Special Snowflake Stories

[ladyknight1]

Guys, I think we're being a bit harsh about the breast cancer campaigns here. The fantastic survival rate for breast cancer exists *because* someone, somewhere, cared enough and was effective enough to start a juggernaut. I don't think it's their fault that some people are so foolish as to think that means it's the 'worst' cancer or the only cause deserving of donations. Nowhere ever have I seen a breast cancer campaign that suggested that.

Of course, I'm in a different country to most of you so maybe your campaigns are different. Personally I'm not involved in the campaign nor do I donate specifically to breast cancer research but I do admire the success that a bunch of really organised and dedicated people have achieved. I hope that the relatively young prostate cancer campaigns enjoy equal success.

I just think it's amusing to see a sea of pink, even in places where it shouldn't logically be.

I will admit that I'm not a fan of the pink Then again I wasn't a fan of the way my husband looked when he did Movember either. I believe he raised a lot of extra money by informing people that his wife refused to kiss him while he looked like that

Now I know what Movember is!

[SpottedPony]

 I know that there are some fanfic writers who just don't understand that posting complete chapters of a published authors work is wrong, even if they mention at the beginning that the story belongs to someone else. 

There was the misplaced Tamara Pierce posting by someone who couldn't find her category and was thinking she was promoting Tamara Pierce by posting one of her works.  I pointed out that the author wouldn't thank her for posting her work where it could be read for free rather than buying the book.  It was taken down.

Another time I clicked on a Mercedes Lackey story that looked interesting, to find it sounded awfully familiar.  It was a chapter from one of Mercedes Lackey's published books, and wasn't even a good introduction to the fanfic writer's story, which the fanfic author apparently never posted if indeed she ever wrote it.  I pointed out to her about how that wasn't a good idea and that she should just start with her story. 

I have a story where I'll be using direct quotes from the author's work, the character will be remembering past conversations, but I intend to state at the start that I will be doing this and will try and set them off in some way, bold/italic, so that the reader will know that it isn't my work. 

Spotted Pony

[StuffedGrapeLeaves]

As some of you may know, New Jersey has a gas rationing going on right now where cars with license numbers that end up with odd numbers alternate days with license numbers that end up in even numbers.  Today is the odd-number day. 

I was getting my gas filled when I saw a car get pulled out of the line by a police car.  It has a license number that ends in an even number, so today is not the day it can get gas.  The driver and the police ended up not far from me, and he was arguing with the policeman that it was against his constitutional right to deny him gas, and why should he listen to the governor, etc, etc.  Needless to say, the police officer was unmoved.  The police officer told the driver that if he shut up now, he could go without a ticket.  Of course the "smart" driver kept arguing, so he got a ticket.  What a special snowflake!

[nutraxfornerves]

The driver seems to have missed the clause in the constitution that says "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States," and assumed that he had been granted one.

[siamesecat2965]

As some of you may know, New Jersey has a gas rationing going on right now where cars with license numbers that end up with odd numbers alternate days with license numbers that end up in even numbers.  Today is the odd-number day. 

I was getting my gas filled when I saw a car get pulled out of the line by a police car.  It has a license number that ends in an even number, so today is not the day it can get gas.  The driver and the police ended up not far from me, and he was arguing with the policeman that it was against his constitutional right to deny him gas, and why should he listen to the governor, etc, etc.  Needless to say, the police officer was unmoved.  The police officer told the driver that if he shut up now, he could go without a ticket.  Of course the "smart" driver kept arguing, so he got a ticket.  What a special snowflake!

GOOD! I got gas today without incident, and a short wait.  Idiots like that make the rest of us look back 

[Wulfie]

BG: The apartment building I manage has 3 commercial tenants managed by another company on part of the ground floor. There is a back hallway with a bathroom and some storage areas in back and there is an alarmed fire door going from their area into the lobby of the apartments.  One of the businesses is a tutoring center run by a small non-profit in the area.  We have had ongoing issues with them letting the kids run through the back hallway unsupervised and without rules. They scream and play in the hallway as if it was a playground and they have set off the door alarm more times than I can count.
I get a call from their property manager telling me that they need me to go in right away and reset the alarm on the fire door.  The noise is disturbing the student’s studies. Turns out that the kids were playing in the hallway AGAIN and they were using the fire door as “base” in a game of tag and set it off.

I explained to her that I was not in the area but that she could call my office number, choose the option for the call center and they would dispatch the key holder who lives in the building and could come down right away and reset it. Nope, she wants me to come in and do it. If we do not have the alarm shut off within 15 minutes that she would be filing a complaint with the city for failure to respond to a false alarm on premises. Never mind that she KNOWS that the kids from the tutoring center set off the alarm and she knows that she is supposed to call the call center for issues like this. She went online and found my personal phone number and called me at home.  I called the key holder and had him go reset the alarm. He had just finished doing it as the tenant who lives next to the door had already called it in.

Yes, my boss knows and no, it is NOT acceptable nor is it the first time she has done this! She did it a couple of times with the prior manager.  My boss is calling her boss today to let her know how unacceptable this is. My boss is livid that the manager called me at home and will be making sure that this does not happen again. 

[weeblewobble]

Guys, I think we're being a bit harsh about the breast cancer campaigns here. The fantastic survival rate for breast cancer exists *because* someone, somewhere, cared enough and was effective enough to start a juggernaut. I don't think it's their fault that some people are so foolish as to think that means it's the 'worst' cancer or the only cause deserving of donations. Nowhere ever have I seen a breast cancer campaign that suggested that.

Of course, I'm in a different country to most of you so maybe your campaigns are different. Personally I'm not involved in the campaign nor do I donate specifically to breast cancer research but I do admire the success that a bunch of really organised and dedicated people have achieved. I hope that the relatively young prostate cancer campaigns enjoy equal success.

I just think it's amusing to see a sea of pink, even in places where it shouldn't logically be.

I will admit that I'm not a fan of the pink Then again I wasn't a fan of the way my husband looked when he did Movember either. I believe he raised a lot of extra money by informing people that his wife refused to kiss him while he looked like that

Now I know what Movember is!

My husband is doing that right now. I thought, awesome, I love him with facial hair.  But because of dress codes at his workplace, he can only grow a mustache.  I'd only see him with goatees or beards.  With a mustache, he looks like the dad from Twilight.  It's a little off-putting.

[gramma dishes]

...   One of the businesses is a tutoring center run by a small non-profit in the area.  We have had ongoing issues with them letting the kids run through the back hallway unsupervised and without rules. They scream and play in the hallway as if it was a playground and they have set off the door alarm more times than I can count.  ...

I do realize that your issue is with the property manager, but what's with that Tutoring Center?  If these problems with the kids totally misbehaving virtually all the time has not been addressed by them, I'd cut their lease off at the earliest possible moment.  What kind of tutors just let the kids run wild and unsupervised?  If they can't control their students any better than that it's hard to believe that there's much actual teaching/learning going on. 

What if one of those kids becomes badly injured?  What if someday there really IS a fire and the fire department just ignores it on the 'boy who cried wolf' basis?  That's really a dangerous situation.  I know we aren't allowed to discuss legalities on here, but that's just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Wulfie]

Unfortunately as their lease is with the other company and not my company I can't do a darn thing about it.  Their management agency is a joke and as long as the commercial tenants pay their rent, they don't really enforce many of the other rules. We had to get the fire department to come in and have them cited as they had the elevator equipment room blocked.   Here in Seattle terminating a lease is next to impossible unless the tenant is willing to go. You can't simply not renew a lease, you have to get a court ordered eviction.

We have brought up the same issues last summer when they had a summer camp where the kids were dropped off as early as 6am. They were running and screaming through the hallways and more than once I came in at 7am to the door alarm going off.  The response from the tutoring company was that their culture (Northern Africa) doesn't allow discipline of the children before the age of 7.

[EMuir]

Pink ALL of the things!

I just saw pink kitty litter. Where will it end?

My favorite traffic special snowflake: Someone stopped in the left turn lane while the light is green, signalling right because they accidentally went left and want to change their mind, but traffic is moving too quickly to let them back into the lane they want. Extra points if they do this while their lane's flashing left arrow is on.  JUST GO AROUND THE BLOCK.

[LB]

I had kind of an amusing Special Snowflake today. While I can sympathize with her, I just couldn't give her what she was asking for.

I answer phone calls and act as a central operator for a mental health treatment clinic. I normally just schedule appointments, and transfer calls to voicemails (because counselors are usually meeting with clients). But if a person calls in crisis I can get them in touch with a counselor over the phone.
 
A lady called today wanting to talk to somebody about how to deal with her mother in law. I told her if she had an emergency situation, I could certainly connect her with someone right away, otherwise, I could schedule an appointment for her to come in.

She got upset that I wouldn't just transfer her to someone to talk to for about "how to deal" with her mother in law. I repeated the above information, adding that all the other counselors were in meetings with clients, and if she were speaking with a crisis counselor, it would make that person unavailable for other calls. We don't have counselors available just to take non-emergency calls from people who are not clients. I offered again to make her an appointment.

She replied "Thanks for nothing!" and hung up on me.

The reasons she needed advice for dealing with her mother in law? "She's nosy, and at dinner last night she picked out of a serving dish with her fingers."

What I really wanted to tell her: " I know this great website, where you can get lots of great advice!"
 

[Virg]

Wulfie wrote:

"Unfortunately as their lease is with the other company and not my company I can't do a darn thing about it.  Their management agency is a joke and as long as the commercial tenants pay their rent, they don't really enforce many of the other rules. We had to get the fire department to come in and have them cited as they had the elevator equipment room blocked.   Here in Seattle terminating a lease is next to impossible unless the tenant is willing to go. You can't simply not renew a lease, you have to get a court ordered eviction."

Put a surveillance camera pointing at the door, and then charge the management company a fee every time the alarm needs to be deactivated for a false alarm.  I'd bet that their management company will deal with the problem when it starts costing them money.

Virg

[doodlemor]

...   One of the businesses is a tutoring center run by a small non-profit in the area.  We have had ongoing issues with them letting the kids run through the back hallway unsupervised and without rules. They scream and play in the hallway as if it was a playground and they have set off the door alarm more times than I can count.  ...

I do realize that your issue is with the property manager, but what's with that Tutoring Center?  If these problems with the kids totally misbehaving virtually all the time has not been addressed by them, I'd cut their lease off at the earliest possible moment.  What kind of tutors just let the kids run wild and unsupervised?  If they can't control their students any better than that it's hard to believe that there's much actual teaching/learning going on. 

What if one of those kids becomes badly injured?  What if someday there really IS a fire and the fire department just ignores it on the 'boy who cried wolf' basis?  That's really a dangerous situation.  I know we aren't allowed to discuss legalities on here, but that's just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

This concerns me greatly, too.  It seems like there must be somebody you could report this to, before something terrible happens to those unsupervised children. 

When the accident happens, the parents are going to be looking for people to sue.  You need to cover yourself, and your company.  Make sure that you have some sort of documentation.

I love Virg's idea, too.  Paying for their problems will likely get their attention.  A camera in the hallway will show exactly what if going on there.

[Cat-Fu]

I had the pleasure of nearly hitting a Special Snowflake this morning. I was driving along an almost-highway and approaching an intersection (with a green light). I note that there's a gentleman who is considering crossing the street without using either the crosswalk or pushing the cross button to at least get the lights in his favor. Instead, he makes eye contact with me as I am driving down the left lane at 40mph and then RUNS across the right lane.

TBH, the jaywalking wouldn't have bothered me at all (hey, it's Boston), but when his feet touched the left lane, he apparently ran completely out of energy and made the rest of his crossing at a slow walk, despite the fact that I was hurtling toward him at a fairly high speed. Luckily my foot was already on the brakes because I anticipated some idiodicy. I was able to see his smirk in my peripheral view as I passed him.

[dinvancouver]

I just had a fanfic-related case.  I checked my emails this morning, and found a PM in my inbox that said, "If you don't finish this story by the end of the week, I'll finish it for you."  It's the same person who threatened to falsely report my unfinished stories to get them removed from the site.  *sigh* I thought I was done dealing with this loonie.    Just reported her (at least, I think it's a her by the SN) to the website for harassment, and hopefully that will be that...

Are you over on fanfiction.net?  I've had the comment thing happen to me.  It's one of the reasons that I've left the site and am over on the Ao3 now.

Off topic....thank you x 10!
I just spent 3 hours on Ao3
So maybe I shouldn't be thanking you. Kidding!! 
Are there any other super secret good fanfic sites?
Now I must resist until AFTER surgery so I have stuff to read.