Get Your Grump on Thursdays - Was (What's chapping my @ss today?)

[summilux]

Slackers who masquerade as university students.

I teach a 4th year university course. 92 students are registered but only 60-70 show up for lectures. Fewer for the Thursday 8:30am lecture. Today is midterm today and of course the room is packed. There are faces I haven't seen before, EVER. And I have 5 requests for exam deferral because of medical reasons! My teaching is highly rated, the material I teach is current and I try really hard to make it exciting and relevant. Why are 1/3 of my class skipping lectures? Jeeez, most are going to be in the job market next year and they are going to have to show up on time every day.

[Tom]

People who don't set their cars up for winter. Wiper blades and washer fluid are pretty easy to do, no excuses. Some people don't have money coming out their ears like I do so they can't afford fresh snow tires, I get that. But people with luxury 4WDs that cost at least twice what my car did going to their ski houses in Vermont have no excuses at all for driving 30 miles an hour when there is an inch of fresh. If I didn't have to make this trip I wouldn't be in as foul a mood, visiting gravely ill parents got me started but you aren't helping.

[Tom]

Sorry - pushups coming...

Edit to my last post: Also, how about you sweep the snow off all the windows? You can't see out the sides or the back, but I suppose that makes no difference to you.

[mainemike]

I was in South Beach Miami all week, swimming in the ocean, looking at beautiful women, drinking beers w/some of my work buds and having the occasional biz mtng. I'm home now and it's gonna snow like crazy! Wait, maybe I should safe this for the Friday Fun Day thread, cuz the skiing this wknd is going to be awesome! Life is tough! ha, I have no complaints.

[summilux]

I was in South Beach Miami all week, swimming in the ocean, looking at beautiful women, drinking beers w/some of my work buds and having the occasional biz mtng. I'm home now and it's gonna snow like crazy! Wait, maybe I should safe this for the Friday Fun Day thread, cuz the skiing this wknd is going to be awesome! Life is tough! ha, I have no complaints.

Now I'm grumpier. Showoff.

[Zandr Martin]

A few weeks ago my wife interviewed for a job with my company. We had a department that lost 2/3 of its people (literally 2/3 - there were three people, then one "retired" [was forced out] and one quit) and they needed someone (actually, two people) quickly. My wife is currently very under-employed and this job, while still beneath her abilities, would have been quite a step up the under-employment ladder. Given her circumstances, she pretty much could've started immediately. When I suggested her to those in charge, I said if they didn't want to hire her, that was fine, and I meant it. I saw a need in our organization and I figured that my wife could fill that need. That it would be personally beneficial to me was a nice bonus, but all I asked for was their consideration. I didn't even ask them to interview her; I just wanted them to review her resume.

Well, she interviewed twice, and to cut to the chase, she didn't get the job. I'm okay with that decision. I think it's idiotic on the part of those in charge, given the qualifications of the other people who interviewed, but I recognize I'm biased, and my company regularly makes decisions that I think are completely stupid. My wife and I are no worse off than we were before, so I'm cool. I wouldn't even be thinking about it at this point. Except...

It's been three weeks, the company has hired one new person and actually brought back the person who was forced out as an independent contractor (at what I'm guessing is 3x her old salary, or 5x what they'd have paid my wife), and yet no one has informed my wife that she didn't get the job. Nor has anyone told me, which would be inappropriate, but at least would be something. Nothing whatsoever. I get that this is standard practice with HR these days, and I have an unending string of expletives for those in HR/legal because of this practice and many others. But we're not a huge company. Our HR department is effectively 1.5 people. I'm an accountant and do payroll, so I regularly work with one of those people. She sits 10 feet from my office. This didn't get lost in bureaucracy.

That this is, I assume, standard practice for us is regrettable, because we are a small, family-owned company that prides itself on its ethics. Ostensibly we try to act like good people. Of course, corporations, shareholders, capitalism, blah blah; I used the word "ostensibly" for a reason. But in this one area, I figured that my six years of service here would at least merit the decency for someone to inform us of this decision. My wife is not some random job applicant who shot 50 resumes out across CareerBuilder. I didn't expect my working here to get her the job, but I at least had expected it to get her a response, especially after she went out of her way to accommodate their questionable interview schedule. Calling her at 4pm for an interview at 7:30am the next day is rude. To refuse to inform her for weeks afterwards is just fucking cruel.

[j44ke]

It is snowing again.

[RickM]

Following up on zandrrr's post above. All too often in today's business world;

1) Belligerance is mistaken for Candor
2) Professional Courage is an unknown quality, or at least an ignored quality
3) The entire hiring process has become completely broken
4) The WIFM* factor, while important, has jumped too far ahead of other priorities that should come first (*Whats In It For Me)
5) HR in small, family-owned companies is not to be trusted, and certainly should be used/depended on as little as possible

In my field...ugh...you can have a job for life...there is plenty that needs to be done...the issue you need to wrestle with is whether you want to spend your life here.

[nahtnoj]

My work computer died yesterday. It was a piece of shit, so I'm not that sorry to see it go, but there are files and programs on it that I could certainly use today as I work from home on my 7 year old MacBook. Which I once ran over with my car, it still works, and I'd rather use than any PC ever. So not sure if this is a grump or not.

I am grumpy about all the shoveling I'm going to have to do later. I clear about 150' of sidewalk so that my wife can make it to the main street without falling, because none of the deadbeat landlords around us send anyone out to shovel in a timely fashion.

[rainy rider]

My daughter is in 4th grade and won an academic award at school. She works hard and is smart and has won an award for her work or good character every year. She did not want the award and never wants to win it again because all her jealous "friends" decided that rather than feel happy for her achievement they should instead complain to her that they never win one and it is not fair that she does. One of the "friends" parents even asked us if my daughter's grades were that good and questioned whether her daughter might have been more deserving. It sucks to see your daughter mortified that she won a well deserved award for working her tail off. Jealousy is ugly and this is only a 4th grade achievement certificate. Makes me grumpy even a week later.

[PaulE3]

Hotels that advertise a Weight Lifting Room and you only find a damned stair master pointing at a TV locked to the Fox News channel... its starting to grump me up. I've been to Fort McEntire, Fort Sill, and Huntsville Alabama in the last 3 weeks and all my hotels have ditched the weights in their weight rooms.

[Britishbane]

Following up on zandrrr's post above. All too often in today's business world;

1) Belligerance is mistaken for Candor
2) Professional Courage is an unknown quality, or at least an ignored quality
3) The entire hiring process has become completely broken
4) The WIFM* factor, while important, has jumped too far ahead of other priorities that should come first (*Whats In It For Me)
5) HR in small, family-owned companies is not to be trusted, and certainly should be used/depended on as little as possible

In my field...ugh...you can have a job for life...there is plenty that needs to be done...the issue you need to wrestle with is whether you want to spend your life here.

&

*Snip* To refuse to inform her for weeks afterwards is just fucking cruel.

Agree and agree. Looking for a job is miserable process and HR is the worst.

My grump, 6 inches of wet slop. Its raining now. A couple degrees and we woulda had 12" of soft powder.

[j44ke]

My daughter is in 4th grade and won an academic award at school. She works hard and is smart and has won an award for her work or good character every year. She did not want the award and never wants to win it again because all her jealous "friends" decided that rather than feel happy for her achievement they should instead complain to her that they never win one and it is not fair that she does. One of the "friends" parents even asked us if my daughter's grades were that good and questioned whether her daughter might have been more deserving. It sucks to see your daughter mortified that she won a well deserved award for working her tail off. Jealousy is ugly and this is only a 4th grade achievement certificate. Makes me grumpy even a week later.

Sounds like my wife's experience when she was young. Now she's a corporate attorney kicking ass internationally. If you were in NYC, I'd say send your daughter to hang out with my wife for a while. Smart women need to stick together, no matter what age they are.

And 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and (push ups cont....)

[rmplum]

My DVD writing software quoted Wham! this morning (see bottom line) - and I knew it immediately.

ClubTrop.jpg

If it was Bieber (not that I know any of his lyrics) I'd probably be uninstalling.

[Bobonli]

My first grump post:

Can someone explain why New York roads are so fffffing crappy?!?!?! I'm grumpy because winter isn't even over yet and most of the metropolitan area looks like it's been pounded by artillery. The individual pot holes are linking up into giant trenches. Why is it that you go across the border to CT and the roads aren't as messed up? Do they have nicer sand or gentler snow plows in CT?

[rowdyhillrambler]

Any interview, with any olympic snowboarder. Jeezz, how many times are you, "totally stoked about that epic ride, that was so sick," Man, it is like the snowboard team is sponsored by the word stoked. I get it you are excited, or stoked but damn it, makes NFL players seem educated. caveat: i eschew education.

[David Tollefson]

One week into 3-1/2 of work-from-home while taking care of my 6-month-old and my wife post shoulder surgery. I'm fecking knackered and at the end of my patience for the lack of sleep, not being able to finish a damn trainer ride without getting interrupted by a crying baby, and my wife's constant criticism of every fecking thing I say or do. Yeah, I know she didn't support my frame-building jag, and I quit my part-time at the bike shop so that I'd have some time to build. I haven't even lit the torch in almost 2 weeks. Seems the trade of time just means she has more shyte to put into the schedule to keep me away from it.

Eh, can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.

[bcm119]

My daughter is in 4th grade and won an academic award at school. She works hard and is smart and has won an award for her work or good character every year. She did not want the award and never wants to win it again because all her jealous "friends" decided that rather than feel happy for her achievement they should instead complain to her that they never win one and it is not fair that she does. One of the "friends" parents even asked us if my daughter's grades were that good and questioned whether her daughter might have been more deserving. It sucks to see your daughter mortified that she won a well deserved award for working her tail off. Jealousy is ugly and this is only a 4th grade achievement certificate. Makes me grumpy even a week later.

It's good she's getting an early intro to that dynamic because it happens in most "adult" workplaces too. Most people just suck.

[Matthew Strongin]

I was in South Beach Miami all week, swimming in the ocean, looking at beautiful women, drinking beers w/some of my work buds and having the occasional biz mtng. I'm home now and it's gonna snow like crazy! Wait, maybe I should safe this for the Friday Fun Day thread, cuz the skiing this wknd is going to be awesome! Life is tough! ha, I have no complaints.

So you were in my neck of the woods and didn't invite me to gawk at the beach with you. Now I'm grumpy.

[ChristianSLC]

Ridiculous prices that people want for 80-series Land Cruisers and 3rd gen 4Runners.