Gripe gripe gripe

We need a gripe thread so I'm starting one> I specifically state when I respond to an online ad for a job that I am currently working until five and need interviews after that time and Employers write back and say how nice come you come in at 2:00 pm for an interview?

Blah Polly!

#1--> Polly its a good way to weed out the idiots! I can't work for a stupid person!

Well, if we are griping, let me tell you what happened to me on Sunday.

I go to Samana, which is this really amazing place in the Dominican Republic, because its whale season and I've always, always, always wanted to see the humpbacks.

For once I couldn't pick just one picture

Well, we're on the boat, about 15 minutes out in the open sea, and there are about 7 people out of the 45 who are puking their guts out. It was like an epidemic and I felt terrible, terrible for them. Then, this lady, who wasn't even sick starts to complain that she was no longer interested in the whales and to turn the boat back.

For like 45 minutes, while we're looking for whales, she kept up a running diatribe about how come the whales weren't there already. Yah, the tour company has the whales on stand by for when a boat load of tourists comes by, they stop everything and come to the surface to be admired. Ugh. Sometimes I hate humans.

Finally, she got so annoying, that to stop the rest of us (by "us" I mean me: I had VIVID dreams of making her walk the plank) from throwing her off the boat, the captain had to head back towards land. Not only did I not get to see so much as a sea bird, turning back didn't shut her up, it only made her more vociferous!!

I took a four hour bus ride, invested my time and money to fulfill a life long dream, just to turn back around!!!

My big gripe is: We were going whale watching, which means that at some point (unless there are land whales I don't know about) we'll have to take A BOAT!! IF YOU KNOW YOU GET MOTION SICKNESS TAKE SOME FREAKING DRAMAMINE, OR, BETTER YET, STAY YOUR DIZZY BEHIND ON LAND!!

I know it sounds mean and part of me felt really bad for the people afflicted by the motion sickness, but seriously, did they think we were going to an aquarium or something?

Aw, suge. I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with some people. Even if I were puking, I would have wanted to see the whales. Please try to go again and see a whale for me.

Oh I will!! I want to go again, but this time I'm interviewing everyone on the boat and if need be, force feed them the Dramamine before we set out. I felt really bad, but it's also extremely unfair on all the rest of us!

I was glad to find out that I am not not prone to seasickness. Sometimes I get sick in a car but not much anymore. Too bad the whales didn't make an appearance for you and that you couldn't wait and watch because of a complaining whiner. I'd be mad too

ETA: I would never spoil a trip for everyone else by griping and whining.

motion sickness must be a terrible affliction, I really feel very badly for all the people that have to deal with it.

It disappointing, but I fully intend to go to Samana again someday. Its a breathtaking place.

Just coming by with my latest gripe: I'm tired of "fat/lazy/stupid American" jokes, and I'm tired of all the Americans who say, "Oh, that's so true! We're all like that!" No, I am not. I've never been even remotely "like that", and I've never found these generalizations amusing.

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who generalize and those that don't.

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who finish what they start and

Anyone else rankled when a director addresses a choir by gender? Yes, altos and sopranos are typically women, and tenors, baritones, and basses are typically men, but we have male altos and female tenors in our choir. Shouldn't the director be addressing us by section, anyway?

ETA:  Eight months later, I caught a typo!

Would you put the following title in the YA/Children's section of a bookstore?
"On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God"
(touchstones aren't working)

I think I know exactly which book you're talking about. The Georgia Nicholson series, right?

As someone who helped raise a kid, I wouldn't have appreciated coming across that title in the children's section. Because of the type people we are in my family though, I imagine I would've talked to her about it briefly if it caught her eye, and that it would easily be fine.

Our bookstore separates YA from children's. I can see it being in the YA. The title seems to be a draw for it. I don't know the series, but I do know I've seen books that were titled for shock value and the story itself was mild in comparison.

#13 -- Well, it's definitely a YA book, published as YA and shelved in the YA section of every library I've ever worked in. If you're interfiling children's and YA, it gets trickier, of course. Frankly, titles aside, I think it's just generally a bad idea to interfile children's and YA. To me, it makes more sense to interfile adult and YA.

Oddly, that particular book was re-titled in its import from the UK to the US -- the UK edition is called It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers. (Title changes and the general Americanizing of imported British lit is a gripe of mine.)

Oh, I hate that!  I'm having issues with Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone.  I have "Sorcerer's Stone" sitting on my shelf, while I listen to "Philosopher's Stone" by Stephen Fry.  When I start referring to the book by the latter title, those of my friends who haven't listened to the audio react with something along the lines of a cutesy, "LOL, going British on me?"

I'd like to separate children and YA literature, but my boss happily labels YA and Children's books alike as "kids", and we really don't have the space for separate sections.  I'm sure it's all "kid stuff" to him, but even if we have to keep it all in the same section, I'd like to go through and actually label them accordingly.  Jennifer Murdley's Toad can stay under the "kids" label, but there are YA books that need to be recognized as such.

I've had similar problems at the library book store. I'm one of the only Friends of the Library volunteers with young children, so I had to really push for keeping the YA in a separate bookcase, rather than on a higher shelf above the children's books. Our bookstore area is also very small, but if the YA section has its own bookcase, there is less crossover. Maybe you could just....rearrange things when your boss isn't looking. :o)

Thorn Queen - another back-breaking T&A book cover.  Seriously, stand in front of a mirror and see how it feels to twist your body into this position.

One more.  A friend turned me on to this one by way of asking, "What do you think of The Dark Knight Rises poster?"  I compared it to the other two, and here's what I came up with.


In conjunction with the title, this poster works perfectly.  Even on its own, Batman is jumping onto the screen, gliding into the action.  It just makes sense for the first film of a reboot.


Most Batman fans can recognize The Joker's handiwork in this picture.  Sure, it's the bat logo, but personally, I also see The Joker's smile in it.  And since we start off with Harvey Dent as a good guy (personally, that broke my heart), I could see why the movie would be called "The Dark Knight".


Before seeing the movie:  This makes perfect sense!  He's down-trodden after the run-in with The Joker.  Rachel's dead, Gotham thinks he killed Dent, Gordon can't help him, anymore.  Life kinda sucks for him, now.  This is the movie where things really start to get interesting!

After seeing the first trailer:  What do they mean, "EVERY JOURNEY MUST COME TO AN END"?  This one just started!  This is only the third movie!

After seeing the movie:  Yeah...I don't know what to tell you.  Looks like he's just hanging out, to me.  Maybe he lost his cellphone.

I ordered a coat from Younkers and they sent the wrong one. Their policy on their mistake is that they won't send me mine until they get the other one back. They paid the shipping but not the hassle of waiting 3 days before the UPS sticker came, repackaging the coat, and driving to the nearest UPS store to send it. Now I have to wait until they get it and then maybe I will get the coat. Not holding my breath. Stupid policy and they don't care about their customers.

#21 -- Yeah, that's obnoxious of them.

A friend of mine applied for work at Younkers a few years ago, and they passed him over because his name was very obviously foreign.  To be sure, his roommate copied his resumé and sent it in, changing nothing but the name and a few addresses.  They called him back for an interview, which he didn't take for obvious reasons.

The parent company is The Bon Ton. I tracked when the coat arrived and they received it today so I called and was told it would take 5 to 7 days to process the return and I yelled at the poor guy. So he said they could expedite the shipping and send it now. But when he tried to reorder it, they no longer have the coat. Stupid company.

#24 - Whoa. That stinks, Kasongo. I've never heard of Younkers before, but you can be sure I'll never buy from them. That's awful!

Actually I bought a coat there today, I just won't shop online with them ever again. $160 coat for $47.

I am a Meetup organizer.  Organizing a meetup group costs a little bit of money.  My group is new, and I'm working my tail off to create a sense of community so that people feel comfortable setting up events.  As it stands, I get a lot of, "Oh, I'd attend, but that's a little too far north for me," probably not realizing that I'll have to go just as far south for them.  I've done this a couple of times, and each time, the majority of those in attendance are from my neighborhood.  At the last event, not a single resident of that city showed up; everyone in attendance was from "a little too far north".

bump

IN CASE I HAVE A GRIPE!!!

28: A worthy cause.

I'm almost 26 and I'm still dealing with breakouts.  It's nice not being as self-conscious about it as I was as a teenager, but it's still a pain.  Sometimes, it's a literal pain.

So until February of this year, I sat at my office's front desk. A constant problem was finding coverage for me to eat lunch, use the restroom, etc. I tried multiple ways of getting people to understand this problem and got zero support from management. I eventually just started eating at my desk. This year, I arranged to trade offices with a newish employee who could also spare time from her other responsibilities to cover the front desk. I told her about the coverage problem at that time and told her whenever she needed me to let me know and I'd come down. She's asked me to cover once since then. Yesterday, my boss (the one who ignored my complaints) sent out an email saying that I (and some other staff) need to set up a coverage rotation to make sure this employee gets her time off. I'm LIVID at having these problems pooh-poohed and ignored for 4 1/2 years and I'm having a very hard time being gracious about the whole thing. It's not that I don't want to cover, I of all people understand the need for coverage. It's more that I'm feeling retroactively ignored and marginalized and now every time it's brought up, it pisses me off all over again. /rant

Sorry to say what you're expecting to hear, but did you point this out to your boss?  I'd also have a word with that other employee.  That is beyond obnoxious!

#31: It's in the plan. I have to wait until I can do it without crying (my tear ducts are connected to pretty much all of my emotions).

I think you all are grown ups but I'm not I'm still a nine year old kid

33 -  Is that a gripe?  I think you need to be at least thirteen to have an account on this site.

Roz- you are right, but how are these requirements enforced? No one has to tell their age; 33 didn't have to but did so.

"Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings...".

I thought as long as the parent knew and was OK with it, it was fine, but I could be wrong.

JP-

who says the kid has to tell the parent(s), assuming the machine is updated for parental controls; or that some parents (sadly) don't care?

The under-13 rule is due to COPPA, a federal law restricting what sort of information websites are allowed to collect from children. As to how it's enforced, I couldn't say. But it's not an arbitrary, LT-only thing (Facebook, for instance, has a similar rule). And I think there is a form that parents have to sign and send in if under-13 kids want to use the site.

It's any site that collects personal data, and I don't know how LT is enforcing it right now, but in the past the would disable the account of anyone who was under 13. also, you have to state that you're over 13 when you create a LT account.

I am going to keep this gripe as vague as possible, thought it's probably very much on the nose:

I am depressed by the number of people who trust "news" sources such as NBC and FOX and ignore more reliable sources that require a minimal amount of effort on their part.  I think I'll be staying away from Twitter for a few days.

somewhere I heard something like 'believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you read.'

consider the latter, if necessary. not as fact but as a working hypothesis.

41 -  Truth!  I've also heard "don't trust everything you think".

42-

yeah-a lot of that is mediagenic.

43 - I can see it that way.

I'm an alto, so this parody is cathartic:  Here I Go (Despair of an Alto)

A bit of language is used out of frustration, but nothing lewd.

#45: Thank you. That was fun. And you had my teenage son in stitches. :oD

#46 - I'm happy to make someone laugh. :)

I'm annoyed for a couple of reasons right now.  Reason #1: we're visiting my family and they never turn the damn TV off.  Reason #2: they ask what we want to do, and I've mostly said nothing because I'm happy to visit with them.  I finally request a return to this cute little café that we visited a couple days ago, and a rerun of some cop show takes precedence.

Blah, blah, blah, scads of homework, blah, blah...
Seriously, this class and the amount of homework is ridiculous.

fell on the ice and twisted my knee, damn winter

We got a smattering of rain last week, but the creek is still running dry.  Also, I can't sleep.  Just took some melatonin, but I'm making the mistake of sitting in front of the computer.

I hope your knee feels better soon, Polly!