion with five "lanes" and four stop signs, even if two were blocked off by barrier poles........

[rain]

Whereas when the girls had gerbils, Kirk would watch them and drool.  He was always trying to get the cover off the aquarium where they lived.  He never figured out why hooking his claws in the mesh and lifting didn't work.  Might have had something to do with his chubby butt sitting on the other half of the cover...

gerbils look like wild rats - I discovered this in college .....

[KenveeB]

Parking lot at the extension campus for two local colleges, where I was dropping off my son on the way to the gym.

There are signs up saying that there is a four way stop sign - but white barrier poles now block off two of the four options - the FIFTH lane has no stop sign and is the entry from the main road into the campus - you have to take it to get to the parking areas.

Unobservant or a SS, either way, I was coming in without a stop sign & they stopped then pulled out in front of me and honked (yes, there was a gesture - but it was more a fist shaking than a shooting of the bird) at me.  Again - I had no stop sign.  I also had no part in the "design" of the parking lot.

No Vulcans involved in the layout, or there wouldn't have been the confusion with five "lanes" and four stop signs, even if two were blocked off by barrier poles........

I really despise intersections that aren't all-way stops. Any time I encounter one, someone can't figure it out. Whether it's the people not yielding to the ones without a stop sign, or the people stopping even though they don't have a sign and confusing everyone else. Siiigh.

[marcel]

Parking lot at the extension campus for two local colleges, where I was dropping off my son on the way to the gym.

There are signs up saying that there is a four way stop sign - but white barrier poles now block off two of the four options - the FIFTH lane has no stop sign and is the entry from the main road into the campus - you have to take it to get to the parking areas.

Unobservant or a SS, either way, I was coming in without a stop sign & they stopped then pulled out in front of me and honked (yes, there was a gesture - but it was more a fist shaking than a shooting of the bird) at me.  Again - I had no stop sign.  I also had no part in the "design" of the parking lot.

No Vulcans involved in the layout, or there wouldn't have been the confusion with five "lanes" and four stop signs, even if two were blocked off by barrier poles........

I really despise intersections that aren't all-way stops. Any time I encounter one, someone can't figure it out. Whether it's the people not yielding to the ones without a stop sign, or the people stopping even though they don't have a sign and confusing everyone else. Siiigh.

Maybe I am not understanding this, and maybe the rules are different there, but over here, traffic from an exit of a parking lot or private area always has to yield, and to me it seems like VorFemme was on one such exit.


KenVee, since coming from a country where we do not have them I actually tend to despise four-way stops. They are not even possible here, because the meaning of the stop-sign precludes the posibility of a four-way stop. I must say that I mostly despise them, because you get right of way by arrival time, which I find very confusing, because over here, the right of way is always by the person coming from the right. Due to this, I am always afraid to go on four-way stops in the US, when a person coming from the right yields to me.

[VorFemme]

Parking lot at the extension campus for two local colleges, where I was dropping off my son on the way to the gym.

There are signs up saying that there is a four way stop sign - but white barrier poles now block off two of the four options - the FIFTH lane has no stop sign and is the entry from the main road into the campus - you have to take it to get to the parking areas.

Unobservant or a SS, either way, I was coming in without a stop sign & they stopped then pulled out in front of me and honked (yes, there was a gesture - but it was more a fist shaking than a shooting of the bird) at me.  Again - I had no stop sign.  I also had no part in the "design" of the parking lot.

No Vulcans involved in the layout, or there wouldn't have been the confusion with five "lanes" and four stop signs, even if two were blocked off by barrier poles........

I really despise intersections that aren't all-way stops. Any time I encounter one, someone can't figure it out. Whether it's the people not yielding to the ones without a stop sign, or the people stopping even though they don't have a sign and confusing everyone else. Siiigh.

Maybe I am not understanding this, and maybe the rules are different there, but over here, traffic from an exit of a parking lot or private area always has to yield, and to me it seems like VorFemme was on one such exit.


KenVee, since coming from a country where we do not have them I actually tend to despise four-way stops. They are not even possible here, because the meaning of the stop-sign precludes the posibility of a four-way stop. I must say that I mostly despise them, because you get right of way by arrival time, which I find very confusing, because over here, the right of way is always by the person coming from the right. Due to this, I am always afraid to go on four-way stops in the US, when a person coming from the right yields to me.

They were exiting the parking lot - I was in the lane for incoming traffic that is going to the parking area (hence, no stop sign for me).  They were to my right - but had a stop sign, since I had no sign - I had the right of way.

[Kaora]

Come to find out, one of our city council candidates is a little... special.  Or nuts.

Apparently, he keeps a property full of hazardous chemicals, has moved some of them onto neighboring houses land, and keeps a yard full of dozens of peafowl!

...Fun thing is, everyone in MyCity thinks our current council is a joke, so if they knew of this, they might vote for him just to make a point.

Welcome to Redneckville, population, a LOT of peacocks.

[Jess13]

Parking lot at the extension campus for two local colleges, where I was dropping off my son on the way to the gym.

There are signs up saying that there is a four way stop sign - but white barrier poles now block off two of the four options - the FIFTH lane has no stop sign and is the entry from the main road into the campus - you have to take it to get to the parking areas.

Unobservant or a SS, either way, I was coming in without a stop sign & they stopped then pulled out in front of me and honked (yes, there was a gesture - but it was more a fist shaking than a shooting of the bird) at me.  Again - I had no stop sign.  I also had no part in the "design" of the parking lot.

No Vulcans involved in the layout, or there wouldn't have been the confusion with five "lanes" and four stop signs, even if two were blocked off by barrier poles........

I really despise intersections that aren't all-way stops. Any time I encounter one, someone can't figure it out. Whether it's the people not yielding to the ones without a stop sign, or the people stopping even though they don't have a sign and confusing everyone else. Siiigh.

This is why there are obnoxious neon yellow signs on the 3 stops signs of a 4 way intersection near my house that remind people "Oncoming traffic does not stop" or something like that.

[HoneyBee42]

Parking lot at the extension campus for two local colleges, where I was dropping off my son on the way to the gym.

There are signs up saying that there is a four way stop sign - but white barrier poles now block off two of the four options - the FIFTH lane has no stop sign and is the entry from the main road into the campus - you have to take it to get to the parking areas.

Unobservant or a SS, either way, I was coming in without a stop sign & they stopped then pulled out in front of me and honked (yes, there was a gesture - but it was more a fist shaking than a shooting of the bird) at me.  Again - I had no stop sign.  I also had no part in the "design" of the parking lot.

No Vulcans involved in the layout, or there wouldn't have been the confusion with five "lanes" and four stop signs, even if two were blocked off by barrier poles........

I really despise intersections that aren't all-way stops. Any time I encounter one, someone can't figure it out. Whether it's the people not yielding to the ones without a stop sign, or the people stopping even though they don't have a sign and confusing everyone else. Siiigh.

This is why there are obnoxious neon yellow signs on the 3 stops signs of a 4 way intersection near my house that remind people "Oncoming traffic does not stop" or something like that.

Yes, I used to live in a city where one of the top 10 intersections for # of accidents was a 2-way stop with multiple signs on the street where traffic was supposed to stop warning that the other street's traffic did not stop.

The North-South street had no stop sign.  I believe this was due to the fact that it was a serious hill (and neither top nor bottom of hill, for that matter) in a city which gets an average of 120 inches (yes, 10 feet) of snow per winter.  The East-West street cut across this hill without having any real slope to contend with.

Inevitably, the quote from the E-W street driver after the accident would be something on the order of the N-S street driver didn't stop.

I mention the hill aspect because that's almost certainly why they didn't just make it a 4-way to reduce accidents.  Only problem was that there, winter snows tended to last from October to April, which is rather a lot of the year to risk not being able to start moving again due to road conditions (if you were going uphill and had to stop).

[Miriam]

I may just be typing as a point of frustration, but I'm sure this person in my online course is a SS.

A week before class began, our professor sent a chain letter explaining another professor had passed away and the class would open later than intended. Somehow the school planned to mesh all of the deceased professor's class into our online forum (which totals enrollment above 300 students). The first day of courses a student e-mailed EVERYONE in a panic (sent a mass e-mail to 300+ people) begging for help looking for the class online:
-WHHYYY can't I find da course?!?!?!
-Hello?? Any1 else lost? This class lost me! Help me!

What happened to e-mail etiquette? All I did was forward a copy of the professor's e-mail to her and leave it alone. Since class opened, I have received no less than six or seven e-mails from this person A DAY.
-HELPPP ME!!! Where is our HoMeWoRk?
-N E 1 else super confused??? Our teach must not know what he's doing, I'm paying Goood $$$ to be in da class and this is TERRBLE service.

I wish I was lying about the content of these e-mails. They are daily, they are awfully stupid, and I can't block them and the professor is just too busy handling 300+ students to deal with this one. I'm very tempted to write back how she shouldn't be taking an online course if she can't figure out the basics of even opening a folder (clearly labeled HOMEWORK once you enter the class). It's been obnoxious, why would she think someone could hold her hand throughout the entire thing? It's been four class weeks, so either someone in the mass is helping her or she's being ignored; I've only seen two drops and she didn't yet....

[greencat]

Just start replying to her e-mails with "Nope.  Perhaps you should drop the class, since you tell us all every day that you can't handle it."