Special Snowflake Stories

[Glaceon]

One of my downstairs neighbors must be one of these.  He's been putting out food for the deer for months now, and I tolerated it when he was putting it out by the treeline, about 100 feet away.  Once winter arrived he started moving closer and closer to the building.  A few weeks ago I looked out my balcony door (I live on the third floor) and saw at least 15 deer congregating right behind the building.  I went out on my balcony and saw they were all eating from a huge pile of food on the patio directly out of my neighbor's back door.

Feeding deer is illegal in this state (at least this part of it).  Not only that, I don't think it's a very kind thing to do to the deer, as letting them get that close runs the risk of getting them acclimated to people.  Besides, I've seen and heard enough of these animals crashing through doors and windows that I don't think they should be that close to the building. 

I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  I called the office so they could give him the heads up that he can't do that.  For awhile it stopped.  Then last week he was doing it again.  So I called the DNR.  They wrote up a report and said they'd send someone out.  I don't know if they came or not, but today there were two more huge food piles, and a huge herd of deer coming right up to the building.  I called them again, plus took a picture just in case.

[Yarnspinner]

Loving this thread!

My Special Snowflakes were patrons  at the library branch where I was a children's librarian.

The first summer I was at that branch, we had children's crafts every wednesday at 2 p.m.  It was a first come, first serve program and we only had room to accomodate 20 kids.  If you didn't arrive at 2 p.m., you generally didn't get in.  And since WE paid for a lot of the crafting material ourselves, there wasn't a lot of left overs.  We spent a lot of our time cutting out the shapes to be used in the craft and making up little kits for the kids who came.

One patron would bring her children to the craft and squeak in under the 2 p.m. wire, so they would get in and get their craft materials.  One week she didn't show up at 2 and at 2:15, there were two other children who wanted to do crafts, so we left them go in.

Special Snowflake Mommy showed up at quarter to three and was screaming that there were two children in her kids ' places!  "We walk down here every week!  You KNOW that!"

Yes, we knew that, but SHE knew that it was first come first served.  Period. 

"Well, all right.  Just give me MY kid's craft kits and we'll go home and do them."

Uh, no.  There are craft kits for twenty kids and there are twenty kids in there right now.  Ergo, no more craft kits. 

"WE COME EVERY WEEK AND YOU SHOULD HAVE SAVED THOSE KITS FOR US!"

My boss and I got blessed out nine ways to Sunday and she managed to slip in that we were racists, too, despite the fact that all of the other twenty kids and parents in the room looked like HER and her children.

Flash forward almost ten years and I am STILL dealing with this woman's massive ego, except now she calls the main library to demand that she be allowed to take out more DVDs and Videos than anyone else. 

Turns out, she also was coming to the downtown library and complaining about everything that was wrong with it and how bad things were.

We all love her husband who has the patience of a saint AND her kids who are all lovely and who are all embarrassed by their mother.

I'd like to believe it's mental illness, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Clara Bow]

Hmm, I wonder when Specialus Snowflakus migration season is . . .

I dunno, but the main migratory path must run through Central Florida.

And your acronymization just made Mountain Dew (or Mtn Dw as it now seems to call itself) come out of my nose.

Speaking as a gal who currently lives and works in Orlando, Florida... all statistical and anecdotal evidence as well as eyewitness observations indicates that your hypothesis is sound, Professor!

Ah, Florida.  The personalities our state draws...

The truly terrifying ones are up in the northern part of the state with me....trust me. We get what Alabama and Georgia throws out. Our WalMarts are an experiment in mental terrorism.
And don't get me going on the disaster that is PCB.

[JocelynCS]

Hmm, I wonder when Specialus Snowflakus migration season is . . .

I dunno, but the main migratory path must run through Central Florida.

And your acronymization just made Mountain Dew (or Mtn Dw as it now seems to call itself) come out of my nose.

Speaking as a gal who currently lives and works in Orlando, Florida... all statistical and anecdotal evidence as well as eyewitness observations indicates that your hypothesis is sound, Professor!

Ah, Florida.  The personalities our state draws...

The truly terrifying ones are up north with me....trust me. We get what Alabama and Georgia throws out.

I know...I grew up in Gainesville and went to UF.

[Clara Bow]

Ah yes...the UF Special Snowflake......
I'll spare you my ten million Spurrier jokes....just take it as UGA fan bitterness.... 

[CuriousParty]

We were all at Sally's place, having a nice little get together to congratulate her on her new house. Sally was serving coffee in white mugs. Apparantly Martha never drank from white mugs, they had to be the glass see-through kind.

Okay, Martha's behavior was bad, and this is not an excuse, but rather a PSA that there is actually a legitimate reason for requiring a glass as opposed to a ceramic mug.  An acquaintance of mine keeps kosher, and I noticed when we go out to restaurants that he specifically requests a glass mug for his drink (and rarely orders food).  In a discussion I asked why, and he told me that in a non-kosher environment a ceramic utensil may be 'contaminated' for lack of a better word (I'm sure he used the correct one but I can't remember) but that a glass container, which is non porous, can be cleaned sufficiently to be considered 'safe' from a kosher perspective.

However, I believe it's also a tenet of the faith that one does not humiliate or embarrass others in order to comply with religious beliefs, so even if this was the basis of Martha's preference she should have simply declined coffee altogether.

Which reminds me, I should go get some glass mugs....

[Clara Bow]

Remind dingbat me what PSA means...I know that I know, but the brain...she is so tired. 

[CuriousParty]

Remind dingbat me what PSA means...I know that I know, but the brain...she is so tired. 

Public Service Announcement

And since I had to type Public 5x before I could get it right, me and my brain are off to bed....G'night!

[Coruscation]

We own a family farm about twenty minutes from the small town in which we live. Last year, we were extremely busy and we were having trouble getting sufficient staff. One of our employees carpooled with a man who ended up losing his licence for drunk driving. So she now had no lift to work. Since we were desperate, dh agreed to pick her up on his way to work. He arrived at 6:25am to pick her up and she was standing there with her two school aged children. So, apart from the fact that this was a surprise to him, he was driving, as he always does, his ute. Which of course, only has the three seats. The conversation went something like:

Dh: Opens door. "Are you coming?"

SS: "What about my kids?"

Dh: "We have to go."

SS: "They have to go to daycare."

Dh: "There's no room in the ute. And I don't have time. I have to be at work at 6:45."

SS: "They have to go to Daycare."

Dh: "I'll tell your boss you couldn't make it."

So, while I sympathise that she was a single parent without a car, she had worked there for over a month, knew that dh drove a ute, agreed to the pick up time and failed to mention the children at all. She missed that days work but arranged to carpool with someone else for the next few weeks. Once the busiest part of the season was over, she was the first person let go. She complained bitterly about this, alleging that everyone favoured Otheremployee because he was a man. No, it was because she was very high maintenance, this was only the worst example of this, not the only one.

She also wasn't the best worker, nor very bright. She decided to revenge herself upon her coworker Otheremployee. She rang my BIL and told him that Otheremployee had quit and wouldn't be into work the next day. What she hoped to achieve, I'm not sure, since Otheremployee had not quit and had every intention of turning up to work. As it happened, BIL got a phone call from Otheremployee about five minutes later and they both had a laugh about the SS. BIL had not actually believed SS.

Presumably, she's waiting at home for BIL to ring and offer her Otheremployees job... She'll be waiting awhile.

[purplemuse]

Speaking of dorms, I had a hallmate who apparently needed absolute silence if she was going to sleep.  She was reputed to have called security on another hallmate (note:  this is a hallmate, not a roommate) for

1) flushing the toilet
2) coughing

You lived on the hall with my ex-roommate Celeste? She couldn't study with any noise, or sleep with any light or noise. Luckily, she was only around for a week before she got "too homesick" and dropped out. I'd have died if I'd had to spend the whole year with her(she was a transfer who replaced my chosen roommate who didn't return to school).

One night she even locked me out of the room in the time it took me to go and use the restroom/brush my teeth for bed, and then she wouldn't get out of bed to let me in!(I'd not picked up my keys because she was in the room, and we were right across from the restroom) I had to have the RA let me in.

She and another hallmate managed to drive me so crazy that I called my parents in tears one Friday saying I was "coming home," and I must have sounded so upset that they thought I meant "coming home" as in "quitting school" and not "coming home" as in "coming home for the weekend so I can be around people who care about me."

These two Special Snowflakes had a major "my life is over" crisis at least once weekly, and absolutely had to talk to me about it-- usually when I had an essay due, or needed to study for a midterm.  Unfortunately, I didn't have much of a backbone at the time, and let myself be sucked into the drama.  IIRC, they both ended up in counselling, but that didn't stop the crises from coming my way.

[littlelauraj]

Azrail's coffee mug story reminded me of one of my own Special Snowflake experiences.  My association with this person went on far longer than it should have, but I just couldn't believe the level of entitledness!

Our first year in this neighborhood we hosted a party to get to know the neighbors.  I had already gotten to know one mom as she and I had our kids at the park together a lot.  At our big party we had lots of food, many choices of drink, but in a small kitchen.  So I was using disposable plates and foam cups for the coffee.  I was entertaining out on the deck when Mrs. Snowflake came out of the house with a cup of coffee-in my bestest favorite ceramic mug that was a gift from a friend, and had been hiding in a cupboard.  "Oh, I don't drink from foam!" she says to me.

Fine, you don't drink from foam.  Couldn't you just come to me and ask for a mug?  It just never got better from there.  If she was over for coffee, she would dig in the fridge for something else to drink or eat.  Often.  She would get a drink of water and end up walking home with my cups.  Every time these things happened I would find myself completely stunned, I don't know why.  Her husband was just as bad about borrowing our things, to the point that he happened to be in our driveway once when my dh came home with a new power tool-"Hey, can I borrow that?"  It's not even out of the shrink wrap!

I stopped initiating contact with them and started saying no to the crazy requests, and now we don't hear from them!  They are still special, though.  Our other neighbors were building a brand-new cedar deck and Mr. Snowflake sent Mrs. Snowflake over to "borrow" a board.  Then the two of them yelled back and forth accross two yards to make sure they "borrowed" a board that was just the right size.  Not from the left over scraps, from the work still in progress.

[petal]

Azrail's coffee mug story reminded me of one of my own Special Snowflake experiences.  My association with this person went on far longer than it should have, but I just couldn't believe the level of entitledness!

Our first year in this neighborhood we hosted a party to get to know the neighbors.  I had already gotten to know one mom as she and I had our kids at the park together a lot.  At our big party we had lots of food, many choices of drink, but in a small kitchen.  So I was using disposable plates and foam cups for the coffee.  I was entertaining out on the deck when Mrs. Snowflake came out of the house with a cup of coffee-in my bestest favorite ceramic mug that was a gift from a friend, and had been hiding in a cupboard.  "Oh, I don't drink from foam!" she says to me.

Fine, you don't drink from foam.  Couldn't you just come to me and ask for a mug?  It just never got better from there.  If she was over for coffee, she would dig in the fridge for something else to drink or eat.  Often.  She would get a drink of water and end up walking home with my cups.  Every time these things happened I would find myself completely stunned, I don't know why.  Her husband was just as bad about borrowing our things, to the point that he happened to be in our driveway once when my dh came home with a new power tool-"Hey, can I borrow that?"  It's not even out of the shrink wrap!

I stopped initiating contact with them and started saying no to the crazy requests, and now we don't hear from them!  They are still special, though.  Our other neighbors were building a brand-new cedar deck and Mr. Snowflake sent Mrs. Snowflake over to "borrow" a board.  Then the two of them yelled back and forth accross two yards to make sure they "borrowed" a board that was just the right size.  Not from the left over scraps, from the work still in progress.

i hope you got your favourite mug back?

[littlelauraj]

Yes, that mug stayed at my house.  My big plastic water glasses, not so much.  It wasn't that they were valuable, just that they were *mine*!

They borrowed so many things and took advantage of our generosity so many times that it would be a novel to write out.  One time they tried to borrow a post hole digger but we didn't have one.  I said, "You can buy or rent one from the hardware store for only $20 or $30."  Instead, Mr. Snowflake introduced himself to another neighbor, that he had never spoken to once in five years and had to ask us what his name was, to ask to borrow his.  Good times!

[Azrail]

We were all at Sally's place, having a nice little get together to congratulate her on her new house. Sally was serving coffee in white mugs. Apparantly Martha never drank from white mugs, they had to be the glass see-through kind.

Okay, Martha's behavior was bad, and this is not an excuse, but rather a PSA that there is actually a legitimate reason for requiring a glass as opposed to a ceramic mug.  An acquaintance of mine keeps kosher, and I noticed when we go out to restaurants that he specifically requests a glass mug for his drink (and rarely orders food).  In a discussion I asked why, and he told me that in a non-kosher environment a ceramic utensil may be 'contaminated' for lack of a better word (I'm sure he used the correct one but I can't remember) but that a glass container, which is non porous, can be cleaned sufficiently to be considered 'safe' from a kosher perspective.

However, I believe it's also a tenet of the faith that one does not humiliate or embarrass others in order to comply with religious beliefs, so even if this was the basis of Martha's preference she should have simply declined coffee altogether.

Which reminds me, I should go get some glass mugs....

I know that there is, that is the same reason my MIL only ever drinks her coffee in take-away cups when out in public. MIL, Martha and Sally all keep kosher. Infact all the people in that circle of women do. (Most of them are overseas brides who don't know english, so they keep company with eachother). So she knew she wasn't in any danger of drinking from a contaminated mug, she just wanted a glass mug.

[Winterlight]

*giggles at the image of a herd of special snowflakes*

Oh no.  Please say they don't all travel together at some point.  One or two at a time is one thing, but en masse?!  YIKES!

I wonder what happens when two Special Snowflakes meet?  I bet it's not pretty.

An itty bitty black hole appears...